"Back and Forth", a new Scratch and Turntable Sound Effects Kit

Back and Forth was born of an idea with my pal Lorenzo di Tria (aka Dj Mate), thinking on how to build an intuitive and great sounding music tool for contemporary producers and sound designers.

Based on Lorenzo’s experience on the art of turntablism, this library is now an easy way to add real scratch and turntable performances to your musical and audiovisual projects, and finally make them sounds better then ever before.

Back and Forth differs from any other scratch library on the galaxy for its 400 samples recorded entirely in the studio only with real vinyls, plus a unique Ableton Live Instrument (.amxd): the Scratch Machine. It’s a magical sample-based scratch improvisator that combines many different scratch combos with criteria. With the ability to choose six different classic samples (THA, FRESH, TWAI, AYE, YE, YO), the Scratch Machine adds a timeless and authentic turntablist to any type of production, from the most old school Breakbeat, to the freshest Trap Vibe.
But wait, there’s more: THE QnA LOOPER – VOL.1 is included in the package and it’s free! It’s a new way of thinking the scratch looper. Now you can easily improve your dj skills using just this Max/MSP standalone application (for Mac and PC) and practice on 18 different beats with an automated scratch engine! With 900 sample-based answers, the QnA Looper makes easier and smarter your training sessions.

 

Use coupon code "bf2020" to get 25% off on all our libraries until November 30th [Find out more]

Sincronie presents: Field Recording and Soundscape Composition Workshop

 [Sincronie Cultural Association - Milan (IT)]

Speakers: Federico Placidi, Matteo Milani (U.S.O. Project)

"Listening to the environment, contextualizing it objectively and creatively has always been a priority of the work of U.S.O. Project.

Free from any pseudo-environmental or socio-political implication, the continuous work on sampling, processing and transfiguration of found sound and carefully preserved in memory of a digital recorder, has always played a central role in our compositional practices.

U.S.O. defines Soundscape as the expressive and narrative richness that comes from the reciprocal and continuous interaction of multiple sound sources from the real world, and other phenomena which are perceptible and measurable only through proper and adequate transduction (electromagnetic signals, for example).

A Soundscape is also an opportunity for reflection and imagination that has little to share with the real world.

A Soundscape can be a place of the mind, a reminiscence of a future experienced in dreams, lands far away in space and time.

We try to deal with the possible infinites of the listening experience, both in their objective and manufactured dimensions.

We believe this represents our primary objective, to render the endless possibilities of life and its surroundings, sensible and experienceable in our conscious activity."

Objectives of the Workshop:

Students will be encouraged to actively listen to the rich sound world around them. Their imagination and creativity will be stimulated, and at the end of the course they will create a sound composition using the world around them as a musical instrument.

The workshop offers an introduction to theory and practice as follows:

• An historical perspective on the Soundscape Composition.
• Tools and methodologies for field recordings.
• The listening practice to analyze the characteristics of ambient sound.
• A practical approach to the transformation of sound.
• Composition with three-dimensional space. The Ambisonics format.
• Tools and Advanced spatialization Techniques.

Target

Anyone interested in the Soundscape Composition and sound field experimentation.

Structure of the course

1) Introduction

• Brief history of soundscape composition, with examples drawn from the work of contemporary artists who incorporate the practice of Field Recording in their compositions.
• Introduction to the concept of "soundscape".

2) Tools

• Field Recordist's Tools: microphones and recorders.
• Conventional microphones techniques and creative miking.

3) Sound Transformation

• Manipulation and digital signal processing techniques (VST+AU).

• Filtering.
• Convolution.
• Granular Timeshifting.
• PhaseVocoder.

4) Composing in Space

• Multichannel Surround Sound.
• HOA (Higher-Order Ambisonics).
• Tools for encoding and decoding.

At the end of the four-day workshop, participants will develop a short sound composition (about 6 min.) using the concepts and techniques acquired during the various modules.

Duration:

4 days / 17-18, 24-25 September 2011
10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Costs and subscription

To participate in the workshop you must register no later than 10th September 2011. The fee is € 100.

For more information about the registration, please write to [email protected].

SoundWalking

Listening paths and outdoor recordings. The participants will take part in a "sound walk" to "collect" their point of view of a soundscape with their digital portable recorders, as defined by a preplanned route. Editing sessions of the collected material.

Requirements:

It is recommended that participants bring their own laptop, a portable recorder and headphones.
The number is limited to 14 participants.

[Subscribe now]
[Workshop_outlines_ENG.pdf]
[Workshop_outlines_ITA.pdf]

Open Sound Control (OSC) for Kyma

OpenSound Control is an open, transport-independent, message-based protocol developed for communication among computers, sound synthesizers, and other multimedia devices.

OSC is often used as an alternative to the 1983 MIDI standard, where higher performance, higher resolution and a richer musical parameter space is desired. OSC messages are commonly transported across the internet and within home and studio subnets using (UDP-IP, Ethernet).

The advantages of OSC over MIDI are primarily speed and the comparative ease of specifying a symbolic path, as opposed to specifying all connections as 8-bit numbers. 

Symbolic Sound Corporation has expanded the list of devices and applications that can communicate with its Kyma sound design environment by adding support for OSC to control parameters of Kyma sound synthesis and processing algorithms. OSC communication requires the Paca or Pacarana sound engine.

Using Open Sound Control, users can interact with Kyma using a variety of real-time controllers and software that offer higher resolution and faster update rates than can be achieved using traditional, standard MIDI controllers, such as the newly announced Apple iPad (and compatible iPhone and iPod Touch), the award-winning JazzMutant Lemur multi-touch surface, among the others.

OSC-enabled Kyma X.74 is a free software update for registered Kyma X owners.

[Jazz Mutant Lemur with Kyma]

Wrapping Other Protocols Inside OSC: MIDI over OSC

Symbolic Sound's protocol for sending bi-directional MIDI streams over OSC

Users can make good use of one of the following applications for sending MIDI over OSC to Kyma (removing the need for a MIDI interface on the computer):

• Andy Capon's OSCKymaMIDI (for Max and Max for Live)
• Delora's PacaMidi
• Camille Troillard's OSCulator

[Read more: Open Sound Control (OSC) for Kyma]
[Listen U.S.O. Project exploring the SlipStick Synthesis in Kyma]
[See Kyma at these upcoming events!]

Max for Live

After two years of development, Cycling '74 and Ableton have finally revealed their integration project for extending Live using Max. Don't miss David Zicarelli's perspective on the Max for Live project, and read about the new Max tools for building Live devices. Here's the press release.

[update: Create Digital Music - Make Max Patches that Integrate with Ableton]

Ableton proudly presents...

[ableton.com/extend]

And, if you'll be in Los Angeles, please take note of the following:

Touch Controlling Ableton Live Seminar presented by Lemur experts Gareth Williams (aka Raw Hedroom) and Bryant Place (aka CPU) focusing on the unique interfacing capabilities of the JazzMutant Multitouch Controller with Ableton Live.

Topics include:

• "Performing a powerful hybrid live/DJ set with the Lemur"
• "Using the Lemur with Live as a powerful sound design tool"
• "Natural and musical sequencing with Lemur and Live"

Ableton Live User Group-Los Angeles
January 22, 2009 - 8 p.m.
SAE Institute | DFC Theater | 6565 Sunset Blvd., Suite 100
Los Angeles, CA 90028

[read more - pdf]