Vibraphone part 1

Hi all!

Vibraphone (a.k.a. vibraharp) is nowadays quite rare instrument - quite few people can actually name it. I admit I am a vibraphone enthusiast:  I love to play and practise it and love to listen its players. I have three vibraphones at home. My wife saids it's too much. Here's my story how did I end up to this strange situation.

Not everybody knows that I have a history as a percussion player before I moved to play and teach piano and keyboards. On 90’s when I also studied in conservatory I owned an acoustic Musser vibraphone. On my 20s when I started my career as a gigging keyboard player I sold it which I have regretted every now and then. My ”Season 2” as a vibraphone player started on 2015 when I bought Musser again, after 15 years of complete silence with that rare and unique instrument.

80's Musser M75 (bought 2015)

1980’s Musser M75 is big and heavy vintage instrument with warm sound which is considered to be better than same brands current models. There are so few vibraphone players and instruments in Finland that I like to see this purchase as a once-in-a-lifetime investment, at least in my country.

Gigging and recording in mind on 2018 I went to buy my second vibraphone: brand new Malletech Omega with red bars. With new innovations on frame (light weighted, very adjustable and portable), tunable resonators and pedal it was nicely modern compared to M75. I like to say that if Musser M75 is Jaguar then Malletech Omega is Tesla.

Malletech Omega in my cellar studio (bought 2018)

Ok, let’s face it... Even modern Malletech Omega is big and heavy and can be pain to carry on gigs. At least if I compare it to my Nord Stage which I carry in my soft bag. So gig needs to be a REAL vibraphone gig to justify all this effort of putting it to pieces at home, putting these pieces together at gig and same backwards. Then again, let’s face it... There aren’t that many vibraphone gigs, at least on my level of playing. This being a reality I went to buy my third vibraphone or should I say electronic MIDI mallet controller to be more precise: Wernick Xylosynth with custom colored "Nordish" red wooden bars. With Xylosynth idea was to have a portable solution for many gigs on which I could use vibraphone as an extra flawor alongside my Nord and Elektron. It was also a nice comeback to my favorite soft synth Pianoteq (from French company Modartt) which also emulates nicely not only vibraphone but also marimba, xylophone, hand pan, steel pan etc.

Wernick Xylosynth (bought 2020) with other electronic instruments

Xylosynth is relatively new in my electronic arsenal and yet I am still testing and developing its use with Mac-Nord-Elektron setup. It looks very promising and inspiring but there are also obstacles on the way. So time will tell how does it go... So please wait for part 2 of this story! 😏

Until then please check my newest recordings with Malletech Omega (first 8 songs on this playlist):

PLaine · My Music

Teaching music under pandemic

Hi everyone!

What comes to corona virus and its consequences in Finland everything happened so fast. In early March we still thought we are far from epidemic and mostly it was about washing hands more often and more carefully. But around mid-March everything changed and our goverment acted fast and quite strongly: all bigger happenings like concerts were banned, social distancing was highly recommended, schools closed, people were adviced to work remotely if possible etc. Personally I believe this was a wise strategy from our government: so far the epidemic has evolved quite slowly and our country has had time to prepare for a stronger disease peak.

For music teachers like myself we had SO little to time prepare to start teaching remotely. It was practically one weekend. Still on Friday (13th!) I had absolutely Zero experience on remote teaching and right next week I had to serve all my students. To my luck I already had quite a lot gear which was perfect for that. To me it almost seemed that I have strangely prepared myself to this condition without knowing it. Suddenly many of those purchases, which I earlier thought as unfortunate mistake, were lifesaver to me. This included Zoom-camera, Led-light, condenser mics and many kind of stands and holders. Also many years of study of digital tools and skills like Finale notation, PDF-tools, audio/video recording and editing had suddenly a great value.

My teaching studio under corona quarantine

What comes to actual remote teaching I had to quickly choose and learn my main platform. Fortunately our teacher collective worked effectively together and soon there was a strong consensus to use Zoom video conferencing platform. It was simple to use, it could easily be used in all main devices (Mac, PC, iPad, iPhone, Android) and most importantly, it had some obvious benefits for music teaching: in Zoom you can disable many audio processing features which may ruin for example piano sound. This means using "original sound" on. At first this feature was only in laptop applications but to my delight this week zoom introduced this feature to mobile devices as well. It seems evident that zoom corporation has been noticing its use for music teaching and reacted fast.

Audio Settings: enabling "Original Sound" and disabling audio processing for better audio quality

In zoom you can also use your audio interface as a "microphone" source and this takes in sum of all inputs. In my MOTU-setup this was good news because this way I could easily mix my e-piano straight from stereo line inputs and take my voice with mic. I also put a second camera, Zoom Q2n-4k, above my keys. (Btw I believe this Zoom has nothing to do with zoom web conferencing. Correct me if I am wrong.)

Zoom Audio Settings: choosing my MOTU-audio interface as my input ("mic") and output  ("speaker")

Mic and second camera, Zoom Q2n-4k

Piano teaching setup with Mac, Nord Grand and Genelec speakers

To sum it, in my own case transition to remote teaching went surprisingly smoothly in general. Now after 4 weeks of teaching it feels already natural and I have managed to make kind of a system how to do it. This system means using all these tools but also way of delivering and receiving information - digital sheets, instructions, small videos and audio files etc. - and keeping diary. Alongside with zoom I decided to use WhatsApp for communication and materials, which seems to be very good for that and is also widely used among young and older generations.

Besides the most obvious downside - lacking normal teacher-student (close) contact, the main problem is still with immediate data transfer (meaning decent live audio & video). Most of the time it's quite ok but every now and then there are problems. Audio quality isn't always good from students' phones mics which makes it occasionally difficult to give precise feedback to their playing. Therefore I have advised them to record their playing as much as possible and send this better quality recording to me before next session. It's not a bad thing if students start to record their playing more often and learn to critically listen to themselves as well!

In general all this has been a major "digital leap" as they say. When the time comes to finally close this quarantine and go back to normal teaching mode, there are still so many good things keep doing this way!

Greetings from Turku and keep safe!

Wind Chimes (for piano and vibraphone)

This song is inspired by Archipelago of Turku and especially a lighthouse island called Isokari. It was originally composed to a sailing video representing this beautiful place. New arrangement has all my favourite instruments involved: Malletech Omege Vibraphone, Nord Grand piano and those Elektron machines (Analog Four, Analog Rytm and Digitone).

Archipelago Suite - Spring (for vibraphone and piano)

Hi! A lot of water has been flowing in river Aura since my last post. As this video might show, my music has taken quite different path. Few years ago I re-found an instrument of my youth: vibraphone. It's also my first recording with brand new Nord Grand.

Few tech specs:
Vibraphone is Malletech Omega, piano is Nord Grand from swedish Clavia with "White Grand" sound. Song is Recorded with Neumann KM184 mic and two Motu Ultralite mk3 audio interfaces.

New stuff!

Hi,

And greetings from our belowed home country Finland which celebrates its 100 years of independence! Here's a new video from my brother (http://www.sydolphindance.com) which he edited from years of shooting material, mainly from his sailing trips. I was lucky to get my music to it, "Archipelago part 2- Isokari".

And here's a small snippet from my new version of an old song of mine "Solar Wind". December 2017 I added there a track of e-piano to make it little more "human". Otherwise this song is rather minimalistic, pure electronic music.

Both songs can be listened completely via SoundCloud:

A Quick review of Nord Stage 3

Hi all!

I am very lucky to have received my brand new Nord Stage 3 HP76 while so many people are still waiting for their instruments. Now it's been few weeks with my new baby and here's what I feel about it:

Quick pros and Cons:
+ 76-model is suprisingly good keyboard for its very light weight, it's just 12,5 kg (27.5 lb)! It has enough key weight and precision for a piano player and it's also mechanically very quiet. 
+ Those extra GigaBytes of piano and sample memory really make things different. Nord Piano and Sample libraries are great collection allready and continuously developing. Now you can have so many of your favorite pianos (sampled with XL-size) inside your Stage. 
+ Two bright OLED-displays make things much more usable (compared to older Nords).
+ new synth has lot of power and high quality sound
+ nice little extras here and there (new filter effects and new morphing capabilities for example)

- Firmware bugs. Users have found quite a lot of problems and anomalies (some of them are minor, some more critical). Just read this sheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... edit#gid=0
- Sample Library incompatibility and lack of (fully functional) Sound Manager or Sample Editor. New Stage 3 is using a new format for samples and (on 30th August) we're still waiting for editor and conversion software. At the moment NS3 cannot use neither sample library sound nor user's own samples. This frustrates me most.
- Synth. NS3 synth was advertised as having Lead A1 engine. As a A1 owner this seems little overstatement. NS3 feels little limited compared to A1. (On the other hand there are some features you cannot get from A1: Sample playback obviously but also Superwaves).

New video from Lapland with my music

Please check a new video from our winter holiday in Lapland. Video was filmed and edited by my brother Antti, music is a song of mine called "Day One at Celestial Backyard". (You can listen to this song in its original form in My Music)

New in Nord Piano Library: Roal Grand 3D

Like many times before, Clavia has again given us a nice little Christmas present: a new grand piano sample set called Royal Grand 3D. So far Clavia hasn't revealed the exact piano model which was sampled, but I suspect it is a Yamaha. At least it sounds more modern compared to those more vintage ones. "3D" comes from the fact that it's binaurally recorded simulating players position. As they put it: "The dummy head is shaped like an average sized human head, equipped with ear shaped microphones, in order to reproduce the human hearing experience. The Royal Grand 3D was recorded in an acoustically dampened room where the dummy head was placed in the player's position to capture a natural and authentic experience of actually sitting in front of the piano."

Royal Grand feels just great - it's maybe Clavia Piano Library's best in terms of playability. At least on Nord Piano 3's action you'll get just right response, right tone from pp to ff. With earlier Bright Grand (Yamaha) for example, I felt that those brighter tones (forte) came out sometimes too easily. Royal Grand feels so easy and natural to control. It's more close to my idea of playing a real grand piano.

On the other hand, it can perhaps be too "round" sounding to cut thru in difficult acoustics or noisy gig situation. Quite often if you start to mess with EQ you'll loose something (natural sound and/or playability). Time will tell. To my ears Royal Grand is little closer to Roland's typical piano sounds. They are very even but they can be little "muddy" on stage situation. Clavia's Bright Grand is so clear and powerful and I never need to EQ it or anything. Those mellower pianos sound great at home or on recording but on stage they can be problematic.

More on Royal Grand 3D from Clavia's site:
(link)

Nord Piano 3 review

I remember being very excited when I heard about new Nord Piano 3 (NP3) which was announced at NAMM 2016. I had owned the very first version of Nord Piano, but last couple of years my only Nord has been Stage 2 (76 keys) which is a work horse I still use on most of my gigs. In almost all my latest recordings I have used some of Clavia's piano sound - they have a great piano library which covers the most famous grand pianos from Steinway to Bosendorfer, many different soulfull uprights and great electric pianos. (link here)

Nord Piano 3

So basically with NP3 there was nothing new with sound. My personal reasons to buy it was to get 88 keys, doubled memory capacity (1 GB for pianos and 256 MB for samples) and the best piano action Clavia has been able to give us so far. Other very nice improvement was the new very bright OLED-display. 

I believe for many of us the most interesting question is how good this new piano action actually is? To my fingers it's very good and clearly an improvement over earlier models, but not quite as realistic as my Kawai CS-7's action which is little more close to a real grand piano. On the other hand CS7 weights 80 kg and it's clearly not for gigging. If you want to make more fair comparison with NP3 and Kawai, you should probably take Kawai MP11 (stage piano) for this comparison. More components of real grand piano action makes it bigger and heavier: MP11 weights 32.5 kg and NP3 just 18.2 kg.

NP3 in its place in my cellar

NP3 has triple sensor action which makes it possible to trigger hammers more precisely and more faster. For example, you don't need to release a key all the way up before pressing it down again and still you'll get a sound. This is a welcomed feature if you play lot of fast repetitions. In general I feel that with new NP3 I have more control over different dynamics from pp to ff. Difference is not huge but still I feel that my Kawai CS-7 is more sensitive and perhaps little more heavier. I believe that the some difference in playing feeling come from two things: Kawai has escapement feature ("point of sound" in middle of key press) and more steinwaylike texture on their keys. For some reason Nord decided to not use "Ivory Keybed" which was announced at NAMM 2016. To most demanding piano enthusiasts NP3's keys can feel little plastic. But anyway these things aren't deal breaker to me and my fingers; with my new NP3 I can have best possible digital piano on my gigs and best piano sound on my recordings. One last very good thing to mention is that NP3 action is very quiet. Older Nords were very noisy and therefore annoying to use at home with lower volumes. Time will tell how quiet NP3 remains when it has hundreds of kilometres of road behind.

If I need to say some critical about Nord Piano 3 it's about something that's been there since Nord Piano 1 and 2. First, there's no external MIDI panel which makes Nord Stage 2 very powerful with external MIDI devices. Of course, Nord Piano has MIDI in/out (both traditional and USB) so it's basically possible to play some other gear with it but to be honest it really should have some buttons (at least external MIDI on/off button) and few knobs for controlling external gear. In general I like Nord Piano's simplicity - it's A PIANO and certainly not a workstation! - but because of this simplicity it should have better options to connect it to other gear. My second criticism goes to its sample playback synth which is of course simple and many ways very usable. But in my opinion there's one thing that should be there: a filter (cutoff and resonance and preferably those most basic filter choices). I am a synth enthusiast and to my mind synth without a filter is quite handicapped one. Of course I am not imagining to play killer leads with Nord Piano but any synth pad is quite lifeless without a filter.

More about Nord Piano from Clavia's web site (link).

Archipelago Part 1 - Overture

Please check Overture (part 1), intro of my Archipelago Suite.

This is a set of tunes made for a film series about Finnish & Swedish Archipelago.

Kawai CS-7 and search for a best possible digital piano

I'm lucky to have spent time with Kawai CS-7 for six months now, so it's time to write few lines about it. First few reasons why did I buy it. I already had Nord Stage 2 in my cellar, but I began to feel that I needed a more grand-piano-like digital piano for practicing and recording. The idea was also to buy a piano for a stable setup and therefore it was a bonus if piano also looked like a piano. I also wanted to have an instrument which is as easy as possible to use; just switch it on and you're ready to play it. No need for mess with computers, sound cards, mixers and speakers etc.

Roland V-Piano

Before Kawai CS-7 I went through few options. Basically it was a battle of three brands: Kawai, Yamaha and Roland. I must say Roland's alternatives were not very compelling to my taste. I have actually had three Roland RD-models (RD-600, RD-700SX, RD-700GX) so I believe I'm familiar with Roland's pros and cons. To me their "Supernatural" technology isn't perfect (yet). There are obviously some great qualities - no hearable looping or velocity layers - but sound itself can be little artificial and "muddy". In my opinion Roland's keybed isn't same quality compared to Yamaha and Kawai. This ain't surprise; those latter two have long history of manufacturing real acoustic pianos. There is still one Roland model which might have been a real alternative: Roland V-piano. This undoubtedly revolutionary product which was introduced on 2009 was still unfortunately too expensive even when sold second hand. V-piano is a brave concept and many pianists appraise it, but in my opinion soundwise it has same artificial qualities as Supernatural pianos. Also I am afraid that with V-piano there's very little hope for getting updates or general improvement in the model(s).

Yamaha NU1

The most serious competitor for Kawai came from Yamaha NU1. I remember that when I first played NU1 in a local music store this was a first digital piano ever which gave me an illusion of playing real acoustic piano. Or at least very close. It also fulfilled the aesthetic idea of how a digital piano should look. NU1 was also getting great reviews from magazines and internet. To me it was still little pricey. However there was a one crucial point which finally ruled NU1 out. When I played it with headphones I had a strange feeling that I was lacking the full dynamic palette especially when playing Fortissimo. One more thing to notice is that NU1 do not try to imitate grand piano touch, it has upright action inside. Sound is anyway sampled from Yamaha CFX-grand. So basically with NU1 you're playing grand piano with upright action.

In Finland we do not have Kawai reseller so I had to travel to Denmark to test CS-7. Luckily Copenhagen was on our summer holiday trip route! After a short encounter I had a strong feeling that this piano is quite promising to fulfill all the needs I described. Keyboard action felt natural and responsive, basic sound was nice and clear. As a nice bonus I also discovered that there were actually quite broad palette of different sounds, great variety of features (good connectivity for example) and also nice little LCD-screen. But all these extras were still secondary to the best part of it: Kawai CS-7 has a great grand-piano-like action with escapement. It also looked beautiful. Still the price was very reasonable and clearly lower than NU1 for example.

Kawai CS-7

Now after six months of playing CS-7 almost daily, I have a good feeling that my choise was right. Thanks to Kawai, I believe my playing has improved technically and arthistically: piano gives just right amount of resistance to my fingers and very precise response. If I play good it sounds immediately good but when I play badly I get immediate feedback of that too. The feeling is very similar to modern grand piano which is very responsive too. Sound is very good for playing and practicing, but for recording I'd say it's quite good. Now I am comparing it to Nord Piano Library which is in my opinion very good for recording purposes. With Kawai's "piano technician" you can nicely adjust many things: touch, voicing, resonance features etc. As said, there are many nice little extras like chance to MIDI/Audio-record your playing, metronome which can play nice drum beats and audio input (to play with your iPhone for example). 

Pianoteq 5 released!

I've been a big fan of Pianoteq since 2009. For those who don't already know, Pianoteq (PTQ) is a modeled piano software/plugin from French company Modartt and developer Philippe Guillaume. I have to admit that there were few years when I didn't practically touch PTQ at all. My Nord Stage 2 with all those quite nice sampled pianos was all I needed. Quite resently, some of my new musical ideas needed another type of piano sound, something which was outside my Nord's territory, I went back to check PTQ again. Luckily enough, same time I discovered that there was a new update available: Pianoteq 5.

Pianoteq 5 - a quick review:

First and most importantly, Pianoteq 5 seems to be a great improvement over version 4! It has more brightness and natural character of acoustic piano sound. If I A/B switch rapidly from my favorite (sampled) Nord piano sound to (modeled) PTQ, I can hear that there's still a difference in 'basic tone quality' between sampling and modeling but modeling has become little closer. To me this is a clear sign of improvement. With 'basic tone quality' I mean listening to individual notes played separately. I feel that modeling has still room for improvement for making it as warm and natural as it is in real life. On the other hand piano can sound very clear and punchy too; most often heard in pop, rock or jazzy situations. This ain't the best part of PTQ. Pianoteq is better for mellower sounds, more distant sounding concert hall pianos or cinematic piano sounds. But for that kind of tasks it's brilliant!

When listening to PTQ 5 I think there's one improvement over earlier versions: sound quality is more even all across the keyboard. I remember well that I have had hard time especially with PTQ's low mids area - going down from middle C and especially when played with forte or fortissimo. Still this low mids isn't the best part of the new model but it's not that artificial sounding anymore. In fact I have long felt that secret for finaly nailing 'it' lies in catching attack. Many PTQ users have asked for more 'woodiness' or whatever to call it. I believe Modartt should still pay more attention to the attack part of the puzzle. I strongly believe that this very first moment when hammer hits strings is very important for giving piano its personal sound. Of course, all this happens in a special acoustic space (wooden cabinet etc.).

Anyway piano sound isn't only individual basic notes which live in isolation. In fact piano is a complex structure where allmost all of its parts are affecting to other parts. It's all those complex hammer/damper/string interraction features where modeling clearly beats sampling. To get a better picture, just check this page: https://www.pianoteq.com/pianoteq5#new

Quite often lack of these features make sampled pianos sound 'sterile' or 'dead'. On the other hand, if modeling has improved in basic tone quality, it's fair to say that also sampled solutions have improved in this interraction area. Best sampled pianos have pedal down samples, pedal noises and even string resonance. How does they implement the latter, is not known to me. Is it somehow sampled or modeled? Anyway there's lot of feeling of whole piano resonating when you play PTQ and not that much when you play Nord (which have pedal down samples and 'string resonance'). PTQ feels like real piano and it's easy to understand why so many classical oriented players appraise it. In my opinion PTQ is best in solo piano, when it's easier to hear all these interaction features. On the other hand, band situations favor more punchy basic piano sound and this can be little difficult for mellower or more distant sounding PTQ. Fortunately there are great tools for adjusting the sound: hammer hardness, EQ, effects (compressor, reverb etc.) just to mention few. Still I have to admit that I wouldn't probably use PTQ for jazz piano trio recording at its current state. There are clearly limitations what kind of sounds you can get out of it and what not. With too much EQ, for example, it just gets unnatural.

Pianoteq Effects panel

One thing is sure. Pianoteq is fascinating way of learning things and just for having fun. You can play and record your perfomance with one piano and then listen to it with another. Using all those mic settings etc. you can really put it to another perspective. I have to admit that in these few years Pianoteq has taught me more about those features like string resonance and half pedaling than my acoustic Kawai. PTQ has opened my ears to listen to all those different things which make piano so special instrument. If you wanna dig into real classical stuff, you can experiment with different tunings or try to play Bach or Mozart with some historical instrument:

check: https://www.pianoteq.com/kremsegg1

Pianoteq and tuning possibilities

Couple of things deserve a special mention here. First: Pianoteq's user interface. It's just amazingly beautiful and so intuitive to work with. Everything is in right place and it looks marvellous. It has tons of features and parameters, but still it looks simple and not too technical. In my opinion this is very important for satisfying user experience. Second: Pianoteq user forum. I don't know any other software which has so devoted users and so lively forum. Developers are also interested to take part in those threads and all this gives you a nice feeling of things going further.

Pianoteq main User Interface

To sum it, I am so glad that Pianoteq story continues and I will definitely see what's the next step in this  evolution!

World's Smallest Synth Studio?

What kind of a synth studio fits into this rucksack...?

Let's take a closer look what have we here…

First, there's a newest member of my family: Arturia Microbrute, a real analog synth with 25 mini keys. Then there's of course iPad, all those cables and powers supplies and also a small portable speaker.

To connect Microbrute to iPad you'll need a camera adapter (from Apple Camera Connection kit) and of course a USB cable.

Basically I needed a small MIDI controller for all my iPad synths and Microbrute was the best candidate because with this reasonable low price (little below 300 euros) you'll have a MIDI controller plus a real analog synth too!

Few of my favorite iOS synths at the moment:

Arturia iMini

(Minimoog Model D emulation)


Very intuitive, good quality sound and
beautiful graphics.

Arturia iSem

(Oberheim Sem emulation)

Similarly intuitive, good sound and nice GUI


This is best iOS synth for playing Van Halen's "Jump" for sure!

Sunrizer

A modern (or digital) and very flexible synth. This one is "a little brother" of my Access Virus TI2. This is maybe the only synth which I could really use in my own productions which normally use my professional hardware (check My Gear if you like). It has personal sound…

Numerology 4 - part 2: review

Here's a little story of my own use of Five12 Numerology 4 Pro sequencer. If you wish to check only the main points (pros and cons), just go to the end and read my small review. And if you have anything to ask, correct or comment, don't hesitate to share it!

This post isn't trying to be a comprehensive review of Numerology. You can get more information on Five 12 website and on Numerology user forum too: 
http://five12.com/n2.html

Starting with Numerology

I found Five12 Numerology mostly by accident. One fellow member from Nord User Forum told me about Numerology when I in fact tried his own small sequencer app for Nord Drum. It seems to me that Numerology isn't very widely known even it definitely should be. I am sure there are plenty of potential users who would like to have modern pattern sequencer with great work flow and flexibility. Numerology is obviously a "love child" from one man, developer James Coker, who is also very active on Numerology forum and quickly answering any questions privately via email. So with Numerology you can really expect things to develop and you may even have a chance to make your own contribution to this development. As said earlier, this is one major difference compared to iOS music apps, which develop painfully slow if they develop at all. When writing this (February 2014) Numerology 4 is still on public beta state and we are living interesting times to see what happens until the official 4 release.

Basically idea here is to describe my own use of Numerology which is perhaps little different from average users. In fact this is the major power of Numerology: this application is very flexible and you can make it fit into your personal needs. Just take those modules you need. It's also possible to make your own template-projects to make it easy to start with your next project. Do you want to have just one old-fashioned pattern sequencer for playing your hardware modular synth? Fine. Or perhaps you want to make a complete song with multiple tracks only using soft synths and plugin effects? That's fine too. Just remember that you cannot record all this in audio tracks or master it. Numerology isn't DAW.

Numerology 4 Pro start-up screen

Note sequencers

What I usually do with Numerology is to sequence my hardware synths via iConnect MIDI. So basically main my tools are those note sequencers, especially MonoNote, PolyNote and DrumSeq:

Note Sequencer modules

With MonoNote you can run mono patterns from any length from 1-128 steps and also send velocities, MIDI CCs etc. Step can represent anything from very small lenghts (e.g. 1/128 notes) to very long lenghts (e.g. two whole notes). There's also a chance to experiment with probabilities, "humanizing" parameters and let pattern evolve by itself based on predetermined rules. When you check all these features, you'll begin to realize how different this approach is compared to linear timeline sequencing.

MonoNote sequencer

PolyNote seq is quite similar as MonoNote, but it is "piano roll" style polyphonic seq. Main difference to Logic's Piano Roll (view) is that individual notes in a vertical line do not have individual velocities. This is something which I miss sometimes.

And finally here's DrumSeq which is configured to play my 6-channel (or 6-voice) Nord Drum 2. DrumSeq is simple but powerful tool for experimenting with groovy drum patterns. Those vertical red tabs represent different velocities from 0-127. This is very intuitive way of making beats. Then you just fine adjust tempo and Groove Amount (=swing ratio). Quite often my compositional process begins with experimenting drum beats and bass lines.

DrumSeq 

Stacks - putting modules together

Higher level structure a Numerology project is based on stacks: first stack is always a clock-stack which controls obviously clock related stuff: tempo, meter, Groove amount or special user defined groove and MIDI sync routing destinations. User can then make his/her own stacks and any stack can have practically as many modules that is needed. 

Example of stacks (pages with different colors in upper row) and Clock-stack 

You can also make (stack-) presets which save all data of the current stack (all parameter and note or CC valuers etc.). With those presets you can make multi-module patterns which are building blocks of your song or more or less improvised live performance. You can play (or trigger) presets freely or force them to follow a predetermined playlist.

Stack-presets and Playlist mode

Speaking a little about live performing there are few major improvements in Numerology 4 (still beta) over version 3: there are more options for quantizing jumping from a preset to another and also a chance to play indefinite loops. We also got "an exit loop button" which relases loop when it's pressed. To be honest there are still few issues to fix to make these new features 100% usable. Despite these issues I can already make many nice things that was impossible with N3: I can make song forms with loops from 1 to 32 bars (or more) and loop them as long as I like. Then when I want to move to a following song section I just press this exit loop button in any place of an ongoing loop. Sounds simple? Well in fact it is, but surprisingly few sequencers can do this. Probably there are few but personally I haven't met any. I must also say that after N4 came available I even sold my Elektron Monomachine. I had no use for it anymore cause with Numerology I could do all the same (well, at least almost) and much more and much more easily.

Few minor specialities

Of course, above I just scratched surface about what can be done with Numerology. I must admit that there are many modules which I don't understand at all the the moment. Probably there are also modules and features that I'll never use. But that's just great: I know there's so much to learn. Or if you wish, you can keep it very simple. Here in this final section I'll just throw out some ideas which I have come up with Numerology.

First, Numerology can serve as a simple "Program Change sender". This is can be very useful on stage with multi-synth setup. The simplest way to do this is to first make a stack with (as many as you need) Program Change modules and route them to some MIDI Bus. Then you need to make stacks which route this MIDI Bus data to predetermined Midi Outs. Now with first stack you can make presets which send all this MIDI data at once to all your synths. When you trigger song X on your playlist (or should we say "set list") you'll get your right sounds immediately. Before Numerology I used "Set List Maker" app for iOS but now it's quite useless, cause Numerology is there anyway.

Stack with three Program Change modules

Above I have mostly talked about note sequencers. It's important to point that there are so many other modules to experiment with (again, check: http://five12.com/n3.html to read more or just download a demo and test it yourself!). I use for example ModulationSeq (one type of CV Sequencers) routed to some MIDI CC parameter like modulation wheel (CC #1) etc. With ModulationSeq you can loop your pattern while you experiment with some curve which affects some synth parameter (typically filter cutoff or resonance). All this is of course possible in Logic for example, but in Numerology everything goes so intuitively and smoothly.

In this example ModulationSeq is routed to PitchBender module:

One more thing deserves a special mention here: routing MIDI and CV (control voltage) data. Probably it's because of my lack of knowledge, but I've always had some trouble with managing MIDI routing in Logic. I suspect that I don't understand its logic completely. But when I started with Numerology I was amazed how easy it was configure my MIDI-setup. And when this is done, it was so easy to draw (yes, it's really done that way with mouse) those routings from modules (MIDI/CV in and out) anywhere I want. Here's an example how it's done:

Last topic here is about using Numerology 4 with other programs like Logic. There are in fact several options here: 

(1) you can use it as a AU plugin. I must admit here that I haven't used it this way much but (if I remember right) it's very limited compared to standalone version. (By the way, there is something interesting happening at the moment when v4 is evolving: you can use it as a MIDI FX in Logic X in OS X Maverick).

(2) You can record stacks (etc.) to MIDI clips. This is very handy if your main composition takes place in DAW. Still you can have both applications open and compose your music with both simultaneously! This way all the MIDI timing happens in one place and it's easier to keep it in sync. In N4 you'll get new MIDI clip options and you can even drag-and-drop clips straight to another application. 

(3) ReWire technology (Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ReWire). If I just first open Logic and then Numerology those two apps go into ReWire mode where Logic acts as a host and Numerology as a slave. Simple as that. When you press play both apps will start playback. With this approach you can play audio- or more SMF (Standard MIDI file) type of tracks from Logic and patterns from Numerology. This combination is really Best of Both Worlds! I really don't miss Ableton Live at all.

SUMMA SUMMARUM

PROS

(+) Numerology is great help in whole creative process from searching for first idea to arranging it to a complete song to live stage playing.

(+) Its approach is non-linear pattern sequencer but it goes SO far beyond these old fashioned pattern sequencers. It gives you a nice alternative to linear timeline sequencers or DAWs.

(+) It's very easy to start with: MIDI configuration is easy, routing is very intuitive.

(+) It's very flexible: practically there are no limits how many modules or stacks you can combine. This makes it so much more powerful than most hardware sequencers like Elektrons. But if you wish, you can keep it very simple too.

(+) It can be your sequencer solution on stage too! I have used it on many gigs for managing my presets (sending Program Change messages to my synths), sending MIDI sync and of course playing some sequences. I am happy that I can count on this system! (Well, there have been two or three crashes, but then I just re-open the app and rock and roll. Fortunately start-up goes quite quickly…)

(+) Many possibilities to integrate it to other programs: AU Plugin, export MIDI clips, ReWire

CONS

(-) There are still some minor bugs which can puzzle me sometimes. Fortunately developer James Coker is listening and you get a feeling that things are really developing.

(-) There are few things which would make its use much more powerful: some users have asked for cut/copy/paste -approach to editing. I agree with them. Personally I wouldn't mind having more options for adjusting visual GUI, more options for Preset Playlist mode and Standard MIDI File player module. And as said above, PolynoteSeq could also have individual note velocities.

We aren't living in a perfect world so maybe it's not fair to ask for a perfect Numerology either. Especially because it's a creation of one man. All this being said we are getting closer and closer...

Numerology 4 - Part 1: a search for a MIDI sequencer

In this small series of blog posts I will write a little about Five 12 Numerology 4 MIDI sequencer for mac. First I must say Numerology is really dream come true for me. Before going into details about Numerology I'll tell you how did I end up here where I am now: what are my basic demands for a sequencer and what did I try before finding Numerology. 

Stay tuned! 

http://www.five12.com

I've used Logic Pro quite many years now but I've allways felt that something is missing when I'd like compose new music or just experiment with musical ideas. When it's about starting from zero or "clear table", I kind of like more non-linear pattern seq approach than linear timeline DAW like approach. I like to start with beats and then fine tune nuances like note lenghts, rhythmic accents, swing ratio and also play with synth parameters like filter cutoff and resonance. This being said eventually my compositions will become so complex that simple old fashioned pattern sequencer cannot handle them. I am also a live stage musician and I'd really like integrate my compositional process to live stage usage.

Before I found Numerology there were few candidates for taking these challenges. There's of course Ableton Live which I downloaded as a demo couple of times. Still I did not move to Ableton for few reasons; mainly because it was quite expensive and also because there were some problems with my hardware (most likely because my lack of knowledge). Allready having Logic I wanted to search for simpler MIDI sequencer to just play my hardware. Logic still plays a major role when I move from compositional stage to more recording phase of the project. With Numerology you cannot record or edit MIDI tracks and its audio recording / editing possibilities are limited. It not a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation).

Arturia Spark MIDI controller

Arturia Spark was kind of a solution for a while but it was obvious that it could not sequence MIDI and there was no enough spark for me after all. I still have the software and it still has value to me as a drum library. But let's see, Arturia has announced that Spark 2 is coming on March 2014!

http://www.arturia.com/evolution/en/products/spark/intro.html


Then I had a short period with iOS: I was excited about the idea of small and portable but yet usable touch screen device for sequencing my music. After quite thorough search there was one seq app which seemed promising to fullfill my needs: Genome MIDI sequencer made by David Wallin. Genome isn't trying to be all-in-one iOS DAW, it's only MIDI sequencer. It's pattern based but also cabable of dealing with more complex song structures. So what was wrong then? To be honest, it was very promising then and it still is but sadly there's no real development happening. There were some instability (frequent app crashes), obvious bugs and too many places to improve in general. I gave few suggestions on their forum but it became obvious that you'll have to wait forever. I think the reason is that MIDI app development simply isn't good enough business to put that much personal time by those developers. Are those apps too cheap? I would happily put 50 or even 100 euros for really powerful and bugfree, liable seq app. Well, if I hadn't allready have Numerology. But if you still search for a MIDI seq for iOS, Genome might be worth checking. It's perhaps just perfect for you. I really hope future proves me wrong and Genome will realize that great potential which it obviously has.

http://www.whitenoiseaudio.com

Story goes on. Next I thought that the most liable sequencer solution would be hardware based and so I went to buy a second hand Elektron Monomachine. This became my compositional tool and live seq for couple of months. And probably it would still be that if I hadn't found Numerology. Elektrons have good reputation as a tight seq and you have lot knobs and live controllability. I won't go into details here but to my surprise there were also some strange bugs. So after all things were not allways running so smoothly and Elektron hardware seq wasn't 100% liable. Still the main reason for continuing my search was that composing melodies and harmonies was just too time consuming to be effective. For example, Monomachine cannot record patterns via MIDI so you have to type them manually. This can be little frustrating to keyboard player like me.

Elektron Monomachine

http://www.elektron.se