Tag: Ableton Live

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(Modulate This) Ableton Live AudioCubes Events Launchpad Live Performance Performance Performance Videos Rocky Mountain Synthesizer Meetup Video

GoPro Video of My Set at Rocky Mountain Synthesizer Meetup / Beat Cypher Halloween Collaboration 2019

This video is made up of some GoPro footage from Rocky Mountain Synthesizer Meetup #74 – “Special Event: Beat Cypher Halloween Collaboration + Intro to SP-404”.
I’m performing two songs from my album I Hear Your Signals https://markmosher.bandcamp.com/album/i-hear-your-signals.

First up is “I Can See Them” performed on Percussa AudioCubes and Ableton Live.

This is followed by “Resolute” on keys, Novation LaunchPad X with AudioCubes providing interactive lighting via automation from Live dummy clips.


This event was a collaboration with madelife in Boulder, CO who hosts a monthly madelife BEAT CYPHERS. Event link https://www.meetup.com/Rocky-Mountain-Synth/events/264878800/.

I Hear Your Signals is album #2 in a series of alien invasion concept albums containing original electronica, dark ambient, and experimental tracks. This second album in the series, released in 2010, is a retelling of Album #1 – but – from the alien point of view inverted emotional curves!

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(Modulate This) ableton live 10 Ableton Live Packs Modular Synthesizers

Ableton Releases CV Tools + View Mind Map Summary + Links to How-To Videos from Moog Demo Library

Heads up, Ableton just released a free set of Max for Live devices called CV Tools. In this post I’ll offer some info on overview videos, a summary mind map I made to give you a one-page perspective on all this, links to a collection of videos just released on Moog’s Demo Library YouTube Channel, and lastly a link for more info and how to get CV Tools.

Overview

Intro video from Ableton

Now you can control your modular and CV-based gear with Ableton Live 10 Suite. And because you own Ableton Live 10 and Max for Live, CV Tools is free for you.

CV Tools is a Pack of 10 devices that allows you to send and modulate control voltage between your modular setup and Ableton Live using a compatible dc-coupled audio interface.

Plus, the included Rotating Rhythm Generator and CV Utility devices give you modular-style workflows inside Live or with a hardware setup that doesn’t use CV-based equipment.

Mind Map Summary of CV Tools

I used mindmeister to create a summary mind map. It’s a rather large map so you may want to click here to view the interactive mind map version. You can see more of my public mind maps here BTW https://www.mindmeister.com/users/channel/103187.

Click here to view the interactive mind map version

Moog Demo Videos

To see CV tools in action and learn more about how to use them swing by the Moog Demo Library Channel on YouTube. Bonus to see these tools in action with Push 2.

More Info and Download Link for CV Tools

You will need to be running the free Live 10.1 update or above to use it. Download CV Tools from the Packs page or find it in your Live Browser under Available Packs.

Download CV Tools and get more info here
https://www.ableton.com/en/packs/cv-tools/.

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(Modulate This) Ableton Live ableton live 10 Ableton Live Packs Modular Modular Synthesis Modular Synthesizers

Ableton Releases CV Tools + View Mind Map Summary + Links to How-To Videos from Moog Demo Library

Heads up, Ableton just released a free set of Max for Live devices called CV Tools. In this post I’ll offer some info on overview videos, a summary mind map I made to give you a one-page perspective on all this, links to a collection of videos just released on Moog’s Demo Library YouTube Channel, and lastly a link for more info and how to get CV Tools.

Overview

Intro video from Ableton

Now you can control your modular and CV-based gear with Ableton Live 10 Suite. And because you own Ableton Live 10 and Max for Live, CV Tools is free for you.

CV Tools is a Pack of 10 devices that allows you to send and modulate control voltage between your modular setup and Ableton Live using a compatible dc-coupled audio interface.

Plus, the included Rotating Rhythm Generator and CV Utility devices give you modular-style workflows inside Live or with a hardware setup that doesn’t use CV-based equipment.

Mind Map Summary of CV Tools

I used mindmeister to create a summary mind map. It’s a rather large map so you may want to click here to view the interactive mind map version. You can see more of my public mind maps here BTW https://www.mindmeister.com/users/channel/103187.

Click here to view the interactive mind map version

Moog Demo Videos

To see CV tools in action and learn more about how to use them swing by the Moog Demo Library Channel on YouTube. Bonus to see these tools in action with Push 2.

More Info and Download Link for CV Tools

You will need to be running the free Live 10.1 update or above to use it. Download CV Tools from the Packs page or find it in your Live Browser under Available Packs.

Download CV Tools and get more info here
https://www.ableton.com/en/packs/cv-tools/.

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(Mark Mosher Music News) Artist News Music Video Performance Videos Videos

Behind-The-Scenes Notes for My 2010-2015 Dark Sci-Fi Techno Show + 2013 Cover of Daft Punk”Derezzed” (Mile High Edit)

What follows is a rather detailed journal of my 2010-2015 Dark Sci-Fi Techno Show.

What Motivated Me to Write this Post…

While I was working on a playlist for the upcoming Rocky Mountain Synthesizer Meetup 7th Birthday Party at Tilt Arcade I thought about Tron which made me think about a cover I’d done back in 2013 of the song “Derezzed” by Daft Punk.

My cover of “Derezzed” (Mile High Edit) was really an illustration of the show concept I designed and performed from 2010-2015. While that show was performed with all original music I also thought it would be fun to do a cover with the same show design – because – well I love Daft Punk. So let’s start with that…

Video “Derezzed” Cover (Mile High Edit)

I re-sequenced the song from scratch (no samples for the original were used). I performed the music and visuals live in a single take with no edits.

My rig at the time was Ableton Live, Percussa AudioCubes, Moog Etherwave Theremin Plus, and Tenori-On sending MIDI notes to an Ableton Rack with VSTs. I used the Machine to control the arrangement in Ableton on-the-fly and to live sequencing the parts I wasn’t playing live as well trigger clips in Live to automate changes in Resolume. The AudioCubes were used to trigger and control effects through gestures, as well as add 4 more dimensions of gestural control for effects for the Theremin. I used the Tenori-on to improvise a lead :^) More on all this below…

Background & Show Design

I created the show concept in support of my original alien invasion sci-fi theme concept albums Reboot, I Hear Your Signals, and – at the time – the forthcoming Fear Cannot Save Us.

Note: These albums are available on Spotify, Apple Music and most other outlets. The albums are free “name your price” on Bandcamp.

My design goal was to have the audience more easily relate to what I was doing with a complex and abstract rig by incorporating controllers that offered real-time visual feedback. This would allow them to correlate what I was doing with what they were hearing from the speakers. As the show evolved I amplified this further with projected visuals with real-time FX using only live camera input.

Visually the show design was a inspired in part by Tron, and John Carpenter’s “They Live”. I also used additional lighting to create shadows inspired by German expressionism films like “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari“.

Here is an example of a live performance. More videos from shows at the bottom of the post.

Mark Mosher Performing “New Heart Beating” Live at Electro-Music Asheville 2014 Festival

Rig

Here is a rundown of how it all worked.

Continue reading “Behind-The-Scenes Notes for My 2010-2015 Dark Sci-Fi Techno Show + 2013 Cover of Daft Punk”Derezzed” (Mile High Edit)”
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(Modulate This)

Follow Along with Ableton Loop Summit Berlin

loop-berlin

Ableton Loop Summit is in full swing. I’m not there, but I am following along. Cool stuff here:

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Podcast Soundscape Journal

Sonic Encounters Podcast 002 – Metamorphosis Under the Chatham Light

Sonic Encounters is being converted from a podcast to an album series. Click here to learn more.

This soundscape is the soundtrack to an imaginary experience where – using a special morphing environment suit – you can instantly transition from a land to sea simply by walking into the surf.

Story

The piece begins with you observing a figure walking down the steps on to Chatham Lighthouse Beach late at night. The figure is silhouetted by the beam of the Chatham Light. As the figure walks past you and on to the beach you switch to the figure’s point of view. You then walk towards the ocean with the beam of the Chatham Light swinging out over your head and enter the surf. As you enter the surf, your environment suit extends and wraps you like a second skin. You hear the mechanics of the metamorphosis as the suit jacks in to your mind and adjusts your buoyancy allowing you to keep walking down on to the sea floor. Under the ocean the sensors isolate and amplify sounds from the environment. You close your eyes and listen – and return once again to the land.

View of the Chatham Light just before sunset.
Taken during the filed recording. The full moon over the ocean out from Chatham Lighthouse Beach with the lighthouse at my back
Chatham Harbor. Not directly related to this soundscape, but the pic gives you a sense for the locale.
Used during underwater scene to play tonal elements from original source field recording.

Production Notes

Based on a field recording I made at night on Chatham Lighthouse Beach, MA. I recorded myself walking down the metal stairs to the beach and right up to the surf and back. I used digital effects such as comb filters and synths to make the more synthetic sounds.
Field Recording
  • Date & Time: January 13th, 2012, 10pm
  • Location: Chatham Lighthouse Beach, Cape Cod, MA | Satellite View | Flickr Photos at Location
  • Recorder: Zoom H2
  • Format:  44.1kHz/24bit 120 degree stereo

Instrumentation

  • Ableton Live
  • Ableton Sampler
  • U-HE Zebra 2, Zebra HZ
  • Izotope Iris
  • Rob Papen Predator

Instrumentalities

  • Keyboard
  • Mouse
  • Controllerism
  • Automation envelopes

Effects

  • Ableton Live Suite Effects
  • U-He Zebrify
  • Image-Line Multiband Compressor

Subscribe now on iTunes so you never miss an episode. If you use a different podcatcher, paste this RSS link.

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Podcast Soundscape Journal

Sonic Encounters Podcast 001 – And What Do The Trees Hear When the Wind Blows?

Aspen

This song is an ambient sonic journey starting with natural sounds which morph into the hidden inner world of trees and back again. The piece starts off with a 120 degree stereo field recording of wind blowing through aspen trees and surrounding trees in Louisville, Colorado just outside of Boulder.

Subscribe now on iTunes so you never miss an episode. If you use a different podcatcher, paste this RSS link.

Aspen
Trees & Colorado Blue Sky

Production Notes

ALL sounds in the other 8 tracks of the recording use the original 30 seconds of audio from the trees as source audio. To create the inner-world sonic soundscape I used a variety of techniques from processing the sound with effects through re-synthesizing the harmonic content of the trees to make new playable virtual instruments that allowed me to compose subtle pitched drones.
Field Recording
  • Date & Time: April 27, 2012
  • Location: Louisville, CO
  • Recorder: Zoom H2
  • Format:  44.1kHz/24bit 120 degree stereo

Instrumentation

  • Ableton Live
  • Native Instruments Absynth
  • Rob Papen Predator

Subscribe now on iTunes so you never miss an episode. If you use a different podcatcher, paste this RSS link.

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(Modulate This) Music Monday

Music Monday: “Digital Graffiti” a Free Compilation Album by Denver/Boulder Producers

cover

I have something special for your Music Monday. It’s a new compilation album called Digital Graffiti Volume One featuring 7 tracks from 5 Denver/Boulder Artists including yours truly :^).  Kudos to Kent Barton (SEVEN7H WAVE) for all the time he put into this. I’m super honored that Kent included me.

One thing that all these artists together is that we all met through the Ableton Denver User Group (which is now going two-and-half years old). So, that said, don’t be a complete studio vampire and get out of your basement from time-to-time and find others on the same path. There is strength in numbers and sharing ideas.

There are a few other reasons I’m sharing this as my Music Monday. First it contains seriously cool tracks so get out your nice headphones. Second,  to give you a glimpse of the strong indie original electronic music movement in Denver. I feel very lucky to have settled here.  Third, to encourage you to band together with your local and interweb friends work on collaborations like this. It’s a great way to get more exposure for your music and get to know your fellow artists better. It also helps break down genre barriers and allows the promotion of electronic music in general.

About the Album

YOU HAVE ENTERED A GENRE-FREE ZONE. Turn up the volume and listen as six Denver producers break new musical ground. released 10 April 2012

Featuring (click links to read bios that Kent pulled together including links to artist sites)…

Chris Lawhead
Kent Barton – SEVEN7H WAVE
Mark Mosher
Mike Stacey – Circle Six
Marc Wei – DJNSM
Brad House – Dubokle

Album Cover by

Brandon Loyche @ I'm Hidden Deisgn

Arranged & Lightly Mastered by

Kent // SEVEN7H WAVE

Download Now

Immediate download of 7-track album in your choice of MP3 320, FLAC, or just about any other format you could possibly desire.

Listen Now

 

http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/v=2/album=2934802263/size=grande2/bgcol=FFFFFF/linkcol=4285BB/

Enjoy,

Mark Mosher
Electronic Music Artist, Boulder, CO
Official Web Site: www.MarkMosherMusic.com
Listen/Download Albums: www.MarkMosherMusic.com/music.html

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(Modulate This) Music Monday

Music Monday: “… At The End Of It All” by c.db.sn (Chase Dobson)

cdbsn-cover_web

This week, my Music Monday pick is the new album … At The End Of It All by friend and fellow Denver-based artist Chase Dobson (aka c.db.sn).

chasedobsonI got to know Chase through the Ableton Colorado User Group and have enjoyed watching his career take off on the Ableton front. In 2011, he was the Playback System Technician for Mike Posner’s tour and is the Ableton Programmer for Dia Frampton‘s (2nd place finisher on the TV Show “The Voice”) upcoming tour in support for Blake Shelton.

… At The End Of It All is Chase’s second full-length original album and is loaded with beat-driven instrumental electronic songs. Behind the big glitchy up front drums are great sounds, sub-woofer stressing basses, and textures that will transport you to a dystopian setting. The production quality is fantastic.

My personal favorite track “As If December Never Happened”  which starts off with an ambient piano intro. The song really takes off when glitched-out beats kick in. Act 3 of this song transitions to a pulsing ethereal movement. In this section – at 3:13 – there is a looped element with radical loop length changes taking it from glitch to tonal. Awesome!

The attention to detail within the slices, the way Chase works the space around the slices, and the careful balancing of each piece with dark tonal pads are what makes this album stand out for me.  Listen, to the track “Airport [Never_Land]” with headphones on and and you’ll hear what I mean as the sliced elements morph in tonal character throughout the piece.

I’ll leave it to you to discover more sonic surprises and subtle melodic motifs for yourself.  You can listen to a preview and buy the album up on Bandcamp. Pass it on…

http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/v=2/album=3938744211/size=grande2/bgcol=FFFFFF/linkcol=4285BB/

Links:

————————————-

Mark Mosher
Electronic Music Artist, Boulder, CO
www.ModulateThis.com
Artist Site: www.MarkMosherMusic.com
Listen/Download Albums: www.MarkMosherMusic.com/music.html

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(Modulate This) Sound Design

Ableton Live Tip: Finding Sets Quickly by Bookmarking Folders

When I play my live show, I use a different set for each song. I’ve optimized my sets so they only take about 9 seconds to load (more on this in a future post).

On stage I don’t want to be mousing around trying to find sets and instead want to just quickly launch the sets in from Live’s browser. A hand way to organize and quickly get to the sets is to create bookmark for the folder with your sets in them, then map this bookmark to one of Live’s 3 “File Browser” buttons.

Here is my approach step-by-step:

  1. Store your sets for your show in a folder
  2. Rename the sets so they display in the right order by adding 01 to the first song, 02 to the second song so they sort in show order.
    image
  3. Use Live’s browser to find the folder, then right-click (windows)/option-click (mac) to then select “Bookmark Folder”.
    SNAGHTML86083bb
  4. You can now quickly browse to this folder using the pull-down. You can also associate this folder with one of the three “File Browser” icons by simply clicking one of the icons. Just click the icon to return to the folder at any time.image
  5. Double-click sets to load.

Mark Mosher
Electronic Musician, Boulder, CO
www.ModulateThis.com
www.MarkMosherMusic.com

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(Modulate This) Computers & Laptops Effects Plugins Midi/USB Keyboards & Controllers Novation Remote SL Sound Design Synth: Predator Synths & Instruments (Virtual)

Modulate This! – Best Products of 2008 for Electronic Musicians

2008-bestof

Hope you all are having a restful holiday season. I continuously strive for the leanest rig that will give me the best results. In this post I’ll offer a list products that make up the core of my rig. Consider this my “If I was stranded on a desert island” list for 2008.  Note that some products in my list were not new in 2008, but I’m still using them tons so they’ve made the list. If you want to see all the elements of my rig, check out this photo album on MySpace.

Best DAW – Ableton Live 7, $499
01_live_midnightFor me, Live has been become more than a DAW. It’s at the core of everything I do and after years of use feels more like a musical instrument to me than some piece of software. See all my posts on Live here. Official Live site is here.

Best Hybrid Synthesizer – Camel Audio Alchemy , $249
imageCamel Audio just released a new synth called Alchemy. They've been working on it for 4 years. It's an additive, spectral, granular, virtual analog synth. The interface is really well done with a clever scheme for routing modulation. I think it’s one of the finest virtual instruments I’ve ever used. I’ll be writing more posts about this synth in the future. For now you can learn more about it here.

Runner up for me in this category is Native Instruments Absynth 4. It’s not new this year but is also a great synth. I also want to mention Spectosonics Omnisphere. I don’t own it and I haven’t tried it (no demo available), but from what I’ve read and seen in demo videos it’s a monster synth. I went with Alchemy because it has a much smaller footprint and has more features for those like me who want to manipulate our own samples.

Best Virtual Analog Synthesizer – Rob Papen’s Predator, $179
predator_advancedPredator is a virtual analog synthesizer for Windows or Mac that runs as a plug-in (VST, Audio Unit, RTAS).  It ships with a huge library of presets, and built-in tools for patch browsing and search.  It also has some innovative features such as preset morphing, intelligent preset variation, and chord memory. Even though Predator didn’t release this year, Rob Papen keeps the synth fresh with free updates. More posts here …

Best Controller Keyboard – Novation Remote SL, Starting at $299

02_novation_remotesl25 I still love the way this controller and Automap 2 software helps make using software more like using a physical instrument. Check out official site here. I still get a lot of traffic on my posts on the M-Audio Axiom series controllers so it’s clearly a popular choice if you can’t afford the Remote SL.

Best Controllers for Those on the Go -Korg Nano Series, $49-59

image

This year Korg released USB powered slim-line controllers nanoKey, nanoKontrol, and nanoPad. I have Key and Kontrol and can say they are fantastic if you want more control while making music from your laptop. More here http://korgnano.com/.

Best Bang for the Buck USB Audio Interface – Novation Nio, $249
image Microphone/instrument or line-level sources, low latency effects (Direct Mix Monitoring, 'Overloud' Guitar amp and distortion pedal effects, effects from the Supernova II and signal processing from Focusrite), two headphone outputs, four RCA outputs. All this for $249! See official site.

Best iPhone Music App – iDrum, Ocarina
image Hmmm. This is a tough one as there is so much innovation going on in this space. My two favorites are iDrum and Ocarina.

iDrum has a great interface for making beats on the go and synchronizes with iDurm for the PC and Mac. Read more about it here.

Ocarina turns your iPhone into a true musical instrument. It uses every feature of the iPhone and has some fantastic social connection features. Checkout the official site here.

Best Field Recorder – Zoom H2, $179
image I just got one of these back in November. It’s really fantastic. It weighs 4 ounces and has 4 mic capsules onboard for 360° recording in a W-X/Y configuration. You ca
n also use it as a USB mic. I blogged about it here.

Buy Online
Most of these items can be purchased online. Support Modulate This! buy using these links: Musicians Friend, Guitar Center, Zzounds.

Share Your List
I’m sure many of you out there have a your own list so feel free to share your list using the comments link at the bottom of this post.

See You in 2009!
Have a safe new years eve and I’ll see you in 2009.

Mark Mosher
www.modulatethis.com
www.markmoshermusic.com

Categories
(Modulate This) Effects Plugins Video Tutorials

Video Tour of Image-Line’s Gross Beat Plug-in

Last night I bought Image-Line’s Morphine synth. As part of their holiday sale, I got their brand new plug-in Gross Beat for FREE ($99 value).

It’s a great plug-in – so much so I stayed up way too late experimenting with it. To help you get your mind around the plug-in and jump start your use of it, I produced a video tour.

Links:

Mark Mosher
www.modulatethis.com
www.markmoshermusic.com

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(Modulate This) Sound Design

Faderfox Control Surfaces for Ableton Live and Traktor Now Available in US

Faderfox

A German company called Faderfox has developed 2 control surfaces optimized for Ableton Live and 2 for Traktor. These control surfaces look fantastic. I was curious how we get them in the US, so I emailed Faderfox who told me that their products were being distributed in the us by ROBOTSPEAK in San Francisco.  I’ve provided links below for info and purchasing.

Ableton Live Optimized Controllers:
Lv2
LV2 –  Manufacturer Info | Buy

Lx2
LX2 – Manufacturer Info | Buy

Traktor Optimized Controllers:
Dj2_1  DJ2 – Manufacturer Info | Buy

Dx2
DX2 – Manufacturer Info | Buy

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(Modulate This) Sounds & Preset Libraries

Join the Smart Loops Email Newsletter to Download Hundreds of Free Loops and Samples

   

Smartloops
I saw this on http://www.project5.com. Smart Loops is offering free loops and samples if you join their email newsletter. If you subscribe, you get:

  • You will get access to hundreds of free loops in ACID, REX2 and Apple Loops formats.
  • You will get access to free Drum Sample Sets in SoundFont, SFZ, and DR-008 formats.
  • You will receive exclusive discount offers on Smart Loops products.

You can access the signup form here.

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