Quick Props: Adam Fielding

Just wanted to mention very quickly that Adam Fielding has released his CD Distant Activity on Magnatune.

Adam Fielding br Distant Activity

Adam Fielding Distant Activity

I don’t know Adam personally, but I am familiar with his work for Jeremy Janzen over at Nucleus SoundLab. Adam contributed a number combinator patches to both Viral Outbreak and ReCombination. His combinators are a marvel of design — beautiful sounding and very functional. (You can see some of them in Jeremy’s video demos of both refills.)

Distant Activity is not my “usual cup of tea” as my personal tastes tend toward instrumental tracks (whatever genre), and this is mostly a quasi – ambient (inadequate term please suggest one), somewhat beat-oriented collection of songs with well-crafted vocals. It’s less ambient than I would have expected based on my limited knowledge of Adam, but this excerpt from his bio on Magnatune highlights how limited that knowledge was:

“Although Adam’s earlier tracks were geared more towards industrial and VGM styles while taking an interest in metal and post-hardcore music, his style would later evolve to encompass a wide variety of sub-genres including dance, ambient, synthpop, downtempo, breaks and neo-classical styles while retaining his unique production style and melodic focus.”

Obviously, a multi-talented guy. You’ll find the player on the next page. I like track 6 in particular. (Then again, it’s the only pure instrumental track so it figures.)

Click to continue reading
View entire post…

VN:F [1.7.8_1020]
Please Rate This...
Rating: 3.2/5 (25 votes cast)
Share and Enjoy:
  • Print
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • Google Bookmarks
  • email
  • MySpace
  • StumbleUpon
  • Twitter

Omnisphere out today…Automaton released…Obelisk due soon.

Well September is shaping up to be a heck of a month for VI & VE releases…

Available Now!

Available Now!

First up is the much anticipated release of Omnisphere by Spectrasonics. Based on an in house software engine called ‘STEAM‘. (Get it? The STEAM engine? Hardee Har Har.) It looks to be a deep instrument with loads of efx on call.

The build up to this has been going on since the January NAMM show. And I have to say, I like the way they went about it: Every 6 weeks or so, they released video shorts on some aspect of the product. A couple of videos in particular stood out: One video provided a brief and well produced history of synthesizers and synthesis. (If you want to know why sound presets are called “patches”, check it out.) The other featured their crazy sampling approaches.

Personally, I’m looking forward to it. Eric Persing and crew do great work, so expectations are high. And they are particularly high for owners of Atmosphere as Spectrasonic’s intel Mac-based wrapper for the old plug-in leaves many cold. I hope that one can get into the sounds’ design to a great degree if only to “de-hollywood” them a bit. (IMHO Spectrasonic’s stuff has a very slick, made for the screen, heavily produced sound. Good for lots of stuff, but not everything…)

Ordered mine this morning. Look for first impressions soon after it arrives…

 

Click to continue reading
View entire post…

VN:F [1.7.8_1020]
Please Rate This...
Rating: 2.8/5 (36 votes cast)
Share and Enjoy:
  • Print
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • Google Bookmarks
  • email
  • MySpace
  • StumbleUpon
  • Twitter

How Do You Get to Carnegie Hall?

“Practice.”

It’s an old joke, but one that has some truth to it.

After 20+ years with various and sundry keyboards, I finally took the plunge a couple of years ago and started taking formal piano instruction. (If you are interested in music instruction and you live in the DC-MD-VA area, you really owe it to yourself to check out the Levine Music School.) I had always been a proponent of avoiding the “straightjacket of orthodoxy” and discovering music creation on my own or in collaboration with like-minded individuals. I’ve come to the conclusion that it is easier to break the rules if you first know them. And besides, for my personal interests, some of the rules are helpful!

My focus is really on developing my finger dexterity so as to make it easier to write pieces at the piano with more spontaneity. I also am trying to develop a much more formal understanding of theory and harmony as I have aspirations to one day work with film.

But you got to start somewhere, and if you want to also, then Hanon, Hanon Revisited, and Beyer should be your new friends.

The issue of course is finding the time. Between family, the day job, stuff for the blog, and (let’s not forget) my latest project tracks*, I’ve got to find the time to practice. Requires a purposefulness that is … well … more intense.

Click to continue reading
View entire post…

VN:F [1.7.8_1020]
Please Rate This...
Rating: 3.1/5 (32 votes cast)
Share and Enjoy:
  • Print
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • Google Bookmarks
  • email
  • MySpace
  • StumbleUpon
  • Twitter

Subnoto::indico is adding a forum!

The basic idea is to allow a space where more conversation can take place between a number of people on subjects that generate some interest on subnoto::indico. It really is meant to be a temporary space for conversations for folks who want to explore “offline” from the main pages.

Right now, I think it will work something like this: When there seems to be a locus of interest/activity around a subject, I’ll open up a forum for it. More conversation, file sharing, and activities can take place there in addition to whatever new content is posted on subnoto::indico. I’ll make it a point to provide links connecting the two throughout.

When that conversation runs its course and usage dies down, the forum serves as an archive for the extra content, views, discussion generated. Or not. If the forum is vibrant and becomes a resource, all the better!

You will notice a ‘Forum’ tab at the top of the page. I’ll figure out someway to use this page to provide a view ‘into’ what’s going on in the forum(s). It will also contain a link to get you there. 

For now, here’s a link to the bare bones forum.  (You can also get to it by typing http://forums.nk-e.com/ in your browser.) I’ve set up some empty categories, but I’m still sorting out details so all of that may change. You can still sign up however.

Click to continue reading
View entire post…

VN:F [1.7.8_1020]
Please Rate This...
Rating: 3.4/5 (25 votes cast)
Share and Enjoy:
  • Print
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • Google Bookmarks
  • email
  • MySpace
  • StumbleUpon
  • Twitter

Generative Musics

There are a few mac-based “pro-level” generative music programs out there: ‘M‘ by Cycling74, Nodal by Peter McIlwain [EDIT: as part of a team at CEMA], and Intermorphics Noatikl by the team who brought us Koan Pro some years back. I would add to this group Ableton Live and its ‘Follow Actions’ as this can create some very nice generative compositions if employed skillfully.

I am planning to take a look at each of these over the next few weeks and will post observations, walkthroughs and such as I get them done. If you have any experiences you would also like to share or contribute, please do so.

View entire post…

VN:F [1.7.8_1020]
Please Rate This...
Rating: 3.0/5 (5 votes cast)
Share and Enjoy:
  • Print
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • Google Bookmarks
  • email
  • MySpace
  • StumbleUpon
  • Twitter

Digital Performer 6.01 Released

Well fast on the heels of Digital Performer 6.0 comes the first “.01″ release. I’m still taking a look at it, but it appears the MOTU addressed the firestorm about the GUI: They toned it down. Instead of something that for all the world appears to be a BRIGHT WHITE as the default color for much of the interface, there is a shade or two of cool grey thrown in. The image below shows a screen shot from DP 6.0 and that same screen (more or less) from DP 6.01. You can see that the 6.01 is a bit more muted.

DP 6.0 and 6.01 Screens

Dp 6.0 and 6.01 Screens

Click on the thumbnail. DP 6.0 is on the left and 6.01 is on the right. The change in the brightness of the GUI doesn’t look to be much in the image, but it is enough to make a difference if you are working on a couple of 19″ monitor. It helps the eyes, believe me.

MOTU also threw in a ‘Track Inspector’. It’s basically an information window that shows track settings for track color, input and output assignments, play- and record-enable status, take, automation, etc. It updates its focus to the current track selected in a window. It can be opened as a tab in the consolidated window or as a floating window. It can also be added to the info bar in other windows inside of DP. This gives you control of track parameters in situ and helps to preserve workflow. It sounds minor, but once you start using it you really appreciate it. They also have tweaked the whole plug-in real time preferences option for handling real-time versus pre-rendering of virtual instrument data. As this has not proven to be a real issue for me so far, I note it here because many on MotuNation have been dealing with issues related to the implementation of this feature. MOTU has also tweaked a few other things in this release. I know there was a big issue involving DP and DAE/ProTools (something about rendering tracks from busses), but as I don’t have a ProTools rig, I can’t say whether or not it has been addressed. Peace Out.

View entire post…

VN:F [1.7.8_1020]
Please Rate This...
Rating: 3.9/5 (9 votes cast)
Share and Enjoy:
  • Print
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • Google Bookmarks
  • email
  • MySpace
  • StumbleUpon
  • Twitter
WordPress Loves AJAX