The 64 backlit buttons can be configured as toggles, radio groupings, sliders, or organized into more sophisticated systems to monitor and and trigger sample playback position. The really cool thing about the Monome 40h is that the physical controller gets routed through a hardware chip inside that has an open source code to it and numerous applications can be loaded onto it to perform a variety of complex functions which interact with an audio plugin that is hosted by a DAW like Logic 9, or Ableton 8.0 (Ableton is the preferred host for the Monome but others can be used.). Its kind of hard to explain but here are a few descriptions of the applications from the Monome.org website:

applications and interfacing

we’ve designed numerous applications and patches which exemplify the 40h as a simultaneous input and output device. several are musically-inclined, though the interface also fits wonderfully into alternative uses. all of our applications are open-source and no additional purchase is necessary to use them. here are a few examples:

• 64step is a versatile step sequencer aimed at fluid composition and editing.
• mlr is a sample-cutting platform intended for dynamic and performative live manipulation.
• life is an interactive version of conway’s original simulation.
• phoenix is a probabilistic arpeggiator with a drawable waveform.

also available are routing applications which allow the 40h to be seen as a standard midi controller, for interfacing with commercial software.

I know the above is probably confusing to some who may read this so here is a video of one of my friends, Derek Smith, from the band “Pretty Lights” from YouTube. By the way you should check out hit music its pretty sick.  Pretty Lights

Click here to view the embedded video.

This guy is amazing… and so is the Monome. The Monome Derek is using in the video is the 128 with the MLR application running. The application pretty much cuts a full sample into quantized parts that span a row and different samples can be on different columns. There is one column on the very left side which tempo and start/stop times of the patterns you input throught the monome (its basically a step sequencer too.)

Whats cool about the monome is that since it is open source, people have replicated the actual hardware by using the open source Arduino microchip which the applications can run of. They call it the Arduinome. I will post another DIY blog build after the new years as I am going to build one of these from scratch. The reason I am doing this is because a) Ive always wanted a monome because they can add so much versatility to ones music especially in the live setting. and b) The Monome 40h is $499 and the one I am building is going to cost me $138 plus my time for labor. Now this is going to be a huge build which will span about two weeks to a month so I am really excited about building it. The first post of the build will go up tonight.

This thing is really cool, and if my build turns out good enough, I am going to start producing them and selling them as the profit margin is huge, and they can be produced in a fashion that allows multiple products to be built at once. Anyway I’m really excited and it should turn out well. Til’ next time.

~Andy

p.s. All of Pretty Lights music is free on their website and his beats are sick so check em’

So if you have read my previous post about the Mac Pro being destroyed and the subsequent loss of all my previous songs I was working on then you know why they never got finished. I am working on recreating those from the screen shot I posted when I was working on them and the handwritten notes I have, but its a slow process. So in the meantime I have made a new song which I present to you today. I haven’t titled it yet so I am just calling it NumbaUno. Any name suggestions are more then welcome and PLEASE GIVE ME FEEDBACK. I want my music to be liked by people and love being criticized. Please let me know what it needs/doesn’t need/anything I should change.. Here is the screenshot of the Logic Pro window so you haters that may think I didnt compose this myself can shove it…Everyone else, enjoy!

And what I have so far:

When I bounced all the tracks to MP3 format I realized that there is 45 seconds of silence at the end which I need to cut off because there is nothing after that, just an FYI. Also this is a very ROUGH copy of the song as there still needs to be EQ’ing and mastering done to it so just bear with me. PLEASE give me some feedback on what I have so far as I want my music to be enjoyed by all types of people and want to know what I should do to achieve this. Thanks for listening!

~Andy

So this is a song I originally wrote for guitar (as with all of my songs) and further composed it as I learned how to use Logic. All the parts in this tune are played live by me, except for the drum loop as I have found it very difficult to play dums on my MIDI keyboard.

The song is unfinished, but I wanted to post it on here to hopefully get some constructive criticism from you folks out there. The parts I still need to add are:

• The full bridge
• Guitar lead
• The drums now are one loop, they will be changed so they differ throughout the song
• The rest of the drum fills
• The entire ending of the song

Here is a screenshot of the Logic Studio 8 arrange window in which all the editing is done:

And last but  not least, the song as of present.

Thanks for taking a look! Much more will be added to this, and I will post updates as I finish the additions. All my songs are untitled so far, they are named in the number they are written (this one is called Numba Dos as it is the 2nd song I wrote.) Any and all constructive criticism is welcome, please give me some feedback and let me know what I am doing right, or wrong if you see it that way. Also any input on the name would be greatly appreciated as well. If you think I should add a part, drop me a comment and let me know as I can literally make my MIDI keyboard sound like any instrument in the world (and I’m not joking I have 40 gigs of different patches for my MIDI.) And again, thank you so much for looking, and hopefully commenting on my creation as I have put 35 hours to date on this song. Thanks again!

~Andy W

A standard TalkBox looks something like this:

I was browsing the net and I happened to stumble across this video on youtube that describes how to fabricate a TalkBox pedal out of relatively cheap materials that can be found at any hardware store.

Click here to view the embedded video.

So I am in the midst of fabricating my own from some stuff I had lying around the house, and some wood from good ol’ Home Depot to build the enclosure. The box is almost done, I wish I had a camera at my disposal so I could document the build for all to see, but unfortunately I don’t… Ill snap some pics tomorrow of the finished product and the internals and upload them. I have a pic of the internal diagram of the talkbox below:

Once I get some pictures of my TalkBox I’ll post them, and also Ill record some samples with my guitar so you can get a taste of what a homemade TalkBox sounds like… More to come on this topic tomorrow. Also if anyone is interested or has any questions about the build or if you need help building your own drop me a comment and I’ll be sure to get back to you

~Andy