I just saw this today over on Create Digital Music (one of my favorite blogs and should be one of yours as well). It’s a pack of presets for Ableton Live 7′s “Slice to New MIDI Track” system, and it’s pretty cool.

I’ve been a Propellerhead ReCycle user since version 1.0 (arguably the granddaddy of the slicing products), but Live 7′s capabilities are nice as well. Plus, it’s so much easier to have an integrated option instead of having to open ReCycle all the time.

This morning, I used the presets to create some new loops that I’ll be using in a project after the first of the year. Using the presets is simple, quick, and quite a bit of fun. These Covert Operators are clever folks. Check out the pack!

It’s been a little over two years since the last significant release of Max/MSP, the visual programming environment from Cycling ’74. I’ve had a love/hate relationship with Max/MSP for the last decade or so, loving it for its capabilities, hating that I never seem to take the time to really exploit everything its capable of doing. With the introduction of Max 5, I’m vowing to spend more time working with the product.

If you’ve never worked with Max/MSP before, you owe it to yourself to have a look at the introductory video to see what it’s all about. If you’ve used it but let your interest wane over the years, you really need to have another look because of some of the new features. Given the (relatively) cheap upgrade pricing and the very cheap price tags if you’re a student, it’s well worth the investment if you do anything with MIDI and/or audio and control of those things, this is a must-have package.

Download the demo, and take it for a test run. I promise you’ll like it!