Sounds of KORG
Cool sounds made the microStation from KORG
1. Sugar Smash Lead: A big trancey lead sound with real-time control of cutoff, EG amount and EG release
2. AutoPilot Arp: The arpeggiator is endless fun. Here’s a synth sound with various real-time parameter tweaks
3. Suitcase: The microStation is also packed full of more obviously ‘workstation’ sounds if dance music isn’t your thing
4. PsychoKit: This FX heavy kit gets many of its real-time controllers manipulated to keep it dynamic
5. Uni-Saw Lead: This synth is simply packed full of made for the dancefloor noises
6. Lead Guitar: This Lead guitar makes good use of the joystick for ‘feedback’ sounds
7. Bass Seq: Each sound features an Audition riff and these can be the spark for some great ideas. Here’s a Bass Sequence audition manipulated in real-time
Vermona fires of the summer with thier new synth Mono Lancet
The East Germans known as vermona.com have some new hardware on the horizon. First a synthesizer called the Mono Lancet: 2x VCO (triangle, sawtooth, square / sawtooth, rectangle, noise), 24dB lowpass filter, ADSR, envelope generator (VCF, VCA, VCO), LFO (triangle, square, s/h), MIDI for 449 EURO. Next, the Kick Lancet based on the KICK channel of the DRM1 MKIII Waveshaper (sine -> square), FM, trigger inputs (switch, audio, gate), MIDI for 265 EURO. Doepfer Dark Energy and DSI Mopho you have some new friends.
New patch library for the Arturia MiniMOOG
Kid Nepro has introduced the Arturia Minimoog V Collection, a new patch library for the Arturia Minimoog software synthesizer:
Kid Nepro purchased his first original Minimoog back in the mid 80’s and has been using them ever since. We still have one in our studio which continues to get lots of use when we are looking for that certain sound – that only the Moog can provide. So for us, programming a Minimoog is like riding a bicycle – you never forget how to do it! The collection of sounds that we have programmed for the Arturia V collection is done with expert care from someone who knows the Minimoog very well – so you can be sure that the sounds are well crafted and sound great.
The Minimoog V patch library is available for download for $25.
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The original Minimoog was released in 1970. By the time it was discontinued in 1981, about 13,000 were produced. One of the true landmark synthesizers produced though the 70’s – it’s compact design, great sound and easy to use interface made it popular with both Rock & Jazz keyboard players ranging from Keith Emerson to Chick Corea. The Minimoog was designed to include the most important parts of a modular synthesizer in a small package, without the need for patch cords. The original Minimoog is monophonic and its three-oscillator design gave it its famous fat sound. The Minimoog Model D adapted some of the circuitry (such as the filter section) from earlier modular instruments, but designed other circuitry (such as the oscillators and contour generators) from scratch. You could not save patches in it’s internal memory – so just one sound at a time could be stored and played. Yeah, that’s the way things were back then! Original Minimoogs did not have midi, but you could get several midi retro kits which could be installed to give you basic midi features. Kenton makes a good own which we have installed on our vintage Minimoog.
Kid Nepro purchased his first original Minimoog back in the mid 80’s and has been using them ever since. We still have one in our studio which continues to get lots of use when we are looking for that certain sound – that only the Moog can provide. So for us, programming a Minimoog is like riding a bicycle – you never forget how to do it! The collection of sounds that we have programmed for the Arturia V collection is done with expert care from someone who knows the Minimoog very well – so you can be sure that the sounds are well crafted and sound great. Our Minimoog V Collection is available as a download via our free e-mail delivery. Just open the file in your Arturia software and your ready to roll! Pick the Mac or PC “patches” format when ordering online at our web site. Please contact us if you need any more info. |
The Trekker synth
Intellijel has announced 5 new modular synth modules, which are expected to be shipping this month.
I guess it will be the love of all Star Trek fans, however I suspect he will get into some legal hassle. Remember that the swedish synthpop band S.P.O.C.K. had the same problems, hence the dots between each letter in their band name
- SPOCK: CMOS Boolean Logic device 4HP
- FLIP FLOP: CMOS JK and D flip-flop 4HP
- BUFF MULT: Buffered Multiple 2HP
- MULT: Passive Multiple 2HP
- QUAD INVERT: Quad CV Inverter / Quad Audio Buffer 2HP
- UNITY MIXER: dual 3:1 / 6:1 unity gain mixer (CV /Audio) 2HP
NI summer special
Native Instruments has launched the Kickstart Your Summer special, which offers a 50% discount on all software updates and upgrades across the NI product range in June. Here’s all the details in their own words…
For producer products, the special offer includes the update versions of the KOMPLETE 6 bundle, the KORE 2 software and those of ABSYNTH 5, BATTERY 3, FM8, GUITAR RIG 4, KONTAKT 4 and REAKTOR 5, including the KONTAKT 4 crossgrade for owners of any KONTAKT PLAYER-based third-party software instrument.
For DJ products, the special offer applies to all update and upgrade versions of TRAKTOR PRO, TRAKTOR DUO and TRAKTOR SCRATCH PRO, including the “TRAKTOR SCRATCH Certified” upgrade for selected DJ mixers.
Pricing and Availability:
The “Kickstart Your Summer” special offers are available exclusively in the NI Online Shop from June 1st to June 30th.
More information:
Can a monkey play the Little Phatty
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9OsXRrUpus
Found this great interview with the Gorillaz, currently replacing U2 on stage:
Cartoon sensations Gorillaz returned this year with their third album, Plastic Beach. The album focuses on the cartoon band’s retreat to an island made of washed-up detritus floating in the furthest place from land in the middle of the South Pacific. It enabled Damon Albarn and cartoonist Jamie Hewlett to continue the story of the characters Murdoc Niccals, 2D, Russel Hobbs and Noodle, while subtly commenting on the culture of celebrity and waste in society.
Co-ordinating an album starring a cast of cartoon characters and a host of celebrity guests is no mean feat, but to tour the album Albarn and Hewlett had to put together a live band capable of recreating all the sounds on the record. Key to this was Jesse Hackett on synth and sampling duties, using a Moog Little Phatty and a sampling keyboard.
Jesse met Damon while recording his second album with band Elmore Judd, on Honest Jon’s Records, a label co-owned by Albarn. “I was invited to meet Damon and subsequently got involved with some projects with him,” he recalls. “I went to Mali with him in 2006 as part of the Africa Exprez project and then the following year I went to the Congo, Kanchasa, then Nigeria to celebrate Fela Kuti on what would have been his birthday. We also played at the New Afrika shrine in Lagos and I’m lucky to have been involved for a number of years as a result of my musical friendship with Damon.
“More recently I was passing through the studio when they were working on demos for the new Gorillaz stuff. I did a little bit of playing here and there – he had about 80 songs on the go – and he asked me to be part of the live core band.”
Touring with the Gorillaz has meant putting Jesse’s other band on hold, but it’s also given him an opportunity to flex his chops in front of many of the biggest crowds he’s ever played to. “I’ve been doing that for the last three months, rehearsing and playing. We played the Coachella festival, two dates at the Roundhouse in London and we’ve got more coming up over the year.”
Jesse’s live rig is pretty simple: he combines synthesised sounds from the Moog Little Phatty with sampled sounds. “We’ve taken all the sounds from Damon’s studio, from all his analogue synths and sampled them onto a massive sampler keyboard. I use the Moog for quite a lot of bass sounds.” An example of this is on the track Empire Ants that Jesse describes as “a wicked acid-y rare-groove kinda tune with a great acid bass line.” Interestingly, for the bass sound on this track Jesse found himself using one of the Little Phatty’s presets.
As well as its great sounds, Jesse has been impressed with the Moog’s reliability on tour. “My other keyboard has been a bit of a pain,” he says. “At Coachella it froze – just one song in to the set, and starting acting weird. It was pretty terrifying, I was up there about to do the biggest gig of my life, in front of 100,000 people, with Jay-Z and Beyoncé in the front row and the keyboard went all glitchy. Luckily, we managed to work out what was going on pretty quickly and I managed to pull the gig off by the skin of my teeth. But the Moog Phatty has been completely reliable – I haven’t had any problems with it at all. You just turn it on and get great sounds, it’s very easy to use and manipulate, and the oscillators and filters are straightforward. The sound always cuts really well in the mix, the bass-lines always stand out and you can get really nice lead patterns.”
Once the Gorillaz tour finishes, Jesse hopes to spend more time with the Little Phatty. “I’m working on a new album with Elmore Judd for Honest Jon’s, and I’m also working on an album for Giles Peterson,” he tells us, “an album of African music. I just got back from Nairobi and I’m doing an album for Giles’s Brownswood label, which is a mix of Kenyan traditional Nyatiti music. It’s traditional music from the Loa tribe – rootsy folk music – but with some musicians from the UK as well. I brought all the recordings back and soon we’re going to start putting our own touches to it, putting more electronic elements into it. It’ll be amazing to try and bring the Phatty into that.”
Look out for Jesse on the upcoming Gorillaz UK tour starting in Birmingham on 10 September 2010 and taking in Newcastle and Manchester before finishing at London’s O2 Arena.
DJ Hell in cool mix with Bryan Ferry
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOS5rrzKmWo&feature=player_embedded
Name that song…
…and win among other things, the Himalaya: Antiquity is a suite of premium ‘retro’-style presets for DCAM: Synth Squad. The scope of Antiquity’s chunky, vintage sounds is breathtaking, and its musical character will keep you playing for hours.
- Fat, lush OB-style brass sounds and classic analogue leads and basses
- Deep, evolving pads, shimmering bells, funky arps, powerful keyboard and polysynth sounds
- Startlingly realistic selection of electric piano and keyboard sounds
- Raw Cypher presets and Fusor versions containing FX treatments and additional modulation
To celebrate the release of DCAM: Synth Squad v1.03 and the Himalaya: Antiquity preset pack, we’re running a competition with some fantastic prizes on offer!
To enter, first you need to watch the Synth Squad Recreations video, which contains rather cheeky versions of some classic synth-based songs produced entirely with DCAM: Synth Squad and Himalaya: Antiquity preset pack. All you have to do is name all 8 songs in the video!
The prizes up for grabs are as follows:
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The rules are pretty simple:
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Beatles go wild on the keyboard
Continuing on the theme from yesterday, here is another funny clip featuring the Beatles jamming as robots
Enjoy 
Thanks to Arthur Joly for sharing
Beatles + Dexter Salutti – a short stop-motion animation, featuring The Beatles and a Thingamagoop music robot.
Get the new VST Stringer synth
STRINGER is quite big because it contains lots of sounds but otherwise it has very low demands on your computer. Download and execute the compressed installer. You have to specify your VST folder to make your host discover it.
Download here!
DATAMASKIN
