I have just finished a beta of a comprehensive Remote mapping for Propellerhead’s Reason. “Remote” is Reason (and Record’s) method of integrating controllers into their software, and I have to say, it’s pretty cool once you have all the mappings done.
To be honest, I’ve always shied away from Reason in the past, since the interface seemed too closely tied to the analogy of “rack of hardware gear.” This seems to result in interfaces that are bound by a legacy of old hardware, rather than interfaces that took advantage of a computer’s speed and flexibility. I’ve always like the terse control offered by Max/MSP and the simplicity of MIDI learn in Ableton Live. However, now that I’ve spent a lot of time with Reason making this map for the Ohm64, I’ve come to really like it. Mostly what I like is that I now have full control of every device in the form of a consistent hardware interface, and I feel like I can really explore the sonic possibilities of Thor and Subtractor (for example), because I have a massive number of knobs, sliders, and buttons to control it with. This really opened up the possibilities with Reason, since there are some really fantastic sounding kits in there.
I’ve also taken advantage of their Remote SDK by doing a bit of programming that lets me create a “keyboard” on the Ohm64 that is, for the non-piano player, probably a lot better for getting ideas down. The keys are mapped to major or minor scales, and can be transposed at will. Take a look at the video, and you’ll quickly get an idea of what’s possible, then download the installer here:
http://www.vimeo.com/10620213

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Possibly the third most important release of the year for audio and video (frankly, you’ll have to kill me to cede spots one and two for the Ohm64 and block: we work too damn hard on these to give those spaces up on our blog!) is Max For Live.
Max For Live extends the already insanely deep audio environment of Ableton Live with a (somewhat) easy-to-use programming language for making your own music, sound, and even video, plugins. Our first project for M4L integrates our block and Ohm64 controllers into Ableton Live with LiveStep.
LiveStep is an extremely rich (as in “dessert”, not “money” – this download is free) step sequencer. WIth control of up to eight sequences, each sequence can be modified with a huge variety of hands-on control. You can even play synths and drum machines on top of the sequenced insanity, and record loops of improvised melodies to play back.
You can download the devices, some sample Live sets, and of course, a bit of documentation from our downloads page.
Words fail me on the sheer joy of this device, so here’s some videos that will explain all the features. (I apologize in advance to your ears for the horrid “music” of Part 2 – I just had to crank out that extra video and release this sucker, and I wanted it extra apparent what is happening.):
http://www.vimeo.com/7828668
http://www.vimeo.com/7952164

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Once again, the short-sighted naming of apps strikes again! OhmSampler is now LividSampler, and works with Ohm64 and block. I’ve fixed some quirks about saving the setups, and samples play for the duration of the button press (rather than the duration of the selection). It’s damn fun to drop a bunch of weird sounds and just start messing around. I highly encourage such activity!
Also, In my effort to get the monomeBridge working for the block, I released it broken for the Ohm64 . Oops. It’s fixed now.
As always, the download links are here:
http://www.lividinstruments.com/support_downloads.php

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With the block now shipping, we’ve quickly dated our monome bridge’s crafty name. “monomeBridge” works with either the Ohm64 or the Block, and auto-detects as needed. If you have multiple blocks/Ohm64s or a mix of block and Ohm64 on your USB ports, you can manually specify which one you want to use.
Download mac, pc, and source code:
http://www.lividinstruments.com/support_downloads.php#monomebridge

There’s a few other features I’ve added:

• You can slow down the rate of messages – letting them go too high seemed to freeze some machines. I also found a bug that may have been the true cause of freezes, so this version should be much more stable.
• The “test” mode lets you confirm the connection between your Livid controller and the computer, letting you draw light patterns.
• There’s an announcement at startup of what port name the software is using, so you know the controller was found and communication works.
• “MIDI thru” will pass the block or Ohm’s MIDI messages to another MIDI port, so it can be used in other apps or devices.

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This adds a fix to limit the amount of data that gets sent to the ohm, which was causing freezes on some computers. Update now!
It is also worth noting that if you are using Max5 Runtime to run monome apps, you can just use the .mxf file in runtime, rather than running the mon+ohm application. Not really a big deal, but it might make windows XP operation easier. You can find the .mxf in the same folder as the .exe in windows. On mac, ctl-click on the mon+ohm.app icon, and “Show Package Contents” – you’ll find it in there.
UPDATE: v003  adds MIDI thru to pass the Ohm64′s MIDI onto another MIDI port, such as a MIDIYoke port, IAC port, or even an external device.

Windows:
http://lividserver.com/dl/ohm/monohm-XP.zip
OSX:
http://lividserver.com/dl/ohm/monohm-OSX.zip
Source:
http://lividserver.com/dl/ohm/monohmSource.zip

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