Photo by Brian Stevens

And now he’s making a Renoise album. It’s called The Inertials and is a collection of “shiny new techno/electro with many layers of rhythm programming, sound design and microdetails to surprise, freak-out and delight” according to Cristian himself. Another unique aspect of this album is that it’s fan-funded via PledgeMusic. Of special interest to the Renoise crowd should be that by taking part in this funding process, you can get your hands on actual Renoise XRNS files of Cristian’s latest tracks among other things.

Can you tell us a bit about what you’re up to at the moment?

Right now, I am getting together a new album of electronic sounds, leaning towards a more beat-driven style than my last full-length release on SubRosa.

It’s taken me a long time to figure out how to get back into recording and releasing material this time, as things have really changed a lot for me. I no longer have my own analogue studio, since the Station 55 studio in Barcelona closed down in 2010. I needed to come up with a way of raising the final studio mixing costs up front, so I decided to go for PledgeMusic, one of the fan-funding models that have sprung up from the ashes of the old style music business.

What made you decide to go for this approach rather than a traditional release?

So many reasons. Back in the mid-90s when I was part of the No Future collective in Brighton, I was always anti-music industry, we used to call it underground back then. I was into DIY culture, cassette labels, spread-by-mail, white labels… Generally trying to avoid what was already an artist-unfriendly situation with major indie labels and pressing/distribution deals. I chose PledgeMusic over the other options, because it was dreamed up by a UK musician, Benji Rogers. In my opinion, you gotta be an artist to know how tough it can be, so as to build something more fair.

PledgeMusic is based upon a simple idea. Instead of an artist or group investing their own money up front on recording and mixing, based on the vagueness of possibly recouping those costs from sales, this model tries to raise the money upfront, over a 60 day timeframe. Funds are pledged by fans, friends and family in return for exclusives such as signed vinyls, previews, even backstage passes, exclusive concerts, or whatever the artist wants to offer! In my case, there’s also Renoise XRNS files of the album tracks up for grabs.

Essentially, it hinges on the idea that if an individual would be interested to buy the record in the store when it comes out, then by the same initiative, they can pay for it upfront and wait until its made. This way they participate in its creation, the artist gets a much better income stream from their music vision and from their own creativity just when they really need it.

Also, the connection with the audience is no longer an imagined one. The support from the pledgers comes at a critical time, when an artist needs to be especially motivated, positive and strong – that is to say, during the creation period (I think touring is much less demanding than composing). And these days, writing and recording is a really tricky project to manage. You need months focussed on inventing great music. On top of that, its got to be up to the standard that demanding listeners expect! Without the budget for the equipment, time and resources – not to mention food and drink, I don’t know how anyone expects new music to happen! Thats why I think the fan-funding model is a really good idea, all round.

More here: www.pledgemusic.com/projects/cristianvogel

And for this project, you’ve made Renoise a big part of your working process. What attracted you to Renoise?

Well, like many others from my generation, I started getting really seriously productive on my Amiga using ProTracker. Back then, we traded floppies by mail, this radical idea of a software sound sequencer, from the people for the people. PT2.0 just popped through my letterbox one day – no user guide and plenty of vibe! I was hooked straight away. I waited for almost 20 years before someone built on that amazing legacy, and did it properly. So when I installed Renoise back in January 2009, man, I was hyper excited. Proper back to the future trip.

For what aspects of production do you use Renoise?

I stopped making music with trackers around my 5th album (All Music Has Come To An End on Tresor Berlin)… I went off and studied synthesis, mixing and modular thinking which led over many years to an object-oriented approach to composition and sound design. So, a big part of my compositional thinking happens in realtime code, using the Kyma music language. I see Renoise as more similar to a procedural kind of paradigm, sound events which are scheduled to happen on a clocked linear timeline. On the other hand, Kyma, SuperCollider and Max/MSP are more object-oriented where all manner of music objects can be invented, can exist simultaneously and exchange messages.

Basically, as some coders will tell you, a creator needs to be down with different approaches to design, in order to reach a good solution to a problem. In the context of computer music, the problem is compositional, and the solution is the sound of the finished piece.

So I use Renoise to arrange audio files and decide where to fix them in place on a quantised linear timeline. In other words, placing samples on ticks, patterns of samples in a sequence and so on. I also use Renoise for producing sound design elements, like rendered wavetables or audio prints for further manipulation in Kyma.

How do you perform live at the moment? Have you managed to work Renoise into it somehow?

I use Kyma live, a sound I have been developing for about 6 years called “The NeverEngine” with which I can improvise techno in realtime. I use some sounds from Renoise sketches, as source in there. I am considering presenting the new album live in Renoise, as its less about improvisation… Stay tuned for that!

Certainly will, that sounds very exciting. Any particular feature requests for us devs?

Well, the new 2.8 beta has pretty much got it all covered. You guys are doing a great job!

Thanks for the nice words! What about Kyma, how did you get into that, and what does it give you that similar tools don’t?

Sound quality primarily. DSP hardware that is only concerned with music making and sound design, no mouse or email or graphics…

I needed to push past a kind of “modular” way of thinking, so that’s how I got into it. It’s a difficult learning curve though, I had to dedicate a number of years to reach the deeper levels of what’s possible. Which has been great fun!

Do you work mainly with software these days, or does hardware feature to some extent?

Apart from the Pacarana (Kyma’s dedicated hardware component) and the MacBook, it’s all software. I design in code and in the tracker, but I also have many years experience with outboard, mixers, dynamic processors and so on. So I try and always get out of the box, and dig some studio time… Hence the PledgeMusic project! >>Nudge<<

What technology have you used throughout the years, and what’s been your favourites?

I loved the EMS Synthi, sadly had to sell it off. I love the colours of analogue processing equipment, especially at the mastering stage. It’s another universe of sonics, and they combine well with digital sounds.

What was your involvement with the film Enter The Void from a couple of years ago?

Cool movie. They used a track I made in 1993, Cancion Sintetica in all the club scenes. Thomas Bangalter used some of my more up-to-date sound design amongst the layers of that incredible 2 hour sound mix that accompanies the film from beginning to end.

So it was more a case of them using your work after the fact than you being actively involved in shaping the soundtrack?

Yes, Gaspar Noé (the director) wanted that track specifically. Just goes to show how you can never predict what will happen in the future with the tunes you make now, so make them robust enough for the long term!

To finish off with, who would you say have been your biggest musical influences?

It’s so tricky to say definitively, but I’ll just drop a few… Howlin Wolf, Rhythm & Sound, Talking Heads, Drexciya, Charlie Parker, Bo Diddley, …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead, Burial, AtomTM, Tod Dockstader, The Young Gods, Night Of The Brain, Fog, Black Dice, Tortoise, Sonic Youth… Well, you get the idea – all the mavericks!

www.pledgemusic.com/projects/cristianvogel

Renoise 2.8 Features

Full 64-bit Support

Ever since our Linux users got a 64-bit version with Renoise 2.5, we’ve had a lot of requests for 64-bit support on all three platforms, and now it’s ready. Running the 64-bit version, the memory-hungry among you can now take full advantage of the available resources in your machine, allowing you to break the 4 GB barrier.

Renoise 2.8 also comes complete with a native plug-in bridge, allowing seamless usage of 32-bit instrument and effect plug-ins inside the 64-bit Renoise process, and vice versa.

• 64-bit versions for all platforms: Windows, OSX and Linux
• Plug-in bridge allows 32-bit plug-ins to be used within 64-bit Renoise
• Full Rewire 64-bit support

Reworked Pattern Matrix with Slot Aliases

Workflow has been the keyword for most of the 2.8 development cycle. Thanks to the revamped Pattern Matrix and sequencer, it’s now easier than ever to arrange your songs. By aliasing individual pattern slots, you can lay out complete tracks in no time. The new sections feature allows you to add structure and overview, while the streamlined sequencer helps to keep your project nice and tidy.

• Alias individual pattern slots in the matrix, i.e. treat them like clips
• Edit one slot and have changes propagate to all other aliases
• Quickly clone or alias slots by dragging their edges
• Use section headers to group parts of the song together

Track Groups & Collapsing

Another big workflow improvement is track grouping, which allows you to group related tracks together, and have each group share common effect chains. It’s now also possible to collapse tracks and groups, which can do wonders for the overview of large projects.

• Group tracks into logical units, collapse them for better overview
• Flexible routing of group tracks
• Collapsed tracks use minimal space, while still providing a quick overview
• Pattern effects in groups will affect all member tracks simultaneously
• Automatically collapse all tracks except the one you are focussing on
• Color code tracks with adjustable background colors

DSP Effects and Meta Devices

And what would a new Renoise release be without a few new DSP effects?

• New DSP Multitap delay for spaced out filtered echo madness

• New DSP Repeater for st-st-st-stuttery goodness

• New DSP Exciter to make your mixes sparkle

• New Meta Mixer allowing blending of modulation signals into one output

• Improved EQs with bigger graphs and all values can be automated
• Improved Send devices, which can now be individually panned
• New and improved crossover filters for the Multi Send device

Sample Editor

The Sample Editor has also got its fair share of workflow improvements.

• Left & right channels can be edited separately
• Zoom level & current selection are remembered per sample
• Significantly faster sample loading
• Destructively render slices to individual samples
• Improved keyboard and mouse selection handling
• Improved marker and waveform display visibility
• New and improved processing tools (mute selection, insert silence, invert phase, swap stereo channels and cross-fading loop creator)

Improved Spectrum View

• New Phase Correlation Meter in Phase Scope
• Side-by-side comparison of two tracks in the spectrum view
• New drawing modes: Filled Curve, Bar and Spectrogram
• Configurable frequency scaling, precision, peak fall rate, and slope

Pattern Effects

• Pattern effects in the master or group tracks will affect all member tracks
• Up to 34 DSP devices can be addressed via pattern commands 1xyy-Yxyy
• New pattern effects: Tremolo, Auto Pan, Set Envelope Position
• Logical mnemonics for pattern effects from A to Z instead of cryptic numbers

Performance Improvements

• Hyper-threading support for new Intel i5 and i7 CPUs and others
• Various audio engine speed optimizations for all platforms

Other Workflow Improvements

• New Favorites system for plug-ins and native DSP devices
• Expandable and detachable Envelope Editor
• Memorize last used bank/preset paths per plug-in
• Automatically name rendered songs/patterns
• Right-side modifier keys are no longer hard-coded
• Finer control over note distribution when dragging samples into keyzones
• Improved color picker with saveable swatches
• Context menus overhauled and made more consistent

Under the Hood

• Quicktime is no longer needed to import MP3 files on Windows
• Plug-ins are woken up from auto-suspend when clicking on their windows
• Support for mono capture devices on OSX
• New Jack implementation on Linux
• Trimmed overall memory footprint

All songs in a 202 MB pack: MBC #4 Final Votepack

Good times!

Here is the vote pack: MBC4.zip [194 MB]

There are 23 songs in this pack. Participants must pick and post their top 3 in the Mutant Breaks Competition #4 thread or they are disqualified. The top 10 go into a hat. My ~18 month old daughter picks a winner. I will make a YouTube video of this.

If you were not a participant you can still post, but your vote will be ignored. If some weird thing happens, like a bunch of tied tracks make it so that more than 10 are in the top, I will exercise veto power and truncate however I feel like it.

All songs in this archive are copyright, or not, their respective authors. Don’t pull a Timbaland. Contact the authors before assuming anything. Sample at your own risk.

Some songs are OGG files. It’s 2011, you should be able to playback Ogg Vorbis by now?! If not try:

• http://www.videolan.org/vlc/
• http://www.xiph.org/quicktime/

Good times.

Once a year this shit is mandatory!

Deadline

Sunday, November 6th, 2011.

Genres

Electro / Bassline / Breakbeats / Jungle / Drum & Bass / IDM / Breakcore / Dubstep / Experimental / Noise

Rules

• One entry per contestant.
• Participants must vote for 3 different tracks or they are disqualified. Feel free to vote for yourself as one of the choices. It won’t affect the outcome. It only serves as a collective benchmark for quality.
• If the artist shares an XRNS, then total votes are multiplied x 2. Incentive to see more XRNS this year!
• The top 10 tracks, eg most votes, are written on equal sized pieces of paper and put into a hat.
• The first piece of paper that my ~17 month old daughter picks out of the hat wins $100 Canadian dollars, to be sent via PayPal.

Don’t know what Mutant Breaks is? Don’t understand the rules?

Well then, too bad! Nah, just kidding. Check the links from the last three years for some idea. Barely:

Mutant Breaks 2010
Mutant Breaks 2009
Mutant Breaks 2008

Submit your song here

Mutant Breaks #4 Discussion Thread

Drill and bass, for the ladies.