Computer based ambient drone: Tim Hecker, Ben Frost etc...

[ProCarsteNation]

hooray for Audiomulch!
used to mess around with that a lot....

Usine seems also really nice in a similar vein, but every time I sporadically try it, I continue to not really get it

guess I'm getting old

[rainlet]

I just googled ppooll and the first two pages broke my brain. I have no idea what's going on...to quote Bill Hicks, it's like showing a dog a card trick. Is it a program I can use like a plugin or is a community of people sharing things they've made?

ppooll is a set of instruments, effects and helper modules built in Max/MSP. Also, it'll run native plugins (I can only seem to get AU to work on Mac, I've gotten VST to work on Windows). It runs in the (free) Max Runtime, which means it's a standalone thing, you don't need Ableton or anything else to use it. This also means that if you're a Max guy, you can write your own acts (ppooll's name for its modules) to add your own capabilities to ppooll. If there's interest, I can try to whip up some sort of effortpost about how to get started using ppooll. I won't say that I'm an expert, but I can tell you enough to get the ball rolling.

has anyone messed around with audiomulch? I found that really intiuitive and nice to use.

I used to use Audiomulch a lot. In fact, I made a whole drone album that was Audiomulch and bass. I like it, and it's definitely easy to work with, but I found it a little restrictive. Maybe now that they have a VST host inside I'd like it a bit better?

In the end, Ableton isn't probably ESSENTIAL but session view and the integration of the MAX stuff makes in indespensible to me.

Agreed, Ableton is great stuff, and really lets you do a lot of cool things live (and with Max For Live, even more awesome). On the other hand, Ableton is expensive as balls (100 if you want the version that is super limited, almost 800 if you want to actually be able to use Max For Live). Awesome post though, man.

[cloudscapes]

reaktor has a slightly friendlier learning curve than puredata / maxmsp

slightly

[ancientbones]

I've always been really curious about the music languages like Max/Msp, puredata, and whatnot. I've been really tempted to learn Supercollider but could never wrap my head around it. There's another crazy language that Autechre was known for using.

Anyway, all that kind of modular environment stuff would be excellent for this type of thing. I've done quite a few ambient drone/glitch things in Renoise, an excellent modern tracker. But the things I did were very unconventional and limited. Lots of raw waveforms running into multiple sends of effects. You could definitely pull off something better in software suited for live playing like Ableton.

Speaking of which, are there any cheaper alternatives than Ableton? I've always wanted to use it but could never justify spending that much money on it and I'd feel bad using a pirated copy. I've stuck with Renoise because a license is like $70 and I'm planning on purchasing Reaper sooner or later for recording solo things.

[D.o.S.]

Dude if you pick up that Focusrite it comes with Ableton lite which is more than enough to start diving in.

[ancientbones]

Dude if you pick up that Focusrite it comes with Ableton lite which is more than enough to start diving in.

I've given it a try on a friend's computer who has a focusrite, but the lite version is just incredibly bare bones. Looking into audiomulch though. Seems interesting for modular-like purposes. Not too pricey either if I end up liking it.

[tremolo3]

Gringos don't "pirate bay" much huh?

[resincum]

Gringos don't "pirate bay" much huh?

there's some kind of unspoken anti piracy thing around here..

this thread has piqued my interest; I've been going crazy exploring VSTs lately. I'm really curious about the Valhalla, just want to make sure - if I snag the vintageverb plug in, do I just load it like a VST or is it something else? I want to get into PD too, but my computer sucks. open to suggestions for cheap, decent computers for sound processing

[ancientbones]

Gringos don't "pirate bay" much huh?

Personally I just don't like making music with pirated software. I'd rather support devs or use open source alternatives.

Speaking of open source, what are some good resources for pure data? I'm thinking I might give it a try for making weird synth noises.

[trace]

I love Audiomulch. It can do most of what most people use Ableton for, the difference being that audiomulch just kind of starts you with a blank slate and you have to build your workflow/interface from the ground up. It's pretty easy to learn and the granular stuff and the metasurface are amazing. It's not too expensive and I don't think the trial version ever really expires, it just starts to play recordings of the developer and his wife heckling you for not paying after a while.

[resincum]

oh fuck I am loving audiomulch

[louderthangod]

I didn't mean to lock it in to Hecker and Frost (can't believe I forgot The Haxan Cloak, love his eponymous record and his work with The Body) but I like that both of those guys were manipulating live and sampled sounds and I'm mainly a guitarist so tracking some guitars and bass and then fucking with them would be awesome. I've seen some clips of Omnisphere 2 which seems pretty awesome but a little pricey and then on the cheap something called The Mangle which seems a lot like a software version of my Particle pedal.

[D.o.S.]

This is from the Just Intonation thread, but it's in Pure Data.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTlqIL-9xaU[/youtube]

[louderthangod]

Does Audiomulch work well with Logic?

[rainlet]

Does Audiomulch work well with Logic?

You may need some sort of audio routing software like Soundflower in order to pipe the output from Audiomulch to Logic.