Hello all...
First, let me describe what I'm trying to accomplish... I want to play 100% synth-based music, but rather than keyboards, knobs, etc. I want to use my eDrums/Midi drums as the interface. Not JUST percussion sounds... I'm talking about all the stuff you'd do witha keyboard/knob crontroller, but with drums...
Don't need to record audio in (i.e. no geetars, no vocals, etc.)
Don't need linear arranging etc. as I'm not "composing" as much as "improvising"... Hope that makes sense... It's this fact that means I'll never use like 75% of apps like Live, Fruity, Bitwig, etc. My entire idea is live, performance oriented with a ton of real time modulation that can be "meta controlled" via MIDI notes from my drum trigger interface.
Obviously just playing a drum synth is no big deal. Map the notes, and boom...
However, what I want to do is perform various knob twidding equivilants with drum pads. That means doing things like assigning a pad/mid note to increment/decrement a setting (LFO or filter freq, etc.)... Or being able to trigger a series of notes (a bassline or arp.) one at a time with each pad hit. Just triggering a seq or sample is a no brainer in just about every package, so that's not what I need. I need a tool that has "easy"-ish to use MIDI routing and scripting/mangling capability and the ability to map MIDI messages to various modulation controllers.
As what I'm trying to do seems kinda unusual, I'm having a hard time figuring out the best tools... I've poked into the docs of various usual suspects, but I keep seeing things that I think will be red flags eventually, and thus I'll have wasted a lot of time before I find out it's a dead-end.
Before I dump more money (but mostly time) into more tools, I want to see if maybe AudioMulch will get me there.. Max for Live will not work as teh midi implementation between the two is messed up as you lose viz into what the original channel or port was once it goes into Max (from what I've read). Plus MFL+MAX is soo expensive, and I don't need most of it...
Max alone looks like total overkill to me. I'll prob. rely /mostly/ on VST drum/perc synths for quite a while, so I'm not looking to build my own modulars.
I just need the ability to do things like the MIDI wrangling I outline above, as well as interface with VSTs for automation/modulation from the "host" processor.
It seems like AM may be a good way to go, but I'm also curious about Flowstone and Holyhock...
Any of you pros see a reason why AudioMulch would not work for me?
Hi
I think, AM ist not really the tool of choice for what you've planned, especially because MIDI note events are not supported very well (yet?) and there are no triggerable automations. Flowstone and Usine Hollyhock are worth looking, I would add plogue bidule and also check pd, the free, academic variant of MAX/MSP.
I second Al's comment. I don't know Flowstone, but have looked a bit at Hollyhock, which I think would work well for your application.
FYI: Flowstone is the framework formerly known as Synthmaker.