AdrenaLinn Sync v2 Tutorial: LFO Modulation

YouTube via rogerlinndesign | October 19, 2010

"This tutorial describes how to use the LFO (Low Frequency Oscillator) to modulate the filter frequency, volume or pan."

Update:

AdrenaLinn Sync v2 Tutorial: Sequencer modulation

rogerlinndesign | October 19, 2010

"This tutorial describes how to use AdrenaLinn Sync v2's Sequencer to create looped rhythmic filter patterns."

LinnStrument - Air on a G String

YouTube Uploaded by rogerlinndesign on Jun 13, 2011
Not that kind of G string.
"Roger Linn performs 'Air on a G String' by J.S. Bach on his prototype of the LinnStrument, a new musical instrument with 3D Note Expression, coming from Roger Linn Design."

LinnStrument - Gloomy Sunday

Uploaded by rogerlinndesign on Jun 13, 2011

"'Gloomy Sunday' by Rezső Seress, performed by Roger Linn on his "LinnStrument" prototype, a new musical instrument with 3D Note Expression, coming from Roger Linn Design."

Adrenalinn III Tips

via the Roger Linn newsletter:

"Want to stretch the capabilities of your AdrenaLinn III a little farther? Here are a few tips that you may not be aware of.

Tip #1: Transpose Arpeggiator Sequences with a MIDI keyboard
AdrenaLinn III's Arpeggiator Sequences--used by John Mayer in his hit "Bigger Than My Body"--are a wonderful tool for inspiring new ideas. However, they loop the same 2-bar note sequence regardless of what chords you play. To transpose these sequences in real time, simply connect a MIDI keyboard (or MIDI bass pedals). Press any key lower than the "E" below middle C to transpose down, or any key above it to transpose up.

Tip #2: Syncing AdrenaLinn III's effects to a human drummer
In order to sync AdrenaLinn III's rhythmic effects to a human drummer in a live situation, the best way is to send the A3's drumbeat directly into the drummer's headphones (and not into the PA) so he can play along to it. From the audience's point of view, the AdrenaLinn III's effects will appear to be magically in sync to the drummer.

However, if you ask your drummer to wear phones and play to a drum machine, he may not like you anymore. An alternate method is to make A3 play in sync to whatever the drummer is playing. To do this, turn the drums volume all the way off and reassign the left foot switch to RESTART, which resets the beat-synced effect to the beginning of the 2-bar loop instantly with each press. Then you can use the right foot switch (Tap Tempo) to tap in the drummer's tempo and use the left foot switch to occasionally resync the A3 to the start of the bar played by the drummer. Click here for more details.

Tip #3: Beat-Synced Time-Slice and Reassembly
This is a truly weird effect that produce solos you'll either love or hate. It's demonstrated in preset 184, "Mangled Notes", and works by combining Square-Wave Tremolo with Beat-Synced Delay. In this effect, Square-Wave Tremolo is used to slice away every second 1/16 note, and delay is used to fill the resulting holes with the 1/16 note slice immediately preceding each hole. Here are a few interesting variations of preset 184:

1) Set SPEED to "8t" and DELAY TIME to "8n"
2) Set SPEED to "4n" and DELAY TIME to "8n"
3) Set SPEED to "16n" and DELAY TIME to "16d"
4) Set SPEED to "4n", DELAY TIME to "8d" & DELAY REPEATS to "65" (better with chords)

Tip #4: Restore an individual preset or drumbeat to factory status
You probably know to restore all of the AdrenaLinn III's presets and drumbeats to factory status: hold both foot switches while connecting power. But did you know that you can also restore only one preset or drumbeat to factory status? To restore an individual preset, select the preset, hold the UP ARROW key for at least 1/2 second, turn the PRESET knob to the right until it shows "FAC", then briefly press UP ARROW again. To restore an individual drumbeat, select the drumbeat, hold the DOWN ARROW key for at least 1/2 second, turn the DRUMBEAT knob to the right until it shows "FAC", then briefly press DOWN ARROW again.

That's it for now. If you don't have an AdrenaLinn III, please visit our web site, www.rogerlinndesign.com to learn more, including video and audio demos. You can even buy it there with a 30 day guarantee and free shipping to the U.S. and Canada ($40 shipping everywhere else). If your local dealer doesn't carry it, please have them contact us at sales@rogerlinndesign.com. We're happy to sell to any established musical instrument or pro audio dealers."

Roger Linn Design - New Musical Instrument Prototype

YouTube via rogerlinndesign — May 14, 2010 — "Roger Linn Design - New Musical Instrument Prototype"

Update: more info via http://www.rogerlinndesign.com/products/linnstrument/index.html. Capturing a good amount for the archives. Be sure to check out the link for more.

"This design uses a fingerboard grid consisting of 6 rows of 24 semitones each, similar to a guitar. It also has two thumb control strips, one on each side of the fingerboard, to be used for sustaining fingered notes after release, strumming, bowing, blowing or restriking, and also has a wind sensor for added expression. (Ignore the 4 long, thin bars on each side; they were to be used as separate palm-actuated sustain bars, but I've decided that the two thumb strips work better for this.) This design is intended to be played from either of two positions:

1) On a table, with both hands playing from one side and using only one thumb control strip for both thumbs. Because note expression is controlled by subtle changes in finger pressure, the table provides the necessary resistance to that pressure.

2) On your chest vertically, with one hand playing from each side of the instrument. In this case, the left thumb control strip is used by the left thumb and the right thumb control strip is used by the right thumb. Because note expression is controlled by subtle changes in finger pressure, your body provides the necessary resistance to that pressure. This position conveniently places the wind sensor close to the mouth.

In an effort to continue my silly tradition of product titles containing my last name, I think I might call this "LinnStrument". :)

Why do I like this design?

* It is able to sense independent and simultaneous x (pitch), y (timbre) and z/pressure (expression) data from each finger within each cell of the note grid. This permits independent control of the pitch/timbre/expression envelopes of each note in real time as you play, and a very high degree of solo expression without sacrificing polyphony and therefore the ability to produce both chords and highly expressive solos at the same time.

* It uses a fingerboard note layout that borrows from the two most popular traditional instruments-- guitar and piano. Like a guitar, it uses parallel rows of semitones offset by fourths. (A guitar has the odd third inverval between the G and B strings.) Like a piano, the notes increment chromatically as you move up the fingerboard, but instead of one long horizontal keyboard, the notes are arranged as a grid with rows of consecutive semitones offset by fourths. This offset of a fourth is optimal for the size of the human hand because it requires stretching left or right only 2 semitones up or down (on adjacent rows) in order to achieve any interval up to a 5th. This is perhaps one reason why the guitar is so popular. By the way, the idea of chromatic rows offset by fourths isn't my idea; more than a few jazz guitarists use fourths tuning (E-A-D-G-C-F) and Starr Labs makes a very interesting keyboard with this same layout called the Z Board.

* Because the offset between rows of semitones is always a musical fourth interval, you can use the same fingerings for chords or scales regardless of key, which is much easier to learn and transpose. Contrast this with a piano, which requires a different chord fingering for each of 12 keys; or a guitar, which because of the odd 3rd interval between the G and B strings, requires 3 different fingerings for a given chord depending on which strings you use. Of course, this instrument design is software reconfigurable so you can tune it like a guitar if you prefer.

* It permits sliding the pitch from one note to another (like a violin) but quantizes initial finger contact to semitones (like a guitar's frets). This gives you the best of both worlds, thereby eliminating the suffering of thousands of beginning violin students (and their parents).

* Because the note layout is a compact grid, you can see everything you're playing without changing your view. Contrast this with a piano, which requires that you frequently alternate your view between your left and right hands because of the distance between. Also, the compact grid layout has the advantage of being able to finger a chord in one hand that spans up to 4 or more octaves. Contrast this with a piano, which has a maximum pitch range for a one-hand chord of about a musical tenth interval.

* While the primary mode of playing requires only a single finger for each note, 2 long pressure- and position-sensitive thumb strips (one on either side of the fingerboard) permit you to use your thumbs either as sustain bars (to hold the fingered notes after release) or as excitation strips to strum (arpeggiate), bow, blow, pick or restrike (depending on the sound being synthesized) the fingered notes, useful for reproducing the sounds of traditional instruments.

* It completely abandons any remnants of mechanical age instruments in favor of electro-mechanical input sensors with independent sound synthesis. This has the advantages of using a single playing interface independent of the instrument sound, being able to change the fingerboard properties by software, is lightweight and portable, is inexpensive and easily manufactureable, and never goes out of tune.


Why am I showing this before it's done?

I came up with this design in 2006 and development has been slow because my small company has limited resources to develop such a complex product. (Any interested investors?) Also, there aren't many musicians who see anything wrong with current instruments, so not too many people would buy it anyway. A key expense is in developing a multi-touch, pressure-sensitive, high-resolution, fast-response, low cost touch surface technology.

Then in 2009, a new company called TouchCo introduced a technology for a multi-touch, pressure-sensitive, high-resolution input surface that's also very low cost, quoting $10 per square foot in high volume. In fact, I'm using one of their technology evaluation units for the input surface in the video above. Unfortunately, Amazon bought them in January 2010 in order to add touchscreen technology to Kindle, then immediately shut them down and took their product off the market.

Alas, until someone else comes up with a similar touch technology or Amazon decides to make the TouchCo technology available, development of our product will be limited to refining our Max/MSP patch. One promising new technology we've evaluated is a touchscreen from Stantum (same company as JazzMutant, makers of the Lemur) that senses surface area of your fingers, which is not a bad alternative to sensing pressure because your finger surface area increases as you increase pressure. However, I found that their current resolution wasn't high enough for what I'm trying to do, plus true pressure sensing is better for musical control.

So given this situation, I decided to call this a research project and publish what I've done so far in an effort to get more people interested in and thinking about new musical instruments. Maybe even Jeff Bezos will read this and see that in the grand war between Kindles, iPads and Android tablets, it wouldn't be such a bad thing to permit some sort of controlled usage of the TouchCo technology.

- Roger Linn"

"How far can you be?" on LinnStrument

Published on Jan 16, 2015 Geert Bevin

"I was playing around with the LinnStrument and iPad synths to get ready for NAMM, and kept thinking of my dog Droopy who is alone in the hospital right now. Here's a little musical painting of those moments.

Played on the LinnStrument, more information about it here: http://www.rogerlinndesign.com/linnst...

Sound is generated by Audiobus on iPad Air, running SampleWiz going through Amazing Noises Reverb and Crystalline, recorded in AudioShare."

iTunes: SampleWiz - Wizdom Music LLC

LinnStrument cover : The Choice from The Last Of Us

Published on Jul 28, 2014 Geert Bevin

"This is an instrumental cover of The Choice from The Last Of Us, written by Gustavo Santaolalla. I'm using the row-per-channel configuration so that each row acts as an individual string. The sound is coming from Trilian with an 8-part multitimbral setup (one for each row).

More information about the LinnStrument here: http://www.rogerlinndesign.com"

The Future of Synthesis - Physical Modeling and Expressive Musical Instruments | NAMM 2020

Published on Feb 7, 2020 Under the Big Tree

"This panel on physical modeling at NAMM was a fascinating talk, with luminaries from the industry: Jordan Rudess, Roger Linn, and Dr. Julius Schwartz from CCRMA, among others.

Each of the five panelists delivers a presentation on their approach to physical modeling, expressive musical instruments, or the intersection of the two. Hilarious hijinks ensue.

www.audiomodeling.com
www.rogerlinndesign.com
ccrma.stanford.edu
nonlinear-labs.de

Under the Big Tree is Nick Peck's YouTube channel, focused on music and sound design equipment and techniques, composition, production and performance of music, modular synthesizers and electronic music in general, and tabletop board games.

http://www.underthebigtree.com"

LinnStrument 3-part pitch slides

Published on Aug 1, 2015 Roger Linn Design

"In this video, Roger demonstrates playing 3-part harmony pitch slides on LinnStrument with Madrona Labs Aalto as a sound source. Each note has fully independent pressure, X-axis pitch and Y-axis comb filter. www.rogerlinndesign.com, www.madronalabs.com."

Tempest - Beat Exercise by Richard Devine

Tempest - Beat Exercise from Richard Devine on Vimeo.

"Just playing a rhythmic beat exercise on the new Tempest Drum machine by Dave Smith and Roger Linn. Interesting drum synthesis and parameter control allows for some really cool beat manipulation. The sounds featured are from 4 different analogue synthesis kits I created and programmed.

davesmithinstruments.com/​

rogerlinndesign.com/​products/​tempest/​index.html"

Mellow Linnstrument Jam (w/ AE Modular Synth + Ukulele + iPad) #TTNM

Published on Jun 21, 2018 The Tuesday Night Machines

"Another slow Linnstrument jam, this time accompanied by the Tangible Waves AE Modular Synthesizer and a Ukulele :D More info below!

---------

PixelNoises Synth T-Shirts by The Tuesday Night Machines:
https://shop.spreadshirt.co.uk/pixeln...

---------

Gear used:
- DM1 Drum Machine iPad App
- Tangible Waves AE Modular Synth, playing additional percussion and noise (http://tangiblewaves.com)
- Luna Concert Ukulele
- Roger Linn's Linnstrument playing iFretless Bass and iFretless Sax on the iPad (http://www.rogerlinndesign.com/linnst...)

Recorded, mixed and mastered in Kymatica AUM right there on the iPad using the following apps for additional FX:
Crystalline Reverb, AUFX:Space, Kosmonaut, Replicator 2"

AdrenaLinn Sync v2 Tutorial: The 5 Audio Processing Blocks

YouTube via rogerlinndesign | October 18, 2010

"This tutorial describes the function and controls of the 4 audio processing blocks in the upper half of the AdrenaLinn Sync v2 control panel."

Linnstrument C Minor Blues Improv Jam (with iFretless, ThumbJam + DM1 iPad Apps) #TTNM

Published on Jun 19, 2018 The Tuesday Night Machines

"Here's an improv practice jam on the Linnstrument, an amazingly expressive isomorphic MIDI controller keyboard, which I'm just starting to learn. My timing and notes are definitely off a bit, but I still wanted to record this for my musical diary :) More info below.

---------

PixelNoises Synth T-Shirts by The Tuesday Night Machines:
https://shop.spreadshirt.com/pixelnoi...

---------

Gear used in this video:

- Roger Linn Design Linnstrument MPE MIDI Controller (the pad flickering is due to the iPhone's camera frame rate)
http://www.rogerlinndesign.com/linnst...

iPad Apps:
- iFretless Guitar, Bass & Sax iOS Apps
- ThumbJam iOS App, playing the Blues Harmonica instrument
- DM1 Drum Machine iOS App
- Kymatica AUM for recording, mixing and mastering
- Additional FX Apps: Audio Damage QuatroMod, Holderness Media Crystalline Reverb, Kymatica AUFX: Space Reverb

The Linnstrument is set to low power mode and is connected to the iPad directly via the Apple Camera Connection Kit's USB dongle. AUM acts as a DAW to load, record and mix all the other apps' audio and export a master. It's a really quick and painless workflow not requiring as computer at all :)"

The LinnStrumentalists 2

video by Roger Linn

"The second compilation of videos submitted by LinnStrument players around the world. For more information on LinnStrument, visit www.rogerlinndesign.com."

AdrenaLinn Sync v2

YouTube via rogerlinndesign — May 27, 2010 — "AdrenaLinn Sync Version 2, the beat-synced effects plug-in from Roger Linn Design, containing the sync effects of AdrenaLinn III and more."

Linnstrument Improvisations

Published on Jul 1, 2015 experimentalsynth

"Taking the Linnstrument out for a quick spin. Sound source is a patch in the Logic Pro X sample file downloaded from rogerlinndesign.com"

LinnStrument Introduction by Roger Linn

Published on Aug 22, 2015 Roger Linn Design

http://www.rogerlinndesign.com

"A brief introduction to LinnStrument, including a variety of sounds and features"

Roger Linn stops by DSI for a Linnstrument prototype demo

Published on Nov 19, 2013 Dave Smith Instruments·24 videos

"Roger dropped by the office to give us a sneak peek of his great LinnStrument prototype. The LinnStrument is triggering our Prophet 12 Module prototype as the sound source. This is not the final design or form factor of the LinnStrument, but it was fun to see it in action and play around with it. It is extremely intuitive and expressive. Can't wait for the production model!
More info here: http://www.rogerlinndesign.com/previe..."

Update: note the Prophet 12 desktop.  More pics here.  It looks smaller in the video.

Kyma 7: LinnStrument & MPE Support

Kyma 7: LinnStrument & MPE Support from Symbolic Sound on Vimeo.

"Champaign, Illinois — October 21, 2015 — Kyma 7 now offers plug-and-play support for Roger Linn Design’s LinnStrument and other MPE-enabled MIDI instruments.

Kyma automatically puts the LinnStrument into MPE mode when you connect it via USB-MIDI or MIDI 5-pin DIN (or via your computer, using Delora Software’s Kyma Connect). Once connected, any keyboard-controlled Sound in Kyma automatically sets the polyphony and responds to the LinnStrument — no extra controllers are needed, and you don’t have to select a special mode on the LinnStrument — it’s literally, plug it in and play.

What is MPE?

Traditional MIDI note events have two dimensions — pitch and velocity — neither of which can be altered directly with the fingers once the key has gone down. But musicians performing with live electronics are driving the demand for new electronic instruments — instruments whose touch, reliability, sensitivity, and responsiveness can begin to approach those of traditional acoustic instruments.

Over the last 10-15 years, more and more instrument makers have sought to incorporate continuous control over pitch and velocity and to add a third dimension of continuous control: timbre. One of the earliest entries in this new category was the Continuum fingerboard from Haken Audio (which has had plug-and-play support in Kyma since 2001). More recently, Madrona Labs (Soundplane), Eigenlabs (Eigenharp), ROLI (Seaboard), and Roger Linn Design (LinnStrument) have been offering “keyboard-like” instruments that provide three dimensions of expressive, continuous control per finger.

But how is it possible to send these three-dimensional continuous polyphonic MIDI notes to a sound engine? Haken Audio first used a FireWire protocol before switching over to a proprietary, optimized MIDI protocol. Symbolic Sound and Madrona Labs used Open Sound Control (OSC) for Kyma Control and Soundplane, respectively. But the growing proliferation of new instruments and proprietary protocols was threatening to become a nightmare for soft-and-hardware synthesizer makers to support.

Enter software developer Geert Bevin who, in January of this year, started working with key industry professionals on a new, more expressive MIDI specification called MPE: Multidimensional Polyphonic Expression. The new MPE standard has already been implemented on Roger Linn Design’s LinnStrument, the Madrona Labs Soundplane, the ROLI Rise Seaboard, and several other instrument makers are currently in the process of adding an MPE-mode to their instruments.

With MPE, the music industry now has a standard protocol for communicating between expressive controllers and the sound hardware and software capable of sonically expressing the subtlety, responsiveness, and live interaction offered by these controllers.

Kyma — Interactive, responsive, and live

Kyma, with its legendary audio quality, vast synthesis codebase and deep access to detailed parameter control, is the ideal sound engine to pair with these new, more responsive controller interfaces for live expressive performance, and Symbolic Sound has a long history of working with instrument makers to provide tight, seamless integration and bi-directional communication between these new instruments and Kyma.

In addition to its graphical signal flow editor, file editors, and Sound Library, Kyma 7 also provides several environments in which you can create an instrument where the synthesis, processing, parameter-mapping, and even the mode of interaction can evolve over time during a performance:

In the Multigrid (displayed on the iPad during the video), you can switch instantly between sources, effects, and combinations of the two with no interruption in the audio signal. Perform live, inspired in the moment, with infinite combinatorial possibilities.
In the Kyma 7 Timeline you can slow down or stop the progression of time to synchronize your performance with other performers, with key events, or with features extracted from an audio signal during your performance.
Using the Tool you can create a state machine where input conditions trigger the evaluation of blocks of code (for example, the game-of-life displayed on the LinnStrument during the closing credits of the video is being controlled by a Tool).
Kyma also provides a realtime parameter language called Capytalk where you can make parameters depend on one another or control subsets of parameters algorithmically.
It’s easy to add a new parameter control, simply type in the desired controller name preceded by an exclamation point — a control is automatically created for you, and it even generates its own widget in a Virtual Control Surface which can be remapped to external controllers (through MIDI, 14-bit MIDI, or OSC). This makes it easy to augment your live MPE controllers with other MIDI and OSC controllers or with tablet controller apps.
System Requirements

Kyma 7.04
Symbolic Sound Paca or Pacarana
Computer requirements
Operating Systems:
Mac OS 10.6 or newer or
Windows 10, 8.1, 8, 7 (SP1), Vista (SP2), XP (SP3)
Storage: ~1.7 GB
Memory: 1 GB or larger is recommended
Internet access is required
Availability

Kyma 7.04 is available today as a free update for Symbolic Sound customers who have a registered copy of Kyma 7.

More information

Multidimensional Polyphonic Expression (MPE)
expressiveness.org

LinnStrument
rogerlinndesign.com

Kyma 7
symbolicsound.com"

TRiED / vaporwave / eurorack jam / resonator, reverb and delay

video upload by Roger Linn

"Roger Linn demonstrates some of the sounds for the 'LinnStrument MPE' library of sounds that he and other LinnStrument players created for the free Surge XT software synthesizer."

www.rogerlinndesign.com
https://surge-synthesizer.github.io

Stephen Barnard & Jeremy Cubert play LinnStruments: "A Child Is Born"

Published on Dec 1, 2018 Roger Linn

"A Child is Born" performed by:
1) Jeremy Cubert on LinnStrument 128. Sound: Audio Modeling's "The Cello";
2) Stephen Barnard on LinnStrument. Sound: Embertone's "Walker 1955 Concert D" sample library.
For more information on LinnStrument, visit www.rogerlinndesign.com.
For more music by Jeremy Cubert, see soundcloud.com/jeremycubert