I am hoping future versions of my favorite iPhone app Synthpond will let me use my own samples. You can do so today by incorporating some intense geekery via PD (Pure Data) or Max. If you’re interested in learning about PD check out a great article by Jim Alkin over at O’Reilly Digital Media called “Make Your Own Music Software with Pure Data”: click here. There is also a good Wikipedia page for PD: click here.
“I’m using the synthpond PD patch to controle the FPC in FL studio. The sound generator nodes don’t have samples mapped (except for the hi-hats). Only the reactor nodes are mapped to a sample. that way it’s a bit easier to “sync” everything.” – isnie zot
Download Synthpond for iPhone (iTunes link): click here
ps. Zach Gage the developer also has created what I consider the best take on Tetris for the iPhone. It’s called Unify (iTunes link): click here
Every now and then I come across a vintage synthpop gem that I never heard before. I found today’s song via the Matrixsynth blog and it’s called Computer Games by a band called Mi-Sex. Apparently the song was a huge hit in Australia. I checked out other Mi-Sex songs on Amazon and discovered they are really a rock pop band and this was one of the few tracks they released that were synth heavy. Amazon link: Computer Games/Space Race
“Mi-Sex (also spelt ‘’MiSex’’) was a New Zealand / Australian new wave rock band active from 1978 to 1984. Led by Steve Gilpin as vocalist, they were best known for their singles “Computer Games” in 1979 and “People” in 1980. Their first single for CBS, “But You Don’t Care” / “Burning Up”, was released in Australia in June 1979 and their debut album, Graffiti Crimes was issued in July 1979 to coincide with their national tour as the support act for Talking Heads. The LP included their biggest hit, the synthesizer-driven “Computer Games”, a Burns/Stanton composition released in Australia on October 1, 1979. The single went to #1 in Australia, made the Top 5 in New Zealand, and also charted in 20 countries including Canada and South Africa.” – wikipedia.org/wiki/MiSex
I was born in 1970 and 2010 really feels like I am living in the future now. Am I wrong or has the human race’s vision of the future not gone much further than what we thought up in the 80s? It seems all we can come up with now is the end of the world. I hope we make it to The Singularity and deep outer space. For now my New Year’s resolution is to make more music. 2009 was definitely my lightest as far as finished songs but that was a bit by design. I feel fresh and ready for new things.
“A singularity is a point at which an otherwise continuous mathematical progression becomes infinite, implying that all continuous extrapolation breaks down beyond that point. Technological singularity refers to the idea that technological progress would reach such an infinite or extremely high value at a point in the near future. This idea is inspired by the observation of accelerating change in the development of wealth, technology, and humans’ capability for information processing. Extrapolating these capabilities to the future has led a number of thinkers to envisage the short-term emergence of a self-improving artificial intelligence or superintelligence[1] that is so much beyond humans’ present capabilities that it becomes impossible to understand it with present conceptions. Thus, the technological singularity can be seen as a metasystem transition or transcendence to a wholly new regime of mind, society and technology.” – Wikipedia.org
One of my most loved audio software tools is about to reach version 2. Harmony Navigator from Germany’s Cognitone software will get some nice new features. The developer will also release a stripped down version called HN2 LE for those who don’t need the advanced features. Be sure to check out my screencast showing a few of the features of the original Harmony Navigator: click here
“After more than a year, it’s now time to bring Harmony Navigator to the next level. During the past year we more and more noticed that the needs of our users largely fall into two categories. While purists and fans of electronic music could comfortably do without virtual accompaniment bands, others wished they had more possibilities for adding their own patterns and building songs. Therefore we decided to offer two separate products for everyone’s needs and budget: A compact and very affordable product for pure harmonic work, and a more comprehensive product for drafting prototypes of entire songs. We invested a lot of work in order to enhance the features of Harmony Navigator and make it more comfortable to draft of entire songs. The new song window is the most important achievement. It features multiple parts on a timeline, which also supports loop playback. You can now maintain your entire project in a single window.” – cognitone.com
It should be released next month (Feb 2010). Read the full press release: click here
Mr. Alias Pro is a broken screwed up synthesizer. Mr. Alias was designed that way and it’s a perfect soft synth for anyone into ciruit bending, noise or headaches. I actually think this synth is very useful when it comes to creating easy interesting intros or breaks. It has an Auto Randomizer so I am happy. Mac/PC, AU/VST plug-in or Standalone. It’s Donationware so any amount gets you the pro version.
“Mr. Alias Pro is a fully professional software synthesizer which exploits the properties of digital audio to achieve extremely bad sounds.” – thepiz.org
I was flipping through the latest issue of Sound on Sound and came across a cool looking hardware box called the Fucifer from Evolaudio. It’s a distortion synthesizer, mic-pre and EQ. I like what it does and how it looks but how it sounds will determine if it’s worth $2600. More and more I have been returning to hardware lately. Has anyone played with one of these?
“The Evol Fucifier is a distortion synthesizer & sound shaper, designed to give you many colors with which to create and shape your palette of sounds. Everything in the signal chain, from the Mic Pre, the Vintage Germanium Preamp, the Filter, and the inductors in the Equalizer to the output transformer, is designed to be overdriven, saturated, overloaded or distorted in a pleasing way. Mix & match the Vintage Germanium Preamp for a little warmth or overdrive, the Tape Saturation overdrive for a little compression and limiting or a bit of saturation, the Filter/Crossover (which in itself sounds great overdriven or even pushed into self oscillation with a sufficient amount of resonance), the Dual Band Distortion which allows you to mix many different kinds of distortion, and the vintage-style inductor based equalizer to shape the overall tone and color of the sound.” – evolaudio.com
Who doesn’t like bass? How about a lot of bass? A ton of bass? Check out some of these photos from an Italian room built with a giant subwoofer into it’s basement.
“Royal Device has on its own developped and built in Italy the biggest subwoofer of the world for an AUDIO/VIDEO room that can be also considered as the greatest AUDIO ROOM for private music listening of the world. The audio reproduction is focused on the speakers output capability more than electric power output of the amplifiers with no need of KWatts power supply lines, releasing more than 110 dB/1W/1 meter sensitivity starting from below 10 Hz focused on the listening position.” – curiousphotos.blogspot.com
I think it’s pretty interesting to see where the samples came from. This song also has one of the best music videos ever made attached to it.
“How to make Prodigy’s legendary track “Smack My Bitch Up” in Ableton. Video describes, which samples were used by Liam in this wonderful track.” – jimpavloff
Because so much of my day job is talk about money sometimes I need to wash my mind of it when I drive home. Tech podcasts don’t seem to do the job so I click on the NY classical music station WQXR. Yesterday as I drove I had a serious classical music moment. There was no traffic, the sun was setting and Beethoven’s Sonata No. 21 in C came on. I’m not an expert in classical music. The only reason I knew what piece was playing is because the host said it was about to play. Something clicked while I drove because the Sonata hit me like a ton of bricks. I mean mind changing great. There clearly is a central theme say a little melody that is continually returned to albeit in hundreds of different and all pretty ways. Later I was speaking to my friend Gabri who is a pianist. He told me. “Everything Beethoven did after Sonata 11 he created deaf.”. I wish I knew which version I heard on QXR that day. So my question… does anyone else know No. 21 in C and feel the same way?
“The Piano Sonata No. 21 in C major, Op.53, also known as the Waldstein, is considered to be one of Beethoven’s greatest piano sonatas, as well as one of the three particularly notable sonatas of his middle period (the other two being the Appassionata sonata, Opus 57, and Les Adieux, Opus 81a). The sonata was completed in the summer of 1804. The work has a scope that surpasses Beethoven’s previous piano sonatas, and notably is one of his most technically challenging compositions. It is a key work early in his ‘Heroic’ decade (1803-1812) and set the stage for piano compositions in the grand manner both in Beethoven’s later work and all future composers.” – Wikipedia.org
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