AUG2021 Update: Generative Audio and MIDI ideas

Dear WaveShapers!

Attached is the August 2021 book update - as usual, search for AUG2021 throughout the document to jump from update to update, and look for JUL2021 and JUN2021 for updates from previous months.

A summary of what's new:

• A while back, I wrote an entire chapter inspired by Olafur Arnald's Stratus software and how it controls player pianos. Since then, he released a sample library based on the concept together with Spitfire Audio. Unfortunately, this library update does not output MIDI notes, but rather only plays its internal samples of pianos and synths, so you can't just apply it to any of your software or hardware instruments. In the updated chapter, I look at the concepts behind Status so that you can apply them in your own MIDI effects chains.
• Native Instruments released their Piano Colors instrument this month (it's quite lovely - you may have seen my brief Sigur Ros cover on Instagram and Facebook). While based around a concept of treated pianos, it also has an extensive generative engine (expanding on their Noire piano). This engine too does not output MIDI notes - so I present to you the core generative ideas behind, it to apply in your MIDI effects chains/generative patches. 
• If MIDI effects don't sit well within your workflow, check out a “reverse engineering” of one of the modes in Cosmos by SOMA, including tips and ideas for using multiple delay lines and envelope followers to recreate its generative style looper and suppressor - with a VCV Rack demo patch walkthrough (attached to this post) and an explanation of the Hector/Beebo patch shown in this month's review.
• Added a quick but effective delay modulation idea.
• Added a newly discovered tool for Atmos encoding and added Erica's Matrix Mixer to setup ideas.
• New patch and video downloads added to the respective sections.

That's it!

As usual, thanks for being a part of this journey and all my best,

Ziv / Loopop