I have been experimenting further with my Acer Aspire One Netbook to uncover its music making potential and have struck gold!

To turn your Netbook into a Mini Moog / ARP 2600 clone head on over to:

http://glenstegner.com/softsynths.html

and download either or both of these wonderful free soft synths. The real beauty of these synths is that they are lightweight by todays standards and can be run standalone.

With the software downloaded and extracted all you need to do is set up your ASIO device (ASIO4ALL seems to work pretty well in this instance) and MIDI settings. I personally have tested this with my Novation X-Station and can report latency free playing with the CPU meter maxing at around 20% and averages at around 9-13%.

Out of the two instruments the MiniMogueVA works slightly better with the limitations of the Netbook screen resolution. To get the most out of it you should turn off the on screen keyboard so that you can see all of the parameters.

Above is a screen grab from my Netbook running Windows 7 and MiniMogueVA.

ENJOY!

With my Muvi digital camcorder I decided to capture some footage on the London Underground with the intention of maybe taking some of the interesting elements and using them within a video to accompany an existing piece of music. However when I started importing the clips into Ableton Live I quickly realised that it is possible to edit the video like audio clips. This then got me thinking that I could create a piece of music inspired by the video clips and using the sound as a musique concrète source. Here is the video of said experiment:

What I learned from this experiment was:

• The music and video components need to be edited independently of one another so that they stand up on their own
• Composing visual elements helped me to build a basic structure to the music a lot quicker than starting with a blank arrange window
• Ableton Live can stretch video easily to get things in time
• Using the source audio from the video with added FX adds another layer of detail to the music

I really love my netbook. Its tiny, powerful enough to run Windows XP well and can run various music programs well enough to enjoy whilst travelling. I thought I would put together some pointers for getting Rebirth 383 to run on your Windows XP netbook, being as it may not be be entirely obvious how to get it to install and run (especially if you do not have a cd drive attached at all times).

First off I recommend that you download the wonderful and free Daemon Tools:
http://www.daemon-tools.cc/eng/downloads

This little utility enables you to run an ISO image as if it were a physical CD. A reboot will be required during the installation, so do that when prompted to.

Next up download Rebirth 383 (this will require registration but entirely worth it):
http://www.rebirthmuseum.com/

Once downloaded right click on the Daemon Tools icon in the system tray and mount a drive. Select the ISO file and then look in My Computer where you should have the Rebirth CD loaded. Install Rebirth following the on screen steps (a bunch of Nexts from memory). The last thing you need to remember is that the virtual CD needs to be loaded when attempting to run the application, otherwise you will be asked to insert the disc.

A higher state of consciousness here we come!!!

I put together this video to demonstrate Ableton Live 7 running on an Acer Aspire One netbook. As you can see from the video the screen is a little cramped but totally workable.

Klunk Records - Arcade

Here is evidence that with some music you believe in and a credit card anyone can set up their own label. Klunk Records now has a presence in all of the itunes stores. This has been made possible by using tunecore music distribution web service which for a low fee per song uploads your material and makes it live within around 8 weeks.

I have dabbled in the past with cdr production, but was never that satisfied with the results. The process of putting together your own cds for sale whilst possible is very labour intensive and not very environmentally friendly (especially if you do not shift them all). With itunes and tunecore I have been able to do away with this process and reach many more people along the way.

Here is a short video of the Sorbet Punk Console in action. I have been looking at some additional modifications to the basic instrument. Watch this space…

taken from: http://chromatouch.wordpress.com/2009/02/05/digital-dystopia-promo-first-edit/

http://www.computermusic.co.uk/page/computermusic?entry=computer_music_s_first_look

Sorbet Punk Console

Here is my first attempt at DIY electronic music making devices – the Sorbet Punk Console. 

I ordered this wonderful kit from http://www.getlofi.com/?p=1462 bought myself a soldering iron, some solder and got to making the Sorbet Punk Console following the pretty straight forward instructions (even for a complete beginner like me). Having spent around an hour and around £20 I decided that a sorbet container was the perfect housing for my first project. This is mainly because the plastic is so easy to chop through and the plastic case I had bought really needed drilling (necessecity - the mother of invention).  I decided to deviate from the original kit and purchased a mini switch so that I could generate continuous tones without having to hold down a trigger button. This cost me less than £2 from Maplins.

I’m sure you’ll agree that this certainly is an item of true beauty and capable of similarly beautiful 8bit stepped tones. I would heartily recommend buying this kit as a way into DIY electronic noise machines being as the results are impressive given the small amount of effort and money required.

Punk Console tones from GetLoFi.com

Attached Media: audio/mpeg (1 28 ko)

I have decided to drop the Arcade moniker and consolidate all of my digital output (in its many various forms on the www.garyjudge.com website). To celebrate the end of this mini era and the start of the new I have released the song “Brain Wash” to the world for comments and feedback. You can find the track here.

Robot vs Dinosaur 8 looks like its set to bring some well needed electronic madness to round these parts. I’m hoping to make it to this one, being as the boys certainly host a thoroughly enjoyable event.

Details and flyer here…

I have been experimenting with the recently released Acer Aspire One, using various music making applications and I can joyously report that they work incredibly well. The Intel Atom processor included in these mini marvels is not the most powerful in the world, so I had limited hopes when running Ableton Live 7. However to my delight I found that it would happily run many simultaneous loops and some effects as well before running out of steam. The photo above shows 8 loops running which is using around 30% CPU. The more processor intensive effects (such as reverb) can max out the processor quite easily, but used sparingly the netbook can be used as an ultra portable and inexpensive sketch pad. It is worth noting that to get the most out of the music software that an ASIO compliant sound card is required. I have purchased the Edirol UA-1EX to handle these duties, but have also tried my Novation X-Station with similarly impressive results. The 120Gb HDD ensures that plenty of audio content can be carried around with you and messed with when and wherever the whim takes you. Battery life is the main draw back however, being as the the Aspire One manages around two hours of use out of the supplied battery. That said there are 7800mAh battery replacements which apparently can supply up to 10 hours of sonic enjoyment!

Reason 4 appears to function well, however as before you need to keep an eye on the effects used and create your work using Subtractor rather than Thor. I need to have a bit more of a play with this but my initial impressions are that the screen restrictions make Reason less fun than Live. None the less this is possible to use and may find favour with some folk.

It is also worth noting that I have done all of this running on standard Windows XP with no tweeks or hacks. In fact I even have AVG anti-virus software running constantly in the background.

Here are some links to get you started:

Acer Aspire One A150-Aw Netbook, Linpus Linux Lite version, 1GB DDR2 RAM, 120GB HD (Seashell White)

Edirol UA1EX audio interface

Replacement Extended Battery (White 7800mAh) for Acer Aspire One

Processing is an open source programming language and environment for people who want to program images, animation, and interactions. I have just started playing with this and intend to learn some of the language. Click here to view my first experiment.

I have just decided to get into a bit of sampling and intend to sample my hardware and toys so that I have access to their sounds where ever I may be. Rather than invest in expensive software to achieve this, I have downloaded the now free shortcircuit sampler vst instrument.

I have quickly created a plinky key sample set using this software. It took me about 30 minutes and whilst it is not going to win any awards it may help you understand how to use the software. Click Here to Download plinky-key