Software News

Hi,

Introducing myself, I am Camille Troillard and I am an music artist and programmer.  When I am not busy writing songs for my band Neïmo, I write code for my software, OSCulator.  You see, I like nothing more than creating things, and the cooler they are, the better.

A year ago, Kim Cascone, a very active composer from San Francisco told me that I could be interested in a intriguing device called the AudioCube.  I already felt that it would be a great addition to OSCulator.  That’s when I met Bert, and discussed with him how we could manage to use the cubes in my application.

Bert actually suggested something better than just a remote collaboration, he offered me to join the Percussa team and take part to a challenging and exciting partnership.  So here I am, with my first contribution to the AudioCubes: a library that lets you use the cubes with your own programs.

The library is written in C and is available for Mac OS X and Windows.  The goal is to make a library that is robust, easy to learn, and that covers most the functionalities the cubes are offering.  We think that this component makes a good foundation that will help AudioCubes enthusiasts to develop innovative and creative new applications.  We even have some new stuff in stores, but I’ll let Bert show you that when it’s time …

The libcube library is available right now and includes two detailed examples of how to use it.  I am looking forward to speaking with the developers at the “developer corner” in the Percussa’s forums!

• Download libcube for Mac OS X (libcube_1.0_92-osx.zip)
• Download libcube for Windows (libcube_1.0_92-win.zip)

Making loops with single AudioCube from percussa on Vimeo.

Chris from UCSD emails us with a patch in Max/MSP and accompanying video in which he uses a single audiocube to create loops.

the audiocube’s 4 sensors control 4 parameters of a VST instrument, which are recorded into a looping sequencer and played over the original recording, allowing the performer to create a loop quickly and shape the sound and musical patterns using has hands and fingers, like a piece of clay.

the parameters are recorded in high resolution and speed for smooth continuous control.

the patch will be released as a standalone application in the next months. More info about Chris’ work at http://alloyelectric.com/

FL Studio Slicex controlled by single AudioCube from percussa on Vimeo.

Dan from Schaack Audio just sent us this cool video of a single audiocube controlling the slicex in FL Studio. Dan is building a new version of MIDIBridge using Raw Material’s JUCE framework.

We just got an email from Spyro who lives in Venezuela and is a heavy FL Studio User. His real name is Mat and he did a video tutorial on using AudioCubes with FL Studio. Check it out!

AudioCubes FL Studio Tutorial by Spyro from percussa on Vimeo.

Spyro made a package of FL Studio examples for AudioCubes which accompanies the video. Download here: http://www.divshare.com/download/6137902-7d0.

More info about Spyro and his work:

Real Name: Matias Monteagudo
Aka’s: Spyro, Montéz, Tony Alpha
web: www.spyrofunk.com (website) / http://spyro.mediashift.net/klanglabs/ (VST plugins development)

Graduate as “Bachelor in Music under composition area” at the IUDEM, Caracas. Spyro has worked in areas such as movies, short films, TV spots, documentaries, theater, art exhibitions, plain gigs and fashion shows

His recent works includes the soundtrack and sound design for “Plan B” (a local action movie) Also 2D Animation and music/effects for the “Prolapio” series of humour shortfilms, and around 200 TV spots for clients including Toyota, Ford, Schick, Coca-Cola, SubWay, Kraft, Movistar, Bayer, Glade, Pfizer, Energizer and Kosiuko.

In 2005 after his participation in the Red Bull Music Academy on Seattle, Spyro is very proud to release a 5 Songs EP called “Biodegradable” with the label Yoruba Records, owned by his fellow friend, great musician and master DJ, Mr. Osunlade

Spyro also spend a lot of time making VST plug-ins for his brand called KlangLabs, his most known plug-ins are “Vokko” a stereo vocoder, “StompBud” a virtual “body sounds” sample player, and “BackMan” a realtime in-sync backwards audio processor.

Participations – Releases:

• 2008 – Acid Mechanics – (Estrela Records, Salzburg Austria)
• 2007 – WetDreamTeam “Lollipop” – (Schmiede Hallein – Austria)
• 2007 – Chuck Norris “Houdini” – Spyro Remix (Caracas, Venezuela)
• 2007 – Los amigos invisibles “Amar es algo mas” – Spyro Remix (NY, USA / Caracas, Venezuela)
• 2007 – Tony Alpha “Cave Canem” (Beware of the dog) – Axis of evil 12inch (Estrela Records, Salzburg Austria)
• 2006 – Spyro “Quinta Anauco – Raspaito de Tamarindo” Nueva Onda Nueva (compilation, Fundación Nuevas Bandas, Caracas)
• 2006 – “Biodegradable” EP (Yoruba Records, NY/Greece)
• 2006 – Spyro “Miami Spice” – “Miami Spice” 12inch (Estrela Records, Salzburg Austria)
• 2006 – Spyro “Tonada del Cabrestero” – “Simon Remixes” (Mega FM, Caracas)
• 2006 – Spyro “Paz Inferior” – “Caracas” (MiniCord compilation, Caracas)
• 2005 – Spyro “Bad Habit” – “Dance Venezuela” (Gozadera records, NY/Caracas)
• 2005 – Spyro “I Guess” – “Chill Out Venezuela” (Gozadera Records, NY/Caracas)
• 2005 – Spyro/Maliq “Songs for my children” – “RBMA 2005″ (RBMA – Seattle/Austria)

straker on monome and audiocubes from cassiel on Vimeo.

Nick from Cassiel, a well known Max/MSP Ninja just sent us this cool video in which he uses the cubes and a monome with his shard, straker and shado software.
Visit his website for more info about his excellent work at http://www.cassiel.com/

We just released a new sound pack for AudioCubes, the fourth in the series. The pack contains a collection of custom built demo songs and midi bridge patches ready to load & play in the Fruity Loops environment. The pack contains 3 demo songs each offering a different musical and cube assignment angle and contains over 50 original patterns designed for the FL environment and has been produced exclusively for Percussa Audio Cubes by CueSounds. More information at http://shop.percussa.com/future-space-for-fl-studio-and-audiocubes.html

Chris Warren (UCSD, California, USA) writes us to show his demo of using AudioCubes to control a custom synth he is working on in Max/MSP 5.

The synth connects directly with the cubes without any setup or configuration, and has a mini sequencer built in. Control data is sampled at 1kHz and 10 bit resolution.

As you probably already know, there are no drivers necessary to use the cubes with your Mac or PC. The software can talk directly to the hardware and plays nice with the operating system.

The software will be available in the next months from the Percussa website.

More info about Chris’ work available from http://alloyelectric.com/

We’re working on a software development kit to communicate with AudioCubes from within your own software, without necessarily using Max/MSP. The SDK will be available as a static library + header file, written in the C programming language, and would come with an example for the very nice JUCE audio application framework (written in C++) from Raw Material Software. If you’d like to be involved as a developer with testing the library/examples once it’s available, please send an email message to jobs (at) percussa (dot) com. If you’d like to post some ideas of how you think the library should work or if you have questions, join us in the forum at http://forum.percussa.com/

Emissions is a real-time soundscape generating instrument by Ableton Live content developer Puremagnetik (www.puremagnetik.com). It utilizes an array of textural ambiances, specifically designed for use with Percussa’s AudioCubes. It will morph, react and evolve depending on what the user (and the cubes!) decide to do.

AudioCubes are a tangible interface for creating music and sound. They interface seamlessly with your existing audio software giving you hands-on control in creating elements for music production, sound design and live performance.

System Requirements:

• Ableton Live 7
• one or more Percussa AudioCubes
• latest update of MIDIBridge software for AudioCubes
• 100 MB of free hard disk space and 500 MB of physical RAM

Get the latest AudioCubes software from:

• http://www.percussa.com/isupport.php
• http://forum.percussa.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=40

Okudaira-san from MI7 Japan, who performed with the cubes at Propellerheads Producers Conference in Japan a while ago, sent us this amazing video:

In this video he is using a brainwave analyzer from IBVA (http://www.ibva.com/) to get signals from his brain into the computer, which control the red, green and blue colour channels of an AudioCube. This is certainly one of the most innovative ideas I came across in using AudioCubes, and it shows that the applications of the cubes go well beyond the simple demos we’ve been showing on our website. Our users continue to amaze us!

If you have a cool setup you created with AudioCubes, feel free to email us at cubes (at) percussa (dot) com and we’ll get it covered on this blog.

Older videos by Okudaira-san: