Creative software from Germany

Sounding like Alicia Keys 

Want to play a grand piano? Or an iconic Hammond organ from the 1960s? Where space or money is tight, the German software firm Native Instruments can help. It records the original sound of instruments and models it virtually. This means that the sound of a chamber orchestra can be reproduced just as easily as 1990s hip-hop drums with just a few clicks of the mouse at home. Native Instruments mainly develops its products in Berlin but also has offices in Los Angeles, Tokyo, London, Paris and Shenzhen. The resulting virtual instruments feature in numerous home studios around the world, as well as in professional productions - such as by UK rock band Coldplay. New York singer Alicia Keys also cooperates with the German firm and had it virtually simulate her dream piano: “the best keys in the universe,” as she puts it. 

Alicia Keys gives insights into her work with Native Instruments: 

Berlin-based creator of software for electronic music 

Talking about modern music production, a musician should be no “slave to technology”, says CEO Gerhard Behles. He set up Ableton, a software company for making music that is intended for creative individuals rather than computer specialists. With its intuitive control and numerous applications in live and studio music, the program developed by the Berlin-based software company has revolutionised electronic music production. It has now become one of the world’s most renowned music programs. The Canadian producer deadmau5 and the US DJ Skrillex rely on the software; multi-instrumentalist Kevin Parker also uses Ableton to produce the music for his psychedelic project Tame Impala. 

In the YouTube series “One Thing”, artists from all over the world each present one innovative function of the software that they use in their work: 

in this case, the Australian DJane Ninajirachi uses Ableton to transform the sound of stones splashing into a lake into rhythmic percussion: