Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Pedalboard article from Guitar Player
http://www.guitarplayer.com/article/chairmen-boards/may-08/35211
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Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Toolbox - Graphics creation on Mac
http://toolboxapp.com/
What can you use Toolbox for
"Since im far from reaching the demotool goal, you obviously cannot use it for creating demos. However you can use it for tasks that involves bitmap or vector graphics. Examples of this could be:
* photo manipulation: crop, filters, watermarking
* creating seamless tiles (even for non-square textures)
* creating logos, typography, icons
* creating web buttons, frames, textures
* creating ui prototypes and placeholder graphics
* digital art
Most of the images in my gallery has been made entirely with Toolbox. I know the limitations and what is possible. For you it may be endlessly frustrating because some elementary building block just isn't there. In this case please ask me for more features and I will look into it, so it can be fixed."
Monday, October 6, 2008
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Monday, September 29, 2008
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Zoom H2 and Field Recording
I'll be getting one of these in the mail today. $164 from B&H.
http://www.wildlife-sound.org/equipment/recorders/zoomh2/index.html
http://digital-audio.suite101.com/article.cfm/audio_field_recording
http://createdigitalmusic.com/2007/01/26/namm-zooms-199-usb-h2-mobile-micrecorder-found-in-the-wild/
http://www.digital-motion.net/category/music-technology/field-recording/
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Monday, September 22, 2008
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Friday, September 19, 2008
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Monday, September 15, 2008
Isadora Software on Youtube
This is a program that is similar to MAX/MSP except cheaper and easier to use. I don't necessarily find this all that compelling but it shows it in action.
Plogue Bidule Review
http://204.151.38.11/cmj/reviews/31-2/regan-bidule.html
Bidule Modular Audio Software
Bidule 0.92 [Editor's Note: version 0.93 has been released since the writing of this review], US$ 75; Plogue Art et Technologie Inc., C.P. 37313, C.S.P. Marquette, Montreal, Quebec H2E 3B5, Canada; electronic mail info@plogue.com; Web www.plogue.com/.
Reviewed by Jared Regan
Limerick, Ireland
Bidule, by Plogue, is real-time modular music software aimed mainly at audio artists seeking a new creative environment within which to experiment. With Bidule, you have a collection of objects to create your own live/studio music-making environments. It runs on both Windows and Macintosh operating systems as a standalone application, and can be used to host VST plugins. Bidule can also be inserted into any other VST host if you want to use it as an effect or instrument. It is ReWire-capable, as well. Bidule features full ASIO support for low-latency, 24-bit linear audio-file read/write, and a 32-bit floating point signal path. Sampling rates are only limited by your audio drivers. On Windows, Bidule can use ASIO, DirectSound, or MM drivers. It also supports MIDI In and Out. The software does require a video card with good OpenGL support.
Bidule comes with many pre-built instruments, effects, and utilities for musical creation. Among them are a Step Sequencer, Loop Player, Audio Buffer, Pseudo-granulator, 7 Drawbar Organ, Analog Drum Kit and PWMPolysynth, 4 Tap Delay, Buffer Granulator, TwoBandDistortion, Time Domain Convolver, Flanger, Freeverb, and a MoogVCF. Along with the pre-built ChebyShev Waveshaper, SimpleFM, and CombTone sound generators, Bidule also provides users with the basic tools needed to build their own synthesizers. These include phase distortion, pulse, noise, PWM oscillators, ADSR, AHDSR, synced graphical envelopes, and all-pass, bi-quad, comb, and FIR filters.
Bidule comes with an extensive array of pre-built MIDI objects to use in conjunction with its sound generators such as the 16 Step Sequencer, Buffer, Arpeggiator, CC to Params, MIDI to Value, Note Velocity to Params, Note Number to Params, and a MIDI Looper, Player, and Recorder. There are also many MIDI Filters, Remappers, and Transposers. Some of the more interesting MIDI objects include the Stochastic MIDI Note, Stochastic MIDI List, Stochastic MIDI Sequencer, Note Shuffler, and the nifty Particle Arpeggiator.
If you already have some understanding of modular environments and signal processing you might want to head directly to the Building Block objects. These include Math functions (accum, binary/logic operator, counter, lookup table, value list, etc.), FFT using the phase-vocoder, Band-limited Oscillators, FIR, Envelopes, Delay line, and more. Like any object within Bidule, these building-block objects can be used to create sub-patches that can be saved for repeated use within other instruments, effects, or your own patches. This is especially useful if you find yourself turning to the same set of objects time after time. Upon saving a sub-patch, you have the option to add up to 128 inputs and 128 outputs for each of the different signals (audio, MIDI, frequency, amplitude). So, once it's saved you could, hypothetically, have 512 inputs and 512 outputs for a single sub-patch!
Bidule's graphical user interface has one main window, the patch bay, and uses the object-oriented paradigm (see Figure 1). Like Max/MSP, pd, and Reaktor, among others, you create patches by connecting these objects with patch chords. All of the available objects for patch creation can be viewed by clicking on the Palette window shortcut button, located in the toolbar at the top of the workspace. Within the Palette window there are 18 categories of objects to choose from, such as Audio Devices, Building Blocks, MIDI, MIDI devices, Mixing, Routing, Spectral, and VST. To assist in locating specific objects, the Palette window also comes equipped with a search function and a history tab. To begin the patch creation process, you simply drag and drop the chosen object into the patch bay from the Palette window. Once the objects are in the patch bay, you can connect them by using the patch chords. The color of the patch chord depends on what type of signal
it represents. Blue cables represent audio/data signals, white for MIDI signals, yellow for frequency vector signals, and orange for amplitude vector signals.
Along with the Palette button, the tool bar at the top of the workspace includes shortcuts to New, Open, Save, Undo, Redo, Parent, Parameters, and Media windows. If you're exploring a sub-patch within an object, pressing the Parent tab takes you up a level, so that you can view the main object or patch. The Parameters tab calls up a window that displays all of the objects in the patch bay, including connected MIDI hardware devices, and lists each of their respective parameters that can be automated. To set up automation, you simply highlight the parameter that you want to function as the Source, then highlight the parameter that you want to function as the Target and press the Link tab. The Media tab calls up the Media Pool window which is where Audio, MIDI, and phase vocoder files can be stored for use within your patches (see Figure 2). The Media Pool isn't patch-specific, only session-specific. So, as long as you don't close Bidule, all of the
files contained within the Media Pool can be shared between patches.
Using the right-click function of your mouse during patch creation can speed up the workflow immensely. If you right-click on any blank space within the patch bay, you call up the standard Cut, Copy, Paste, and Hide All Windows options. If you right-click on an object you have the option to Rename, Reinitialize, and Delete it. Here you also have the option to Monitor an object (audio), which calls up a window that gives you a visual readout, in decibels, of the incoming and outgoing audio signals. The Replace an Object command automatically replaces an object with another, preserving the cable connections. The Control from MIDI command allows you, instead of using the Link and Unlink function within the Parameters window, to select a parameter of the given object and, with a turn of a knob or a slider on your MIDI controller, instantly assign that parameter to that controller. For most pre-built instruments and effects objects, when you right-click on
the object itself, and select the Expand option, this will open the sub-patch, where you can see the guts of the selected object. If you right-click anywhere in the patch bay a menu will appear. From here you can choose the option to go back to the main patch. This is, most likely, the best way to comes to grips with the power of the software because you can investigate the inner-workings of the higher level objects.
Powerful spectral processing capabilities are one of Bidule's key features. The use of these normally complex features is quite simplified thanks to the high-level spectral objects that come pre-built. The Spectral Bin Delay object provides a graph where the user can draw in a specific delay time (up to 5000 ms) for each of the FFT analysis bands. The Spectral Freezer object takes a spectral snapshot of the audio, when the gate is on, and plays it constantly. Triggering takes a new snapshot. The Spectral Resynthesizer object takes a frequency and magnitude signal and re-synthesizes the sound using the selected waveform types (sine, triangle, saw, square, noise, ramp). The Spectral Cross fader object allows you to cross-fade between two frequency and magnitude pairs. Spectral to MIDI takes the "loudest" incoming frequency and outputs the nearest MIDI note in the well-tempered scale. If you want to dig deeper within the spectral possibilities and
make your own patches, you can look to the lower-level spectral objects which include: Frequency/Magnitude Binary Operators, Breeders, Buffers, Gates, Inversions, Logic Gates, Scalers, Stretchers, Shifters, and Variables.
Bidule allows for quite a flexible and intuitive way of synchronizing your objects. Since there isn't a master time-line in Bidule, the user can control the synchronization source of all of the objects, each with different tempos and time signatures, if so desired. If one of the objects within your patch is able to receive synchronization information, then a gray "S" (slave) will appear to the left of the object. Similarly, a sync generator object will have a green "M" (master), followed by a unique identifier, meaning that it can provide synchronization information on this specific synchronization ID. Some synchronizable objects include The Sync Creator, which allows users to create their own synchronization source to control other objects and plugins. The Sync Extractor can be used to synchronize any master object, so as to use some of the synchronization information for processing. The Trigger object, like Max/MSP's Bang object, sends a
trigger (a value of 1) in the output signal when the button is pressed, or at the start of each measure when connected to a synchronized source. The Trigger Clock object sends a trigger (a value of 1) in the output signal when the number of samples has been counted. The Sync to MIDI Clock object transforms Bidule's internal synchronization information to a MIDI Timing Clock for output to other software or external gear. The Tempo Sync object allows VST plugins to not only receive tempo/synchronization information, but to also become synchronization generators. The Sync Transport object is a standard transport bar that can also act as a synchronization source. It resembles transport bars found in many traditional sequencers that have a master time-line. It allows the user to set tempo and time signature information.
Overall, Bidule is a fantastic and flexible piece of software. It offers amazing audio and MIDI possibilities all within an elegant interface. The learning curve is very friendly and the program is instantly musical. It begs to be experimented with. With the option to replace objects on the fly without losing the cable connections, without having to go into an Edit mode to alter the patch, and when, within one click, you can assign a parameter to a MIDI controller, Bidule really shines in a live performance situation. The curved patch chords and the object alignment function help to give Bidule a very clean and well-organized interface which is extremely important as your patches become increasingly more complex. It should be mentioned that Bidule also includes extensive support for VST plugins and Open Sound Control operations, allowing integration with a wide range of audio/MIDI applications.
One of my complaints is that the documentation isn't as extensive as it could be. Although dissecting a high-level object might be the best way to understand the program, those musicians who are new to the whole modular concept might find it helpful to have a variety of tutorials to get them on their feet. Trying to set up automation for Bidule's parameters within another non-modular host sequencer can sometimes be a chore due to all of the different assignments that have to be made. A possible solution might be to include some sort of simple audio/MIDI sequencer object. Both of these complaints, though, could soon be moot as Plogue is planning more sequencing capabilities and tutorials with the release of version 1.0. In the meantime, and if you don't have another host or sequencer to record Bidule's output, you can use the Recorder object, which offers up to 32 channels of audio input to capture your beautiful musical mishaps.
Plogue's Web forums offer a valuable resource for users, where you can share your Bidule patches, submit feature requests, report bugs or problems, and just generally talk shop. If you have internet access from the same machine that is running Bidule, you can, from within the program, check and download the latest version. Users can also upload and share the patches they have created. Within the Tools menu in Bidule, there is a utility called Group Manager. Within the Group Manager, if you click Get Remote Catalog, the program automatically connects to a Plogue URL and, without ever leaving the program, downloads all of the new patches from fellow Bidule users that you do not already have in your Groups folder (Bidule uses the term Group instead of Patch).
Bidule is available for downloadable purchase from the Plogue Web site for US$ 75 (other currencies are automatically calculated on the site), which is amazing value for the money when you consider the spectral processing features alone. Upon writing, the current version of Bidule is 0.92. If you purchase before version 1.0, you'll be buying an early bird license which entitles you to "significant rebate on the full version" when it is released. You can also download the demonstration version which is a fully functional Standalone-only version. The demonstration version will expire three months after the original release date of that specific build.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Isadora Review
http://www.macworld.com/article/39027/2004/09/isadora.html
Isadora 1.0
Interactive Programming Tool Assists Creative Performances
by Robert Ellis, Macworld.com
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TroikaTronix's Isadora, a graphical programming tool that facilitates real-time control of digital audio and video, MIDI, images, and Studio Max 3DS files, has found a following among performers, video artists (VJs), and people looking for a way to render innovative multimedia effects to video.
Product:
Isadora 1.0
Rating
Pros
Powerful and flexible; stable; extensive collection of modules; excellent tutorials and documentation; reasonable price.
Cons
Interface lacks polish.
Company
TroikaTronix
Price as rated
$350
OS compatibility
OS 9, OS X
While other applications (such as ArKaos VJ, Max/MSP, and VDMXX) can create special effects for live performances, their complexity can be daunting; their performance, sluggish; and their effects, predictable.
Isadora's ease of use and flexibility make it a solid choice. Isadora allows you to manipulate prerecorded and live media—either with programmed effects and controls or on-the-fly via input from a keyboard or a mouse, a MIDI device, a microphone, or a video camera. Isadora can project video onto as many as four monitors (Stages) simultaneously, and you can record any Stage to a QuickTime movie for use in another video-editing program.
At first glance, Isadora can be a bit overwhelming, so you may want to work through the tutorials and spend a little time with the sample files. There's also an excellent 246-page manual. You'll quickly lose yourself in experimentation.
Flexible and Extensible
Isadora's workspace has three panes: a Toolbox, which lists the various modules; a Scene Editor, where you arrange modules and create links to make them work together; and a Scene List, a row of buttons that allow you to jump from one scene to another. The interface lacks Mac-style polish and refinement. For example, some buttons didn't display correctly. And I wasn't able to resize or collapse individual panes. My qualms are mainly aesthetic, though—Isadora isn't much to look at, and it could use some productivity tweaks, but it's easy to use.
You don't have to write any code to create a multitude of possible combinations and settings. To create a program, simply select modules from the Toolbox, arrange them in the Scene Editor, and connect them.
Isadora ships with more than 100 ready-made modules—everything from basic effects (Chroma Key, Colorize, Crop, and more) to complex options such as Eyes (which lets you control your media with the brightness of a camera's live video stream). The program is also compatible with FreeFrame, an open-source video plug-in system (more than 40 free plug-ins are available on the TroikaTronix Web site). And you can create and save your own modules.
Scene Control
An elaborate scene can turn into a tangled web of interconnected modules, but you can hide the clutter by creating a Control Panel—a customized user interface of buttons and sliders that control the modules in a scene.
Complex scenes can heavily tax system resources, but the program was stable and responsive on my dual-800MHz Power Mac G4 with 1.25GB of RAM, even as I experimented with numerous parameters and effects. Video capture may require some compromises in performance, though. Depending on your system, you may not be able to run as many effects, or you may have to capture at a lower frame rate or lesser quality.
Macworld's Buying Advice
Isadora is powerful, flexible, stable, responsive, and surprisingly easy to use. It's also reasonably priced. If you need a programming environment for creating live interactive multimedia performances, or want a tool that can help you render live interactive media for use in multimedia projects, Isadora will help you express yourself in unlimited ways.
Input from the outside world can control effects in Isadora. Here, the Eyes module allows the brightness of the streaming tree video to manipulate the glow effect applied to the sunflower movie.
Isadora
Hey Frankllyn what do you know about Isadora. I think I remember it being mentioned at Oberlin. Looks to have something in common with Max/Msp.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Monday, August 18, 2008
Monday, July 21, 2008
Friday, July 18, 2008
Monday, July 14, 2008
Friday, July 11, 2008
Custom Controller
<object width="400" height="302"> <param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /> <param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /> <param name="movie" value="http://www.vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=649922&server=www.vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1" /> <embed src="http://www.vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=649922&server=www.vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="400" height="302"></embed></object><br /><a href="http://www.vimeo.com/649922?pg=embed&sec=649922">A Brief Conversation Resulting in One Less Child</a> from <a href="http://www.vimeo.com/user277898?pg=embed&sec=649922">stretta</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com?pg=embed&sec=649922">Vimeo</a>.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Monday, July 7, 2008
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Monday, June 30, 2008
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Friday, June 27, 2008
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Monday, June 23, 2008
Sunday, June 22, 2008
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