Our Next Event!

12Feb2012 : Next Free Meet Up Meet-Up Event Link

15feb2012 : Warping workshop at iComputer. This is part of our monthly series (payment page) and supporting Meet-Up Event.

 

Lucky #38 Mark Mosher and AfroDJMac collide

by Marc on Dec.16, 2011, under Locally, News, Releases, Resources

Big fan here of AfroDJMac‘s work. Equally so of the work of Mark Mosher.  It is only fitting that they collide for a custom rack.

This rack is based on the U-He Zebralette, the single OSC version of the Zebra virtual synth.  I have started working on this synth via Mark and I am definitely impressed.  Once you get over the slightly off-center approach for the user interface there is a lot that can be done.

The new rack (released today) is can be downloaded here. You will need the VST U-He Zebralette.

Example audio:

Video Support:

 

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Warping Workshop w/Marc and Lawhead

by Marc on Dec.15, 2011, under Knowledge, Locally, Meet-Ups and Gatherings

POSTPONED!new date here.

Ableton Fundamentals and Warping with Chris Lawhead and Marc W

Description:  Start making music with Ableton Live now!  Learn the basics and then some.  Insert beats, play synths & drums, use Ableton for production or live performance, and warp music for dj sets, production, and LivePA hybrid. Start using Live as a primary esp for instrumentalists.

New to Ableton Live, this class will jump start the thump! Warping is the root of all work in Ableton and it is important to learn this correctly from the start!

Lawhead:

  • Warping defined
  • How warping works
  • Basic warping
  • Warp engine selection
  • Workflow
  • File Handling
  • Warping file information hierarchy

Marc :

  • DJ/LivePA warping methods
  • Choosing what warping method to use and why
  • How to warp fast, the bare minimum approach versus over warping
  • Platter and sandwich creation (warping for DJ performance)
  • Extreme warping to stretch your sound design
  • End Game Best practice
  • Intro to envelope modulation and low CPU methods for increasing your sound possibilities

Presented by Chris Lawhead – LawheadMusic.com and Marc W – djnsm.com

This is the first of many workshops that Chris will be leading the way on the education as he is our education front man for our user group.  Welcome him, tell him what you want to learn.


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Next Meet Up 11Dec2011 : Looper and Transdimensional color shifts

by Marc on Nov.21, 2011, under Meet-Ups and Gatherings, News

RSVP

Part I, Back Story :

Chase Dobson, Chris Lawhead and myself (Marc) have been working with the Looper for Ableton heavily for the past 3 months.  In short, we have been collaboratively assisting Chris in creating a live  performance template that combines a standardized environment for prepared material and a framework to record, treat, and perform with audio as loops and in real-time (captured on the fly).

Part II- The Event

For anyone who joined us three on Friday November 18 at the Living Room for a (free) performance you would have witnessed use of Looper and capture in a team environment.  This was a performance with a hidden testing agenda.  In that performance we each extended out normal set and approach to work on 2 important goals:

1.) Using the Ableton Looper in a live environment

and

2.) Begin experimenting with musical collaboration between electronic musicians

Goal 1 is the focus of our December 11, 2011 Meet Up.
Goal 2 is an area of great research and discussion between all members of our User Group.

Beginner :

Chris Lawhead will introduce the Ableton Looper and core functionality.  This includes the controls, methodology, and application of the Looper as it pertains to legacy (guitar, flute, piano, etc) instruments. Chris is an accomplished Flute, Saxophone, and Guitar player who has recently migrated from hardware solutions (as presented for out first meet up) to the Ableton solution where he is able to record, control, play, clear, undo, redo, and effect loops and sounds from his performance rig.

Chris has essentially tried nearly every looper  on the market and just recently made the complete migration to Ableton based looping. Chase and Marc both have invested time in developing this customized template.  Chris has been chasing the “Perfect Loop” for years as a multi-instrumentalist and the work in Ableton represents a new level of control.

Chris is also one of the many qualified instructors who teaches Ableton in the Denver area. He has been teaching music professionally for over a decade.

Marc will also step in to discuss drawbacks, errors, and caveats for the application. Additionally, legacy DJ world and operating inside the digital realm will be explored.  Marc also has a new Looper template for the APC about to be released; grab a free beta release and the quick overview while you are down.

Intermediate :

Chase Dobson will talk about the “Now What” issue of Looper.  Chase is a prolific sound designer, musician, and Ableton architect.  His work as a performer, capture artist, and collaborator is only overshadowed by the skill and ingenuity he imparts to the audio passing through his channels.

Chase will unveil some secrets and methodologies for processing and Loops and samples. A post-performance decompression is also in the works with the three players (from 18Dec performance) about working with a sampler artist.

Chase is one of our instructors for Ableton and electronic music in the Denver area. When he is not globetrotting on tour as a tech for acts such as Mike Posner, we enjoy his company in the Mile High City as one of the elite electronic musicians focusing on sound design, stunning IDM orientated arrangements, and the ability to make an FM synthesizer do anything.

End Game :

Since the initial release of Max for Live we have considered this application to be every bit as much Ableton as any other effect or part of the native tool kit.  David Viramontes joins us again to walk through his work in looping and real time sampling in Max.  In particular he has taken the audio buffer to a new level using it for capture, playback, and as a platform for manipulation.

We are excited to work more with David as a main staple of our User Group taking the lead on the Max side of life who both offers and takes challenges with great pleasure.

David is working on his degree and also instructs and consults on topics such as Max and installation work for audio/visual.  He is part of a cadre of Max and Arduino folks in the Denver area who are making serious progress with smaller chip-sets and new ideas.

Also in the house, try out the Vmeter (NOW IN DENVER). I will have some units to demo and they are available in Denver at iComputer.

RSVP

BONUS HIDDEN TRACK:

Marc has been working on an APC40 Looper template.  After the meet up he will go over the basics and deliver the beta build (including manual and coloring book). His Looper template  is extraordinary using a 4x4 matrix to select any of 4 target inputs for any of the 4 Loopers in effect.

Our Soundtrack is provided by Chiris Lawhead who will be performing via his live performance template and take questions.

If anyone has something to add please don’t hesitate to contact me.

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Some new stuff out there…

by Marc on Oct.09, 2011, under Knowledge, News, Resources

My friend Scott over at Curios Inventor and VMter.net open sourced this unit :

The Fader provides 16bit control over 16 PWM channels for LED or motor speed control via RS232 level serial, 5V TTL serial, or SPI. Completely open source--code, kicad, BOM are all below.

This sort of product, although slightly obscure in the context of this blog, is one of the many offerings that are creeping towards simple interoperability. The migration to open-source is important and to be celebrated. Keep watching!

New site to watch http://gieskes.nl/ -- I picked up on this via Oliver’s post here. Oliver was playing with an analog A/V module. Here’s a video:

There are a lot of sexy gadgetry on Geiskes site. I need to sit down and read through more.

Damian Taylor, who has quite the resume including work with Bjork on projects such as Biophelia. He has been speaking out more on what he is doing and released a Max patch. His interview on Cycling 74′s site and his Woodpecker patch.

I will give Peter the bump on this one as I have been getting news on this from all over the place. Here’s a point of entry for this paragraph. In short, Madrona Labs (think Aalto software -- visit Mark’s blog on for Aalto) has a new controller. The broad stroke goes like this:

Kinda diatonic, X+Y+Z axis, like a KP3 but sexy and with more potential. Definitely a new twist requiring time to decide what can really be done.

A video -- think about the possibilities:

More soon, cheers!

--Marc

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APC40 Live Template Workshop

by Marc on Sep.20, 2011, under Locally, Meet-Ups and Gatherings, News

September 28, 2011- Cervante’s Masterpiece Ballroom presents Up In The Clouds featuring :

This is a collaborative effort between Mile High Sound Movement, Cervante’s, Ableton Colorado, and a whole ton of artists.

I will be kicking off the evening with a training session on my DJNSM APC40 Live Performance Template for Able ton. This will be a new release featured on our sister project modern.dj.

This is a FREE workshop for ALL AGES.  (then there’s a show to boot!) going from 8:15-9pm.

This APC40 Template has been featured in conjunction with Ill Gates, presented at the Dubspot, and via workshops with Akai. This template follows a strict model for low CPU, High Stability, and the ability to perform DJ or clip based material with no downtime (load) and a One Page Design.

I will go over the basic layout, concept that drives this formula for end-game performance, and some of the best practices included in the template.

This template is FREE and will remain FREE. The product of over 1000 hours of design, research, testing, and of course performance based on the larger body of work in conjunction with the Livid Instruments OHM64. The old support page is located here (we are migrating this work to a new site…stay tuned).

 

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Mark Mosher reports back from Electro Music 2011

by Marc on Sep.19, 2011, under Documentation, News, Releases

Mark Mosher made the pilgrimage to Electro-2011 in NY and has this report.

Mark is a main purveyor of Percussa Audio Cube skills. He has a LivePA performance the features Ableton, synthesis, some Novation gear, and a Theremin.

Photo by Hong Waltzer

Electro-Music, via their site:

…is a place where artists and musicians meet, collaborate, sell our wares, and nurture our audiences. Here we create our own critical mass, so we can develop music on its own terms. electro-music is new music; still undefined; happening all over our planet.

In short, EM supports the type of music that Ableton enables all of us to bring forward. Not just another way to DJ others materials for your friends, but a means for real and new performance possibilities.

We appreciate Mark taking the time to represent our music scene and talent pool over there on the Atlantic side of the country. It is skilled performers such as Mark that make Colorado so awesome!

Here is his set from the event:

Be sure to visit his site for pictures and more media collected form the event. 2012 I might have to join him out there, any takers?

Find Mark and his projects via:

RSS
Twitter
Main Site

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Livid Technology and Computer Store Open House September 24, 2011

by Marc on Sep.19, 2011, under Locally, News

This Saturday, September 24, 2011, I (Marc) and some friends will be hanging out at iComputer Denver. We will be playing some music, doing demos on Livid Instruments gear – you know – the OHM64, Code, etc….

I should be there from 11am to 3pm-ish.

This event is a “Red Tag Sale” where there will be tons of stuff on sale and other items that have to go…

This is a free event.

Kent from Seven7h Wave is planning on stopping by (he’s a big Livid Code user). If anyone has questions or wants to chat, APC40 Template training, what ever I can fit in, I will do.

iComputer is located at 6th and Logan in Denver – Right behind Racine’s (kinda) in the same lot as Wendy’s.

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Mark Mosher + UltraNova + Dummy Clip Modulation

by Marc on Aug.30, 2011, under Documentation, Knowledge, Locally, Video

Just a quick shout out for Mark Mosher‘s new video on modulating the UltraNova (or any external synth or device) using dummy clips in Ableton to send discrete data.

Here’s the short video:

Special thanks to Mark for putting this video up as he is showing how we (as Ableton artists or modern DJs) can incorporate quality gear into our set and escape form the confines of what the LCD screen has to offer.

Further support form Mark on the UltraNova is available on his site.

Follow Mark on Twitter here.

 

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What words do you use? Live Music and Ableton at Cervante’s August 24 2011

by Marc on Aug.21, 2011, under Documentation, News

What words to use? How do you market your sound?

These are questions I constantly ask myself.  As an Ableton artist, or more specifically as digital performer or __term__missing__, I find it hard to explain what I do on stage musically.

I mention this because on Wednesday I am supporting Bridging The Music‘s presentation of Dimitri’s Ascent as Cervantes here in Denver. Let’s get you primed via some video posted by my good friend Mike Abb from Austin:

Live, electronic, jammy, fun stuff! I wonder what terms Dimitri’s Ascent would prefer? I pull a quote from the site:

From the minds of the collective consciousness

I mash up these topics as I  consider myself a person who is actively trying to “bridge the music” just like Jonah (Jwail) via his effort Bridging the Music. In his ranks we see legacy ideas (like the rock band) getting mashed up on stage with digital performer hybrid acts as well as choice DJs.

Funny you should mention “DJ” as I generally I market myself as  “DJ” under the project name “DJNSM“. I must report that I have found the “majority at large” enjoy that label allowing quick and easy categorization*.  That decision to help the larger audience and greater collective of listeners via this quick and easy categorization is a marketing choice that sometimes pains me.

Here’s why I stress on the “DJ” choice. I am not a DJ. Not even a little. Never wanted to be one. There enters the quandary -- how the h3ll do we market these new evolving musical formats and genres?

Let’s talk a few terms:

  • “Digital Performer” is owned by a software package -- so no.
  • “Ableton artist” is good, but I don’t like that strong of an association to any corporate entity.
  • “Square pusher” is awesome -- but that is already a well known artist.
  • “Knob Gobbler” is funny, but there are some well known euphemistic associations I will not even put in text.
  • “DJ” as an option refers to a format is established and we are talking about what happens beyond those confines
  • Jamtronica, experimental, jam, jam-band, free form , and others have a seriously huge following but tend to be less effective outside of that primary market. (Phish -- you either love them or hate them)

At a loss? Me too!

For terminology I like controllerist and similar terms such as “controllerism”. Our friend Moldover controls the domain controllerism.com making this idea safe for types like me seeking a personal Zion in music. Indeed I refer to my sets as “Controllerist” in nature -- a case in point:

The above track is a single live take of “controller only” performance. This post-DJ idea occupies the same “DJ” space but with a focus on programming and control of audio on a discrete level. This control includes the incorporation of legacy methods like outboard effects processing, instrumentation like guitar and bass or even drum accompaniment to liven things up.

In my "Live PA" set I combine Analog outboard synthesizers, DJ scratching via outboard gear/processors, as well as Ableton and controller - a mix that took years to dial in requiring 2 mixing boards and worth every minute of practice and research!

If you have one of my business cards, take a look at what it says, on the bottom, there you go -- see that quote:

Electronic Music Advocacy

That is all I have really come up with so far -- I am an “advocate of electronic music”.  I think this is why I am drawn to organizations such as Bridging the Music and similar promotional teams who see the rich history as it relates to new music. Not just am “insert genre here” fad to make your wallet fat.

In the end the solution is simple -- who cares!

From that flippant statement I imbue the “Change the Channel” option on all we do. If you don’t like my (or the) music please go away and don’t buy anything.  And to those souls who turn away I encourage you, and everyone else, to find your own combination of genre, band, promotional team, venue, and scene that keeps your attention and brings you joy -- a personal Zion of music for each of us.

Indeed Bridging the Music sees something. I offer them my support in building the future of music while never leaving the legacy behind.

Cheers and see you ALL on Wednesday!

* I have a long presentation available on the taxonomic and categorical tendencies of human-ness.

Links

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Ableton Colorado User Group by Ableton Colorado User Group is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
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Ableton, Ableton Live, Operator and Sampler are trademarks of Ableton AG. Ableton Colorado is a User Group run by local musicians and is in no way endorsed, affiliated, etc by Ableton or any other group. Our meet-ups, operation, events, and merchandise are produced by the users and funded by the users. We only endorse quality music and people. We are only interested in sharing and learning. There is no profit motive behind this group or site. Founded in 2009 we are still kicking it hard as explorers of the frontier of electronic music. We appreciate all the help and support form members and local business - but we are proud to maintain this effort through our own money and investments in the music scene. If you have questions or want to help please contact us.

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