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My Ugly Baby...

MonkeyDrummerMonkeyDrummer
edited December 2019 in Creations

Hey all,

I wanted to share this little thing I’ve been working on.

I titled the post “My Ugly Baby” because I’m pretty sure that the rest of the world’s excitement about this “accomplishment” is going to be somewhat inversely proportional to my own… You know… Like your ugly baby… :)

Conceptually I’ve been working on this for like 2 years… The idea to be able to have a custom, performance oriented (this is a key point… I want to “play” it… I don’t want a DAW… I don’t want to “work on a track”... I want to make this is a real-time and in-the-moment as possible with 100% control) interface to allow me to sculpt audio in real time and “follow” the flow wherever it goes. I’ve tried pure hardware, PC/DAW’s, etc. etc. and while all of those have a place, I’ve settled on the iPad because it’s the most portable, accessible, etc. After all, the best tool is the one you have. :)

I also wanted to make it as “analog” feeling as possible. With a throw-back sense of tape-based workflows, analog grit, happy accidents, etc. I didn’t really want the glitchy type of remix effects, or the overly digital sounding stuff you can get with tools like Turnado (although I LOVE Turnado!!!).

So I’ve been building AUM setups and trying all kinds of hardware midi interfaces, and Midi Designer Pro layouts that allow me to do everything I want, in one view. I’ve gone through close to a hundred AUM/MDP iterations to get here and spent WAY too much money on a huge range of FX apps to arrive at a place where I feel like I’ve landed on something I’m happy (enough) with to stop developing and start actually using.

The main reasons I settled on the apps/AUs I’m using:
I like the way they sound or work
The midi/au.param map really well
They are stable! So many apps I love are crap in terms of stability…

This setup allow me to control pretty much everything I want at a “macro” level, and avoids th epitfall I fell into so often in the past of trying to control everything and ending up with a design that spanned multiplet pages and requires a fine tip stylus to use! At one point I had a setup I called the Enotron that was a built of 8 fx tracks that coudl feedback on each other, or themselves. It was awesome! But almost impossible to use… :(

Anyway… My final “shake down” testing of the setup I’m using for now resulted in this “album.”

** Note The above kinda looks like a single track here, but there's 9 tracks with drums and 9 "clean tracks" in the playlist... soundcloud.com/drumunkey/sets/the-enoloops - Stupid forum keeps turning link into a single track...

It’s a kinda crazy experimental piece based on (both conceptually and content-wise) a Brian Eno lecture I found on YouTube. I grabbed some loops from it, channeled a bit of Robert Reich, and went to town. :) Obviously the source material was stupidly low fidelity being from a crap recording of a 1979 (40 damn years ago!!!) lecture.

Each track is kind of focused on various features of my control surface and the setup: looping in front of the fx bus, looping after the fx bus, various delay, EQ, tape fx, etc. The stuff he’s talking about in each clip kinda acted as a guide in some cases on what part I played with.

I then did another pass with the munged loops playing in real time and then added a layer of some basic drums/beats to provide a bit of “scaffolding” to the pieces. (I’m also providing the non-drummed loops in case you want to play with them). Some of them came out kinda cool I think… As long as you’re not looking for a tune you can hum. :)

While the “music” (noise/sound?) gets nuts, the key thing for me is it’s always 100% in control. I can control it down to very fine levels of detail, all from one interface. No app swapping!

Another bonus, is thanks to BT Midi, I can have my “mixing console” on an ancient iPad 2 running MDP and have a modern Air 2 run AUM with all the fx and synths.

Here’s how it looks in MDP:

Here’s a little annotated view that give an idea of what each section is controlling:

One REALLY cool thing about this approach and why I ended up going away from a hardware based setup is that I can have “snap shots” of all the settings… so I can mix to a point, save a snapshot, then do a build up or break-down and then recall a snapshot to bring the track/performance back. It’s insanely fun!

I’ll be posting more “jams” I come up with. Hopefully they will be a bit more “musical” in the future! :)

Any questions, let me know. I’d be happy to help people trying to do something similar.

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Comments

  • SpookyZooSpookyZoo

    Looks amazing! Great work!

    Which apps are being controlled by MidiDelay, TapDelay, Tapenoise/grit?

    Have you shared layout on MDP forum?

  • aplourdeaplourde

    Very cool! I should use MDP more....

  • HmtxHmtx

    I'm impressed. That is a lot of control for one 9.7" screen. Dan would love to see this on the MD forums.

  • cronycrony

    @MonkeyDrummer this is EPIC :)
    Really cool approach, I also like your music. I'm into this also, more or less...I keep using midi controllers, because I need knobs in my hands...
    Keep posting !

  • stormbeatsstormbeats

    What is MDP? Looks cool.is it an ios app

  • barabajagalbarabajagal

    @stormbeats said:
    What is MDP? Looks cool.is it an ios app

    I believe it’s MidiDesigner pro

  • barabajagalbarabajagal

    Nice job monkeydrummer, liked a lot👍

  • Scarred_ArchimedesScarred_Archimedes

    This is so great. An admirable goal and project that you've obvious been really dedicated to bringing to fruition, and super, super cool of you to go into so much detail about it here.

  • kinkujinkinkujin

    Insane dedication and love the scientific approach. The end result is you are in control - great job! and thanks for sharing your process. Listening now...

  • stormbeatsstormbeats

    @barabajagal said:

    @stormbeats said:
    What is MDP? Looks cool.is it an ios app

    I believe it’s MidiDesigner pro

    @barabajagal ok cheers

  • oat_phippsoat_phipps

    Jerry you’ve gotta see the baby!

  • Philandering_BastardPhilandering_Bastard

    Absolutely brilliant!
    I don’t think I am familiar with the Kos looper / delay. Would you mind sharing some information?

  • brambosbrambos

    That’s an impressive mothership!

  • HmtxHmtx

    @Philandering_Bastard said:
    Absolutely brilliant!
    I don’t think I am familiar with the Kos looper / delay. Would you mind sharing some information?

    most likely this is Bram Bos Kosmonaut :) brilliant app. I think the delay feedback can be set to100% and used as a looper.

  • Philandering_BastardPhilandering_Bastard

    @Hmtx said:

    @Philandering_Bastard said:
    Absolutely brilliant!
    I don’t think I am familiar with the Kos looper / delay. Would you mind sharing some information?

    most likely this is Bram Bos Kosmonaut :) brilliant app. I think the delay feedback can be set to100% and used as a looper.

    Ah, that makes sense. Thanks. Yes, Kosmonaut is great.

  • bibenubibenu
    edited December 2019

    @MonkeyDrummer said:
    Hey all,

    It’s a kinda crazy experimental piece based on a Brian Eno lecture I found on YouTube.

    .... a crap recording of a 1979 (40 damn years ago!!!) lecture.

    Haha ... I think I went one of those lectures ... if you have the link handy would be interested to see it ... I shall go see if I can find it now.

    Totally OT ... I was recently given a set of Eno's "Oblique Strategy" cards. Hope to put them to use for music at some point.

    EDIT: This must be it:

  • MonkeyDrummerMonkeyDrummer

    @SpookyZoo said:
    Looks amazing! Great work!

    Which apps are being controlled by MidiDelay, TapDelay, Tapenoise/grit?

    Have you shared layout on MDP forum?

    Nahhh... No way anyone else would be able to make sense of it! :)

    MidiDelay=MidiDealy by saunders (same dude that makes Quantum).
    TapDelay=TapDealy
    Grit is just a noise generator thing I rigged up since I couldn't find one I liked...

  • MonkeyDrummerMonkeyDrummer

    @crony said:
    @MonkeyDrummer this is EPIC :)
    Really cool approach, I also like your music. I'm into this also, more or less...I keep using midi controllers, because I need knobs in my hands...
    Keep posting !

    Sounds like something that should remain inside your head.. :)

  • MonkeyDrummerMonkeyDrummer

    @barabajagal said:
    Nice job monkeydrummer, liked a lot👍

    Thanks! The noise or the layout? :)

  • MonkeyDrummerMonkeyDrummer

    @Philandering_Bastard said:
    Absolutely brilliant!
    I don’t think I am familiar with the Kos looper / delay. Would you mind sharing some information?

    There's lots of posts here. If you search on my handle I think I went into a pretty long rant on how it's awesome as a retroactive looper (i.e. tape is always running you you decide to loop AFTER you make the noise/create "art")

  • MonkeyDrummerMonkeyDrummer

    @brambos said:
    That’s an impressive mothership!

    Thanks Bootsy! :)

    Psssttt... While you're here... Any chance I could beg you to have Perforator go down to qtr notes? :)

  • MonkeyDrummerMonkeyDrummer
    edited December 2019

    @bibenu said:

    @MonkeyDrummer said:
    Hey all,

    It’s a kinda crazy experimental piece based on a Brian Eno lecture I found on YouTube.

    .... a crap recording of a 1979 (40 damn years ago!!!) lecture.

    Haha ... I think I went one of those lectures ... if you have the link handy would be interested to see it ... I shall go see if I can find it now.

    That would have been pretty cool!

    Totally OT ... I was recently given a set of Eno's "Oblique Strategy" cards. Hope to put them to use for music at some point.

    Share what comes of it.

    EDIT: This must be it:

    Yup, that's it... The links are in the SoundCloud playlist description... Liner notes baby! :)

    These tracks are recordings of live performance mixing sessions.

The loops I used were grabbed from this 1979 (www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1vuhJC6A28 40 years ago!) lecture Eno was giving on the revolutionary ideas and techniques that were possible with a modern studio. We can now replicate that environment in a device that fits in our pocket. Unreal…

I kinda see these as experimental pieces in the vein of Steve Reich’s It’s Gonna Rain and similar tape loop compositions (www.youtube.com/watch?v=vugqRAX7xQE&t=99s).

I’ve always been inspired by the concept pushed forward by Mr. Eno of treating the studio as an instrument. I also enjoy using the iPad to make music and/or experiment with sounds due to its portability, accessibility, etc. However, to my mind one of the primary issues with using the iPad and Apps like AUM (the amazing mixer app) to host a bunch of instruments, audio files, and effects, is how hard it is to control multiple elements at the same time, in real time, in a performance context.

So I designed an AUM session that I’m treating as my “studio” and a Midi Designer Pro layout to act as the desk/interface for it. These loops basically came out of me doing some final shake-down testing of the setup. I thought the combo of the subject matter of the loops, the meta-level of Eno’s concepts and the way they came out was pretty interesting so I figured I’d add some basic drums/percussion to ‘em and publish/share them.
  • MonkeyDrummerMonkeyDrummer
    edited December 2019

    Here's something I goofed around with that's a bit more "musical"

    I figured after apeing Eno, I'll set my targets on Basinski next! >:)

    Messing with Pianoscaper on the "audio" ipad and driving the MünkeyMïxer© on my old iPad...

    Again, just a live mix pooped out to Soundcloud.

  • MonkeyDrummerMonkeyDrummer

    Been updating my mixer/control surface as well as the AUM session it drives. Now it’s got sidechaining in the sidechaining :)

    It’s pretty much an homage to @brambos ... got his stuff all over the place...

    Here’s the MDP layout

    Ruismaker FM * 2 for drums/percussion
    Kosmonaut * 2 for delays
    All the sequencing, including melodic stuff is via Rosetta Rhythm going into multiple Rosetta scalers

    The melodic synths are all iSEM because i ❤️ it.

    The thing I love about this is that I’m able to sit down with it, and have pretty much no idea where I’m going to go with it... This is all driven by my midi designer pro template. Never even go into AUM once I start... if you take the time to listen to the entire (long) thing, it goes through a ton of styles ideas and places...

    And that’s what I’ve been after since day one. Unrestricted flow state... No idea how I’d be able to do it so intuitively and comfortably without iOS stuff... Mr Bos and Mr Liljedahl made it possible... 🤪

  • Small_paul1976Small_paul1976

    Love this mate.
    I have heard a few of your mixes on soundcloud and think this is one of the best.

  • MonkeyDrummerMonkeyDrummer

    @Small_paul1976 said:
    Love this mate.
    I have heard a few of your mixes on soundcloud and think this is one of the best.

    Thanks, me too... it was one of those deals where when I was listening to it in bed that night a few times I forgot I made it!

    Considering that this set up was made so I could sorta do techno in the Kangding Ray, Rrose, and Donato styles I’m pretty happy with it...

  • brambosbrambos

    Holy mothership batman!!

  • ciancian

    How did I miss this post - this is incredible.

  • ciancian

    @MonkeyDrummer said:
    Grit is just a noise generator thing I rigged up since I couldn't find one I liked...

    Hang on... How did you rig it up?

  • MonkeyDrummerMonkeyDrummer

    @cian said:

    @MonkeyDrummer said:
    Grit is just a noise generator thing I rigged up since I couldn't find one I liked...

    Hang on... How did you rig it up?

    Right now I'm using Low-Fi Dirt on the that has the crackles... That's on it's own channel (nothing into it as I think its distortion models kinda suck) with some filters and a bit of 'verb to "smooth" it out.

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