Ableton Live 8.1.3
The boys over at Ableton have been busy updating Live to 8.1.3. It looks like it’s still in beta stage but should fix bugs and problems in 8.1. Head over to this thread at the Ableton Forums to check it out.
Ableton Live 8.1 trail download
Ableton Live recently updated to 8.1 bringing some bug fixes and minor improvements but the better news is Ableton are offering free trail downloads of Ableton Live, Live suite and live intro. The trail software works fully for 30 days and comes with Max for Live content too! So you can try out Max for Live for 30 days. Get busy.
Livid step standalone screenshot
The fellas at livid instruments, creaters of the Block and OHM 64, have very kindly created a standalone version fo the thier livid step Max for Live device. The standalone version allows users who don’t have Max for Live to use livid step. Although it’s only in beta and mac only, windows versions are due very soon.
The standalone version looks very useful all livid step users
More info at the Livid step wiki.
Livid step screenshot
Livid step is a powerful step sequencer created solely for the Livid Ohm 64 and Block controllers. Each device uses 8 steps and will take up a row on the block or Ohm 64. If you want to fill the whole grid simply add 8 midi tracks and 8 instances of livid step.
Some features of Livid step
Heres a quick video showing you how to set it up.
Download the standalone verison (Mac only)
Download the Max for live version
Free software, Max for Live, Midi controllers, Plugins, Sequencers, Software
APC40 CC# & midi mappings
Well this is big news as far as all APC40 users are concerned. Apparently this happened a while back at the start of November, around about the same time novation released their programmers guide for Launchpad. I didn’t even hear a peak from anyone about the document so it must of been swept up in the launchpad fever.
Anyway this should mean that more apps are developed for the APC40. This document is not for the light hearted weighing in at 20 pages of code and goes in depth into exactly how the APC40 handles data. As you can see from the image above Akai have provided the CC#’s for each button, knob & slider too.
Download APC40 communications protocol rev 1
Excerpt of Novation Launchpad programmers reference
Along with the first shipment of launchpads going out, Novation released the programmers reference, a document that shows exactly how the Launchpad works with midi.
12 pages of a programmers dream as the PDF really explains the detailed inner workings of the Launchpad. Not only that but they have gone out of their way to put it in easy to understand terms. The release of this document is sure to set developers a light with ideas of creating open source apps and software. You can download the PDF from their site. Some interesting notes are that the Launchpad uses a slightly slower USB connection to transfer data.
I must admit I get the feeling Novation are learning from Akai’s mistakes as Akai didn’t release any midi documentation or give away any hints as to how the APC40 handles midi. Akai didn’t even release a driver, you don’t need one but the APC40 and windows users are having a few niggling problems that a dedicated driver would fix, the launchpad has it’s own driver 
Akai holding back has not stopped open source apps such as the monomulatorbeing released but it does slow development down. So this is a call for Akai to release the midi information. That said they will only tell you to wait for Max for live to come out and then buy it to completely manipulate the APC40. These are luxuries not everyone can afford.
With this release I’m expecting to see some open source apps and software popping up very soon. Probably some max/msp patches too. Seems like Novation are trying to align themselves with the open source community and maybe trying to make the launchpad a poor mans monome. For now it’s too early to tell but the future is looking bright for the launchpad and the button matrix controller as a whole.
Zander
It’s nice to see a big music software company showing a little bit of Christmas generousty and in this case it’s Native instruments. They have relesed the Kore sound pack compliation Vol 1 which you can download for free. To use it you’ll need the free Kore 2 player which also has some sounds bundled with it. The sounds range from synthesizers, acoustic instruments, percussion, groove construction kits and multi-effects patches and are taken from 12 different Kore packs.
Kore free player
Although you might not like the sounds this will be a good way to test out Kore 2 which is aimed to be used live.
Download Kore sound pack Vol 1
