Step to the left.

I've updated enough of the new website to move everything over there.....I'll be there for now on.

a

http://www.aumhaa.com

Solsticized

Lemur stuff is up on SVN, for those of you that are waiting.  Ignore the LCD portion, and report errors please :)  Far from finished, but plenty functional.  I recommend MyWi if you're jailbroken, its blazing fast....(how did I not know about that until a week ago?!)

Max4Live native Installers for both platforms are finished, and in the testing stages with several helpful users.  They should be available in several days to the public, and will download direct from the SVN repo to install in the correct places on your system.  If you're savvy, you can grab stuff from SVN, but the point, I guess, is that things are going to be changing regularly from now on, and the installer will make it much easier to stay in sync if you are so inclined.

I'm focussing on the new website next, which among other things holds a wiki that will be linked to from all of the individual Mods for better documentation (another reason I had to finish the installers).  Hopefully my next blog post will be from there!

I'm trying to get some live music and artwork up there as well this week, so if your interested keep an eye out....so many things to do hehe.

Happy new year to all, its going to be a very interesting one ;)

Stay tuned.....

a

Corners

I guess its to be expected when one spends so much time dealing with grids and graphs and squares and angles.  I'll be turning a corner here soon....but for the moment I seem to have backed myself into one.

Several things are coming down the pipe.  But unfortunately things have gotten out of hand on my end, and I'm not able to accomplish what I want as quickly as I'd like.  So be patient please, and I'll in turn try to be more patient with myself...

Aside from getting my own Live rig up and running, here's what I'm currently working on, most of which is finished at this point:

A new Website and Wiki for Mods.
Native Live installer for OSX and Windows (OSX version is mostly done at this point).
Pedal for Looper (plugs directly into OhmRGB/Block expansion port, and soon into Arduino-based hub)
Mystery hardware device ;)  (yeah, I've been talking about this one for a while...I'm back on it again).
Looper plugin (getting really close on this one).
AumPad II for Lemur (finished).
Aum256 II for Lemur (finished...I think?).
AumPad update (found some serious bugs...see below).
Aum256 (256 grid - only version of AumPad...this has been finished for a while).
New LCD that contains all compatible scripts in a single device, and also transmits to TouchOSC/Lemur.
Fixes for Tintinambulo (found a few bugs in that one).
New Boids patch (finished...a while ago).
New Conway patch (finished...a while ago).
General speed improvements for MonOhm/AumPad scripts.

Soooo....most of this stuff is ready, but I have the following dilemma:

In order to release all this new stuff and not waste a lot of time packaging it, I need to finish the new installer.

The new installer will take care of most of the difficulty of distribution for me, and allow me to add things a little at a time.

In order to release the new installer, I have to finish designing the wiki and website, which the new installer is dependent upon for documentation, etc.

Consequently, it might be a while before the next official sub-release happens.  I'm trying to get things together as quickly as possible, but I'm actually spending more time on narcissistic exploits right now (things like releasing some old recordings made with Mod and making some new ones).

Here's the good news:  if you want any of this unreleased stuff, drop me some mail and I'll happily send you the goods via email along with the new installer if you're on OSX.  In addition, as soon as I have a chance to check out the newest versions of the files, I'll add them to SVN and the current install package...there's just no telling when this is actually going to happen.

Lemur Module on the way...

Got the news late last night...Lemur for the iPad.  Something I expected to see, well, about two years ago.

Guys at Liine did a good job, as far as I can tell.  It took me a while of wading through the manual to find out the things I needed to know, but once I found the pertinent information I was up and running.

So you will see a module for lemur that does exactly what the current (unreleased) version of the Aum256 script with the next release.  Its probably going to happen next week...I'm getting impatient about finishing up the Windows version of the installer (due to lack of time/the need to finish installing all of the components on the Windows partition of my dev machine), so all the new stuff will probably get released as a subrelease of b992.

For those of you presently using TouchOSC and AumPad, I can tell you that the Lemur version of Aum256 should be a great deal faster.  Can't promise anything though....I'll have to do some testing.  But initially, I've been getting much faster results using it.

It makes me wonder why I didn't just buy a Lemur 2 years ago.....sheesh, I do go the long way around sometimes.

Also, thanks to another user tip, I've been alerted to a serious flaw with my last rev of Tintinambulo (the timing engine got taken out and never put back in), so I'm in the process of updating that.

I'll make another post when I finally get all this stuff published.  I've got several other real-life responsibilities at present, so it may be the beginning of next week before you see anything.

I'm starting to feel the overwhelming vastness of all this stuff I've been making again....its kind of crippling me.  If I disappear for a bit in the upcoming holiday season, rest assured on I'm working on things, but being quiet about it....

a

Windows....grrrrrrr

I'm posting this from my iPad, since my dev computer has been sufficiently rendered impotent at the moment by my attempts at installing a working version of Boot Camp on it. Please ignore any misspellings or overt sexual innuendos, assume they are the result of ios's amazing and entertaining spellchecking features.

I've been busy lately playing with monomodular, and adapting some new generative plugins for use with the current suite. Also, there will be a new m4l based installer released with the next revision which will allow users to connect to subversion and download the most recent revision of the suite, all from within Live. I'm hoping it doesn't catch anyone's computer on fire.... It requires nothing beyond a single .amxd file on macos, but unfortunately will require a java class file to be in the right place for windows users. The osx version is finished and working on several machines, but I haven't had time to finish the windows version yet (thus the boot camp debacle).

In addition, I've finished the 256 TouchOSC patch, but am waiting for release until I finish both installers. I had some strangeness the other night with it, which corroborates someone else's report of ridiculous latency, so I'm going to examine the situation further before release.

In other news, the looper has undergone some serious surgery and is working better than ever. Hopefully it will make it into the next release. I'm currently building a switch/pedal for it that will connect directly to the block/ohm's expansion jack and allow direct control of the looper and some scene firing functionality with the next versions of the python scripts.

I'm happy to see more and more people recognizing the potential of monomodular, and the support is greatly appreciated. There are several new videos up on YouTube covering different setups and instructions for use, and I'll try to link them later when I have a real computer to use again.

I'm trying to get a website together to showcase some of the "music" that I've made over the last several years of developing this stuff and to permanently house all the documentation (that I intend to write someday ;) ).

Happy blinking :)

Nothing but the black Abyss of the bean.

Yeah, so I've been drinking too much coffee lately.  It makes me feel nice.  Till about the fourth cup, anyway....

I've put up the first two parts of some video tutorials I shot last weekend.  They just detail some information about the new Monomodular functions, and give an account of what Binary does.  I've shot some footage for EndCoders as well, but I may reshoot it before I get around to actually putting it up.

I've been retooling my studio a bit, and trying to make some music.  These processes are both exceedingly rewarding and discouraging at the same time.  Perdurabo!

I'm currently spending the most amount of time testing and refining things with the new suite, and finishing up the Looper plugin I've been working on for the last several months.  Its closer to being done now than I thought it would be....I've finally managed to get the tricky timing bits worked out.  I'll put some video of the process up as soon as I get some free time.

On the horizon for b993:

iPad TouchOSC template/new Script with only the 256 Monomodular screen (I need this myself).
AumPad speed improvements.
Python speed improvements (for some reason refresh calls are getting made way too many times ever since b991).
New Alt functions for Monomod:  Mute plugin, Disable plugin.  Taking additional suggestions on these.
Looper Plugin.
Monome support rewrite.
Improvements and bug-fixes for Binary and (especially) EndCoders.
Grid-based snapshot support for EndCoders.

Hopefully, though, the next thing I release is music instead of code ;)

a

edit:: Oh, I almost forgot.  Markus Naumann has produced some further tutorial videos for you to watch, hosted on his YouTube site here:

http://www.youtube.com/user/morphicfield

Thanks Markus!

Sole Bugs

I spent last night setting up my live rig with the new b992 stuff, and getting ready to make some tutorials/exhibitions.  I found some serious bugs with the new MIDI additions right off, so spent the rest of the evening fixing (I think) those issues.  I'm packaging them now, and they'll be included in the b992 content if you download it again.

I'm still figuring out the best way to manage all these changes.  I had been deleting the older versions in the packages and including new ones, but I've decided to change how I'm doing things.  Until the official b992 release happens (the 'sole bugs' remix, because at that point they will all be on the bottom of my shoe), I'm merely going to add new versions to the package with their corresponding revision number.  Make sure to check out each package and see what has changed.

Latest changes:
Fixed Nome support for multichannel plugs (Plinko, Monotes, Binary).
Fixed MIDI through behavior for Monotes (input should have been transmitted to assigned output channel when 'Thru' was turned on).
Fixed external timing receive for all plugins (it was only working for channel 1).
Added 16 Channel NomeOut plugin to package.
Restored Swing8 to package (but still need to create offset controls, since there are 16 channels now).
Fixed MIDI preferences so the lh_midi port is recalled correctly between saves/sessions.
Added line to LaunchMod script so that when in ModMode, 'Magic Rectangle' is removed.

New versions are up; download and reinstall as usual.

Check back later today, there should be some videos up for the new b992 patches.

a

edit :: I didn't come up with any videos I liked today....I did try, though.  Soon....I'm still finding bugs and learning the new devices.  And I'm terribly out of practice at this stuff.

I did commit another edit, b992r7, for some of the devices tonight.  I think this one finally has solved all the MIDI/Nome bugs that have been plaguing me (mainly just reinit states for the last 24 hours...that one appears to be solved now).

8 is not enough

I was finding it difficult to only use 8 Mod patches at a time, so I changed all the scripts to support 16.  You can choose the second sixteen by pressing the (x=0, y=3) button on the grid when you press shift.  Patches 9-16 are shown in inverse.  Same goes for channels 9-16....the shift button for them is on the right side (x=7, y=3).

Mostly untested....it worked on the AumPad script.  If things don't work as planned, I'll update as soon as possible.  Let me know what you find.

As usual, just re-download, reinstall.

a

edit:: forgot to change the .py files to the current ones.  I shouldn't release software when I'm delirious from sickness.  Anyway, fixed....all the correct files should be in there (now just need to see if they all work or not).

edit2:: forgot to change name of new AumPC20 and AumPC40 scripts in installer, so I'm sure it didn't work.  Updated, should work now.

edit3::changed some BlockMod stuff to make it work correctly without Monomodular installed.

A little update

I've updated the new release with some bug-fixes and color maps.

Plinko was using the wrong version of Monomods, and now has a color map for monochrome.
TR256 got color maps.
Binary got  color maps.
The BlockMod script had a bunch of bugs that I noticed when I started documenting it....it should work correctly now.

Just redownload and reinstall (OSX) or replace the relevant files in your setup (Windows).

a

Just a few more colors.

I've compiled everything for b992 into a working installer for OSX.  I've tested it on a couple of computers besides my dev machine, but honestly, there is so much new content, I just don't have time to test everything all at once.  Besides, I have a nasty cold, and a weekend full of shows coming up.

So instead of the painstaking testing I'd planned to do before releasing this version, I'm going to release it now and you can do the testing yourself.  As I find issues (and I know there probably will be plenty), I'll fix them and post them here.  As I find time to document things, I'll add it to the current content.  As I find time to FINISH all the stuff I wanted to get done in this version, I'll update it to the current content.

If you are on OSX, I've created a simple OSA installer that will put the files where they go, but you have to point it to the right places.  As I make changes and post them, you can easily just reuse the installer to overwrite the last subversion.  The installer will overwrite any previous files and folders with the default names that they were installed as.  Keep in mind, if you make custom Mod presets you'll want to put them somewhere else, as this process will overwrite them the next time you update your Monomodular install.

Refer to the readme file per changes....I'm afraid its quite incomplete at the moment, but rest assured I'm working on all this stuff daily.

Stuff that didn't get finished:

Mainly, I haven't had a chance to sit down with every controller and write a color map for it.  Color map support is included now, which basically means that each patch can have its own custom color map for every controller it supports.  As an example:  TR256 play position indicator.  On a monochrome, it should be 'off'.  On a RGB, it could be any color that is different from the length indicator.  Etc.  The color map attributes allows the patcher to set a different color map for each controller type, even within the same patch.  I've been trying to figure out a convenient way to do this for a while, and finally discovered the 'save()' function inside js.  Duh.  Anyway, the attribute is now supported, but I have 4 color maps for every single patch that need to be written and tested now, and quite frankly, it takes a lot of time.  I'll be working on them as I have time, and publishing updating them to the release as I get them done.

Documentation.  Yeah, I know.  I suck at documentation.  If its any consolation, I'll be spending the majority of the b993 cycle writing documentation instead of patching.  In the meantime, I'll film some videos as soon as time permits (earliest, by the beginning of next week) explaining how the new scripts work.  Of course I'd love some help, but since there is no documentation to refer to (doh!) I don't expect any.

The APC20 and 40 scripts are largely the same as the stock ones.  There are some notes about their operation in the readme.

The new BlockMod script works largely the same as the MonOhm script, with a few exceptions due to space.

The Codec script will get some updates as I actually have a chance to use it and find out what works and what doesn't as far as ergonomics and needs.

As always, thanks for the support and kind words, and I sincerely hope some of you enjoy the new Mods I've created in this version.

Happy Blinking :)

a

for OSX installer, download:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/6044993/Monomodular%20b992.zip

for raw files, download:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/6044993/b992%20release.zip

Imminent....

I spent all weekend working on scripts, and everything is pretty much done at this point.  Things took a lot longer than planned, mostly because 'Binary' started out without any direction six months ago and has become much more than it was originally conceived to be.  I had to rewrite a lot of it, and its still going to require some work after this release.  Good news, everything else is getting faster and better.

I'm tweaking the base Python scripts to make sure that everything works as well as possible, and adding color maps to all the current patches.  I managed to break my brand new video camera yesterday, so tutorials may take a bit longer than expected.  Also, I've not managed to do any documentation on new features/patches yet, and I don't expect to get all this stuff done before I release the files.

Probably looking at a few more days...maybe a bit more depending on my schedule.  In any case, its imminent....

a

Akai Scripts

I finished the APC40 and APC20 b992 Monomodular scripts just now.  All together it only took me about three hours to completely integrate both control surfaces with the new Monomod scripts.  I think that's a record!  The first releases will be very simple, as I completely started from scratch with the stock 8.22 scripts; its a no-frills setup.

As time permits, I will integrate the b992 scripts with Hanz's scripts, as well as my own edits that I had used before I moved over to the Ohm64.

In addition, I've added some lines to the AumPad script to make the agonizingly slow WIFI speeds work better, and hopefully I'll get back to it soon to add Codec support (the new Livid Code script).  I wouldn't look for this until b993, though, as I really want to get a release out soon....I know its been a while, and everyone out there is using painfully old versions of this stuff (there are a lot of changes and additions in b992).

What's left to do?  I have some buggers to fix in one of the new patches (Binary), I need to finish up non-codec support for EndCoders, the new timing engine still hasn't been completed, and I need to implement the new color maps for the entire suite of plugins (possible now that I've finished coding scripts for all the control surfaces I plan on supporting).  I've got a little time off this week, so chances are good that I will in fact be able to release something by the end of next week.  Wish me luck :)

a

Any Lion Users?

Looking for someone currently using Lion along with the MonOhm control surface (either an RGB or a Monochrome) that can confirm that things are working/not working with certain parts of the script.  I have a user that has reported some strangeness, but I can't confirm it on 10.6 nor do I have the time currently to invest in installing Lion on one of my machines.

Any interested parties please apply ;)

a

EndCoders

A little update....

Just finished a new patch last night, 'EndCoders', so named because it is likely the last parameter management patch you will ever need (well, not really...but I didn't want to just call it 'Knobs for Code', since it does quite a bit more than the original 'Knobs' patch did).  Testing and tuning now, but the patch looks pretty clean and efficient at this point.

Now the only thing left to do before the next update is finish up the new timing engine, fix a few bugs with the Codec script, and finish coding support for the APC40/20.  Looks like I might have this out by the end of next week, if things go well.  Wish me luck :)

a

b991b bug fix release

Hey guys,

I figured out what was going on with the crashing situations with b991.  There was an old version of lh_midi on my system that was getting included in the frozen files.  I was under the impression that externals were not included in frozen m4l patches, but apparently that is not the case.  The link below will get you the fixed versions, and all you should have to do is replace the maxpatches in your Live library (the included version of lh_midi was the most current, so no need to replace it).

The old lh_midi plugin was causing monomodular to crash Live when other applications using virtual ports were open.  Hopefully this fix works for everyone, and of course please let me know if you are still having problems.

In other news, I'm still plugging along with getting b992 out, but work restraints are taking their toll.  I'm half way through finishing the second patch that will be released (a replacement for "Knobs"), and the first one just needs a few tweaks now.  You can expect the following additions with the next update (I'm just stating it again here to reorient myself):

renewed APC40 support
APC20 support (haven't started on this one yet)
native Block support  (finished)
Code support  (nearly finished)
updated timing engine for all plugins
Binary Mod  (nearly finished)
"Super Knobs" Mod (haven't decided what to call it yet)
Custom color/flash maps for different control surface scripts
Some other tweaks and bug fixes

I may release b992 without APC support if it seems like its taking too long, but I don't expect the APC stuff to take too much time since I've already done most of the work on the APC40 script in older versions.

In addition, I'm aware that MonoLink doesn't work with autoconfig at present, and its on the list of future changes, but I can't comment on how long it will take as I haven't looked into what changes are necessary yet.  I imagine it will be pretty simple, and if possible I'll include it with b992, but then again the more changes that are included with b992, the longer it will take to release.

Thanks to Pete and Marc for helping me out with this current crashing situation, it was greatly appreciated.  Of course this kind of thing is going to pop up when I don't really have much time to work on revisions ;)

a

link to new revisions:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/6044993/b991b_release.zip

BAD Automap!

So, I've had a couple of users notify me lately that Monomodular and Automap are incompatible.  Well, that's news to me.  But I investigated tonight, and indeed, they are no longer friends.  I suspect this is due to the lhmidi external, but I'm not presently sure (in fact, I'm rather baffled!).  So I'll be investigating this over the course of next week as I'm allowed the time.  I'd love any further reports of crashing so I can inform the relevant parties and get it all sorted out.

Thanks to the guys that reported this!

a

seasonal

First off, it comes to my attention that I've not been clear about something regarding how to install Monomodular:

YOU MUST INSERT THE  MONOMODULAR SCRIPT IN YOUR MIDI PREFERENCES.

Not just the script for your particular controller (MonOhm, AumPad, BlockPad, etc. ad naseum), but also the Monomodular script.  I've ran across several users lately that were having trouble because of this (quite frankly, nothing will work without it).

The good news is that I've created an installer for OSX that, with a little guidance from you, will put all the relevant files exactly where they are supposed to go.  Baby steps.  I'll get there eventually.  Windows users, unfortunately your still going to have to read the directions. Expect the b992 update to be packaged in this manner.

The next release is still a little ways off...I'm in the middle of building two plugins, writing a CS Script for the APC20, and modding the APC40 script.  I've also had some freelance work to do, so coding time has been limited to that lately.  Anyway, thanks to those of you that repeat my name a lot, you know who you are; apparently some people have been listening. 

I'm off to EarthDance in Vallejo this weekend to run sound for a truly awesome Bass-centric Electronic event....I've worked with less than half of the performers playing there, so in addition to seeing some old acquaintances, I'll be getting a dose of new music; I'm really looking forward to it!  As always, this is 'work' season for me, so free time and free stuff hit the backburner for a while....but fret not, I'm still working almost everyday, and the next release is going to have some really cool goodies in it for some of you.

Its funny: the idea of v.1.0 Monomodular gets closer on any day that I finish a release, and further away the very next when I think of new things that I want to add...someday soon, perhaps ;)

a

edit::  as an aside, its my intention to get a better svn repository working very soon. Not just with all of the frozen files (as it is currently, and is the reason I haven't and don't update it regularly), but instead the unfrozen patches with all their dependencies.  This was the intention at the outset, but requires time and a better file structure than what I'm currently using.  I know this would do at least one person some good (not including myself).

Send me music links:

Hey guys,

I'd love to hear some music made with Monomodular, and make it available to other users....I've added a little sidebar to the blog with links to material that has been made using Monomodular.  Please chime in and add your creations to the mix!  Just drop me a comment or a mail with the address to link to.

Meanwhile, I'm working on Block/Code scripts, a patch called 'Binary' which spans both the Code and any connected grid controller allowing variable speed sequence creation.

In addition, there will be a new timing module available to all Monomod plugins as an alternative to the standard module.  It will allow the timing to be driven by MIDI input to the plugin.  In this way, you can use whatever is connected to the input of the plugin as a timing source, paving the way for some crazy combinations/modularity between different plugins or even from MIDI clips in Live.  Think:  binary ==driving==> tr256 ==driving==> every other monomod plugin for some crazy capabilities in variable timing.  Hard to explain, but as soon as I get my camera back, you'll see what I mean.  This stuff is almost finished, as I wrote the core of 'Binary' a while ago.

Anyway, I'll be doing Atlantis fest outside OC in L.A. this weekend, second stage I think (running sound, not performing)....if you're out there, slide on by.  I'll be getting back to coding in a week or so after I get back.

a

Squaring the Circle

I've just gotten back to my Code....I've had a terrific idea about how to utilize it and add something truly new and different to Monomodular.  Think:  variable speed everything, with custom groove mapping.  Anyway, I'm working on it as I type, hopefully I'll have it out soon.  Its funny, I've been putting off doing it for a couple of days, and went to bed thinking about it last night, and this morning I had written the entire thing in my sleep....now I just have to find the time to put it together and get it working.

I've gone and left my camera in San Francisco, so I can't film any new stuff.  I was anticipating filming a bit of a live set when I got back (the one that I didn't end up playing @ GAFFTA), but it didn't work out.  The 'secret' mulitlooper I've been building with Monomodular will just have to remain a secret a while longer.  It's okay, I'm not sure if I'll be giving it away anyway....its pretty core to my own performance.  But I'm anxious to show it off, as it demonstrates some cool things you can do with the Monomodular framework if you are so inclined.

In the meantime I've decided that I will start publishing some practice sessions as I get to know my new controller...I've had a few people ask  to hear what I've been doing.  So, if you're interested in some verbose and unedited wanking, look no further than here:


http://soundcloud.com/aumhaa

Cheers :)

a

Hacked....

A quick thanks to Christopher Willits and Cullen Miller for putting together the m4l Hack Night @ Gray Area Foundation for the Arts in San Francisco....it was a long way to drive, but I got to meet a bunch of cool people and learn some new things.  It was nice to play through GAFFTA's 7 Channel Ambisonic sound installation.....even if I couldn't hear myself while I was doing it (!).

A few things could have worked a little  better.  I learned one REALLY important thing about my own setup:  if you create a looping plugin that emulates tape-based looping, don't assume your plugin is broken when you catch a loop and you don't hear it playing back.  Instead, make sure the tape's transport is running....

Meantime, I'll be 'checking out' for a bit:  it's back into the swing of the show season for me; but I'll still be hacking away and patching in my spare time,  I just won't have quite as much of it to spread around.

Working on getting current patches documented and posted to SVN, then I'll update the current distribution to b991r2.  Might be a little bit before then, but I'll post when I get things finished.  I've actually made quite a few changes to some of the patches since the last public release.

Cheers :)

a