IT HAS ARRIVED! APC40

You won't be hearing from me for a few weeks!

Order placed, APC40 on the way..

Breakers Delight this Saturday

I'll be playing at Breakers Delight this Saturday - testing out the new Mashup Rig!

Breakers Delight, New Dawn

Saturday 25 April
Tonic, 270 K'Road
Auckland

The original Breakbeat event returns in 2009 exploring new ideas and ancient beliefs, while encouraging greater awareness and critical thinking. Full spectrum Breakbeat with Nu Skool Breaks in the club and Drum n Bass/Dubstep in the lounge!


Lineup Breaks:

Defcon1 b2b Page3
DJ Dware
Brett Bronze
A Spark
Are-m

Lineup Dubstep/Drum n Bass:

Jason Howsen b2b Sean Lyons
Omen (Cern)
Jason George
Aphid (Mashup Mafia)
Ben Quigan





$10 before midnight, $15 thereafter
www.tagpromotions.co.nz

From microKontrol to nanoKontrol

So, pictured below on the right is the newest addition to the family, the korg nano-kontrol. No, I'm not retarded - that's not me going captain ridiculous on a usb hub with 3 of them. No, I'm just rolling with one of 'em, and I'm gonna use it purely for working on mashups in tight spaces.

Ableton Live 8 released

Don't judge me because my posts consist of pretty much only Ableton news! I've got otherstuff on the way too. It's just the first thing I thought when I had heard Ableton 8 was released was, better help spread the word.

Some of the new features below seem pretty interesting, the ones that are relevant for me I've underlined:

ABLETON RELEASES LIVE 8 AND SUITE 8

Berlin, Germany (April 2, 2009)—Ableton Live 8 and Ableton Suite 8 are out now. Two new instruments, Collision and Latin Percussion are also available; both are included in Ableton Suite 8.

Live 8 and Suite 8 enhance the Ableton vision of creative, real-time digital music with a wealth of new techniques, effects and most-wanted workflow improvements. These include a new groove engine, revamped warping techniques, live looping, five new effects (including the Ableton Vocoder), crossfades in the Arrangement View, group tracks and a reworked MIDI editor. Ableton Suite 8 includes all that plus a massive, inspired sound library and all the instruments a musician could hope for, including a wide range of synths, a sampler, electric and acoustic drums (new: Latin percussion), mallets (new: Collision), numerous sampled instruments and a new, even mightier Operator.

New in Ableton Live 8:

• New groove engine: new groove library, extract grooves from audio or MIDI, real-time groove quantize. Includes grooves from the legendary Akai MPC and E-mu SP-1200 machines
• New warping engine: warp audio events by adjusting the events on the timeline, updated Beats Warp Mode, new Complex Warp Mode, slice audio files to MIDI tracks based on transients
• Looper: classic sound-on-sound looping without the limitations of a hardware device. Record, overdub, undo and more without touching the computer. "First loop sync," simple loop management
• New effects: Vocoder, Multiband Dynamics, Overdrive, Limiter and Frequency Shifter
• Workflow enhancements: including real-time crossfades in the Arrangement View, enhanced MIDI editing, group tracks, multiple track selection, a screen magnifier and more.


New in Ableton Suite 8:
• World-class sound library: completely new sound library with real-world "Sound Objects," presets, grooves, templates and, above all, over 1,600 beautiful sounds
• Collision and Corpus: a unique physical-modeling instrument for authentic mallet sounds and creative percussion. Includes Corpus, a separate effect that reproduces Collision's resonator section*
• Latin Percussion: a collection of acoustic percussion instruments from the worlds of Brazilian, Afro-Cuban and African music, plus a wide selection of clips and grooves for authentic usage*
• Operator, Ableton's renowned do-it-all synthesizer, has been given a major overhaul. New filter types, more modulation routing options and additive wavetable synthesis with drawable partials make Operator more powerful and flexible than ever.

Plus these existing Ableton instruments: Sampler, Electric, Tension, Analog, Drum Machines, Session Drums** and the Essential Instrument Collection 2**.

*Collision and Latin Percussion are also available separately. **Boxed version only.

PRICING AND AVAILABILITY
Ableton Live 8 and Suite 8 are available today at your local retailer and at www.ableton.com

Ableton Suite 8
• Boxed version: EUR 699/USD 849
(includes Ableton Live 8, sound library, 10 Ableton instruments including Session Drums and Essential Instrument Collection 2, printed manual)

• Download version: EUR 549/USD 699
(includes Ableton Live 8, sound library, 8 Ableton instruments)

Ableton Live 8
• Boxed version: EUR 449/USD 549
(includes the Essential Instrument Collection 2, printed manual)

• Download version: EUR 349/USD 449
Upgrades to Suite 8/Live 8 vary in price, depending on the Ableton products you already own. More details at www.ableton.com/live-8-upgrades

Collision: EUR 129/USD 159
Latin Percussion: EUR 79/USD 99

 Justifying an immediate upgrade? I think not. I'll wait till the APC40 is out and how it interacts with Live 7 before making the jump. Some good features in there though if you're producing. But from the mashup perspective, I've got everything I need in 7!

Ableton APC40

For all the Ableton fans, I'm sure if you're like me you can't wait for this controller to come out!

The APC40 (Ableton Performance Controller) is a dedicated controller for Ableton Live, designed by the same engineering team responsible for Akai's iconic MPC range of products. This is a dream come true for the Ableton Live community and an exciting first step into the world of Ableton Live for new users.

The APC40 features high quality controls for real-time mixing, remixing and production. 109 buttons, 16 endless encoders with LED rings, nine 45mm faders and a replaceable crossfader give musicians and producers complete control of Live's Session View, effect devices and virtual instruments.

Whether you're in the studio or on stage, DJing, making beats, running backing tracks, firing MIDI loops or triggering sound effects, you can kiss your mouse goodbye.

The APC40 was co-designed by Ableton and Akai Professional.

For more info - check out www.ableton.com/touch