i just got this stupid website working again (the admin pages were broken). now i have 2,246 comments waiting for approval (of which 2,216 are probably spam).

so, yeah. i might get onto that now.

the blog’s been a bit quiet…

but:

• go/no-go have a new website up: http://gonogo.remaincalm.org - and there’s some new music on there. let me know what you reckon.
• i gave up on the whole pedal dsp idea. it’s just going to be too much work and i don’t have the cash for a devkit at the moment anyway.
• but… i’ve been working on some more JS effects and these ones might actually work
• i was also doing a little bit of dev work on the DS stuff but the development environment is a total pain in the ass (in that the core platform keeps getting updates that break compatibility with all the other 3rd party tools). i still have my old dev environment in a virtual machine somewhere so i can get back to that one day but really, it’s just so much damn effort. and bliptracker already does everything i need. so that’s all a bit ugh. i really need to put out that updated beta of dsmcu one day though, i just need to package it up…
• i’ve been mucking about with the XNA XB360 dev environment. it looks very interesting. i have two separate ideas – one for a 2d puzzle/action game that doesn’t have gems or tiles and one for an experimental art game.

also i want to get a JLM preamp kit and get some soldering happening.

anyway.

i’ve uploaded a quick demo of some of the free js effects i’ve built for reaper (linked here, click for more info)

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this is just a quick guitar improvisation, played into two instances of floaty and one of avocado, streamed live to disk – no offline edits or effects except for a limiter were added to this.

update: i’ve just updated all of the effects, here’s a demo of avocado tempo sync’ed to some drums:

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i’ve been mucking about making some effects using reaper’s js effect engine, and i’m happy enough with the results now to release them.

there are three effects in here:

• floaty – modulated delay inspired by mda’s dubdelay, but with lots of extra craziness
• avocado – powerful glitch engine, with a ducker built in so it won’t stomp all over your tracks
• tonegate (previously released) – triggered tone generator

click here to download all three effects:
http://remaincalm.org/jsfx/remaincalm_org_jsfx.zip

and yeah, i’ll get back onto the dsmcu/bliptracker ds stuff soon. as soon as i can find where both of my ds’s have gone…

edit: audio demo of these here

i put together a review of korg’s ds-10 for the internode games network, and it’s gone live.

click here for the full text.

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click here to download go/no-go – lost in berlin

we welcome remixers etc to play with all our stuff, contact me for stem tracks.

band contact: myspace

go/no-go are playing on thursday 28/8/2008 at the hopetoun.

line6 are releasing a dsp guitar stomp box devkit! i can’t wait til this thing launches, i’m already getting crazy ideas.

(also: i move into a new flat in about two weeks, regular development work is going to start up again pretty soon after that, sorry about the delay on everything…)

update: apparently there’s this thing as well that looks interesting: openstomp

update2: more awesome stuff i want to play with: machinecollective.org

update3: some more info on the tonecore ddk, scrounged from the freescale website: (giant pdf thing) – short version, there’s 4Mb+ of onboard RAM (8 banks of 512kb plus whatever’s onboard the DSP), and it’s rated at about 100Mips. 24 bit. doesn’t look like there’s any FPU onboard, bah.

these screenshots are both from the same .nds file, just with different skins (everything you see is functional except the knobs on the 303).

at the moment it’s running at 30fps – i’ll set it up so that it’ll run at 60fps in single-screen mode soon.

work is continuing on dsmcu. here’s what is in the new version so far:

• now requires dldi patching.
• the entire application is fully skinnable using text files (maybe xml) csv text files and png graphics. *DONE*
• skinning extends to the midi commands (midi data sent or monitored for feedback) supported – this should allow the device to be used as a generic midi controller. there will be a number of basic control types available.
• support for multiple layouts, selectable from L/R triggers. *DONE* (memory limits on how many backgrounds can be loaded, though)
• layouts supported will include: standard mcu control, simplified/expanded mcu control (e.g. big transport), generic MIDI kaoss style touch pad or multi-kaoss (any number of pad zones on the same page), MIDI keyboard interface, MIDI drum pad interface, generic vsti synth control (faders for cutoff, resonance, etc), and combination of those elements…(MIDI and mcu controls possibly won’t be usable at the same time due to host limitations)

no estimate on when it’ll be ready – i’m going to be moving house soon so that might slow me down a bit. but what’s there is working really well so far.

if anyone has gotten the beta working under leopard, can they let me know? cheers.

i think this is #2, anyway. should start getting pretty interesting by #5 or so.

these date back to 2005-2006.

1: please wait

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2: keep starting (a collaboration w/ rachel holmshaw, cheers!)

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3: scissors

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(i’ve given up on picking a catchy name to release this stuff under, i figure my actual one will do for the time being)

i’ve put together a list of homebrew ds music apps. pretty sure i’ve gotten most of the main ones but if i’ve left anything off let me know via the comments and i’ll update it.

edit: added heaps more, thanks for the submissions!

here is a short video of dsmcu in use

dsmcu is a wireless mix controller for reaper (and possibly other applications if they tolerate my abuse of the particular midi control spec i’m using).

click here for more info

(song download link HERE)

note: i haven’t had much of a chance to work on this lately and my ds is a bit sad, i’m only really posting this in the hope someone will donate a pink ds with a properly working touchscreen (black is also fine)

dsmcu is a nintendo-ds based emulator of the MCU control surface protocol. it talks to your audio workstation over wifi via dsmi.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD (beta software, please exercise care, no warranties expressed or implied, and you’ll need the readme file to get it working)

requirements: a homebrew-capable ds (which can connect to your computer over wifi), compatible audio workstation software (like ‘reaper‘) and dsmi correctly set up on your computer. more details in the download link.

tested on: reaper; (primary testing platform, works great), samplitude V8 SE (works but no VU display).

does not work with pro tools or logic yet, but support is planned

the following subset of the mcu protocol is supported:

• fader send, receive
• vu display
• track select, mute, arm and solo (w/ feedback)
• bank up/down
• scrub
• more coming soon…

possible applications include: a wireless rec/arm remote or end-user monitor mix interface for tracking, touch-sensitive automation recorder during mixdown, multi-user mixing, ‘left-hand’ level control while tweaking VSTs…

lots more planned, more info soon.

some user interface elements have been taken from Reaper – BIG THANKS to White Tie and the Reaper posse for granting permission for use of this and helping out with design/layout. cheers again to tobw for the dsmi library. also uses palib and devkitpro/libnds, yay.

HOW TO CONNECT DSMCU TO REAPER ON A PC

Note: in theory this stuff all works on Linux and OSX but you’re on your own, let me know if you get it working!

Maybe print this out before you start.

• Obtain a Nintendo DS and a cartridge that will let you run homebrew (I use an R4DS – http://www.r4ds.com – works great). If you get stuck here, hit up Google.
• You need a wireless router or something else that will let you connect your DS to the network your computer is on. Make sure that you can connect to the Nintendo WFC online services. If you get stuck here, hit up Google.
• Go to http://www.midiox.com/myoke.htm#Download and download MIDI Yoke NT 1.75 (163K 09-23-07) (NOT the manual install). Run it. You might need to reboot.
• Go to http://dsmi.tobw.net/index.php?cat_id=1 and download the DSMIDIWiFi Server for Windows. Extract and run it.
  • Set input to “IN FROM MIDI YOKE PORT 1″
  • Set output to “OUT TO MIDI YOKE PORT 2″

• Download the dsmcu.nds file and get it onto your DS flash card (i.e. R4DS, whatever). You don’t need to patch this file or do anything weird with it, just put it on there.
• Boot your DS and run the dsmcu.nds file. If it locks up with a faint “MIDI: ?” message on the bottom screen, that means it can’t connect to your network. If you can play DS Tetris on the internet and this still doesn’t work, contact me.
• If dsmcu can connect to the internet, the screen will fill with faders. This is good.
• Download and run Reaper. Go to options/preferences and select the Control Surfaces section (near the bottom). Click Add to add a new control surface.
  • Set: Control surface mode: Mackie Control Universal,
  • MIDI Input: IN FROM MIDI YOKE 2
  • MIDI Output: OUT TO MIDI YOKE 1,
  • Leave everything else at default settings.
  • When you click OK, everything should work.

If it’s doesn’t work, try setting the DSMI output to Microsoft GS Wavetable Synth and seeing if noise is made when you click on the transport buttons on dsmcu.

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click here to download go/no-go – legacy

recorded and mixed at ‘remain calm’ [sydney, australia] by daniel arena and stephen claxton, april/may 2008. we welcome remixers etc to play with all our stuff, contact me for stem tracks.

band contact: myspace

go/no-go are playing their second ever show on tuesday 13/may/2008 at the hoey, come down and say hi.

get a nice big tin of lychees in syrup (this may possibly work with rambutans as well)

» cocktail #1:
all the lychee syrup
150mL stolichnaya or 42 below vodka (or whatever)
rose flavouring? i guess if you have some handy that could work.

throw it in a cocktail shaker; shake and serve in a martini glass (maybe with a tiny chunk of turkish delight?)

» cocktail #2:
all the remaining lychees
150mL vodka
lots of ice

blend until slushy and drink

here’s a short clip of bliptracker in-use.

note that this doesn’t show the dsmi MIDI integration, only uses one of the default sample sets, doesn’t show any of the randomization functions, and there’s no theremin. i’ll post a better quality clip with some more fun stuff when i get a bit of spare time.

bliptracker download page

now that i’ve got some more space on the server, i should probably start posting some of these tracks i’ve had lying around for aeons.

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just a tidy little dub, built up on the spot in a couple of layers using a headrush loop pedal.

2 medium-sized pears
200mL of apple cider or sparkling apple juice or something
150mL of zubrowka (bison) vodka
50mL of medos (honey) vodka
big handful of ice

blend until it looks like a daiquiri. optionally layer with a tiny bit of fresh cream and then top with cinnamon power. serve in whatever you have handy.

thought it was finally time i got around to re-posting a party mix i did at the beginning of the year:

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(~45 songs in 40 minutes!)