9 Predictions For Dance Music, Audio Production, and DJ-ing in 2011: Were They Correct??

At the tail end of last year I wrote a piece discussing a couple of trends I was forecasting for the coming year in terms of dance music in general. Some of them also pertained to audio production and DJ-ing. Having almost forgotten about the post I decided to go back and have a look at it again to determine how accurate I was. The observations I made were pretty interesting, so figured I’d do a follow-up piece to it. Below are the nine prediction I made (in pink), and following that I discuss what actually happened this past year.

Prediction 1: An iPad app will be released by at least one major software DAW manufacturer.

Result: True. Although it’s a bit disappointing to not see Logic, Ableton, or Cubase ported over to the iPad this past year, strides have been made to bridge the gap between the traditional desktop DAW and a touch-controlled utility on the iPad. Because of Logic, I obviously consider Apple to be one of the major players in this industry, and importing GarageBand to the iPad (which Apple released in early 2011) was a good way to get the ball rolling. 

Apple has been known to unroll new features in their consumer-oriented apps before the pro versions to test the waters. Therefore I still think it’s only a matter of time before we see a stripped-down version of Logic make its way to the iPad.

Oh yeah, let’s not forget Native Instruments’ iMaschine. With its pads, built-in mixer, keyboards, ability to record, and full-fledged sequencer, iMaschine is approaching the capabilities of what a basic desktop DAW can do. Not only is it priced competitively in relation to other apps, but the skin-tight integration with their popular Maschine controller is an obvious bonus.

Prediction 2: Increased demand for vintage samplers.

Result: False. Vintage synths and drum machines continue to rise dramatically in price as producers are looking for any way to sound unique. However, my prediction about old school samplers just wasn’t correct. In fact, this prediction appears to be a result of my own nostalgia surrounding legendary devices like the Akai S950 more so than anything else. 

The Akai S950 and E-MU SP-1200 were really the only samplers renowned for creating a distinct, lo-fi sound because of their 12-bit processors. Samplers that came before them are so limited in use that it’s almost impossible to find a viable way to incorporate them into a current-day workflow. And samplers that came after them, while powerful, aren’t really capable of doing anything that can’t be done on the computer. I honestly see only the S950 and SP-1200 holding any sort of value in the extended future; most other samplers have been made completely redundant at this point.

Prediction 3: A BIG year for Ableton and Soundcloud.

Result: True. Soundcloud enjoyed EXPLOSIVE growth in 2011! In a recent interview with Soundcloud founder Alexander Ljung (link here), he mentioned that the site currently boasts 7.5 million users. TWO THIRDS of them signed up in 2011. Part of its growth can be attributed to its ease of use and tight integration with Facebook, Twitter, and blogs. As well as a much-improved iPhone app that fixed many of the problems the original, late-2009 version had. 

Honestly I also think Soundcloud has become the final nail in the coffin for Myspace. Once a social media giant, the only advantage Myspace had in recent years was it served as a viable platform for artists to share music. Many bands, both on a large and small scale, have completely abandoned the former behemoth this past year in favor of Soundcloud. I have no idea how their bottom line looks, but it was a good thing that Soundcloud managed to unroll their payment structure to monetize the site very early on. Many “social” services on the web often struggle with this. With no changes in the price structure since mid-2009, it’s a fair assessment that their balance sheets have looked good in 2011.

And what about Ableton? Well, all has been quiet this past year in Berlin. 2011 saw no major (or even minor for that matter) updates to their flagship software. So many features were added in versions 7 and 8 that many fans are completely satisfied with the program for now. There really needs to be some groundbreaking improvements for most people to justify spending hard-earned cash on a new version. While other DAW manufacturers are rushing to keep their product refresh cycle going, Ableton remains one of the most popular programs even with 3 years of no updates. 

Prediction 4: The further merging of different genres, and the continued dominance of dubstep.

Result: True. Boy was I right about this prediction; in fact, more so than any of the other ones. Obviously what I’m about to say is entirely objective. I’m still not a huge dubstep fan myself (in general), so take all of this with, like, a tablespoon full of salt.

Dubstep has fully immersed itself into mainstream culture on both sides of the Atlantic. FOR BETTER OR FOR WORSE. America has crowned its poster boy for 2011, and his name is Skrillex. Like it or not, Skrillex is all over the Billboard charts. He has been nominated for multiple Grammys, collaborated with Korn, The Doors, and DJ Premier (amongst a very long list of others), and has become an endless source of controversy on message boards and Facebook between his fans and genre purists. Dubstep music has also been all over TV, included in shows such as Jersey Shore and Breaking Bad, and in commercials like a recent spot for Taco Bell. The younger generation often dictates what gets the media spotlight. With A-list artists adopting the sound in order to stay trendy (and profitable) to this younger crowd, dubstep won’t be getting the silent treatment from the media any time soon. And the scenario is much the same throughout the U.K. and Europe, where N.E.R.O. and Chase & Status have enjoyed a huge chart presence and BBC playlist rotation in 2011.

If you have a lot of friends in any dance music scene and are active on Facebook, you don’t have to search very long to find someone talking about the state of dubstep in 2011. It has been a very divisive topic that is beyond the scope of this post. As a sound it is bigger than I ever could have fathomed even a year ago. And I think its incorporation in pop and mainstream culture is going to continue well into 2012. I mean, if the surviving members of the Doors, Korn, Britney Spears, Pauly D, and Justin Bieber are embracing the sound, I could only imagine who will be next in line. If the kids continue to lap it up, it will continue to be the hot thing.

And as to the further merging of different genres, the open-format style of DJ-ing and production is in full force. Some are calling it “Bass” music, and it’s become a bit of a movement in and of itself (especially in the UK). Cross-pollinating between different genres used to be considered unconventional; today it’s the norm. Bass music is evolving so rapidly it’s only fitting to give it a very general title; in fact, a title isn’t even necessary at all. The guidelines have been lifted, if it sounds good, people will support it. Point blank.

Prediction 5: More artists will release music on their own.

Result: True. This is one that is next to impossible to measure, but there’s no question musicians are starting to side-step the labels to try making it on their own. This is not without unintended consequences. Labels are obviously on tighter budgets these days and aren’t prone to taking the gambles on unknown artists they used to be able to. So musicians learn the hard way they have to be their own designer, publicist, book keeper, PR expert, and distributions manager just to get heard. It’s often the starting point they delve into once realizing from their peers that they have the potential to obtain a career in music. 

The fact these artists have the entire Internet (along with an endless supply of social media driven channels) at their fingertips certainly doesn’t make things easier. They often have to put in countless hours of work getting their music out there, promoting it in a creative way that isn’t intrusive or shameless. Following that, they need to establish relationships with all of their supporters, as well as anyone who can throw them a bone. Then channeling it across every social media website, of which there is now a new flavor-of-the-month every WEEK.

One distinct side effect is the quality control issue; the web has become cluttered with generic and poorly-produced garbage. Some artists learn the hard way (through lack of responses) that their work isn’t quite cutting it. Others release their tracks to storefronts like Beatport, only to get kicked off after a single quarter when sales ring in well below their quarterly requirements. Proper promotion is tougher than meets the eye. It wouldn’t surprise me if musicians become trained from early on that they’re going to have to wear multiple hats aside from music making if they want to build a following. With the system becoming more democratized as established labels are collapsing, independent musicians are going to have more work cut out for them.

Prediction 6: More “vinyl-only” themed nights.

 
Result: False. Vinyl-only nights have by no means exploded, or have the sale of records in general. In fact, vinyl sales across all genres are hanging by a thread right now. There are vinyl-only nights happening; but most either seem to be parties balancing a 1990s theme driven by nostalgia. Some dubstep and drum & bass events still exist where the DJ’s who play use primarily vinyl and dubplates as well. That’s really about it.

All in all, I think the consumption of vinyl (and therefore, the themed nights themselves) will hinge very heavily upon what happens in the general economy. I was a 100% vinyl DJ until the recession began; the uncertainties led me to sharply reduce the amount I’ve been buying since 2009. And this echoes true with many–superfluous expenses which families and individuals start to eliminate during hard times. If things get worse, expect to start seeing “free music” themed nights instead. Whatever you want to think of that. Either way, this isn’t Zerohedge so I’ll leave the economy talk to other people for now.

Prediction 7: Every DJ will perform on unique equipment.

Result: True. Although Pioneer CDJ’s and Technics 1200’s still reign supreme, they no longer enjoy the dominance they once had several years ago. As more people are discovering ways to not just play, but perform other people’s work using Ableton, sophisticated MIDI controllers are becoming the flavor of the year.

Keep in mind: it’s a very saturated market with dozens of flavors. DJ’s are committing their allegiance to what they know best, and don’t have the time to learn a controller they don’t already have. It may be easy to learn how to play on different mixers, but MIDI controllers are a whole different ballgame. So as they’re catching on, every DJ will come to a club with a unique one to ensure they’ll be at their best level performance-wise. 
 
 

Prediction 8: More stems and remix projects made open to the public.

Result: Draw. Stems for remixing and DJ-ing aren’t given out on a widespread basis. I think it has to do with producers being concerned with people stealing their sounds to use in their own songs. However I notice that the musicians at the VERY top of the totem pole, such as Tiesto, Moby, and David Guetta, are selling or giving away stems of their work. Another setback with stems is the fact they can be pricey. On storefronts such as Beatport, each individual sample or loop sells for the same $1.49-2 price the full MP3 retails. Buying the stems for a full song can cost upwards of $20!

However, remix contests have really caught on this past year. In a world where competition is fierce and new producers are desperate for a leg-up, they might be able to get some publicity by entering one. A common prize for the winner is often a proper release on the next single the big-name producer is coming out with. Not many musicians are on board with this concept, but it has been an interesting trend in 2011. Anything that can put you on the radar of a big-name producer or DJ can’t hurt, right?

Prediction 9: The death of the pre-recorded DJ studio mix.

Result: True. I hate to be the bearer of the bad news here, but I think DJ’s are starting to be viewed as expendable in the eyes of many people in the electronic music scene, especially the younger generation. Everyone is now an expert on music. Social networks are rapidly making people knowledgable on what tracks are hot and apps are enabling even the most casual of fans to mix records on a smart phone. And you know what they say: “When everyone is an expert, nobody is.” Simply put, fewer people are phased by someone playing other people’s music. I think the older generation will always naturally understand the art and skill behind a good DJ set, but I think the millennial crowd could care less for the most part.

Attention spans are shorter than ever thanks to the Internet and other disruptions in our chaotic lives. Many times I’ve found myself downloading a mix and only listening to it for 5-10 minutes before realizing I have to do something else never quite engaging the way the DJ intended. On my Soundcloud page, my 10-minute Ableton mini-mixes have gotten around 5 times the traffic any of my longer-format mixes obtained. Think of the bounce rate on websites; they often last less than a minute and many only visit a single page. It’s too bad there aren’t analytics to figure out how long people listen to a DJ mix for. I’m willing to bet many only listen to the first song or two and “bounce” after a few minutes as well! Sad, but true.

In closing

It’s been a very interesting year in the world of dance music. The artist and the DJ have more resources than ever before, but there are many pros and cons to this. Many sounds are evolving very rapidly, and others have enjoyed quite a bit of mainstream presence around the globe. I’m working on a 2012 prediction post as we speak. I will be releasing it during the holiday week later this month. Don’t worry, that one’s going to be pretty interesting too ;)

Making More With Less: Guide to Producing Music on a Tight Budget

Computers and software have been indespensable for the vast majority of producers and sound designers, both amateur and professional. As computers continue to get faster, the limits of what you can accomplish on them with almost any Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) is only limited to your imagination. Additionally, it is now less expensive than ever before to get started. However, there are so many programs, plug-ins, MIDI control surfaces, and audio interfaces to choose from that it can often be a very daunting task selecting what you need! 

This article is directed towards people who are on a very tight budget yet still looking to get into audio production. Although it IS an investment, it is possible to have a fully functioning studio for just a few hundred dollars, and with enough dedication to traversing the Internet it is possible to find plenty of free resources, including plug-ins and even decent quality samples.

One of the tricks to getting the most for your money is buying second-hand WHENEVER possible- you can save a great deal of money from using ebay and craigslist; I can definitely speak for myself here because almost everything I buy is second hand. Of course, be sure to do some research on the seller beforehand by examining their feedback; and always remember that if something looks too good to be true, then it probably is.

Although it is out of the focus of this article, I’m already assuming that everyone here owns a computer. Without getting into the ever-so-tiring PC vs. Mac debacle, I suggest you stick to the operating system you’re familiar with. Macs are fairly more expensive, and there are more freeware programs available for the PC, but aside from this, both platforms accomplish basically the same thing. Remember that you don’t necessarily need the latest and greatest sled for audio work either. Honestly, an older Intel Core Duo circa 2006, or even a multi-processor Mac G5 or G4/MDD will get the job done (albeit without the ability to run the absolute latest software, but the latest isn’t always necessary anyways). Just make sure you have at least 2 gigs of memory and lots of available hard drive space. 

So let’s start with the DAW. The DAW is basically the heart of your studio. It’s where you will be editing and sequencing all of your audio samples and MIDI notes. It’s also the host of all the external plug-ins (VST’s) that you will be using, which we will cover later on. There are MANY different DAWs on the market today, and which one is the best has been a subject of intense debate since the dawn of computer-based production. Here are a few options for less than $100:

Ableton Live Intro: Ableton Live has exploded in popularity during the past several years, part of which is attributed to it’s ability to be used both as a production as well as a performance tool. Last week Ableton launched a slimmed-down version of their flagship program titled Intro. Live Intro actually utilizes the same engine and session/arrange interface as the full Live and many of the same effects as well, sans the ones introduced in version 8 (vocoder, limiter, etc.) The main limitation is that you are only allowed to use 12 effects and 10 VST instances in a single project. However, a good habit to get into is to restrict yourself from using too many insert effects in a project, as they’re not always necessary. For example, you should use one reverb instances on a send channel, instead of multiple ones on individual channels. The download of Intro is only $99!

FL Studio 9: Although I am not very familiar with FL Studio (Fruity Loops), it is a very popular PC-based program that has added tons of internal instruments and effects over the past ten years of it’s development. The DirectWave sampler, 64-channel mixer, slicex tool (which chops breakbests for you to re-edit drum loops), Edison recording tool, MPC-like FPC, and SynthMaker (which is fully modular for unlimited synthesis possibilities) proves that this is a very powerful tool. With exception to SynthMaker and Slicex, the vast majority of FL Studio’s tools are available in the “Fruity” edition of version 9, which is available for download on their site. 

Renoise: Trackers often create a lot of blank stares and deer-in-headlight expressions when discussing them with fellow producers. They are widely attributed to having a much higher learning curve, especially for beginners, because the interface is completely different from the standard channel-based interface we are so accustomed to in a DAW. However, once understood, there is a great deal of power in this interface, and Renoise is hands down the most powerful tracker-based program available. For less than $100 you can purchase the entire program, which includes a full pattern editor, mixing console, sample editor, and support for most VST instruments. They have a vast community on their site for troubleshooting, and is one of the few DAWs that totes a Linux version! 

WAV editors are also a helpful tool to have. It is often more cumbersome to extract sections of a raw audio file for use in your compositions within your host DAW, and often makes practical sense to use a more lightweight WAV editor instead. Audacity is a FREE .wav editor that is available on both Mac and PC. It can run on any computer made within the past decade, and can even support VST plug-ins in case you want to use effects on them. I use Audacity all the time, and honestly cannot say enough good things about it. 

VST’s: Virtual Instruments are what producers use to extend the capabilities of their host DAW programs. For example, I have the full Ableton Suite, which has almost all of the tools and resources I need to make a song. However, there are times I want to use a different synth, or run a different effect not bundled with Live, and will use a VST instead. They are very easy to incorporate to your host program; every paramater you control in your VST can also be controlled and edited on the sequencer of your host DAW as well. There are literally thousands of DAW’s out there; here are a few free and very inexpensive ones to get you started:

TAL Series: Togu Audio Line (TAL) has about 20 different filter plug-ins available on their website, including a vocoder, bit crusher, reverb, phaser, and various synths (the most popular one being based off Roland’s legendary SH-101).

Applied Acoustics System Ultra Analog VA-1: For a mere 15 dollars, this is a no-brainer deal. Ultra Analog is a fully functional subtractive synthesizer that includes 2 oscillators, an arpeggiator, onboard effects, a variety of waveforms, LFO’s, ADSR envelopes, amongst other things. A soft synth like Ultra Analog will pretty much allow you to create any sound you want from scratch; for a new producer this is something I cannot recommend enough. This synth used to cost over $200!

Drumcore Free: The Free version of Drumcore’s audio/MIDI-based drum editing application allows you to run this program as a VST instance to help aid in laying down drum and percussion tracks and develop some grooves. Although it does not come with the sample library the full version does, the ability to layer your own breaks and import your own samples and hits are there. A must-have for a free program.

Computer Music Monthly: Although the $16 cover price of each CMM magazine may seem a little steep, the software provided on the cover mount DVD more than makes up for it. Each issue not only comes with high quality 24-bit wav samples (each issue focuses on a different genre of music) and video tutorials, but also the ever expanding CM Studio software bundle. The CM Studio includes the Blue Cat spectrum analyzer, the Zebra and Alpha subtractive soft synths, reverb and delay units, Sugar Bytes Artillery, and a slew of other goodies! There are a few components that are only PC or Mac Power PC (G4/G5) compatible however. 

MIDI Control Surface: It is highly recommended that you purchase some sort of keyboard. Most midi keyboards have either 25, 37, 49, or 61 keys (2, 3, 4, or 5 octaves respectively); the more keys the more expensive they obviously get. I would recommend getting one that has knobs, faders, or pads built-in, these can be mapped to any parameters you wish in your DAW and plug-in. The knobs are great when you’re working with soft synths; the mouse can be very cumbersome when trying to craft your sounds. For under $100 you can pick up a 49-key M Audio KeyRig, and for a bit more you can add knobs, faders, etc to your arsenal on surfaces such as the M Audio Axiom series, E-MU X-board, or Edirol series, still for under $200. And why not check out ebay while you’re at it? Many of the boards in the $200 range can be had for roughly half the price second hand, and an older bread-and-butter M Audio can be bought for less than $50 if you’re patient enough to track one down.

Also, if you lust for an Akai MPC for percussion work but (like the rest of us) the $1000+ price tag puts you off, check out the MPD-16’s on ebay. Second hand ones have sold for as little as $50 on there, and you get your standard 4x4 grid of velocity sensitive pads to work with in your host program!

Audio Interface: You need an audio interface to transfer external sounds into your computer, as well as to hook up your speakers. Almost all interfaces these days are external and hook up to your computer via USB 2.0 or Firewire. A good interface will have at least 2 pairs of RCA stereo inputs, as well as one pair of MIDI ins/outs and the ability to hook up a microphone. The least expensive ones include the Fast Track series by M Audio and the Behringer FCA, however I have heard many mixed reviews about these boxes. I would recommend going a bit beyond the $100 level here and investing in a device such as the Tascam US-122, Lexicon Lambda series, or Edirol UA-4FX. 

Samples: In the infancy of the Internet, it used to be very difficult to track down source material for sampling; nowadays the opposite problem exists. There is so much content out there; some of it is exceptional, some absolute garbage. One thing I cannot recommend enough is to try tracking down your own samples the old-fashioned way, by digging through crates at record stores, thrift stores, and garage sales (if you own a turntable). There are hundreds of thousands of old and obscure records out there that many people have never thought to utilize before for collecting samples- why not do some digging and track down some of your own sounds? Online sample packs can be expensive, so spend your time offline trying to find them. Don’t forget that you can use a soft synth to ceate your own sounds from scratch; many have white noise oscillators built in that you can craft all sorts of things from drums, to “swooshing” sounds and other fills.

Backup External Hard Drive: A lot of producers starting out try to skimp on extra computer hardware, however with 500 gig external hard drives easily had for $50 these days, there is absolutely no reason why you shouldn’t get one (or even 2). Many people don’t think to have some sort of back-up system in place until they experience a computer crash. Hard drive crashes will happen when you least expect them to, and that is a definite WHEN and not an IF. To not have a backup system in place for both your sample library as well as your finished projects in inexcusable, you need to start one today. If you work off of a laptop, an external hard drive is also great to run all of your content from; with many laptop drives running at slower speeds (5400 rpm), you will have a significant performance boost if you work off of a much faster external drive (7200 rpm).

Monitors: Out of all components you add to your project studio, the one thing you really cannot skimp on are studio monitors. You really get what you pay for when you purchase speakers; the higher end monitors color the sound much less and deliver a flatter frequency response, which is what you want when it comes to equalizing your work. Similar to DAWs and Computer platforms, the subject of which one is the best can be argued to death and is entirely subjective, every producer has a different idea of what works best. The Tapco (Mackie) S-5’s are a good starting point; howevertheir frequency range only goes down to around 64 hz so if you’re producing bass heavy music (especially dubstep or dnb) it is highly recommended that you either get a subwoofer or upgrade to the more powerful S-8’s. Yes, these will set you back several hundred dollars, but again, with monitors you absolutely get what you pay for. Adams, Genelec’s, even the Mackie HR-624’s may be a bit out of the price range of an entry level producer, but the Tapco’s are a good place to start.

It is indeed true that in most cases you CAN make more with less, so don’t think you have to take out a loan to start working with audio. Keep in mind that in the late 1980s/early 90s, producers were very utilitarian with working around the limitations of their samplers, synthesizers, and sequencers- often forcing them to find creative solutions while maximizing every last kilobyte of memory inside their machines. Working with what may initially seem like a restrictive production environment can often inspire you to find different solutions just from the sheer simplicity of your setup. At the end of the day, nobody wants to be perplexed by all the different software options out there, we just want to make music!

Stay tuned; in a few weeks I will also be writing a post showing some second-hand hardware you can buy very inexpensively as well, in case you are interested in more of a hands-on approach to production.

Beat Box: Leading (or Following) by Action- An Underrated Ableton Feature

One of the biggest benefits of working in session mode in Ableton Live is the ability to allow the computer itself to trigger the playback of different clips that are set up within an individual channel in a project. The use of lead and follow actions in Ableton actually seems to be a feature that many users overlook in this program, most likely because of the fact that most traditional DAWs do not have this capability. However once you learn about lead/follow actions and how simple they are to set up, it can easily become a ubiquitous part of the production process!

In a nutshell, lead and follow actions are established by creating multiple clips in an individual (audio or MIDI) channel. When activated, you are sending Ableton instruction to play these clips back in either a pre-determined or completely random order, depending on how you choose to set them up.

Lead/follow actions are great to use if you are looking to create subtle variations within a drum or synth loop in a live performance to keep the song interesting. When double clicking on an individual clip, in the inspector window at the bottom you need to click the little “L” bubble at the bottom left corner of the window to open the Launch window which allows you to control these parameters.

The main controls we will concern ourselves with here are the ones in the bottom half of the launch window. Under “follow action”, the first set of 3 adjacent boxes controls the duration (in bars) as to how long it takes to trigger the next action. For example, setting this to 0, 0, 1 allows the action to take place each individual beat, 0, 1, 0 it takes place each measure, etc.

In the middle window we can establish two different actions, and in the bottom window we determine the ratio of how often the left one happens as opposed to the one on the right. In the picture above, our ratio is 1:1, so when I start the song there is a 50% chance the clip below the one I start with will play, and a 50% chance that ANY clip within the channel will play. Now each clip can have it’s own custom actions set, so if I told the second clip from the top of the channel to stop and set the chance to 100%, as soon as this clip is triggered it will stop as soon as the clip plays through.

A great exercise to familiarize yourself with lead and follow actions is to create 4 or 5 different clips of the same drum loop in one channel. Use slightly different envelope settings to distinguish them from one another. In the example above, I made a version of the loop that has a very slow attack on each hit, where the others had much quicker attacks and very short durations/fast decay. Then select all of your clips and set your follow action to “any”. You have instantly created infinite variations and fills of a simple drum pattern! Try experimenting with other parameters as well, such as transposition, volume, and detune settings on pads. 

Check out the video below to see a nice live demonstration on lead and follow actions!

 

Beat Box: Moog Drum One (Ableton Live 8 Drum Rack)

Just passing this along- this is a drum rack for Ableton that is designed to emulate the Minimoog Voyager. It can work either with the Sampler if you have the full suite or in multimode with the Simpler if you have the basic version of Live. Here is the initial post, courtesy of www.signaltonoize.com

Overview

The Minimoog Voyager RME is an analog waveform sculpting masterpiece, especially with the add-on CV breakouts. Unlike many classic analog drum machines, the Voyager with its dual filters can create wonderful stereo imagery. I’ve taken the time to program detailed percussive patches & from these i’m creating sample sets. This is the 1st “Moog Drum One” Drum Rack for Ableton Live 8.

Captured @ 24bit/96k with Lynx converters & DBX 903 compression.

Analog Signal path = Moog Voyager-DBX 903’s-Console EQ-Dominator II- Lynx.

Six velocity samples per pad.

Demo.mp3

Download Link - Moog Drum One - Live 8 Drum Rack : To install, extract the Pack with Live into a folder of your choosing. Then open the extracted project & save the Drum Rack into your library. 

Ableton Live 8 in-depth review part 1: Groove and new warping tools

What is easily one of the most welcome and requested additions in the newest member of the Ableton Live family is the groove tools/groove pool. Prior to Live 8, the only control you had in regards to altering the groove of a project was either to adjust it globally using global groove, or to directly alter the qualtization of individual MIDI clips to fixed note or swing values (which was pretty limited and basic in functionality).

The new groove tools are pretty easy to get the hang of. In your library just open up the "grooves" folder and you'll notice that Live comes pre-loaded with dozens of presets, some of which were emulated directly from classic machines such as the Akai MPC series and the EMU SP1200 drum machine. Groove templates from these machines are more rigid and far less complex than the ones based on live instrumentation such as "rock" but surely will come in handy for veteran producers who came up on those machines. Drag a groove preset onto a clip- they work on both audio as well as MIDI clips. In order to apply the groove permanently to your clip you must select it in the clip properties window at the bottom and select "commit". The pull-down menu in that window actually consists of multiple grooves which are pulled from the groove pool, which I will describe in the next paragraph. You can also extract a groove from any audio/MIDI clip and use it in other ones, but you just have to make sure if you extract from an audio clip that you use your warp markers to define your transients in your waveform as closely as possible for the best results.

The groove pool gives you additional control over how you apply groove information to a clip, and you can audition multiple different groove presets from your library here. One thing that is important to know is that when you apply a groove to a clip and then go to apply another one, the second groove is written on top of the first one. So if you don't like the first groove you applied, you can dial in 100% in the qualtize window for that preset in the pool, then apply the second preset. The velocity and random settings in the groove pool is especially nice as they add extremely subtle fluctuations and control the volume level of your grooves respectively. There's also a global setting in the pool called "amount" which controls the random, velocity, and timing parameters of all the presets simultaneously.

Warping tools in Live 8 are fairly different from previous versions and this has been a very hot topic on various forums. There's a new transient detector that guesses based on your waveform where you might want to set your markers, which allows you to easily warp an entire song/clip by right clicking and selecting "qualtize", which gets it fairly close. Obviously you'll have to do some manual warping after the fact to get it perfect. You can also hold shift to move your transient detectors and double click to create the marker. Also, holding shift after creating the marker while hovering over it allows you to move the actual waveform around it. There's some awesome videos below courtesy of medwaystudios that go more in-depth with warping tricks.

The new beats algorithm sounds great (for drums and percussive effects) and builds nicely on previous versions. There's also an additional complex warping algorithm (complex pro) that I haven't had the chance to demo yet. I'm sure I'll cover this eventually once I get a chance to use it.

Beat Box: Ableton Live 8 Released!

So this is pretty much the reason why I haven't been updating my journal on this site for the last 3 or 4 days- I've been spending all my free time since thursday playing around with the new version of Ableton! As most know, Ableton announced version 8 of their software at the NAMM conference in January. There was no official release date, but most predicted it would be in April, so they were right on schedule with it's launch. A lot of lucky participants were able to beta test the new version during February/March and from the comments posted on their message board it looked that feedback in general was overwhelmingly positive.

I'm going to try to do a multi-part detailed review of the update over the month of April, but here's what I think of it so far in a nutshell:

-I upgraded from the basic Live 7 to the full-blown Live 8 suite. If you're downloading the suite, give yourself ample time, there are almost 2 gigs of files you have to download!

-Ableton e-mailed many longtime customers $30 coupon codes in January when they announced the update. DO NOT forget about this, I don't think they're going to send reminder emails about it.

-I bought the Korg NanoKontrol in February, and in the box was a $50 coupon off the purchase of Live 7. When purchasing Live 8 it only allowed me to enter in one coupon code (which I did for the one Ableton sent me in January). So I personally didn't try to get the NanoKontrol discount so I'm not sure whether or not it will actually work for Live 8, I haven't heard any success stories about it yet on the message board so chances are it won't.

-The new Operator synth is great! Coming from a few years experience with subtractive synthesis I was actually surprised at how quick I was able to pick up on the concept of additive synthesis (which Operator uses), but overall it's user friendly and very flexible when it comes to layering sounds. Love how you can choose different signal paths. Live 8 introduces what is technically version 2 of Operator, and the biggest change is the fact you can now draw in your envelopes manually with a pencil tool. A nice feature to yield more control over how you craft your sounds.

-The Latin Percussion samples are great. The download was a couple hundred megs but it's worth it. There's tons of brushes, congas, tambourines, shakers, etc as well as several pre-constructed kits so you can just drop in your drum rack and get going right off the bat. I think I'll be using these a lot.

-The suite BOX edition is about $80 more than the download but I think with the box version you get additional DVD's with more high quality drum samples (30 gigs!) as well as a printed version of the instruction manual.

-Live 8 adds a new warping algorithm called "complex pro" which I haven't experimented with too much, but I do think that the new overall warping interface makes more sense and I've found that when bringing in samples I've had to do less manual warping than I had to with Live 6 and 7. A couple shorter samples with well-defined transients that I brought in Ableton warped them almost perfectly.

-Groove tools are pretty easy to get the hang of and was a welcome addition. The global groove tool that Reason 4 introduced was pretty kickass and a tough act to follow, so nice work Ableton. I've only messed with it a little bit so I'm not sure how it impacts the sound quality of your sample. However I love how you can extract the groove of an existing clip and use it elsewhere.

-I'm sticking to my Akai s950 for timestretching ;)

-CPU usage is about the same as Live 7, I think as long as you're on an Intel Core Duo or similar chip you'll be ok. If you have an older setup like a Pentium 4 or Mac G4/G5 you will probably still be able to run Live 8 but will be limited in terms of the number of channels and effects you can have going in one project.

Beatbox: Ableton DJ set template courtesy of Tom Cosm

I caught this post up on Ableton's message board the other day by one of it's well established members Tom Cosm. He posted an awesome 1-hour tutorial video (in full HD!) showing how he constructed the setup he uses in Ableton to build DJ sets with, as well as how he chops and re-edits the songs he plays while in the mix. Not only does he post a video but he also saved the set with all of the songs self-contained and posted a link to the .zip file on his post! The tracks are by unsigned producers who also participate on their message board but are very talented. Here are the links:

http://cosm.co.nz/ableton/djmegaset/Tom ... %201.0.zip

In the tutorial video Tom works entirely in session mode and uses the first 3 channels as his "mixer" channels, then uses two additional groups consisting of 3-4 channels each as effects chains. Each of these channels has a single effect per channel that you can easily send the audio from any of the first three channels to. The effects channels use dummy clips, which are clips with no audio but envelopes set up to alter paramaters such as the volume, pitch, etc. of the sound that is fed from channels 1-3. It's a pretty efficient way to control each effect independently. It's a pretty no-frill setup and even a beginner should be able to follow the video pretty well. Have to send a definite thanks to Tom for setting this up and sharing!

Primeloops: Free tutorials for Ableton Live

Nice site that has a variety of resources geared towards beginner and intermediate producers, including sample packs, video tutorials, and a video blog. Some of the samples and loops you can download for free, and others are sold in relatively inexpensive packs. The tutorials appear to be geared towards Live, FL Studio, and Reason. 

www.primeloops.com 
Edit: I removed the sample videos as there's no way to prevent them from playing automatically when visiting this page, but check them out on the site...they just added tutorials for Logic, and if you give them your email address you will have access to over 300mb of samples and loops for free download.