It’s interesting sometimes how restrictions (in this case a time restriction) can lead to interesting insights.

A friend of mine sent an email yesterday. The short exchange (I was pressed for time) is below pretty much verbatim.

On Wednesday, January 28, 2009,  [my friend] wrote:

>lunch sounds good…
>
>btw, what kinda music software do you use? and what’s good out there
>for mac?

I replied:

I use Digital Performer, Logic, Live and Reason depending on what I am working on.

Reason – Very complete and relatively inexpensive. I believe there is a demo at their site (www.propellerheads.se). Strength: All in one, rock solid, reasonable CPU demands. Cons: Self contained; (To add vocals or external audio tracks have to use it via ReWire with another application.)

Live – Absolutely fantastic. The new Live8 will be even more phenomenal than the amazing Live 7. I discuss the new Live 8 on my blog (scroll down below the “Chinese HipHop” article). You can also get a demo from their site. (www.ableton.com) Pros: Effin’ fantastic program with amazing loop playing capabilities and built-in plug-ins. Cons: Not many.

LogicStudio – Amazing what you get for $499 — loops, plug-ins, industrial strength sequencer. If you were seriously getting into music, this would be perhaps the single best purchase you could make.

OK. So I was, um, not thinking. If I had been, why would I make a resolution only TWO WEEKS before NAMM to NOT buy any new synth plug-ins before June 2009? I don’t even have the excuse of being hung over. Oh well…

Here are some damn interesting things announced on the first day of NAMM, several of which will migrate into my possession at some point this year. (Note that except for a short discussion of Live8, this is mostly a list with links. I’ll write more on each of these in the future.)

Ableton announces LIVE 8…

The biggest surprise to me was the announcement of Ableton Live8. Caught me completely by surprise.

First, if you have not checked out the videos on Ableton’s site, please do. Reading about the new features is not nearly as effective (IMHO) as seeing some of them in action. I’ve provided links to YouTube videos below, but better quality videos are available directly from Ableton at this link: http://www.ableton.com/home?movie=4

First up, there is an overview of Live8…

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But it gets so much more interesting. Check out “Share” for remote collaboration…

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Then there is “Extend” the integration of Max/MSP into LIVE…

Ready for Anything?

Whatever program you use, it’s a real time saver to develop a customized default template. That way, when you start a new project, all of your track routings, groups, favorite instruments, efx, etc., are there waiting for you. No fuss. No muss.

I have customized templates for Reason, LIVE, Logic and DP. What I want to do is share information on a couple of my templates and the “why” behind some of the choices I’ve made in the hopes that you will find the info useful.

Of course all of this is still evolving as I learn more and have new experiences. So if you have any suggestions, or see me heading down a blind alley, I’d appreciate your feedback.

Digital Performer

Anytime I create a new project, this is the project template that pops up ready to use. (If you click on the image, you get a really large 1280 x 1024 version in a new window or browser tab.) The template for DP6 is probably the most involved and evolved since I’ve been using DP6 a lot lately. It’s also the one undergoing active development as I learn more about the program every time I use it.

Hey!

Another quick update, this time on music production and music tool tutorials.

When you post a “how-to” question about music software on some discussion boards, you can often get a “RTFM” (Read The Effin’ Manual) response. And although I essentially agree with the sentiment, I find that a) I hardly have time,** and b) the softwares we are dealing with are increasingly complex. And those two facts tend to reinforce each other.

Because of this, I think my learning style has changed. I appreciate and enjoy video tutorials. I can see and watch how something is done, and I pick it up much quicker. Of late, I’ve come across some really nice tutorials:

• Digital Performer by MacAudioLab– First up is a set of new DP6 tutorials from MacAudioLab. These were just released in the last month or so. They are the only comprehensive set of tutorials on DP6 on the market at present. (The other set of DP6 tutorials out there by TutorialDepot are decent bite-sized chunks, but I’d hardly call them comprehensive.) Some of the material is taken from their DP5 tutorials (the bits that have not changed between versions), but there is A LOT of new material including several tutorials on MOTU’s VIs (MX4, MachFive2, Ethno) plus other material.

MOTU DP keyboard by Logickeyboard (no less) - Logickeyboard’s custom keyboard for Motu Digital Performer is available though only using the Ultra Thin Aluminum Apple Pro keyboard at the moment. It features all the regular letter, number, and symbol labelling found on a conventional keyboard, so it can be used as your regular keyboard. It’s a bit pricey, but Logickeyboard tells me that they are also developing a set of replacement keycaps for older style Apple keyboards. (This will be much less expensive obviously.)

Bandcamp – I’m probably a little late to announcing this party, but Bandcamp is another free music distribution/viral marketing/sell-your-music-directly-to-the-public site that looks the business. It provides “drop-dead easy tools to share your music with their friends, and most importantly we do it in a way that drives traffic back to you. We also give you complete transparency into how your music is spreading…” The last point refers to their extensive online stats which are pretty impressive. Check out the screencast.   

SoundCloud goes live – I know for sure that I’m late announcing this party, but SoundCloud officially opened to the public recently. SoundCloud is a music distribution/viral marketing/’net 2.0 kind of application with a focus a bit different from Bandcamp. SoundCloud is not really set-up for the general public to find music for downloading.

MOTU has announced a deal for getting MX4 for $99 as part of an upgrade to DP 6 package. (It is regularly $299.) Even if you have already upgraded to DP6, MOTU will let you purchase MX4 for the reduced price.

MX4 is a sweet little synth. Features include:

MX4

• Unique hybrid 32-bit synth engine.
• Unlimited voices, polyphony and instantiations as allowed by host CPU.
• Sample-accurate playback with host apps that support this OS X feature.
• Integrated modulatable chorus and delay effects saved as part of the motupatch.
• 3 wavetable oscillators
• 2 resonant multimode filters
• 6 variable waveshape LFOs
• 4 ADSHR envelopes
• Dozens of wavetables
• Audio input — process any audio signal with MX4’s flexible synth engine.
• Modulatable waveform symmetry lets you create dynamic harmonic changes.
• Hard oscillator sync effects, just like the legendary Sequential Circuits Prophet Five™ and other classic polysynths.
• Variable Filter Topology™ provides 14 different filter & distortion configurations.
• Extremely flexible and easy to use modulation archictecture.

MX4 Interface

For the full story about MX4, go here.

What is it these days with the $99 price point? In the last couple of months, Dimension Pro, Rapture V.I. One, and now MX4…