Loomer Cumulus - Computer Music Exclusive

Cumulus is a granular sampler which radically transforms sample content by breaking it into tiny slithers of audio called grains and reorganizing them to form new sounds. Cumulus is capable of a wide ranges of timbres: from evolving atmospheric soundscapes; to organic physical textures.

Up to eight Scenes can be created; a Scene corresponding to a particular sample position and set of synthesis parameters. Scenes can be played in realtime via MIDI, or arranged internally using the built-in sequencer.

Cumulus is available free on the cover-mounted DVD of Computer Music magazine from issue 170 and onwards. Cumulus is supported on Mac OS X (VST, AU, RTAS, and Standalone), Windows (VST, RTAS, and Standalone), and Linux (VST, Standalone), and natively supports 64-bit for VST, Audio Unit, and Linux Standalone formats.

Shift updated to v2

And Shift v2 is out: go transpose some pitches. Shift v2 is a huge update (although rewrite is perhaps a more accurate description) of the original Shift. Why a rewrite? Why not a minor upgrade? Real-time harmonizing with zero latency, the most requested feature by a long way, just wasn't going to happen with Shift v1.  Rather than shoe-horn the feature in, we took a step back, looked at what did and didn't work with the first Shift, and redesigned it.

Some of the many improvements in Shift v2:

• Better diatonic tracking. Not only is the tracking faster and more accurate, we've added filters to reduce the signal bandwidth (and hence, make it easier for the tracker to guess the pitch), as well as a real-time tuning indicator to help you finely hone the tracker settings. Plus you can save tracking presets independent from the main preset; if you've found a setting that works great with your particular style of playing, you can easily bring it into any preset.
  
• Better interface: most noticeable the XY Grid control for real-time simultaneous 'playing' of two parameters.
  
• Grain engine parameters: tweak the fundamental grain settings to improve latency and quality.
  
• Improved preset browser, with all the usual features such as tagging, annotations, quick searching, and hot-swap previewing.
  
• 64-bit: Shift v2 is native 64-bit for Windows VST, and Mac OS X Audio Unit. Other 64-bit formats coming soon...

So Shift v2 is a vast step forward from Shift v1. But don't take my word for it, listen to the audio samples here. Or even better: judge for yourself, grab the demo here. Shift is available for Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux, in all the usual formats (Audio Unit, VST, RTAS, and Standalone application.)

Registered users of Shift v1 can claim their free licence upgrade here.

Pure Data MIDI Step Sequencer (2)

I've spent a little time improving the Pure Data MIDI Step Sequencer patch that was originally posted here. This new version adds selectable step divisions, and a fairly decent swing algorithm. The code has been tidied up somewhat too; in many places, lists provide a much more cohesive data structure than the separate pitch and velocity streams that the first version used.

 Download the updated patch here.

Probabilistic Step Sequencing meets Cellular Automaton with Elysium

Aleatoricism is defined as "art created by exploiting randomness". From Pierre Boulez's experimentation with controlled chance to Brian Eno's use of Koan to produce Generative Music 1, it's a well explored area of music composition. Even Roland's TB-303 offered prospects for the aleatoric explorer: leaving the battery removed for a short time corrupted the sequencer memory, generating 64 tracks of random acid.

Elysium is a probabilistic sequencer, developed by LucidMac Software and available (for free) on Mac OS X. It's a pure sequencer, not a synthesizer or a host. It doesn't produce any sound itself, but generates a MIDI stream that can be used to drive any MIDI consuming application or hardware. Despite this, syncing with a DAW such as Logic or Live running on the same machine as Elysium is completely pain-free; no additional configuration was required to get it working.

The Elysium interface is made up of a grid of hex cells, each representing a note of a certain pitch. Playheads move across the grid in sync with the tempo. By placing tokens on cells, the playheads (which are spewed out at specified tempo from a Generate token) can be made to perform an action: a Note token causes the note on the underlying grid to be played; a Split token divides a single playhead into several, each launching out at different trajectories; a Rebound token bounces the playhead back in the opposite direction.



Tokens can also be assigned probabilities, only performing their functions on a roll of the virtual dice: 50% of the time, this playhead will rebound; 25% of the time, this note will play. Using this system, constantly varying pieces of music that would be tricky to compose using traditional sequencers can easily be easily generated.

Watching playheads creep across a grid is somewhat reminiscent of John Conway's cellular automaton Life simulation. The interface is simple to use, but not necessarily intuitive at first glance. Reading the introductory documentation, which is scant but does well in explaining the basics, is advised.

Elysium is currently only available for Mac OS X. It was recently released as open-source under the MIT license, so there is a chance of seeing a port to other operating systems. More information about Elysium can be found at http://lucidmac.com/products/elysium