Here are custom versions of one of the API MaxForLive patch to control Ableton Live parameters with Open Sound Control protocol (OSC). I use them with the Lemur iApp for iPad, but I’ve tried to make them none-criptic and easy to use with other OSC compatible hardwares and softwares. With OSC protocol, you will get much better resolution than MIDI controllers, and network connectivity.

You will find on the downloadable archive below 5 MaxForLive patches:

Installation

Download first the archive below:

" OSC tools.zip [52.97 kB]

Then go to the CNMAT website and download the OSC-route Max-MSP external:

http://cnmat.berkeley.edu/patch/4029

Network customisation

To use these MaxForLive patches, you have to customized each of them to allow them to talk with your OSC device. Don’t panic, it’s pretty easy.

First you have to know the IP address or the local network name of your device. In my case, my iPad local network name is ipad-hpsounds.local (your device name has to be without space character, then add .local).

Open each patch in Max-MSP or MaxForLive and unlock the patching window. As shown below, follow the red arrow and modify the udpsend object with the IP address or local network name of your device. Be careful to keep the 8000, which is the port used.

OSC parameters names

In each MaxForLive patch, you have from 1 to 8 OSC controls that can be used to remote control any Ableton Live parameters (I’ve just discovered that there is still a small bug in Live, you can not remote control the Crossfader with MaxForLive). There is a pop-up menu bellow each knob,named OSC ctl 1 to 8, with which you can select which controller to use (from ctrl1 to ctrl128).

On your OSC device side, you should follow the name rule for the OSC controls you want to use in Ableton Live, as shown below in the Lemur editor screenshot:

/hpsounds/ctrl1
…
/hpsounds/ctrl128

Done ! Let’s have fun making music now !

Ambient track inspired by my first winter here in Iceland. It is work in progress and part of a project about winter. Small problem at the end on the winder soundscape loop !

The main moving sound is a sound recording processed through 5 carefully tuned band pass filers and a clever comb filter. The levels and pannings of this sound are controlled by an iPad Lemur App with a custom OSC layout using self-generated movements.

Just received my four Thomas White Resonant LowPass Gate PCB from Natural Rhythm Music aka. DJThomasWhite.

Just received my SympleSEQ analog sequencer eurorack panel from Re-Synthesis.

Building the Mutable Instruments Shruthi-1 was the first step for me to access a whole new world of truly capable musical tools that you can build yourself, with the possibility to modify it to your own personal needs and also to have the satisfaction to build it yourself !

After strolling on the Music Tech SDIY of the MuffWiggler forum during last week, i was hocked by several very interesting SDIY projects and I’ve jumped on several of them. The first one I will build is a dual analog step sequencer called SympleSEQ. This is a community funded project conceived by Hexinverter.net and who is selling different kits for this nice project. The Eurorack panel is available here.

Small demo of one of my recently built Shruthi-1 synth in an unusual ambient Pad. As usual, the ValhallaShimmer reverb add a lot of lush to the sound.

Shruthi-1 Pad demo by hpsounds

I’ve discovered the Shruthi-1 synthesizer project by reading a thread on the Anafrog forum. I’ve then checked the audio samples on Mutable Instruments and I was so impressed by the quality and personality of this little synthesizer that I’ve decided to take the plunge. But there was a unknown part on this decision : this synthesizer is only available as a SDIY (Solder Do It Yourself) kit … and I’ve never built such an electronic kit before !

But here is what I’ve built during three long evening …

The Shruthi-1 is a hybrid digital/analog monosynth. Its hardware design is deceptively simple, but the sonic range is wide: sometimes grungily digital like a PPG-Wave, fat and funky like a SH-101, videogame-y like a Commodore 64, weird and warm like an ESQ-1 ; but more often than not, truly original.

Contrary to the hardware you can purchase at the music shop next door, a Shruthi-1 isn’t designed to be industrially manufactured. Indeed, its assembly doesn’t require any specialized equipment, besides a screwdriver, cutters, a soldering iron and two hands.

Full informations about Mutable Instruments and the Shruthi-1 here.
Many thanks to Olivier Gillet for his amazing work on the Mutable Instruments projects !

Please check below all my building process!

Organisation

Selecting and organizing all the parts (resistors, capacitors, diodes, LEDs, connectors, sockets, ICs, …).

Shruthi-1 digital/control board

Soldering the first resistors and capacitors

The digital/control board has components on both side of the PCB

LEDs on the digital/control board

The LCD screen will be soldered on the top of the board

First test without the LCD screen : everything was still fine

The ATMega644p : the brain of the Shruthi-1 synth

Connector soldered to the LCD

Soldering the LCD PCB to the digital/control board

Front view of the digital/control board

Shruthi-1 SMR-4 filter board

Working on the SMR-4 filter board

Checking the power supply circuit with a multimeter

Step after step, the PCBs are getting filled

Audio and inter-boards connectors

Flying over the Shruthi-1

Nice work for a beginner !

Connecting the two boards

The 2 boards of the Shruthi-1 are connected first with wires

A second Shruthi-1 is born ! Welcome !

Tuning the filter’s boards

My musical studio mess in Reykjavík

Tuning is now finished …

Assembling the two boards

Screwing spacers

Still lacking some proper enclosures

Shruthi-1 by hpsounds

More pictures here.

The legendary JazzMutant Lemur touchscreen modular solution has been ported to the iOS (iPhones and iPads) by the berlin based company Liine.

I’ve just bought it some days ago. That’s not just an other one iOS controller app for your iPhone or iPad : the scripting and modular possibilities, and the numerous physical properties of most of objects in the toolbox make it quite different, quite more “playable” and enjoyable than the other ones that I have tried (TouchAble, TouchOSC, Midi Touch, …).

For me, this tool does not replace my other hardware controllers, but it offers new interactive possibilities that only a touchscreen can have.

Here is a screenshot of the modular controller environment I’m working on at the moment for a coming music piece.