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ThumbJam multichannel live performance (w/ Fugue Machine, Ruismaker Noir, Dedalus, RE-1, etc.)
Something a bit different from my typical output…
A mention in another thread about the venerable ThumbJam and the wish to see an AU version made me remember that ThumbJam, while IAA, is eight part multitimbral with separate outputs for each instrument. Furthermore, the wonderful, flexible "keyboard" can be made into a 4-way split with each split sending on a different MIDI channel. And finally, ThumbJam can be used as a slide-over multitasking app, so it can appear over your DAW or mixing environment. Essentially, you can get really close to AU functionality with this 10+ year old app (and if you host in Audiobus, you even get state-saving).
I wanted to test how well this actually works - really well, it turns out - and ended up stumbling through this track. Very traditional and not very electronic, but I think it’s got its moments (and I guess my pop music sensibilities are always present ; )
Live performance of four channels of ThumbJam instruments. In addition to playing the euphonium, cittern and double bass on the ThumbJam keyboard, Fugue Machine is also sending notes to these tracks. The notes played for the cittern are first going through StepPolyArp Unit for the arpeggio.
Ruismaker Noir is providing the beat with parameters modified by RozetaSuite’s XY pad.
AmazingNoises Dedalus is providing the granular feedback delays on the cello. Audio Damage Dubstation and EOS, and Numerical Audio RE-1 providing time domain effects. Accusonus Beatformer and FAC Maxima round out the processing. Hosted in AUM.
Comments
Absurdly wonderful. Thank you for for taking the time to record, edit and share this. Thumbjam is really the gift that keeps on giving. I had no idea about that multi-column slide over magic. Can’t wait to try it.
Also love how you’ve taken a little time to create a playable instrument out of the iPad screen. All very inspiring stuff!
Nerdy minutia question: where did that delay on the cello at around 1:55 come from?
Really beautiful, both the sounds and the displayed techniques and setup. Multi-column slide over magic was new to me, too. 10 years in, and Thumbjam keeps on surprising.
Wow, really excellent stuff @aplourde I'm guessing @syrupcore that the cello delay you mentioned came from dedalus. Were you automating dedalus, to make it just come in from time to time? @aplourde
That was very cool.
You mentioned pop in your post and was expecting something lighter but this was a very deep track. It's difficult to believe it's all played real time. Bravo!
Wow. That was incredible. What’s not to like. Nice composition,very interesting use of screen real estate and multitouch, multiple video angles, etc. You’ve seemed to have quite a mastery of working within the confines of the glass paradigm. Going back in for a second listen.
Thank you! Yes, ThumbJam is great. While I "knew" that it could be used as a multitimbral receiver of MIDI (but had never used it as such), discovering that the 4-way split keyboard actually sent on 4 separate MIDI channels was a revelation. Then remembering that ThumbJam works in slide-over was a "wait, there's no way that's actually all going to work... oh, wow, it does!" moment.
Heh, that pretty much sums up my current musical output! Although I typically set myself as the "conductor" of the track, rather than the "musician".
As @Gavinski correctly surmised, it's Dedalus - definitely "not-so-secret sauce" for me
Thank you. The "Multi-column slide over magic" was new to me too! Definitely a fantastically deep and expressive app.
Thanks!
You are correct in your assessment re: Dedalus. Definitely one of my favorite effects. In this context the granular nature of the delay not only creates delay effects, but also an emulation of ghostly tremolo bowing. For Dedalus, I set up a variety of the wonderful Amazing Noises / apeSoft LFOs at different rates so they phase against each other, occasionally reinforcing each other to create those "runaway feedback" moments. If I was doing this in a DAW, I'd draw out the automation curves, but in this case I set the LFOs and hope for the best!
@Ailerom @hypnopad Thank you both so much!
@despego Thank you. I guess by "pop" I just mean "traditional song structure" and reliant on melodic lines rather than intricate rhythms and production trickery. I'll sometimes make more experimental pieces, but I tend to get drawn back to traditional structures even with the more abstract stuff; this is just really going in that direction!
That said, I do have some really "synth-pop" stuff... maybe I'll post some of that at some point!
You are a master at this stuff @aplourde. Your carpal dance and video production adds to the magic.
Well done!
Agree.
I like your use of "traditional song structure" very much. Personally I'm not so wild about synth pop but coming from you, I bet it's great.
Thank you sir! I just wish I could be fractionally as prolific as you!
Heh, don't hold your expectations too high
I'll second what @syrupcorure said. Absurdly wonderful indeed. The composition stands on its own; the video showing your conducting skills is icing on cake. Loved every second of this and listened/watched twice.
You mention pop sensibilities... The climbing part at 3:10 would have exploded had you gone to the fully major chord to match the melody. A niggle.
Can I ask what tools you use to do the multi angle video? (It adds a bunch to the overall effect.)
Thank you so much, glad you liked it!
But... then it wouldn't have the haunting, unfinished quality I was going for... yup, that's my story and I'm sticking with it
Yeah, transposing Fugue Machine up, to have the bass playing a GMaj, would have been better but I needed to bring it back to C shortly after, as well as get my other fingers to the right notes; if I can get 3 of my fingers sliding to the right place, I'm happy! Sliding fingers on glass is great for loose gestural, expressive control, but accuracy is a PITA!
Glad you appreciate it, because it's the biggest hassle of what I do! Since I'm doing all of this live instead of traditional composing or recording of tracks, the music is somewhat simple. Therefore I want the presentation to be somewhat interesting to compensate.
My setup is nothing too fancy. I use my iPhone 6s to shoot the top-down view; my partner's old iPhone 6s to shoot the top-right, wide depth of field view (maybe someday I'll borrow her iPhone 11 for better optics...) and a Sony A7II with old Pentax glass to shoot the left-hand, shallow depth of field angle.
The iPhones are running FiLMiC Pro to get manual control over the camera. Capture is at 24 fps with a 50 fps shutter speed to emulate the 180º shutter angle of film.
Then I edit it in Apple Motion. Motion isn't a "real" editing platform, but what I'm doing is pretty simple, so it works fine. Plus it's 1/6 the cost of Final Cut! At some point I might switch to DaVinci Resolve. The nice thing about using a real NLE is multi-cam support, so I could put together a quick edit by just playing back and switching to shots on the fly. Plus Resolve's color tools are more powerful and color correction is, probably, the biggest pain. But again, for what I'm doing Motion is fine.
@aplourde On third listen, I did appreciate the unresolved tension of not going to the Gmaj (I know you were joking with the "that's my story" but it does have an efficacy that is more subtle than the shift to Gmaj).
And thanks a bunch for the details on your setup. I can see why it's a hassle but hopefully a labor of love. For us viewers, it's appreciated!
@aplourde this was very impressive. When you say 24fps capture, I see that in Filmic Pro, but is the 50fps shutter the playback?
Lovely performance!
Thank you!
With a shutter speed one half of the frame rate you'll get an approximation of the 180º shutter angle used for most film capture and therefore the similar amount of motion blur. I said 50fps as that's the closest setting on the Sony, but I forgot that FiLMiC has a 1/48 shutter.
Shutter speed is on the left manual control arc. Either long press the exposure reticle, swipe in from the left, or press the Manual Controls button (between the color circles and the A buttons). Adjust the arc slider until you get 1/48 and tap the fraction to lock it (indicated by it turning red). Now you can adjust the ISO to get the proper exposure.
Thanks!
Thanks for the info! I found it with your help.
really dope! you really do make jamming in aum look fun and inspirational, as it is! keep it up man!
Awesome live video to show the power of IOS music production. It's always great to watch a musician that has control of his instrument so there's an additional visual component to the time spent focusing on the artist. We need more of these and I"m sure we will get some with the ease of screen recording and the shared video channels via YouTube and the others.
Thanks! And it is fun! And ThumbJam is an inspiring instrument (it's even better on a phone...)
Thank you very much. I do hope that more people would show how they work with these tools. Screen recording provides a very low barrier to entry, but I hope that some will go with a camera; with screen recording you can't see what the person is doing, which, for me, is the really interesting bit!
On most app tutorials I think the camera showing what people are doing on the ipad is extraneous and I'd rather see the screen recording full size. But for this kind of performance it is definitely great to see both. It's just so much more time consuming to edit this kind of thing, so it may be fine to do occasionally but less so for anyone doing regular vids, unless they have as much interest in video editing as in iOS music :-p
Thanks ait for taking the time to do this. Really interesting to see your process.
NO, you need to start showing your fingers on your tutorials!
Yeah, it's superfluous for most tutorials / demos, I was really referring to musical performances; it's really cool to see what others are doing, especially if they're trying to use these devices as "instruments"
And it's only tedious because I'm stupid and use multiple cameras. If it was a single camera it would be a lot simpler!
Really good! I just got into iOS music making and this is inspiring.
Thank you! Welcome to the generally rewarding, occasionally frustrating world of mobile music making!
@aplourde :Great!
And a great reminder that the greatest of an app has nothing to do with how recently it has been updated. ThumbJam is amaze balls. And you play it well.