Our Next Event!
27May – details coming.
Digging in the Crate – some photos fomr past meet ups (not too far past)
by Marc on Jun.05, 2011, under Documentation

This is one of many views, we love our room so much! (yhe Walnut)

Chase Presenting (compression discussion)

Circle Six - Mike has deep ideas on compression.

Another Great photo (James here)
Meet the Makers – Alesis-Akai-Numark Free Event
by Admin on May.31, 2011, under Knowledge, Locally, Meet-Ups and Gatherings, News, Sounds
Sonic Sense Electronic Music Symposium
Featuring DJ, controller, and electronic music selections from:

Alesis, Numark, & Akai
RSVP LINK
When : Tuesday June 7, 2011 6-9pm
Where: 1500 West Hampden Ave, Suite 3-H Sheridan, Colorado, 80110 (This location is a little tricky to find – take a look at the Google Map link)
Directions :
Coming from the North:
I-25 South to Sante Fe South to Dartmouth.
West (toward the mountains) on Dartmouth 1-2 blocks to Platte River Road (First Light).
South (left) on Platte River road. 6 blocks to curve under highway.
Pull into lot on right. You’ll see our sign.
Coming From the South
Santa Fe north to Dartmouth.
See “From the North” above.
Coming form the East/West:
Hampden Ave (285) to Santa Fe
Santa Fe North to Dartmouth.
See “From the North” above.
Sonic Sense is a Denver based music equipment company that serves some of the most respected gear for audio perfection and modern music needs.
This is an ALL AGES event to meet, greet, and test out products form these manufacturers.
Evening highlights:
- New Rack Serato Controller DMC2
- Micron with I/O IO Dock for iPad & Ableton Live Light
- DM8 Pro with TransActive Drummer Monitor
- MPK49 and QX49 49-key Controllers
- Numark NS6 Controller
This FREE ALL AGES EVENT is a really fantastic crossover for the manufacturer representatives and the electronic music community.
DJs, controllerists, key players, and other aspects of the consumer electronic market will be at your fingertips!
I (Marc/DJSNM) will drop some demos using the Akai APC40 (featuring new my new template – simplified and stronger and re-released!!!) plus a final “full rig” demo using the Alesis Ion in conjunction with my scratch-box technology to close out the evening as a demonstration of livePA approach and post processing featuring the Scratch-Box.
I will also be available to answer any other questions regarding gear and Ableton through out the evening. If you have anything you want to know or check out come down and get in touch with the reps.
Please RSVP only if you are going – we ask this so we can not waste food and beverage and support the event as best as possible.
The schedule and stations:
DJ Equipment:
- Numark NS6 4-Channel Digital DJ Controller and Mixer
- MixDeck All-in-One Controller
- DMC2 Rack-mount Serato Controller
Electronic Music Production:
- Akai APC40
- Alesis Micron with I/O Express & Ableton Live Light
- MPK49 and QX49 49-key Controllers
Electronic Drums:
- Alesis DM8 Pro with TransActive Drummer Monitor
Schedule:
- 6:00: Introductions – Meet and Greet
- 6:30: General product overview
- 7:15: Hands on with the gear
- 8:20: Alesis DM8 Pro Demo
- 8:30: APC-40 Demo by Marc (aka DJNSM)
- 8:50+ Drawing and Wrap-up and Ion scratching
If you have questions or comments please feel free to contact me directly using marc [at] CreativeElectronica [dot] com
–M
Mid May Tech Roundup – circkets chirp
by Marc on May.16, 2011, under Knowledge, News, Resources
Monday morning, a few hundred feeds are piled up in the RSS reader ad what do I find?
A whole bunch of iPad related “stuff” (hardly of note as the iPad is just a toy).
Of the few notable articles:
Android is adding all the basics into Android for music production. This is a significant jump ahead of Apple (who can indeed offer USB Class compliant control but chooses to not modify the developer relationship -- it’s pretty complicated). So head over and visit Peter Kirn at CDM for the full article. Of note is some Sparkfun references and the IOIO (yoyo) project.
Ever heard of Soundtorch? I may have….? Here’s the point of entry I hit today. This is a use of the C.A.S.E. code set (Computer Aided Sound Exploration). Watch the video :
Soundtorch follow up question. How will this work on my sample library? (warning -- seems to be Windows only).
FREE Nintendo Rack for Ableton.
Livid adds more connections to the Block and an Ipad version. Here’s a nod to the Gearwire coverage. Via Livid’s site. How about a picture?

More holes to stick it in here!
And finally -- FREE PATCHES in our NEW REPO! -- details.
Ableton User Group Collective Patch Library downloads available on GitHub (free)
by Admin on May.16, 2011, under News, Releases, Resources
Ableton Colorado User Group in conjunction with DJNSM/Datamafia** are proud to implement a free and open source repository of Ableton patches!
For those who don’t want to read and only want the patches – click HERE and download a *.zip
Is this a first? Hard to say – a search of the repo brings up results, all sorts!
So what is GitHub?
GitHub is a hosted SAAS based on Git. Git is a popular version control system for programming (or nearly any digital data). Git was written by Linus Torvalds (creator of Linux) with the desire to increase the quality of version control software.
Version control is very common and popular in the programming arena. As software is created a “commit” action is performed where the current state of the software is placed into a repository (as a binary file typically). That “version” is now available for download. Later (minutes, hours, days, or weeks) another version is “committed”. This allows the user to retrieve the earlier version as well as the new version. Simple huh?
In other words, this is like saving before the mob boss in a video game. If you fail you just load up your earlier “save point” (aka commit) and start over again.

This is a very minimal explanation of Git and repositories. I have already seen people glaze over. No need. Click here and “download” a *.zip.

A time moves on and new versions are added, old versions can be accessed (downloaded) and the full history is kept with the iterations.
Some other coolness on version control:
Binary differential : As you go from version A to Version B the repository (by nature) only “stores” the differential between the commits. An example:
File A contents “ABBA”
File B contents “ABBAC”
The commit for File B reads “File A and add a C on the end”.
In the example that does not seem like an efficient way to go. When you have thousands of lines of code it is awesome. In this system are the tools to debug and improve code that a modern application can not live without!
Fork and parallel development : In many cases developers can fork a repository and develop independently. These new developments can be merged back into the master trunk. This is how people build ideas into programs. I am not going to get too deep on the various minutia of version control. In short, everyone reading this article, as well as 99% of human existence uses something that is developed in version control.
Some links on GIT:
- http://git-scm.com/ : The main point of entry for the project
- Wikipedia entry also good reading distributed revision control
- GitHub
The benefits are grand for people who need to log and analyze software developments. I really don’t have enough time or patience to explain all of my love.
Drawbacks : There are a few – let’s focus on the general user who knows little on the topic:
- Command Line Based : There are GUI’s, they are slower – better to learn commands and commit and manage directly
- Way more friendly on Linux and Mac (*nix kernels)
- Need to know how to manage your data very well.
- Not for a casual user looking to create back-ups
- Not a back up system
So far we have patches from Mark Mosher, Chase Dobson, and me. They include some Deadmau5 Operator patches, some sound design patches for live performance, glitch effects, and more.
DOWNLOAD
Check out the wiki introduction, pages, and download.
** I credit myself as I keep the lights on (I pay for my accounts), write the wiki, test the patches, and maintain the repo. Help is welcome. Let me know!
April showers us with music!
by Marc on Mar.31, 2011, under Locally, Sounds
Lot’s of good electronic music coming up! Here’s a quick run through of a few events!
This Saturday April 2, 2011 at the Ogden EOTO with Signal Path. (public Facebook Event) -- how about a super cool tour teaser! Ticket Info
Got Bass is taking over the Fox tonight (March 31, 2011) Check out the new video when you are there!
We are kicking off Red Hot Coll -- a dedicated Down-tempo // Chill out // Sexy Music // Slow Disco project celebrating DJ, controllerism, and live musicianship! We, don’t have a cool video (yet). But we have a bitchin’ vintage logo. Our next show features Drop Logik, Raw Russ, Ginger Perry (Ginger Chaser) and DJNSM (me).
This Friday 2 events in the same area for FREE!
First -- the Whomp Truck who just got Best Party from Westword (and good friends of the effort here) are planning on Bass destruction at 7th and Santa Fe (art district / art walk). They are calling this “Ballerado” featuring Cache Flowe, Jantsen, S.P.E.C.T.R.E. and Dirt Monkey. Facebook Event
Then right around the corner at 719 W 8th DJNSM (me) and Drop Logik will be throwing down some new PA system crush at Lucid Gallery. Facebook Event (we are playing on Friday for Art walk -- not the reception)

We are not on the flyer - and that we are cool with that!
Don’t forget about Electronic Tuesdays -- a bunch of us will be hitting the next one.

(send me an email about your Ableton music or interesting electronic music event via marc [at] CreativeElectronica [dot] com)
Tech Leaning on the wall update
by Admin on Mar.25, 2011, under Knowledge, Locally, News, Resources
Kickin’ it off – FREE drum pack – SOG has the details.
CDM points out a killer Max4Live granular editor. Here, listen:
Just a ton of Launchpad links over at Binary Alley.
Passing of a legend – Korg founder moves to next dimension. CDM covers the details.

photo via CDM
Still, Peter is KILLING it, here an article on Euclidean Rhythms in Ableton MIDI Clips. Based on the Euclidean Algorithm – fun stuff.
Umm…drool. Vermona releasing a new synth at the ‘Messe. Gear Junkies reports! A seeming follow up to the PerFourMer – a rare high quality consumer release of a 4 voice synth. I always wanted one.

So, uhhh, what makes a new instrument? Again, CDM takes the big issues!
Cuteness from Focusright. – a small half rack USB breakout. Gear Junkies shows us the scoop!

Small reliable and affordable interfaces are hard to find. I would ove to explore this one more.
Finally, Mark Mosher paid a visit to the west coast via the Art Institute of California/Sunnyvale. Mark was visiting and performing with Robert Edgar. Here’s one of a few posts on the topic.
Pre SXSW post.
by Marc on Mar.14, 2011, under Locally, News, Resources
Not sure if I will be able to get another killer post out before I leave. But I will update from SXSW. I am visiting with Livid Instruments and Dubspot (Austin), and a few others. Should be fun! Here’s the digital flyer (this is happening on Thursday by the way…)

See me at 2:15 after Livid! I am releasing all scratch box info free to the public as well as all my results. This event happens on THURSDAY!
Test Celemony Melodyne for 30 days and master it the easy way via Gear Junkies article.
Some people asked me about the Octatrack (skip the video). Micah Frank has dome some early work, you can check it out here.

Make Fat : Thermionic Culture launch The Freebird 3 -- 3 channel valve EX in a modular. Yummy!
Remix : These are always happening.
- Shingo Nakamura & Kazusa – “Move On” Remix Contest
- Mauro Picotto ‘Alchemy Records Festival’ Contest
- Bonnie Pointer Remix Contest skip the registration *.zip
- Robert Babicz ‘Remote Kiss’ Remix Contest
- “You Do” by Daji Screw and Kate Lesing
AWESOME! circa 1944 Vocoder:
Mark Mosher / Modulate this has some announcements:
- 10k on Soundcloud
- Concert Announcement: Robert Edgar & Mark Mosher Live @ The Art Institute of California/Sunnyvale, March 17, 2011 5-7PM
- Reminder : http://patchlab.modulatethis.com/ is an innovative idea releasing and sharing patches
This weekend -- S.P.E.C.T.R.E.
And we launched Red Hot Cool.
(Busy! I hope you can show us some support -- we are working hard to change the face of music!)
DJNSM APC40 Template Released for free (beta)
by Marc on Mar.01, 2011, under News, Releases, Resources, Sounds
Thanks to everyone who came to our last meet up – I am aiming to decompress soon.
For now I really wanted to put the link up and state that “it is uploaded”.
LINK FOR APC40 Template (all the data)
I have included a few platters, some fighters, and the manual. All the “stuff” form the meet up. Support is available via email and the GitHub repository.
There will be a series of videos released very soon documenting how everythign works, so stay tuned!











