Blog

You might have already noticed that Springbeats’ website doesn’t exactly look like before. We’ve switched servers and at the same time decided to redo the design so that it’s more coherent with what’s on the blog. Also, we were not showing properly the work we did as JUCE experts. Now if you want to hire us for custom development, you can see what we did before (only the projects we didn’t sign an NDA for though, unfortunately), and you have a clear contact form. Besides, mobile navigation wasn’t very good with the previous version. Now this should be much more readable! For the tech guys out there, there will be a post on my dev blog about how it was deployed with docker-machine and Let us know on facebook or twitter what you think of the upgrade!

As you probably know, we developed a very neat tool called AutoTheory for our buddies at MozaicBeats. AutoTheory is a standalone application that acts as a MIDI controller for your Digital Audio Workstation, or any audio software that accepts MIDI input. You need to disable your MIDI Keyboard controller in your DAW and activate it in the AutoTheory settings. Then, AutoTheory transforms the notes for you, according to the key and mode you chose. In the default setting, everything you’d play with your left hand on the keyboard will play a chord of this key and scale, and everything you play with your right hand plays the notes of the last chord you hit. MozaicBeats created a nice video for you to understand all the features of this amazing little application: Video doesn’t exist anymore. As the developers, we’re very proud to announce that we rocked the version 2 🙂 It has the following new features: More control for advanced users who’d like to bypass notes or use a traditional chromatic piano with the right hand, or output root notes with more flexibility. New strum modes and chord types The ability to control the transport of your DAW from AutoTheory A new Chord Memory mode which lets you record 4 chords of different lengths and play them back so that you can use the changes in melody they imply. You can buy it directly from their website or from plugin boutique.

The “Siestes Electroniques” music festival took place last weekend in our hometown of Toulouse. During 4 days, thousands of people come to chill to the sound of electronic bands, in a park of the city center. What interested us even more than drinking while laying down in the grass like roman emperors, were the “Futurism” events happening aside from the stages. It gathered hundreds of curious amateurs of professionals around a few presentations, workshops and demonstrations. Among other activities, you could make music with complete strangers through a collaborative music totem, solder synth kits, learn how to make your own instruments, how to mix, learn about the work of the professionals and artists of the area, and finally, take part to our now regular Audio Meetup. Here is a great video tour of what happened there by Cristian Díaz Briceño (you can even see our handsome silhouettes listening very carefully at one point 😉 ): There are more photos to see on the Futurism Facebook Page. In my opinion, one of the most interesting thing to witness was how curious the public was to all this music and technology mashup. Kids were playing with the “draw-your-vinyl” installation or the music totem, and adults were really keen to know how to DIY. It also showed the public that we have great products made in Toulouse, such as the Pianoteq plugin, or the AudioGaming products. One presentation featured the founders of the local Toulouse Fablab (the first in the country!) and the London Music Hackspace. I really hope that collaborations will emerge and that we will witness the birth of the “Toulouse Music Hackspace”!

We haven’t shared much news lately. But that’s not a bad sign. It means we’ve been busy with exciting projects! One of those projects is AutoTheory. AutoTheory is a standalone app for Windows and macOS. It helps you make music in a creative way without needing deep music theory. Pick a key, choose a scale or a jazz mode, and you’re ready to play. Put your hands on a MIDI controller. Notes on your left hand trigger chords. Notes on your right hand always fit the chosen chord. AutoTheory sends these notes to its MIDI outputs. You can route them into your favorite DAW or synth. This way you can jam for hours on strong chord progressions and melodies without worrying about theory. That’s only the start. You can also use “Melody Lock” to map scales to your right hand. You can play with your computer keyboard instead of a controller. Then tweak chords step by step, play arpeggios, use inversions, try voicings, or even split the bass note to another output. AutoTheory gives you a lot of flexibility. The team at Mozaic, who created AutoTheory, also shared video demos. They explain how to use the app and show what it can do. AutoTheory has existed as a Reason Rack Extension since 2013. It even made it onto Berklee’s list of the best Rack Extensions. We developed this new universal version. It comes with a simplified interface that makes it easier to use. Computer Music Magazine gave AutoTheory a solid review. It scored 8/10. Buy it here! And here’s more good news. AutoTheory will soon be part of our own product, Instinct! We’ll share details about that later.