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Ableton has announced Ableton Live Intro – their new entry-level version of Ableton Live.

Live Intro has the same basic features as Ableton Live at a lower price and comes with 7 GB of Sampled Instruments, Drum Loops, Beats and Breaks, 200 Audio and MIDI Racks and Effects and 500 Instruments and Drum Kits from the Ableton Live Suite library.

So you’re probably wondering what the differences are between Ableton Live Intro and Ableton Live.

The biggest differences are:

• Live Intro is limited to 2 stereo inputs and outputs
• It’s limited to 8 Ableton instruments per project
• Live Intro doesn’t include the Looper or the Vocoder
• Live Intro is limited to 4 VST/AU instruments and effects per project
• Live Intro is limited to 8 scenes per project
• Live Intro doesn’t support External Instrument and Audio Effect devices
• No video import/export

Full details on the differences are available in chart format at the Ableton site.

Ableton is celebrating the 10th anniversary of Live by giving away 10 free Live Packs for Ableton Live 8 and up.

The Live Packs feature the work of 10 top Ableton Live artists, and let you look inside their songs and see how the artists work their magic.

The Live Pack artists include:

• Adam Freeland
• Apparat
• Brian Ales
• Covert Operators
• Junie Morrison
• Martin Gretschman, aka Acid Pauli
• Micah Frank
• Mum
• Swayzak
• Thavius Beck

Note: The free Live Packs will work in Live Intro or Live Lite, but will be read only.

No registration or email mumbo-jumbo is required – just go to Ableton’s site and start downloading.

OT: Devo’s Mark Mothersbaugh has created a line of art rugs that features his designs.

I’ve got an uncontrollable urge to get one of these for the Synthtopia studio…..

Devo has also announced plans for a series of live shows and some deluxe box set reissues.

via wired

Ableton has announced Ableton Live Intro – their new entry-level version of Ableton Live.

Description:

The new Live Intro has all the essential basic features as Ableton Live at a lower price and comes including a huge library of sounds from Hip Hop, Rock, Soul, Techno – Including 7 GB of Sampled Instruments, Drum Loops, Beats and Breaks, 200 Audio and MIDI Racks and Effects and 500 Instruments and Drum Kits from the Ableton Live Suite library.

Also included a Getting Started Manual, Integrated Step By Step Tutorials and Practical Song Templates.

Key-Features:

• Studio Quality Recording up to 32 bit / 192 kHz
• Full REWIRE Support / Slave or Master
• 64 AUDIO Tracks / Unlimited MIDI Tracks
• Instant Mapping of MIDI Hardware, Controllers etc.
• MIDI Sync to other software / Incl. Impulse and Simpler
• Supports all VST and AU Instruments, Effects and Plug ins
• MAC OSX and WINDOWS XP / VISTA compatible

Live Intro will be available shortly at a street price of €99 or $99. There is a free upgrade to Live Intro for  Live 6 LE and Live 7 LE users.

via Macmusic

Here’s an example of free music software that doesn’t play it safe.

_02.circles is a Windows software synthesizer that features a user interface inspired by Wassily Kandinsky’s abstract painting Einige Kreise:

This plugin opens an intuitive access to sound construction, modification, modulation, live performance tweaking, etc. being an interactive painting and thus a form of art by itself.

VST plugins nowadays mostly resemble the look and feel of real instruments so musicians feel comfortable with, but neglecting the power of contemporary user interfaces: mouse, touchpads, multitouch, gestures….

This plugin follows an intuitive approach, e.g. instead of knowing the filter cutoff value has to be modified to “2100 Hz” and the frequency modulation index has to set to “75″ the user is encouraged to play with the elements, e.g. make the blue circle a bit smaller and drag the green circle a little so that it becomes more visible, or even try things like “what will it sound like when I modify this red circle”?

Read more…

Pro Modular is offering custom made peak-a-boo acrylic panels for modular synthesizers.

Here’s what they have to say about their service:

We specialize in acrylic cutting and etching, specifically to create blind panels for you modular synthesizer system. Please browse our stock design gallery of over 125 designs. We can modify any of our existing designs or create something completely custom for you if aren’t graphically inclined. Custom graffiti can also be done by an actual NYC graffiti artist.

Please select a design or download a template and let us help bring your vision to life. We are ready to provide you with great service and stand 100% behind the result. If you are not satisfied, we will not stop until it is right. Your satisfaction is our top priority.

Vector art is preferred so if you need to create your artwork with a raster based program like Photoshop, please keep it black & white, high in contrast and have strong lines. Keep artwork solid black and white. Black is what will etch, white will be substrate.

We can also do other custom etching and cutting – DIY module panels for instance. And although we do not offer any metal cutting, we can etch your supplied aluminum faceplates, laptops or whatever you might need.

Be sure to see our examples page with images of the work we can do for you.

via RichardDevine

Synthwerks is offering a sneak preview of their modular synthesizer, which is still under development, at their Facebook page.

They’ve announced an interesting array of modules, including a “thumbstick” joystick controller; force sensing resistor modules; and this iPhone/iPod touch Player Module, designed to integrate an iPhone into your modular synthesizer. Read more…

New free music software for Mac and Windows – PanCake – a VST plugin that lets you create customized tempo-synced pan automations.

Key Features:

• Free, and available for both PC and Mac.
• Creative Modulation Tool: Create complex pan modulations with ease.
• Unique Waveform Drawing Capabilities: Construct your own modulation curves in a very intuitive manner. Waveforms can be easily drawn using soft or hard breakpoints, thus producing gentle transitions or sharp bends in the waveform. The unique drawing tool is similar to professional graphics/vector software, and allows you to draw with impressive precision and unparalleled ease.
• Customized Waveforms: Up to 10 customized waveforms can be stored.
• LFO Speed: LFO speed can be set free-running from 0.02 Hz to 5.24 kHz. It can also be set in rhythmic units synced to the host sequencer, from a fast 1/128 note modulation up to 32 bars.
• User Friendly Buttons: Reverse the waveform, move it in any direction, or randomize it. Select from a list of default waveforms, or copy and paste between waveforms, including presets.
• Complete Parameter Control via Automation: Absolutely everything in PanCake can be automated. Even the shape of the modulating waveform can be automated, and breakpoint movements can be recorded and played back. And if you want to use more than four modulation curves in a song, you can automate the plugin to switch between them.
• Exceptional Sound Quality: PanCake computes the audio at a per-sample basis; the modulation is interpolated with linear or, for the audiophile, cubic interpolation. The plugin’s LFO will always stay in sync, even when you make tempo changes in your host software, or jump ahead to different parts of your track.

PanCake comes out of this year’s KVR VST challenge.

You can download it here.

This year’s KVR Challenge resulted in a lot of interesting new free music software – including this Windows ambient sound synthesizer, Antorpya.

Here’s a demo of Antopya in action: Uranus:

 

 Uranus [0:32m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Read more…

Oh Land’s Heavy Eyes (official video).

Second single from Oh Land’s debut album Fauna.