DIGIDESIGN TRANSFUSER - NOW WITH CONCLUSIONS!

[Anderton]

Let’s look at the Phrase Synth. First off, though, I think I found a bug: When I loaded the Rich Strings Cm7+9 phrase (a lush string pad) and set play mode to loop, it only played through once and then the audio died – even though the sequencer continued to play. I noticed that the sound was being triggered by a long MIDI note from the Phrase Seq that extended through all four bars, which made me suspect that the Phrase Seq was seeing the note-off, but the next note-on happened so quickly thereafter it was missed when the loop returned to the beginning. Sure enough - if I shortened the note, even by just a tiny bit, all was well.

 

Anyway, looking at the Phrase Synth in the attached image, you see the waveform used to construct the phrase at the top of the window, and below it, envelopes for filter and amplitude. As expected, the filter offers various responses – lowpass, bandpass, highpass, and EQ. There are also master filter controls for cutoff, resonance, envelope, and level.

 

Where it gets interesting is the Mode option. I think these are different stretching algorithms and playback options, as they all have a major effect on the sound. Sample seems to be your basic change-sample-rate-to-change file sort of thing; I don’t know for sure about Vocodize, like whether you get an input from somewhere else, but it’s all very interesting. There’s also a Tempo Sync button and Pitch controls for Semitones (plus and minus 24 semitones) and cents (plus and minus 100 cents).

 

I’m hoping someone from A.I.R. can give a brief description of the purpose of each algorithm, but I’ll just add it seems that “wrong” settings can produce some great results if you’re into strange processing effects. For example, check out the attached videos (WMV or QuickTime) to see/hear what happens when, in Lo-Fi mode, you change the Grain setting while a sustained file plays (and remember, the Grain setting, like just about everything else, can be tied to a continuous controller for real-time fun). The little added yellow highlights indicate when I’ve clicked on a button to make it more obvious.

 

But what really makes the Phrase thing come alive is when you get the Phrase Sequencer into the action. But I've already gone way over my allotted time for today, so...see you later!

[Anderton]

As mentioned previously, the Phrase Sequencer really gets interesting when you use it to create rhythmic patterns. There are quite a few "canned" phrase patterns that come with Transfuser, as shown in the first image.. Of course, I expect there will be a lot more when the production version of Transfuser is released with the full set of content. The main value of the Phrase Sequencer is that when used with the drums, it's great for generating a rhythm section from scratch. I find it inspirational, much better than just having a metronome click, and the combination makes me want to come up with melody lines and chord progressions that work with the rhythm.

 

Now would be a good time to check out the Swing option, as well. Check out the attached video. What's happening is that you'll hear the pattern just by itself, then I'll kick the Groove amount up in the master Groove section (after varying it first, so you can see in the display how the timing is affected). Then, note how you can "dial in" the precise amount of groove you want with the Groove control on the Phrase Sequencer itself.

[Anderton]

The MARIO "algorithmic fun and games generator" comes into play with the Phrase Sequencer as well. Referring to the first image, you can have MARIO affect affect any one of several parameters - Phrase (the actual notes used in the phrase), Level, filter Cutoff, Decay, and Pan. In the screen shot, all are selected except for Level and Cutoff.

 

I found that with melodic lines, it takes more "tries" with Mario before coming up with something I liked compared to using MARIO with drums; random rhythmic variations seem to have a better chance of working than random melodic variations. But as often happens with MARIO, you can hit Apply a bunch of times without getting interesting results, and then - wham! - it dials up something great.

 

Check out the attached video (in WMV or QuickTime format) to see MARIO in action. Thanks to the miracle of split-screen video , you can see when MARIO gets applied (in the upper left corner) and how this affects the notes (the rest of the screen). As you'll see, it took quite a few tries before I got something I liked. I did go past that point, but then used MARIO's "go back through the changes" the revert to the one I liked.

 

I don't know if there's a way to do this, but I think MARIO would be more effective if you could specify a min/max range for a parameter. That would avoid situations like bass notes going too low or too high, or filter cutoffs going so low that you can't hear the note. There is a Note Range function that does allow some degree of constraint, but I'd like something more universal.

 

Also note that there's a constrain to scale option, as shown in the second image. This is really cool if you just want to draw in a bunch of notes, and then decide you want them all to fit in, say, an E minor scale. However, your only scale choices are Major or Minor. In a future update, I've love to see two drop down menus under Constrain to Scale: One for key, and one for mode. That would allow other scale options, like Pentatonic, Blues Scale, various ethnic scales, etc.

[Anderton]

We still have one major synth/seq module to go - the slicing section. Rather than use the included content, I thought I'd drag a REX file into it to see what would happen. Surprise (well, at leat to me!): The first image showed up, and let me decide how I wanted to import it. So of course, I selected Sliced Audio and Slice Sequence.

 

Transfuser recognized it, and Slice Seq and Slicer appeared (second image). You can see that the MIDI aspects of the imported file translated over perfectly into MIDI data, as shown in the Slice Seq screen.

[Anderton]

Well first of all, it works! Now referring to the first image, let's check out the options in the Slice Seq section.

 

if you hit the Play button, the loop will simply repeat ad infinitum at the host tempo. But there are also ways to trigger from the keyboard, as specified by the three options under "Note Range" parameter (the name doesn't make any sense to me, maybe someone from AIR can explain). These options are:

 

* Trigger loop. This means that if you play any key, the loop plays. If you hit a key before the loop has finished playing, it re-starts from the beginning.

* Transpose loop. This does the same thing as trigger loop, except different keys transpose the loop to different pitches. Of course, the tempo remains constant, so this is a decidedly cool feature for when you want the loop to follow a chord progression. But it's also handy when you're composing, as you can hit different keys and try out different chord progressions.

* Play slices. The maps each slice across the keyboard, so you can trigger individual slices and treat them as one-shots, or a way to "deconstruct" the loop.

 

To the right of the Note Range options, you'll find Groove and Quantize. Groove determines the amount of groove added from the master groove section, but also offers seven other preset groove options (second image). By the way - are my eyes starting to go, or do these menu items need more contrast? Dark blue against black doesn't work for me...how about a lighter shade of blue?

 

The third image shows the Quantize options. I'm surprised there are only four; an eighth note option would allow "collapsing" 1/16th notes on top of each other, which could be interesting. And while the triplet options are welcome, I find dotted note values to be really useful for propelling dance tracks. Maybe AIR can add a few more quantization options before the final version drops.

 

Both of these techniques are non-destructive, by the way. But what about MARIO? And editing? And if you import a standard WAV or AIFF file, will Transfuser attempt to slice it, or do you have to use REX files? Let's find out.

 

Both Groove

[Anderton]

Turns out Transfuser does indeed slice incoming WAV and AIF files if they aren't already sliced...cool. Let's try it with an MP3...nope, that doesn't work.

 

Okay, now let's look at the Slicer synth editing options. There's actually quite a lot going on here, and this is definitely one of those "if a picture is worth a thousand words, then a video is worth 29.97 pictures per second."

 

Looking at the first image gives a general idea of what's going on, with the track's Slicer synth at the top, and its associated edit view below (I moved the lower module up in Paint so the image wouldn't be too large). We'll concentrate on the "waveform" view for now.

 

First up, I can't find any way to zoom in on the waveform, which makes it hard to position slice markers really exactly. Maybe I'm just missing it...AIR people, is there a zoom in function?

 

Anyway, if you're familiar with Propellerhead Software's ReCycle, this will all make sense. If not, here's the deal: You want to position a slice at each percussive transient to create discrete "blocks" of audio. Each slice is triggered by a MIDI note. So, if the host tempo speeds up, the slices are triggered at a faster rate and play "closer together," whereas if you slow the tempo down, the slices are triggered at a slower rate and play "further apart." This is how slice-based time stretching works.

 

Slicing is not effective with sustained parts that don't have easily recognized "blocks" of sound. However, what I have found is that you can slice sustained parts to create special effects, like slicing up a pad to give it rhythmic qualities.

 

Now let's look at the slice editing options.

[Anderton]

Referring to the video (WMV or QuickTime), the arrow tool lets you play individual slices.

 

You can use the cross tool to move slices, and the X tool to mute particular slices - this last tool is very handy, as it can help thin out a part.

 

There's also an eraser tool, but I can't quite figure out how it works as it seems to erase not just the slice marker, but associated audio. Check out in the video what happens when I erase the second eighth note in the pattern: The sound itself goes away. Ditto the pencil tool: If I add a slice, it seems to mess up the rhythm. Maybe the problem is I'm expecting this to work like ReCycle, and I'm missing something.

 

In any event, if you screw things up too bad, you can always hit Reset and start over.

[Anderton]

If you select Level to edit instead of Slice, little lines show up for each slice, which you can then drag up or down to change the slice's level. The video (WMV or QuickTime) shows this process in action, as the level is changed to emphasize the kick downbeat and snare backbeat.

[Anderton]

Okay, here's something I haven't seen before - check out the WMV or QuickTime video.

 

If you select "Flag" as what you want to edit, slices are shown "flagged" with high, medium, and low indicators. Three buttons to the left of the waveform indicate high, medium, and low; by clicking on these buttons, you can choose to hear only particularly combinations of these (e.g., only high, only medium, only high and low, etc.). However, note toward the end of the the video that you can also alter the flag level for individual slices.

 

So what does this mean? Well, it's the ultimate DJ kill switch! You could select, say, only the slices with kick as the high flags, and when you want to remove the kick, just disable the high flags. Or, come up with different permutations of slices, and select between them. It's pretty cool, and again, something I haven't seen before.

[Anderton]

Referring to the video (WMV or QuickTime), let's check out some of the filtering options. You can choose any one of several filter responses, then vary cutoff, resonance, and envelope for every slice (this doesn't seem to work with individual slices, which doesn't surprise me).

 

As the video shows, you can vary all of these parameters seamlessly, in real time - a nice touch for live performance. Also note toward the end of the video, where I apply negative envelope filtering for a "whoop-whoop" kind of sound.

 

You can also see there's an amplitude envelope that works similarly, so you can make slices more percussive or, say, add an attack time.

[Anderton]

Well, that's all for now because I'm off to Summer NAMM. One of the things I don't like about Pro Reviews is that going on the road pretty much puts a halt to the Pro Review process; NAMM is even worse, because when I get back, I need to spend a lot of time editing videos. So, I'm hoping that while I'm away, the People of AIR can answer some of the questions I've posed...and also, that other Transfuser uses can post their experiences, and hey, post some music if you have it!

 

I will be checking this thread while I'm away, and will answer any questions posed to me to the best of my ability, given that I won't have Transfuser on my laptop. But I'm really curious to see your comments.

 

Also, are any of you having problems seeing the videos? I noticed that the view counter isn't working quite right, because I've downloaded the videos to verify they're working yet some of the counters show no views, and some do. But as long as y'all are able to see them, that's all the matters to me

[Peter Gorges]

This is great stuff, Peter!!! Thanks for pitching in while I'm on the road...I'll be back home on Friday, when I can get back to posting movies and other fun stuff

 

Bunch more tricks from Mario:

 

*** Use Pumper FX for pumping pads like a "kick in the sidechain" ***

 

The Pumper effect was designed specifically for imitating the sound that you get when you feed the kick drum into a compressor’s sidechain. But that doesn't mean you can't get creative with it:

Turn off automatic triggering, assign the manual trigger pad to an automation lane and create your own trigger pattern. Or assign it to MIDI and trigger it from ProTools.

 

*** "Never" ending automation variations ***

 

To get a "never" repeating automation in track automation, assign 3 parameters like filter, resonance or decay to 3 automation lanes. Use 3 different loop lengths and step (mostly long) resolutions there, and maybe one lane even working in alternating direction.

 

 

*** Create a DrumSeq pattern from a slice track **

 

In the pattern section of any sequencer you can drag the current pattern data into any others sequencers pattern editor display. If it`s a sequencer of a different type the pattern gets converted intelligently. It`s nice to use this feature to drag any slice track's MIDI Pattern into a DrumSeq pattern. It will get converted into a sequence with kick, snare, HiHat, OpenHat in the first 4 lanes.

 

 

*** Using send FX master input for performing dub delays **

 

On the preferences page you`ll find the send FX' master input dials. In case you like to perform dub delays or similar things to more than one track at once, assign them to a CC, and keep the track's Send FX Level constant.

[WKnelangen]

Hi Craig,

 

here come my comments and answers to your questions:

 

Q: The PDF that comes with the Preview version isn't very specific about the Phrase section, so I'm probably going to miss a fair amount of stuff. Hopefully the A.I.R. guys will chime in to give a more complete picture.

 

A: What you already wrote about the Phrase Sequencer and Synthesizer says pretty much everything you need to know. This module is meant to creat mostly melodic patterns out of simple tonal samples. Drag in Vocal Phrases, Guitar Chords, one-note samples...

 

 

Q:Let’s look at the Phrase Synth. First off, though, I think I found a bug: When I loaded the Rich Strings Cm7+9 phrase (a lush string pad) and set play mode to loop, it only played through once and then the audio died – even though the sequencer continued to play. [...]

 

A: Eagle eye! This is a bug valid in the free preview of Transfuser. It is fixed in the final version.

 

 

Q: I’m hoping someone from A.I.R. can give a brief description of the purpose of each (Phrase) algorithm, [...]

 

A: The Mode setting determines how Transfuser analyzes and processes audio for beat matching (time compression and expansion).

 

Solo/Vocal Select this option for monophonic vocal or solo instrumental material (such as a flute).

 

Mix/Chords Select this option for polyphonic harmonic material, such as a guitar chords, piano, or even full mixes.

 

Drum/Perc Select this option for non-pitched rhythmic material, such as drum loops.

 

Vocodize Select this option for vocoding-type time compression and expansion where the pitch of the audio is forced to match the MIDI notes you play. Vocodize works best on solo material, otherwise the pitch mapping can be obscured.

 

Lo-Fi Select this option for low fidelity re-sampling for “grainy” sounding time compression and expansion. Lo-Fi uses granular synthesis for TCE.

 

Sampler Select this option to simply play back the audio without time compression and expansion processing.

 

 

Q: I don't know if there's a way to do this, but I think MARIO would be more effective if you could specify a min/max range for a parameter.

 

A: This is a great idea and will be on our feature wish-list for future Transfuser versions. As you already found out, you can at least constrain the scale of your Phrase sequence which comes also in handy after applying Mario to squeeze the reult into your harmonic context.

 

 

Q: if you hit the Play button, the loop will simply repeat ad infinitum at the host tempo. But there are also ways to trigger from the keyboard, as specified by the three options under "Note Range" parameter (the name doesn't make any sense to me, maybe someone from AIR can explain).

 

A: The Note Range selector simply gives you options for what the "Note Range" (as opposed to Pattern Switches) of your MIDI keyboard does. Sorry for no better naming.

 

 

Q: I can't find any way to zoom in on the waveform, which makes it hard to position slice markers really exactly. Maybe I'm just missing it...AIR people, is there a zoom in function?

 

A: With the multi-tool that is selected by default you just click and drag. Horizontally to move through or vertically to zoom in to the waveform.

 

 

Q: There's also an eraser tool, but I can't quite figure out how it works as it seems to erase not just the slice marker, but associated audio.

 

A: It deletes the slice marker AND the corresponding event in the Slice Sequencer. Otherwise - because markers are subsequently mapped to MIDI notes in the sequencer - any removing of markers would immediately screw up the whole loop timing.

 

 

I hope this was helpful and I'm looking forward to more questions and feature proposals. As always, have fun transfusing! And kind regerds from the AIR group.

 

-- Wolfram Knelangen

[Anderton]

Thanks Wolfram! I'm back from NAMM and working with Transfuser right now so I can post more material.

 

And thanks Peter for the tips and techniques. I'm sure that as more copies of Transfuser get out into the world, people will check back here for that type of information.

 

Okay, let me figure out what to cover next...

[Anderton]

We've covered most of what's going on with slicing, but of course, it's always fun to see what MARIO does to a function and the Slice Seq is no exception. The attached video, as usual in WMV or MOV format, shows a typical drum sequence in the process of being MARIOized. You can definitely hear that the results are reasonably interesting, no matter what you do - it certainly seems to support AIR's contention that this isn't a totally random process.

[Anderton]

After covering what the three main modules are about, let's check out something different before moving on.

 

When you click on the little wrench button, it opens up a preferences-type screen where you can make some basic settings. Also, note the block diagram that shows the signal flow - very helpful. I also like the circuit board "look" - fun stuff. (You can tell it's not one of my circuits, though, or one of the diodes would be all charred.)

 

Anyway, if you look at the attached image, the options are pretty obvious: Trigger pads MIDI input, send FX routing, record quantize on/off, click level, show warning messages (yes! you can turn them off!), where the content is located, etc.

 

Okay, so this isn't the sexiest part of Transfuser, but the window looks so cool I had to figure out an excuse to at least post this picture!

[Anderton]

You know, I just keep finding more stuff in this program...sort of like going through an attic, and uncovering some really cool magazine from the 50s or whatever.

 

Take automation. The way it works is you have 12 assignable lanes of automation per module (Drums, Slicer, or Phrase). To assign a control for automation, you right-click on it, and select the desired lane. Check out the first image, which shows the assignment process for a drum's pitch control (I was going after a sort of tabla or talking drum effect, where the sample changes in pitch). I also assigned the snare cutoff frequency to another lane.

 

But what's really interesting is that this an exceptionally flexible system. In fact, I'd say it's the first time I've seen automation re-invented for the world of step sequencing and groove music instead of following the same ol' protocols.

 

Look at the second image to see what I mean. This is the window that shows up if you click on a module's automation button (circled in red).

 

The first lane is set up to control pitch. The control section circled in blue has three main parameters: The top one determines the step value, which includes 1/32, 1/32 triplet, 1/1/6, 1/16 triplet, 1/8, 1/8 triplet, and 1/4. The important thing here is this is a per-lane parameter. Not only that, but you can set a loop point so that one automation lane can repeat, say, every 4 beats while another repeats every 5 beats, for interesting polyrhythmic effects.

 

The middle field determines the direction of the "automation step sequencer." It can either play to the end and loop back to the beginning, or play to the end, reverse direction, and play backward to the beginning whereupon the process starts over again. You can also think of this as extending the duration of the automation control. For example, suppose you want a parameter to rise, and then fall. Rather than draw a pattern that rises and falls, you can just draw a pattern that rises, and use forward/backward looping to have the pattern rise and fall over time.

 

The bottom field chooses between having discrete steps, or having a curve that goes smoothly from one value to the next. Again, very cool.

[Anderton]

And as the late-night paid programming commercials say, "But wait! There's more!"

 

Indeed. The first image shows the undo history for automation, making it easy to "get back to where you once belonged." Whether MARIO or automation, this seems to be a theme for Transfuser: You can mess around as much as you like, but you can always get back to a state that you preferred if you mess around too much. Note that there's also an option to revert automation to its initial state when just want to clear everything out and start over.

 

You can also select specific steps (or all steps) and alter them in specific ways. The second image shows that part of the sequence is selected, and now, it's going to be inverted.

 

The Edit button opens up additional options. The third image shows the Event/Selection Edit options:

 

Set All Steps to Default

Randomize Step Values

Increase Dynamic Range

Decrease Dynamic Range

Create Crescendo

Create Decrescendo

 

The other crucial point is that this is all real-time stuff. Transfuser absolutely will not hiccup when you do these kinds of transformations. From a performance/recording standpoint, this means that you can just sit there all day and keep hitting the "randomize" option for a particular parameter and enjoy the changes

 

More and more, I'm seeing the live performance aspects to this...

[Anderton]

At this point, I feel I have enough understanding of what Transfuser is about to offer some preliminary conclusions.

 

First of all, the reaction I get from a lot of people when talking about Transfuser is "So what? I know about drum machines, step sequencers, and slicing. So it's another virtual instrument. No big deal."

 

That attitude might explain why this thread has less interaction than I expected at first. Admittedly, around 100 page views every day since the review started isn't bad at all, but I get the feeling people think they know what Transfuser is about...but they don't.

 

And frankly, when I was first told about Transfuser, I had a bit of the same attitude. However, I also knew that it was an AIR instrument, and AIR doesn't do anything unless it has something significant up its sleeve. When I started working with Transfuser, it all seemed pretty straightforward but the deeper you dig, the more you find.

 

Although we still have many features to cover, one aspect that keeps popping up is integration. Everything works together smoothly. Although Transfuser is designed as a series of modules, they all snap together into a unified whole. What you learn about Drum automation applies to Slice automation. MARIO works the same on all the different modules. You don't have to think when using the browser; whatever you pull in, Transfuser will create the appropriate module. And when I've imported my own samples, Transfuser acts like they were there from the beginning...no issues at all.

 

So while I'm still in "learning mode," I think the most striking aspect of Transfuser so far is that it is a re-invention of very familiar elements. For example, you might think you know about step sequencing, but Transfuser puts an entirely different twist on it. And you may think you know how randomization works, but MARIO doesn't seem to be straight randomization, but has some intelligence behind it. I suspect that when I get into the groove and control options, I'm going to find the same kind of original thinking.

 

The second very interesting aspect is that Transfuser seems just as much for someone who doesn't have a clue of what they want to do as for those who have a specific compositional idea they want to implement. Transfuser encourages experimentation and just plain messing around. I've come up with a bunch of happy accidents, and things that sound really cool, without even trying. The rich undo and clear options encourage that "play" element even further..."Sure, do whatever you want, we can return you to safe territory if needed."

 

So here I am, into my second month of the review, and I'm finally starting to feel like I "get" it. Hopefully others reading this will find this kind of info useful!

[mchenetz]

I have been using transfuser for a few days now. I think that most people do not know what to make of Transfuser. I can tell you my personal experiences.

 

First let me explain a few things. I have never been a big Protools fan. Mainly, because I thought that the HD system was too overpriced and the LE system was to overrated. So, I had not looked Protools for many years. That is, until Transfuser came around. There is actually two things that came about that made me reevaluate my opinions on Protools.

 

The first thing that occurred was that Digidesign came out with the mbox2 micro that I thought would be a good audio device when I was on the road and didn't feel like lugging around my Apogee Duet (People look at you funny going through customs, when you travel with the Duet). I mainly got the device for Logic 8 and Ableton Live. But... It came bundled with Protools 7.4.2. So, I decided to reevaluate Protools. During my evalutaion, I saw this neat little instrument on their sight called Transfuser.

 

The Transfuser days: During the next few days I became very intrigued with this new plugin called Transfuser. Honestly, the plugin could really be a standalone application. It is extremely powerful! One of the nice things about it, is that there is so many different methods for music creation. In addition there are so many different ways to accomplish the same task.

 

Lets start out with how i like to use it. If you just start out with the built-in sounds and samples, you can accomplish alot. Lets say you drag a instrument(track) into the track window. You now get some kind of sound with a sequencer piece too. If you press play in the Transfuser's master section or on the track, the sound will play with a pattern defined in the sequencer. There is so many ways to use this audio. You could send it out to a bus and record it to a protools track. You could click on the record tab in the master section and record a 1,2, or 4 bar loop and then drag it onto a protools track, or have it create a new track automatically.

 

During my creation process, I find that i usually create multiple tracks and send them out to different busses. When i like what i hear, I arm all of the tracks that i want to record in protools and then press the master play on Transfuser. This gives me a rough draft of how it will sound together. After I find a mix that i like, I then go clear the previously created tracks and then go back to Transfuser and record each track seperately and drag the clip onto the protools track for sequencing. It sounds like an arduous process, but it really isn't.

 

I will add some more comments and details as i go along. I would just like to reiterate that I was not even interested in protools until Transfuser came along. Because of Transfuser, I now have another method of creating music and a new found love for protools. A matter of fact I have a Digi 003 coming tomorrow.

 

Regards,

 

Mike Chenetz

[Anderton]

Well I gotta say, being on the road really messes with the rhythm of a Pro Review...but I'm back, at least until early August, so let's jump right back in with one of my favorite features: The Beatcutter.

 

This is one of the many processors, and it basically screws up a file in totally wonderful ways. There are five main modifier options: Repeat, Reorder, Gate, Scratch, and Freeze. These can be applied automatically (which we'll get into next), but for now, we'll take advantage of an option that can "force" a particular modifier on to the sound by clicking a button.

 

Again, the best way to demonstrate this is by watching the attached video, where you can hear the various functions applied to a drum beat. There's picture-in-picture so you can see which button is associated with which effect.

 

As you watch the video, the first process being applied is Freeze, which seems to apply a really short loop and creates a sustained "buzz" of the sound. Second is Scratch, which sounds like it's changing sample rate to do quick pitch changes. Next up is Gate, which in this case, is applying a gated autopanning function.

 

Reorder basically changes what gets hit when, and Repeat "doubles" (rhythmically, as opposed to, say, chorusing) the hits in the beat. Finally, the video closes out with hitting a whole bunch o' stuff. Beatcutter is a really, really totally fun and awesome function that makes it ridiculously easy to avoid "loop boredom" by letting you add some real life to a loop.

 

Obviously, the potential for live performance modification of loops is exceptional. And yes, these buttons can be tied to the Smart controls we'll be covering shortly.

 

This just keeps getting cooler...

[Anderton]

I like this effect so much it's going to get some more videos

 

One thing that really appeals to me about Beatcutter is that it's very live performance, real-time oriented. The attached video shows manipulating several Beatcutter options in real time.

 

The Freeze dial lets you add in the desired degree of "Freeze," while "Rate" determines the Freeze repeat rate. Higher rates give buzzier, more tonal effects whereas low rates are like really fast tremolo effects.

 

Random rate, probably note surprisingly, changes the rate on a random basis. Sweep can sweep the frozen tone up or down, or you can introduce random sweep changes.

 

Incidentally, thanks to the IT folks, we can now load longer, higher quality movies...enjoy! Also, there's an additional video format (.3GP) that's iPhone-compatible.

[Anderton]

Here's another Beatcutter goodie that requires a bit more of an example. The Scratch option creates a pitch-shifting effect, and it can happen in various ways. For some reason my screen capture program isn't capturing the pop-up menu that shows up when you make a selection, but the attached video is zoomed in far enough that you can see which rhythmic option has been chosen: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, random, octave up, and octave down.

 

Again, there's a choice of MOV, WMV, and iPhone (celllular) formats for the video.

[Anderton]

Well...a couple big changes. First of all, I now have the full version of Transfuser, not the preview, with all the content.

 

Second, I now feel I know enough about the individual elements to start using Transfuser as a complete instrument.

 

I thought I'd do the type of playing I do with Ableton Live: Load up 16 loops, connect the levels to faders and solo buttons to switches, and just improvise. Transfuser does this sort of thing very well. But what really surprised me is shown in the attached image - check out that CPU meter! Yes, all 16 tracks are loaded, playing, slicing, and dicing, and that includes three of my own loops I just dragged in to the project. Either Transfuser is extremely friendly to your CPU, or it really knows how to take advantage of my multi-core computer.

 

In any event, it's very cool that you can "fold" and "unfold" tracks - when you want to really mess with a track, unfold it and take advantage of the various editing options. You can do an awful lot with Transfuser in terms of real time playing; I keep forgetting that Pro Tools is loaded in the background, because Transfuser is so self-contained.

 

It seems strange that despite having Transfuser for a couple months, I feel like I'm just getting a handle on its gestalt, and what kind of playing and attitude works best. Think "Live meets Reason" and you're pretty close.

[Anderton]

Warning: Subjectiveness Alert

 

As far as I'm concerned, it's not even worth opening Transfuser unless you have some kind of hardware controller. You really can play Transfuser like an instrument, and using a mouse gets really old after a while. A hardware controller is essential if you want serious expressiveness.

 

Sure, you can set up Transfuser to just do loops and the like. But the analogy I'd use is like never taking a Porsche out of second gear. It still looks like a Porsche, feels like a Porsche, has the same controls as a Porsche, and its engine purrs like a Porsche. But what fun is it to have a Porsche if you never take it out of second gear?!? Well, what fun is it to have Transfuser if you don't play it? The AIR people clearly put a lot of real time control options in there (and there's no hiccuping when you use them), so you might as well take advantage of them.