truly incredible jam session with Nick (Draft34) yesterday afternoon. Over the course of about 2 hours we ran through 3 or so permutations of a really wild techno set. Nick brings the groovy ambiance, creating very cool textures from sound he captures on the go from his kalimba, harmonica, and voice, and I bring the percussion and tension. we’re ironing things out, and next time this set up will likely see Nick’s beautiful Line 6 delay pedal. it’s amazing how all this gear and this cable salad fit onto my desk along with all the tea and tea packets, books, camera stuff and other junk.
I think we will definitely try and record this set when the big performance happens. Dec. 1st!
the poster says “quit smoking!”
Gear, bottom right to upper left:
Maschine Mikro MKI, Boss DS-1 distortion pedal, MXR distorion pedal, APC 40, Komplete Audio 6 interface, MPK mini, QuNeo, harmonica, Zoom H4n, Kalimba, SM58 mic.
Beautiful midi controller !
More pics of the Soundscape. First reaction is naturally a huge “wtfamilookingat?!” but it makes more sense when you see the other pics in that link. It looks gorgeous, but I wonder if it is a bit too random to use effects exactly the way you expect to. Which might actually be a good thing… It could force you to construct effect racks to work well no and not be too heavy handed and all flow together, all of which is an excellent exercise in building effect racks (in Ableton). It probably also feels awesome, and certainly is one of the most unique controllers I have seen.
A Record Player With No Records, And Lasers Instead Of A Needle
this is truly phenomenal! Aesthetically, you cannot top this magnificent work. It reminds me of another laser-stylus project I saw that interprets the width and colour of rings in cross-sections of trees. HERE is a link to that. If you don’t speak German, the gist is that a Playstations Eye Camera is used for the stylus and it takes the video signal, converts it to VVVV, converts that to MIDI, and then uses those signals to control Ableton. We see in the sleek, precise Soundmachines version that the MIDI pattern is very exactly mapped out visually on the “record,” but that any sound can be put to that. That’s why the wood “record” is so fascinating: you will never know exactly how the wood will sing to you.
I would love to have one of these at home…
arranging a track earlier today using the APC 40, and using Maschine to add more life to the drum track. For the tracks currently in the works, I have been lovingly crafting intricate drum racks, but have often found there to be a lack of motion or diversity in the percussion once the track has been arranged. I’ve been using Maschine to patch more “life” into the drum track after arrangement. I like working in stages and layers like that. It gives everything a chance to settle in the track and in my head so that I can really feel where what is and if it sits well, and lets me find where it does and doesn’t.
I honestly think this is one the best controllers that has ever been produced. It might not be as flashy or stylish as the other Ableton controllers like the CNTRL:R or Ohm64/RGB, and lacks the extra three rows of the launchpad’s 8x8 grid, but it’s incredibly well integrated with Ableton. and LED rings?! You can’t even say no to that! Only thing I would change is make the pads “click,” like the buttons on the Kontrol X1 do. I find the APC’s buttons are a bit… shaky.
What I like about the APC40 is that I can put together a track on the fly and be able to tweak exactly what I need, when I need it. I dont like putting together tracks in the arrangement view, I like to play them and put them together based on feelings. the APC40 lets me do that.
