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.

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.

A disappointing feature of many software samplers is that they don’t actually - sample! Can I have an amen? -Ed. They’re built and optimized for browsing sample libraries and reading data off the hard drive efficiently. This can be fantastic if it’s what you want to do - and I just used a bunch of Kontakt-based instruments in Kore in my hockey theme project - but sometimes you want to have fun recording and playing back live audio in the moment. If you have an audio itch, you can scratch it, or you can check the Reaktor user library and see if anyone else has had the same itch and has already scratched it for you.

New York musician Red Wierenga had an itch and a copy of Reaktor, and built a sophisticated and elegant solution for his needs.

Red’s live sampler has up to eight ten-second sample slots - you can increase the audio table size to make more room - and an array of playback and sound manipulation features. Since it’s constructed using audio tables rather than sampler modules or grain delays, the recordings can be directly saved with the instrument, unlike the grain delay based sampler we built earlier, where sample buffers have to be saved separately if you want to keep them. You can also load pre-existing samples into the Live Sampler’s audio tables by right clicking on the waveform display, so you’re not limited to line in and microphone audio sources.

Another instrument I’ve been playing with recently is the Traktor Scratcher. Built by Native Instruments, it’s the prototype for Traktor’s scratching algorithm. It was uploaded to the user library five years ago and I think it’s one of the forgotten jewels. It’s a bit rudimentary but makes a fantastic starting point for users with building skills - in the library, you’ll see several posts from users who’ve adapted it for use with their setups. I’ve tinkered it into an interesting live sample manipulation tool, which I’ll be covering in an upcoming article. However, now I’m thinking that it might be possible to adapt the scratching algorithm to work with Red’s sampler. Stay tuned - this could get a little crazy!

Ed. - naturally, Reaktor-based scratching and sampling will be must-haves for live Kore setups, too. Sounds like there’s an unber-rig of sampling / scratching / playing awesomeness that needs to happen, huh? -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.

If you read this site, you’re probably also on NI’s mailing list, but I just wanted to point out a great feature on Radiohead’s onstage setup. NI interviews Radiohead’s keyboard tech Alan Russell:

Radiohead On Stage with Kontakt

The setup is really interesting: one Mac laptop (with one backup) runs a single instance of Kontakt. Kontakt then simultaneously plays instruments from the two keyboards onstage.

They use Kontakt in order to fill in with sampled sounds and to replace a lot of the hardware that would otherwise need to be hauled around. (I’ve been talking to a lot of artists, famous and less-so, who are using samplers to lighten their load on the road.) There’s even a Crumar Orchestrator preset in the library. Russ’s and Jonny’s laptops fill out still more computer-based sounds with Max and Pro-53, and you’ll see in the image above Kontakt is hosted in Live.

Well worth reading the whole story. It’s written by our friend at NI, Florian Grote, who is an accomplished computer musician himself. (I’ve noted his Pure Data workshop on CDM.) It makes a real difference having the person doing the interview knowledgeable enough to ask the questions you’d ask.

But, while this is obviously good advertising for NI, I think it’s equally nice to note that this is a setup you could duplicate, at least on some level. A lot of us even have an extra laptop we could run as a backup. That’s rarely been the case with tours as big as the Radiohead tour. Yet you could now set up a really sophisticated rig running computer software, with the kinds of timbral changes that previously required massive rigs of outboard gear and technical crews. That’s very good news for those of us who have to be our own tech!

Interpol, the superstar, New York-based band (not the international anti-crime organization) have been touring the world with an intensive, live rig, powered by Kore. Our friend Jonathan Adams Leonard aka sleen, a technological superstar himself, put together their current digital setup, and sends along copious notes on the hardware and software rig. Jonathan has plenty more to share as far as how to make Kore work for live players, but first let’s have a look at the details of the rig itself.

And yes, prepare yourself for some serious hardware and software pr0n from one of the world’s best live bands. No DJ sets here.

(For our previous chat with Jonathan, see Free, Modular Power Tools for Kore 2: A Guide to the Reaktor Toolpack, covering his must-download Reaktor ensembles for use with Kore.)

Jonathan Adams Leonard has been hard at work preparing Interpol for their Kore-powered tour, but he’s still managed to get out yet another update to his must-have, free set of power tools for Kore, built in Reaktor:

Hi guys, I updated the toolpack to include Midi FilterX8. This provides dynamic recall of 8 midi filters per instance for each performance preset, with 8 user pages.

Now we’re talking — that gives you some seriously powerful MIDI assignments for presets. See our previous run-down on the toolpack if you haven’t already:

Free, Modular Power Tools for Kore 2: A Guide to the Reaktor Toolpack

As we’ve noted previously, you do need to own Reaktor to take advantage of these, though I think the combination of Reaktor and Kore is powerful enough that it could be a more-than-worthy upgrade for existing Kore users. Stay tuned — I’ve got some of my own crazy setups using Jonathan’s work and some patches of my own. And we’ll be talking more to Jonathan about what he’s doing and how that Interpol setup came together — we had to postpone a little bit so he could finish working with the setup and the band!

Now that we’re off and rolling for a few weeks, I wanted to step back and ask you: how do you use Kore in your work? How might you want to use Kore? (That is, what would you want to know from us to make it work, , even if you don’t currently own it?)

Is it a way of finding sounds? A way of cataloging and designing your own sounds? Something you want to use for live performance? Or do you still have questions about how you might use it?

While hanging out with Richard Devine over the weekend, I asked how he handled similar questions back at the original Kore launch parties (which I wasn’t able to attend). He told attendees at one of those events that one major appeal was to take his somewhat ridiculous selection of plug-ins and use it in a different way. By assigning the Kore knobs to parameters in the plug-ins, he could try affecting multiple parameters at once, producing sounds he might not have otherwise discovered. I’m having a similar experience, though strangely with my Reaktor ensembles.

Kore has been tricky for people to wrap their heads around, so we’d love to hear from you. (And yes, while abusive comments aren’t allowed, this is an open forum.)