Blancmange returns
Yet another 80’s synthpop band returns to the stage with a new album
Blancmange, Neil Arthur and Stephen Luscombe, are actually back with brand new material. The single “Drive Me” is released in days and brand new album “Burn Blanc” lands in March followed by a UK tour where the band of writing booked eight dates in March. The closure takes place in London on 15 March.
Blancmange formed in 1979 in Middlesex and debuted years after the EP was “Irene and Mavis. ” The big breakthrough came in 1982 with the hit single “Living On The Ceiling” which reached a seventh place in the British sales charts. First album “Happy Families” was released the same year.
Stylophone goes Beatles
My cover of “Let it Be” played on the stylophone.
Also watch my cover of “They’re taking the hobbits to Isengard” played on the stylophone and the Korg DS-10 synthesizer for the Nintendo DS:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCg3nI…
Shared by Th3Mus1cM4n
MARK JENKINS & The Land of Yrx 1983 “Annus Mirabilis”
“Annus Mirabilis 1983” MARK JENKINS guesting with The Land of Yrx, Shrewsbury open air 1983. Mark Jenkins (Sequential Prophet 600 & Pro One), David Gate (keyboards, drum machine and MC), Rob Andrews (Bass), guests Ray Gordon (flute), Steve Collins (guitar), drunk audience (shouting). Video by Nick Elborough.
For this improvisation I think we’d been listening to Gong, Can, early Ash Ra Tempel, Guru Guru, Cluster and very early Kraftwerk…
The synthesizer sounds used were also used in my set at the first UK Electronica Festival also in 1983, from which there’s no video. This piece is also otherwise unreleased, but I have similar music from around that period on my CD “Analog Archives” available worldwide through Amazon.co.uk and on the CDR “Live Archives” available through www.markjenkins.co
Get more out of Reaktor
Get up the learning curve on one of Native Instrument’s REAKTOR’s most out-there sequencers…
New in Reaktor 5.5
The comprehensive and free 5.5 update¹ sees REAKTOR build on its past successes and add a number of exceptional new features as well as a stunning new instrument. The revamped and streamlined user interface makes using and creating instruments easier and more intuitive. Two new synthesis techniques – modal and additive – open up new sonic territory for the creation or modification of instruments. Lazerbass, a brand-new synthesizer from the makers of MASSIVE, is the first instrument to take advantage of the new additive synthesis module and is included in this update. Also included are the 15 instruments and effects from previous products REAKTOR ELECTRONIC INSTRUMENTS Vol. 1. and 2. Many other improvements and enhancements make using or creating instruments easier and more inspiring than ever before.
Sunday Buchla etudeEH
Just after ubnoxing the EHX 2880 I’ve made a quick patch on the Buchla and started this improvisation.
Sorry it is a bit long, time passes very fast when doing such things, but well.. it’s nice to hear the soundscape going more and more chaotic and rich as minutes passes by.
In the EHX 2880 I’ve definitely found the perfect companion for my Buchla, hurray!
Alkex Instruments custom Minimoog midi controller
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoN34GoTb1c
The Alkex Instruments MMG is a custom midi controller designed to enable the user to “feel” his or her software/hardware emulation of the legendary classic analog synthesizer: The Moog Minimoog.
Here’s what they have to say about it:
Today’s virtual instruments and their photo-realistic on-screen representations sound very close to the hardware they are emulating.
However, reaching for on-screen knobs and switches with a computer mouse is hardly an “experience”…
It’s time to take full control!
Unlike a computer mouse, Alkex Instruments will allow you to simultaneously turn as many knobs as you can reach or even share the dials with a band mate.
Experiment, forget the computer is there and let your muscle memory explore the sounds…
It’s time to FEEL your favorite virtual instruments!
Arto Vaarala has released Kirnu – a free MIDI arpeggiator VST plugin for Windows.
Kirnu is very easy to use MIDI arpeggiator VST created with real-time tweaking in mind.
This video shows some of the Kirnu’s controls and how to use MIDI learn feature.
More information from http://www.kirnuarp.com.
Features:
- Easy realtime tweaking
- User friendly pattern view
- MIDI learn for every major control
- Two independent CC controls with ‘teach’ functionality
- Numerous of different scales
- Hold mode
- It’s only available for Windows, making cheap and ubiquitous computing seem that much more awesome
The Mixxx development team is pleased to announce the release of Mixxx 1.9.0!
Nice free DJ software 
- Shoutcast / Icecast support
- Mixxx can now broadcast over the internet (heavily requested feature)
- External Mixer Support
- The new Sound Hardware preferences pane allows you to route each playback deck separately, which allows you to use Mixxx with an external mixer.
- ReplayGain normalization
- A user from our forum worked closely with our developers to fully implement volume normalization, including performing the ReplayGain analysis for tracks which are not tagged.
- Waveform Gain
- The scrolling waveforms now scale according to the channel gain for better visual feedback.
- Key lock buttons
- Formerly known as “pitch-independent time stretch”, there are now easily accessible key-lock buttons for each for deck.
- Revamped default skin
- Since the original source material for the Outline Netbook skin was lost eons ago, our artist completely redid it from scratch and tweaked it for better visibility. The new skin has also added EQ kill switches.
- HSS1394 support (Windows, OS X)
- Mixxx now supports firewire HSS1394 MIDI devices such as the Stanton SCS.1 series.
- Improved FLAC support
- We’re now using libFLAC directly for smoother FLAC decoding.
- Revamped metadata parsing
- Integration of TagLib allows Mixxx to parse more metadata from songs, and do it more consistently.
- Metadata writing
- Mixxx can now write changes in song metadata back to disk. This feature is off by default, and can be enabled in the Library preferences pane.
- Millisecond time display
- The time counters in Mixxx now have an extra millisecond display.
- Library improvements:
- Played column – The library now indicates whether a song has been played in the current session already, and also counts the total number of times the song has been played.
- Ratings column – 5 stars, no stars, or anywhere in between.
- Better search – Search now searches in more columns, and by-term instead of by-phrase.
- Revamped iTunes integration – A rewrite yielded a significant speedup of iTunes parsing.
- Faster library scanning – The library scanner should perform much better on large libraries.
- Inline Editing – Double click any item in the track table to edit its contents.
- Recording to MP3/Ogg – Now your recordings can be saved in either MP3 or Ogg/Vorbis format.
- New MIDI mappings:
- Vestax Typhoon
- Vestax Spin
- Hercules DJ Console Mk4
- Numark MIXTRACK
- Pioneer CDJ-350
- Updated MIDI mappings:
- Hercules DJ Control MP3
- Hercules DJ Control e2
- Hercules DJ Control Steel
- Hercules MK2
- Vestax VCI-100
- Reloop Digital Jockey 2
- M-Audio Xponent
- Tons of bug fixes and performance improvements!
Multidelay effect tailored for ambient music
Xoxos has released Amboea VST plug-in for Windows which they tell us arranges eight filtered stereo delay lines in serial or parallel with algorithmic crossfading to create a multidelay effect tailored for ambient music.
Twenty algorithms allow the crossfading and filters to be applied before or after the delay lines with optional randomised modulation and pitchshifting. Xoxos says that one instance of Amboea can turn any sound into a dense, continuously varying soundscape, or be used as a straightforward multitap or parallel multidelay.
Pricing and Availability:
Amboea has an introductory price of $10 which will increase to $15
More information:
Weekend synthpop treat: homo-futura >> official Welle:Erdball side project
Official video of “homo~futura – Links-Rechts”. Please watch in best quality!
Taken from the album “Der Neue Mensch” (release 20.05.2011 / SPV synthetic symphony).
homo~futura is an official Welle: Erdball side project!
www.homo-futura.de
www.welle-erdball.de
Thanks Frl Plastique for tipping us
DATAMASKIN
