Peter recently went to the Cycling74 expo74 conference, and got to chatting with their “man of materials” Darwin Grosse. In the exciting environment of ideas and all things Max, they decided to do a three part series on how to work with controllers in Max on the Cycling74 website.

Darwin kicked it off with a thorough introduction to the Code and Max, and created a simple step sequencer that drew on the classic ideas of analog step sequencers. However, no modular synth has had such a compete and easy stepper as this.

Peter took the second installment and adapted the work we was doing for the CNTRL:R drum stepper into a sophisticated, reprogrammable, javascript-heavy VST controller. Complete with a stretched metaphor about the cycles of nature and programming computer music, this classically inspired sequencer threw in everything (including the kitchen sink) you might want to know about how to step sequence information in Max.

Cycling74′s Matthew Davidson (known to many by his online handle “Stretta,” having created a number of well-loved devices for the monome) did a four-part third segment. He first describes how to decouple the LED rings from the encoders to lay a foundation for fully integrated hardware and software insanity. With that tutorial as a prelude, he creates three impressive and unique instruments for the Code, and presents them in some beautiful videos.

Even if you don’t use Cycling74′s Max, you can enjoy reading some about the process of how these things are created, and, at very least, watch the video presentations. If you do use Max or Max For Live, you’ve just been handed a massive gift from three virtuosos for you to dissect, re-patch, and remix into your own awesome creation.

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NAMM was a whirlwind for us this year. In addition to listening to ear wrenching guitar solos all day long, we got to meet a lot of good people and demo our new products. Our resident product specialist Gabe spent most of his time demoing and showing people how our stuff works. We also had a good amount of coverage from some awesome media outlets, so I thought it would make sense to just go ahead and put them all in one blog post. So here it is!

Music Radar - NAMM 2012 VIDEO: Livid Instruments CNTRL-R

Dj Tech Tools – 2012 DJTT NAMM Wrapup

Digital DJ Tips

Oh Drat Digital

Harmony Central

Gear Slutz

The product we also partnered on with Electrix, the Tweaker was also announced  and received a good amount coverage.

Music Radar - NAMM 2012 VIDEO: Electrix Tweaker

Modern.DJ - NAMM 2012 Product Highlight : Electrix Tweaker

DJ Tech Tools

We also got to see what Ben from Visionary Instruments was up to with the Brain and his custom guitars. This is too exciting to jam into this post, so expect more on that very soon.

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After a year in development with secret testing at gigs by Minus artists’ Gaiser and Marc Houle, we are proud to present CNTRL:R. In December 2009 we hooked up with electronic music pioneer Richie Hawtin and started talking about designing a new controller together. The next year was spent discussing designs, uses, and prototyping a few units to actually road test in a live performance setting. After a few redesigns and a lot of hard work, CNTRL:R was born. This is one of the most exciting and longest lasting project we’ve work on and it’s only just the beginning.

CNTRL:R features twenty four rotary knobs, twelve push button rotary encoders, eight faders, a 4×4 grid of RGB keypads, and two rows of 16 RGB light buttons. The CNTRL:R also contains our expansion jacks for connecting Roland-style foot pedals and other expressive analog devices such as faders, accelerometers, sensors, rotary knobs, and our XPC expansion controllers. The CNTRL:R is fully programmable with scripts and templates available for softwares such as Ableton Live and Native Instruments Traktor.

In addition to the hardware, we worked closely with Richie Hawtin to create a brilliant Max For Live step-sequencer that integrates seamlessly into Ableton Live. The unique layout of CNTRL:R is ideal for a step sequencer, and this plug-in makes it easy to quickly generate grooves for sounds in a Live Drum Rack. Each pad in the 4×4 matches to a sound loaded in a drum rack, and a sequence is easily entered in the bottom row of buttons. The encoders automatically map to important parameters for the sound, such as volume, pan, filter, pitch, and other controls. Depending on the type of instrument (Simpler, Sampler, Operator, Tension, etc), the encoders will latch onto appropriate parameters allowing interactive, immediate sound-shaping and control. The bottom four encoders map to functions in the sequence itself, allowing for random variation, sequence rotation, and rhythm manipulations. With all these controls at your fingertips, you will quickly find your groove. Beyond all this instant control, a bit of mousing will let you alter the velocity, duration, and chance for each step, as well as offer some different modes of step editing. If one sequencer isn’t enough, the CNTRL:R Remote Script for Live gives you access of up to four sequencers on four different tracks, at the push of one of the top encoder buttons. Of course, because its Max For Live, the source is available for your edit and alter to your own liking. We also have plans for releases of new devices for sequencing melodies, bass lines, improvising with your controller, and more. You’ll soon realize there’s more to Live than mixing clips – you’ll have full interactive control over your entire set.

CNTRL:R  is available directly from our online shop and through our worldwide dealer network.

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You may have seen our post last month regarding the custom code we did for Bruce Murphy. Bruce wanted  to match his Moog Voyager’s design by having a black body by finishing his end caps off with a white wash. We liked it so much we decided to make a limited edition Block, dubbed the Winter Edition. This special edition block has a white aluminum body, white LEDs, and hand finished white washed mahogany end caps. We’re offering the Winter Edition block for only $379. As we’ve only made a small run of them they will sell out quickly. We will of course be offering customization on an ongoing basis, but the Winter Edition will save you over $150 on a block. Only available while supplies last at shop.lividinstruments.com

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When designing the OhmRGB we thought a lot about how users would be able to fully take advantage of the different LED colors available. We created a method that allows the colors to be changed depending on the velocity that it receives from the software (or midi hardware). You can of course change the color assignments with the RGB editor, or just use the defaults. This makes the RGB very easy to integrate with different softwares for totally customized setups.

Robert Vela made this really intuitive mapping for use with Traktor. Native Instruments has created a really easy method for mapping the controls including specifying the color you want to use for each control. Here’s a video Robert made explaining his setup and showing you how it all works.

Robert has made his mapping available for free, it can be downloaded here.

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