Max For Live, a collaboration between Ableton and Cycling ‘74, is now available.

The video above offers an introduction to Max For Live and what you get with it.

Here are some more Max For Live coverage highlights:

• Max For Live Sneak Preview
• Free Max For Live Tutorial
• Getting Started With Max
• Robert Henke on Max For Live

Max for Live retails for USD 299/EUR 249. If you already own Max 5, the discounted price is USD 99/EUR 79.

See our previous Max For Live coverage for more info!

Want proof that the world is going to end in 2012?

If that video isn’t enough, consider this: Auto-Tune has been named one of America’s Hottest Brands by AdAge.

Here are their reasons why:

Auto-Tune was, for a long time, a product that barely spoke its own name. Popular singers wanted fans to think they were getting the real deal, making Auto-Tune practically a secret. So Antares Audio Technology, the company behind it, just established and held brand position among the few people who cared — music-production professionals and hobbyists — with regular advertising in trade publications and online ads.”We were not the only pitch-correction software out there,” said Marco Alpert, VP-marketing at Antares. “We worked for 10 years to establish the Auto-Tune brand as synonymous with pitch correction. There had been a concerted effort to establish a brand position. So when the whole idea of this effect came out into the popular music world, immediately we’re who people come to.”

The result is record revenue for Antares this year, according to Mr. Alpert, and a lot of profit, too. “We’re having our best year in history,” he said.

So you can see and hear more of T-Pain and Auto-Tune until 2012.

This is a demo video for a video theremin, created with Max For Live in Ableton Live 8. 

via akihikotube:

Max For Live (ableton & cycling’74) Video Theremin Tutorial Patch

This video, by Justonic, visually compares interval and chords in just intonation vs standard equal temperament.

Justonic has created a system that lets musicians play in just intonation chromatically by playing the root note on a MIDI tuning channel. Their software sends MIDI tuning messages to adapt your keyboard’s tuning to be optimal for the root note.

via NoiseForAirports

Ableton’s Robert Henke (Monolake) discusses Max For Live and his history with Max.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Henke is one of the original architects of Ableton Live and now acts as part of the specification team, determining the direction for the future of Live.

via cycling74com

Steven Ness is working on a version of Terry Riley’s minimalist classic In C, using Max For Live and Ableton Live 8.

In C consists of 53 musical phrases, lasting from half a beat to 32 beats that should be played in order, but can be repeated any number of times.

In this video demo, Ness explains how he’s using Max For Live to recreate the logic of In C using the capabilities of Max For Live.

Best quote: “Oh my god! Max For Live Is Going To Blow Your Mind!”

The Rocketboom Institute for Internet Studies examines the phenomenon of AutoTune, with help from special guest Professor “Weird Al” Yankovic.

Links:

http://www.weirdal.com/
http://www.youtube.com/user/WeirdAlTV

http://www.antarestech.com/products/a…
Antares Auto Tune

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jT_fnA…
T-Pain: Can’t Believe It

http://www.npr.org/templates/player/m…
NPR.org: Auto Tune in Action (audio)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5xsiK…
Cher: Believe

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T-Pain
T-Pain

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjTBH4…
T-Pain: Chopped and Skrewed

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAXWpA…
T-Pain: Freeze

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/art…,9171,1877372,00.html
Auto-Tune:Why Pop Music Sounds Perfect

http://www.newyorker.com/online/2008/…
Perfect Pitch

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/st…
Tone Deaf Stars Thrive on Digital Correction Software

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/st…
T-Pain Builds Power with Digital Prowess

http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/forum/…
The Arusha Accord

http://www.absolutepunk.net/showthrea…
Loftland Shhh Just Listen

http://www.206proof.com/forum/comment…
Auto-tune Killed Hip Hop

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nr-SZX…
Singing Kitties

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_4Axz…
Baby T-Pain

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lW6jW9…
Winston Churchill Backed by Band from Future

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oyb4Z7…
AutoTuned

http://vimeo.com/3718294
Vimeo: Auto Tuning

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWRyj5…
Slap Chop Rap

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4E5JJh…
B.O.B Autotune

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSgiXG…
Carl Sagan – A Glorious Dawn

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBb4cj…
Auto-tune the News #2

http://www.cmt.com/videos/misc/401599…
Jay Zs Death of Auto Tune video

http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/07/31/…
Unintended consequences: Jay-Zs Death of Auto-Tune boosts sales of the software

Jay-Z “D.O.A. + 99 Problems (Wallpaper. Remix)
via http://www.eeniemeenie.com
http://gadgets.boingboing.net/2009/06…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7yfIS…
The Lonely Island: I’m On A Boat (ft. T-Pain)
—
Additional music by The Discoghosts
http://www.myspace.com/thediscoghosts

Celemony has announced the release of Melodyne editor, the company’s first release featuring DNA (Direct Note Access) technology – technology that lets you access and edit individual notes within polyphonic material.

This means you can now:

• Correct wrong notes in a piano recording;
• change the chords in a guitar accompaniment after the recording is over;
• refashion a sample lick;
• Change a track from major to minor; or
• Change the mode of a recording.

Features:

• Single-track audio editing environment with Melodyne technology.
• Suitable for monophonic, polyphonic and rhythmic/complex audio material.
• Offers with DNA direct access to individual notes within chords.
• Works as a plug-in (VST, AU, RTAS) in compatible DAWs under Mac OS X and Windows.
• Can also be used in stand-alone mode.
• Activation on up to two computers or via iLok.
• User interface and manual in English, German, French, Spanish and Japanese.

Melodyne editor is available for PC and Mac for $349 USD / 349 EUR.

Celemony ’s updated product line:

• Melodyne assistant (equivalent to Melodyne editor but without DNA: $249 USD / 199 EUR).
• Melodyne studio bundle (contains Melodyne studio 3 as well as Melodyne editor: $699 USD / 699 EUR).
• Melodyne essential RTAS (the new version of Melodyne essential, which is only available in the Digidesign bundle).

Expert Sleepers has released version 1.5.0 of Silent Way, their modular synth control plugins for Mac and Windows, adding Silent Way Step LFO.

Silent Way Step LFO is a combination step sequencer and LFO generator. It shares many of the features of the LFO plug-in, but rather than generating waveforms based on simple sine, triangle etc. waves it generates a waveform that the user draws in the GUI.

When the waveform is interpreted as a series of discrete values, rather than as a continuous wave-form, then the output is that of a traditional analogue step sequencer.

Other changes in Silent Way v1.5.0

• The Smooth control on all plug-ins is now calibrated in milliseconds, and has a much larger range.
• All Mac OS X versions now require Mac OS X 10.4.11 or higher.

Silent Way retails for $49.

The video shown above is an example of interval expansion, an effect that can only be achieved through spectrogram resynthesis.

It consists in expanding the spacing in pitch between notes so that each interval doubles. Therefore, two notes one semitone apart become two semitones apart, which creates a melody that sounds different from the original melody. This is done here by setting analysis parameters so that only about 5 octaves of the original sound are analysed, then the frequency settings are changed so that these 5 octaves are stretched in pitch across 10 octaves.

It’s another example of some of the insane synthesis you can do with Photosounder and photo editing tools.

Details at the Photosounder blog.

The free VST effects include:

• Fuzz Muff
• Distortion
• Delay
• RMod
• GSynth
• Phasor
• Flanger
• Panner

If you’ve used EFM’s free VSTs, leave a comment with your thoughts on them!

Cableguys has released FilterShaper 2, an update to the VST filter effect that adds parallel filter routing, pan modulation, free-running LFOs and support for Mac OS X.

New in FilterShaper 2:

• Now available for both Windows and Mac OS X.
• Unique Parallel Routing: Added parallel routing option for FilterShaper’s two filters.
• Filter Panning and Volume Control: Individual controls for both panning and volume in parallel mode for each filter.
• Free-running LFOs: Set the speed of the LFO loop length in hertz or rhythmic units, independent of the host tempo.
• Modulation of Master Pan Control: The new master control can be modulated, just as all the other controls. This powerful feature can add some interesting movement to your sounds.
• Improved User Interface: Clean and uncluttered user-friendly design with a refined waveform editing area. All the controls are available within one single window.

FilterShaper 2 is available now for Windows and Mac OS X as a VST effect plug-in. It costs €49 / $69 but the demo version has minimal restrictions and is “free”: No time limitation and just one instance of FilterShaper 2 (and VolumeShaper) per song can be used for free with the built-in presets.

Free Windows Music Software: Synthgeek has introduced a free glitch music plugin for Windows, sg-glitchgate.

Description:

SG-Glitchgate is basically a rhythmic gate, but not set up in the standard way. There are two periodic gates which can be used for anything from regular rhythmic chopping to random rhythmic manipulations and strange dropouts.

The gates are followed by a delay unit designed to enhance the glitchiness- it does not sync to tempo, and the delay time and gain can be randomized. There are 5 LFOs to add to the fun.

Several presets are included to give you an idea of how things work.

If you give SG-Glitchgate a try, leave a comment with your thoughts!

AudioMulch has put together a series of tutorial videos designed for first time users of AudioMulch.

Part 1 demonstrates how to load and play a sound.

AudioMulch is designed for musical audio processing, composition, and performance. Its modular patcher-style user interface promotes an improvisational approach to music making.

The software offers a range of built in sound processing and audio mangling tools along with parameter control capabilities, that include time line and automation, a MIDI control mapping system and the “Metasurface” multi-parameter controller.

More at AudioMulch on Vimeo.

Matthew Davidson has put together a couple of videos demonstrating how you can run monome apps in Ableton Live 8 with the help of Max For Live.

Davidson notes:

maxforlive simplifies monome workflow.

For example, if you want to use polygomé with a DAW, you must open your DAW software, open polygomé, set up sync in polygomé, set up sync in your host app, set up MIDI output routings from polygomé, set up MIDI routings in your DAW. There is a lot of overhead.

With maxforlive, you simply drag polygomé into your track as a MIDI effect. Then you can start playing immediately. There is no setup. Everything is in sync.

Here’s another video, by Davidson, that demonstrates a stepfilter audio effect he created for Ma For Live.

If you’re working with the monome + Max For Live combination, leave a comment with your thoughts on it!

The effect features adjustable shape, depth and speed. Chorus and phaser type effects can also be achieved by using the dry/wet knob.

The developer notes, “If there is interest in this plugin then I might update it with a couple more features (tempo syncing, custom LFO shapes).”

via rekkerd

This Ableton Live tutorial looks at using sends and returns.

via PrimeLoops:

The sends and returns in Ableton are often overlooked, they are very simple to use, and save you CPU power, plus give you more control over a bunch of channels effects, this ones simple yet effective!

Stay Creative!

If you’re excited about Max For Live, but don’t know anything about Max, check out max4live’s video tutorials.

This video looks at message ordering in Max. There’s a beginning Max video also.

This video demonstrates how you can use the new Novation Launchpad like a monome.

To try this out, you’ll need a Launchpad (You can get them for $199 at Zzounds and other online retailers), a free app called nonome and a monome app.

For this demo, Mike Tron built a Windows executable that combines nonome with a monome program called mlr. Tron is offering to build an OS X version, too, if there’s interest.

iPhone Music Software: The Strange Agency has announced the launch of Slice (App Store link), a $.99 beat-juggling app.

Check out how it works in the demo video above.

If you’ve used Slice, leave a comment with your thoughts!