I wrote a python script last night for the FBV Shortboard MKII that lets me control live with my FBV.  It is based very heavily on the work of Hanz Petrov who has done so much work documenting the LiveAPI that the code is pretty trivial to write now.  My code draws a red box around the tracks I am working with exactly like the APC40 does, and basically makes the FBV a physical extension of what is going on in Ableton Live.  This basically gives me the ability to create snapshots of all of my virtual instruments, mixer settings, etc. with Kapture, and then I can stomp on a pedal to switch between them.  My hands are free to play instruments, and my feet control Ableton.  Pro tools may be the industry standard, but this flexibility and stability makes it feel like a dinosaur.  I can do almost anything I can think of with this software.  It’s incredible.  Python is kind of a glue language, and that is exactly how I used it.  I glued some hardware to a neat Max/MSP app and have something better than what I was trying to write earlier.  I learned a lot writing my old setup though so it isn’t a total wash.

This functionality has obvious live music implications, but it turns out that it is so efficient that I can probably use it when recording and mixing too.  I barely have to touch my laptop which is awesome.  I am now working on getting my Maschine integrated with everything and I should have a really flexible setup with a pretty minimal effort.

I am cleaning up the code now and I am going to try it out over the next few weeks.  I’ll post the code if anyone wants it, but for now I am going to play with it a bit first to make sure it all works as expected.

My initial implementation worked exactly as designed, but when I tried setting up all of my band’s songs in a single live set (so I could switch between songs seamlessly), I quickly realized that midi was not going to be the solution.  I had not way to track what state the tracks were in from the song before which meant that I had to put every song in the order that I intended to perform them beforehand.  That sucks because it doesn’t allow me to change the set list on a whim.  I also ran into a limitation of live where I can only assign one midi value to a parameter.  This meant that if button a was controlling parameter a of a plugin or whatever, button b could not control that parameter at all.  This meant that instead of being able to hit a button and have it do a few things, and then hit another button and have it do a few different things and undo one of the previous things was not going to work.  The whole thing felt very fragile.  I decided it was time to use Max For Live and it’s Ableton API to set parameters and just take as much midi out of it as I could.

My second implementation used a bunch of set commands to just force set parameters.  I used the param save function to save the settings for each button press into xml.  That worked really well but I later found out that the looper built into live basically requires midi to be used.  It doesn’t expose anything I need to the live API.  I also found out that if you use the set command to set a parameter, it does it as if you clicked the button yourself and there is a 10ms delay or so.  It also has the side effect of creating an undo event for every single thing the pedal does.  That probably isn’t a big deal but I found out that it isn’t really that hard to use the remote~ function to send messages to live and anything sent over a remote is realtime and and doesn’t create an undo event.  Basically the goal at the point was to use remote~ for everything I could and use regular set commands for everything else.  Below are some examples of some of the things I’ve written that are part of the entire tool that lets me basically DJ my own music with my feet while I play.

Here is an example of setting a return track volume with remote and with a set command.

<pre><code>———-begin_max5_patcher———-809.3ocwW97jZBCEG+L9WQFl83VKgeI1Y1CsS6sdpSusSGmH7TSKj3PhVa2Y6e6kj.JKhUTVrGTjGgju7488Ed9zHK647cfvF8NziHKqmFYYoCoBXUdtkcFYWbJQnGlMC9Ie92su2bIIrSpCKnK+SUvEblTP+Mnt.1crSYX1lLJKEj54AeHHeirYTZhdRKVn23EVeZYjL8zZ+9bJIs5JlYP9q0f4IQoFVwkQeqb.qIx3UT1xY4PrzLlPmBgglhCTG77Te6VDB8M0c77nQputueLIktEFmCYbIbQrwsU13zBalbd1b5Gce8iN1cxgm8x6QP1BIyJVghaYFQJyoy2HM1Dq8Hvxd1ZHWPERfEaddzw0r6RIXFHDjkvQHrP8qPJNNS.RjLmD+CA5NLJitCxmk.aow.R.rDAxo5lSoLHlugIqyxqm6s4IitBO4+zMhCz4jnI5CXiezyc.7iJh1+BUuighuy0.k6K+zA3TVqFDLD0pzEn6ntnGd.4fjq.VwYX6gv6fcd0MOl54IFJgclND7QhVfl2eeiaK9lqgGKR4Dox3LmvV1A3DgKgSz3fd.mFaS85ZLlLTap3a7GZeANZ.pavp5FrotwYbT.BREPwuFjFBvdCT8SjwhLL6uHQyQzAo94Z5ORW0TT8PUuj7rjIbpgLg8q3IlmkAEKXSz7U0a0QelyKZm.i9DiLOEd6GoB0w9SrVZaJH3pZaZh1XDZNfivG01jZ1VPp0KzEBnbRBkuLmuYckJ1Rx2KOcyOkT5KGMxKnVZcNTzwjjHobV8bcjw9WsKQ0dEGyOW+dUm45bhkntvdQwuDxpVipX6MC6IU5lp+HygYLw3hR1G+Uz1pREs1hPz0XOOQRIx6PRw276v1SJ3om1Ti9.OM4rN6xDiu+QKyQIlZXTOHcO2M9aj50QE+krUv2jGWYW12PT8bFHjT1905wC65WaPqnII.qN.ynIq4E6mUphSjp6pnTV7yqoFJenEUXGzTCgeKjD9bXZxKFzPKoFNk10j+sMyoWtNwoanlb5fl7ts4NutXw8tsbxqKaOog4sSSMrJmfS+G73mUSg8PSEm77n+huFKWB———–end_max5_patcher———–</code></pre>

Here is an example of setting tempo that takes 3 seconds (if you’re using a 44100 sample rate ) to get from where it is to where you want it (for smoother tempo transitions if you want to link songs together and have a drummer playing to the click track… which I do).

<pre><code>———-begin_max5_patcher———-548.3ocuUF0bhBCDG+Y7SQl7rmCATuZeq2Wia5vDgUM2QRXHKddWm1O6WR.rTEKZq0GHPV1jc++a2.OMJftTuCLTx8jeRBBdZTPf2jyPPy7.pjuKMma7tQUvezK+Ecb8qPXG5MijUjksVWoUnQ7Ov8FVzjvFypJoPkCneiXuZTWgsViZrJx76pMRei0cWUboeWoOTJ34suodCv+V.0JgtJWyQ5XBcIWslRdrwuBNltQnVmTBoXsqSmYSOx28ir42MY1XRT3jPxitU77nQtgweNzjK1BSJAoFgW5kPg8SnndIT3wDZ5rSiHxOz4YzgzO6NWNPlundhS+MKwv2BYI1nXWQBGwRwxJrtiIXOFBnIEPoQXPPkVqIucO+tlTzJfMD2SIF.IRtMfkIXIO82DoXm84LXqHEHFsUjHHKzs6StPAo5JE1krmSUn+9z3dpBwmYU3ntUWip+58ZTYKpqTwMsp9BVzhqaqZIWVXjZMt4EajhhCCatcI8sw8RL1wDKd9GkXFwZk83+vGraw0zNc1WObYSiK5DM6rIyrudxD5uEy9TfwqMZeZM7b0Zz7om9jwv5ndLZ+39UjpkRn97Nk1QZdG7eO3f+64Cgy9a0qQWUl1lPM+Ph7ZXx.CJTbTnUc7wU.63zFQVFn5hEoHqPKTXSNbB3eIoDafTx88oaXJ4KqCxI1MMm7HXPNM6MN8UmSGzobh1o42TNcP3dGN8QyI6jmG8ebm4y0N———–end_max5_patcher———–</code></pre>

Here’s a little event timing manager that lets me make my pedal presses take effect on the 1 via quantization:

<pre><code>———-begin_max5_patcher———-1951.3oc4b0zbaaCD8r7uBLZxsl3AeQBxNMGZu068VmLZnjfrYsDIKIThcxj+6EePJKKKIBIxEId53wlFTjhKd3sucAVH8salLcd4ixloneE82nIS91MSlXOk4DSZaOY5lrGWrNqwdYSKjeob9+L88tWRIeTYOc9Jz6xonO9QDFotWVnaQPx0MRT4VE0zp6VVUVnZx+pzbaD5s31SWrcSdwZox9TnOeR8se3YyWZejZy3Ch8eWKx1XeWm9604Yq6dE2af5oJoqaNc560+h9T6KWkoVbedwcypkKTtqfGosJDI1cHgXNPw2hQexbKe+laL+48dhW1N0zi0IwGsSRdcmL5jck7B0Y6ITrv1GX1tBc2e2cOKJ2rQV3FBmdE8tdYCjPxFHD.oCoNzCGOH5vFYSS1cxWgXU0kUxZ0Sn7lYUqydRaBCGhNBWJ9ZPnyRwXFSpCjHDmOyUhNmfNsN+yxaKm2Hq+rrFDlCGBhSKzHbPiH8YhS68zj8Y4xY5mu9VlkoT04y2pbxwS1gPSlNSyLZxaTxhE1mM1ddKzNl.rtGbOx7eyZdVwxGTlbTTl8ZTldsnbeHMKZORXZ5f7POADoPyQyGNpbLUqq.UlmYzGZO5AGjXQFFePHSWvhCgl+597Fj8YKqQprGjMFQejN3j7N8YZz2CRUhxUnrhknkRs7Vio01BU9Z6kpeDJzFYVy1Zo8hnbcZD4KdnAMWtpTeR8kqeeVZtuaQn+Tgz5n52WMFs9Iz+tMS+ueU+byJdBo8gTkEnpZykzXt5U1GhpNawCZ8UTiprpRtz7dZFVruXqtroezXNSc416tW2EZT5250OcaWmdcdgbQ4VWHyjASGvulNv5mNbjwYijql56TewNsXwX6AjeBO.7.8.Xryn+h9ix0KOaFP93G3jFXNsXF61nwOJUUdk7RfGuiYyXjqEd7.SRr1GPXhQ0LGFNC8pAkNwy9xdtMsYA0BPQ3AAPmNwOYkVXSOso2Qfg8PDfvdZmejHB6.I2blFYzAqm.AUOLvSXLr.H7IFT7woFmxGD9Dd2KbJztWwVfIlMFdWmAeVAD9jLT7Y05xryiPbrkBEicJzz2XJzXAzTHpK1E3.DTbnX34Pznn8byhigAhVAFDc0Q4cPieXjiFEwaUjda4mQSRf1OqUHp6PJD.jcMCIneqaAjw1e5eQCGL7It5Hc8ttDsg3RcSHKlNnEG6T4HAb9QTQBH4G0IL0hQBHxOR9XUM5cqHneAwSvCm9bT3gCJ73BsIDPrtpFWtU64xYZrmC2Jnb3nf4v0hZQhVOtTHfMGqRqU8ADADNEgx.gSEue1R5vbPnFQ.RDR.Ih3NDQfPCx5jQ2yIyqRggGXAMnhXfipE.eLNFq8wFEcni4kQfYY05xlzcPvATBhZfmbfV2HLjhPsnSp.DQHNPHBEl0gsMsZ2xMFgAYkz1Uf4l76JxTaqkyVJKJ03PlprFFQ6zDHwK1K2mFwgtlyCVhNEtIdzAQt5cPo6Eq+MZsmwCr1yLLdPnceHdTx9jxTP1GDaKpLkvzNy3aAAknozAVIt1C8unKt3.71xGv.YeiTlszsDGCsNsGScies0s+rUMvgGTQap5fsUFb+LbRTzqQlzAurlm8nGvGyMEmHZJHoWrKV5hs00xB0rlRsUnx2.S8eoIvj2QGX4VZXBm+FMNZBCr3ncPTmiXz+6iiRS3fFGs00skTBSbzunmGNPKEez0BNq0jiKRhKskYByp3fHWXJFWP814.NuRtayZPvoCRLaD101L10uusamYCXaa6Qo6Ee8Y43TSckaCftmyflNrsgGSLs2sNk3R6A1KvtIBO3Ccg8YXN+K6VMkaqWzAq6RPGQ28fVJaTlovmWVr2UYWZKzyly84K0S1e+d5l7kUkZZXqYbBmDespCedG2prEyMfVkd.TKi0iMYFluDahRbkPOsUtw8YCXuFIt8hbD2bY1FiP2.26.dPQVq1VuFkHn1juVDIbnDwmgN69OKjicl00sWqxV+f.ZUNcsd8VOv1g1p3955ENRkYx08hS1jzCHNkF6CkxLM1PRo7YzKMN7.EqWVNN7FUeoTXWL+.ZT9vnBKI2mTbBrnoGRA7fpNQ7QbJvg6ndkZJ6xvINwleGO1s.EbwtVC1dw9fglZGEvwUW.k9C6vBqUcflz4vp.x3Hburp.GMLIxqjQ4AlW4UxnGX6vaUTurpvlL5gojehzQog1p7BqD7.OchTuFASBLuJwqXQze.VEwKqJfSdF6UtDhPmMAw6IOGRrJwKrJ4BywgZ+PEGGYKLHiX+30XaMJ1K1K6Eew4jE61Gmz3maMJZb86gDX0DA2K0jPu7RwPL1NJV0n6gLJQz6mWIBLV4UrSwOBqh3kUEv46RYd4CF3YffEPLBRIo6ouFmNVxqNyczGZoLlK7kaOFiIN6ULBgCR7dc8CXR.TeRX5vZRDFq5msZfbH0+TLtz.aU9HwcHhB+xY3S.c62QIAMzY5OgVk8KxFO7A4AtZsbuwpPZUdoLvD+7UznKDnHQ1PkT22AHb2dG4ksHs6HFaLJBdvgn7a+XvBbATHfrgLbfV6mwA2dv3EMF8MjgcqO0eziKDbcbj3D2WWaO25EFqtw2u4+.JDKslB———–end_max5_patcher———–</code></pre>

With all of this working I am able to control Ableton with my feet while playing piano or bass or whatever.  I never have to touch the computer which kicks ass.  So far I’ve not found anything I can’t do with this software.  It really is a pretty brilliant piece of kit.  The sad thing is that I think I like writing software more than I like writing music.  I’m certainly better at it.  Anyway…

I built a MAX/MSP patch for MAX for Live that will allow you to use the ddrum4 hi-hat controller with basically any drum sample library you can find.  This may not sound like a big deal, but this controller came out in ’94 and has been discontinued for years despite it kicking the shit out of every controller before or since it was created.  The patch does what it does by taking the CC:4 messages that the ddrum4 uses to determine hi-hat position to control which note actually gets sent to the drum sample library you are using.

You tell it the closed note for the hi-hat, the open-hat note, set the threshold you want to use, and it does the rest.  You can see your pedal position on the Hi-Hat Current Value slider and you can see what note it is sending to your drum sampler in the Output After Processing keyboard.

What this means is that you can use the ddrum4 hi-hat (which is my favorite hi-hat controller ever made, suck it Roland) to control whatever sample library you use without having to do all kind of insane configuration of your drum library.  I got sick of using BFD2 and jumping through hoops to get it to work and then having it all be for nothing if I wanted to use kontakt or some other library that had standard keyboard mappings.  You use this, set up your ddrum4 brain to send regular keyboard mappings, and rock out with your cock out (as much as you can playing midi drums in your bedroom).

At some point I plan to had another feature so you can get the tones of playing the hat with just the pedal with no stick.  It kind of works right now, but it could be better.  I was going to program it to do a splash as well so that if you stomp it and release it real quick it will make a sound.  I’ve found though that it already does that like a real hi-hat with the existing code because it’s using a real hi-hat stand and the abrupt stop of the pedal is what causes the splash… yet another perk of the ddrum hardware.  It just works.

Here is a screenshot of the actual “code” and here is the actual code if you are one of the 10 people on the planet who still use this hardware and want to use it with Max for Live.  Good luck and let me know if you have any suggestions or questions.

I’ll come out and say that I am not a big fan of Microsoft on a lot of things; however, Vista does kick ass. The people whining about how it is slow and doesn’t run on their ancient computer need to suck it up. It wasn’t built for old computers. If you have an old computer then stick with XP. XP is solid. Run Ubuntu if you want, it’s cool too (if you don’t need exchange and don’t mind spending time getting it set up to do what you need to do). If you have the means though, Vista kicks ass. It runs fast as hell on my laptop. It’s snappy. It looks good. Gadgets are way cooler than I thought they would be. It’s just good.

I do a lot of development in Python using PyQt for Gui design and Eclipse as an IDE and I have not had a single problem with any of it. It all runs great, it looks good (a testament to Qt as well). I don’t know what else to say. I am pretty critical of software and gadgets that make big promises and then punk out on them and so far Vista hasn’t pissed me off. People complain about it always asking permission to do things; however, that only happens when an app is doing something it probably shouldn’t be. Well written apps behave. If I could talk Microsoft into changing anything it would be the way the networking configuration is set up. Opening 5 windows to change my IP is a drag; however, how often do I really need to do that?

Anyway, since Microsoft is building an entire ad campaign on this idea I am not going to go into tons of detail as to why I am happy with Vista. I suppose I have been so busy getting things done that I haven’t had time to write up anything on Vista. That is a good sign. Microsoft seems to be on track and lately they are coming around to the open source community (ironpython actually works, they are throwing money at apache, etc). Microsoft out from under Bill Gates might be a company that people get can excited about without feeling dirty.

Historically I always get hosed on this kind of stuff. I usually don’t hear about the tickets going on sale until they are already sold out. This time though, I watched the band site like a hawk and found out what day the tickets went on pre-sale. I then wrote a little tool in Python that checked the pre-sale ticket site every minute. If the program detected that anything had changed at the site it played metal as loud as my computer could be turned up. This allowed me to sleep and monitor the site at the same time. At around 6am today my computer began blasting metal and I was able to procure some tickets. I’m stoked as hell that I got tickets and completely dorking out on the fact that I wrote software to allow it to happen. That being said I have recently discovered that programs exist for doing this task already and are much cooler and MUCH more flexible than what I wrote. I don’t care though, it was cool as hell.

I’ve gotten to see Radiohead twice in my life and both times were outdoor venues. In both instances I was far enough back that the sound was washed out and I couldn’t see much. I really hope that my determination in getting good tickets pays off and the tickets I bought will let me get close enough for this to be a really good show. Anyway, that is it. I got Radiohead tickets. I’ll let everyone know where the seats are when they actually get assigned. Here is Thom rocking a little Bangers + Mash Phil Collins style.