The Grids release was an exercise in several constraints. Obviously, the primary point was to create something entirely using the monome 256, but secondarily, there was the constraint of time. I do work on more 'composed' pieces from time to time. Here is a collection of Archetribe tracks if you're curious.
When I saw the release of the first all Tenori-On album, I thought, "of course". I'm sure I'm not alone in thinking someone should do an all monome album. I pondered this over Thanksgiving. Looking at the long weekend ahead of me, I wondered if I could record a song a day using my 256.
Of course, the notion of an all monome album is somewhat of a misnomer. The monome is simply an interface - a bunch of LEDs and buttons that may or may not have something to do with each other. There no built-in sound generator like there is on the Tenori-On, (I used a Doepfer modular, Prophet 5 and MachFive 2) and the software that determines the behavior of the device is entirely up to the user/artist. While this fact dilutes the idea of an all monome album, people interested in finding their own voice with an instrument consisting of a grid of buttons should note the lack of predetermined software and sounds is the true strength of the monome.
Taking this a step further, I'm using only software I created myself for the 256. In addition to the free album download, I'm also offering the Max patches I used to create the music.
This is a Creative Commons release, so you're welcome to not only download the album for free, you can sample, remix or reuse any part of it. 
Grids by Matthew G Davidson is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.
Also, check into my flickr page for recent arty photos of the 256 I took to create the album cover. They're also Creative Commons.
Also, I'd like to say that monome, the company, had no knowledge, involvement or endorsement of this project, so I don't wish to potentially embarrass them with a hastily-thrown-together collection of monome tracks. What I've done here is representative of only one person, not the monome community as a whole.
click here to download 'Grids' including release notes and album artwork (40MB)
Thank you for downloading this album. If you like what you hear, please consider using my virtual 'tip jar' or buying one of my albums from Amazon or the iTunes music store.
This is a video of me messing around with some software I created for the monome 256 called 'residue'. It grew out of a drum pattern sequencer I created earlier. Instead of a straight drum sequencer, it provides two independent melody patterns in addition to the drum patterns. Not only can you write patterns while the software is running, you can write and edit a non-playing pattern. While one pattern is playing, I'm writing another, then switching to that pattern when I want. All three voices loop independently so I can alter the phase of the loops on the fly.
The software is triggering individual drum sounds on a soft sampler. Everything else is from the modular. I started the video with a completely blank slate - no pre-composed patterns or tracks. Everything you see is constructed via the monome interface and recorded live.
We live in a world of amazing workstations and soft synths that write songs (really!) at the press of a button. Call up a preset and hold down a key. Sure, it makes you sound great, but there comes a point when you're mostly channeling the talent of the product designer.
Max may be a high level environment, but it is low level enough to offer a blank canvas. Max, the monome and the modular all do zero until you start plugging in patch cords. The monome and modular together may seem anachronistic, but you can understand what they have in common.
If I were a musical genius, I could improvise a four part fugue at the piano in real-time. I'm not. I'd have to sit down with a pencil and paper for a long while, then, when I was finished, I wouldn't be able to play it... at least, not without practicing. So, I'll have to settle for using a software tool of my design to assist in the performance of a real-time composition. This is a very primitive example based on not-a-lot-of-spare-time. I wonder what I'd do if I had more.
The music, video and software is all creative commons, which means you can freely use or modify any of it, provided you give credit to stretta.com.
Download DD103 MP3 file
Download residue max patch for the monome 256
more discussion here
This is a long-form ambient project I created mostly back in 1993. I was living with a friend of mine who was also a synth-nut and I controlled our combined collection of gear in real time with Max, and recorded the result to DAT. I remember using his Arp Axxe and Korg Polysix, in addition to my normal assortment of rack gear from the time. The 'Vide' section was created a bit later, by multi-tracking real-time Nord Lead onto an ADAT.
I'm not sure it qualifies as a musical statement, and it is music created on a synthesizer over a decade ago, so it is unlikely it aged well. However, it isn't doing anyone any good sitting on my hard drive. Maybe someone could use a suspenseful sound bed for use in a youtube video or something without the rights hassles.
Download 192kbit MP3 zip archive
Also available at archive.org
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.
Recent 256-related developments have increased interest in my creations for the monome 40h and 256. There isn't any single repository anywhere, so I'm going to list them here. Some have been updated to work with monomeserial. Some have never been released.
patches for the 40h
fourths (alternate pitch layout)
ksd (programmable pattern performance)
mabalhabla (like fourths, but more configurable)
nerdscroll (scrolling sign)
trigger sequencer (eight steps, each with independent loop length)
patches for the 256
cygnet (alternate pitch layout + 8 track sequencer)
residue (like TR-256 (see below) but split in half for drums + bass)
patches for the 256 or 40h
blinken park (blinky lites with some random MIDI)
TR-256 (roland-style pattern programming)
press cafe (real time rhythmic pattern performance)
Cygnet is an extension of the original fourths application. First, it grew the ability to play different grid configurations, then I added a 4-tap delay, then I added an 8-track sequencer. I created this to realize a piece of music which I'm still working on. The max patch is far enough along to create a demonstration video, and share with the patch with the monome community. Hopefully at some point in the future, I'll be able to share a real music statement and not simply a bunch of noodling.
Another function I didn't mention in the video is the ability to record a MIDI controller and then route it to note velocity. I'm not good enough at controlling this to provide an effective demonstration. Between the sustain pedal, the loop pedal, a volume expression pedal and one more pedal controlling the PCM80 for the French Connection output, my feet are pretty confused.
There are some stuck notes issues I have to address, and the velocity scaling on the delays doesn't function yet. But, you may have fun with this patch. You may also be hopelessly confused and frustrated.
Download cygnet here
You wouldn't be able to tell by looking at my Max work, but I'm a user interface designer by profession. For professional audio products, even. I hear musicians who use computers all day don't want to use computers at home. I'm not like that, but I can't be bothered to create a decent user interface for my Max patches. I also point to this as an example that programmers should never, ever create their own user interfaces. I can't wait for everyone to see the two new major UIs I working on these days. Hopefully before the end of the year.
Additional comments here
Press Cafe is a more musically-oriented 256 application. It generates rhythmic patterns. I could try to describe it in words, but why, when video is far more effective? I like this one because it looks like fricken' laser beams are shooting out of my fingers.
If you're a 256 owner, you can download Press Cafe here. More creative commons goodness: video, music, interactive. Oh, and, bonus, I even write someting about the patch. Not really 'documentation' per se, but better than nothing. Enjoy.
One more thing, Windows users should add .mxb after the patches to work. If I rev the file, I'll fix this myself. I also tested it with a 40h and it works.
More discussion here.
So, I have had the monome 256 for over two weeks now. I created Blinken Park to take an interesting long-exposure photo of the unit. Said photo:
Here is a video of Blinken Park in action.
By the way, the position of the leds have no relationship to pitch at all. They simply indicate the onset and duration of a note. There are only 128 MIDI notes total, and I filter that down further to a strict modal set, so, mapping this to 256 buttons doesn't translate exactly anyway.
If you're a 256 owner, you can download Blinken Park here. Creative commons all around: video, music, interactive. Go nuts.
