FM8 is a really brilliant tool for synthesizing electronic drum kits. And because it’s using live synthesis, you can make all kinds of variations in the sound easily in ways that don’t work with sampled kits. Our friend Gustavo Bravetti is a huge fan of FM8 and has added it to his workflow in Ableton Live.

Gustavo’s such a big FM8 fan, in fact, that he’s made up a special FM8 drum kit setup exclusively for CDM, to share with y’all. Because Gustavo works in Ableton Live, he’s set them up in that environment:

The sounds are contained on an Ableton Live dj set, also there is a demo clip for each instrument.
Instruments are copyright free, clips are only intended to preview the instruments.
Let me know your thoughts about the FM8 electronic drum kit 1

File download: (zipped Live ALS file with presets; we’ll have a Koresound soon)

bravetti_fm8drums_1_als.zip

Here’s what it sounds like:

fm8kit.mp3

And just to demonstrate how much change you can extract from synth parameters, here’s a quickie "messed-up" demo I made just by changing synth and effects options in FM8:

fm8kit_2.mp3

Be sure to check out Gustavo Bravetti himself, too. He did an interview for CDM in which he shares all his tricks for using unusual alternative controllers, gestural gloves, and gaming devices for music making. He also talks about the scene in his native Uruguay. Liz McLean Knight did the interview:

Interview: Gustavo Bravetti, Playing Music with Light and Interactive Gloves

How can you make the most of this FM8 kit? Here are some quick ideas, which I’ll follow up in the coming days:

Samplers like Kontakt are capable of streaming from disk, but when it comes to loading from (faster) RAM, standard 32-bit memory addressing on Mac and Windows restricts them to about 2-4 GB of memory. That’s about to change for Kontakt users, with the free update to Kontakt 3.1 with 64-bit support in the works. You’ll need Mac OS X Leopard or 64-bit Windows to run it, but if you choose to put more gigs of RAM, Kontakt will be able to use a lot more memory. In case you missed the announcement, I covered this yesterday for CDM:

Kontakt 3 Free 64-bit Upgrade Soon on Mac, Windows

I’m working on getting some other details. For instance, at the moment, no hosts on Mac support 64-bit, so presumably you’d have to either wait for that to change or run Kontakt standalone. On Windows, you have to boot the 64-bit operating system, you need 64-bit drivers, and you again need a 64-bit host, like Cakewalk’s SONAR.

That said, let me ask it another way — show of hands. Who here wants more RAM? Do you use big sample libraries that require it? Anyone already running 64-bit SONAR / Windows?

I’m also talking to NI and wrapping up a story I’ve been working on regarding 64-bit and memory. Got questions you want answered? Stuff that confuses you? I’m happy to pass it along and share what I learn!

(Geek-only side note: I’m also curious if the Windows emulation that allows Kontakt to run on Linux, as it does on the Muse Receptor, will do 64-bit. The ASIO drivers for the WINE compatibility layer on Linux is presently 32-bit only.)

Last time around, we had a look at creating a basic grain delay from scratch. It’s usable, but why stop there? Here are some improvements.

I’ve really been enjoying playing with patches based on Peter Dines’ Grain Delay tutorial. If you haven’t yet checked out that tutorial, it’s a terrific way to get started with a built-in Reaktor module that’s essential to all kinds of effects. The ensemble itself doesn’t get too fancy, meaning it’s friendlier to beginners than some of the polished-but-complex ensembles you find in the Reaktor examples and User Library. And that’s part of the point — the way most people are likely to use Reaktor in their own ensembles is to start small and basic, not necessarily with elaborate custom skins and complex features.

Peter’s example works really nicely for navigating an ambient sound. But I started thinking about using this for rhythmic ideas, so I could build a custom grain delay effect set up for easy live performance in Kore. To get beat-synced, sequenced effects, you need to work with clock information. The clock will act as a kind of metronome for your beat-based effects. That means turning to a previous Peter Dines tutorial:

Revving up Reaktor: A Refresher on Clocks and Events

We had a refreshingly frank comment from reader armachian:

“after reading I now realise that Reaktor is not for me!! Compared to something like the Clavia G2 this seems like a lot of steps (and hidden tricks) for a simple sequencer/clock demo. Life is too short!”

Actually, that’s right – life is too short! But I think armachian misunderstood. The whole point of having a modular system is you don’t have to repeat the same steps over and over again. You can simply re-use basic macros, like the SeqDriver macro Peter created, shown top right. You don’t have to even know how it works (though it couldn’t hurt); you can instead focus on what you want to do. In fact, even if you’re using macros you’ve created yourself, this can keep you focused on your musical aims rather than getting hung up on the mechanics underneath.

Ready to inject some more sonic goodness into Kore, Kontakt, and Reaktor? You’ve got nothing if not some choices.

The terrific Rekkerd.org has a couple of reviews, covering two of the more powerful add-ons released of late.

KONTAKT

From May, Ronnie covered Soniccouture’s Scriptorium, a collection of powerful scripts for the script engine in Kontakt 3:

Review: Soniccouture Scriptorium [Rekkerd.org]

Some of his favorite gems: helpful sample instruments, faux analog drift, melody generators, and digital glitching and randomization (similar to what Peter Dines did in a video tutorial here).

KORE

Perhaps of still greater interest to readers here, Ronnie offers a frank look at NI’s new Deep Transformations soundpack for Kore, with a nice sound sample of a modified beat loop. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say it’s the Kore pack we’ve been most excited by – even if we long for still more sonic mangling via Reaktor – but let’s see what Ronnie says:

Deep Transformations can do things I haven’t heard in any other plug-in before, and I’ve seen many. I’d say it’s perfectly suitable for anyone who is looking for something more than a simple effect.

Review: Native Instruments Deep Transformations [Rekkerd.org]

Previously on kore@noisepages: New Soundpacks: Multi Effects, FM8 Synth Sounds

REAKTOR:

Musicrow, the boutique maker of Reaktor ensembles, have another massive pack of stuff with some 38 ensembles. Included in the pack:

• Full-blown synths, from the virtual analog subtractive to sample loop synthesis and an Oberheim emulations (and one with a big cobra on it, which is pretty badass)
• Various instruments, including a piano-synth hybrid and a virtual Theremin
• Effects, including filters, a tape delay, plate reverb, tube compressor, and some tasty-looking delays
• Granular goodies, with a delay and effects/synth unit

We’ll have a short review here of what’s in there. I’ll have to finish my own grain delay before I take a look at theirs!

US$159 / EUR119, but if you have the first version, an upgrade is just $25/€20.

Golden Ensembles II Product Page

Ugo Audio has released a set of 15 free presets for Massive. There are a couple of very nice physically modeled bowed and plucked sounds in there making use of Massive’s comb filters, and two representative examples of the atmospheric and sequenced patches that Massive excels at:

I’ll be posting some more material on Massive shortly. Stay tuned!

Before we go any further in Reaktor construction, I’d be remiss in my tutorial duties if I didn’t point people towards Chris List’s event watcher. Ed.: Chris is here in NYC, too, so we’ll have to catch up with him in person soon!

To me, it’s incredibly liberating to be able to perform live with something you’ve built – even if it’s crudely hacked from other parts. You can build some of your musical and compositional logic right into the ensemble. Likewise, it’s great to see the patches other people have built: even looking at their screen tells you something about the way they think and who they are.

You can see lots of incredible Reaktor ensembles on the User Library on Native Instruments’ site, and we strongly encourage you to upload some of your patching work there. But, of course, that’s just a small selection of the Reaktor patching going on out there. Some ensembles are too personal, or too archaic, or too messy for people to upload.

We want to see it all.

Yeah, you’re a beginner and you have knobs all over the place. Or you’ve got something so beautiful, that you want to show off your gorgeous UI to everyone.

While we’re collecting Live sets over on Create Digital Music, I might as well open the floodgates for the Reaktor community, too. (I know a lot of you use Reaktor with Live, so that makes this make even more sense.)

To share your ensembles – and really, don’t be shy, I enjoy the occasional messy ensemble as a musical artifact – send them to us one of two ways:

1. Email a screen grab to pictures (at) createdigitalmusic.com marked with subject header “Reaktor” OR

2. Add your image to our Reaktor ensembles Flickr group, at http://www.flickr.com/groups/reaktor/

If you do have your ensemble in the User Library, include a link. And yes, even commercial ensembles are welcome – I’d like to see a picture of the whole community. Note that we reserve the right to reproduce these images – but I’ve got some ideas for some visually interesting ways to do that, so I don’t think you’ll regret it. (I suggest using a Creative Commons license on Flickr if you know how.)

If you have hardware you use with your ensemble (especially if it’s custom-built hardware of some kind), include that, too.

Can’t wait to see these!

Kore’s built-in effects are an essential part of the tool, but getting good with them requires fully understanding how they work – and appreciating how to make the most of the minimalist selection of parameters provided. We’ve got a download from Eoin showing off some of the power of the arpeggiator. Not only can it perform the usual vanilla tasks, but you can morph patterns, too. Some of the controls are definitely a little different than what you may be used to (“Force”, for instance), but the results can be something special – especially once you start chaining arpeggiators. –PK

Commenter apoclypse expressed interest in a tutorial for Kore’s arpeggiator, among other things.  We definitely hope to put the magnifying glass to Kore as much as possible, so let us know if there’s a section in particular that you’re struggling with.  With that in mind, here’s an arpeggiator tutorial for you to check out - don’t forget to load up the accompanying Koresound to play with while reading!

Arpeggiator Demo [KSD file, zipped]

While learning the Arpeggiator I recommend loading Kore up in your host sequencer and enabling the metronome (or set up the equivalent in Kore).  You’ll get an even better sense of what’s going on rhythmically if you loop a four-to-the-floor drumbeat in the background.

Kore’s arp isn’t immune to the power of morphing presets, so in the example Koresound provided, I’ve set up 8 morph presets starting with Init and moving from there to demonstrate the features as clearly as possible.  Try following through from A to H and follow the text to see what’s changing - all of the morph presets here are synced to the bar with the Hold (latch) button enabled so timing is locked to your sequencer and you can adjust parameters without having to keep your hand on the keyboard.  I also recommend loading up all of the factory Arpeggiator presets in one source channel so you can see what other effects are possible. 

Once you’ve got our file loaded, you can have a look at some of the capabilities of the Apreggiator by navigating the morph presets. Here’s a description of what’s going on with each one:

In a previous post, I linked you up with a Native Instruments tutorial on DSP in the Core level of Reaktor 5. Ed.: That’s “Core,” as in the powerful low-level sound engine inside Reaktor, not Kore with a “K” as in the Kore product.-PK That may have been a little… challenging, shall we say… for average Reaktor users, as it involved some skull shattering mathematics.

Now Stefan Schmitt has posted Vadim’s Core structures in the user library so the rest of us mere mortals can make some use of these algorithms. Stephan explains in plain English -

In a nutshell: it’s a way to get high-quality filters without oversampling.

Ah! Well then, we shall have to try to work these into an instrument.