I love the Tenori-on. If it were a bit cheaper I would surely have bought one by now. I went to the official coming out party in Berlin and saw first hand how far creative artists can take the Lite-Bright impersonator. André Michelle is a wonderful software developer who has a website which is calls a Laboratory. On his page he has physics and music demos that run inside a browser. Some of his creations are impressive and touch on the future of software interfaces. One of his toys the ToneMatrix is a pseudo Tenori-on albeit a simple one. It doesn’t go deep as a real Tenori can but the basic grid pattern note fun part is there. You can find ToneMatrix on his Laboratory page and also as a tool inside HobNox’s awesome Audiotool website (browser based techno studio). Another place you can now find ToneMatrix is on an iPhone rebranded as SoundMatrix (iTunes link). It’s free so go make some zen bleeps.

Update: Twitter user @Candy Cane let me know there is another Tenori app for the iPhone called Melodica (iTunes link).

Related post: Thoughts and photos from the Tenori-on Berlin event.

I have a habit of giving away usb flash drives. More than a few times I gave someone a file on a flash drive and when the person said, “hey these are cool” I can’t help from saying, “keep it”. They make good on the spot gifts because anyone who thinks a plain plastic USB key is cool must also think they cost more than $9.99 (which a 2GB guy goes for these days).

I got myself a new flash drive today the “iamaKey” from Lacie. As you see in the photo above it’s a real key with a built in flash drive. It was $20 for 4GB. There’s really nothing else to say other than it fits my ultra nerd self 100%.

If you want to be near music gear 100% of the time look at these babies:

Weird and yummy (via Synthtopia). Get them: here

More info: lacie.com

I met Ritche Hawtin a few times. I played a bowling alley with him in the early 90’s. We were set up inside the area that gives out the rental shoes. More recently in Berlin he moved into the studio next to me. Beyond being a friendly guy he’s got some great marketing tool ideas. I really like his latest move which sends Tweets of whatever track he’s playing directly from Native Instruments Traktor to Twitter. Here’s the copy:

“Pioneering techno DJ Richie Hawtin has announced the development of a new Twitter application that enables him to broadcast his Traktor tracklists in real time over the network. The custom Twitter application was developed in-house by Richie Hawtin’s label Minus, and it works by uploading song metadata through Traktor Pro’s inbuilt broadcasting functionality. Track details are automatically posted to Richie Hawtin’s Twitter account every 30 seconds (you can already see Traktor tracklist updates on his Twitter), giving anyone access to the tracklist of his performance, and providing exposure to the artists and labels whose music is being played.” – beatportal.com

Follow Ritchie on Twitter: click here and follow me (Oliver Chesler) too: click here

photo credit: cena carioca

Related post: Use Twitter as a promotion tool for your music.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kr-e3qGQ884

I posted a link to this video last week on my Twitter and Facebook pages. It’s a joke video but it really has been stuck in my head because it showcases how music alone changes the entire context of the video. For those who don’t know Different Strokes was a happy 70’s television show. It was about an old white guy “Mr. Drummond” and how he adopted two kids and all there silly antics in New York City. The original music for the sitcom was typical happy jumpy. Simply by switching the music out the show’s intro tells an entirely different let’s say disturbing story. This shows the power of music.

More info: Different Strokes at Wikipedia

Get To Know Your Gear: Episode 1 from Blorp Corp on Vimeo.

Sometime around 1996 I was living in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn (actually I was in Midwood). I came home from a European gig to find myself locked out of my apartment. My keys wouldn’t open the door as they did many times before. I quickly realized someone had tried or possibly succeded in breaking in. I called the police and six officers entered my small one bedroom. I was told to remain in the hall. The female officer of the group came and and told me, “It’s not pretty in there. You’re going to be a little upset.”.

That was the understatement of the year. Everything was gone except my DAT (Wikipedia: DAT Recorder) tapes and Electrocomp-101. Now when I mean everything I mean everything. They took my food, underwear, soap and bed too. Gearwise two TB-303’s and a ton of other pieces you would find in a typical 90s techno guy studio were gone including a loved Roland Juno-106. So this morning I smile knowing I’m safe, I have my old tunes on DAT tapes and my Electrocomp is still as large and heavy as ever. Needless to say all my studios since have been armed and alarmed.

Related post: Secure your recording studio from thieves.

Here’s a clip of a new song I am working on called “We Will Get Wicked” which will end up on my next album. A man speaks to a woman letting him know his dirty plans for her. I imagine those plans take place sometime early in the morning on a weekend night.

“And it’s something we must go through.” – The Horrorist

I know this music maybe isn’t for everyone but we can all appreciate the drums of from the Vermona DRM1 MKIII firing all full force. The snare (with analog Bucket Delay full up) and clap are panned hard left and right making a sweet stereo spread. The nice synth that plays behind the breathing section is a Korg MS20 I borrowed from a friend. The MS20’s nasal filter really shines there. My favorite part of the song is when the breathing echos every 8 or 16th time they appear. I know it’s a bit Kraftwerkesque but I think it appropriately fits in a song about sex. Part of the reason they echo so nicely is that I use a TC Electronic Powercore’s Chorus/Delay plug-in. Take a listen:

Remember that music is only the soundtrack for a real life. Now go and find yourself someone to torture.

Related post: The Horrorist – Born This Way

Vocoding Voices in Live 8 from Bjorn Vayner on Vimeo.

I use vocoders quite often. Mostly I vocode, mirror and pan hard a few last words of a verse to add tension. Although cliche the technique used subtly is one of those tricks that keeps the listeners ear interested. I prefer the sound of my Digitech Talker to any software vocoder (it’s really a pseudo talk box) but having one built-in to Ableton Live 8 is a treat. It’s all about workflow people…

“A vocoder, IPA: [?vo?ko?d?r] (a portmanteau of the words voice and encoder), is an analysis / synthesis system, mostly used for speech in which the input is passed through a multiband filter, each filter is passed through an envelope follower, the control signals from the envelope followers are communicated, and the decoder applies these (amplitude) control signals to corresponding filters in the (re)synthesizer.
It was originally developed as a speech coder for telecommunications applications in the 1930s, the idea being to code speech for transmission. Its primary use in this fashion is for secure radio communication, where voice has to be encrypted and then transmitted. The advantage of this method of “encryption” is that no ’signal’ is sent, but rather envelopes of the bandpass filters. The receiving unit needs to be set up in the same channel configuration to resynthesize a version of the original signal spectrum. The vocoder as both hardware and software has also been used extensively as an electronic musical instrument.” – Wikipedia

There are many great hardware vocoders. One is the Roland SVC-350. Check it out over at Vintage Synth Explorer: click here

Do you have a favorite vocoder or vocoding technique?

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

Above is a nice video find of Manfred Fricke’s newest toys made in Berlin. If you like knobs and sounds nothings better than a semi-modular analog drum machine and synthesizer!

“Five-Voice Modular Analogue Drum Synthesizer with Six-Channel CV/Gate Step-Sequencer with Shuffle Quantization Algorhithmen” – nirvanabeach

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u48Qq0TsZaI

How about some Kraftzwerg, MFB-STEP64 and another Berlin creation the Flame Midi-Talking Synth? Yeah I thought so…

More info: mfberlin.de and shelaq.de

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=to9U-UYuY0Q

If you have an iPhone and don’t already own iTM Pad this video will probably make you jump to the iTunes store to grab it. I wish I didn’t sweat so much on stage (see: here) otherwise I would be using this live.

“I was on the iTunes App Store looking at iTouchMidi Pad by Silicon Studios, and reading the few-but-strong reviews, I bought it. It was mere moments afterward that I was firing up drum loops in Ableton Live, having a lot of fun mapping iTM Pad to various settings and mangling sounds. The logical conclusion, since clear demos of things like this can be hard to come by, was to make a video review.” – Torley

Torley’s blog is filled with the kind of tech geek content I like (Wordpress, social media, Ableton) so if that’s your thing check him out: torley.com

using ableton live to send CV signals. from dan kirkhus on Vimeo.

Motu’s Volta is a software that turns an ordinary Motu audio interface into a CV controller. I’ve been watching a few videos here and there of people using Volta and this thing has got my interest. I have a good bunch of old analog synths in my studio and more control is always a good thing (except if you’re a teenager).

“Using ableton live and a handful of LFO type wav files to modulate external analog gear. fun stuff. (if you’re not interested in the “how” and just want to see the frostwave spaz out, jump to 3:30 or so.) this stuff *only* works with MOTU audio interfaces (see: volta). this is an easy and free way to send beat-synced LFOs to your outboard modular gear; moogerfoogers, sherman filterbank, little phatty… anything with a CV input… i recommend setting the warp method to “Re-Pitch” to keep LFOs smooth at extreme BPMs. or don’t… and get cool glitches.” – Dan Kirkhus

Thanks to Dan for posting this video. I think you also made me drop some coin on Frostwave Resonator. I always forget how great the MS20 filter sounds! See Dan’s Resonator video: click here

More about Motu Volta: click here