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Live Coding Software For Music

Posted on 24th September 2024 in Gigs, News, Studio & Production

In September 2024 we took part in a Live Coding Workshop and Showcase at the Festival of the Mind 2024 in Sheffield. Together with the School of Computer Science at the University of Sheffield, we spent the afternoon making bleeps with code, before heading out for a live demo at the Spiegeltent in the city centre.

And now, the software is publicly accessible and free to use, along with the tutorials and a set of music demos from us:
https://bleep.sheffield.ac.uk/artist/seclusion

It’s a web-based live coding environment, designed for generating noise and music, and it’s intended to introduce the basics of coding, while making some interesting noises. It’s not as scary as it sounds, the simplified code lets you jump straight in and make some noise with just a single line of code. The tutorials will guide you through the basics, so it shouldn’t matter whether or not you have any coding experience.

This system and the code used is based on Sam Aaron’s Sonic Pi project, only now, it’s entirely web-based. It’s very much a work-in-progress, so may be a little rough in places, but that shouldn’t stop you getting stuck in.

And as you might have noticed, we’ve avoided referring to the software by name, mainly because it hasn’t actually got one. All suggestions welcome!

The demos we produced for the festival are at:
https://bleep.sheffield.ac.uk/artist/seclusion

The tutorials created for the workshop can be accessed via:
https://bleep.sheffield.ac.uk/artist/tbd

Download the tutorial PDF:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1glIlPp00SJi_gMVX8bZ5fwLNumnrlVyy/view?usp=drive_link

Want to dig deeper? More information is available in the Wiki, although this too is a work-in-progress:
https://github.com/guyjbrown/bleepmanual/wiki

Want to start from a blank project?
https://bleep.sheffield.ac.uk/user

Let us know what you get up to!

Techno Music Programming – Festival of the Mind 2024

Posted on 3rd September 2024 in Gigs, News, Studio & Production

On the 21st of September 2024, we’ll be joining with the School of Computer Science at Sheffield University for a couple of special music programming events, all as part of Festival of the Mind 2024.

Techno Music Programming Masterclass – The Diamond
This free 2-hour workshop will explore the basics of computer programming through the lens of techno music creation. Led by renowned musician and live coding expert Dr Sam Aaron, participants will use software specifically developed for this workshop, teaching the basics of coding and exploring music composition. We’ll be there to share our knowledge of techno music production, sharing our own code and examples to illustrate. Places are very limited and can be reserved at:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk

Techno Music Programming Showcase – Spiegeltent
At 5pm we’ll head down to the Spiegeltent in Barkers Pool where we’ll introduce the concepts of live music coding, demonstrate the unique software and perform some of the music that we’ve created, including pieces from our new Seclusion EP. The event is free but the Spiegeltent has limited space, so get down early to get yourself a place.

Full details for all of the events at this year’s Festival of the Mind can be found at:
https://festivalofthemind.sheffield.ac.uk/2024/

Sample Pack 06: Drones (Vol. 2)

Posted on 1st September 2020 in Patreon, Studio & Production

In the second drone pack, we deliver 82 new tones shifting to further extremes; On one set, we toy with the unusual harmonics of complex, layered source tones, while the second explores the purity of primary waveforms. Sometimes dirty and uncomfortable, they all demonstrate beauty in raw simplicity.

This release contains two different packages: 24-bit WAV audio samples (2.1GB!) for use in any compatible music production software and a collection of Ableton Live Instrument Racks (1.2GB). It’s available for our Patreon supporters to download right now:
https://www.theblackdogma.com/patreon-downloads/

If you’re interested in supporting us and our work, you’ll get access to loads more too, including all of the current sample packs, our recent Allegory EPs and the demos of our forthcoming “Fragments” album. It only costs the price of a nice beer each month and there are no dirty contracts or long term commitments, so you can easily cancel your membership at any time.

For full details, take a look at:
https://www.patreon.com/theblackdogma

Sample Pack 05: Drones (Vol. 1)

Posted on 19th June 2020 in Patreon, Studio & Production

Drones are a simple concept, to reduce a world of complex sounds to their core elements. This pack features 90 sustained, loopable samples, all with subtle movement throughout. Useable as single instruments, deep background elements or unique minimalist pieces to be played in their own right.

This release contains two different packages: 24-bit WAV audio samples (2.1GB!) for use in any compatible music production software and a collection of Ableton Live Instrument Racks (1.1GB).

It’s currently available exclusively for our Patreon supporters, so if you’d like to join, you can find the details at:
https://www.patreon.com/theblackdogma

Kärntnertor Remix Project

Posted on 10th June 2020 in Patreon, Studio & Production

People do regularly ask how we make stuff, so for our supporters on Patreon, we’ve provided an Ableton Live Pack (.alp) and 24-bit stems (.zip) for our track “Kärntnertor”, taken from the “Allegory 1 [Red]” EP.

This should give you an idea of how it’s made and what’s actually happening to create the mix. The track runs at 123bpm, which is fairly sedate compared to a lot of techno at the moment, but it’s all centred around that big filthy bass groove, so the speed isn’t all that important.

We’ve simplified things slightly by swapping custom VSTs for stock Ableton plugins and flattening parts where necessary and for those working with other DAW software, we’ve provided a separate download containing the bus stems as 24bit WAV files.

To get this and loads more exclusive stuff, you can join for the price of a decent beer:
https://www.patreon.com/theblackdogma

Sample Pack 04: Pads & Synths

Posted on 4th May 2020 in News, Patreon, Studio & Production

115 Universal WAV Audio Samples and 114 Instrument Rack Presets for Ableton Live, by The Black Dog.

Powerful and unusual instrumentation has been the backbone of electronic music since it’s inception. Here we’ve created a pack of sounds designed to be interesting and highly usable, ranging from epic to abstract, and consisting of smooth pads, synthetic strings, analogue sweeps and unique tones.

The package contains two parts: 24-bit WAV audio samples for use in any compatible music production software and a collection of Ableton Live Instrument Racks.

The Ableton Live racks have been set up with basic macros to control the envelopes, low pass filters and drive. Other than that, they are left intentionally dry, with little additional processing. Anything more than that should be a creative decision for you.

Available to download now for our Patreon supporters:
https://www.patreon.com/theblackdogma

Sample Pack 03: Heavy Bass

Posted on 2nd April 2020 in News, Patreon, Studio & Production

215 Universal WAV Audio Samples and 3 Instrument Rack Presets for Ableton Live, by The Black Dog.

“Everyone thinks Sheffield is about the bleeps but it never was, it was always about the bass. Here we present 215 bass synth samples, with 3 Ableton Live Instrument Racks, providing a wide range of instantly useable core tones, from pure sine waves to aggressive distorted noise.”

Available to download now for our Patreon supporters:
https://www.patreon.com/theblackdogma

Sample Pack 02: Matrix 1000

Posted on 27th February 2020 in News, Patreon, Studio & Production

The Oberheim Matrix 1000 was always a favourite synth in our studio and this Ableton Live Instrument Rack provides an easy-to-use collection of 130 presets. They’re naturally bright, rich, warm, deep, and provide simple shaping controls to fit your needs. Just drop them into your projects and play.

It’s currently available to our Patreon supporters as a free download:
https://www.patreon.com/theblackdogma

We’ve got a few other sample packs and production tools on the way, so keep an eye out.

Sample Pack 01: Kick Drums

Posted on 19th February 2020 in News, Patreon, Studio & Production

Here’s a slightly different release for us – a collection of kick drum audio samples straight from our personal library and ready for use in your own productions:

“64 unique bass drums samples created for a range of different uses and featured regularly in our music and live sets over recent years. We’ve collected them together as an Ableton Live Instrument Rack featuring simple controls, to provide a powerful toolkit ready for your next project.”

It’s currently available to our Patreon supporters as a free download:
https://www.patreon.com/theblackdogma

We’ve got a few other sample packs and production tools on the way, so keep an eye out.