Nice live performance, nice feelings!

Yesterday, I played my latest live performance at Théâtre National de la Criée in Marseille.
It was a very nice set and I think people appreciated it.

The official/unofficial Protofuse‘s manager was there: BIG thanks to Lucien de Baixo for his precious & infinite help !
He took some photos & I’ll post them asap here.

BIG Thanks to my other friends Denis, Ilaria, Jonathan & Guillaume I didn’t even talk with because of the busy mood of this evening !

The LFO 2.1 for Ableton Live

A lot of things has begun with this device.

Here is a new version popped out here : http://designthemedia.com/lfo

Ableton has probably changed something related to the signal process from Max for Live, and I guess they did it for some reasons totally honorable.
But it makes some devices behave strangely. Usually, side effects appear like that.

Especially, my LFO did.

I fixed it.

If you already bought it, you only have to go to the LFO page and grab the new one.

I hope you’ll enjoy it.

Oh .. another thing: it is now provided in 2 versions, MIDI FX & AUDIO FX.
I had a lot of requests of people wanting to use it sometimes in AUdio tracks sometimes in MIDI tracks..
It is now possible, just drag’n'drop the good one (the audio one is called 2.1a when the midi one is called 2.1)

Strange & new setup for my close next music live performances

Explorations HAVE to be made on a real exploration mode.
You can decide to explore this or that forrest, ok, but if you want to walk close of the tree #12, then the #14, then the 143 etc you aren’t exploring, you are .. like .. working and in any case, you’ll bore yourself in a very deterministic way.

I decided to explore as protofuse, and not to determine the path before as an a priori
And it comes with some dead end, and lost moments but never really lost.

These little sentences are just about analogies with my musical explorations.
Indeed, it is light, and I could probably write a whole book about that. Maybe it will come.

I have been invited to a festival named Les Musiques by the GMEM.
You can read this about this event.
The official Theater page is here

I decided to use a very new & fresh setup for this particular event.

The hardware
I’ll use my BCR2000, the best & solidest rotary encoders machine EVER.
I never found one lighter, solider, cheaper that the BCR2000.
All knobs job will be done with it. I need knobs under my fingers for volume, fx tweaking etc.

I’ll use my monome for all toggling control.
Probably, I’ll use it to control the clips grid in Ableton Live.
I’m using it with a Python script I made a long time ago specifically for this use.
With it, I can scroll, trigger anything.
It could also be replaced by Touchable  or LivKontrol on my iPad.

Why both mentionned ? Because I didn’t choose yet.
I need a light & efficient application ONLY for clip triggering and it seems that Touchable became a bit too big by making everything which, as a digital artist but a programmer too, makes me afraid a bit.

I could also come one day with my own Ableton Live iOS application which would be totally dedicated to clip triggering, clip looping etc.
Btw, it isn’t the point here.

The software
Ableton Live for all the live stuff.
As usual, I’m composing almost everytime a new liveset.
Today, in the afternoon, I found my new way.
The one which inspires me the most.

I have, in white, rhythmic stuff.
4 first tracks are routed to DRUMS one.
I like to tweak only rhythmic parts, letting the others not tweaking.
It provides a nice way to break, but to tweak slightly too, letting parts almost independant if it is required.

The track 5 isn’t really used but is often for the bass.
Orbital sounds is my title for anything related to pads, ambient & atmospheric soundscapes.
Orbital could be a reference to a group but it isn’t at all, here.
Micro sounds is my name for anything related to noise systems.

Those titles are very subjectives. They make me feeling well and I know what kind of sound is where.

The tOOL.
Used almost only in studio, I decided to manage complex structures using some Reaktor machines on a side, and to samples some parts for performances purpose.
The way HAS to be flawless & flexible.
I need to focus only on sound when I’m composing so, using that way, I’m fast to create, & integrate into my “real” tracks for stage in seconds!

This next live
I hope you like noises & clunks!
You won’t be disappointed if you do. Else, you’ll cry, which can be odd, but if you cry loud, it could add some strange textures (but please don’t do that)

I could modelize this next performance as

“a strange travel into electronic territories with atmospheric rotating sounds, unfiltered noises all over odd rhythmics”

It will yell from the sound system
You don’t have to be afraid but it will be loud.

If you like crunchy noises, you’ll have it.
If you love smooth ethered pads & atmospheric textures, you’ll be in trance (not related to trance goa, mates)

Intrigated? Then come!
Disappointed? Then, come too, there will be beer to drink, drunk mate!

Because I still didn’t finish even really began myUniverse, I won’t have a lot of visuals to show.
So, I asked to a couple of friends artists to provide me one of their creation.
I hope they will do that.
Else, I’ll plug something nice in the VGA bus.. don’t worry.

Music performance scheduled on May the 15th

In the great National Theater of La criée, I have been invited by GMEM to perform live.

This time, your ears will hear my really really (nervous) IDM.
I hope you are not afraid and are opened to new sound experiences

It will happen on May the 15th around 9:30 PM
The Facebook event is here https://www.facebook.com/events/281294878624714/

myUniverse

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Because every makers/creators/artists have their own universe, it is obvious that, at a particular point of their lives, they want to make the big equation of everything in order to describe it.

Indeed, we (artists), are strange people.
We want to show you everything of us, sometimes nothing, oscillations being a huge part of our work, if we can consider we are working, because I’d prefer to write we are living, instead working.. our life being our work or vice versa.

Building an universe from nothing seems to be hard.
But there are already many parts we just have to stick, to agglomerate, to join.

In my case, I’m just multiple which doesn’t mean mentally ill!

The multiple parts of myself – working together

Art takes its sense with the word technic.
Indeed, even if some doesn’t agree with that, we know art is also relatic to skill.
Britannica Online says Art is “the use of skill and imagination in the creation of aesthetic objects, environments, or experiences that can be shared with others.”

How to separate skill & imagination ?
Indeed, it seems hard, but education, societies, and globally jobs & bosses tend to make you using right & left parts of the brain absolutely not at the same time, which breaks absolutely our bunch of super-powers being inside of us.
My great friend Laurent (Boghossian) agrees 100% with that and it means a lot for me as he’s one of the most accurate to explain that kind of global human theory through his books about management, self-improvement.

Indeed, you have to notice that: each Continue reading »

Blue Box Synth Live Pack

Designed by Tristan Heau / Produced by Julien Bayle & Design the Media
You can check the bio of Tristan at the bottom of this page and soon our our partners page.

With 70 instruments, sampler/simpler & racks for Ableton Live, Tristan packaged these 600 samples recorded especially in HIGH QUALITY for you.

YOU CAN BUY IT HERE 

If you don’t know the Blue Box Synth, if you want to use totally unusual sounds coming from uncanny and unique hardwares, this pack is made for you.

The Blue Box Synth is now totally collector.
You can find informations there on MatrixSynth website
Even the link to the official original page is DOWN.
It also means Continue reading »

Teasing The Granulizator for Live

You know me.. I’m one of those never really happy with tools I found before.
As a huge diy guy, I decided (again) to build my own granulator machine.
This one has that grain I wanted, I needed for my own music.

RELEASED HERE
I named it The Granulizator because it sounded & sounds fine, no?
My friend (and almost partner) Tristan Heau suggested Sound Blender. I loved that too.Though, I wanted to keep a reference to the grain, this small element you’ll love to manipulate with this device for Ableton Live / Max for Live.

Here are 2 sound records I already publish in a previous post

Here is the video I made.

I have to say something too.
I will compose an ep exclusively with it.
I really like textures I can make and it deserves to be explored further.

It would be released soon, probably as usual on saturday evening.
Stay tuned on the newsletter & twitter.

Designing my granulator machine

Granular synthesis is fascinating.

It is basically based on the sampling technic, but with a very unconditional feature.

AVAILABLE HERE ! 

Here are 2 samples coming that sound blender named THE GRANULIZATOR.

To understand the granular synthesis, you have to get that.
Take a sample.
Play a little slice, then another one.
Change the order of playing, size the slices differently & dynamically, add a bit of noise (randomness) in the play making the playing window moving a bit around a global controlled and moving value…
The slice is named the grain.

The name of synthesis is important here: indeed, there is a literally synthesized new output coming from the sample named here : the source.

Then, we can add some interesting features at a macro level (the global parameters like the manner the playing window moves) or at a very micro level (the grains themselves)

Here are some links about this field:
- http://granularsynthesis.com (nice portal)
- http://ftwem.com/forums/techniques/granular-synthesis-and-microsound-primer (nice forum post)
- http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/dec05/articles/granularworkshop.htm (VERY nice article by SoS)

I’ll release finally this new synthesis tool asap on designthemedia.com
I could also port it to … iOS. I’d love. Granular synthesis, especially if it involves a huge number of voices/grains, is a bit hardcore for the chip/cpu. It means I have to experiment a bit.
Of course, it will be possible. Some people already did it (with more or less success, I have to confess)

Stay Tuned!

Festival Les Musiques 2012 / Marseille

I have been invited by the structure named GMEM (Groupe de Musique Experimentale de Marseille) to play one music live performance at the festival named Festival Les Musiques 2012 in Marseille.

I’ll play a one hour music live performance w/ visuals probably.
I planned to provide both side from ambient to more rhythmed soundscapes.
I would probably use my iOS/iPad tool live.

This event will happen on May, the 15th at La Criée (Théâtre National)

I’m happy about that first collaboration with GMEM.
We were in touch since several months, and as usual, this is a particular event which makes us collaborating and concretizing something together.

Here is the Press Kit for that event:

Festival Les Musique 2012