So, you’ve got a mixer, which is a box covered in faders and knobs that processes audio signal. And you’ve got a MIDI control surface, which is often a box covered in faders and knobs that looks a mixer, but doesn’t process audio signal. Why not combine them into one device?

That’s the approach taken by DJ-focused mixer maker Ecler. Their EVO5 (shown at right) does all of this, but at a hefty price premium — about U$1900 street. (That price could be more worth it, however, with updated firmware capabilities — more on that in a moment.) A rumored EVO4 at a lower price (expected at a non-cheap, but possibly mortal-compatible US$1000-1500) has been making the rounds on the Web. Today, Ecler confirmed those details and promised the final unveiling at Musikmesse next month in Germany and here Stateside for Remix Hotel Miami later in March.

No photo or official pricing yet (meaning if you’ve seen a photo, it’s an unauthorized leak or fake), but here’s what Ecler has to say:

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© Peter Kirn for Create Digital Music, 2008. | Permalink | 3 comments

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An infectious tech-house twitcher that's slightly dark, but mostly fun. T-List: 01. Japan 4 (Original Mix) - Audiojack [U.F.O.] 02. Coming Clean (Audiojack Remix) - Red Jackson [Audio Therapy] 03. Trash (Andrea Roma Remix) - Ketto [Subtronic] 04. Chariots (Motorcitysoul Remix) - Berkson and Priestley [Simple] 05. What Kinda (Mark Henning Remix) - Mr. G [Luxaflex] 06. Green Chocolate (Koljah Exploding Cake Remix) - Fusiphorm [Minimood] 07. Dark Beat (Deadmau5 Vocal Mix) - Kamisshake [Azuli] 08. South Fiji (Original Mix) - Facundo Mohrr [FeralCode] 09. Three Arches (Samim Mix) - David K [Tsuba] 10. North Fiji (Original Mix) - Facundo Mohrr [FeralCode] 11. Dana (Original Mix) - Chaim [Dogtown] - Source Site:http://www.djmix.net/EdSouth/mixes/H5N1

Hayden Bursk, aka CDMer ohtravioso, has built a brilliant free game-slash-step sequencer for Windows, downloadable free. The ghosts represent music tracks moving across a grid; drag and drop bubbles representing sprites in one of four different views for different samples and simultaneous tracks (4 ghosts each = 4 tracks x 4 screens = 16 tracks).

Beat Step Sequencer [YoYo Games]

You can make your own games at YoYo using simple tools

Where it gets interesting is the ability to change the direction of the moving ghosts. Hold down the W, A, S, and D keys and click on a square, and you can add an arrow that redirects the path of the ghost. That allows you to create irregular, syncopated patterns and manipulate a pattern as it unfolds rather than let it repeat endlessly.

Part of why I think a lot of electronic music ends up being needlessly repetitive is that the interfaces we use too often encourage that repetition — or make it too difficult to introduce change. You can work around that limitation to inject variety, or even musically harness the repetition itself. But changing just a key variable in this case makes a very different step sequencer.

The step sequencer also works with your own samples, so you could actually use it live. Now if it could just sync … get that tap tempo ready.

Next step, Hayden: add in Pac-Man himself (or Ms. Pac-Man, if you prefer) and let us play the game while playing the samples!

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Here is the 3rd installment of Live from Lower Case Sounds with Jack Roldan (That Sound) and Uriah West (Bump Shop Music) on this set. This 2.5 hour session starts off with Jack finishing up his solo segment from the show followed by tagging every 3 records with Uriah. The final 40 minutes come back to Jack tossing out some rarely or never heard cuts from B.H.Q. headquarters. Enjoy the Mile High Funk coming to you from the Mile High City of Denver, 5280 feet above sea level! - Source Site:http://s15.divshare.com/launch.php?f=3899490&s=06a

Here is the 3rd installment of Live from Lower Case Sounds with Jack Roldan (That Sound) and Uriah West (Bump Shop Music) on this set. This 2.5 hour session starts off with Jack finishing up his solo segment from the show posted earlier this week (http://www.divshare.com/download/3871093-f09) followed by tagging every 3 with Uriah. The final 40 minutes come back to Jack doing a solo set, tossing out some rarely or never heard cuts from B.H.Q. headquarters at the end. Enjoy the Mile High Funk coming to you from the Mile High City of Denver, 5280 feet above sea level! - Source Site:http://www.divshare.com/download/3899490-06a

Starts deep and builds and builds.. Hans Grüver San Francisco, CA . - Source Site:http://horizon.mixdepot.net/download/29llZaRh2q/f333ac51/Hans%20Gruver%20-%20The%20Owl%20Eater%20(2008-02-23).mp3

I’m teaching a class in NYC next month on Processing at Harvestworks, the elegant, musician-friendly coding language:

Processing Class in New York, Online: Art From Code, For Non-Coders [Create Digital Motion]

It’s on CDMotion rather than CDMusic for a simple reason — Processing is especially well-suited to visuals, 2D and 3D. But there is audio and MIDI support in there, as well, and while it’s not exactly Java’s strong suit, certain applications do benefit from this approach in music. (It works nicely with everything from Monomes to Arduinos, too.)

Actually, on that note, I’d be especially interested to hear if anyone is using Processing for musical applications. Let us know in comments. And there are slots free for the class, so do sign up if interested. (If you’re outside NYC — realizing that’s, um, the HUGE majority of you –  watch for an announcement soon for how we’re sharing some of this information online for the rest of the world.)

Harvestworks also has a terrific-looking Max/MSP/Jitter intensive in March, but I don’t know how many slots are still open, and it will require US$1275 in tuition.

Image by the awesome eskimoblood, a great source of Processing inspiration!

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By now, you’ve likely heard that Apple’s iTunes Music Store has taken the #2 spot in music sales — all music sales – right behind retailer giant Wal-Mart. This tends to lead to one of two somewhat gloating reactions from Apple advocates. One is a sort of “rah, rah, go Apple!” attitude. The other is along the lines of “hurrah, discs are dead, go throw your CDs in with your eight tracks and vinyl while we leap into the future!”

A typical sentiment comes from Scott McNulty on The Unofficial Apple Weblog: “I have an iPod, an iPhone, an Apple TV, and I manage all my music with iTunes as I am sure many, many other people out there do as well… “

Eep. Any votes for “I have a Sony Cassette Walkman, a cheap mobile phone, a … TV, and I manage all my music on my bookshelf”? Is that more boneheaded nostalgia?

Of course, it wasn’t supposed to be this way — any of this.

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27th February 2008: Expert Sleepers has posted the first beta of the new Augustus Loop (v1.7.0 beta 1). The main new thing is the new GUI, which has been re-implemented using the same technology as the other plug-ins. Th...

27th February 2008: Admiral Quality has released version 1.1 of Poly-Ana. The evaluation period has been reset so if you tried it before and it expired, even in the recent Beta, you can try it again for one more week, fr...