After almost three years focusing on research and development it's time to start sharing the story. This blog will discuss AudioMulch and the ideas behind it, as well as offering information to assist your music making. Over the next few posts I'll also be discussing new features of the forthcoming version 2.0 release – starting today...

AudioMulch is designed for performance, whether on stage or in the studio. For me that means the user interface must support creative flow, spontaneity and improvisation. The patcher has always been central to AudioMulch; you use it to connect contraptions together, routing audio from generators to filters, effects and mixers, and finally to the output of your soundcard. I've always considered that “patching” can be part of a performance – not just a programming task you do to prepare. Some AudioMulch users take live-patching to the extreme and give whole performances building a patch from nothing!

Even if you're not into extreme-live-patching, routing and re-patching audio signals is central to the AudioMulch workflow – it's a big part of being creative with the software. For some time I've wanted to make AudioMulch easier to use and better suited to live performance. Out of this desire, and lengthly discussions with fellow AudioMulch users, I developed a new patcher for AudioMulch 2.0.

With AudioMulch 1.0 every patch cord must be connected manually. Inserting a contraption in between two existing contraptions often involves deleting the connecting patch cords and then creating new ones. There are a few tricks, but overall patching in AudioMulch 1.0 can become a bit tedious.
The AudioMulch 2.0 patcher makes patching easier. To start with, AudioMulch 2.0 includes a side-bar contraptions palette. You can drag contraptions from the palette into the patcher to create them without the need to navigate the “New Contraption” right-click menu.

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