Instruments like the Theremin may be trying to shake off their association with fear, dread, and the unnatural. But the synthesizer has no such concern: after all, the Moog is pretty much a rock star, literally. So, for anyone fiddling around with the Animoog – hopefully including iPad owners who are newer to synthesis – you can now grab a bunch of presets to provide the perfect sonic accompaniment to this Halloween. The sounds are the work of synthesist/sound designers Drew Neumann and Kevin Lamb.

And as if the app, currently on sale for $.99, weren’t already a steal for people who already have the iPad, the presets are free. Just move quickly: the price jumps to US$29.99 on November 18.

An email registration is required.
Halloween Sound Set Download
Animoog product page

Of course, what would also be a lot of fun would be some sort of proximity sensor for your app, for use at a party… okay, we have a few hours left if anyone can wire up the Arduino hardware link on Android or the camera on the iPhone or the motion sensor or … something. Go!

Got other Halloweeny news for us? Let us know!

Installation instructions from Moog (by popular demand):

1. Download the Halloween Sound Set and un-zip the file.
2. Connect your iPad (with Animoog installed) to your computer.
3. Launch iTunes and select the iPad in the devices list.
4. Select the “Apps” tab for the iPad.
5. Scroll down to “Animoog File Sharing,” and click “Add.”
6. Select all the files in the Animoog Halloween folder you just un-zipped.
7. Launch Animoog and select “Import Presets” from the settings tab.

That also demonstrates how you could share other presets.

As Federal funding to public broadcasters faces serious challenge in a Washington looking to cut the budget for all but the most essential government services, and where voluntary contributions to all noncommercial broadcasters have been constrained by the economic issues faced by the entire nation, more and more noncommercial broadcasters are facing tough questions about the future.  We've seen colleges and municipalities sell stations that have been community fixtures for decades, and noncommercial groups (including some religious broadcasters) deciding to call it a day and liquidate their holdings.  At the same time, the ratings success of many noncommercial broadcasters (both public broadcasters and those owned by religious or other community organizations), especially in the radio world, are showing much success in developing a large listening audience.  With noncommercial stations, by law restricted to raising funds without commercial advertising, many are looking for new ways of operating.  How are FCC regulations and interpretations reacting to these new realities? 

The FCC's Future of Media Study (and the resulting Report on the Information Needs of Communities that we summarized here) recognized the importance of the diversity provided to communities by noncommercial broadcasters and, without detailing any proposals, indicated support for the development of new funding sources for those stations.  Similar general statements were echoed in the hearing on the report recently held by the FCC in Arizona.  But the options of the FCC in pursuing solutions are limited.  In a recent decision, a noncommercial entity that operated a number of stations in small rural markets asked for a waiver of the FCC's underwriting rules to allow it to air a limited amount of advertising for commercial entities, restricted to the top of the hour, and presented so as to not break up normal programming.  The applicant justified the request on the current financial climate that made donations and grants hard to come by, especially in the rural areas where this group operates its stations.  While the Commission's staff expressed sympathy for the applicant's financial plight, it stated that it was powerless to waive the Communications Act, which prohibits noncommercial stations from broadcasting "any advertising."  Faced with this prohibition, and a fear of opening the floodgates to similar requests, the FCC denied the waiver.

So what options are there short of amending the Communications Act (which, if groups of noncommercial broadcasters and others in the community who favor all types of broadcasting that NCE stations provide joined in, is not beyond the realm of possibility)?  One area might be for some clarifications and amendments to the FCC's own rules that interpret and implement the statute.  Based on the number of recent fines levied on noncommercial broadcasters for exceeding the limits of the underwriting rules, and from the reactions of noncommercial broadcasters in discussion during various presentations that I have done on complying with the underwriting rules (see, e.g., our article here about one such presentation), the rules are not necessarily straightforward, and often lead to confusion.  They get especially grey in areas of event-marketing, concert promotion, live appearance and other potential sources of ancillary revenue for noncommercial broadcasters, where such fundraising may have an incidental benefit to commercial groups.  Where are the lines drawn as virtually any area of commerce will have some incidental benefit to commercial entities, even if it is at the level of sales of the the station's electronic equipment, telephones, office supplies and other materials used to create any message on behalf of a nonprofit entity and to convey it to the listener?  Realistic, flexible and understandable rules need to be adopted.

While clarifying the underwriting rules may be helpful in this environment, there have been some troubling developments in the law surrounding fundraising for noncommercial broadcasters.  In a  letter of inquiry sent this summer to a noncommercial station involved in an LMA type arrangement  with another noncommercial broadcaster, the FCC raised numerous issues about such arrangements.  While nothing has been decided in this case, the fact that the letter was publicly released by the FCC raises questions about the continuing use of such arrangements in the noncommercial world.  As a policy matter, why these arrangements, with another noncommercial broadcaster, would be troubling is unclear, as the Commission has recognized that any sort of promotion for noncommercial entities is not advertising and not covered by the Communications Act prohibitions.  Why should it care if noncommercial broadcasters obtain programming from other noncommercial entities?  Many noncommercial licensees, not ready to sell their stations but facing tough economic times, may look at such arrangements as a way to retain the license and the flexibility to resume full independent operations when economic times are more robust.  Inflexibility in this area may cause the sale of more stations in the future.  We will see what happens as this case develops.

Changing times call for changing approaches to regulation and operations.  We will see where the FCC takes these regulations in the coming months, and where noncommercial broadcasters, facing the new reality of today's economic times, decide to push for change in the ways that they can and do they operate.

Cycling ’74′s Max 6 is now available. See our previous previews:
For Home-brewing Music Tools Graphically, Perhaps the Biggest Single Update Yet [Create Digital Music]
In Max 6, Big Banner 3D + Animation Features for Jitter, Alongside Usability Improvements [Create Digital Motion]

Along with the release comes an updated site, which does a really nice job of presenting different applications, from sound to physical computing to visuals and show control:
http://cycling74.com/products/max/

Pricing details:
US$399 retail (Max 6, now includes Jitter at last)
US$199 Max 6 upgrade
US$249 discounted bundle of Max 6 upgrade + Gen
Academic discounts, including a new annual subscription plan for institutions

Those academic plans finally cover a year instead of 9 months, just in case you want to patch through your summer break.

Gen is the set of low-level objects that allow you to create more sophisticated tools from scratch without coding externals. I’m a little sad to see it priced separately, even if it makes sense from a business perspective, in that users of Gen won’t be able to easily distribute their work to the rest of the user base. Scratch that – yes, they will; they just won’t be able to edit them. So that’s a good compromise! See the upgrade FAQ.

That said, for anyone thinking gen~ is comparable to Reaktor’s Core, here’s a good explanation:
Comparing gen and Reaktor core level [Cycling '74 forums]

(It certainly is in terms of goals, but the way it behaves is very different.)

Max for Live users…

So, what if you’re using Max for Live? Now that Max 6 is available, Max for Live incorporates the new release – if you have a separate license for Max 6. That should be especially useful to Jitter users, who will get all the new Max 6 stuff and a full-featured copy of Jitter that’s otherwise lacking in Max for Live alone.

If you have only Max for Live and not a separate copy of Max, for now, you’ll continue to use Max 5, until an updated Max for Live is available. (When that happens, we’ll be sure to carry the news.)

Of course, dropping in Max 6 may cause compatibility problems, so France-based Julien Bayle has a tip at top on how to switch between your licensed copies of Max 5 and Max 6:

Switching Max5/Max6 inside Ableton Live (max002) [Design the Media; see video, top]

Of course, the good news here is, if you want to use the new Max with Max for Live, you can.

Image-Line are quick to attach lots of disclaimers about when the work will be ready, but a teaser video demonstrates they have builds of their FL Studio Mobile software running on Android devices. It looks like a particularly good match for tablets, and is the latest indication that their may finally be a horse race in tablets for music. (Insert more disclaimers here.)

The phrase “low latency” is likely to make prick up some ears. No computer is “zero latency”; digital systems introduce some delay from recording to playback. The quality of the user experience, therefore, is having things happen without too much latency, whether it’s when sounds from a microphone or line input are processed or when a touch event or MIDI input results in a sound. iOS at least puts that latency in the acceptable range. Android devices, meanwhile, have earned complaints. Some of these issues appear to have to do with the way the platform itself works, in scheduling and the hardware abstraction layer, whereas other challenges arise from the variety (and, let’s face it, inconsistent quality) of Android’s various devices.

However, there are signs that developers might make this situation more manageable. We hear there are changes in Android’s Ice Cream Sandwich release that could impact both the way native access to the audio system and scheduling work; it’s too soon to evaluate those changes, because the OS isn’t done yet. But that leads to the other important development: Android developers are beginning to test performance across devices for some harder numbers. Those kinds of tests could benefit from easy software distribution and the (relatively) open source nature of the operating system — or at least, to be fair, from freely distributing genuinely free-software apps for testing. It’s also worth saying that not all applications require low latency, or, indeed, concern themselves with input-to-output latency. (Not all apps use an audio input.)

It’s not yet clear what Image-Line’s own “low latency” engine is about, but it’ll be interesting to watch. First promised in June, at least, it seems Image-Line is making some headway. More details:
http://www.image-line.com/documents/android.html

I’m still far, far from being able to recommend purchasing an Android device for use with music – iOS wins handily. But developers naturally want to look ahead, beyond the present situation to what might be possible in the near future, especially since they’re the ones making the apps. And there, the picture is worth examination.

Die orientalische christliche Musik wird im Libanon und in Ägypten seit vielen Jahren gepflegt. Aramäische und koptische Hymnen, spirituelle Lieder der großen Diva Fairuz, und Christen-Pop sind musikalischer Ausdruck des kulturellen Erbes und gleichzeitig politisches Manifest. Eine Reportage - im Rahmen des Projektes Global Prayers.

Podcast

Thomas Burkhalter: Christian Music in Cairo and Beirut by Global Prayers

An den christlichen Feiertagen dringen die religiösen Lieder von Fairuz, Wadi Al Safi und anderen christlichen Stars aus allen Häusern. Im Satelliten-Fernseher singen der Libanese Nizar Fares und ägyptische Koptensänger christliche Poplieder. Und an den libanesischen Universitäten von Kaslik und Antonine wird nach neuen und alten christlichen Liedern gesucht und unterrichtet. Mit:

Nidaa Abou Mrad, Musiker und Musikwissenschafter, Beirut
Ghada Shbeir, Sängerin, Beirut
Nizar Farez, Christlicher Popsänger, Beirut
Carolyn Ramzy, Musikethnologin, Kairo

Aufbau des Podcasts

Teil 1: Die Geschichte der christlichen Musik in Libanon. 0’00 – 17’22

Nidaa Abou Mrad

Teil 2: Aramäische Musik im Libanon: Kultur, Identität und Politik. 17’22 – 31’22

Teil 3: Nizar Fares: Christlicher Pop. 31’22 – 39’39

Nizar Fares

Teil 4: Koptische Popmusik in Kairo. 39’39 – 52’36

Click here to view the embedded video.

Playlist

Traditionell, Hymne orthodoxe du Jeudi Saint, Chœur de l’Archevêché Orthodoxe de Beyrouth.
Thomas Burkhalter, Strassenmusiker in Beirut, Feldaufnahme.
Traditionell, Hymne orthodoxe de la Résurrection, Dimitri Murr.
Traditionell, Hymne syriaque maronite, Père Maroun Mrad.
Toufic Succar, Passion et Résurrrection, Toufic Succar.
Tania Kassis, Islamo-Christian Ave, Tania Kassis.
Nidaa Abou Mrad, Theophany, Nidaa Abou Mrad, Classical Arabic Music Ensemble, Forward Music.
Nidaa Abou Mrad, Logos And Melos, Classical Arabic Music Ensemble, Forward Music.
Thomas Burkhalter, Fairuz auf Balkon, Feldaufnahme.
Kamel El Ajyal, Fairuz, Voix de l’Orient VL CD516.
Traditionell, Ya Oummallah, Ghada Shbeir.
Traditionell, Teshbouhto Imoryo, Ghada Shbeir .
Thomas Burkhalter, Azhan in Beirut, Feldaufnahme.
Nizar Fares, Al Zare Al Zare, Nizar Fares.
Traditionell, Alallah Teoud, Wadi Al Safi.
Traditionell, Rosho il Ward.
Maher Fayez, Hymn from Ava Barsooms Film, Maher Fayez.
Rahbani Brothers, „Ya Laure Houbiki, Fairuz, A. Chahine & Fils.

Dieser Podcast entstand im Rahmen des Projektes Global Prayers. Alle Fotos stammen von Thomas Burkhalter.