Mini-Composer is an iPhone App from Karl Bartos (Kraftwerk) and Masayuki Akamatsu. It’s a simple App with a few drum machine loops each matched with a moving graphic such as a man walking or a flickering television set. You also have a Tenori style sequencer. It’s free future like fun.

“The app include four different drumbeats to which you can compose your own melody: ”Apeman”: 128 bpm / sine wave, ”Clock”: 92 bpm / triangle, ”Interview”: 116 bpm / sawtooth – ”TV”: 100 bpm / square. You can work easily with the following functions: 16 steps sequencer, Start/stop sequence, Multi-touch note input/erease, 4 waves (saw, triangular, square, sine), 4 drumbeat loops, Drums on/off, Random notes, Clear notes” – karlbartos.com

Download: itunes.apple.com/us/app/mini-composer/id427541594?mt=8

Ever wonder how popular a band or artist really is? Head over to http://google.com/insights/search/ and find out. Today I have three popularity wars set up (click to enlarge screenshots). First I go old school EBM (of course) and throw VNV Nation into the mix with Nitzer Ebb, Front 242 and Skinny Puppy. Surprisingly Nitzer Ebb looses big time. Next up on stage is MGMT vs Willie Nelson vs The Prodigy. The surprise to me here is that the Prodigy manages to stay on the chart at all. The final contest I go for some big bands: NIN vs Depeche Mode vs Kraftwerk. I knew DM would win but if you look carefully there were a few moments in time NIN over took them.

Of course popularity doesn’t always equal great tunes but this is a fun way to see who’s “the biggest”. Do you think any of these results are surprising?

Related post: Using Google Trends to compare sequencers.

Here’s a list of all the cars I owned in my life: 1966 Chevy Nova, 1986 Nissan 300ZX, 1982 Cadillac Sedan Deville, 1985 Volkswagen Golf, 1996 Mazda 626 and a 1999 Saturn SC1. Most were hand me downs or bought used off a lot. Each car had something I loved and hated about it. The 66 Chevy had a V8 and no brakes. It had brakes but they rarely stopped the car. I remember flying through entire intersections with my brakes pegged to the floor. True I was usually going 80MPH+ but hey I was 17 years old (sorry). The Nissan had a digital display, beige leather and an awesome T-Top. Unfortunately, if there was one drop of water on the road the car would go flying off the street into the surrounding woods. It happened to me 3 times before the last instance of slippy fun when the car was totaled. Once I reached my 20s I gained an incredible sense of respect (fear!) of crashing so I rarely go more than 5 miles over the speed limit these days. I put a high powered amp and Alpine stereo into the Cadillac and whenever it would rain the lights would dim whenever the bass drum kicked. The VW handled great but everyday it took all my strength to squeeze the rusted door handle open. The Mazda was the best car of the bunch. It was fast, handled incredibly and never needed a repair. The only problem with it was it the color burgundy (maroon?). Not just the outside paint but the seats and every bit of plastic inside the car. I refuse to buy anything with that color on it to this day.

If your a musician there is a good reason to own a car which I appropriately call the “car test”. Car speakers range from suck badly to sick bass and testing your tunes in a range of cars will without doubt help you find the perfect mix. The following is six songs I like about cars. I wonder do you think the members of Kraftwerk took their song Autobahn and played it in a few Bimmers or VWs to check it’s mix?

My favorite online spot for car news is Autoblog. If you want to see something crazy take a look at Steve Green’s AMC collection: click here

Did you own a car you loved?

photo credit: macwagen

I have a general rule that states: If a song is great don’t do a cover version. Duran Duran broke my rule and I am glad they did so. I love this version of one of my favorite tracks Showroom Dummies by Kraftwerk. I’m surprised they pull it off so well live too. Later in the same live show they perform a cover of Warm Leatherette by The Normal.

via sequencer.de