I’ve had a few questions and comments regarding playing chords with axis.  Here’s how to do it in ableton:

This’ll only work in ableton but there might be ways to do this using comprable vst plugins etc.

The new Zeal set is coming together and the first of many Melbourne gigs is lined up for April.  Oh yeah, and did i mention I have a new album ready for release?  next few posts should be bigguns…

I threw together a little motion detecting modulation plugin for max4live.  You can get it here.  Novelty drinking bird not included.

My Xbox Guitar Hero to MIDI application AXIS is available now!  The videos below explain all:

Mac users:

• Get AXIS 1.0 HERE.

• You’ll also need the Tattiebogle Xbox drivers from here.

Windows users:

• Get AXIS 1.0 HERE.

• You’ll also need LoopBe from here.

• Quicktime’s required for the Heads Up Display.  I’d recommend Quicktime Alternative.

• If the Xbox drivers don’t install automatically try here.

AXIS was built in Max/MSP.  If you’d like to adapt it for a different guitar or anything just get in touch and I’ll send you the source.

so it took almost exactly a year to write and record and now my next album “with the moon alongside racing us home” is mixed!  complete! done!  finito! pung! bahoogled!  i made a lot of those words up, feel free to use them (CC non-profit, attribution, share-alike).

now all this mixing’s done i’m focusing on my live show and getting axis out into the world.  i’m also enjoying playing with max for live as an audio visual environment.  getting sensors to the party is the next step i think… like some sort of reactive audio-visual “thingy”.

artwork for the album has to be done too… might start on that now.

bob out.

this is the little video patch i’m working on for the new show.  eventually it will do more fancy stuff like multiple layers, zoom, rotate etc.   the live show will probably involve fewer aliens…. but more robots.

upped another vid demoing the Guitar Hero to MIDI app AXIS that i’ll be releasing soon. tilt sensors should be on everything! they make the world so much more fun.

The Agnes Kain clip is finished!  I’m very happy with the end result. There are no effects in post, everything was shot in camera… which is probably obvious right up until the end. You can check out my previous posts to see how it was made from conception to birth.  Big thanks to Chanelle and Stef and ultra-mega-big thanks to Ryan for wearing ridiculous things,  standing in uncomfortable poses for extended periods of time and just being generally rad.

i know i haven’t been gigging very much this year. and i could forgive you for thinking i’ve not been doing much on the live music front but you’d be wrong. so very wrong. i don’t want to make you feel bad or anything, it’s just the truth. this is my new guitar hero to midi max app i’ve been working on. it turns the guitar into a playable instrument while keeping all the control functionality of my previous patch. here’s the hastily thrown together blurb i slapped up on my youtube.

An app i’m working on called AXIS. it enables an xbox usb guitar hero controller to output midi to control ableton or any other software or hardware that eats midi.

it has two modes – play and control.

in control mode the buttons, whammy and 3 tilt sensors send out midi messages. this is intended for interfacing with software.

in play mode any musical scale can be superimposed over a guitar hero scale built on the first four buttons. the up pick can be offset to allow rapid playing of fifths or whatnot. the orange button acts as a modifier key allowing change of key and offset on the fly. the D-pad changes scale and the back and start keys change volume (velocity). the three tilt sensors and whammy send out MIDI CCs to control what ever. the tilt sensors on this guitar are particularly awesome, they sit on three different axes and you can make the guitar really expressive.

there’s a little HUD you can sit on top of what ever you’re controlling to monitor mode, key, volume, offset and scale.

i’m sorting out some documentation and then i’ll release it as a stand alone mac app. if a max-head out there want’s to help me port it over to windows that’d be ace. mac and windows interpret the guitar controller differently. once finished, i’ll release the source so people can modify it for other system’s guitars too. I went for an xbox guitar because it’s usb and the tilt sensors and whammy work which is a problem for ps2 guitars/adapters.

at the moment i’m building up my new live show utilizing the guitar to simultaneously shred, trigger samples and effects, control the rest of the track and control the accompanying video. see, i have been busy! and not just on this.  i’ve got a whole album of new material which i’ll be relentlessly plugging through out the near future.

this post is little a bit of a tease, now i think of it. perhaps this video might make it appear more substantial.

…perhaps not.

shot one of the final scenes of the agnes kain clip last night. it was a full size rear projection shoot exactly like the mighty boosh just with less crimping.

a few little scenes left to shoot and edit and then that’s a wrap. it’s pretty exciting to see how the clip’s turning out, especially seeing how it’s evolved from the original idea. i’m animating the clip “in camera” with no effects in post. it moves a lot of the problems that usually need to be solved from inside a computer out into the real world where they’re easier to deal with. mainly because in the real world every single problem can be solved with gaff tape. ryan the birdman agrees.

winter’s the best but the weather’s been holding back shooting on the agnes kain clip again. i’ve been working on everything that can be done inside out of the way of the falling sky water which luckily includes experimenting with projected backgrounds – parallels are cropping up between the agnes clip and the cuba is japan clip again. planning a big rear projection shoot this week. should be a sort of scaled up, person size version of what’s going on down there. i’ll be sure to post something about it. for the moment i’m setting up the mini version…

if you follow my twitter you’ve probably noticed the robot binge. it’s had it’s effect… behold the homunculus!

more soon.