2022 is almost over. People here are already setting off some firework crackers. So let’s first have a look at what your favourite posts here on Sonic Bloom were this year going by categories.
Your Favourites on Sonic Bloom in 2022
Fave Ableton Live Tutorial: New Renaming Tracks Workflow in Live 11.2
In this video I introduced you to a new workflow for renaming tracks added in Live 11.2. This feature feels like it should have always been part of Live. It’s not a huge thing, but it certainly is always welcome when there’s a way to keep the flow when working in Ableton Live.
Fave Freebie: Free Studio Tools by Max for Cats
After quite an extended quiet time by Christian Kleine aka Max for Cats, he returned to give us a set of three free Max for Live devices. Studio Tools contain a phase scope, an oscilloscope and a signal generator.
Read more about what each device does and download the Studio Tools by Max for Cats for free
Fave Max for Live Video: Free MIDI Note Echoes & Semi-Random Sequencer
It seems like at least some people had been missing my series With A Little Help From Max for Live. Or maybe you just liked the devices I showcased in this video a lot. Either way, I’ve shown you two note echoes and a semi-random sequencer in this one. All of these Max for Live MIDI effects allow you to create unusual and surprising MIDI output you can perfectly use as starting points or to embellish simple melodic lines.
More written info and the download links to the free Max for Live devices
2023: A New Website
Live in January
Those of you on my mailing list know that I’ve been struggling with health issues from iatrogenic harm. This is why there were lots of gaps in my post schedule and none of my plans realised. I finally figured out the starting point to heal myself. While I’m not fully recovered, I’m doing much better, know how to get there and can work full time again.
Due to the health issues I also only ever managed to patch the problems with the website. Slow loading times and also error messages. In the last month I have been doing offline web development to finally bring you a new and improved look. Hopefully also a much faster website, because that was the main goal, but it’s something impossible to test offline. It will go live already in January.
Only English Content
One thing that’s been slowing down the site is the plugin that makes Sonic Bloom being available in both English and German possible. They’d developed it to include way more features only huge companies benefit from that can’t be turned off. So this means extra code always loaded needlessly. In 2016 I already spent six weeks moving from one plugin to another, and I’ve decided I’m not going to do this again. Too much unpaid work after my forced downtime. I’ve been offering all the free content in two languages for over ten years now, which takes twice the time. This also meant that I focused only on short form video tutorials.
Automatic Translations in Several Languages Besides German
You might have already noticed in the last few weeks that my blog posts were only available in English. This will continue, but I’ve found a halfway decent compromise. I will be implementing a way to automatically have the content translated with Google Translate. Apart from German, I’ve also looked which countries the site content has been viewed most often, so I will offer the automatic translation in more languages as well. It won’t be as good as manually translated text, but I hope you will find the compromise acceptable.
This will open up the possibility to experiment with other format. I also have lots of other plans, but I feel like I might jinx them. Whenever I had announced things on the newsletter before, my health declined and I never was able to deliver. So suffice it to say, there’s much more to come. Hopefully a lot of it already in 2023. Some of these plans I’d made like seven years ago…
Anyway, that’s enough rambling. I’m wishing you all a good slide into the new year (literal translation from what we say in German)! May 2023 be much, much better than what the last couple of years have been like.
Happy New Year!
Madeleine
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