The most exciting thing to come out of Musik Messe 2008 happened far away from the pounding sound systems of the Dj floor but this revolutionary concept will seriously rock the dj and remix world as we know it. Celemony, a German software company, has announced “Direct note access” which gives you control over each and every note in a multi voice recording. Intended for polyphonic sound sources like piano chords or string ensembles, you can pick out any note or notes from a stereo recording and transpose them as you see fit. In one example, the white bearded mastermind behind this technology demonstrated its power on a classic Beethoven recording. “Lets see what would happen if Beethoven had written this piece in minor” he suggested, and within seconds was playing a full symphonic recording back in a different key with no audible degradation to the sound.
Symphonies are great but not exactly what you might have in mind, so on cue he then demonstrated the ability to extract a horn solo from an old jazz recording and re-arrange the solo on the fly. The crowd was stunned. This is something some many have dreamed of but never thought possible. The remix possibilities are obvious and the dj applications could take controllerism to the next level.
True, the word Mashups is a washed up cliche at this point but this technology may even give that practice a permanent shot of kryptonite. Remix artists and sampling wizards will be salivating as the RIAA is quaking in their boots. Imagine this scenario: “No Mr. Copyright protection manager, I did not sample the bass line from Queen- I simply replayed it to sound exactly like the original.” In a world where the recordings around us are increasingly becoming our notes of choice this may take your collective compositions to the next level.
