Between samples and synth, sound design and performance—and with a heaping dose of machine learning—Visco is a new way of imagining a beat construction plug-in. But what you’ll probably notice first is that you get to squish around a futuristic blob of goo like it’s space-alien Silly Putty.
Music
Tbilisi’s music scene is still out in the streets, defiant
Music December 27, 2024
Interview: Michael Vincent Waller connects concert music and hip-hop
Music Stories December 26, 2024
Live radio from Gaza, Khan Younis and Bethlehem-Hebron choirs meet
Music December 24, 2024
1Uesday: BBCV FM Radio module, 29€ infrared KMNDR, more
In celebration of eccentric artists inventing tiny unexpected things to fit into single-row Eurorack, it’s again 1Uesday. And we’re extending our antennas to pick up FM radio broadcasts on this episode.
Hungry maw of big data, dreamt as ghostly video for Dustin O’Halloran
Artist Owen Hindley, working in TouchDesigner, tackles the dense, pulsating track “Harmonic Dream Sequence” by Dustin O’Halloran (A Winged Victory For The Sullen). It’s a dark contemplation of the insatiable appetites of Big Data and AI, translated into strangely beautiful clouds of particles for an equally gorgeous track.
Go watch Polygonia’s videos on Ableton Operator hi-hats and more
Polygonia, aka Lindsey Wang, is expanding techno into imaginative blossoms of percussion and pattern. But she’s also doing some terrific tutorials. Where to start? A terrific breakdown of constructing high hats from scratch in Ableton’s Operator might inspire you.
Sublime, modular sonic worlds from Beirut, with Munma (Jawad Nawfal)
Jawad Nawfal, aka Munma, is in the spotlight with two transcendent releases for Ruptured Records: one album on modular, and one in an all-star trio along with Sharif Sehnaoui and Jad Atoui. This is don’t-miss music to lose yourself in, from Lebanon’s exceptional, tight-knit improvisational scene.
Benjolin Gorga, Andreas Siagian’s Yogyakarta Eurorack edition
Rob Hordijk’s wonderful Benjolin has been recreated in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, by squaresolid / instrumentasia (aka builder Andreas Siagian). Meet Benjolin – Gorga, in Eurorack – or, uh, Asiarack!
Baby Audio BA-1 gets free 1.5 update: FX Strip, arp, more sound controls
Baby Audio has refreshed their 80s Yamaha-inspired BA-1 soft synth with a free update. You get a new arpeggiator, more controls, plus an FX strip that lets you use the BA-1’s retro effects with other sources.
Emmanuel De La Paix on nature in mirrors, essence of clouds [LP, gallery]
Enter a meditative world of images of the “invisible essence” of things, as tranquil as an Alpine pool or wispy cirrus cloud. Multi-instrumentalist Emmanuel De La Paix teams up with engineer Jón Þór Birgisson (Jónsi, Sigur Rós) for a sublimely calm new LP, The Physics of Clouds.
Don’t upgrade to macOS Sonoma 14.4 yet: plug-in compatibility issues
macOS Sonoma remains stable, but a change reportedly related to AU plug-in validation in the recent 14.4 update can cause compatibility issues. With no significant reason to rush to upgrade, that means you should delay until plug-in developers have updates.
Ableton has a new free guide to making better Max for Live devices
Ableton is today releasing an exhaustive free guide full of resources they’ve used internally in developing and maintaining devices. The guide has a ton of advice, so it’s a chance to benefit from Ableton’s experience.