I’ve been following Ruin & Wesen’s development as they’ve been hard at work on new, petite MIDI controllers, promising to be the first of a line of DIY-friendly controllers. “Open source hardware” has been getting a lot of play as a concept, but the idea here is really built around the product: their stated claims emphasize musical usefulness, documentation, extensibility, and customization in addition to the making code and schematics available to hackers.

Today, Ruin & Wesen have launched their website, with two nice-looking products ready for pre-order. The MIDI Command is a small box with five endless rotary encoders on it and a “Macro Knob.” Here’s where things start to get interesting: not only does the unit ship with support for Ableton Live and Elektron Machinedrum support out of the box, but you can flash your own firmware using SysEx. There’s also an LED display, so combined with the software editors and MIDI mappings, this could even allow you to “roll your own” Kore-style controller.

Elektron fans should be even happier about the MonoJoystick, as featured in the video above. As a companion to Elektron’s MonoMachine SFX-60, it gives you six buttons and joystick control over the boutique drum machine. It’s obviously suitable for emulating Elektron’s own joystick add-on, but it’s again hackable for custom firmware and features, and as seen in the video, allows control even Elektron does not. Given those features, I’d actually be interested in seeing the MonoJoystick re-purposed as a software controller for those of us who aren’t lucky enough to own the MonoMachine.

Both units are handmade in Germany. The MonoJoystick is EUR130 / USD190; the MIDI Command is EUR180 / USD265

Ruin & Wesen Digital Products

I’m in touch with R&W, so hope to have more on this soon. I do think we’re seeing the birth of a new business model for music hardware, one built around open source. You’ll notice that it’s often the interface of open and closed but extensible tools that may be the most productive (like an open source controller for the proprietary but well-supported Ableton Live). Naturally, a lot of the open source ideas out there won’t work — that’s the nature of business — but the ones that survive could be wonderful for the music landscape.

Universal Audio’s UAD-1, a sound processing platform built on DSP hardware add-ons for your computer, has gotten a much-anticipated sequel this week. The UAD-1 was always a favorite choice for sound production, delivering tasty analog-emulating sound tools on a PCI card platform. The UAD-2, on PCI-express cards, offer up to “ten times” the processing power of the original — supposedly even the single-processor model delivers a greater-than-twofold performance gain. The DSP hardware is just the platform, though, and Universal’s main push here is its plug-in developers. Sure, these days your CPU is a plenty-powerful sonic number cruncher, so I think it’d be a stretch to say anyone needs DSP cards. But what the platform can mean is plug-in goodies not available anywhere else, with a no-nonsense approach to sound that may not be as practical in native plug-ins. (And with support from software like Ableton Live, Apple Logic, and Cakewalk SONAR, you can then drop these into your host of choice.)

Here’s a look from around the Web at what people are saying about the UAD-2.

Oliver Chesler at Wire to the Ear notes what could be a real “killer app” / highlight of the UAD-2: a Moog multimode filter.

Sometimes, simple stuff matters. DJ mixers like Pioneer’s DJM-800 have simple, single-knob low- and high-pass filters. Laptop software often doesn’t. Enter FZero, with his free and open source Single Knob Filter to fill the gaps. (Windows-only, built in SynthEdit, but it’s open source and schematics of the basic signal processing are available, if anyone wants to translate this to Mac.) Drop this into an insert in a tool like Ableton Live and go play.

Single Knob Filter [Project Page]
SKF-VST at Google Code [Source, VST Download]

It’s apparently a big improvement on an Ableton forum solution that used 127 different filter instances in a rack.

I’m aware of the goodness of Single Knob Filter thanks to the Aurora open source DJ mixer project (see yesterday’s write-up); they assign an instance of the plug-in on each of the Aurora’s two mixer channels. Aurora’s Matt originally had the SKF plug-in in their Ableton template, but I encouraged them to replace it with Ableton’s Auto Filter for cross-platform compatibility and ease. That said, for plain DJ filtering, this it the One True Knob.

Now, go forth and use it on some crazy experimental noise soundscape you’ve been working on, just to spite cliche.

Not happy with what you can get off the shelf? Build your own. That’s increasingly the philosophy of people working on music hardware. But a second economy is growing around these unique, boutique projects. By open-sourcing the designs, they offer the opportunity to build upon their work, buying something from a small group of designer-musicians and then modifying it to your purposes. The latest addition is the Aurora, which just became available for sale this week. CDM got an exclusive hands-on look at the new hardware and a chat with one of its designers. Here’s our first look at open source hardware’s newest musical gadget.

The Aurora is called a DJ “mixer,” but it’s really a control surface. It connects via a USB jack for power and to transmit serial-over-USB data, then uses free software to translate that data to MIDI messages for use with software like Ableton Live. The project is the work of a three person team, with Matt Aldrich designing electronics, Mike Garbus designing firmware, and Maro Sciacchitano working on the form factor and look and feel. They have an impressive background in making stuff. I got to hang out with Matt in Boston, where he’s joined MIT’s Media Lab Responsive Environments group, so I expect more good projects out of him soon. Matt and I talked frankly over coffee and pastries about the strong suits, weak spots, and future of the device and other projects.

Kit Availability and Pricing

Availability of the first aurora224 model was announced today:

• Complete unit: This kit requires only basic assembly. The PCB is pre-assembled, as are top and bottom panels, and all parts are included. Basically, you just put those panels, boards, knobs, and button caps together using a hex screwdriver — no soldering required. US$340.00. ($420 international)
• DIY kit: This is the one with all the soldering — not recommended if you’re new to soldering, as there’s some tricky stuff in there. US$270. ($350 international.)

Aurora Mixer Project Site
Order Page
Previously: Aurora: Gorgeous, Open Source DJ-Style USB Controller; Details from the Creators

You don’t get that much of a price break via the kit, so I expect you’ll only want to do that if you really enjoy the smell of solder as much as I do.

Onto the hardware itself:

Ever dreamed of being able to program your own DSP hardware as easily as you can connect custom effects on your computer? Earlier this summer, we saw the open source OpenStomp effects pedal. Then, information was scant and we hadn’t seen an actual unit. Now, the box is going into production for North America at US$349, available for purchase right now.

The magic inside is Parallax’s Propeller CPU core. If anything kick starts a DIY revolution for DSP hardware, this could be it. The software is Windows-only, but Mac users, could be a good reason to install Windows dual-boot; there’s a graphical interface for programming custom effects, vocoders, or whatever you like.

Effects so far, which come GPL3-licensed as open source patches:

• Tremolo
• Chorus
• Distortion
• Delay
• Tunstuff (Layered repeat loop)
• Test Tone
• Pong w/source

And it gets better: because of its use of the Propeller, video features are possible, too. (Yep, this could be a video stompbox — I’ll have to unleash our Create Digital Motion readers on that.)

I hope to have a chat with the creators so we can cover this in more detail; if you have questions you’d want answered, leave them in comments and stay tuned for a full-blown CDM feature.

OpenStomp Project Page + Details
Online Store

Previous round-up: Guitar Pedals Go DIY, Open Source

Via MusicRadar.com and several of you who sent this in! (Okay, stop with the awesomeness, already! We’re going to have to run like a dozen stories today. I need to eventually get out of the house!)

There’s a growing appetite for using custom controllers or creating DIY controllers from scratch. Why not, after all, get exactly the number of knobs and sliders you want, in just the layout you want? Where a lot of these projects stumble, though, is in the enclosure. That’s what made the appearance of machinecollective, an polished-looking modular system of just the kinds of enclosures you’d want, so exciting when we saw it last month.

Well, here’s some good news: Machinecollective may be coming to you very soon. The site has launched in beta, and prototypes are scheduled for shipping early next month. And the kinds of modular casings look just as tasty, with possibilities like:

• Arrays of knobs and faders


• Monome and Sparkfun keypad faceplates (ideal for those Monome kits, for instance — in whatever arrangement you like
• LCD screens
• A patch bay for banana plugs / body contacts

I’m personally most excited about that patch bay. Korg toyed briefly with analog patch points on their Korg MS-20 Collection Controller — but it only supported that software, and it was a limited edition. Imagine non-analog software (hello, physical synthesis) with conventional patching, hooked up to whatever you like.

The Shape of Things to Come?

Just doing casings would be nice, but Machinecollective is also putting together lots of documentation on prototyping. It could be a really fantastic resource on a topic most musicians and visualists know little about.

With Machinecollective and some other developments, building on increased interest in microcontrollers and platforms like Arduino, we could be seeing the beginning of a DIY ecosystem for enterprising musicians and visualists. Obviously, hardware hacking isn’t for everyone — but the Web and smart, open-source tech platforms have a way of amplifying the power of niche communities. Fortune Magazine profiles the emerging DIY movement in a feature. Curiously, music gets no mention at all, despite the fact that Theremin kits were among the most popular back decades, and musicians have often been at the forefront of electronics hacking and custom hardware. (In fact, Bob Moog might never have become interested in sound had he not assembled one of those kits.)

Machinecollective News
Prototyping Modules Details

Pricing and Availability: Webshop launch “expected Early September.” Pricing: “We have not set official kit pricing yet, but expect a basic module (top panel kit + base kit + bottom panel kit) to be priced between 25 and 35 euro’s.”

You’ve seen plenty of live rigs with mile-high stacks of keyboards and sound modules. But this setup is different: one of the world’s best bands is using an elaborate setup of software synths. Binding it all together is one of the most sophisticated software configurations I’ve ever seen, the fruits of labors by of our friend Jonathan Adams Leonard – a talented musician and technologist – in Kore 2. I wouldn’t exactly recommend this kind of setup to anyone else; it involved pushing Kore to its bleeding edge. But Jonathan’s walk-through of the hardware and software programming for this show is an inspiring one. (For us mere mortals, Jonathan does have a fantastic, free collection of modular tools for Kore, built and editable in Reaktor.)

Jonathan goes through every gory detail of the setup on our special Kore minisite. We’ll have more on Interpol’s tour soon to follow up:

Behind the Scenes with Interpol: Obsessive Details of Hardware, Kore Software Rig [Kore @ CDM, kore.noisepages.com]

And in addition to the software, there’s the rich hardware setup, as assembled by Chad Miller (Lenny Kravitz), assisted by Ally Christie (QOTSA, Mogwai). Yes, these are some of the best techs on the planet, working hard for one of the biggest bands. Good stuff. I wish I could have been in Gdansk, Poland (seen below).

Getting fed up with all this Lilliputian nonsense of mobile devices and ever-smaller portable music gadgets? Well, here’s a massive leap in the opposite direction: DIY sound electronics maker and David Crowder*Band drummer Bwack created the biggest, most oversized sampler he could design. From emprise34’s xanga blog, details of Bwack’s Herculean creation:

he was commissioned by our good friends from the band family force 5 to construct the largest sampler in the history of live rock music. and, with the assistance of his carpentry proficient padre, don bwack, he has done it. there were a few necessary requirements: one, it needed to withstand much energetic punching, and kicking, and general jovial abuse from one of the rowdiest live bands on the planet. there was also the need for it to dominate space with an aesthetic presence large enough to compete with one of the more style conscious outfits on the planet; the family has panache in spades and this thing had to be classy to occupy a stage such thoughtfully coifed hair and magically coordinated garmentry.

You have to see the results to fully appreciate the monster:

The only real challenge: topping this. I suggest, perhaps, a three-story high modular synth with firehoses for patch cables.

Thanks to Bill van Loo, Friend of Bwack (and creator of his own manner of wonderful things), for the heads-up!

The faux-Pan Am logo. The sleek, mod, curved white casing. The elegant controls. Yes, this is indeed a synth that would look at home in the space station in Kubrick’s 2001. Technically not the future so much as the 1960’s version of the future – but surely we’re getting around to reshaping our future to look more like that, right? At least for synths?

The synth in question is the Omega 8, a “luggable” 20-pound, 8-voice analog synth with individual stereo pairs for each voice. It’s really, truly, old-school analog, with discrete analog oscillators, voltage-controlled filters of the 24dB and 12dB variety, multi-stage envelopes, and all the extras. In the “new-school” category, though, it is MIDI savvy, with MIDI destinations for just about everything (including the envelope breakpoints) and even breath controller support. How do I know this? Why, off the top of my head, of course; I’ve got three. Erm. Okay, I read it on the old Omega 8 page, then lost half an hour dreaming of my new lounge-style studio where I adjust envelope breakpoints from a giant aluminum sphere like the one in Sleeper.

All of that luxury will set you back US$4700. (If you can do with fewer voices, you can get down to a more Earth-bound US$1679. But that’s only 10 pounds, so it must make half as much sound.) But normally, the Omega ships in a pedestrian-looking synth case, like every other synth. Enter the Orion rendition.

2008: An Orion Odyssey Teaser Page

Studio Electronics News

As the manufacturers say:

what is this? it is art. it is light. it is glorious design brought to life by Antoine Argentieres, the man, who sagely let his fondness for Stanley Kubrick’s past century enigmatic odyssian vision of the future (and re-visioning of pivotal past events) inspire a house fit for the majestic voice and verve of the Omega8––a cathedral of transformation; the great work of the synth; a mind before matter mystical alignment of awareness: light and sound waves that reveal the ORION GALAXY, expanding and growing and luminous.

I’m not sure it’s art, but it is spectacularly groovy. Studio Electronics also promises a special sound bank befitting its forward-looking body.

I’ve heard varying answers to what availability will be from “I can’t conceive how expensive this is” to “rumors say it’s a one-off.” For their part, SE says it’s

available now for those who "have the greatest enthusiasm and confidence in the mission.

There you have it. You just have to believe. You have to think really, really hard about how you want it, and believe in why it matters, and you’ll own it.

Okay, it must be really, really, really, really expensive.

But I do believe in the mission. Steampunk’s over, folks. So is arbitrarily sticking cheap knobs into a cardboard box and rendering a “polished aluminum sheen” on the case by using duct tape. Let’s get back to the future with our synth designs. (I’m encouraged by the fact that our friend Nostromo found this for us on the SDIY list, by way of the music bar list.)

You still have time to do something for 2010.

See also: Music thing (hmmm, Tom got the jump on me, so maybe I shouldn’t have gotten so lost in that reverie of owning the thing…)

Update: Music thing also points to some artistic inspiration in the same vein.