A short demonstration of the MLGI (Multi- Laser Gestural Interface) designed by Meason Wiley at California Institute of the Arts.

Strap it on a dolphin, and you’d have a lethal weapon.

The Multi- Laser Gestural Interface is an open source and modular “free-gesture” controller that uses beams of laser light along with photo resistors to create a physical, fluid musical instrument.

With the MLGI, Wiley is attempting to bring a physical interactivity to electronic music performance. By removing the performer from behind the laptop, the audience becomes aware of the performer’s interaction with the controller, which creates an instant visual connection between the sound and the performer.

The MLGI was created using Dan Overholt’s multi I/O CREATEUSB or CUI interface, which, along with the programming language ChucK, can be made to send MIDI or OSC via USB port.

For more information about this open-source + modular controller,  visit www.cyclespersecond.net.

This video gives an overview of what’s new in Native Instruments Komplete 6.

via NativeInstruments

Luca Capozzi’s Modular Piano is an acoustic piano simulation created using traditional subtractive synthesis.

Details below.

via zioaxiom:

While programming my first library I ran into the need to have an acoustic piano sound. Since I don’t have a real piano to sample, I decided to synthesize it from scratch using “traditional” subtractive synthesis technique.

This is my first good result and has been achived only by using basic oscillators, filters and so on. The only downside is the limited polyphony due to heavy CPU usage, so I sampled almost every key and mapped them into a sampler in order to make this sound more usable.

Leave your appreciation on Behance Network.

This demo of the rare Zion Turbo Guitar Synth Controller demonstrates how cool guitar synthesizers can be.

This clip shows the Zion Turbo synth guitar used with the Roland GI-20 to drive Native Instruments Reaktor 5.0 and Arturia V2600. A BX-13-VX is used to interface between the 24-pin and 13-pin interface.

via WayneJoness:

Super rare, American-made Zion Turbo Guitar Synth Controller, designed for the vintage 24-pin Roland Guitar synthesizer series, and build in the mid-nineteen eighties.

Cult of the Maschine is a techno jam produced entirely with Native Instruments’ Maschine.

via SuicideServer:

A little loveletter to Natives Maschine and my other lovely gear. This is the fist time i did a video with Modul8 to add some more spice instead of the old finger cam. The track was produced entirely with Maschine, which was hosted in Ableton Live8. I used a delay and Beatlookup from the Reaktor User Library. Enjoy

Tim Exile of Warp Records explains his Reaktor 5 based live performance setup.

The hardware array controls various custom-made processors in Reaktor.

More info at TheNowWave.

In this video Tim Exile performs YouTube Killed The Now Wave Star using Native Instruments‘ Reaktor 5.

The camera work for this video is fantastic, giving you a high resolution look over Exile’s shoulder as he performs the piece.

via NativeInstruments

This video, created by The Amazing Rolo, captures Moldover’s SyncoMasher at Maker Faire.

The SyncoMasher is Moldover’s new multiplayer music machine. It combines five music control workstations into one console.

via moldover

Jazzmutant Lemur Weird MIDI Sequencer

via lostinetwork:

This video shows some applications from Lemur Breakpoint Object working like a MIDI sequencer, nodes triggering notes and fix them to a selected scale, minor, major, penthatonic, etc.

Also there´s a cc automation page to remote synth/sampler parameters.

The Main idea was to use it for soundscapes, and some pseudo random melodies.((Still in progress))

Moldover has released a new album, titled Moldover, that’s not just a interesting collection of electronic music, but it comes in a CD case that’s a light theremin.

Explains moldover:

It completely redefines what it means to “play an album”… Moldover’s CD packaging itself IS a new musical instrument!

The CD is mounted on a custom designed circuit board, intricately patterned and powering a “light-Theremin”.

Yes! You play the artwork and it makes sound!

Only the musical supervillain genius of Moldover could develop something so stunningly innovative.

The album comes in several edition, including the Standard Edition (no light-theremin), the Pocket Edition (mini light-theremin) and the Awesome Edition (full circuit-board light-theremin CD insert).

You can preview the tracks from Moldover’s CD and purchase it at his site.

Leave a comment below with your thoughts on this bad boy!

Sunday Synth Jam: A nice experimental ambient synth jam from Sarah Nicolls & Tim Exile.

via timexile:

This was filmed in a rehearsal at the Bluecoat in Liverpool in April.

Sarah is playing her crazy modified piano (complete with robotics). I’m live sampling, processing etc… it’s all improvised as usual. It’s a great accompaniment to a sunny morning in Berlin I tell thee…

Filmed by Sam Meech, edited by Neringa Plange.

Native Instruments has gone Kompletely Insane!

No – it’s not because they built their new website almost entirely in Flash.

It’s because they are offering Komplete 5 for the month of July for $399 / 399 €!

According to NI, the 11 instruments in Komplete would be $3.069 / 2.689 € if bought individually. Native Instruments’ Kompletely Insane promo is good only through the end of July.

Komplete 5 comes with:

• KONTAKT 3 – industry-standard sampler with a 33 GB library
• GUITAR RIG 3 Software Edition – guitar and bass studio
• MASSIVE – sound monster for fat basses
• REAKTOR 5 – versatile, modular instrument studio
• ABSYNTH 4 -  synthesizer for vivid soundscapes
• BATTERY 3 – dedicated drum sampler
• AKOUSTIK PIANO – three grands and one upright
• ELEKTRIK PIANO – sounds of four renowned electric pianos
• B4 II – recreates the sound of the legendary B3
• FM8 – FM synth
• PRO-53 – the reproduction of a synth legend

This video demonstrates using an iPhone to control Native Instruments Reaktor via Open Sound Control.

Resources:

• Native Instruments Reaktor (Mac)
• TouchOSC (iPhone)
• Reaktor synthesizer designed by Tony Wallace

Here’s a little Sunday Synth Jam featuring some Native Instruments Reaktor and Maschine remix action.

via timexile:

A live mashup of this amazing 16bit tune using a patch I made in Reaktor using the Maschine controller from NI. FX on the pads and twisters, bar progress on the top 8 buttons, track section on the 8 buttons to the left of the pads.

Two clips from performances at Cal Arts demonstrate using the MLGI (Multi-Laser Gestural Interface) in musical performances.

via deadwaiter:

The first clip is of myself and Curtis Bahn, Professor of Computer Music Composition/Performance at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Curtis is using his eSitar and laptop running Max/MSP. I am using the MLGI and laptop running ChucK and Reaktor.

The piece is an improvisation inspired by the recent tragedy that took place at the Taj Mahal in Bombay, India.

The second clip was taken from the MTIID Musical Robotics concert. I am using the MLGI again with ChucK and Reaktor, but also using it to control our newly designed musical robot, as well as Ajay Kapur’s MahaDeviBot (unfortunately off camera in the clip).

The MLGI is a multi-laser gestural controller built and designed by Meason Wiley at California Institute of the Arts.

The controller uses Dan Overholt’s CUI interface along with an array of photocells and laser modules to send out control data, which can be converted to OSC or MIDI using various programming platforms such as ChucK and Processing.

This video demonstrates the MLGI working with ChucK, which is sending OSC to a custom built live instrument created using Native Instruments Reaktor Software. The controller is still in it’s development stages, but will be featured at the NIME conference at Carnegie Melon in June.

More info here.

Apocalypse Meow is the second release of sound designer/idm artist Luca Capozzi, features eight tracks of exciting electronic music.

It’s available as a free download from Jamendo, and has the best cover of the year.

Details on the release below.

via zioaxiom:

Here’s a brief description of tracks:

01 – Intro
The analog warmth of a Doepfer and a Moog Voyager travels together the shiny frequencies of a digital Nord Modular G2X introducing you through this electronic journey.

02 – Ka’tun IV
The power of genetic polyrhythmed drums with a taste of acid basslines. The harshness of resonant filters used as solo instrument.

03 – The Prophecy
Dive yourself straight to the action with this soundtrack-style song. Acoustic orchestration and fat basslines are melted together. A rocking keyboard solo to fight the monster.

04 – Midnight Fog
Modeled dissonations, filter sweeps as melodic lines. Not for untrained ears.

05 – ZO-ology
An easy-to-listen electronic song.

06 – Back to A
How to play a radio transmission and enjoy your favorite soccer team.

07 – Ostreococcus OsV5
How a virus DNA will sound? Here it is. Bassline, distant echoed guitars and swinging percussions are all generated by a virus genome. Reaktor is the cure.

08 – Lame Walk
A jazzy walking bass meets a crazy automated breakbeat.

Gear used for Apocalypse Meow: Doepfer A-100, Moog Voyager, Clavia Nord Modular G2X, Metasonix TX-1, Roland TR-606, Native Instruments Reaktor 5, AAS Tassman, Logic Studio Pro, Ableton Live 7.

This video demos using an XBox 360 controller with Reaktor:

Take a copy of glove pie, an x box controller and a copy midi yoke and a copy of Reaktor and your away.

Glove pie converts any inout to any output, in the case x box controller signals to midi signals, midi yoke then routes this into reaktor and a sample synth type machine built in there does the rest.

left analogue stick controls the synth pitch, buttons fire various one shot samples, operate gates for oscisllators or trigger a loop, the right analogue stick controllers a filter.

This is a nice demo of what you can do, reusing mass produced gear for music – and also that using it to make msuic is a lot harder than Rockband.

via What Would The Captain Do?, myredhotcar

This video is kind of cool – it shows, in about 5 minutes, how to create a modular synthesizer in Native Instruments Reaktor. 

Unfortunately, the construction is not narrated, but it’s pretty easy to follow anyway. 

via nukebass:

A very basic DIY tutorial to beginners (like me) showing how to build a basic modular synthesizer in FIVE MINUTES inside Reaktor 5.1.

Reaktor itself, comes with a large variety of tools to make modular audio stuff… powerful software indeed! You can build virtually ANYTHING you would imagine regarding audio effects or instruments! 

If you’ve used pOSCa, leave a comment below and let us know what you think of it!

Description:

pOSCa is an Open Sound Control compliant controller for audio and multimedia software such as Ableton Live, Reaktor, Plogue Bidule, Traktor, Max/MSP/Jitter, Pure Data and OSCulator.

Using the controller from the iPhone allows the electronics music performer to get up from behind the laptop and interact with his audience. pOSCa sports a nice dial, up/down and left/right buttons and ten programmable buttons. Programming the buttons is easy: just select a button and set a value with the dial, then you can set another button to another value. When you hit the first button again, the dial will spin in place and give the desired value. This allows for easy pre-programming up to the performance and quick interactivity.

In order to have no surprises in concert, the settings are kept in the iPhone/iPod’s Settings area. Be sure to set the settings to interact with your audio software.

Here you can set your computers IP address and what UDP port your software is listening to. You can also set a name for the device so that you can have multiple devices controlling the same synth without causing confusion. Also you can set default min and max values. These are by default set to max and min for MIDI as many of the synth come from a MIDI heritage, but they can be set to anything you want.

pOSCa works best using WiFi and works equally well on the iPhone and iPod touch, although when using it in concert you might want to turn off the phone functionality first.