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Magenta Studio: free AI for Ableton Live

This excellent set of tools for experimentation and generative music came out the other day. It’s completely free to download, and is now in beta, so it’s more than good enough to start playing with.

It comes both as standalone and as a Max for Live device.

It’s really easy to use, and great for generating quick ideas effortlessly, or creating whole tracks with nothing but a handful of simple controls. Goes very well with devices like Coldcut’s Midivolve, that can take the generated results and expand on them further. And it’s really handy for filling in simple drum parts while you concentrate on a melody.

What I like is that it generates usable MIDI clips, rather than hitting the CPU with endless live variations, like a lot of generative devices do.

But can it replace mechanical automata?

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Ableton Live 10.1 released today

Glad that Live 10.1 is officially released at last – we’ve been using the beta for a little while, and it’s awesome. User wavetables and automation shapes and waveforms alone make massive enhancements, but the improved Delay and Channel EQ effects are great improvements as well…

Then there’s freezing tracks with sidechain inputs and everything else

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Cinematic Sound Compendium at Puremagnetik

Puremagnetik released a brilliant and large collection of cinematic sound effects yesterday. They’ve currently got it on offer this week for $19 – I highly recommend getting in there and buying it immediately! Very useful for all types of production. We’ve only skimmed the surface since yesterday, but it’s already clear that it’s treasure trove of great sounds.

Phil Michalski - field recordist