Percussa has announced that their AudioCubes are now available in packages of 6 and 8. Details are available at the Percussa shop.

You can preview the AudioCubes’ capabilities above.

Here are their recommendations for various types of applications:

Percussa Modulor is a free new application for the AudioCubes hardware platform that turns them into musical Legos.

Modulor lets you record loops into cubes using your favourite MIDI controller, and then combine those loops simply by putting cubes together. Color coding can be used, for example to remember which loop is where or what key the loop is in.

Besides recording and playing back loops, it’s also possible to process MIDI data, from loops or from live input, for example, using arpeggiators, chord generators, transposition, echos, … each cube can have one MIDI effect, and by forming networks of cubes you can create processing chains for MIDI data.

The application is a VST instrument host, so you can run it all by itself, and load your favourite software instruments. The resulting MIDI can be recorded to disk as a MIDI file with multiple tracks, one for each software instrument, which lets you bring your project into your favorite DAW software.

Noone feat. Nekochan- Just because of a little water.

Images : Arthur Chays, Simon Gras, Raphael Sylvestre /
Sound Design: Thibault Duperrier /
Editing : Camille Geoffray /

Noone on myspace : myspace.com/nooneroom

This series of videos comes from a live Percussa AudioCubes performance:

We stopped by Logos Foundation today where Kristof is working on a PD (pure data) patch using the new topology firmware and external for AudioCubes (send us an email if you want to join the beta testing). Great to see how the topology is being used to control the MIDI patterns going to each of Logos’ musical robots. The concert is tomorrow, you can find more info here: http://users.telenet.be/stichtinglogos/lb/0909/lb0909kon.html#090909. Dancers will control various musical parameters of the performance, such as tempo and music dynamics.

Click here to view the embedded video.

AudioCubes Live at Logos ABOCb

Click here to view the embedded video.

This video offers a tour of the various Soundpacks that Percussa has put together for use with the AudioCubes.

Part 2 below.

Click here to view the embedded video.

via Percussa:

In the second of our online Percussa tutorials we take a look at the various Soundpacks Percussa has put together to help you get started with your cubing experience. We look at some of the audio samples included and the custom designed FX racks to find out what ways we can use these with the Cubes.

Andre from Cuesounds discusses new sound libraries for the Percussa AudioCubes.

Click here to view the embedded video.

In this video, Andre offers an introduction to the Percussa AudioCubes

This is a Loop Shaper tutorial. In less than 4 min., it teaches you how to use Loop Shaper with Percussa AudioCubes.

Says Qwartz:

Qwartz Max Mathews rewards a genius invention: this year, we attribute the Qwartz Max Mathews to Bert Schiettecatte, of Percussa, for the invention of Audiocubes instruments.

The aims of the Qwartz are to present and make heard the many facets of the contemporary electronic and digital music scene; give people the opportunity to enhance their knowledge of this music and enjoy it to the full; support the creativity and cultural diversity that independent production can ensure.

An awards ceremony dedicated to musical and artistic excellence closes each edition and is held in Paris. This evening, open to the public, brings together the nominated artists and labels, as well as the principal players on the electronic and cultural scene: producers, artists, delegates from cultural centres, representatives of institutions and civil societies, journalists, partners.

Taylor Deupree presides the fifth edition and the Jury’s president is Enki Bilal. The Awards Ceremony takes place in the prestigious Cirque d’Hiver Bouglione on Friday, the 3rd of April.

Have any readers attended or been involved with the Qwarz awards in the past? If so, leave a comment!

Image: percussa

Saturday Synth Porn: A sexy shot of the Percussa AudioCubes, from a Vancouver Workshop.

via the Synthtopia Flickr Group – add your photos, too!

Projects featured include:

• Audiopad – a composition and performance instrument for electronic music which tracks the positions of objects on a tabletop surface and converts their motion into music.
• Audio d-touch – a set of 3 applications for music composition and performance: the Augmented Stave, the Tangible Drum Machine and the Physical Sequencer.
• The Music Table – an experimental composing system that provides a tactile and visual representation of music that can be easily manipulated to make new musical patterns.
• The Circular Optical Object Locator is a collaborative and cooperative music-making device.
• The ISS cube – a surround sound mixer that tracks the position of several physical objects on a tabletop surface to provide the user with an intuitive way of creating a non-linear soundscape.
• AudioCube – an installation that allows a group of users to create their own three-dimensional soundscape.
• Bach Blocks – a game that encourages children to create totally original music. The blocks are physical analogs to musical notes with color associated to pitch and block size to beat length.
• Chessynthesis is a performance project. It consists in a classical chess game, with a chessboard and 32 pieces, but a captation system analyzes the position and the evolution of the gameplay, and transcode it to sound.

Many more are featured at the site.

via USO on Twitter

This is a little gear porn video demo of the Percussa AudioCubes, via Bostich+fussible:

Having fun with Percussa Audio Cubes, This is our First Test Ableton Live and some loops and filters, we will use this set up on our next gigs….stayed tuned

I thought US Apple stores were pretty cool – until I saw the type of things that go down in Japanese Apple stores!

This is an Apple store demo of using Percussa AudioCubes to control Reason 4 for live music performance together with Quartz Composer for Visuals.

Click here to view the embedded video.

All software is controlled by Percussa AudioCubes.

via Percussa

2009 NAMM Show preview: Percussa has some goodies on tap for the upcoming NAMM show that look like they will dramatically expand the range of uses for their AudioCubes: AudioCubes VST Wrapper, AudioCubes Loop Shaper & AudioCubes DeckBridge for Deckadance.

AudioCubes VST Wrapper 1.0

Existing VST plugins or instruments in your DAW can be instantly used with AudioCubes through included VST wrappers from Percussa. The wrapper is compatible with popular DAW software such as IL FL Studio, Ableton Live, …

Plugins can be instantly mapped to cube sensors without MIDI Setup. Sensor info can be scaled, inverted and limited to plugin parameters and colours can be linked to incoming MIDI notes in the case of VST Instruments.

With just one cube and VST wrapper software, you can apply effects to your tracks very easily. The tiniest gestures of your hands and fingers are instantly audible.

AudioCubes Loop Shaper 1.0

Producing sounds or music directly with the cubes is possible through the included sound design software from Percussa.

VST plugins can be loaded and hosted directly in this application without running a DAW or other software.

With just one AudioCube, your gestures are captured and translated instantly into parameter changes for the VST plugins.

The results can be recorded into the built-in looping sequencer, and stored to disk as a WAV file, for reuse in your DAW or sequencer. Alternatively, audio can be streamed via Rewire to popular software such as IL FL Studio, Ableton Live, …

DeckaBridge 1.0

Deckadance, a popular professional digital DJ application by Image-Line, can easily be used with AudioCubes through included Deckabridge software from Percussa.

Real-time sensor signals from the cubes can be assigned to DJ effects without complicated MIDI setup.

Classic MIDI DJ controllers for transport control, cueing, loop setting, can be used simultaneously with AudioCubes without any problems.

Relooper sequencers in Deckadance can be easily controlled using multiple cubes for interesting loop slicing and reconstruction.

Deckadance template files are included for use with DeckaBridge.

This video demos using Percussa AudioCubes with FL Studio.

via Percussa:

We just got an email from Spyro who lives in Venezuela and is a heavy FL Studio User. His real name is Mat and he did a video tutorial on using AudioCubes with FL Studio. Check it out!

Real Name: Matias Monteagudo

Akas: Spyro, Montéz, Tony Alpha
web: www.spyrofunk.com (website) / http://spyro.mediashift.net/klanglabs/ (VST plugins development)

Graduate as Bachelor in Music under composition area at the IUDEM, Caracas. Spyro has worked in areas such as movies, short films, TV spots, documentaries, theater, art exhibitions, plain gigs and fashion shows

His recent works includes the soundtrack and sound design for Plan B (a local action movie) Also 2D Animation and music/effects for the Prolapio series of humour shortfilms, and around 200 TV spots for clients including Toyota, Ford, Schick, Coca-Cola, SubWay, Kraft, Movistar, Bayer, Glade, Pfizer, Energizer and Kosiuko.

In 2005 after his participation in the Red Bull Music Academy on Seattle, Spyro is very proud to release a 5 Songs EP called Biodegradable with the label Yoruba Records, owned by his fellow friend, great musician and master DJ, Mr. Osunlade

Spyro also spend a lot of time making VST plug-ins for his brand called KlangLabs, his most known plug-ins are Vokko a stereo vocoder, StompBud a virtual body sounds sample player, and BackMan a realtime in-sync backwards audio processor.

The library is written in C and is available for Mac OS X and Windows.  The goal is to make a library that is robust, easy to learn, and that covers most the functionalities the cubes are offering.  

The libcube library is available right now and includes two detailed examples of how to use it.

Details here.

This video, via Dan from Schaack Audio, demos a single Percussa AudioCube controlling Slicex in FL Studio.

AudioCubes in Dr. Faustus video shoot:

We set up at the loft and shot this video. The final version will be posted as soon as it is edited. These are shots from just the two stationary cameras. The handycam footage has yet to be converted to an editable format. I’m working on it. The soundtrack is unedited and from a live feed from the digital DJ system, so what you hear is the exact music coming from all those gadgets on the table there. -Kipp

Cassiel’s straker on monome and audiocubes:

The monome is being driven by the straker sequencing network, which is built using shado. The sound manipulation comes courtesy of shard, an algorithmic sample slicing plugin that we’ve used on stage a few times, most recently for a Future of Sound gig at (re)Actor3 in Liverpool.

In this demo video, Chris Warren is controlling a soft synth developed especially for AudioCubes by Percussa, to be released in the next few months. 

No setup or configuration necessary to make the cubes talk to the software, since the software was designed specifically for the cubes. 

No drivers necessary, and runs on Mac OSX 10.4 or Windows XP SP2 and later.

Image: percussa

Percussa’s Bert Schiettecatte has published a nice interview with Atlanta electronica artist Richard Devine.

A large part of the interview looks at Devine’s use of the Percussa AudioCubes:

Which elements attracted you in the AudioCubes when you got in touch with them?

I loved that they worked with the idea of sensors. That you could interact with them or have the AudioCubes react to each other and you have lots of interesting possibilities. Lots of room for experimentation, as the concept is so radical.

How did it go when you used them for the first time?

It took me a few hours to get the Cubes to work with my software, using the MIDI Bridge application. After I got my head around that, I was on my way, and I was totally sucked in. I was surprised to find that they had so many great examples on the installer CD. It really helped me see how many different situations you could use the AudioCubes in. I first went through the examples to see how many different variations and applications where possible.

I loved the Ableton demo they had using the Cubes as triggers to play samples, and loops. I soon started messing with some of my MAX/MSP and Reaktor patches, getting into more complex sound applications. In the meantime I found that I have been designing my software environments around them. I found that I have been triggering sounds and my approach to some of my old software applications has completely changed because of the AudioCubes. It’s an entirely different way to play and react to sounds. I think it’s an amazing step forward in alternate controllers. I love that it steps completely outside the conventional controllers, that usually deal with the knobs, faders and keys.

Do you use them in the studio, for live performances, or both?

I first started using them in my studio, and now I have started to use them in my live show. I see them working in both environments quite well. In the studio I have been using them with Cycling74’s Max/MSP and Native Instruments Reaktor 5. I have been recording my movements and triggers with them. They seem to work well with hand movements, and I am able to record very gestural movements, almost like a Moog Theremin. I recently used the AudioCubes on a new Sample Library that I created for Sony. We used them to control these custom Reaktor Drone patches, that were triggered by the AudioCubes.

Which other hard or software do you use?

I pretty much use everything. I love the Kyma System by Symbolic Sound, and I love the Elektron Machine Drum, and Mono Machine. My main sequencer is Logic. I also have been getting back into using Analogue Modular gear lately for sound generation.

How many times did you use the cubes already during your live performances?

So far I have used the AudioCubes twice, but I am starting to get more comfortable with them, and intend to use them for all my future shows. I have been using them with Ableton Live 7, Yamaha Tenori-On, Elektron Mono Machine, and Machine Drum. The reaction is always, whoa! What is that! Those look super cool! Everyone is totally fascinated by them. They also look amazing when playing with them in a live situation in a club where they glow in the dark.

Everyone loves them. They look so fun, and react to your hands and MIDI messages, and pulse to the music, which adds to the live performance. It really enhances the experience as the audience can see that the music is actually totally interactive with the performer and that he’s not just pressing a space bar on a computer which can be really boring. From the last two shows, I have gotten a flood of people coming up to me asking what they are, and how they work. The response has been amazing. I think it’s the most fun that I have had in years with any sort of controller device. Simply easy and completely interactive. You feel like you are completely triggering the sounds with the sensors and your hands, very responsive.

Check out the full interview, and Devine’s list of the 10 best records in the history of music, at the Percussa site.