I began writing this post to discuss Kore 2’s performance preset system. If you’re not familiar with this, the quick lowdown is: you can store banks of settings and change between them, or automate changing between them, in a master performance. I touched on this in my last post about Reaktor.

A funny thing happened on the way to the blog. I discovered that, when using a given synth and trying to store different patches in performance presets, not all the parameters were stored and changed with the preset. On the other hand, storing patches as Koresounds does save all the parameter settings. I’m thinking this difference is because the performance presets save on the basis of host automation of the controls, so non-automatable controls won’t have their state saved. (will have to doublecheck with the NI programmers on this to be 100% sure!)

Of course I started looking for workarounds. I loaded up Massive (my go-to synth for mad fun these days) and started trying to save different Massive sounds in the sound variation grid.

In retrospect this was a dumb move, because the sound variation grid is meant to hold variations in a sound, not multiple sounds. So like the performance preset, not all parameters save. Wrong level of abstraction. What I ended up with is a single sound with unusual, in some cases meaningless, parameter settings for that sound in eight variations. You might think this would be undesirable, but my goodness, I’ve never heard anything quite like this:

Unwholesome Sound Design from Create Digital Media on Vimeo.

A sound such as this can only be called Quacking Robomultiverse, and I have named it accordingly. Notice the tuning settings of the oscillators on the left - they’re morphing in between settings that made sense in their original sound, but in this mutant superposition of sounds, things have become singularly Lovecraftian; abnormal, non-Euclidean, and loathsomely redolent of spheres and dimensions apart from ours. Incidentally, I’m using the Kore knobs to morph between sound variations here, but a mouse is fine too.

Download kore performance and massive sound

Last time we looked at Massive on Noisepages I covered how you can use Kore 2’s hardware controllers to get your hands on Massive’s parameters and morph song arrangements from sequenced patches.

In this video I load up Massive in Kore again for hands-on control and take a look at some creative signal routing and modulation possibilities in Massive. Feedback is something people primarily associate with rock, heaviness and sludge, but there’s something here for the meditator as well as the rockist. How about some harp feedback? Eat your heart out, Joanna Newsom.

Feedback, Routing and Modulation in Massive from Create Digital Media on Vimeo.

Download the patches used in this screencast

Previously:
Mutating Sequences Live with Massive in Kore
Video: Wobbly Bass Tutorial in Massive

Reader Gherat writes:

I have extented the macro of the roux step/event sequencer with a snapshot macro.

The snapshot macro will switch between sequences on beats or triggers (like how ableton live switches between parts…), so it’s even better than using multiple Y tablerows (I used to use multiple Y rows as well but this is much better I think.. thanx..

Yup, I do something similar. Interested builders should check look in the factory ensembles under new additions / sequencers and load the “Snapper Macros” ensemble. That example will show you how to use the Snapper instrument to change snaps in a slave instrument in a synchronized manner.

Got an evening to get deeper into sound? Want to get a project started? We’ve been covering all aspects of using Kore in music, bit by bit. Here’s the overview of what we’ve done, which we’re expanding on an ongoing basis.

Using Kore

And, most importantly, I’ve just finished off:
Reference: How to Navigate Kore 2 with Hardware - No Mouse!

When you’re working in the studio or designing sounds, navigating complex parameters with a mouse makes some sense. But when you want to focus on sounds — while playing an instrument in private or (especially) live — you really want hardware control.

Kore 2’s controller does let you do this. The trick is to learn how to navigate different levels of sounds, since you may have different instruments in a performance you want to control. Here’s a quick reference guide to how to do it.

This comes off a little like those old text adventure games. (You’re in a dark dungeon. There are entrances to the LEFT and RIGHT. There are SOUNDS. You can hit the CONTROL button.) But walk through these steps with a performance open, and it’ll make sense — and with a little practice, you can do this quite quickly.

Playing – using your musical tools and toys as an instrument – is what it’s all about for a lot of us. And for many computer musicians, making the computer more playable live, whether onstage or improvising in the “studio,” is a reason to choose Ableton Live as a host.

From the day I first saw Kore at a pre-launch press conference, the pitch was that Kore was portable: you can move it from host to host as a plug-in or use it as a host itself. Lately, I’ve been putting that to use myself, playing some sets in Kore 2 alone, and moving into hosts, particularly Ableton Live. Before talking about the how, it’s worth covering some of the why.

Naturally, if you’re not into the full version of Kore 2, you can easily inject some extra sounds into Live with the soundpacks. But here, I’ll cover the all-stops-pulled complete version of Kore.

Live + Kore: How They Can Work Together

The reasons to use Ableton Live are probably most evident, since it does many of the things that Kore itself does not. I’ll go through what I think is important – if you’re a beginning user, don’t worry about this too much as it’ll make sense when you see it.

Here’s a video demonstrating the use of the Spiral sequencer to drive Koresounds - I’ve sent its MIDI to synths, guitars, pianos and even a drum kit. Plus, there are a few bonus creative uses of Kore 2 thrown in for good measure.

Reaktor Spiral Sequencer in Kore 2 from Create Digital Media on Vimeo.

The release of Kore 2.04 earlier in September couldn’t have come at a better time for me. Aside from MIDI and Guitar Rig improvements, one of the new features is an option to change the sample content folder location.

This was a huge time saver for me! Last week, Windows XP unexpectedly (or perhaps predictably) decided to mismanage its filesystem, losing track of the registry, and I ended up restoring my system partition from a backup image - one that didn’t have Kore 2 installed, as it happens.

Normally this would have meant a time consuming reinstall of Kore 2 plus its sample content from the DVD, then an update to the latest version. But since I already had the Kore 2 samples installed on my separate and unharmed data partition, I just downloaded and installed the 2.04 update, started Kore 2, set the sample directory, restarted the program and voila - no missing sample errors when loading Kontakt-based Koresounds!

I’ve learned my lesson. As soon as I got Kore 2 and a few other programs installed and updated to the latest versions, I freshened up my system partition backup with a snapshot from today.

p.s. shout out to the good people at Acronis for their excellent Disk Director program, which has saved me many a time. I’ve used it to reliably copy, restore, create, merge and resize partitions without a hitch.

Ed.: Of course, this isn’t the only reason to enjoy the ability to relocate the sample folder but, boy, it is welcome! And yeah, it’s allowed me to consolidate some of my software installs on my machine. Sometimes little improvements in software make a big difference in practice — especially when we have occasional OS instability to contend with. And yes, this can be important on Mac, too, so no snarky Mac comments, thank you! You’ll only jinx yourselves. Believe me, I speak from experience. -PK

The Massive synth fits into Kore 2 and the Kore controller like a hand in a glove. Well, maybe more like a fist in a glove. It’s a combination of sound quality and tactile control that, in my humble opinion, moves plugin synthesis out of the shadows of hardware VAs and into the limelight.

One of the most instantly gratifying things you can do with this combo is to control sequenced Massive patches, manipulating the macro controls in the Massive synth. This can create entire song arrangements on the fly - dropping elements in and out and crossfading rhythms. There are a few tips and tricks that will help you get the most out of this dynamic duo and that’s what I cover in this screencast. Ed.: And as I will cover later today, you can control those macro knobs easily not only with the Kore controller but, as of 2.0.4 and later of the Kore software, any MIDI controller. -PK

Sequenced NI Massive patches in Kore 2 from Create Digital Media on Vimeo.

Here’s the Koresound I used in the screencast, with the Kore 2 controllers mapped to Massive’s macro controls.

Native Instruments announced today some new pricing for Kore and related products. The existing Kore product (hardware with software) is now cheaper, you can get just the software without the hardware for a lot less, and you can now buy a whole bunch of Koresound packs bundled together at once. I’ll break it down for you:

• You don’t own Kore, and you want the hardware and software. Kore 2 is now US$449 / EUR399 with the controller, down from $499 / EUR449.
• You don’t own Kore, and you want just the software. The “Kore 2 Software Edition” does everything the software does, but leaves out the controller if you don’t want it. Result: it costs about half as much, at US$229 / EUR199.
• You own Kore 1, and you want to upgrade to Kore 2 sans controller. That’s now US$119/EUR99 to migrate from Kore 1 to Kore 2 Software Edition — keeping in mind, Kore 2 Software Edition will still support your existing Kore controller / audio interface if you prefer that.
• You want more Koresounds. Now you don’t have to piece together the sound bundles you want a la carte. The new Kore Electronic Experience bundles together seven of the Kore soundpacks into one bundle, priced at US$229 / EUR199. And of course this is on top of what ships with Kore 2 in the other editions. Note that if you just want the sounds and not the custom sound editing and hosting capabilities of the full Kore software, this pack is all you need — it ships with the free Kore Player.