Tag Archives: Satri

Satri stars album cover

Announcing ‘stars’ by Satri, an album of Moog and Seaboard synth solos

A gift to myself, a gift to my fans.

stars

stars is a collection of my favorite solos from previous releases, with some of the original tracks shortened and most of them mastered for an enhanced listening experience. As usual these live Animoog, Model 15, Seaboard and Minimoog improvisations are downloadable for free on Bandcamp and available thought most music services including Apple Music and Spotify.

Satri stars album cover

On stars you get selected solos starting with Animoog tracks from my Unanimoog, escape inside the music and Pianimoog •• discoverY albums, then Moog Model 15 tracks from the album of the same name, followed by my ROLI Seaboard tracks from the RISE 42 album. The last track is a Minimoog Model D solo. In the respective announcements you’ll find which presets was used for each improvisation. Here’s one of the Animoog tracks on stars, une vision pour notre futur.

The Minimoog is celebrating 50 years in 2020! Our family trip to the Canary Islands coincided with the beta testing timeframe for the iOS Minimoog Model D synth. The following montage shows photos from Cesar Manrique’s Jardin de Cactus in Lanzarote along with the Seaboard track ‘Thinking about it‘. It is a Strobe2 synth solo with preset ‘AR Stranger Arp 5D‘ improvised on the ROLI Seaboard RISE 49, available on stars. The album’s cover art is also a picture from these gorgeous islands.

Thinking about it – ROLI Seaboard solo, photos from Manrique’s Jardin de Cactus, Lanzarote
Satri at Los Muchachos, La Palma, Canary Islands
at Los Muchachos, La Palma, Canary Islands

intergalactic masters

Current automated online audio mastering services are appealing with their ease of use and 5-minutes delivery time ; upload your track, select a few options and download the resulting mastered track. CloudBounce and LANDR offer such services for a reasonable fee. I haven’t worked with professional audio engineers yet but consider these services did a pretty good job at enhancing the enjoyment of the stars tracks. On the album you get a mix of tracks mastered by CloudBounce and LANDR, as well as a few unmastered tracks given the algorithms had a hard time handling some of the synthesized sounds.

a limitless sonic universe

Our beloved award-winning Animoog was released in 2011 and so much happened since the first wave of mature mobile music apps. Anyone with a tablet or smartphone has access to these ‘appstruments’ and lots of them are sophisticated musical instruments, far from being toy apps on a touch screen.

« I play the synthesizer the same way somebody else would play cello or violin »
— Suzanne Ciani, Patch & Tweak

And it continues to get better on multiple levels ; protocols, hardware and software. Standards are crucial for interoperability and this January, the MIDI 2.0 specification has been officially adopted. MIDI 2.0 capabilities are game changing and pave the way for a blissful musical future. I particularly enjoy the new expressivity opportunities made possible by MIDI Polyphonic Expression (MPE), and Moog were amongst the first and added support for MIDI MPE in Animoog 2.4 in 2016.

On the hardware realm, on top of the resurgence of modular synthesizers, the past few years brought plentiful new synths, controllers and other tools. The ROLI Seaboard and its ‘5 dimensions of touch’ is one of them I’ve been lucky to get familiar with. Moreover since RISE 42, I usually play synths with Audiofront’s hands-liberating MIDI Expression interfaces, which I wholeheartedly recommend – I’m slowly preparing a post explaining how I’m leveraging these devices.

On the software side, there are tens of new worthwhile synths and music apps launched yearly. In addition to unmatched mobility, those appstruments are diverse and affordable. If you’re curious to discover what’s available, I recommend Jakob Haq’s music apps top lists and his outstanding reviews. We even have access to an excellent open source and free mobile synth, AudioKit’s Synth One.

a universe of digital musical instruments to explore

I care

Sincere thanks to all of you for listening to my music and your support. Special kudos to the ones amongst you whom directly contributed to my projects through Bandcamp contributions or other means. For instance I recently got contacted by Eli Schwanz, the third nice person whom created a video with one of my Animoog tracks ; his FORESTSSS FORTRESSS video with the ‘and dance‘ track from the ‘Unanimoog, escape into the music‘ album (track not available on stars though). Thanks Eli!

Eli Schwanz’s FORESTSSS FORTRESSS video featuring my Animoog solo ‘and dance

engage

I hope you’ll enjoy stars dear synth enthusiasts. It took a while in the making and I’m readying myself to dive into new sonic dimensions.

These stars are where I come from,
I’m eager to show you where I’m going.
The stars are where we’re coming from,
I’m eager to discover where we’re going.

I’ll also try to complete and publish some Animoog-related posts, I accumulated lots I’d like to share with you :-)

Kind regards — Alex / Satri

Announcing ‘RISE 42’ by Satri, an Album of ROLI Seaboard RISE 49 Solos

I recently turned 43 and I am proud to give you —= RISE 42 =— , my fifth music album. It entirely consists of improvised solos played live on the innovative and multiple award-winning ROLI Seaboard RISE 49 keyboard. I particularly enjoyed the freedom it provides for exploring and playing with soundscapes in new ways.

I acquired my Seaboard near my 42th birthday. Over the past year, about once in a week when the girls were asleep, I recorded these 42 tracks for ‘RISE 42’  — showcasing for an hour and a half what this modern keyboard can sound like

 

I’m rather happy with the result of these explorations, especially given it’s pure freetronica; electronic music improvised live in a single take, just like my three previous albums made of Animoog and Model 15 solos. Here’s the album cover for RISE 42, leveraging a fortunate photo I took while traveling and getting started with the album.

The Seaboard RISE is a controller and needs a synth to make sound. I leveraged a diversity of presets from ROLI’s Equator synth as well as FXpansion’s Strobe2 synth, the two being bundled with the Seaboard.

Both Equator and Strobe2 offer many impressive presets which provide a wealth of sonic expressivity when connected to a MIDI Polyphonic Expression (MPE) -capable controller such as the Seaboard RISE

Here’s one of my favorite tracks on the album named Snow falling slowly, improvised live on March 14th with the Equator Broomstick preset during a significant snow storm in Montreal. Just like for Animoog tracks, quality headphones are required to fully enjoy the depth of those sounds.

The saturated audio segments present on some of the tracks are a good example that these are indeed live improvisations in multiple sound dimensions, where exploring the edges of live sound manipulation can lead to sound saturation.

At some point I inadvertently had the standalone Equator synth launched at the same time as the Equator Audio Unit plugin version. This unplanned but happy combination resulted in tracks which showcase two presets simultaneously. The RISE 42 track list provided below indicates which presets has been used.

The following track named ‘Confiance’ has been improvised June 17th with Equator’s Little Master Synth preset. It shows how precise the control we have on the Seaboard RISE can be.

The Seaboard RISE’s keys, named keywaves, are made of silicon and are very sensitive to multidimensional pressure, allowing you to glide your fingers not only left and right, but up and down while varying the downward pressure at the mean time. Each finger expression is considered individually, a significant evolution over the classic MIDI standard. MPE-compatible synths and presets take advantage of this potential of expressivity at the tip of our fingers. You’ve been witness of the decision process before I bought my Seaboard RISE 49 when I published last year the article on two popular MPE-compatible controllers, the LinnStrument and the ROLI Seaboard.

At the time I wondered if I would like the Seaboard after trying it, now I know the answer’s yes!

Since then I’ve been lucky to have experimented with the Haken Continuum fingerboard at MUTEK 2017 and I felt it’s quite different to play and full of potential as well.

The next track, ‘Empire‘ has been improvised with Equator’s Dark Hall Synth Lead preset on March 8.

I owe immense gratitude to my wife and daughters for having supported the making of this album, on top of our crowded family schedule. The next picture is work from one of my wonderful daughters who knows well her dad, showcasing a doll with the music gear I play with and love — you’ll recognize Animoog and the Seaboard :-)

The following track named ‘Field trip‘ has been played on February 4th with the preset named TX Saturated Tremolo Texture 5D, the day I started recording FXpansion’s Strobe2 tracks with my Seaboard RISE.

If you like my music, get all my albums for free and do what you want with them! They’re all released under a Creative Commons license. Immense thanks in advance for any support and I hope you’ll enjoy listening and discovering what the Seaboard RISE and those presets have to offer. The CC-BY Creative Commons license means the tracks are free to anyone to copy, use and transform. Let me know if you mix or use RISE 42 tracks for your projects, I’m eager to hear the results!

In addition to being free on Bandcamp, the album is available on all major streaming services and digital stores such as…

Apple Music:

Spotify:

Google Play:

I hope you’ll enjoy RISE 42, thanks for listening :-) — Alex / Satri

RISE 42 tracks

track nametimeimprovisation recording dateplayed with preset
01Diving underwater1:002016-12-10unknown
02Listening carefully2:072016-12-10Equator
Faeries Synth
03Coming back to share3:212016-12-18Equator
Granular Flute & Analog Funk Lead
04Raise the castle2:472016-12-18unknown
05Welcome dead year0:452017-01-01Equator
CLAPS Analog Splash
06Open Passage3:402017-01-07unknown
07Interlude %0:552017-01-07Equator
Analog Funk Lead & Mono Razor Lead
08Aquarium3:152017-01-07Equator
Little Master Synth & Press Control Overtone Series
09Toying around0:482017-01-07Equator
Magic Toy Piano
10Slowly disappearing4:082017-01-14Equator
Antarctic Pad
11strobetwo1:332017-02-04Strobe2
KB Wah Clavinetti 5D
12White flash1:242017-02-04Strobe2
TX Ambient Vocal Steps 5D
13Field trip2:542017-02-04Strobe2
TX Saturated Tremolo Texture 5D
14Offset1:282017-02-17Equator
Tuned Ethno Clave
15Petite pause2:022017-02-17Strobe2
PD Cold Wash 5D
16Cosmonaut suit0:482017-02-17Strobe2
TX Deep Space Communication 5D
17Frontière subite1:572017-02-17Strobe2
WI Soft Woodreed 5D
18Empire3:322017-03-08Equator
Dark Hall Synth Lead
19Snow falling slowly2:472017-03-14Equator
Broomstick
20Volzez1:222017-03-14Equator
Basic Erhu
21Petite souris1:542017-03-19Equator
Dark Dragon Bass
22Sombre forêt2:542017-03-19Equator
Breath Flute
23L'aigle perdu5:022017-03-19Strobe2
LD Mashroom Head Lead 5D
24Serpent1:522017-03-27Strobe2
LD Psychedelic Overdrive Lead 5D
25L'essaim2:292017-03-27Strobe2
TX Saturated Tremolo Texture 5D
26A light3:102017-04-09Equator
Dolce Digital Reed
27Scarred2:302017-04-21Strobe2
KB Fantasy Organ 5D
28L'étranger sous la pluie1:332017-04-21Strobe2
LD Rez Square 5D
29newground1:402017-04-30Strobe2
BA Cheap 101 5D
30Overboard1:282017-04-30Equator
Classic Acid Bass
31The door is open1:192017-05-22Equator
Vintage Mono Lead
32Confiance1:202017-06-17Equator
Little Master Synth
33Thinking about it2:232017-07-28Strobe2
AR Stranger Arp 5D
34One dimension flashlight1:392017-09-01Strobe2
AR Cold Frequency 5D
35Off target0:372017-09-03Strobe2
AR Stranger Arp 5D
36In the 501:442017-09-03Strobe2
AR Stranger Arp 5D
37Inroads5:342017-09-09Strobe2
AR Over The Mountains 5D
38An alternative2:062017-09-16Strobe2
AR Pulse Dream Runner 5D
39A silence within1:562017-09-16Strobe2
SY Sync Or Swim 5D
40
Denizens2:122017-09-16Equator
Little Master Synth
41Little star0:332017-11-03Strobe2 & Equator
AR Punchy Bass Arper 5D & Elektro 2000 Bass
42make a wish1:272017-11-03Strobe2
LD Mashroom Head Lead 5D
Track list for the 'RISE 42' album by Satri

 

Final Version of Satri’s ‘Model 15’ Album: Four New Tracks

I’m happy to have completed and now share with you the final version of my ‘Model 15’ album of improvised solos made with Moog Music’s ‘Model 15’ app during its Beta testing phase. I couldn’t resist the fun of releasing an album the very day the musical instrument becomes available to the world :-) That’s why you got an incomplete preview version. Please read the initial announcement if you haven’t do so already.

Those who have purchased the album already, THANKS AGAIN! :-) and please redownload the album for free on Bandcamp in order to get the full album as I intended it. My apologies for not having told you in advanced that I wasn’t done reviewing all the improvisations I did with the ‘Model 15’ app during its beta testing phase. I thought my first track triage was good enough but it wasn’t.

The four tracks I added are quite different from the previously released ones and I hope that you’ll like them as well :-)

The new total is 17 tracks and a running time now of 40 minutes. I also slightly shortened the ‘There will be more’ track for it to begin and end more smoothly. In a minority of cases, I truncated the beginning or the end of a track, which is provided raw without any mastering: that’s really how great the ‘Model 15’ app sounds by itself and played live :-) We really need quality headphones to fully enjoy such an app and the resulting tracks.

 

Here’s the updated list of tracks with the presets I used to play the improvised solos with Model 15. For the new version of the Album, I admit I haven’t respected the chronological ordering of tracks I used for the initial release, the new tracks haven been inserted attempting to make track transitions pleasant as much as possible.

Track list for the 'Model 15' album by Satri

#track nametimeModel 15 preset
1The wind0:41Pad / Drew Neumann
Polynoise
2Another blow1:09Pad / Drew Neumann
Polynoise
3Lumières2:01Brass / Fabio Di Mauro
Sperimenting in
4Learning to walk1:54Arpeggio / Kevin Lamb
Play one note at a time
5Constrained nonetheless2:49Brass / Trent Thompson
Wod wheelopoly
6Take off0:59FX / Trent Thompson
Ghost in the record
7Being real3:04Keys / Geert Bevin
Soft poly
8La foule1:22Brass / Trent Thompson
Wod wheelopoly
9Yourself alive6:05Tom Wies
Sequence I
10There will be more2:07Tom Wies
Sequence I
11Three trees2:25Tom Wies
Sequence III
12Through the rift2:59Modern / Geert Bevin
Between The Edges
13Steam loco1:50FX / Tony Saunders
Steam loco
14Ledom 51 test 145:54Tom Wies
Sequence I
15Légère2:04Keys / Geert Bevin
Soft poly
16Flat Earth horizon1:46Modern
Cosmic Organ Grinder
17D'autres traces0:39Modern / Geert Bevin
Sagittent Voluris

I’m rather happy with this album, I feel it brings something new I never heard elsewhere. That’s the feeling I get when I play solos with the Model 15 app. That’s fun music anyone can play live with the ‘Model 15’ app just like I did.

The album is of course still free, better actually as it is available as  Creative Commons CC-BY, and you can ready for Moogfest 2016! I think I’m now done working on Animoog albums for some time, there’s another music project I want to work on first. And yes, it’s Animoog related :-) I obviously won’t stop playing since I like it so much. And you’ll still hear from me since I have a few other Animoog-related posts to share with you.

Enjoy life! — Alex / Satri

Announcing ‘Model 15’ by Satri, the very first album of Moog Music’s ‘Model 15’ app solos

A great day for synth players! Moog Music has launched a new musical instrument for the iPad, the app named ‘Model 15’, replicating the actual Model 15 modular synthesizer from the same company. It’s my pleasure to release my ‘Model 15’ album of improvised solos played live on the ‘Model 15’ app and provided raw, without any mastering, sequencing, overdubbing or external effects — Model 15 allows us to play amazing tracks live.

Model_15_app_Horizontal_4

It’s the very first album entirely created with the Model 15 app simply because I’ve been lucky to be selected as a beta tester for the ‘Model 15’ app. My previous experience was with the musical instrument Animoog, for which I published two freely available albums of improvised solos, ‘Unanimoog, escape inside the music‘ and ‘Pianimoog •• discoverY‘, I had no experience with a modular synthesizer, and now I do! Over a period of a few weeks during late sessions once my girls were in bed, I’ve been able to explore the Model 15 app and discover the richness of its built-in presets.

The ‘Model 15’ app brings a classic modular synthesizer to the masses . An amateur like myself can have lots of fun playing this musical instrument live without any prior experience with modular synths — that was my case!

Model-15_cover-art_1400px

The album is filled with freetronica tracks: electronic music played live without any part of the track pre-recorded. No excuses and no preparation required: pick the instrument and play! Just like for Animoog, quality headphones are required to fully enjoy the depth of those sounds.

Despite being used to the diversity of presets available for Animoog, I was surprised when I found the ‘Polynoise’ preset from sound designer Drew Neumann, a preset sounding like the wind! I found myself happily smiling “I am the wind!”. The album smoothly begins with two tracks of blowing air :-) Then at some point I started messing with the Model 15 knobs while playing and wonderful sound modulations reached my ears. Understanding what the knobs and wires do is not a requirement, but it’s certainly an asset. The track ‘Constrained nonetheless’ is such a track where I turn knobs while playing live.

Some presets offer repeating patterns thanks to Model 15’s embedded arpeggiator which provided a different inspiration to me, such as this track ‘There will be more’:

This short 30-minutes album presents 13 tracks offered in chronological order. The various presets I leveraged are listed in the table below. Sound designers are able to do magic with the Model 15 app. My freetronica albums are brought forward by the Apptronica label, a warm and welcoming home for several ‘iOS musicians’. The album is freely available on Bandcamp and soon available in many other places online. Like my previous ones, it is available under the CC-BY Creative Commons license and consequently, free to anyone to copy, use and transform.

I’m impressed with the sound quality of the presets available for this musical instrument, and this is only day one of Moog Music’s
Model 15 app which officially launched today!

It’s incredibly fun to play such tracks live: instant freetronica gratification for lots of us! I still have lots to learn and to improve, especially that there’s now many more presets available than what was available during the beta testing phase. I expect musicians to start creating surprising new music thanks to the expressiveness capabilities of apps like Animoog and this new Model 15 app.

Track list for the 'Model 15' album by Satri

#track nametimeModel 15 preset
1The wind0:41Pad / Drew Neumann
Polynoise
2Another blow1:09Pad / Drew Neumann
Polynoise
3Lumières2:01Brass / Fabio Di Mauro
Sperimenting in
4Learning to walk1:54Arpeggio / Kevin Lamb
Play one note at a time
5Constrained nonetheless2:49Brass / Trent Thompson
Wod wheelopoly
6Take off0:59FX / Trent Thompson
Ghost in the record
7Being real3:04Keys / Geert Bevin
Soft poly
8La foule1:22Brass / Trent Thompson
Wod wheelopoly
9Yourself alive6:05Tom Wies
Sequence I
10There will be more2:07Tom Wies
Sequence I
11Three trees2:25Tom Wies
Sequence III
12Through the rift2:59Modern / Geert Bevin
Between The Edges
13Steam loco1:50FX / Tony Saunders
Steam loco
14Ledom 51 test 145:54Tom Wies
Sequence I
15Légère2:04Keys / Geert Bevin
Soft poly
16Flat Earth horizon1:46Modern
Cosmic Organ Grinder
17D'autres traces0:39Modern / Geert Bevin
Sagittent Voluris

I’d like to thank Animoog.org readers for their patience since the time spent preparing this album significantly delayed other Animoog-related content I want to, and will, share with you. I hope you’ll like my new album and that it will inspire you to create in your own way! — Alex / Satri

UPDATE 2016-05-16: Here’s a followup post named Final Version of Satri’s ‘Model 15’ Album: Four New Tracks, thanks — Alex / Satri

Announcing ‘Pianimoog •• discoverY’, Free MIDI-Controlled Animoog Solos

[ en français ici ]

Welcome! I’m one of many who thinks that we’re experiencing new levels of ‘live music creation’ thanks to the recent advances in computing. Even though their existence mainly consists of computer algorithms, today’s music creation apps really are ‘new musical instruments’ and are progressively gaining greater widespread recognition. One of these popular new musical instruments is the award-winning Animoog app by Moog Music. I happen to be a enamored of Animoog! :-)

Animoog allows us to play the synthesizer like never before. I sincerely hope more musicians will discover its amazing expressiveness capabilities

Pianimoog_cover

It’s my pleasure to present to you my second album of improvised Animoog solos named ‘Pianimoog •• discoverY’. This time these improvised single-preset solos leverage a classic external MIDI piano controller to create Animoog tracks. They are provided raw, no sequencing or external effects applied in any way — what you hear is how it sounded played live. Anyone with the Animoog app and an affordable MIDI controller can play similar tracks live.

Don’t expect perfect execution ~~ it’s live single-take improvisations! What’s great about it is you can play similar tracks yourself by launching Animoog and selecting the same preset. This genre of music is named ‘freetronica’: electronic music played live without any part of the track pre-recorded. No excuses and no preparation required: pick the instrument and have fun exploring sounds!

You don’t have to like all of the album. The list of presets I played is provided and helps you identify sounds and melodies you can play yourself on Animoog even with little or no previous experience with this novel musical instrument

Next is the ‘Recording decades’ video, 10th out of 29 tracks on the album. The track leverages the ‘Apocalead’ preset from Alba Ecstasy, and yes, it’s monophonic: a single note played at a time for the whole track.

An affordable M-Audio KeyRig 49 was used on the first track and I then continued on my old Roland RD-300SX MIDI keyboard. No sustain or expression pedals were used, just the raw Animoog app played from the MIDI keyboard. For the ‘Retenue’ track, I played one hand on the Roland and the other on the iPad. Tracks are offered in chronological order, the listener being able to appreciate the evolution in my discovery of playing Animoog from a MIDI controller within the 5 months it took me to put to record the tracks during spare time. Credit is given to the sound designers for each preset I used.

The main drawbacks of using a classic MIDI controller are the loss of precise polypressure control, one of the best expressive capabilities of Animoog , and the loss of the sliding finger gesture. The use of an alternative MIDI controller may alleviate these shortcomings.

Next is ‘A beginner’s demo’ video. This track leverages the ‘4072 – Finger Detune’ preset from Vintage Vibe collection. It’s another monophonic track, one note at a time for the whole track, but this time I modified some of the preset’s parameters while playing, showcasing how a preset can sound different by tweaking it live. 

By watching the ‘I dream of wires’ documentary I understood where Animoog comes from and its roots in modular synthesizer, and in the process came to believe that Animoog’s potential has much remaining to be explored.

My previous album, ‘Unanimoog, escape inside the music’, featured raw improvised Animoog solos played live directly on the iPad. I was deeply honoured by the kind words of encouragement from many listeners and music publications, some nice strangers paid up to 15$ for it while is it available for free. I also felt privileged when Moog Music featured the album on their front page. I confirm all of this motivated me and I’m delighted to offer you this third album.

Next video is for ‘Le secret du nucléaire’. This track leverages the ‘WhereUpress’ preset from Daemian. It’s a melodic polyphonic track.

The ‘Pianimoog •• discoverY’ album is ‘unmastered’, the sound levels of the raw tracks have not been corrected and no adjustments were done to convey an enhanced listening experience. These types of sounds and performances are best enjoyed by listening with quality headphones. The visuals for the tracks have been so far created using the amazing Uzu app. My two Animoog albums are brought forward by the Apptronica label, a warm and welcoming home for several ‘iOS musicians’. The album is freely available on Bandcamp and available in many other places online. Tracks are available under the CC-BY Creative Commons license and consequently, free to anyone to copy, use and transform.

Thank you for your interest in my musical projects, I hope you enjoy Animoog as much as I do! — Alex / Satri

Listen and get the album: https://www.animoog.org/satri/pianimoog

Info and links:

Animoog Book Quote, Discount, and Article on Create Digital Music

Lots more than I expected has happened over the weekend! A book on iOS music which mentions Animoog, Animoog currently discounted to half its regular price, and an Animoog article on the ‘Create Digital Music’ website featuring my ‘Unanimoog’ album.

Animoog discounted to $14,99 / $1,99

If Animoog discounts matter to you, follow our Animoog version 2.2.4 released this week, there’s no better time to acquire Animoog if you don’t have it already.

Animoog on ‘Create Digital Music’

Second time I get honored this month, in an interesting article named ‘Unanimoog’ Animoog improvisations album. 2,000 people heard my album in the 3 days following this publication, thanks ‘Create Digital Music’ for highlighting Animoog capabilities!

The article includes a great quote for those who might be ambiguous because of Animoog’s price tag:

« And yes, I’d rather pay thirty bucks for that once than 3 bucks a hundred times for stuff I won’t use »

There you go, Animoog doing Indian music!

Making Experimental Music on iPads

Clif Johnston, the president of the Apptronica music label which published my Unanimoog  Animoog solos album, just published a book on making experimental music on iPads. The digital book is available for all major platforms and is already a popular hit being at top of charts for several countries. It’s full name and link to get it for only $3 is Drone, Glitch and Noise: Making Experimental Music on iPads and iPhones” by Clif Johnston.

The book mentions Animoog in a section specific to iOS instrument interfaces:

« In my opinion, Animoog offers one of the best keyboard- like interfaces with full custom scale support. Animoog sounds great itself, but it can also send MIDI to control other apps in the background. You can save custom keyboard configurations with each preset, or lock the current scale in place so you can change presets while keeping the current configuration »

Enjoy life — Alex / Satri for Animoog.org

‘Unanimoog’ Featured by Moog Music, and other Animoog news

Some recent Animoog news of interest

‘Unanimoog’ Featured by Moog

I am delighted that Moog Music featured my Animoog solos album on their front page and dedicated a page on their site to the album. As far as I’m aware, it’s the first time Moog put such a spotlight on Animoog creations.

Satri_UEITM_coverart_640px

Thank you Moog! :-) — Satri

If you haven’t got the ‘Unanimoog, escape inside the music’ album of Animoog solos yet, get it now, it’s free.

Animoog Players Map Improvements

We recently announced the ‘Animoog Players Map’ experiment. It’s nice to see that a few fellow Animoog players already added themselves to the map. The improvements done since initial launch:

  1. There are now several screenshots in the instructions to make it easier for everybody to add themselves to the map
  2. There’s are now symbols and colors on the map markers

Want to see the improved instructions and maybe add yourself to it? Here it is!

Animoog version 2.2.4 is coming

With Moog’s renewed focus on Animoog development, they selected a few beta testers to help improve the app we love. I’m one of those lucky Animoog beta testers. And the excellent news is that version 2.2.4 has been submitted to the App Store and should be available to all any day now. Moog developer Geert Bevin publicly shared on Facebook the following list of changes and fixes:

  • Stable support for iOS 8
  • Stable support for 64-bit devices
  • Revised timbres panel with categories (touch-hold timbre in category for preview)
  • Fixes for timbres showing up with domain name prefixes
  • Audiobus input slot compatibility fixes
  • Virtual Animoog MIDI ports are now always available even if no port is explicitly selected
  • Improved IAA instrument compatibility (IAA transport panel will be done for a future release)
  • Use with any buffer size from 128 to 4096 (256 being the intended size for all supported devices)
  • Fixes for restore purchase functionality
  • Improved in-app store layout and interaction
  • iTunes File Sharing access to timbres, presets and projects
  • Removed import/export preset from setup panel since iTunes File Sharing should cover all needs
  • Added timbre category list under ‘random preset’ to enable/disable categories to randomize timbres from
  • 4-track recorder fixes for loading clips, pasting clips and AudioPaste
  • 4-track project fixes for save/load/delete/share
  • 4-track now remains unlocked when not connected to network
  • Pitch bend range is now always saved with presets and correctly loads from presets when this option is active
  • Pitch and mod strips now light up with incoming MIDI
  • Hold button now more clearly show when it’s active
  • Manual MIDI CC input now ensures only numbers can be entered
  • Keyboard scale selection now doesn’t misbehave after selecting the whole tone scale
  • Preset panel is laid out more consistently
  • Resuming after interruptions from Siri now reactivates audio
  • Proper handling of large amounts of MIDI expression data, coming from alternative controllers
  • Updated built-in manual

While you now know in advance most of the wonderful surprises the next Animoog version will bring, expect me to post a new entry when it will actually become available for download.

Still reading?

Next major step for Animoog.org is to provide an updated Expansion packs table, which I hope to complete before mid-June. Afterwards, I have a little surprise for Animoog players, but since I’ll be away from computers most of the Summer, I expect to launch this new Animoog.org component during Fall 2015. Cheers — Alex / Satri

Satri’s Animoog solo ‘And back to space’ video

Please allow this entry focusing on what I do on Animoog

Satri’s And back to space video

I’m happy to present to you my second video for the ‘Unanimoog, escape inside the music [Unmastered]’ album. It’s for the 45th track named ‘And back to space’ which is a solo improvised with the Animoog app. Playing a single Animoog preset in solo is just like playing a raw violin solo: a single instrument played live without loops, sequencing or external effects. Because of the expansive frequency content and harmonic complexity of Moog’s Animoog iPad app, along with the heavy presence of stereo ping-pong in the preset, please wear high end headphones to fully enjoy the track. All of this work is licensed as Creative Commons CC-BY.

Liked the track? My latest album contains 47 such Animoog solos, leveraging numerous different presets. Learn more about it here and listen to it.

The whole video is made from a single run of the iTunes visualizer. Anyone with a Mac or Windows computer and the free iTunes software can make similar videos live, that’s several hundred millions people! The entry for my first and similar video for the ‘Curious explorer’ track details the iTunes visualizer shortcuts, even the hidden ones, and tells you how to make the best out of it. I’m also working on a longer article which would provide even more details.

Enjoy! Alex / Satri

‘Curious explorer’ Animoog solo video with iTunes visualizer

This entry is about what might well be the very first Animoog app solo video. The video itself is made with iTunes’s built-in visualizer

Satri’s Curious explorer video

I’m happy to present to you my first video for my ‘Unanimoog, escape inside the music [Unmastered]’ album. It’s for its fifth track named ‘Curious explorer’ which is a solo improvised on the Animoog app with the ‘Daemian 1 – Phatty Saw’ preset. Playing a single Animoog preset in solo is just like playing a raw violin solo: a single instrument played live without loops, sequencing or external effects. Because of the expansive frequency content and harmonic complexity of Moog’s Animoog iPad app, along with the heavy presence of stereo ping-pong in the Phatty Saw preset, please wear high end headphones to fully enjoy the track. All of this work is licensed as Creative Commons CC-BY.

Liked the track? My latest album contains 47 such Animoog solos, leveraging numerous different presets. Learn more about it here and listen to it.

The whole video is made from a single run of the iTunes visualizer. Anyone with a Mac or Windows computer and the free iTunes software can make similar videos live, that’s several hundred millions people! I recorded the video with Quicktime, which can record a screencast. I however had to change the screen resolution of my old mac to the lowest possible (1280 x 720 pixels) to reduce the stuttering during recording. The simple montage was made in iMovie using one of its default themes. The following instructions tell you how to play and fully enjoy the iTunes visualizer yourself, at the full resolution of your screen and, of course, no stuttering since you’ll be playing it live. It’s a much nicer experience than what is shown on the video. I only played with the iTunes visualizer for less than an hour, I suspect someone’s skills after more practice means great fun.

iTunes visualizer

I found undocumented keyboard controls in this 2008 lifehacker article. Once you know and use the various controls in harmony with the music that you hear, you play the role of a VJ. Let me tell you about the basics of controlling the iTunes visualiser:

  • There are three main visual components, (A) the cores, which are the moving spheres, (B) the rays, which flow out of the cores, and (C) the nebula clouds, which fill the whole screen and changes the ambiance
  • There are 20 modes for you to enjoy, you incrementally cycle from one mode to the next with the ‘M key’. Take the time to explore the various modes since they’re what alter the visualizations most
  • You can modify the movement of the visual components by freezing the rays (F key) and by locking or releasing the camera rotation (L key)
  • The nebula clouds (N key) should not be underestimated, they radically change the ambiance and can also be toggled on/off rhythmically. Pressing the ‘E key’ will enhance the nebula clouds, making them more prominent
  • The ‘A key’ and ‘S key’ will add or subtract rays to the visualizer, usually, I prefer when there’s more
  • The ‘+ key’ and the ‘- key’ are equally important since they increase or decrease the brightness of the of the rays
  • Finally, you can change the color palettes (P key) which obviously impact the general feel of the animation
  • Once you understand the basics, the most artistic and technically challenging part begins: controlling it live over a great song! A difficult part of the performance to me is making certain changes of modes (M key) and freezing (F key) along with the rotation (L key) generate something beautiful and in sync with the music. That makes the most significant difference
  • Keeping the rotation enabled (L key)  mean you can get closer to the cores. Once very close to a core you may want to freeze and stop the rotation since the effects are often superb
  • Try also toggling freezing and rotation rhythmically, you can achieve something nice this way

The iTunes visualizer keyboard controls that I’m aware of, for iTunes version 12.1.0.50:

iTunes visualizer keyboard shortcuts

KeyEffectDescription
MChange modeIncrement to the next visualizer 'mode', out of a total of 20 modes
FFreeze cores and raysFreezes the movement of the cores and rays, which can still rotate (L key). With freeze and lock rotation enabled, nebula clouds will also freeze
LLock rotationStops and starts the rotation of the camera. If the rays are in the frozen state (F key), only brightness of the rays will change according to the music's loudness
NNebula cloudsEnable nebula clouds that fill the screen with an animated haze. These clouds are not available for all modes (M key)
EEnhance nebula cloudsIf nebula clouds (N key) are enabled, pressing the 'E key' will accentuate them
+ / -Adjust ray brightnessIncrease (+ key) or decrease (- key) brightness of the rays, multiple presses further increase or decrease their intensity
A / SAdd or subtract raysAdd (A key) or subtract (S key) rays to the visualizer
PChange color paletteIncrement to next color palette, out of about 10 different color palettes
ITrack infoDisplays the track cover image, title, artist and album names at the bottom left of the screen
CCycle mode after trackThe visualizer mode increments to next mode when a new track begins. Enabled by default
RResetReset the brightness (+ / - keys) and density of rays (A / S keys) to their default values
?HelpDisplays most of the keyboard shortcuts, but this current table also tells you what the official Help won't
Any other keyAnnoying soundAvoid hitting unpaired keys!

The two improvements I’d like to see to the iTunes visualizer: (a) easy control for the number of cores in the scene, and (b) full control on how close or far we are from the cores.

If I missed any hidden iTunes visualizer keyboard control, please let me know in the comments below! Have fun — Alex / Satri

Animoog solos: free ‘Unanimoog, escape inside the music’ album

Animoog.org wasn’t built for self-promotion but this announcement is an exception and does focus on my creations with Animoog. Happy new year!

41_uzu_480pxI’m delighted to introduce you to my second music album named ‘Unanimoog, escape inside the music’, exclusively made with Moog’s award-winning Animoog iPad app.

In a world where there’s hundreds of excellent albums being made available daily, what excites me about what I propose with this album is you don’t need anything special other than the Animoog app to reproduce or play similar tracks. They’re single-track improvisations with no loops, no sequencer, no external effects, no complex or expensive music gear, everything is played live leveraging a single Animoog preset. It’s music you can listen to and music you can play in the comfort of your home or anywhere you’d like. The app is played and enjoyed just like any other musical instrument would be. I hope it inspires you to create your own tracks and discover that nowadays, we can have deep fun creating live music with accessible instruments and some practice.

[…] single-track improvisations with no loops, no sequencer, no external effects, no complex or expensive music gear, everything is played live leveraging a single Animoog preset

05_Uzu_20140823_960pxIt’s only recently that I discovered the richness of sophisticated electronic sounds. This new chapter really begun with the advent of Moog Music’s award-winning Animoog music instrument. After I came to know Animoog through unexpected lucky events, I became enamored with its expressive capabilities. It became a hobby to explore Animoog sounds on quiet Friday nights. Wanting to share my enthusiasm and contribute to a same-minded community, I launched Animoog.org in March 2014 to discuss and document everything revolving around the app. While lots of the work remain to be done, the website does offer value and is the only place where you’ll find a list of third-party Animoog expansion packs. My early 2013 Animoog improvisations sounded good enough to me that I decided to make a collection. While my playing improved, I started a second collection in January 2014 with the intention of making an album out of it. In August of the year I had enough material to prepare the release of most of those tracks on what became the ‘Unanimoog, escape inside the music’ album.

04_uzu_20141103b_960pxSimilarly to my ‘Beau temps’ music album, released in 2002 under the royalty-free ‘open audio’ license – before Creative Commons licenses existed and at a time when it was unusual to provide albums for free on the Internet, this new album is available under the CC-BY Creative Commons license and consequently, free to anyone to copy, remix and transform. Each track has its cover art made with the amazing Uzu app.

Ironically after recording the last track, I learned about and watched ‘PressPausePlay’, an insightful documentary on the democratization of culture production in the digital era. I’m a child of PressPausePlay in the sense that I’m one of the many scouts of the new generation of musicians having fun and exploring the newly accessible ways of making music through the exposure and use of modern software-based music tools. Music has accompanied humanity for thousands of years and it’s reassuring that the means of expressing emotions through music are still evolving. While music production is getting democratized, just like a traditional instrument, it requires practice, experimentation and time to begin to master the most complex tablet-based music creation apps.

[…] I’m one of the many scouts of the new generation of musicians having fun and exploring the newly accessible ways of making music […]

29_uzu_20140425_1280pxThis album is ‘unmastered’, it’s the raw tracks for which sound levels have not been corrected and no adjustments were done to convey an enhanced listening experience. I resorted to a diversity of Animoog presets to create the 47 tracks of the album. Those presets were created by several sound designers and I have to thank them for making it possible for us to play with their soundscapes. Preset ambiances range from soft and harmonious sounds, with ping pong stereo delay or not, to rhythmic and more brutal sounds. Credit is given to the tracks’ presets and thus anyone can launch Animoog and replay a track they liked and make it much better, just like when someone sits in front of a piano to jam on an existing song.

alex_sandbanks-2014_1464pxI invite you to listen to the tracks which are available for free. These types of sounds and performances are best enjoyed by listening with quality headphones. This album is distributed and promoted by the Apptronica label. Like any music genre, you might not like it and that’s fine. I hope you’re amongst those who might get inspired by this album and enjoy playing Animoog yourself.

Alex . . Satri

Listen and get the album for free : https://www.animoog.org/satri/unanimoog

Info and links:

Satri_UEITM_coverart_640px

Artist: Satri
Album title: Unanimoog, escape inside the music [Unmastered]
Album genre tags: Apptronica, electronic, instrumental, improvisation, solo