Free Samples : Digital Blasphemy (The Sound of Wrongness)
What happens when you do everything wrong? Digital Blasphemy contains excerpts from an afternoon jam I had in Kyma. Raw and unedited, do what you like with it. Mistreated waveshapers, hyper-resonating pulses, harshly modulating synthetic spectrums run through overdriven compression, non-harmonic ring-modulated frequency controllers…. the list goes on. If it’s wrong, I think I did it.
I personally find it very useful to cut up some bits to make a glitchy (think Alva Noto) kit. Enjoy!
Finally finished the prototype for Tectonic after 2 months of work. Tectonic is a system I’ve been developing to create realtime synthesis based on data from seismic activity. It will ultimately be a complete install with a projector and over 12 speakers (see models below). This is the first working prototype I have set up in the studio.
I’ve already begun making new implementations and alterations. It’s quite amazing how flexible the system actually is - and a very powerful content generator. The other day I created an entire live performance powered by the barrage of seismic activity in Chile. It really is endless…
About Tectonic
Tectonic is a sound sculpture created in real time by earthquakes as they occur across the globe. A tightly integrated system between Max/MSP, Google Earth and Ableton Live processes a stream of real-time data that is translated into synthesis and sample playback parameters.
When an earthquake occurs, seismic data is relayed to the system, sound is produced and Google Earth immediately flies to the coordinates of the latest earthquake giving us a visual representation of the newest developments. As multiple earthquakes occur daily, the sculpture builds, enmeshing itself in a complex soundscape of textures and tones - every second, different from the last and never repeating the same stage twice.
0 This post is tagged with: tectonic sound-design generative reactive ableton google-earth sound-art sound-installation
For the Able10 anniversary, I made a Live Pack that expands on some of the kits, grooves and Live Racks in my scrapyard of sounds. I built the song ‘Metropolis’ around the sounds and called in Atarah Valentine to lay down the vocals. The Live Pack is filled with very expressive kits that you can download for free here: http://www.ableton.com/able10-artist-packs
Cover story for CM’s guide to digital drumming
The editors at CM asked me to write a guide to digital percussion. It includes many step-by-step tutorials, tips and techniques for integrating and performing with percussion controllers Ableton Live, Native Instruments Battery and more. Be sure to check it out this month!
“Sixteen” is a sequence generated by a few simple equations within Native Instruments’ KSP processor for the Kontakt sampler. Utilizing 113 different samples, mapped across the keyboard, the sequence explores the number 16 as both a common musical value (the 16th note) and a point of reference for measuring voice allocation. Once the sequence is triggered, a loop is initiated. Different note values are selected at random while note velocities are selected from an array of 16 possibilities. The outcome of the velocity value is then divided by 16. That quotient is the number of 16th notes until the next note is triggered. It is a simple equation that naturally invokes complex syncopation and musical patterns within the given sample set. Here is one example outcome. Sixteen by micahfrank
Ableton Live Rack tutorial in Computer Music Magazine
Computer Music Magazine asked me to write a detailed Ableton Live Rack tutorial in July’s issue. It includes some beginner as well as advanced programming methods and lots of screenshot examples. Should already be out in Europe hitting the US in another few weeks.
