We’ve got a brand new song! It’s called Broken Math:
The song can be purchased over at Bandcamp.
Thanks for your support!
– Dave
Video: How I Organize My Song Ideas
In this video, I go over the spreadsheet that I use to organize my song ideas. It’s super basic. You can find the template here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1wJfdVd7DQBBmB4EBAfijpoM09FXht2GVTJXMoLP3bfg/edit?usp=sharing
Song: Manwomanchild – Bellwether
There’s a brand new Manwomanchild single. Available for purchase here.
Song: Manwomanchild – Memory Leak
Manwomanchild has a new single out today called “Memory Leak!”
Memory LeakPresenting GridInstrument: a musical grid app for iOS
GridInstrument is an iOS app that lets you play your iOS device like a musical instrument. Instead of a piano keyboard, notes are arranged on a grid (much like the Ableton Push or scale-mode on a Launchpad Pro).
One of the coolest features of the app is that you can hook up your Ableton Launchpad controller directly to it (using the Apple Camera Connection Kit) and it will let you play your Launchpad like a musical instrument. Here’s a video of the Launchpad tethering functionality:
The app has a simple sound generator built in, but where it really shines is in its ability to output MIDI data. It has Audiobus 3 support so that you can send MIDI to other apps. It also has Core MIDI out support so that you can send notes to outboard hardware or even to a Network MIDI connection. Here’s a video showing how to connect it to a Moog Little Phatty:
Features:
- Change octaves
- Change keys
- Choose from over 20 musical modes (“Major, Minor, Dorian, Mixolydian, etc.”)
- Choose between two grid layouts (“Diatonic 4th” and “Chromatic”)
- Core MIDI out so that you use GridInstrument to control your other instruments
- Audiobus 3 support
- Launchpad integration (connect your Launchpad Mini in low-power mode without a hub or any other Launchpad with a powered hub)
OK. That’s it. Enjoy!
Crossposted on the Decidedly website.
– Dave
Free Multisample: Korg Volca Keys Sawtooth and Square Wave (Kontakt, Ableton, & SFZ)
I love my Korg Volca Keys. For those who aren’t familiar with it, it’s basically a small, MIDI-controlled analog synthesizer.
In the past few months, I hadn’t been using the box as much as I felt I should be. Since the birth of my son, I’ve had a far less predictable routine for music composition. Instead of having prescheduled music time, I often find myself putting together beats across many stolen moments throughout the day. In such cases, I generally don’t have time to go upstairs, unplug the Volca Keys, unplug my MIDI interface, and bring it down to the kitchen or wherever I happen to be working. My solution to this problem was to make some multi-samples so that I could still incorporate the Volca Keys sound into my music regardless of where I happened to be.
Here’s what the waveforms look like:
I sampled each note over six octaves, set loop points, then turned them into multisamples.
Features:
- Three formats: SFZ (tested with Sforzando), Native Instruments Kontakt 5.6.5, and Ableton Live 9.7.1 (Simpler & Sampler).
- Recorded in 96khz, 24-bit using a high-end audio interface
- Seemless waveform looping
- Recorded without lowpass filter (add your own software filters within Ableton, SFZ plugin, or Native Instruments Kontakt)
- Control envelope within SFZ, Ableton or Native Instruments Kontakt
- Both Volca Keys waveforms: sawtooth and square wave
- 5+ octaves
- Allows for higher polyphony than the actual Volca Keys
- Allows for polyphony using Square wave which the Volca Keys does not
Download it here
Here’s a sample track (all sounds come from this sample pack except for the drums):
Free Multisample: Electron ECHO Mini Piano
When I was a kid, a bunch of my friends had the same little musical toy. It was about a quarter of an inch thick, about the size of a smartphone; it featured a row of rubbery buttons which, when pressed, would play different notes on a scale. It was, essentially, a tiny, very primitive synthesizer.
It was the oddest little device: it could only play one note at a time, had no ‘Off’ switch, and it came in a little sort of wallet thing with a cover that you could close when you weren’t using it. I never saw one on sale at a toy shop, either. It seemed to be something that only existed at my friends’ houses.
Well, last year, I did a bit of research. It turns out that the toy was called the Echo Electron, although it was actually sold under a variety of names. The reason that I never saw one in a toy store is that they were actually sold via mailorder. Go figure.
Even stranger is that it seems they’re still being made, although the packaging has changed slightly since the 80s. Needless to say, I had one shipped from China for the princely sum of $1.99. Here’s what it looks like:
It sounds exactly like I remembered: the notes all lasted the same amount of time, and the pitch wasn’t 100% constant. It would start one one note and slowly slide down a half step as it got softer and softer. As an instrument, it’s terrible. Ostensibly, the notes are supposed to form a major scale, but the pitches drift so terribly from one note to the next that by the time you reach the top of the scale, you are actually in a different key from where you were at the bottom.
Anyway, I opened it up, and plugged the little speaker wires directly into the audio jack of my sound card and recorded. Now, I’ve made multisamples (SFZ, Ableton 9.7, Kontakt 5.6) for those who wish to use them with their music software. I’ve done my best to tune the instrument so that it is in key, although that’s very difficult for an instrument that doesn’t hold its pitch (you may find yourself adjusting some of the samples by hand as needed.) What else? I’ve added polyphony, and I’ve also expended the key range so that you are not limited to the major scale that the actual instrument plays.
Download it here
OK. That’s it. Enjoy!
— Dave
Free Multisample: Warren Trachtman’s Steinway Model C
A while back, I was looking for a decent piano sample to use in some compositions when I stumbled on a free Steinway Model C sample released by a man named Warren Trachtman. The patch, which I use in just about everything I do, is pretty much impossible to find on the internet right now, which is why I’ve decided to upload it here.
- [download id=”2276″]
- [download id=”2286″]
- [download id=”2281″]
—Dave
Listen to my new single: The Retreat
We’re releasing a new single today. It’s called “The Retreat!”
If you like this song, you can buy our album, Awkward Island. It’s available on iTunes and Bandcamp.
Continue reading Listen to my new single: The Retreat
Manwomanchild - The Retreat [ 3:37 ]
Free Multisample: littleBits Synth Kit Sawtooth and Square Wave (Kontakt, Ableton, & SFZ)
The littleBits Korg Synth Kit sounds great, but it’s exceedingly hard to use for musical purposes because its oscillators don’t stay in tune for more than a few minutes at a time. After a few frustrating afternoons of trying to record a synth lead with this thing, I decided the only way that I would be able to use it is if I created a multisample out of it.
Here’s what the waveforms look like:
So…after painstakingly tuning each one, I sampled each note over six octaves, set loop points, then turned it into a multisample.
Features:
- Three formats: SFZ, Native Instruments Kontakt 5.1, and Ableton Live 9.1 (Simpler).
- Recorded in 96khz, 16-bit using a high-end audio interface
- Seemless waveform looping
- Recorded without lowpass filter (add your own software filters within Ableton, SFZ plugin, or Native Instruments Kontakt)
- Control envelope within SFZ, Ableton or Native Instruments Kontakt
- Both littleBits waveforms: sawtooth and square wave
- 5+ octaves
- Allows for polyphony (which the actual synth kit does not)
- Responds to velocity (which the actual synth kit does not)
- Ableton instrument responds to pitch bend and mod wheel (which actual synth kit does not)
Download it here
If you make a cool track using these samples, post it in the comments here!
Enjoy!
— Dave