wire to the ear

Robert Green has been circuit bending instruments for about 7 years. If your not the type to pick up a soldering gun and risk electric shock but need a bent device definitely take a close look at what Robert has to offer.

Besides the usual Speak N Spell and Casio SK modifications, Robert specializes in digital drum machines including the Alesis HR-16, Roland TR-707 and Yamaha series. Some of his bends use a patch bay modification and others metal switches.

This Alien-Devices modified Alesis HR16 drum synthesizer features 28 sound modifications which are controlled by 14 three-way switches. The modifications can effect the drum sounds in subtle or drastic ways creating beat mutations, digital filtering, distortion, synth tones, envelope warping, overload, bizarre beats and electronic textures. These units are excellent sample sources as well as stable live instruments and are fully MIDI capable.

If you want to get your hands dirty and try some modifications yourself there is a CD-Rom video tutorial for sale on Amazon called Circuit Bending for Beginners. I personally have not seen it but I’ve heard good reviews. There is of course plenty of free stuff to start watching on YouTube including “Circuit Bending Workshop” by Ben Goldstone. The comments under that video are pretty interesting.

A few years ago I went to the Bent Festival in New York. It’s a nice geek fest of circuit bending. My favorite “instrument” was a old dot matrix printer rigged to play audio notes depending on which key you pressed. Here are the upcoming dates/locations for 2008:

Los Angeles Bent Festival - April 17th-19th, 2008.
New York Bent Festival - April 24th-26th, 2008.
Minneapolis Bent Festival - May 1st-3rd, 2008.

Do you own any bent instruments?

What do you call the guy who hangs out with the band? The drummer! I always seem to find that joke funny for some reason. Anyone who reads this blog knows how much I love drum machines. Well people, soon we can take the drum machine to the next level! Imagine the new Roland TR-2010: Fully robotic drummer! Come on Roland we want it! We are all bored with your new Grooveboxes, we want robots!

More Robot Drummer videos:
Fredy Fantastico
DrRythm55
Mindstorm Robot Drummer

I speak for everyone right?

There are many reasons why I am in love with this video: clear plastic, chrome spheres, multi-color LEDs, laser scanner and Roland TR-808 sounds. I am really happy things like this and other unique sequencers such as the Monome and Tenori-on are being produced. I’m on the verge of either building one myself of buying one.

A tangible rhythm sequencer. Ball bearings are used to trigger drum sounds. Visual feedback is displayed from underneath to indicate the current time and the state of each ball bearing.

Do you want one too?

Peter Bennetts website: click here
via Matrixsynth

I’ve said it before: I love drum machines. Hardware or software it makes no difference they all are great! Making some super noises that are heard all around the world from Uppsala, Sweden is Mike Janney and his company Audiorealism. I was a fan of their first two products the ABL (303 emulation) and ABL Pro (Roland sounding modular) so much so I endorsed the ABL. I was seriously pleased to hear Mike’s new project was a drum machine and it’s been out for a while so I thought I’d share a useful “tip”.

This is not really a tip as it’s in the manual but I think it’s important to remind people to feature dive into any software they own. This feature is implemented in a non-standard way so just by clicking around you may not figure it out. The ADM comes with some nice Roland TR-606/808/909 samples built into it but let’s add our own…

First, get a folder together of samples. I downloaded some free Oberheim DMX eprom sounds found at Electrongate.com. Next you need to put the folder here:

Macintosh -> Library -> Application Support -> Audiorealism -> ADM -> Samples

Open your DAW and ADM and click the on screen power button (top right of ADM) to bring a drop down menu up and select “Enable Sample Selection”. Now when you click the small blue led screens for each drum slot a menu will drop down and you can choose your new folder and individual drum sound!

But why go though all the trouble to bring your sounds into ADM when there probably are easier ways within your DAW to play drum hits? ADM’s internal sequencer allows for the strongest swing I have heard yet. You can also click and hold the Pattern button to access a menu that allows you to randomize patterns. Lastly, ADM has some wicked FX and filter mangling toys to further shape your beats.

The company Way Out Ware created my favorite software synth the TimewARP 2600. It’s a re-creation of an Arp 2600 semi-modular analog synthesizer. They have just released their new toy the KikAXXE and it’s a huge amout of fun!

It’s based around a re-creation the Arp Axxe and therefore it has only a single Oscillator. However like the original Axxe there is a noise generator and sample & hold which increases it’s flexibility. But the fun really starts when your eyes focus on the top part of the plug-in. Here you find a drum machine and an analog sequencer! The final joy can be found on the bottom right: an analog tape delay. Watch this video to see all these sections in action. The video is nicely sized so be sure to click the TV icon under the player to view the show in full screen mode.

As with the TimewARP this plug-in really does “Kik AXXE”! I had a blast using the fully working 30 day demo and I know in a month I will have to whip out the credit card. Luckily this noise machine is only about $70! Have fun watching the video but do yourself a favor and download it and make your bleeps and beats.

photo credit: geirarne

The Roland TR-808 is my favorite drum machine. To hear a real one in action check out songs like Jam on It by Newcleas, Shallow Then Halo by the Cocteau Twins or Sexual Healing by Marvin Gaye.

On eBay they usually go for well over $1000 USD so not everyone can afford one. Even if you do own one sometimes using samples is just more convenient. A big tip off to seasoned listeners that your faking it is the Hi Hat sound of most samples. Here is a trick that John Selway showed me on how to make Roland TR-808 samples sound more real.

I’m going to use Ableton Live’s built-in Auto Filter but any filter plug-in should work. This is a very simple trick but once you hear it “fix” the sound you may use it often. I am trying to get rid of it that symbalance, feathery, super high digital sound and replace it with something more metallic and clear. Check out the original untreated samples in action here:

Make sure your Hi Hats are on a separate audio channel and add Auto Filter as an insert. Grab the fluorescent yellow dot inside the automation display and drag it about a centimeter to the left and a half centimeter upwards. The kHz should read about 7.01 and the Q about 1.60. Take a listen to the Hi Hats now:

Now take a listen to what these improved Hi Hats sound like in action. Here they are in a song called Body to Body off my new album Attack Decay: click here

Here are a few places you can find Roland TR-808 samples online. Keep in mind that Roland TR-808’s sound different from each other, have lots of tuning settings and can be recorded many different ways. The kb6 set is free, the Gold Baby set was recorded to tape and my personal favorite is the Wizoo set.

• Audiopervert
• Gold Baby
• kb6
• Music Machines
• Wizoo Platinum24

If you know of any good TR-808 sample sets online let me know in the comments.

Ableton Live 7. This is my favorite piece of software. Live’s innovative Session View mode gives musicians the freedom to try multiple musical ideas before entering the arrangement process. This fact gives Ableton Live a huge edge over it’s competitors. Each year Ableton has upgraded Live adding in features of legacy sequencers and also eclipsing them with new stuff. Some of the big items in the “7″ upgrade include an Enhanced Audio Engine, new Compressor, Sidechaining, Time Signature changes, Rex file support, and an Innovative drum rack. link

Moog Little Phatty. It’s all about the sound! Buy someone you love a Moog and they will be looking at it 20 years from now fondly thinking of you. All Moog’s are classics and the Little Phatty is pure Moog. Beautifully engineered nothing sounds as raw, bassy and loud. It sounds like a teenager behind the wheel of a Lambourgini. Manufactured in the good ole USA. link

Cognitone Harmony Navigator. The fantastic and large world of chords and scales can be illusive for those with no formal music instruction. During the music making process many musicians search for the right notes for the perfect chorus or bridge. Harmony Navigator is many colorful graphic playgrounds of chord sets. You jump around them in real time, clicking your mouse playing chords. The chords are grouped by colors and distance. As you do your clicks your creative juices explode. Each time I load the program a new song idea pops in my head. link

Yamaha Tenori-On. This is a beautiful new electronic musical instrument designed by media artist Toshio Iwai. You hold it with two hands and are represented with a grid of 256 white LEDs. It has a unique sequencer which allows for traditional step style movements but also pings and gravity motions. The LEDs bounce and fly across the grid. You can add layers sounds. You end up with a gorgeous light show viewable from the front and backside of the instrument. If the musician you love had a Light Bright when he was a child he’s going to freak when he see this. Inspirational and new the Tenori-On. link

Apple Macbook Pro. The early 2000’s saw the music studio make it’s final journey from a room full of hardware into a single computer running virtual software. It is now possible to run practically as many effects and synthesizers as you need to make a nice song all ITB (inside the box). Another paradigm shift is that laptops are now so fast there is no Read “Top 10 gifts for musicians holiday 2007.”

I can spend countless hours searching on eBay for vintage drum machines. I rarely buy them but I love the photos and stories behind the sale. Many of these organ top beauties used real analog synthesis and have wonderful metallic hihats, rides and crash sounds.

I often sample the preset patterns and cut them up to use them in my own songs. At my old recording studio in Williamsburg Brooklyn I became friends with the popular rock group The Shorebirds. The lead singer Mark Ephraim liked to show off all the goodies they had lying around their studio. One day he let me record his Hammond Auto-Vari 64 drum machine. I used it as the main beat in a song called “Trapped in an Empty Void” off my new album Attack Decay.

Here is an audio sample:

There is amazing website that has over thirty vintage drum machines modeled in flash. You can play with the Tronix Rhythm Box, The ELI Computer Rhythm CR-7030, The CONN Min-O-Matic, Mattel Synsonic Drums and many more. I suggest heading over to the Keyboardmuseum.com’s Virtual Playground page and listening to each one of these gems. Don’t forget to play with all the knobs and buttons as they are usually selectable! Do you own any vintage drum machines?

photo credit: bdu

I have a large pool of tips and tricks I pull from when creating arrangements. To me they are like colors in a pallet I choose from. Because I make electronic music it’s important to keep the listeners ear interested at all times by constantly adding variations to the sound. Over time on I will talk about many of things I do. Here’s a simple one.

Let’s say you have a kick and a snare going in your song. Take every 16th snare and instead of having it dry like the others explode it out with reverb. You can either have reverb on a send return and just turn in up every 16th snare. You could also bounce one of your dry snares fully loaded and drag them in your arrangement.

Remember you don’t have to use a stereo reverb either. I like to use Altiverb which is a convolution reverb in mono. Sometimes I pan the mono reverb tail to only the left or right side.

If your “snareverb” isn’t smashing enough add some eq or distortion to the reverb. I usually use Izotope Trash for that because it has an eq, filter and distortion unit all ready in one plug-in.

I hope that gave you some ideas. Do you have some songs where you used the technique? Post a link in the comments!

photo credit: Victory of the People