Coming up on today’s epispde:

Ecken shows us his latest Touch OSC templates and performances a live demo. Thats right! Ecken making beats LIVE with iPad using Logic Studio.

Touch OSC Template
16 Sample Drum Pad. Two 26 Key MIDI layout. Designed for iPad. Includes OSCulator template.

Get ready to make some wicked tunes on your iPad! We created a custom Touch OSC templates designed for the iPad. 16 Sample drum pad, and two 26 key keyboard layouts. Each note and pad has been pre-programmed to work with your DAW. You’ll get three custom templates along with the accompanying OSCulator template. Works right out of the box once you connect it to OSCulator. Includes rotary dials and multifaders for using them as MIDI cc’s to control your live effects.

• Page One
  16 Sample Drum Pad. 4 Rotary controllers. 3 Multi-Faders and 1 Pitch Bend.
• Page Two
  26 Key Midi Layout. 6 Rotary controllers. 3 Multi-Faders, 1 Pitch Bend and 1 XY Pad.
• Page Three
  34 Key Midi Layout. 6 Multi-Faders

With all the recent news about iPad application development, we’d though it’d be appropriate to release a sneak peak of our new application. We have create a short video outlining the applications functionality for both the iPhone and iPad.

Although we are still in the infant stages of the app, we will be frequently updating our site, keeping you informed through the whole process. We hope you follow our progress and appreciate comments, suggestions and feedback, thank you so much for watching!

Coming up on today’s epsiode:

How to convert your samples to create a custom beat maker kit, resolve some Error’s, and make some fresh beats!

The Right Format

So I’ve been getting tons of questions about getting unknown sample format errors, and It made me question what are the exact specs, so I pulled up their usual manual and found out.

Use can use iTunes or QuickTime to find out what type of format your samples. Make sure to convert them using the following settings. In iTunes goto preferences, under the general tab, click on Important Settings button, Import using, select AIFF or WAV. Now change Automatic Setting to custom, pick 44100 Hz, Stereo, 16bit is okay, and hit done done done, now select your file in your library, right click and select “Create AIFF or WAV”. Done!

Alright so now that you know what format you’ll need for, all you gotta do is plop them into your custom beatmaker kit, with BeatPack, lets show you how to do that.

• Download BeatPack.
• Ensure same wifi connection for iPhone/iPod Touch and Computer
• Gather your files. Create your icon
• Arrange your kit, save and export.

Alright hope that answers your question MCtubbsta, thats how to make samples and kits for beatmaker. So what did we learn today? AIFF and WAV formats, NO MP3s

Hope you enjoyed the episode. Remember to also check out my custom beat, youtube channel and thesixtyone page. , be sure to check the site for show notes and details, leave comments and questions on the site, tweet or facebook us. and all the others
C Ya next time!

Coming up on today’s epsiode:

Audio production techniques for iPhone Application Development. Today we’re going to take a look at audio production workflows I use for iPhone development.

Developing audio assets for the iPhone sounds easy enough, but the real challenge is how you’ll need to optimize for file size.

Optimize File Size

When your working on audio for an iPhone application, it’s best practice to keep your file size as low as you can. Here are some settings I’ve found that keep your file relatively low, without too much quality loss.

Export Audio from DAW for the iPhone.

In your DAW, export your audio at a Sample Rate of 22050, with a file format of AIFF, and a resolution of 16bit. Using this setting should keep your file size small, and your quality at a medium.

Using Folders and Markers in Logic for organization.

When working on a project with multiple parts, a great way to group them is to pack them into a folder, and export them individually. To create a Folder in Logic, select your Regions from the Arrangement Window, goto the Region Menu, and then select Folder > Pack Folder.

Now you can double click to enter the folder, create a loop cycle and if you click and drag down, you’ll create a marker. Using Markers are a great way to keep your project organized. Now we can Bounce it out.

Testing your audio translation on iPhone.

Alright so once you get your audio files on your iphone, you definitely want to spend a lot of time testing your audio translation. Most of the time you’ll find yourself going back and editing your levels. some things are hard to hear on the iphone speaker, like low bass sounds. so listen carefully, and make sure to have fun.

Coming up on today’s epsiode:

Using your iPhone as a Wireless MIDI controller. Find out how we can remotely control Logic Studio with our iPhones. Very few apps out there that can do it, IMHO TouchOSC has got to be the best app that can do it. TouchOSC is a remote control app for your iPhone that lets you send and receive messages over Wi-Fi. Used along with OSCulator app for your desktop, You can very easily assign controllers and faders to your Logic Setup.

UPDATE: Osculator app now comes with TouchOSC templates!

Alright so first we’ll need to download TouchOSC from the App Store.

So while we download that, lets go over to the desktop and download OSCulator. OSCulator is basically going to make Touch OSC work with Logic.

Make sure your iPhone and desktop are on the same wifi network. In TouchOSC, your desktop name should show up in network list. Make sure the layout you pick matches with the osculator template you want to use.

Once your connected, test out the controllers in TouchOSC and check OSCulator for a solid green connection. Now in Logic, you can use the Controller Assignment window by hitting Cmd+K. When assigning controllers, always make sure to set the value settings with an unsigned format and a scaled mode.

Heres a quick tip for assigning XY pads with Logics Sculpture Morph Pad.

Goto OSCulator and verify which midi CC is set to the XY. Then in Sculpture, go down to the Midi controller assign area and change the MorphXY settings to the OSCulator midi CC’s. Now your the iPhone can smoothy change the shape of sound in Logic

Alright there you have it, you get the idea. Of course you can also set this up as a piano, or a drum machine, lots of other cool stuff, I hope you enjoyed the epsode, I’ll cya next time with another tutorial.

Coming up on today’s epsiode:

GridIron’s Software Flow is a very unique program for creative professionals. It’s basically a tool that helps you track and manage all the files that go into creating a project. Let me show you what I mean. So one of the best features flow has to offer is that it allows you to visually see the structure of a project. If you use various programs to create a project, flow can actually see the connection between all the files.

What’s great is that this works for websites, print documents, video composites, just about anything!… So It helps you streamline your workflow, and keeps you on top of your project. So flow looks like this, looks like a cluster right now but we can organize it down so it looks less messy. So I can right click on the images, and select group similar, you’ll notice it groups all the images per file format, JPG, PNG, GIF, very nice! You can also make custom groups. I’ll make all these individual files into a group and I’ll call it downloads. A quick way to see contents in the groups is to right click and select Show Group Contents.. Alright and its starting to look a lot more organized.

Now lets take a look at another example. Here’s a Photoshop file. You can actually see all the layers and bins inside the document, very cool. Here’s an after effects project, same thing, you can see the structure of the composition.

Alright and there you have it. That’s a quick demo of Flow. Now there’s a whole bunch of other features like versioning, time tracking, tagging and bookmarking, but we’ll save that for another episode, so until next time, see you later.

Coming up on today’s epsiode:

How to create a 3D Box and animate it using the new 3D Tools and Features in Flash CS4.

Step 1: Create a square shape

Start by drawing out simple square. Hold down the shift key to constrain the proportions. Now lets change the solid fill to a gradient by going the color palette, and lets change the type to a Linear gradient. Next lets remove the stroke, just goto the stroke color picker and choose the None option.

Now lets make sure our square is in the center of the stage, we can do that by going to the align panel and click on the horizontal and vertical align buttons.

Step 2: Position & Convert into a Movie Clip

Okay next lets convert this shape into a movie clip, just right click and select Convert to Symbol… alright now lets nest this symbol inside another movie clip, and lets name this one 3D Box. So inside the 3D box movie clip is where we’ll be setting up the 3D layers.

Step 3: Duplicate Layers for Each Box Side

Alright so now we can just copy and paste a few of these squares on some new layers. And lets name each copy after a side of the 3D Box such as top, bottom, left and right.

Step 4: Rotate Each Side 90º & Position in Place

Now lets convert all the frames into motion tweens by selecting them, right clicking and Create Motion Tween. Now lets start with the top layer and rotate the X axis 90 degrees. You can hold down the shift key to constrained your rotation. Next we can go inside the motion editor to ensure our rotation was a either a positive value, or a negative one. Just to make sure everything is set the name.

Now we’ll want to move this top layer up about half of the way. So just calculate half the height of the square and move it up so it sets on top. I like to use the 3D Position and View Panel to do this because you can easily change the values there.

Now lets repeat this process for the bottom layer. But this time we’ll want move the half way down, so again just change the value in the 3D Position and View Panel. Alright so next lets start on the left and right squares. Starting with left, lets rotate the Y axis 90 degrees and shift it over to the left about half of the width of the square. Again we can go inside the motion edition to check our values. Alright now we can repeat the same process for the right square, but don’t forget to move it to the right side instead of the left!

Step 5: Test 3D Box Rotation

So once we finish all rotating and positioning, we should be left with a picture frame looking set of rectangles. So lets jump out of the movie clip and goto scene 1. Now lets select our 3D rotation tool and watch as I rotate the box on its Y axis. Pretty sweet huh?

Step 6: Add Drop Shadow

Lets select our bottom layer, and lets goto the filters section in the properties panel and licks pick drop shadow. Lets change the blur X and Y values to something big like 100 pixels, change the quality to high, and distance to 0.

Step 7: Animate 3D Box Rotating

So now lets jump out to our main timeline and lets add a few move frames. Now Ill be using the motion editor to animate the 3D Box and have spin on it Y axis. So lets convert it the frames into a motion tween by right clicking on the frame bar and selecting convert to motion tween. Now we can scrub over to the last frame and then goto the motion editor. So if we want to just rotate the box spinning from left to right, we can simply change the Rotation Y value to 360 degrees.

Test out the animation by pressing cmd+renturn (cntrl+return on PC).

Coming up on today’s epsiode:

How to create custom drum kits with BeatPort and a review of the new BeatMaker 1.3

New Features BeatMaker 1.3

So first, Lets take a look at the the upgraded sequencer. With the introduction to the new preview bar, it makes it easy to scrub through long patterns. We can now zoom in and out of the sequencer and can now insert and remove bars on the timeline.

Next there’s the dynamic access bar which lets us quickly jump between different settings. We can now quickly switch between patterns while in the editor. Drum patterns can now be up to 4 bars long and The "step resolution" can now be edited up to 1/64T.

And finally as a bonus, they’ve added pitch and pan editors in the step editors tab.

Next, we got a whole new pad editing screen for easy access to settings. An improved wav editor with cropping and zooming function… and a new cross controller with fullscreen mode for live effects.

Next up, we got audio recording. Thats right, everyone asked for it, and we finally got it. You can now record directly from the iPhones built-in mic or headset.

Now lets take a look at the new Moog filter. Features low-high and a band-pass frequency with resonance support. Also theres improvement to the delay effect featuring dotted and triplet rhythm support.

Last but not least, you can finally export your beats in midi format.

Use BeatPack to create your own custom kit.

So first we’ll need to download BeatPack from intrua’s website. http://intrua.net/shop.html

When you open up the app, first thing you’ll see is the share kits and samples section. If you read the instructions first you’ll get a head start on how to sync your audio files from your desktop to your iPhone. But first, I’m going to jump to over to the Create Kit section.

The Drag Zone is where we’ll be loading our samples. Simply drag an audio file to the desired pad to load it. This is were your creativity comes into play. I like to arrange my samples in groups, so when I play it live, I can play it with ease. So when your kit is ready, you can fill out the information section and even upload a kit icon. To save it out, click the generate button.

Next, goto the Share kits section and follow the instructions to get your kit onto your iPhone.
So heres a quick run down. Goto BeatMaker, in the home section, click on the BeatPack Icon, then click on add server. Next, type in your computers IP address, you can find it in the share kits section in the BeatPack app.

When your ip shows up in the server list, simply click on it and hit the download button.
Just navigate to your file and hit the download button. When its done, close it and load it as a kit.

And Thats pretty much how we create a custom kit, with BeatPack.
Remeber, you can upload your tunes back over to your desktop by using the upload function.

Coming up on today’s epsiode:

We take a look at using layer comps to change the overall looks of a layout.

In a past episode, we talked about using layer comps to save time when building out websites. Today we going to take a closer look at layer comps, and how they can change the entire look of your project.

Alright so lets say your client likes the layout… but ask you to change the color scheme. Lets also say our client doesn’t know exactly which colors to choose. Instead of picking just one, our client suggests several color schemes. So the best way to do this… in a non-destructive way, is to use Layer Comps.

Step 1: Create a new layer comp.

First, save our project’s current state, so lets open up the layer comps palette and click the create new button. Lets go over these three check boxes.

• Visibility keeps track of what layers turned on or off
• Position stores the location of your layers.
• and Appearance holds all of your layer style information.

So depending on how drastic you want your layout to change, you’ll need to check the appropriate boxes. In this example all use all three.

Step 2: Changing your layout.

Now that we’ve saved our current state, lets start changing stuff around! First I’ll start with changing the colors. I’ll be using layer styles to do this. So once the color is changed on this first layer, we’ll copy that layer’s “layer style” and paste it on other layers with similar attributes. Check out how I can change all of these text layers at one. To do this, I’m using the cmd+shift while clicking on each layer. Right click, and paste the layer style. Works great in situations like this.

Alright next, I’m going to flip the sidebar and content. I’ll need to change the position of the gradient on the sidebar background color. Next, Lets switch to the header image to something more appealing. Just turn this one on… and the other one off.Alright, once your happy with your changes, lets save it out as a new layer comp. So in the layer comp palette, create new, leave those boxes checked and okay!

Now lets switch between these two colors. Okay looks pretty good, so now lets setup another color. So just repeating the same steps from before. Alright here we are….. It’s pretty amazing switching thru layer comps like this. Sorta resembles Javascript Style Sheet switching.

Alright so with all that done. Let’s export these out. I’ll be using the “Layer Comps to Files” export script. If your on CS4, you’ll notice adobe added a few new file formats. Alright and with that, you’ve just created an advanced layer comp workflow. Take a moment to play around with the position and appearance, try to create something totally different!

Coming up on today’s epsiode:

Using layer comps and smart objects to set up sub-pages and ready-to export slices for web build out. By creating slices inside of smart objects and organize your layers and folders, this can drastically help you structure your comp for buildout.

Layer Comps for Build Out

Layer comp are a convenient way to store a snapshot of certain aspects in a document. Here we’re able to save a layer’s visibility. Take a look at these two layer comps, text on and text off. When we cycle thru these two you’ll notice that all this is really doesing is turn off and on the soon-to-be HTML text.By having your comp setup this way, it allows us to quickly export slices with out having to worry about the html text getting exported along with a background image.

Smart Objects & Slicing

Here we have an entire sub-page reside in one smart object. Inside our smart oubject we have slices and layer comps. Thats right folks, smart objects support slices. By converting your sub-page into a smart object, your able to create new slices for each new page. Also, notice we have our handy text on and text off layer comps. This is essential for exporting your slices.

So in addition to converting your sub-pages into a smart objects, lets take a look at how we have our navigation set up. Here you’ll find our favorite text on and text off layer comps. We also have our slices.

Just by looking at the layout, you’ll notice we have it set up for the CSS sliding doors technique. This basically allows one background image contain different anchor states. so If you’ve done css menus before, you know the drill. thats basically all their is to the navigation.

Alright so to sum thing ups, lets take a look at what we’ve learned.

• Use layer comps to set up sub-pages and ready-to export slices.
• Create your slices inside of smart objects.
• Organize your layers and folders to help you structure your sub-pages.
• Don’t forget you can convert pieces of your website into smart objects.