loops & ppool
An attempt at fighting gas and creating a portable live rig with ppooll.
Recently, I was getting a lot of GAS watching all these new gear launches and even a bit of writer block.
Anyways, after a walk yesterday, I came to the following conclusion: as a musician and freelancer, my budget is tight and limited these days so I need to choose wisely.
Is this or this needed? Is it going to benefit my workflow or is it a pure '“cool kid” kind of attitude? Did buying more gear aligned with my work in progress “eco conscious” life?
Well it is a mixed feeling…probably a more than one day thinking process…but I took this as a good exercise to shake my habits. I wanted more new stuff… Let’s build it :)
NB: this is my story and it is ok to buy whatever you want. I’m just sharing and not giving lessons.
For more than a year, I have followed the development of a free software called ppooll. Ppooll is a « modular » environment built inside max msp and you can run it without a commercial max licence.
When starting, there is only one windows called ho_st. This is the heart of the system: stereo or multi stream audio, on/off, main audio level, hard disk recording, cpu usage and minimal prefs.
From ho_st you will open a saved patch called “environment” or start from scratch adding and linking “acts”. Acts are modules with functions: audio player, granular, modulation…
Each “act” can be linked to the next one via audio and can be controlled with midi/osc or other modulation “acts”. You can open and use VST and even (Beta) max4live items.
TIP: Like a modular rig, the best is to test “acts” and plan a bit of what you want to do/achieve…otherwise it will be overwhelming. Start small with a sampler player “act” like Flop and test your audio and installation. If it is ok then you are set for exploration and hours of musical experiments.
You can check and download ppooll here.
There is also an great Discord, plenty of Youtube videos and even some recorded workshops.
Below is the live patch I’m building at the moment with input from Guitar, Wingie and Reface CP. Audio is going from instruments to an analog mixer and Ears(for guitar amp) to an ES8 interface (in my modular rack). Audio is routed to the computer via usb and recorded into different buffer lengths.
One “act” called Karma for looping/overdub, two granular “act” with different buffer recording lengths. I can add some vst to each act for various flavors and soundscapes. Also I can play live all instruments on top too thanks to the IN “act”.
Finally an old Ipad mini is running an OSC patch that is controlling most of it (levels / sends / panning and actions like record, overdub, reverse and pitch). This Ipad was a brick (due to the Apple obsolescence strategy) but it’s working well for this new purpose. I’m happy that I can give it a second life and save money.
The main out is passed through an eq VST then out to monitors. At the same time the ho_st is recording all audio of the environment as an audio file (no need for external recording device).
Environment in details:
01 ho_st / the brain.
This is where you will start to add “acts”, save/open your environment.
02 In Mult.
Audio into ppooll. You can add as much IN that your sound card can. You can also push the gain.
03 buffhub
This is where you will record some of the audio buffers that can be used by other “acts” like granular, loop players.
04 buffer_host
This is a file browser for your samples or to create empty buffers.
05 karma
Sound on sound looper (record / play / overdub / reverse / pitch) to an empty buffer of 60s (this is the limit for my buffer but you can record a lot longer).
06 & 07 kk_rainer
Basically a granular engine laying different buffers length with presets (number of grains / pitch / sample zone selection….)
08 erb
FX
09 & 10 control
This act is where you will set up your usb midi or osc mapping. This is the basic function but there are a lot more possibilities.
11 matriarch
This is a mixer and in this environment I’m using it as an audio send to different “acts”. Sometimes to buffhub sometimes to karma or to both :)
It is a limited setup for now but perfect to play and record music sketches quickly. My idea is to do some live acts across Europe this year so I need to travel light.
Rig notes: The audio interface is going to be my Digitakt or Analog Heat with a Boss overdrive SD1 pedal and a passive mixer (to add more than one sound source).
A looper (Ditto) is connected on the send/return of the analog mixing desk to record each track as a backup (even if ppooll is stable, if the computer is crashing I have some audio to play from the actual performance as backup).
I will try to record some performance videos in the coming weeks but for now you can listen to the audio I have recorded today (as usual raw and unedited).
By the way, I’m not a guitar player so no crazy chords here…^^
Hope you will enjoy it. Peace.