Category: Blog

Thought id try to learn Ableton, but it became more about the #MicroFreak

kirke

So, Sitting around Self Isolating …
Thought id teach myself Ableton LIVE

Yep is Music for old people, buy hey IM OLD so …

Made this track using its 909 kit and an Arturia MicroFreak.
Excuse the less than inspired drum part, got lost in the Synth:+)
To make things interesting, made some rules:
All sounds from Default on the micro freak had to be made in less than 3 mins and the parts had to be played in with no edits.

45 mins later;…

By request. the no crappy beats version, you can REALLY hear the bad playing now!:+)

Suss’ing the FREAK

kirke

Been playing with the @ArturiaOfficial #MicroFreak. Its FUN. Its Bonkers Fun.

Sadly it also has a somewhat unappealing digital ‘noise’ (a friend referred to it as “DigitalHash’) so more delicate sounds are not really viable, but cranked up its pretty bloody usable.

Its quite an interesting cross between ya bog standard 1 Osc subtractive, and something more modular with some west coast elements. Consequently as a sad old synth geek, it’s quite interesting. The conductive pads that respond polyphonically are really what made me get this as it seems like an interesting controller for future projects regardless of its own synth engine. Anyway, its a hilarious machine for creating riffy ‘acid’ type synth loops. So I’ve been reliving my 90’s dance producer life, and wishing i’d had one of these back then.

Learning

Perc+

kirke

Perc+

MODWHEEL

Revises & Relaunches
PERC+ Percussion Library

PERC+ features 128 patches for Kontakt 5.5 or higher. It includes cymbals, bells, gongs, objects, small percussions, tuned instruments as well as upright piano and a viola da gamba. With up to 10 round robins and 20 layer velocities depending on the instrument.

We bought it back in 2014 and having used it extensively we’ve had some ideas on how to make it an even better user experience. So the interface has been streamlined to make this huge library more immediately useable. The patches are the same but following MODWHEEL’S simple principle of ‘less is more’ we’ve redesigned the GUI curating a few choice functions on the front page for the user.

These include Envelope, Tuning, Body, Reverb, Delay, Arpeggiator and Stutter Key. And of course all the usual Kontakt functionality is still available via the spanner tool.

Get your copy by making a NZ$45 donation to Tironui Music Trust

As with the original concept proceeds of sales will go to a music charity – this time one based in New Zealand.

We’re supporting Tironui Music Trust who are based in South Auckland, NZ. http://www.tironui.org.nz

They provide instruments and tuition to kids aged between 8 -12 at low decile schools (schools in lower socio-economic communities) They can play string or band instruments and learn the basics of reading music, playing an orchestral instrument and performing as a group.