stefkeB

At http://togeostudios.com/category/downloads/ you can download several free packs for Ableton Live, mostly as prepared settings for the included Simpler instrument. Check it out.

Check http://www.linuxjournal.com/content/gifting-season-linux-audio-holidays

They give a nice overview on different possible applications you could use if you are on the Linux platform. From free and open source to commercial and proprietary, there are choices for everyone.

Especially Ardour seems to be getting bigger and bigger, certainly when they finally will handle MIDI in release 3 (not available at the moment). But also MusE, Denemo, FluidSynth and others seem interesting.

I've started thinking lately to get up to grips with performing alone with more than simply a guitar. I have most of the hardware and software I need (I think), but to link it all together takes some planning.

One of the tricky things is the lack of hands you have when playing guitar. And the fact that even though you have two feet, you need at least one to stand up. So only a foot controller seems reasonable.

But I have too many buttons to push:

This is a recording of Silver Droplets to reflect how the song was when played live, as discussed here. Although the sound is different. This is a Marshall amp emulation from the POD X3 Live recorded in Ableton Live. The actual performance was my real Marshall and the Digitech Jamman Looper pedal (which can not do direct sound-on-sound after the first recording starts looping).

But this version reflects the mood and feel of the way it was performed.

Last weekend, I borrowed a Digitech Jamman from a friend to use during the upcoming wedding celebration. Take a peek at http://www.digitech.com/products/Pedals/JamMan.php. It seems easier then to carry a laptop with Ableton Live and my keyboard on USB and the foot pedal mapped to the looper-plugin button.

Another note, I upgraded my laptop to Snow Leopard and the Line6 drivers and the Soundflowerbed extensions give problems. That's for updating too soon... Well, my iMac will stay a little longer on Leopard in that case, till I know the drivers work fine.

Yesterday, I played some pieces for my brother-in-law, who is getting married this month. He asked me to play some interludes on his wedding.

When my father-in-law was planning his retirement from the University where he was working, he asked us to play at his celebration.

I was to play the guitar, Marnix (the other son-in-law) also played guitar, my father played the piccolo and (originally) nephew Jan was to play the violin, but due to work obligations he was replaced by Hilde, who was a friend of the family.

After some thinking, we decided on three songs.

When playing with the new Ableton 8, I tried to boost the sound of a previous recording of "lasuur". Now it includes an EQ setting for Acoustic guitar, a multi-band compression and a limiter to boost the level closer to the maximum.

Some dynamics got lost, but overall it sounds much fuller and louder. This might be suitable for MP3s, which are often listened to with headphones and background noise.

Well, every music blog seems to talk about it...

http://www.ableton.com/cantwaitfor8

Live8 is announced and has a nice set of features. Read all the details on the Ableton Website and on numerous blogs, but for me it is huge:

• MAX/MSP/JITTER will be integrated as a (non-free) add-on later this year
• Akai has a dedicated controller for LIVE
• Live8 has several nice improvements, including a vocoder, cross-fading in arrangements, a looper and some updated plugins.

If it's free, it might be worth it...

http://www.wavesgtr.com/html/product_gtr_solo.html

GTR solo is yours to keep (at least for one year). So make sure you "freeze" your tracks in December. It is a set of virtual Amplifiers, Cabinets and Stomp boxes for guitar, but don't forget that this might also create a more edgy synth or base sound.