Ableton announced the release of a new Max For Live device, Iota. Conceived and developed by Los Angeles musician, artist and programmer Dillon Bastan, Iota is a Max for Live sample-based granular looper.
The device features a spectrogram of a sample in which you can draw individual loops or voices for playback. The parameters of each loop can be customized and recorded as automation. Loops can either be played back simultaneously, or be triggered individually by MIDI note messages.
Iota is a new Max For Live device that enables regions within a sample to be looped, layered, filtered and processed by drawing boxes in a spectrogram, using a set of familiar graphical editing tools.
Use it to deconstruct any sound as you like, rebuilding it as a composite of glitchy micro-loops, a shifting soundscape or whatever else the user can imagine.
Three playback modes allow the user lock Iota to Live’s transport for synced playback, unlock it to play back autonomously and endlessly – ideal for unattended sound installations – or control individual loops via Push or a MIDI keyboard. Parameter changes and loop box movements can be recorded and played back within Iota itself, too, simplifying the application of evolving timbral changes to each individual loop over time.
Beyond the natural intuitiveness of the ‘loop boxing’ paradigm, electronic musicians will find Iota’s synthesis controls flexible and fast to work with. From evocative ambiences and sinuous textures to finely-sculpted FX and polyrhythmic soundbeds, Iota realizes a unique and powerful new approach to granular synthesis and sound design that the Live user can easily get to grips with, regardless of experience or ability level.
Pack specifics:
- Granular synthesis made easy
- Innovative graphical loop editor
- Trigger loops from Push or any MIDI controller keyboard
- Record and playback parameter and loop range changes within Iota
- Turn any sample into a continuously evolving soundscape
Pricing and Availability
Iota is a Max for Live device which can be purchased directly from the Ableton website for EUR 29/ USD 39. More information is available here.
This looks incredible.
…possibly bad news for the Tasty Chips GR-1, though.
I thought Ableton were calling it quits? People are still using software for music? Hmmmm….
Dude …
Oh man! This is exactly what I needed to get excited about using my portable recorder again.
Looks seriously awesome!
Thank you
This looks really cool .
Only Problem is its included with Live 10 which is being released in 2144
Mhe. Izotopes Iris already does this amazingly
So you got Iris already, nice for you. Which is 149€, while this is 29€ for Ableton users, nice for me.
True enough. Touhé 🙂
I use Iris too, this seems a little more automatable, curious to try it at some point
Nice. I hope you can switch between spectrum and waveform view. Spectral processing can sound very… spectral really. Both have their uses
There are two views, first you got the waveform where you can choose the loop in the sample, then this loop is represented with the spectrogram… very nice sounding, wish there was a kind of ping pong playback and some stretch and maybe a way to be more easily the entire sample … but it sounds really nice, very spectral, very loopy and automatable.
just bought it, reminds me a lot of borderlands for iOS. it’s not exactly what I expected from a granular synth, but it has other qualities.