Das Boot 2010 – review
Unfortunately I did not have the chance to attend this year´s Das Boot festival, but Moving Hands Magazine has made a good review of the event:
Leæther Strip
Project-X
Dupont
Covenant
2010th edition of the festival held on a cruise ship sailing from Stockholm
So Das Boot missed the year of 2009, but only a few months later than the 2009 Das Boot was supposed to be, the 2010 Das Boot cruise was held and this time over a weekend so most people didn’t have to take any time off from job or school.
The newer and bigger boat makes the whole cruise seem a bit smaller with all the spaces and different dancefloors and stages but all in all I think it’s a big improvement from the retired MS Festival who now sails between Stockholm and Riga. The food/wine/beer buffet is bigger and better. The Tax Free is bigger and better. There are more bars. The main stage area is also really nice with a big floor for the people who wants to shake their bottoms and a lot of sofas for the lazy crowd, the sound was also really good and loud at this stage which is a quite important improvement.
The evening started up with the legendary danish Leæther Strip which is Mr Claus Larsen’s one man project and has been for 21 years. It was fun to finally experience Leæther Strip but the main stage felt too big for him as he is just one guy with a synth/laptop and I think it would have worked much better on the smaller stage. He did his job though and delivered.
Now to the smaller stage and Dupont who had to begin their show before even Leæther Strip had ended his show in the other end of the boat which made the crowd quite tiny before everyone finally made their way from the Starlight Bar (main stage) to Moonlight Bar (the smaller stage). Dupont did a very cozy gig and as most people where friends it was a very relaxed and fun gig. Mr Johan Damm who is an old member of Dupont joined up on stage and became a part of the classic song “Behave”.
Then it was time for Covenant to do their thing on the main stage and they did it as always. Nice gig and a very large crowd made it a nice memory for sure. Covenant have played on Das Boot before and last time they did it was on the old boat and on a much smaller stage so it was great seeing them on a stage that fitted them.
No rest for the wicked, so it was heading back to the smaller of stages and witness Swedish Project-X make havoc and scream themselves to a frenzy. First time I have seen this act and I was impressed. A good finish to this night, at least for me as the music continued all the night through to the next day in the Zenith Disco where I myself never leave for some reason. You must understand, the these cruise ships are very confusing with all the bars and restaurants and shops and what not. Just finding your cabin can be a pain in the ass.
The last day of the cruise there where just one live act and that was the Swedish mad guys of Slagsmålsklubben (Fight Club) who plays a very frenetic kind of old computer games inspired electronic music. The guys had partied all night and where still partying on stage but did a good job nevertheless and gave us quite a few funny little anecdotes between the songs.
It is a very different experience to go on a Das Boot-cruise. It’s like being on a festival except for the dirt and that you have your own cozy cabin to retire to. As always Das Boot was a success in my book, now just let us hope it was a success for the guys behind it too and that we soon can go and get crazy on another cruise.
New synth from XILS-Lab
XILS-Lab has told me that the polyKB is a recreation of a very rare, very powerful polyphonic synthesizer released in the 80’s by a french company. And in there own words:
The polyKB is a polyphonic substractive synthesizer based on two waveform morphing, aliasing free oscillators and a self oscilating 4 poles low pass filter.
The oscillators take a large part of the sound of this synthesizer but the filter recreating a standard analog chip of the 80’s with the help of of very complete modulation section allow the polyKB to create incredible and warm sounds, from georgous bass to slow evoluting pad, through agressive lead and thin cristal keyboards, without fogoten a wide range of special effects.
The modulation section of the polyKB acts like a matrix with five dedicated sources (LFO, ADSR,VCO,NOISE,VELOCITY) and five dedicated destinations (VCO 1 and 2 pitch, VCO 1 and 2 waveform,VCF frequency).
To increase the sound design possibilities, six menus have being added, two for the sources, four for the destination, with which a wide range of modules can be choosen
(Velocity, sequencer ouputs, LFO freq, Filter res, VCO levels, to name but a few)
The polyKB brings also a very powerful polyphonic sequencer.
The sequencer can record and play 8 voices independently as well as the pitch than the velocity. To control the sequence, a 2 to 128 steps clock system allows a wide range of rythms and patterns.
Of course the sequencer outputs can be assigned as a source of modulation, opening the sound posibilities endless.
The polyKB offers:
- two aliasing-free morphing oscillators: from triangle to pulse, through saw.
- One 4 poles low pass self oscillating filter
- two envelope generators (ADSR)
- two MIDI synced LFO
- One MIDI synced Sample and Hold
- One 128 steps polyphonic sequencer
- One arpeggiator
- Chorus and delay effects
- Mono/Unison/Poly playing mode with up to 16 voices of polyphony
- All parameters are MIDI controllable
Reason and Record tutorials
James Bernard with Propellerheads has released a set of nice tutorials on Reason and Record, make sure to check them out 
The 1st episode of 52 Reason and Record Tips from James Bernard of Propellerhead Software.
From the James Bernard.plan file
propellerheads.se/substance/product-specialist/
EVM releases Ultrasonique v1.1 for free
UltraSonique is high quality synthersizer.
EVM UltraSonique Features:
- High quality Synthersizer,
- Wavesample Player
- Multi-Function Sequence Controller.
- Multi-F/X
and a whole lot more..
More video demos here.
NYC Piano sessions
NYC Piano Sessions delivers over 600Mb of skillfully played grand & upright piano loops, each and every one truly inspired by the bustling streets of the city that never sleeps.
This uplifting sample pack boasts over 200 expertly processed instrumental loops between 60 and 190Bpm, covering virtually every musical style imaginable.
Whether you are into R&B, hip hop, pop, dance, rock, blues, jazz or classical music, “NYC Piano Sessions” has got you covered. Your personal session pianist – ready for download now!
Price: GBP 19.95
Visit: primeloops.com
New MOOG emulation
Xhun Audio has introduced LittleOne – a virtual emulation of the Moog Little Phatty analog synthesizer.
Description:
LittleOne emulates every component of the Little Phatty (oscillators, filter, envelopes, LFO …), preserving the original frequency responses and frequency ranges.
The result is an analog-sounding instrument – all in the digital domain. In addition to the Little Phatty synthesizer emulation, LittleOne encloses a full rack with a 16-step MIDI sequencer, a 16-step trancegate effect and two master effects slots.
Specs
- The Moog Little Phatty Physical Modeling emulation
- Two aliasing-free analog modeled oscillators with continuous selection mode ( like the original ) between Triangle, Saw, Square, Pulse
- A 4-Pole Low Pass filter modeled on the classic Moog Ladder, featuring the original frequency responses and overload control
- Two 4-Stage ( ADSR ) envelope generators
- Modulation LFO with the original waveforms and frequency ranges ( 0.2~500 Hz )
- Monophonic/polyphonic mode, pitch bend ranges and more – all accessible from LittleOne LED display
- 128 ready-to-use presets from classic analog to contemporary cutting-edge dance to psychoacoustic sounds and SFX
- XSQ16M, a build-in 16-step MIDI sequencer
- GATED!, a build-in 16-step trancegate effect
- Two master effects slots with the possibility to choose between delay, reverb, tube distortion, flanger, chorus
- Full MIDI CC#s mapping (according to the original Little Phatty CC#s specs)
SID and chip lovers – look this way
Reason Refill review
Last week I published a post on the new release from Soundcells. It was the bitBumber Reason Refill, a new SID, bit, chip, you name it, refill that I was intrigued to try out myself.
After listening in on hundreds of different refills for Reason it is quite seldom that I find something that feels totally new and fresh, but I am inclined to change my mind on this one. Sure other refills have been published in this space before but rarely with this amount of breadth. There are not just the traditional CMB files and NNXT files that you have become accustomed to but also a several new live performance CMBs that allows you to actually be very creative on stage. I really enjoyed bringing these up during some live jamming in the studio, and to spice things up there are a several really nice Dr.Rex loops also included – and not just endless variations of the same loop in different pitches and sounds but actually quite a nice mixture of experimental, bass and pure chip sounds – I like
Several of the files has been nicely upgraded from the original using arpeggiators and effects, that either can be activated with automation or set to play as CMB loops. That deep bass sounds paired with either smooth SID strings or whacky FX type sounds.
Soundcells has also added a nice SID/bit section dedicated to Thor, where I must say that they have been able to squeeze quite a lot of those orginal sounds of that synth, but with a twist.
I would recommend this Refill to any composer who wants to get a kick start in making bit tunes or simply spice up a trance, electro song with some of those nostalgic sounds of old computer games. Remeber though that the refill is more on the playfull side of bit music than for any of hard core SID fanatics with the pure objective of recreating everything as faithfull as possible- but I would recommend you to either purchase, download or build your own SID workstation, that are plenty available out there.
Happy weekend music with The Girl and the Robot
String theory – new free VST from Ugo
String Theory is a flexible, delay based physical modeling synth which is capable of a wide range of plucked strings, atmospheric pads and ambiences, and unique hybrid synth sounds.
String Theory also offers dual phrase arpeggiators. Each arp has its own speed, gate, and octave controls; which allows for complex patterns.
Features:
- Physical Modeling Plucked Strings.
- Delay based Oscillators.
- Detune.
- Pitch LFO.
- Amp Envelope with 2 attacks.
- Tremolo.
- BP+BR Filter.
- LP Filter with envelope and LFO.
- HP Filter with envelope and LFO.
- Dual Metal Module.
- Dual Delay with MIDI sync and Pan.
- Dual Phrase Arpeggiator.
- MIDI CC support.
- 173 patches by: Ugo, Tim Conrardy, Matthew DeMeritt (Geeseaplenty), Mark Stolk (Mystahr).
John Foxx – analog – live
Short Circuit 2010 – the Roundhouse’s festival of electronica – includes an evening celebrating the best of British electronic music, headlined and curated by John Foxx.
John Foxx will perform a unique analogue synthesizer show to mark his 30th anniversary as a solo artist. He and a one-off group of special guests will assemble on stage for the first time with the machines used on his 1980 debut solo album, Metamatic – the Moogs, ARPs and drum machines that created the sound of the future – to perform material from Metamatic and a selection of early Ultravox music.
The set will also include new material created in collaboration with Paul Daley from Leftfield, and songs by John Foxx & The Maths – an all-analogue synthesizer project with London-based artist Benge.
DATAMASKIN
