Ambient Music Tutorial: Lekko Piano + monome norns + Hologram Infinite Jets

[@aquietgarden]

Three years later, I still love Lekko. There's still no downside.

[@saysthetedd]

What an awesome video. You should do more videos on Norns scripts. I would watch them all!

[@mattlowerymusic]

Thanks for watching!

[@saysthetedd]

Really solid level of effort on your vids. Appreciate that.

[@feltinstruments]

This is amazing, Matt!

[@mattlowerymusic]

Lekko is amazing! Thanks for making it, and making it so accessible.

[@saysthetedd]

@@mattlowerymusic I just bought the lekko + jasno bundle because of this video

[@krilin84]

Hi Matt. I've watched this video of yours twice now and really want to write you. I feel that I've stumbled upon a kindred spirit in you and the content of this video - both concretely musical and philosophical. What you said about commitment and freeing up your mind by limiting the options really struck a note, beyond the sheer awesomeness of letting the norn do its magic. I will definitely check the norn out! I dont know, but I probably found this video of yours from watching a bunch of Jay Hoskins stuff, looking at different synth hardware stuff, and/or just recently getting the Felt Instruments library and posting some quick stuff with it. In any case I'm really happy I've found your channel and will make sure to watch the rest of your stuff! I also somewhat reluctantly want to share something about my own findings in this area of ambient abstract music that I've just begun exploring (I don't want to be one of those tacky internet self promoters). But so it's a video on my YT channel I made about the beauty and deeper philosophical aspects of the concept of "parallel asynchronous looping". I'd really like more people to watch it who might appreciate it, and I thought you perhaps might? The video is called "what if I am like a loop?". I completely understand if you aren't that interested though, thats fine :) thanks for reading this too wordy message, I tend to get easily excited by this kind of stuff :p

[@hassaanbangash4294]

I love this comment of yours, it exudes passion! That line about limiting the options really resonated with me too, in fact, I feel like I was almost weirdly destined to hear that, as Ive been struggling with being overwhelmed by too many options myself recently. I checked out your video and its really really beautiful! Your narration and the music and your imagery (that scene with the both of you holding hands was so precious) was top notch. Keep creating! I subscribed! Take care :) We need more people like you!

[@krilin84]

@@hassaanbangash4294 hey, thanks man, I appreciate you sharing that and that you enjoyed the video! 😊🙏

[@Jimantronic]

Great video. Thanks for sharing your workflow and demystifying the Norns a little with some beautiful sound examples. I have a shield on the way and really looking forward to exploring the possibilities

[@wutangclaney]

Dammit, I wish I was slightly smarter so I could fully grasp what's happening here. It's beautiful! I'll keep rewatching til I get it (either way picking up Lekko asap). 😁 Great channel, thanks for the top notch videos / tutorials.

[@mattlowerymusic]

Thanks, and glad to have you on board!

[@t1d3s]

Waiting for a Norns to come back into stock and this is getting me hyped! Nice work 🖤

[@MaurizioDelmonte]

very well done tutorial, and thanks for sharing!! :)

[@AdiGoldsteinComposer]

Beautiful! Can you please share how do you send midi out to ableton? (how do you connect both hosts together?)

[@shittyrecordingstudio]

Ditto this. I would really like to hear about your workflow for sending MIDI notes from Norns into Ableton!

[@CharlieHughJones]

I still come back to this video every now and then as it deeply inspires me to embrace a more generative approach. Thanks again Matt - it’s so beautiful and simple (and yet totally complex) Quick question, do you use a reamp box going from your interface into the Infinite Jets (my Strymon pedals take line level but I’m not sure about the hologram pedals) thanks 🙏

[@mattlowerymusic]

Thanks so much! Yes, a reamp box greatly simplifies things, and I highly recommend using one.

[@AmbientSky]

Thanks for this video!cant wait for my norns to arrive!

[@mattlowerymusic]

You bet! And good luck on your journey!

[@JumprW]

Super inspiring video. Thanks for showing you process. Does anyone know if you can find a software similar to compass?

[@JureJerebic]

Brilliant, this just made me very interested in getting norns

[@listentoAdamTaylor]

Wow, what a high quality video. Thanks so much for making this!

[@mattlowerymusic]

Thanks so much!

[@CONVEX_MIRROR]

Great video! Norns looks really cool, never had heard of Lekko before either.

[@sendaero]

How did you route out of ableton, through the pedal and back into ableton?

[@sinemountain]

Came for the Lekko and stayed for the Norns. haha. I really dig that Compass script.

[@mattlowerymusic]

Glad to have you! Yeah, it's super cool.

[@HousePlant_Ambient]

Pretty much my next purchase.

[@indraperkasa]

hi, thanks for the video, i really enjoyed it! one question, how do you connect norns to ableton to send the midi notes?

[@mattlowerymusic]

Great question! Norns and my computer are both connected through a device called 2host (llllllll.co/t/2host-a-diy-usbmidi-host-to-host-adapter/23472) which allows two host devices to send each other midi. It works either way- you could send norns (or whatever) midi data from the computer too. Very, very useful.

[@indraperkasa]

Matt Lowery ah okay, thanks for the reply. that 2host seems pretty useful, gonna try to get one. thanks!

[@LivingwithoutAir912]

Would it work this thunderbolt 3 though? On newer MacBooks?

[@danieljohnmorris]

Thanks really useful!

[@mattlowerymusic]

You bet!

[@jamessusbilla]

thank *YOU*

[@khemshet]

Lovely! I have a little modular case and am thinking of the best way to incorporate felt instruments to my workflow. Any way you could recommend for feeding the DAW audio to modular?

[@mattlowerymusic]

Check out the Expert Sleepers modules. Several options there. Enjoy!

[@CarlColglazier]

This video is beautiful. :)

[@mattlowerymusic]

Thanks for watching!

[@ckrug32]

Awesome video and sounds, Matt. Bit of a noob question here: in order to send sounds from my computer to one of my pedals and back, does that pedal need to have MIDI in and out? Or is there some way to do this with just standard audio jacks, too?

[@mattlowerymusic]

Great question. What you need is (1) an audio interface that you can send audio out of your DAW with and (2) a reamp box, which will bring that signal down to instrument level, then back up to line level after it hits the pedal. I use one by Radial.

[@ckrug32]

@@mattlowerymusic thanks very much for the info. Excited to experiment with this!

[@iRedCraft]

Wow, I wasn't expecting such a quality video, great work man! I'm looking at the Norns shield to try to build my own, but I noticed the big Norns has four audio jacks on top, the shield obviously does not have that. What are they for and what is the shield missing? Thanks!

[@mattlowerymusic]

Jonathan Verbeek hey thanks! The jacks on both Norns are audio I/O. Factory norns has 1/4 jacks, with separate L/R on in and out. norns shield has 1/8th inch jacks, and they are TRS stereo.

[@NickBatinaComposer]

Your videos are gorgeous!! I hope this channel pops off, you deserve it buddy :):) hope ur doing well, stay safe!!!

[@mattlowerymusic]

Nick Batina - composer thanks so much!

[@tonmensch666]

lovely man!

[@mattlowerymusic]

tonmensch666 thank you!

[@growingup4243]

How are you sending MIDI from Norns to Ableton?

[@mattlowerymusic]

I have a little dongle called a 2host that acts as a bridge between two midi hosts

[@jordansmith5573]

@@mattlowerymusic are there any alternatives to this that i can just buy? really struggling integrating norns with ableton

[@mattlowerymusic]

@@jordansmith5573 I bought mine prebuilt, so I would suggest reaching out to Stephen at denki-oto.weebly.com/store/p15/2host_pcb.html#/

[@jordansmith5573]

@@mattlowerymusic Amazing just reached out to him. Is there anything I need to do once I hook these cables up to make sure it syncs (BPM, etc?) Really appreciate it sorry for bugging you!!

[@davelse8919]

Great tutorial! Something similar to Norns as virtual plugins?

[@mattlowerymusic]

Davide Togni thanks! And, unfortunately not. It’s a really unique platform.

[@rivella99]

@@mattlowerymusic What about Cycles from Slate+Ash?

[@richardmichaux4761]

J'attendrai la traduction .Je parles pas anglais

[@rivella99]

I bought a norns shield in January, and after playing with it and lots of scripts i'm a little bit frustrated: If you don't have additional gear (like an arc or a grid) you're quite limited with the possibilities norns offers (i added a LaunchPad Mini to it, but this only works for 5 scripts or so). Currently i'm about to sell it.

[@rivella99]

@@gahlord My comment was more a reaction to Matt's conclusion in his video (biggest discovery of the year). It's not an observation since i also own a norns device.