Equipment used by Kraftwerk
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXa9tXcMhXQ]
Found this nice site today that shows a pretty detailed list of the equipments used by Kraftwerk on their albums and on their gigs / world tours.
Maybe some inspiration for some of view 
Personally I´m quite intrigued by the vocoders used
Here are some of the questions they answer:
Octopus BlackSea – mmmmm nice :-)
Played around with this little beauty during Xmas:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JISVw7xiR5w]
And I must say it is rather impressive, below a short description taking from the producers website
Octopus is a MIDI sequencer – simply put, a machine to generate control data for sound-producing devices, e.g. synthesizers.
Octopus’ most outstanding trait is probably its recognition by an authoritative audience as a musical instrument. The merit lies in the fact that comparable products are traditionally perceived as “just” intricate electronic devices.
User experience and musical creation are the centerpieces of the Octopus design. Its embodiment is a no-compromise machine.
The recipe is to combine a high-end user interface, a domain-specific data framework, and the power of modern real-time computing technology.
Yamaha DX7 – A little xmas eye candy
This month’s nostalgia synth
Yamaha DX7
Yes my old time favorite in action
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAbo45s1arY]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7KXu4Y2cLk]
De/Vision on new world tour
De/Vision will go on tour in 2008. It will for once be a tour outside of Germany :-). The tour will be during the first 4 months of 2008.
Unfortunately they will not come by Europe or Scandinavia this time, the places in question can be found below, so lucky you all americans, be sure not to miss these Depeche wanna-be’s, hehe
The first few shows have already been confirmed and include the following cities: Madrid (SP), Barcelona (SP), Philadelphia (USA), Passiac (USA), Austin (USA), Tucson (USA), Los Angeles (USA), San Francisco (USA), Seattle (USA), Portland (USA), Salt Lake City (USA), Minneapolis (USA), Buenos Aires (ARG), Santiago de Chile (CH), Lima (PE) and Thessaloniki (GR). Be sure to check out the band live at work because you won’t have that many opportunities outside Germany.
A small clip of De/Vision below:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QcCKNhU72k]
See u tomorrow
Merry Xmas Everyone !!!
Today I will start my “Xmas blog break” and will be back on December 26th (hmmm, maybe we should say Dec 25th LOL)
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0rAHs9XvE0]
Yazoo will re-unite next year
At least rumours has it that Vince Clarc and Alison Moyet will go on tour next year. And perhaps I will have to chew my last entry about not watching performances by old 80’s bands. Yazoo would definately be worth seeing live – much rather them than the utterly boring Erasure band.
Most likely their will also be a re-issue of their old stuff – why anyone would want to buy them, since readers of this blog most likely have everything by Yazoo already, maybe one can hope for some unreleased tracks…
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhQWt8GVQfM]
Human League on tour in December
This is definately something I would like to miss. After watching the old dudes in OneTwo on stage I have become seriously afraid of listening to more of these outadated 80’s icons.
The Human League are touring later this year and following in the footsteps of fellow synth pioneers Gary Numan and Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark by touring arguably their best albums. In the League’s case, it’s their first album with their new line-up after splitting with Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh.
Dare was released in 1981 and is a synthpop classic, boasting four hit singles including the UK Christmas number one with Don’t You Want Me? Produced by Martin Rushent, Dare won a Q magazine award for Innovation In Sound in 2004.
Support bands for this tour are Cassette Elektrik and OneTwo, OMD’s Paul Humphreys and Propaganda’s Claudia Brucken.As a little treat I give you an old Numan track to watch:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuzvWHwmoVs]
And of course a Human League track from the time when they were worth seeing:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arUqoKjU3D4]
Chinese Synthpop – does it exist?
Maybe because I am based out of Sweden the only hits I get on Google searching for good chinese synthpop bands I end up getting hits for the local band Chinese Theater (which of course is a rather nice band, but that is not what I am looking for )
However I yesterday stumbled on these guys who make very nice traditional synthpop – melodic, athospheric and kind of like old Twins, Alpha Ville etc. They´re called IGO and based out of Shanghai – I certainly recommend checking them out:
Here are some background facts on the band:
When the Shanghai band IGO plays on stage, there is really not much to “see,” with one man standing still playing the keyboards and another singing without much gestures.
However, people who have seen IGO live will still recommend it to you and tell you where they play, so you can experience the infectious atmosphere there and witness how and why the audiences get delirious for their music.
The one-year-old band is a combination of Shanghai’s most active club DJ and the former front-man of a local post-punk band. The duo has a large fandom online and at local music venues. Their popularity may keep expanding as their music finally reaches the CD player.
The duo, featuring synthesizer talent B6 and singer-songwriter J Jay, is releasing their debut album, “Synth Love,” on September 21 under Modern Sky, China’s largest independent record label.
It’s a time when IGO is among the most frequent players at Shanghai’s nightclubs, where pogo dance usually heats up in front of the band’s performances. This album is a collection of IGO’s most played songs. It is for those who are yet to get a chance to visit Shanghai.
IGO is now offering previews of some of the songs on their Neocha page, a local-based music-sharing website B6 co-founded, similar to MySpace.
Free VSTs and more
Time for some links to free stuff; synths, VSTs, Drum triggers – you name it. I ahven´t tried them all myself but I believe they are worth checking out. Have fun…
Superwave 8
Oxe FM synth
DiscoDSP
KTDrum trigger
Re-shuffle in Covenant with new member
Covenant were centimeters from quitting. But now the recharged band aims at version 2, with a new line-up (Daniel Myer), studio, sound and album. A new song was preimiered at Das Boot and the album recordings start in February.
But is this new talent enough to keep the group going, here you can find out more about his background in Architect and Haujob
architect is a hybrid of minimalistic drum’n’bass and smooth ambient soundscapes explored by the electronic mastermind daniel meyer.
like an architect who built up his constructions in different layers and channels, also daniel is working with this method by using only sampling tools. he’s constructing abstract sonic buildings which seem to be peculiar transparent – like concrete frames without any surfaces in a pleasant familiarity. the cold polyrhythmic drumcodes are bet into a melted ambience of safety and grace. it’s the warm timbre of this ambient drum’n bass recording which creates its own unique sonic profile.
DATAMASKIN
