 | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Computer software |
| Founded | 1997 |
| Founder | David Zicarelli |
| Headquarters | , |
Area served | Worldwide |
Number of employees | 30 |
| Parent | Ableton |
| Subsidiaries | c74 Music |
| Website | www |
Cycling '74 (also known as "C74" and stylized as '74) is an American software development company founded in 1997 by David Zicarelli, headquartered in San Francisco, California and owned by Ableton. The company employs the digital signal processing software tool, Max.
Cycling '74 (C74) was founded in 1997 by David Zicarelli to serve as the distributor for his various collections of software. [1] The company's name comes relates to its original web design; Zicarelli used images from a 1974 bicycling catalog (see an early archive of the website). [2]
C74 began producing the MSP extension to Opcode Systems's 1990 program "Max" in the mid 1990s, and in 1998 started distributing the products together. [3] As of 2008 [update] there is no longer a version of Max without audio processing. [4]
In June 2017, Ableton announced they had acquired Cycling '74. [5] [6]
C74 is the distributor and developer of the Max/MSP digital signal processing environment. The company has published the program since 1999, [7] and in 2008 released Max 5, a major overhaul. A Sound on Sound article (August 2008) covered its new software GUI. [4] The new interface was designed using Juce. Aside from re-designed graphics, the development of the new system concentrated on the original code base, and provided integrated documentation and debugging. With the release of Max 5, MSP and Jitter were included in the package.
MSP is a DSP plug-in for Max, allowing realtime audio synthesis.
Jitter is a plug-in for Max released in 2003 that allows realtime manipulation of 3D graphics and video.
RNBO is an add-on patching environment in Max that allows users to export patches as portable code that can run in several software and hardware target contexts such as VST3 or Audio Unit plug-ins, as well as Raspberry Pi. [8] RNBO source code can also be integrated into C++ or web audio projects, allowing users to run RNBO patches in the web browser. [9] RNBO was released in 2022.
gen~ is the low-level signal processing core of Max. gen~ encourages users to continue thinking and patching visually, but with the basic building blocks of algorithms. [10] It is an extension of the Max patching environment, specialized for specific domains such as audio (MSP) and matrix and texture processing with Jitter. [11] gen~ also gives users the flexibility to use concise text based expression language (known as "codebox" in Max) rather than the default visual programming language. [12]
Pluggo was a Max extension that provided capabilities for VST design. Pluggo was required to export Max "patches" for use in digital audio workstation (DAW) host environments, but was discontinued [13] after the release of Max for Live.
Max was integrated into Ableton Live, developed by Ableton and Cycling ’74, to build unique synths and effects, create algorithmic composition tools, or fuse Live and controller hardware into new music machines. Unlike Pluggo, the device created with Max for Live can be edited directly from Live by pressing the edit [14] button.
"Step-by-Step: Adventures in Sequencing with Max/MSP" is a book written by Gregory Taylor and released by Cycling '74 in 2018. [15] It is about step-based sequencing tools and how to build them using Max. [16] The book aims to demystify and humanize the process of building and iterating upon step-sequencers and patching processes within Max. [17] Cycling '74 also published a Japanese translation of the book. [18]
"Generating Sound & Organizing Time – Thinking with gen~ Book 1" is a book about gen~ written by Graham Wakefield and Gregory Taylor and released by Cycling '74 in 2022. The book aims to encourage working with audio at the sample-by-sample level and demystify digital audio signal processing, as well as provide greater frameworks for thinking about audio in terms of design patterns, techniques, and subcircuits. The book comes with downloadable gen~ patches that go with each example so that readers can hear the results in real time. [19] [20]
Founded in 2000, c74 Music was created to release music produced using Cycling '74 technology. The same year, the label released its first record - a live compilation album by the Freight Elevator Quartet. [21] The artist roster is:
Digital music technology encompasses the use of digital instruments to produce, perform or record music. These instruments vary, including computers, electronic effects units, software, and digital audio equipment. Digital music technology is used in performance, playback, recording, composition, mixing, analysis and editing of music, by professions in all parts of the music industry.
A music sequencer is a device or application software that can record, edit, or play back music, by handling note and performance information in several forms, typically CV/Gate, MIDI, or Open Sound Control, and possibly audio and automation data for digital audio workstations (DAWs) and plug-ins.
Csound is a domain-specific computer programming language for audio programming. It is called Csound because it is written in C, as opposed to some of its predecessors.
Modular synthesizers are synthesizers composed of separate modules for different functions. The modules can be connected together by the user to create a patch. The outputs from the modules may include audio signals, analog control voltages, or digital signals for logic or timing conditions. Typical modules are voltage-controlled oscillators, voltage-controlled filters, voltage-controlled amplifiers and envelope generators.
NATO.0+55+3d was a software application for realtime video and graphics, released by 0f0003 Maschinenkunst and the Netochka Nezvanova collective in 1999 for the classic Mac OS operating system.
Max, also known as Max/MSP/Jitter, is a visual programming language for music and multimedia developed and maintained by San Francisco-based software company Cycling '74. Over its more than thirty-year history, it has been used by composers, performers, software designers, researchers, and artists to create recordings, performances, and installations.
Pure Data (Pd) is a visual programming language developed by Miller Puckette in the 1990s for creating interactive computer music and multimedia works. While Puckette is the main author of the program, Pd is an open-source project with a large developer base working on new extensions. It is released under BSD-3-Clause. It runs on Linux, MacOS, iOS, Android and Windows. Ports exist for FreeBSD and IRIX.
Novation Digital Music Systems Ltd. is a British musical equipment manufacturer, founded in 1992 by Ian Jannaway and Mark Thompson as Novation Electronic Music Systems. Today the company specializes in MIDI controllers with and without keyboards, both analog and virtual analog performance synthesizers, grid-based performance controllers, and audio interfaces. At present, Novation products are primarily manufactured in China.
Ableton Live is a digital audio workstation for macOS and Windows developed by the German company Ableton.
Reaktor is a graphical modular software music studio developed by Native Instruments (NI). It allows musicians and sound specialists to design and build their own instruments, samplers, effects and sound design tools. It is supplied with many ready-to-use instruments and effects. In addition, free instruments can be downloaded from the User Library. All of Reaktor's instruments can be freely examined, customized, or taken apart, encouraging reverse engineering. The free, limited version called Reaktor Player allows musicians to play NI-released Reaktor instruments, but not edit or reverse-engineer them.
ReWire is a software protocol, jointly developed by Propellerhead and Steinberg, allowing remote control and data transfer among digital audio editing and related software. Originally appearing in the ReBirth software synthesizer in 1998, the protocol has since evolved into an industry standard.
Ableton AG is a German music software company that produces and distributes the production and performance program Ableton Live and a collection of related instruments and sample libraries, as well as their own hardware controller Ableton Push. Ableton's office is located in the Prenzlauer Berg district of Berlin, Germany, with a second office in Pasadena, California.
Logic Pro is a proprietary digital audio workstation (DAW) and MIDI sequencer software application for the macOS platform developed by Apple Inc. It was originally created in the early 1990s as Notator Logic, or Logic, by German software developer C-Lab which later went by Emagic. Apple acquired Emagic in 2002 and renamed Logic to Logic Pro. It was the second most popular DAW – after Ableton Live – according to a survey conducted in 2015.
Opcode Systems, Inc. was founded in 1985 by Dave Oppenheim and based in and around Palo Alto, California, USA. Opcode produced MIDI sequencing software for the classic Mac OS and Microsoft Windows, which would later include digital audio capabilities, as well as audio and MIDI hardware interfaces. Opcode's MIDIMAC sequencer, launched in 1986, was one of the first commercially available MIDI sequencers for the Macintosh.
Joshua Kit Clayton, better known by his stage name Kit Clayton, is a San Francisco-based electronic and digital musician and computer programmer. He is a developer at San Francisco software company Cycling '74, helping create the Max/MSP MIDI/audio programming environment. He is also a significant contributor to Jitter, the multi-dimensional data set processing and visualizing architecture for audio, video, and 3D graphics. Clayton uses Max, MSP, and Jitter extensively in his own abstract musical compositions, which have been described as including aspects of ambient computer music and glitch.
Record is a music software program developed by Swedish software developers Propellerhead Software. Designed for recording, arrangement and mixing, it emulates a recording studio, with a mixing desk, a rack of virtual instruments and effects and an audio and MIDI sequencer. Record can be used either as a complete virtual recording studio in itself, or together with Propellerhead Software's Reason.
DIPS (Digital Image Processing with Sound) is a set of plug-in objects that handle real-time digital image processing in Max/MSP programming environment. Combining with the built-in objects of the environment, DIPS enables to program the interaction between audio and visual events with ease, and supports the realization of interactive multimedia art as well as interactive computer music.
Maschine is a hardware/software digital audio workstation developed by Native Instruments. Maschine consists of a controller that connects to the included sequencing software, which can be installed on any compatible computer or laptop.
AudioCubes are a collection of wireless intelligent light-emitting objects, capable of detecting each other's location, orientation, and user gestures. They were created by Bert Schiettecatte as electronic musical instruments for use by musicians in live performance, sound design, musical composition, and for creating interactive applications in max/msp, pd and C++.