technomonkey's Recent Posts

Wow. I thought "Uniqlo" was a clever word you just made up. Then I looked it up. Problem most definitely solved!!! :)

I was actually gonna buy two shirts and find a Punk Rock Girl to cut one of them and safety-pin the logo to the back of a hoodie in the classic style. The patch idea is much better!

EDIT: Damn, once you past past the scary-looking models, looks like they actually got some pretty nice clothes for cheap.

Dang. For a minute there, hoodies were making a serious comeback!

No matter; I can use the money saved on that hoodie to pay the heating bill. Oh, wait... I live in a cardboard post-war coastal California house - there is no heat!

[[shivers]]

Dig the cross-legged stance! I half expected to see you start levitating about one minute into the video.

Well the t-shirts are selling themselves.

C'mon guys and girls - no other takers on Aalto hoodies? Mmmmmmm, nice, fluffy, warm hoodies.

edit: made a dumb car joke - sorry :)

Shiver me timbres, it shore is cold and rainy. The extra insulation of a Madrona Labs sweatshirt would be a lifesaver!

(edit)

Holy moley! Hadn't checked the lineup til just now - you guys are seriously privileged up there. Pretty cool to see people like Nils Frahm and Demdike Stare on the schedule. Wow, Windy and Carl?! Eleh??! That'll teach 'em.

Anybody feel like covering for me at work during Decibel....? Didn't think so.

Oh well, maybe next year. Best of luck to you and all your organs Randy!

I would hope it's a matter of "when", not "if".

edit: Wait, it hides your Library folder? Like, on purpose? I guess that makes sense.

10.6.8 forever, baby!

I haven't seen him in person, but every picture or video I've seen of Villalobos, he's chain-smoking cigarettes. I would probably not buy any used gear from him.

I wonder if he has an Aalto and would want to share patches though. I bet he has one actually.

Agreed! Porfiry I love that first one, I mean it in the best way when I say it reminds me of some Math Rock dudes getting down in the garage!

And Garf, I've got a backlog of like 12 songs based on your patches, I can't seem to finish any of them but will try sometime soon. Hopefully before the 1.3 update (have a feeling the new features are gonna keep us all busy for awhile)

Nice way to start the Summer, congratulations Randy. I certainly envy those thirty or so new owners! Put me down for number 0048 or something :)

Library/Audio/Presets/Madrona Labs/Scales

:)

edit: (or Windows equivalent)

Don't sweat it too much Fraser - everybody gets frustrated with this stuff, especially DAW weirdness.

I have a buddy who was using Garageband when he started and he almost quit right away, it just sort of sucked for him. Then he downloaded the Audiomulch demo, and couldn't stop making music for weeks! It's just a software that he "got along" with. I never "got" Garageband either. I've never even seen MainStage.

Anyway check out Audiomulch - it works really well and you get 60 days free demo.
Also Reaper is a good one, is very cheap and has a demo to check out.
There are plenty of others to try; even if you don't find another DAW you like, you'll learn a lot of tricks by checking out how other DAWs work.

Stick with it man, you'll be loving it soon!

I hear you my friend. I was partly making the case that it would be a potential drag on the GUI, i.e. cluttering.

But the other thing is, that I imagine this sweatshop, where dozens of kids crammed in a room full of surplus laptops, are paid a tiny wage to hit the "Random" button all day, and when they come to a potentially interesting sound they Save it and send it to the next department who tweaks it and sends it down the line, etc, until eventually this company sells these finished Sound Sets to all the synth musicians with more money than time.... damn, this is starting to sound like a nice little business plan!! :)

Joking aside, it's just a pride thing - I think Aalto is too special to have something like that - it's all about making your own sounds. A button that spits out a new patch is more "Automatic" than it is "Random" IMO. So many DAWs and hosts already have this anyway, or other ways to go about it. (also i think/hope that given Randy's mention of possible future user scripting, that if added it wouldn't be as a simple button on the GUI in any case - I could be wrong though)

Anyway I know you're saying it's partly just for fun. That's what it's all about. Which is why I wouldn't mind so much if Random (or whatever else) were added. Just don't take anything away :0

-1 for random patching here.

Random waveforms for the sequencer would be cool, but not beyond that.

Applying randomized signals to a destination in a patch is one thing. Randomizing the entire patch is lame IMO and not even useful: there will always be some modules you are going to want to exclude from randomization, which would then create the need for a little padlock button/icon, or whatever, on each module, to lock the settings, and then we are heading towards bloat and sort of cluttering/ruining what is a damn simple and clean interface.

I'm all for the addition of features that provide more control, e.g. random seq waveforms, tempo-synced LFO and more LFO waveforms etc. But at some point I would rather see new Madrona gear coming out than seeing Aalto changed or added to. Keep it moving forward. Just my 2c

So while lurking at a popular synth forum nearby I found this:

http://ignatiusmusic.bandcamp.com/album/alexithymia-ep

Ignatius I hope you don't mind me posting this here. This EP is damn good! I've had a strange blend of tracks 2 and 3 stuck in my head since hearing them. Some of my favorite music I've heard in a while, and plenty of Aalto in audible evidence. Which is usually a good thing. Just made it to the remixes - damn good also.

Great one!

I'm with Jonah; please charge my credit card again for whatever amount seems reasonable.

Seriously a t-shirt would be great! Though I would be more partial to a hoodie, with or without zipper.

The Madrona Log would also make a nice front or back design.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBuUUBrC9eQ

you know what time it is, garf! :)

Hey Randy. For those of us that missed the first production run, when would you estimate the next batch going out? Will you basically start again once these 30 are finished/shipped?

inventory!

  • one laptop and some software and a Duet interface.
  • akg k240 headphones.
  • Clevinger six-string electric upright bass.
  • cardboard cello.
  • ancient, blown, Event TR6 monitors
  • Chemex coffeemaker, large.
  • Zig-Zag rolling papers, "ultra-thin".
  • a beat-up bicycle.

If anyone feels like loaning me up to a couple thousand bucks I would like to get:

  • a Fenix synth and sequencer.
  • a Soundplane controller.
  • new pair of monitors.
  • a decent bike.

hey Chammer,

I use the built-in limiters that come with ReNoise and Audiomulch, on every instance of Aalto, or just throw one on the master buss and let everybody fight it out.

If it's a drum or particular sound, or wanting for sidechaining or something, I use the FabFilter Pro-C or the free AudioDamage compressor. I got no skillz though.

Sometimes, to make sure things don't get totally out of hand volume-wise, I will set the Master Output level on Aalto all the way up, then set the oscillator and delay mixes, etc. That way for example a part can be safely faded into a song without going over or worrying about hitting the right volume level.

Hehe, apparently neither is mine :].

I should probably talk less and work more anyway. Oh wait... music!!

Happy new year :)!

Ha! Sorry man I totally misunderstood. :]

I spent about ten minutes on the Usine site looking for the OSX demo download before I realized.... heh.

Looks pretty cool anyway. I read somewhere that there is Mac version being developed...

Hey Marc0, that's what the "offset" dial (at the bottom of the sequencer) does. You can choose any step between 1 and 16.

Also if you have multiple voices running you can have each voice start on its own step: try patching "voice" to that offset dial and then play with the "offset" attenuator.

Or, try things like patching "voice" to the LFO rate (now you have as many LFOs as you do voices), then patch the LFO to the sequencer offset. We shouldn't be allowed to have this much fun IMO. :)

@garf: great ones! check soundcloud in a day or two :].

Randy if you're reading this - what would it take to be able to embed the little soundcloud players on the patch page here? Would it be worth the trouble.

Well I was about to say Cwejman but didn't know if you had the 500 Euro or so to spare.... :] Sometimes I wonder where all this money comes from.

Keep us posted on what you come up with, por favor!

Francesco,
This would be a great question to ask at the Muff Wiggler forum. There are at least a couple Aalto users who post over there. There are a few ways to do it; you'll probably get many different answers.

If you mean Eurorack, then here's my answer:
Envelope 1: Doepfer A-141 (VC control of all stages)
Envelope 2: the Malekko/Wiard "envelator" (AR with delay/repeat functions)

Which oscillator(s) and filter did you choose?

I would be very curious to hear what modules people would choose to achieve the other Aalto functions. The waveguide/delay and sequencer especially.... great question Francesco! :]

Man, thanks for reminding me how great Audiomulch is! :]

1) Travel itinerary looks like fun. Only someone with a private jet, and all the time in the world, would take that long, curvy route from Sea-Tac to SFO like that. Idaho and Utah will be pretty at this time of year. Madrona Airways!

2) Down here we call Arbutus menziesii a "madrone". I'm glad you're a Pacific Northwest company, because "Madrone Labs" doesn't sound nearly as cool.