Here’s an interesting synthesizer based on a Macbook Pro’s Trackpad. I like futuristicish things and MStretchSynth surely fits that bill. If this interface gets tied to user generated samples it’s going to be great.
“‘MStretchSynth’ uses multi-point (multi-touch) data streams to create a synthesis instrument driven by the relationships between points. Instead of mapping touch positions (X and Y coordinates) directly to synthesis parameters, relationships such as angle, distance, and velocity compared to other points are used. ‘MStretchSynth’ uses angle, distance and total velocity between points to map to synthesis parameters pitch, amplitude and delay depth.” – Kevin Schlei
Jörg was “born in 1974. currently living in vienna/austria. member of the institute for transacoustic research. member of the vegetable orchestra (das erste wiener gemüseorchester). student at the schule für dichtung in wien (curd duca, sainkho namtchylak, etc). master degree in computer science. sound poet.”
If you read this blog you would believe I’m a Ableton Live fanatic. That is true however I once loved another. After my early days with Dr. T’s KCS on Ataris and Amigas I went Mac and Cubase VST. Cubase VST was the biggest revolution in music tech that mattered to me personally. It enabled me to start recording vocals direct to hard drive. It’s the reason in 1996 I start my own record label Things to Come Records. With VST (Virtual Studio Technology) I was able to create what I thought was fairly new and unique at the time: techno electronic mixed with 80s style New Wave and EBM.
Enter the 00s and Cubase became too buggy for me to use. It got to the point I was hitting save after each change I made. I was also rendering “safety” versions of songs in case project files would stop loading. Once Ableton Live came out it was over for my friend from Hamburg. That all said, I have friends that use Cubase today and they tell me it’s more stable. I also give credit where do and Steinberg brought so many innovations to the space it’s really amazing. Most importantly I wrote mountains of music using Cubase.
Steinberg has put up an interesting website called Steinberg Museum where you can see the history of the company. There are some tasty flashbacks in the building. Screenshots, interviews and old adverts are all fun for sequencer geeks like me. Check it out now: http://museum.steinberg.net
“Come in and tour this virtual museum which documents the story of Steinberg from its beginnings in the early 1980s.” – museum.steinberg.net
Something was really lost when the mixtape died. You see once upon a time a boy could make a mixtape for a girl. I personally took part in that exact ritual. The music on the tape represented how cool I was and the lyrics on each song were specific planned out messages. I took pride in knowing I had to coolest music. I walked the streets of NYC going from record store to record to be sure of just that fact. It’s a shame every tune in now just one click away. I wonder what teenage boys are giving girls these days.
““Mixtape”, a wonderful short film by Luke Snellin brings back the memories for those of us who used to spend hours making music mixes on cassette tape.” – Scott Beale
Novamusik shows off the Korg Kaossilator Pro. I’ve seen a few DJs really work with these things as extensions of their arms. I’ve never owned one but do thing they are fun. They are going for $399. Anyone love these? Hate them?
“As a trailblazer among the “instrumental gadgets” that allowed anyone to easily create melodies and phrases, the KAOSSILATOR gained a strong and dedicated user base, even among those without any performing experience. Today, the KAOSSILATOR continues to be enormously popular. Retaining these revolutionary features – while adding a wide variety of new ones as well – is the new KAOSSILATOR PRO. With 200 sound programs, a new Electribe-inspired gate arpeggiator, and four loop recording banks that can even record external audio sources, the KAOSSILATOR PRO is packed with features that make it ideal for both live performance and premium productions. In addition, USB connectivity with your computer and SD card memory storage allow the KAOSSILATOR PRO to be used not just for improvised performances, but also as a superbly intuitive, track-making music production tool.” – korg.com
Well I finally have a few hours this afternoon to chillout. Day job plus night job took its toll on me. After my weekend in Malta I had to report to the energy business early Monday. I’m not complaining at all its just coffee isn’t working on me anymore. As you can see from the video above I did my best letting the people of Malta know where they live, “Malta!”. I know its silly in the video but at 2:00AM it worked just fine. I played a new intro and a new song during the set and I was pleased. I love surprising DJs who don’t know my show with my antics. Billy Nasty took it in stride and smartly played some good party techno after my set.
“Malta, officially the Republic of Malta (Maltese: Repubblika ta’ Malta), is a developed southern European country and consists of an archipelago situated centrally in the Mediterranean, 93 km south of Sicily and 288 km north-east of Tunisia, with Gibraltar 1,826 km to the west and Alexandria 1,510 km to the east.” – WIkipedia.org
The promoters of this event SHIFT are always fun and professional. Visit them here: shiftmalta.com
Looking for a Roland TR style sequencer you can use with anything? Viola the new Europa Sequencer has got what you need. If it had a random mode I would have bought one on the spot. I can see a lot of Vermona DRM1 owners grabbing these. Price: UK £499
“This is the pre-prod unjit (99% finished), used here with Blofeld adn DR670 drums. Showing drum editing, octave shift, mute, transpose. This sequencer is really easy to use and tunes can be created so quickly.” – ASUKLTD
This is not an advertisement for music retailer Sweetwater it’s just something I discovered on their website I thought I would share. I don’t know how long they have been offering to sell you products in this exact way but it sure makes noise toys LOOK affordable. Simply put, for a lot of items they will split the cost of the product into three payments. There is a $10 “processing” fee for doing things this way. Here’s and example: A Waldorf Blofeld is $699. You pay $243.33 today, $233.33 in 30 days and $233.33 in 60 days. Add to the fact there is free shipping and it’s definitely an evil temptation device. I’m good with not buying things until I have the entire amount in cash and never built up any kind of debt. I hope I didn’t just cause someone without good funds to buy something they can’t really afford. Musicians have a unique way of justifying gear purchases. It’s easy to spend money on your art and passion.
“Sweetwater’s Flexible Payment Plan is a convenient, interest-free way to buy gear now and stretch your purchase across three budget-friendly payments. Simply choose the “3 Easy Payments” option in your cart, and we’ll divide your purchase amount into three budget-friendly payments, billed to your current MasterCard, Visa, Discover, or American Express card. There is a $10 processing fee for using this service. It’s just another way we make shopping at Sweetwater easy and convenient!” – sweetwater.com
I played a show in Malta this weekend. It’s a island below Italy and UK DJ Billy Nasty also performed. I had a fantastic time and the show went off without a hitch. I thought I would have an internet connection in my hotel and do some live blogging but at 14 Euros an hour I decided to head into the town instead. I’ll post some photos and videos soon but first I have to head to the day job and remind myself I’m still on planet earth.
This entry was written by Oliver Chesler, posted on February 1, 2010 at 5:52 am, filed under Uncategorized. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post. This post currently has 1 comments.
After a mountain of hype the Apple iPad is finally here. It’s more an evolutionary product than revolutionary. What I mean is it doesn’t have a front facing camera behind the screen that tracks your movements and let’s you do hand swipe gestures in mid-air. It really is more like a large iPhone. So far the amazing re-invention of the magazine as seen in demos from Time and Sports Illustrated are not on this device. Those are two examples of stuff I would have characterized as revolution. Am I really disapointed? Not one bit because as an iPhone owner I know how amazing the iPad is going to be. The touch screen interface on my iPhone is such a joy to play with a larger more useful sized iPad is going to lend itself to the creation of thrilling new apps. Peter Kirn over at CreateDigitalMusic went on a bit of a rant in a post titled How A Great Product Can Be Bad News: Apple, iPad, and the Closed Mac. He states he displeasure with Apple’s closed system, the choice of an iPhone vs Mac OS in the iPad, lack of ports on the iPad and so forth. I disagree with Peter and think the iPad is going to be an amazing piece of equipment for musicians. How do I know? Because my iPhone is already an amazing piece of equipment for musicians. My iPhone doesn’t need virus protection, App makers make money and I love the look and feel of the thing in my hand. We are musicians right? Don’t we gravitate to beautiful things? Luckily for Peter he has a great option: Android.
So what about the futuristic features some of us dreamed about earlier this week? Front face video chat and 4G are so 2011! Wonderfully, the entry level iPad is $499. Most Americans with day jobs can save that amount of spending money in one week. Ok I’ve done my Apple fanboy post… see you on stage!
This entry was written by Oliver Chesler, posted on January 28, 2010 at 5:55 am, filed under iPad and tagged apple, iPad. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post. This post currently has 16 comments.
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