http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSEHEJM9_JA

Want a nice afternoon project? How about taking a Styplophone, hacking it to make the “Dominator” sound (Roland Juno-1) and added Midi to it? Sounds crazy but that’s exactly what Jason from the UK did in the video above.

“Just for fun… not the most useful synth mod ever made. The technicals… Soldered wires to Stylophone PCB to use its keypad / resistor ladder.. put 5V across it and read voltage at stylus by analog input pin on arduino clone (miduino). Found out input value for each note and sent out MIDI note on/off messages thru serial connection when notes are detected. Simple.” – hotchk155

Just for a bit of comparison here’s the video for one massive classic techno by Human Resource called Dominator (iTunes link). This song really showcases how a stock synth preset can become a monster hit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dohzrXT09w

I’m Bigger, and Bolder, and Rougher and Tougher, in other words Sucker there is no other. I used to own a Juno-1 and loved the toms on it.

For more info on the Roland Juno-1: click here

Who’s the Big Dog now? from Calvin on Vimeo.

Here’s a nice video that drove me to discover Calvin Cardioid from Toronto, Canada. Besides this nice video he’s got a nice blog called cl516. It’s full of original content with a synth slant. Here’s a nice set of sounds of a Frostwave Resonator, modulated by Freqbox and Sherman Calvin posted over at SoundCloud:

For more info: http://cl516.blogspot.com/

Sound Scope Space demo from strange agency on Vimeo.

I’ve been consistently using music applications on my iPhone. Recording the iPhone’s output through the headphone jack directly into Ableton is remarkably pleasing for some reason. I’ve been enjoying Curtis (App Store link) from The Strange Agency (based out of Los Angeles). They recently posted a preview video of their next toy “Sound Scope Space”.

What do you think?

For more info: thestrangeagency.com

Related post: Use an iPhone to bring sounds into your DAW.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q29YR5-t3gg

I’m very glad my father is still around. It’s strange to know these are the good times and that they won’t last forever. Happy Father’s Day!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRTyn0Yf_5I

Call me strange but sometimes I enjoy relaxed first looks at software. You know, the ones where the person doesn’t really know whats going on yet. Christopher O’Riley A.K.A Wassaname takes his first stab at Propellerhead Record. He doesn’t produce the kind of music I’m really into but for some reason I found this video interesting. I never heard anyone call something “giant sweet” before.

If you want the opposite effect check out the official commercial:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oe7Iapsu_38

Even though I spend 99% of my time in Ableton live it’s good to jump completely out of that environment for a song or two. If you make music for a living and need an alternate universe to record in nothing beats the Propellerhead world.

Related post: Propellerhead Patch Chart from Oliver Chesler.

SoundCloud keeps adding on nice features to it’s pretty music sharing site. I was reading they now have a large paying user base and have received a few rounds of funding. I’m about ready to buy myself a Pro account. This weeks new feature that caught my eye is Groups. Anyone can create a Group around a subject. Here’s a few I joined:

Ableton Live Users – A group for users of Ableton Live.
Dj Mixes – Be sure to check out/comment on other mixes and upload your own. Keep it to 2-3 max please.
Field Recordings – Add your favorite field recordings.
Vocoder love – Group for artists who use vocoders.
Belgian New Beat – For anyone making music in this style or influenced by it.
Samplecloud – Put on the needles, plug in the cables, switch on the microphones and give us some food!
monome – small is beautiful
Samples – For sharing samples under the creative commons license. Samples and fragments only please!

I’d like to see an iPhone App for SoundCloud. You can already record audio on your iPhone and send it directly to SoundCloud using FiRe. I’d like to see how your using SoundCloud outside of the site itself. If you are posting your tracks into your own website or other social network send me a link to check it out.

“Groups are an entirely new feature on SoundCloud. They can be started by anybody and are a great way to bring people together around a specific theme or project. Want to start a remix contest? Make a group for it and let people send their remixes to that group. You’ll get a DropBox badge for the group that you can put on any page. And you’ll get a great player widget that will show all tracks that have been posted to the group. Groups can also be moderated to give you full control over its contents if required.” – soundcloud.com

Find me at SoundCloud: soundcloud.com/thingstocome

velosynth+003 from velosynth on Vimeo.

A bicycle with a synthesizer attached to the wheels. This thing would have been perfect in Berlin.

For more info: velosynth.com and twitter.com/velosynth

The Little Things in Live: Part 1 from Bjorn Vayner on Vimeo.

Bjorn Vayner has a great collection of Ableton tips and tricks on Vimeo. Today he shows us two little tips that we may have overlooked. First he selects multiple tracks and resizes them (hold ALT). Next, Bjorn reminds us that holding SHIFT and Spacebar will play your song from it’s last stopped position.

See more of Bjorn’s great videos: click here

I love the sound of spring reverbs. The Ekdahl Moisturizer is a pre-amp (with 100 x gain), spring reverb with wet/dry slider and a filter. There are two absolutely brilliant things about this unit. First, the springs are exposed for you to smash. Second, the Ekdahl Moisterizer is only $300. Needless to say I put my order in for one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1g86o5FkwiM

“Basically, the Ekdahl Moisturizer is a spring reverb where the springs are exposed so they can be played/hit/fiddled with. As well as being capable of creating sound in itself, you can of course also play sound through the springs like a regular spring reverb – this makes for happy-fun-time finger-modulation of the reverb on whatever audio that’s going through it. On top of this there’s an analog multimode filter that can be used to attenuate or exaggerate certain frequencies in the sound, this is real handy while playing the springs as you can – for instance – cut all the highs and just make thunderous doomy sounds or do the opposite; cut all the lows and make that ear piercing high frequency special love. Also, it incorporates an LFO that’s internally routable to the filter and that also has some external routing-stuff. The Ekdahl Moisturizer has tons of CV / Expression pedal options on the back for even more hillarious moments. The Moisturizer is a mono unit. ” – sdiy.org

The “E.M’s” designer Karl says he’s a bit backlogged so I’ll have to wait until September for my unit so if you want one you better get on the list. Be sure to also check out “Bob’s atomic experiment” on their website for some old USA style industrial music. For more videos and audio samples of the Ekdahl Moisterizer: http://www.sdiy.org