Electric Wings

Recession Wish-list

2009-02-07T10:52:00.000-08:00

My Recession Cure?

Spend. Lots.

Unfortunately I don't have that much money (well wont when I order an interface and a second stand - my Oxygen is currently leaning against the table unused) but I have plans for my next €150-or-so...

Sampling Package - €99 + ~€30

How does the new sampling update for the Blofeld sound? What about combined with a new battery and mic for my Minidisc? Aphex Twin-style sampling anyone?

I thought long and hard about this, and while I quite like the idea I don't think it will fit in with my current bout of live improvisational knob-tweaking, which is why I propose the:

Kaoss Package - €145

I love this little beauty! And it would fit right in with my current improvisation method - I find myself stuck not knowing what to do next. With this little toy I will. Hopefully.

Of course I could get this:

Cheap Guitar Package - €???

But I wouldn't have the time or patience (or money) to keep it up. I am going to uni you know... best to keep with the synths for now.

Happy recession to all! I'll be enjoying it.

PCR-500 Drum Pad Bliss

2009-01-27T12:40:00.000-08:00

An Edirol PCR-500 keyboard came in over the weekend. I spent a day improvising with it and realised there are two main things which make this a great controller.

MIDI Merge.

Drum Pads.

The drum pads aren't fantastic for drum programming - way better than keys but need a lot of force to turn on (and sometimes off). However for what I use them for, triggering drum loops and arpeggios, they are fantastic. You can set them to any note and channel, and what's more they blink. I would never have thought how brilliant this is - you get instant feedback on what is currently playing (invaluable if you have many pads sending on the same channel), it's easy to figure out chord changes with the current chords blinking away at you, turning everything off is quick and it looks cool. Very cool.

I've been taking a look at a few other controllers which offer similar capabilities (but are smaller). The problem is that they all lack MIDI merge capabilities, which immediately increases the price by about €50. And they lack one thing.

They don't flash.

I think I'll be sticking with my PCR...

Time-lapse photography

2009-01-26T11:55:00.000-08:00

A very nice video by the creator of the fantastic Glitch audio destruction plugin.

Time-lapse Sunset from Kieran Foster on Vimeo.

Time Laspe Experiment @ Illformed

Countdown to the Microkorg XL

2009-01-05T09:57:00.000-08:00

So, as everyone anticipates the coming of the famous Microkorg's bigger brother, lets see what people are saying about it.
I guess "retro", "old-school" and even "Stylophone" describe it best. What does Korg say? "...both fresh and nostalgic"? It definitely doesn't look like the successor to one of the most popular modern synths ever - the Moog Rogue looks about as exciting. (Then again, the original wasn't exactly the prettiest of synths either...)

Changes? Unlike the original, which used the MS200's synthesis engine, the XL has the Radius's Multi Modelling Technology engine (and if it has the same amount power and flexibility, we could be looking at Korg's answer to the Micron). The vocoder's been updated to 16 bands, which should be a welcome change. Improved effects, supposedly based on the Kaoss pads' effects have been added. An improved black key to white key ratio (yes, I laughed too when I read this). Korg have updated the panel with even less controls - I know the Microkorg is considered by some as a beginner's synth, but frankly this is a bit ridiculous. And, my favorite little fact, the Microkorg XL actually isn't much bigger than the original (and actually 1mm thinner!).

Synthopia gave us the news first, along with a few videos, followed by CDM's post on the bizarre "genre" knob (read the comments, they're brilliant). Sound On Sound thank Korg for adding an XLR socket on top of the panel, instead of the former arrangement where there were 2 (!!!) sockets around the back of the synth. Over at the MPC Forums the people have spoken - bigger keys please! The french-speaking posters at Audio Fanzine bring up an interesting point - without those horrible miniature keys it wouldn't be a Microkorg! One poster was of the opinion that Korg, after realizing that painting white keys black and vice-versa (yeuch) doesn't increase sales, decided to try giving it a retro look in the hope that that might work. Point taken.

Overall most people are saying that Korg have lost the plot, with most saying that there's no reason to ditch your old Microkorg for the XL - when your customers start saying things like that, it's bad news. I have the feeling Korg were trying to make some easy money - "Hey, lets re-release our best-selling product" - but didn't think things out well enough. I mean, who would turn up at a gig with something that looks like a much-hated 60s toy? Much that the Micron looks a bit toy-like, at least it still looks like a proper instrument.

Digital Village say they'll have it in around February; Thomann have been very quiet about it, which isn't normal for them. Looks like we won't be hearing any more news from Korg till NAMM '09. Good luck Korg - you're going to need it.

On a more humorous note, Digital Village have the XL's price down as "£TBA", or "€105,930.00". I think not.

Microkorg XL - just another Microkorg?

2008-12-12T13:15:00.000-08:00

Now this is old news but I'm sort of confused about the upcoming Microkorg "XL". Never mind the new synthesis engine (if this video is anything to go by it sounds terrible) and the retro redesign, what I'm wondering is if it's "Xtra Large" why does it still have does Xtra Small keys? Korg will never cease to amaze me...

Sun Ra plugin

2008-11-25T11:59:00.001-08:00

I haven't played around with this long enough to write a proper review but here's what it is and why you should try it out now.

Sun Ra by elogoxa is an ambient background synth. Feel you need some soothing background wierdness but can't seem to get anything on your mic other than the cat yawning? Load this thing up in your DAW. The second you load it it starts weaving a wonderful background. Send a repeating stream of MIDI to it and it will start... shimmering to your music. Fantastic for intros/outros.

The synth itself (SynthEdit-made by the looks of it) consists of two wav file players, a synth, the usual modifiers plus effects, and some very cryptic controls. Definately something to play around with.

Why Hermode Tuning?

2008-11-16T13:24:00.000-08:00

There's been a lot of talk about one of Waldorf's new Stromberg's features - Hermode Tuning (aka HMT). What the hell is it?

Most forms of Western music use "Equal Temperament", which deals with the problems of different scales having slightly different notes by compromising and using a set 12 notes. This way instrument makers and musicians don't need to worry about the problems having to use a different set of notes for every scale.

Hermode Tuning proposes that, seeing as we now have very advanced electronic music-making machines, we don't need to be restricted to the usual 12 notes, and can make music the way it's meant to be made.

So, what's the difference to the listener? Well I can't easily tell between the two. I'd even say that Equal Temperament sounds better. A case of too much consonance? Or am I just too used to the old scales? You decide. But if we got on so long without HMT, and for most people not even noticing there was something wrong, why should we be getting excited about it now?

Ceci n'est pas une LinnDrum

2008-10-06T12:10:00.000-07:00

Sorta old news but gotta love the ad.

Ceci n'est pas une LinnDrum @ Create Digital Music

Why are synth ads so... Boring?

Waldorf had a good idea for the Blofeld, now all it needs is arranged into some sort of a poster.

Waldorf Blofeld (Note the cat - wasn't there before...)

Justice extreme setup

2008-10-06T11:16:00.000-07:00

Been away, I know... anyway some nice pics of a bit of sonic OD, the first one is especially cool. Rack gear facing outwards... wouldn't you just love to walk up to it, turn a few knobs and see what happens?

Justice @ Create Digital Music

Film and game music resources (plus local-ish electronica)

2008-08-20T07:45:00.000-07:00

A great post from Create Digital Music on Film and Game music resources. This is an interesting area of the music industry which isn't really looked at very often (there's an attitude of "music for music's sake") but is massive. I wonder how many indie films and games there are looking for soundtracks compared to the amount of artists prepared to devote some time to something other then their next album...

As an aside, a band from nearby (sort of) Derry which I found aptly marked as "electronica soundtrack/film music" on Myspace, then forgot about, then rediscovered, is Garvan Mc Cann, aka The Crimson Underground. Relying on piercing drums and film-like athmospheric pads, along with a few samples now and again, it's definately worth a listen. Go ahead.

Plane makes use of power lines to slow down

2008-08-19T09:40:00.000-07:00

With interesting concequences!

Beyond Polyphony

2008-08-16T09:20:00.000-07:00

This Matrixsynth post, or more importantly the name of the synth it's about, got me thinking somehow. "Paraphony", infinite polyphony (anyone got a better description?).

It's generally accepted that 64-note polyphony on a synth that's meant to be played rather than sequenced is more than enough, and even considering multiple oscillators 120-note polyphony is ridiculous (yes, I'm talking about the Korg Triton. Any other examples?) but so far it's been limited to what I would call "2D" polyphony. The two dimensions are note values and oscillators. Why shouldn't other parts of the synth be "polyphonic" so to speak, with many entire patches sounding together? Can you imagine the sound of 10 filter sweeps controlled by 10 different envelopes? Or 3 different arpeggiators controlled by one chord? It would be revolutionary - think of the pads you could create!

The closest I can think of is the uber-modulation the Blofeld supposedly provides. We dream and the music plays on...

Wordle

2008-08-13T11:26:00.000-07:00

Thank you to Daniel Whittington for introducing me to Wordle: an applet which scans a feed or a batch of text and displays the frequency of each word graphically.

I've added this blog's "Wordle" or Word Cloud to the sidebar and will update it every month to see which words I've been overusing ;-).

Here's another Wordle of Wikibook's History of New Zealand (which itself can be found here).

Beautiful, aren't they?

Improve Your Recordings and Mixes, on the Cheap

2008-08-13T11:03:00.000-07:00

Des McKinney from Hometracked on why you don't need to pay for good results in your mix - A must-read. These tips cost nothing, but improve your music immensely. Why do people never get that if there was such a difference between analog and digital gear, most people wouldn't be using v-synths? A light reverb or an EQ will smoothen out the differences. And if your mix doesn't sound great on cheap earphones then re-mix - how many people really listen to music through studio monitors?

If expensive equipment was the key to pro recordings, then there would be no studio engineers. Cheap gear doesn't stop you making good songs - it only makes that process a bit harder.

Why you should listen to your GPS

2008-08-13T08:49:00.001-07:00

False GPS readings contribute to a crash - I guess one thing people don't realise is 1. It's always best to be 100% sure of something and 2. Trust your instruments (whatever the first paragraph says).

Mistakes made here?

The GPS should issue a clear warning if it can't recieve a signal
If the pilot isn't following his filed path, then he will tell ATC. It's ATC's job to make sure the pilot follows the path - guessing the pilot's intentions is just plain dangerous
If there are other instruments aboard - which there nearly always is - USE THEM if only to check - another navigational aid can't hurt.

NASA awards $100,000 to green planes

2008-08-11T12:17:00.000-07:00

SONOMA COUNTY, Calif.--When it comes to flying, being green isn't easy.

Here at NASA's second annual General Aviation Challenge this weekend, one of the main prizes was the so-called "green prize," which challenged two-seater planes to fly a 400-mile-long course logging at least 30 miles to the gallon. None of the four planes entered won the $50,000 prize; the best attempt achieved 28.8 miles per gallon. (NASA's ultimate goal is to get the green prize to at least 100 miles per hour and the equivalent of 100 miles per gallon.

The shoe-in to win the green prize--a team with a novel "omnivore" biodiesel engine capable of flying on french fry oil--pulled out of the race at the last minute because of a mechanical problem.

From CNet.

I think personally that Green planes are going to become very popular with rising fuel prices and greater environmental awareness. Looking beyond the traditional fuel-burning engines, while airfields full of solar-panel covered aircraft seem a bit far-fetched, you have to contrast the initial high prices of these aircraft with the long-term savings over conventional aircraft.

Soon all flying will be green. It'll have to be.

Sony VAIO X-Black screens + Linux = a mess...

2008-08-10T07:46:00.000-07:00

OK, so I got Damn Small Linux, Puppy Linux and PCLinuxOS MiniMe to run on the stick without difficulty (and only Puppy needed a CD - I'm guessing a bit more searching could have thought me how to do without one though). Only problem is I'm testing it on a Sony VGN-SZ2VP and it's "WXGA X-Black LCD" screen refuses to run anything higher than 8-bit or so colour, no matter what XOrg settings I choose!!

I'm not really annoyed since I see no reason to use a USB distro on a PC I have full access to and which runs Windows fine, but it's sorta weird...

USB Linux

2008-08-09T10:38:00.000-07:00

I have decided, convinced by the purchase of a 2GB USB stick (€15??? What's happening to the computer industry???), to get some Linux distro squeezed onto a USB stick.

There are quite a few pretty much designed for this - Damn Small Linux and Puppy Linux are two old favourites - and a lot of desktop distros either have a "miniturized" branch or can be installed onto a largeish USB stick as normal.

More news when it works (or doesn't)

P.S. Anyone (not) see the Thighpaulsandra videos on Matrixsynth?

HobNox AudioTools

2008-06-18T11:03:00.000-07:00

Ever stuck some place with an internet connection, but since it's not your pc you can access your synths?

Meet AudioTools

HobNox AudioTools

AudioTools (and it's video counterpart) are available on the HobNox website FOR FREE and they work entirely from the webpage (so no downloading and installing). They are a recreation (with Flash and a bit of Java) of two drum machines, two bass synths, a mixer and loads of effects pedals. Sorta hard to program TB-303 style but sounds brilliant.

More from CreateDigitalMusic

Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles

2008-06-12T04:00:00.001-07:00

Out of nowhere comes a band from Toronto with a song that fuses hardcore singing and chiptune synths. A couple of sell-out singles and a lot of gigs later they're causing riots across the USA and the UK. This band is Crystal Castles, and that song was Alice Practice. Their journey seems amazing, but what is most remarkable is how quickly alice practice became famous. Anyone who hasn't heard it should immediately go to their myspace page, because it is the most unlikely candidate for a hit debut song. The idea alone of fusing experimental 8-bit electronica and vocals ala digital hardcore is insane. It gets worse. This is far from Enter Shikari: Alice Glass practically screeching into her mic-distort setup, with Ethan Kahn delivering what can only be described as waves of chiptune samples remminiscent of atari consoles (a certain Atari 5200 in fact) assaults the listener. It's loud, it's somewhat crude, but it works brilliantly. It travels the four corners of Myspace before a record label begins making offers of a single. And here is the cherry on the cake: as the name suggests, that was only a practice!

Now Crystal Castles have released their self-titled debut album. suprisingly via mainstream distributors. It seems their motive is to supply their fans with something to buy, seeing as their singles are absolutely impossible ot find on the internet, let alone in the shops. The album contains both their early chipcore songs and their later, smoother synthey (can I say Orbit-ey?) electronica pieces. First on my list is the famous Alice Practice, mentioned above. XXZXCUZX ME gives us a more extreme version of this, almost hardcore with guitars swapped for samplers and drums replaced with a TB-303. Moving on: Love and Caring is the nicest of the chipcore songs. A heavy "donkey kong" drum opening, which defines the entire song, leads to a beautifuly 8-bit counterpoint to Alice's distorted vocals. The chorus is made up of seriously destroyed samples. And who can deny that CC only releases first takes after hearing Alice say "What the **** is this?? Oh it's the bass!!"?

Through The Hosiery starts with a strange noise, similar to Tool's Useless Idiot or the end of Radiohead's Karma Police. This moves swiftly onto some well-planned synth-work and Alice's far-away voice. Subdued and disturbing, but perfect. Black Panther follows the same perterbing thread with a song about a teenage mother throwing her newborns off a cliff and ending with the
chilling "If this is love, then I'm ****ing proud of it!". A very upbeat song, the closest CC have got to dance, yet so brilliant I'd rather call it "electronic minimalism". ;-)

Two covers are included. The first is Crimewave by Health, and personally I prefer this to the original - they even added some of the heavy drum mayham from the original. Next is Vanished, a cover of Van She's Sex City with chopped vocals and slightly altered lyrics. I haven't heard the original, but the CC version is calm, smoothing and a bit dark with subtle changes throughout. I love it. You need the lyrics in front of you though...

Reckless and Knights are demonstrations of Ethan's synth playing, the former a lot better than the other. Magic Spells is similar. Air Wars is one of the few CC songs to actually change tune halfway through. Its bizarre vocals passed through some sort of a delay actually work quite well.

Courtship Dating marks the transition between the chipcore and synth stage in CC: chiptune, samples, it's all in there, but it's smoother and more measured. Untrust Us has more weird vocal effects, but has a lot of the smooth synthwork of Magic Spells, and the two sorta complement themselves.

Last on my list, and a brilliant end to the album, is the creepy Tell Me What To Swallow. You really can't say much about it: acoustic Crystal Castles.

If Crystal Castles is anything to judge the Experimental Electronica scene by, there are a lot of suprises in store for us over the next few years, and they're all good. If you're looking for something different, get this CD.

Crystal Castles on Amazon

NXT Sound Synthesis

2008-06-04T06:07:00.000-07:00

leJOS 0.6 has included a few additions to the Sound class, including, roll of drums, an envelope generator! this is definately something to try out: open source 8-bit synthesis, in a Lego brick.

leJOS 0.6 Release Notes

Thomann Music Store

2008-05-02T12:16:00.000-07:00

Found a brilliant music store in Germany, low prices AND low shipping (€15 for anything or €0 if you spend over €200 on the Irish site).

Thomann Music Store
Thomann Music Store - England
Thomann Music Store - Ireland

WikiHow

2008-04-25T11:53:00.000-07:00

This site is pretty large, containing loads of (36,000+) howtos. Some of the names are just classic:

How To Appreciate Death Metal
How To Appreciate Emo Music
How To Appreciate The Band "Muh" - I actually thought I was on UnHow for a second!
How To Be A Good Evanescence Fan
How To Listen To A CD Backwards - I'm so going to need to do this...
How To Be A Good U2 Fan - "1. Listen to some music by U2. It'll help you understand why to be a fan." Hmmm...
How To Go Skacore
How To Be A Real Christian Emo
How To Be A Christian Metalhead

Elect The Dead - Serj Tankian

2008-04-20T10:58:00.001-07:00

Serj Tankian released his first solo album a little while back, and I've just got a chance to get my hands on it.

The album is overall good, although some songs just aren't interesting. It's pretty safe to say the entire album's politically motivated. From Empty Wall's imagery-filled lyrics and video to Praise The Lord And Pass The Ammunition's inside message.

Luckily the System spirit is still alive, living amongst Serj's brilliant experimentation. Empty Walls, Unthinking Majority and Honking Antelope keep the Good-Metal-Thoughtful-Lyrics tradition alive, and luckily Serj has kept his distinctive way of singing. Lie Lie Lie shows Serj's brilliant composing and keyboard-playing abilities. Praise The Lord And Pass The Ammunition is incredibly experimental for such a well-known musician, lets hope he decides to keep writing like that.

As an added extra, a lot of work has gone into the videos, especially Lie Lie Lie and Honking Antelope.

Elect The Dead on Amazon.co.uk

M-Audio Oxygen 49

2008-04-18T10:27:00.001-07:00

Wow, what a deal. I HAVE to get this one.

M-Audio Oxygen 49 (product page)

This is a PERFECT keyboard for someone who wants to control the nitty-gritty of their softsynth parameters from their keyboard without having to fork out for a full Mackie control panel. No fewer than 8 knobs and 9 sliders, with 49 keys, and what's more a company in England is able to ship it over for under €130! (Thanks the Guitar And Keyboard centre!!!)

It also ships with leads, an editor, and, of course, Ableton Live Lite! (There seems to be a trend developing...)

Introduction

2008-04-18T09:48:00.000-07:00

Hi I'm Yann Donnelly and I'm from Ireland. I spend my time messing with computers and instruments and have a passion for all things aviation.