cc licence: D'Arcy Norman

For many of you out there, this should find you on a holiday, and I hope you reserved some playtime for your Livid Controller! I’ve been working on some simple devices in Max, and today I worked up a simple 8 row step sequencer for our controllers. Yes, all of them: Ohm64, block and Code.
Scaling back from the hyper-featured Livd Step, this patch provides the basics for turning any row of the grid into a single note step sequencer. It is sync’ed to the main tempo, and each row can be assigned any of several note time values (such as sixteenth, dotted quarter, eight note, and so on). Of course, you’ll need Cycling 74′s Max/MSP (4 or 5) to use this.
Since this coincided with a forum request on how to control LEDs in Max for a step sequencer from a Max 4.6 user, I took the time to convert the Max 5 patch to a Max 4 patch. I hope there are others still using version 4.6 that find this helpful!
Besides the step sequencing, these patches also provide all the necessary infrastructure to automatically detect and setup any of our controllers in Max, as well as control LEDs via sysex (it’s basically the same stuff that can be found in the Livid+Max patch in our downloads sections, but in a really useful context).
Rather than use an 8×8 matrix control, I used 8 separate 8×1 matrix controls in Max, providing more freedom to work this stuff into your own patches.
I didn’t provide any cool sounds with it. I simply use the operating system’s built-in GeneralMIDI synth, using the drum patch on channel 10. I’ll leave it to you to make your own cool sounds with this.  In the same spirit, I designed this so you can add a lot of your own ideas to step sequencing and hopefully make this your own crazy stepper: you could add randomness, link the knobs to different parameters, or even work it into Max For Live. I hope you ping back what you make!
Download the Max 4 and 5 files here: http://lividinstruments.com/dl/Livid-BasicStepSeq.zip

Filed under:
news, projects by Peter

Our favorite minimal techno group from Germany, the Naked Pilotz just released their Native Instruments Traktor template to share with the rest of the naked (and or clothed) world. The Naked Pilotz have been using the Ohm64 almost from its inception, and I first heard of them from their very incriminating facebook photos where I think an Ohm or two may have been taken advantage of. Their name isn’t schtick either, they are the real deal. I first saw them in this youtube video, playing “industrial” techno music in this video, and I have been watching them ever since. Aside from their fantastic photoshoots and word play, they have spent a lot of time working on their “perfect tsi file” for Traktor Pro and want to share it their work with the community. They have documented it with this overlay file, with all of the assignments from their template. You can download their template here. The boys also have also printed an overlay, which hopefully we will be able to share as well.

Filed under:
news by Jay

As DJ Shadow’s tour snakes its way through the US, it seems as good a time as any to highlight a detail of our controllers. It might seem like an anachronism to some, but all our controllers have MIDI in and out plugs in them. Given that we emphasize computer control, and that so much of the electronic music world is centered on software, it’s probably true that a lot of those plugs never get used!

However, we include them (and added them to later revisions of the block) for the simple reason that it seems like a good idea. No doubt someone has a way of working that will need those plugs, and it just might save the day. We don’t necessarily have a scenario in mind, but we are mindful of the extremes, and conscious of music history.

The most unusual use came to our attention when Timo Preece (Bay Area Ableton Live guru) came up to me at the Maker Faire asking about the MIDI plugs. He was in the middle of helping DJ Shadow (along with producer Count) get his tour together on Ableton Live, and had a simple problem with a confounding solution. This was the need to have one controller control two laptops, the idea being that if one laptop failed during the set, the other would be doing the same thing and be in the same place, as it had been getting all the same performance data. Just flip some faders on the mixer, and the show goes on, no problem.

However, their first thought of a controller (starts with “A,” ends with “0″) only has one USB plug, leaving no way to mirror the data to the backup computer and carry on with the performance. But with the Ohm64, Timo realized the data could be sent from the USB to one computer, and then out the MIDI plug to the other computer. Problem totally solved. I had the pleasure of bringing an Ohm to the studio and see it all work for the first time.

I haven’t had the pleasure of seeing the tour, but from some clips (like this one) you can  see why they want to go the extra measure to make sure the show stays “ON.” It looks not only AWESOME, but also totally reliant on the balance of technology. Multiple video projectors, sync’ed directly to DJ Shadow’s set from Ableton, on a mind-blowing stage setup. I have a feeling people won’t accuse him of checking his mail on this one. Here’s the upcoming dates, hope you can all catch it when it comes to town!
Here’s a good interview with DJ Shadow.

Filed under:
news, uncategorized by Peter

While LividStep for Max for Live has been out for a while or so in beta, I’ve been making fixes and improvements and figuring out a good way to demonstrate it. Here’s one way! In this demo, I control Reason, Live, Max5, and CellDNA. This video mostly focuses on the setup process for using Step standalone, rather than all the cool features. Cool features are largely explained in the original video for Livid Step.

LividStep for Max for Live has been updated, too. The patch itself is much clearer, and uses more javascript. The interaction is a bit better, too, for the block and Ohm64.
You can download these files, including source code, from  our support page.
Enjoy!

Filed under:
uncategorized by Peter

Amp Live is one of the earliest adopters of the Ohm64. He is a DJ, producer, and 1/2 of the hip hop crew Zion I. I was first introduced to Amp Live when the contacted us and wanted a custom version of a faceplate for his Ohm64 with AMP LIVE in place of the Ohm cutout. He wanted it printed upside down, and after seeing this video you will know why. We customized the faceplate for him and it has gotten a lot of use. Amp plays the Ohm64 as the instrument centerpiece of his setup, and you can see it featured in his new video “Chick Pop” from his new solo album “Murder at The Discotech”. Check it out…

Filed under:
news by Jay