Sunday, June 29, 2008

Richard Devine uses...

On page 4 of this interview with Richard Devine he mentions what software he likes:

Softstep (picured above)
Soundhack (who have some great feeware)
MAX/MSP
Reaktor

Also check out the side panel to see what else he uses in his set up.

Numerology 1.4.3

I haven't used this yet so I will quote from the website:
"Numerology is a modular sequencing and audio plugin environment for Mac OS X. It takes sequencing and modulation metaphors established by the analog sequencers of the 70's, and implements them in a structured and highly interactive software environment designed for experimentation, improvisation and live performance. By using Numerology in conjunction with your choice of Audio Unit plugins and hardware synths, you can create an open compositional environment that is truly your own"

Saturday, June 28, 2008

Hang Drum



Watch the above video, and then head over to Soniccouture, as they have a 2.4GB library of Hang Drum sounds for Kontakt 2 or 3. This is something you could definately have fun with.

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Great Albums : Dig Your Own Hole

The Chemical Brothers second album, Dig Your Own Hole was even better than the first, though they stand together pretty well. After this they slowly moved in to more commercial territory until finally selling out with the release of their Singles collection, everything else since then has been pretty poor.

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Thursday, June 19, 2008

M-Audio - Axiom 25


I considered buying this, but I don't find using a QWERTY keyboard that hard really. I would have to get used to it I guess. What I like most about most would have to be the pads, which are supposed to be amazing.

iPhone / iPod Touch Music Apps

If you have an iPhone or a iPod Touch then you can run this 909 app and tap out some beats. It's also worth checking out the over at Create Digital Music blog which lists most of the apps you can use to make music on your iPhone or a iPod Touch.

Crazy programs that you have to program

I would love to learn SuperCollider, I downloaded it ages ago but didn't have the patience. It's free though which is nice.

Max/MSP is used by quite a few people such as the guys in Autechre and Radiohead. I also like what I have read about Jitter which is part of Max/MSP now.

Reaktor is also widely used and would be great to learn.

And check out the Pure Data score for Hans-Christoph Steiner's Solitude down the bottom of this page. That looks amazing! Pure Data is also free.

Anyway there is a list of these types of apps here with a few more I didn't mention.

Make Music With Linux (mostly for free)

Linux is a whole different OS to Windows and OSX. You can download Ubuntu Studio (or any other Linux OS) for free and you probably should install the OS on a separate partion on your hard drive, that way you can keep your current OS.

So now you need some apps. The good news is that there are those that will easily replace your old Windows/OSX programs, and there are some which are also on Windows and OSX as well. For example if you use Audacity or Renoise (€49) then you are in luck because you can get Linux versions of those.
Then if you like Pro Tools you might be interested in Ardour, which some say is better than Pro Tools.

energyXT2 is probably one of the most impressive looking DAWs around, unfortunately it costs money (€19-49 depending on the version you choose) but it's still cheap, and it runs on Windows and OSX as well which is handy if you ever want to switch back.

There is ZynAddSubFX, which is an impressive looking synth.

For drum machine needs there is Hydrogen.

And there is also Rosegarden for MIDI work.

Of course there are heaps more (there's a list here) but these seem to be among the best. Unfortunately there does seem to be a bit of a problem with running VST's on Linux thatnks to Steinberg which I don't fully understand how to fix.
But there is a bit of information about using VST's here(you can also find out VST compatibility info here). Unfortunately in my search for more information that made some form of sense, I mostly found outdated info, though there is this informative article.

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Basic 64

If you want to play with some c64 sounds then de la Mancha have you covered with the Basic 64.

And Even More Glitch VST's

2 Rule Filter by 2 Rule (Windows only?) FREE!

Daft Funk by Klanglabs (Windows) FREE!

Glitch by Klanglabs (Windows) FREE!

Truc by de la Mancha (Windows) FREE!

Pudding by TWEAKBENCH (Windows) FREE!

Sideslip by TWEAKBENCH (Windows) FREE!

InstaJungle by Laurence Davies (Windows and OSX) FREE!

Scuzzphut6.5 lite by Scuzzphut (Windows only?) FREE!

Ring Thing by de la Mancha (Windows) FREE!

Oatmeal - FREE Vst

Head over to KVR and read and download some Oatmeal.

The Interrupter - FREE Vst's!


Top: Analogic Delay, and Bottom: Wow & Flutter. Both are free VST's from The Interrupter, and there are some more where they came from too. They are Windows only.

Shortcircuit is FREE!

Shortcircuit from Vember Audio is freeware now, check it out and have some fun.

Even More Glitch VST's

Ultrabeat in Logic 8 (OSX)

Stylus Remix by Spectrasonics (Windows and OSX)

iZotope Spectron (Windows and OSX)

CamelSpace by Camel Audio (Windows and OSX)

Beatfckr by Cees Taal (Windows) FREE!

Monday, June 16, 2008

More Glitch VST's

Ultra Trigga FX by AZ Audio (Windows) FREE!

Dead Beats by Scott Monteith (Reaktor) (you can get this one free here)

Live Cut by Smart Electronix (Windows and OSX) FREE!

Effectrix by Sugar Bytes (Windows and OSX)

Shattersync by Pluggotic (Windows) FREE! (Based on Shattershot Lite by DarkWare)

Konkrete and Konkrete 2 by Soniccouture (Kontakt)

Glitch VST's

dBlue Glitch by Illformed (Windows) FREE!

Buffer Override by Destroy FX (Windows and OSX) FREE!

Replicant by Audio Damage (Windows and OSX)

Toxonic Glitch by Joachim Schneider (Windows and OSX but only with Reaktor) FREE! but you must be registered.

Major Malfunction by Defective Records (OSX)

Ableton Live




I use Ableton Live simply because it works brilliantly with VST's and while other programs can be a bit fidly, Live isn't. It does take a bit of getting used to at first, but there are handy tutorials inside the actual program, so it soon becomes very easy. Also the sounds and effects it comes with are really great to play with, and they sound fantastic. There is a bit of a list here of known 'famous' people who use it too.

Great Albums: Better Living Through Chemistry



Better Living Through Chemistry is Fatboy Slim's first album and it is fantastic. Whereas his later work was kind of killed by excess radio play, this album wasn't so much and so you can come to it without hearing a song you've heard one too many times already. There's some real classic sounds on this album, and if you get the American version (with the orange cover) you get the bonus track Michael Jackson, which later was remade as Illuminati, which featured in the film Tomb Raider.