A few weeks ago I purchased a Hard Soft Synth 3i or HSS3i from Bleep Labs. It’s a creation of a Dutch man know as Gieskes. The unit creates analog video and audio. As you can hear in the recording I made above it’s quite interesting. You will know instantly if your the type of person who will like this thing. It’s very THX1138. For some more photos of what you get: click here. Expect to see some of the video output from the HSS3i in my live shows.
“The Hard Soft Synth 3i is an indescribable audio / video generator by noisemaker extraordinaire, Gieskes.” – Bleep Labs
For more info: gieskes.nl
This entry was written by , posted on October 8, 2011 at 5:42 am, filed under circuit bending, hardware, sounds and tagged Bleep Labs, Gieskes, HSS3i, video synthesizer. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
In case you were wondering WE are the aliens.
“A modem (modulator-demodulator) is a device that modulates an analog carrier signal to encode digital information, and also demodulates such a carrier signal to decode the transmitted information. The goal is to produce a signal that can be transmitted easily and decoded to reproduce the original digital data. Modems can be used over any means of transmitting analog signals, from light emitting diodes to radio. The most familiar example is a voice band modem that turns the digital data of a personal computer into modulated electrical signals in the voice frequency range of a telephone channel. These signals can be transmitted over telephone lines and demodulated by another modem at the receiver side to recover the digital data.” – Wikipedia
photo credit: Koluso DX
via laughingsquid
This entry was written by , posted on June 29, 2011 at 3:48 pm, filed under sounds and tagged Modem. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
Blood and Guts Sound Library Preview CRFX-013 by crussom
477 samples of Blood and Guts for $50. These were created using pumpkins, yogurt and other gut like sounding products. I wonder how much more this sample library would be worth if they used really living humans?
“Recorded and produced in collaboration with Sound Designer Rob King, this is a collection of gore, stabbing, and impact sounds. Use these sounds as source effects to layer into your fight scenes, zombie feasts, dismemberments, autopsies, or anywhere else you might need to add a little bit of blood, guts, flesh ripping, or bone breaking sounds.” – chuckrussomfx.com
photo credit: g000nz0
via synthtopia
This entry was written by , posted on May 3, 2011 at 4:17 am, filed under sounds and tagged blood, guts, sample library, samples. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
Dither of course. The video above shows you why. It’s been a while since my last album so in preparing the files for the new baby I realized I need to get things from 32bit to 16bit. As per some Gearslutz advice I’m going with the Pow-r type.
“Dither is an intentionally applied form of noise used to randomize quantization error, preventing large-scale patterns such as “banding” in images. Dither is routinely used in processing of both digital audio and digital video data, and is often one of the last stages of audio production to compact disc.” – Wikipedia
For more info: wikipedia.org/wiki/Dither
This entry was written by , posted on April 2, 2011 at 5:33 pm, filed under sounds and tagged Dither, pow-r. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
80′s awesome wonderful! In England in the summertime…
“Introducing the Fairlight App for iPhone & iPad, available from the Apple App Store in March 2011. Over 30 years since the original Fairlight CMI first changed the way we make music, we are proud to present the iPhone & iPad Apps, giving you the experience of a CMI Series IIx in the palm of your hand, complete with the full Series IIx factory library and expandable to include the best of the Series III library and even your own samples. Marvel at the then revolutionary Page R step sequencer, gasp at the three dimensional waveforms in Page D and bask in the wonder of some of the most famous sounds of the Eighties! The sound track of this video is also one of the app’s built-in demos. ‘Octagonalle’ was created using original Series II library sounds on the Fairlight iPad app by producer/composer Justin Shave. Shave confronted his first CMI in 2006 when he co-produced Darren Hayes’ album “This Delicate Thing We’ve Made.” Darren had decided that the Fairlight was the only instrument which could deliver the ’80s sensibility he was seeking, bought one on eBay, and handed it to Shave to tame. The rest is history.” – FairlightInstruments
Get the App: itunes.apple.com/us/app/fairlight/
This entry was written by , posted on March 18, 2011 at 5:19 am, filed under iPad, iPhone, sounds and tagged Fairlight, iOS. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
Here’s a trio for Tuesday. Three new interesting pro-audio related products. Number one we have Steinberg LoopMash. LoopMash mangles four loops. It’s an iPhone App. I grabbed it and it has a pretty cool faux 3D swipe to different screen effect worth checking out. Years after abandoning Cubase I’m using a Steinberg product again. Number two is Mike. It’s a microphone from Apogee that goes directing into your iOS device. It’s from Apogee so it deserves mention. Convenience and AD/DA conversion wise it should be a winner however I’m all about high end mic pres and Mike can’t use one. Number three we have SuperAnalog808 a Roland TR-808 sample pack from Goldbaby designed for Loopmasters. If you don’t own a real 808 or Acidlab Miami then samples are your friend. Goldbaby does them right and there’s a million suble differences between 808s and ways to record them so another sample set is always welcome.
For more info: LoopMash, Mike, SuperAnalog808
This entry was written by , posted on March 15, 2011 at 2:35 am, filed under drum machine, hardware, iPad, iPhone, sounds and tagged Apogee, drum machine, iOS, iPad, iPhone, LoopMash, microphone, Roland TR-808, samples, Steinberg. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
I really want one of these vintage Telefunken Echomixers. I’m not sure they are worth Sonic Circus’s price of $2650. It’s definitely a piece you want if your building a musical time machine. What a sweet distortion and spring reverb from Germany.
“Telefunken Echomixer, a great vintage piece form 1960 years with old discrete comoponents (old transistors, no tubes) It is a Mixer + an amazing spring reverberator. the first A channel is dry, and on B and C you can select the spring reverb amount between the two lower sliders. Great unit for a unique sound and collector.” – soniccircus.com
Via matrixsynth
This entry was written by , posted on December 13, 2010 at 10:46 am, filed under hardware, sounds and tagged Echomixer, German, spring reverb, Telefunken, vintage. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
Drum kits made from vintage analog synthesizers are a good thing. Here’s one set up for you in an Ableton Live pack created with a Korg MS-10. It’s $10 AUS via Paypal. Audio samples and more info: click here
“All the samples have been programmed on the MS-20 from the ground up and treated with the utmost care to provide you with pristine and unique sounds you wont find anywhere else.This is our most comprehensive pack to date as it includes 6 unique LIVE sets, 6 Drum Racks, 77 samples, 58 midi clips as well as unique FX such as our Geiger and 3F-Sat.The samples and FX have been grouped within the racks and have useful macro controls assigned to them to broaden the pallet of sounds you can produce.” – voltagedisciple.com
For more info: voltagedisciple.com
photo credit: aliasfreq
via sonicstate
This entry was written by , posted on October 20, 2010 at 5:12 am, filed under Ableton Live, drum machine, sounds and tagged Ableton Live, drum machine, Korg, Korg MS-20, Voltage Diciple. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
Puremagnetik creates and sells mini monthly sample packs for Ableton, Kontakt & Logic. I recently met Micah Frank at IMSTA FESTA and thought I would follow up with this interview.
I really like your subscription model. Tell Wire to the Ear readers how it works.
Puremagnetik produces a new “Micropak” each month. A Micropak is a small (usually under 600MB) sound set that is very focused on a particular instrument. You can subscribe for $5.75 per month and download the Current Micropak. We keep each Micropak current for 2 months, so there are two Current Micropaks available at all times. You can also buy a full year subscription or buy the entire catalog. Additionally, users can purchase back catalog Micropaks individually – similar to back issues of a magazine.
Tell us about your recording chain. Are there any microphones or outboard processors your in love with?
I mostly program Puremagnetik’s electronic content. I prefer to keep my signal chain as transparent as possible. Good A/D matters most to me. I rarely use compression during tracking but sometimes I like to use my API Lunchbox’s 512C’s as a DI. Our other sound developer Brian produces all of the acoustic stuff in some great studios. He uses all of the Pultecs, Chandlers and Neumanns.
Digital Blasphemy by micahfrank
How do you go about finding the instruments to record? I can’t imagine you own all the toys ToyBox Micropaks!
Sometimes we go shopping (Toys r Us). We also have a great network of studios and synth geeks all up and down the east coast. If I can find a good deal on eBay, I’ll jump on it – Synthi owners speak up! A lot of the stuff I’m working on now is more conceptual so it requires less defined devices.
What percent of your customers would you say subscribe vs just buy a pack they like?
It’s a 50/50 split. Some people like the subscription model. Just as many people are happy grabbing them once they become back catalogued.
What is your most popular Micropak and what are your top 3 personal favorites?
The most popular Micropak is an oldie but goodie – Eight Bit. It is a pack of sounds from a Commodore 64 SID chip.
The Micropaks I like the most are the ones I enjoyed working on the most. I love the ability in Live to reverse engineer the concepts behind some great synths. If you look at Puremagnetik’s Vector, Waveframe and P-50 Linear you will see that I have broken the synths down into their core components and reconstructed them in Live Racks. In Waveframe for instance, I took all of the Fizmo’s wavetable content and reconstructed the whole synth in Live using Ableton Sampler’s modulation functions.
Brian also did the same kind of reverse engineering in this month’s Omnichord inspired pack. In my opinion, this is where Puremagnetik really shines – when we break away from the same old multisampling conventions.
I know you make music yourself. Tell Wire to the Ear readers some of the bands you work or have worked with and some places online they can hear your music.
The only band I have worked with in the past few years is a local artist named Atarah Valentine. I got in touch with him through Ableton and Damian Taylor (Bjork). The highlight of my work with him was this past June when we opened for La Roux at Terminal 5. He’s a very talented singer so I look forward to working with him a lot more in the future.
My big project for the past year is Tectonic. It is a realtime sonification of earthquake data as interpreted by Max and then synthesized by a Kyma/Pacarana system. http://micahfrank.com/tagged/tectonic. For the past few years I haven’t really enjoyed making horizontal music. By that, I mean music that is pre-composed in a given timeframe by a horizontally oriented DAW. I am finding it much more gratifying to create a system like Tectonic or just grab my DrumKat and improvise under my alias Kamoni (kamoni.net) You can see and hear all of the other stuff I’m up to at micahfrank.com or soundcloud.com/micahfrank.
What music are you listening to lately?
Tim Hecker, Robert Normandeau, Ben Frost, Alva Noto, Zoot Woman
Here’s a public offer. If you want to make a Micropak out of my Electrocomp-101 (number 521 out of 2000) feel free but you have to come to my place. I’m not lugging that thing to Brooklyn!
Thanks Oliver! That would be totally awesome. You have just been inducted into PECSGN (Puremagnetik East Coast Synth Geek Network).
photo credit: Rachel Papo
This entry was written by , posted on September 29, 2010 at 4:07 am, filed under interviews, sounds and tagged 8bit, Brooklyn, Micah Frank, Micropak, Puremagnetik, sample library, samples, sound. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
Lawrie Cape from England sent me an email this morning with details of a new project he/she has been working on called Cellular AutoMidi. It’s a generative audio app running inside Adobe Air. It has internal sounds but also uses the Flash Midi Server system so you can control VSTs with it. If you don’t have your copy of Audio Damage’s Automaton at work this could get your Cellular Automata algorithm fix in!
Cellular AutoMidi from Lawrie Cape on Vimeo.
“I’ve just finished work on a generative audio app called Cellular Automidi. Cellular AutoMidi is a generative music app, making “music” based on a modified Cellular Automata algorithm. It can make music itself, or you can use it as a midi controller with other software/equipment. Each cell can be alive or dead. Once in a generation, each cell looks at it’s surrounding cells, and dies if it is lonely or overcrowded. If a dead cell has an optimum amount of neighbors, it will come to life! Each generation, all the cells which have come to life will sound a note. The notes are assigned based on the cell’s y position, and are all in the pentatonic scale.” – Lawrie Cape
Free download: lawriecape.co.uk/theblog/index.php/archives/735
This entry was written by , posted on July 27, 2010 at 6:26 am, filed under sounds, synthesizer and tagged Adobe Air, Cellular Automata, Cellular AutoMidi, generative, Lawrie Cape. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
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