beek — 7bit date: robot love
“7bit date: robot love is a collection of chips I began tracking in 2008, with one song reaching as far back as 1998. In 2008, having recently graduated from university, I reexamined my chiptune past and decided to get back in the game. Life carried on, and years later, I remembered my original goal of a new chipdisk release.. Here we are today, 2012!
For 7bit date, I didn’t limit myself to traditional chip sounds. I make use of Amiga ST-XX samples in a few tracks — a process which rekindled some of my imagination, as I remembered this or that MOD from back in the day with each Amiga sample I came across. Another characteristic of my chips is to use no external/post-processing effects, just some occasional Schism filters, so the original .IT files will reproduce pretty close to the MP3.
All in all, folks can look forward to a varied collection of chippy goodness: funky, poppy, videogamey, with a splash of reggae and hiphop in a couple tracks”
— beek.
- pyramidium (2:19)
- archipelago (3:29)
- lunar FREAK on) (2:12)
- omega, omicron (3:20)
- (robot) luvr’s rock (2:20)
- rearrraaange (0:39)
- CHECK(me out)SUM (2:32)
- 3rd circuit reggae (2:00)
- funknium (3:50)
- doomkatek (0:49)
- circuit break (3:03)
- don’t let ’em (4:21)
Vivace – new sound library for Kontakt and Kontakt Player
Sonokinetic has released Vivace, a sound library for Kontakt and Kontakt Player featuring cinematic orchestral fx and textures.
Vivace features tempo-synced tonal cues, each recorded in all 12 keys utilising our ITM (Intelligent tempo mapping) system so that every sample is automatically integrated perfectly into any arrangement. The pressure of tight deadlines always interferes with the creative process so we believe Vivace is an essential tool to keep orchestrating craftsmanship high in production schedules with tight deadlines and on demand client expectations.
Vivace is a dedicated performance sampling library that continues building the Sonokinetic legacy in original one-of-a-kind sampling tools for professional composers and sound designers. A vast collection with over 16,000 samples (32,000 total combination of 16 and 24 bit) propels this impressive library to new heights.
Vivace features
- 9 channels available, of which 8 to mix: Pre-mixed ‘Tutti’ channel, 3 Mic position channels and 5 cue group channels. Mix each Vivace cue specifically to your taste. Set global variations or for each individual cue.
- Up to 3 additional multiple recordings of some motifs, available as variations.
- FX at your fingertips. Configure 4 band EQ and in-built reverb to match your other libraries.
- Samples recorded in the same environment as Sonokinetic ‘Tutti’ allowing seamless integration.
- Assign your favourite cues to keyswitches.
- 19 patches in total with multiple cues within each patch.
- 33922 samples: 2x sample pool (16 & 24 bit) (full version sample pool 27,56 GB content: 16bit: 9,41GB & 24bit: 18,15 GB).
- Royalty and copyright free content license. (English & German).
- Vivace Reference manual (pdf).
- Artwork : “Vivace” dvd cover. Designed by Pavel Fuksa.
- Programming : “Vivace” Kontakt script and instruments by Son Thomsen.
Vivace is available to purchase for 199.90 EUR.
Mothership Tour (Short Film) – Skrillex
A Stephen Alex Vasquez film
Providing a little insight into what goes on behind the scenes in putting on his dubstep Mothership Tour
mikrosonic RD3 HD – Groovebox for Android
Finally we start to see more quality apps coming also for Android tablets – check out this new Groovebox. Create your own grooves and drum loops with RD3 HD – Groovebox!
Use your Android phone or tablet as a musical instrument and make your own electronic music tracks!
Recreate the sound of early electronic dance music with the RD3 HD — Groovebox that recalls two 303-style analog synthesizers, a drum machine plus distortion, phaser and delay audio effects!
Developed in Berlin, RD3 HD – Groovebox is a pioneering audio app that lets you program your own grooves. This multi-touch enabled app makes it simple to invent unique loops and manipulate them with resonant filters and effects on the go.
Appropriate both for experienced musicians and novices.
Use it for live performances in landscape mode on phones and 7-inch tablets or use the additional special rack view on 10-inch tablets in portrait mode.
RD3 HD is optimized for Android 2.3 (Gingerbread), 3.X (Honeycomb) and Android 4 (Ice Cream Sandwich).
Loops you’ve created and exported with the Groovebox can also be automatically integrated into mikrosonic’s audio mixer app SPC – Music Sketchpad.
Musical Features:
– Two virtual analog synthesizers
– 4 types of waveforms per synth
– Reminiscent of the legendary 303 synthesizer
– High-quality or regular filter modes
– Drum machine with 10 drum kits: 808, 909, 606, CR-78, Linn, KR55, RZ1, DMX, RX11, DPM-48
– Real-time step sequencer for the synths and the drum machine
– 3 effects: distortion, phaser and delay
– 4 bars with 16 steps per instrument
– 3 play modes: Solo, loop or random
Technical Features:
– Special portrait mode for 10-inch tablets
– Multi-touch control
– Live session recording
– Audio loop export as WAV files
– Session save capability
– Cut/copy/paste pattern
– OpenSL support
– App2SD
System Requirements:
– Android 2.3 or higher
– Screen resolution 800×480 (WVGA) or higher
– 800 MHz CPU or faster supporting ARMv7
More details at: www.mikrosonic.com/rd3hd
Kraftwerk on the road again
Still remember when I saw Kraftwerk live for the first time (ages ago) – today I would probably go see them again, although one might debate if it really is Kraftwerk you are watching since it is only one of the four original members in the current/today´s line up. Anyhow below are the details:
Kraftwerk will give a series of eight performances, each devoted to one of its albums, as part of a Museum of Modern Art retrospective of the electronic music pioneers in April, museum officials said. The performances during “Kraftwerk-Retrospective 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8,” on consecutive evenings starting April 10, will not only feature tracks from one of Kraftwerk’s albums, but also other original compositions intended to showcase the group’s influence on contemporary culture. Projected images, including 3-D ones, will accompany the music. The albums will be performed in chronological order, one each night, starting with “Autobahn” from 1974 and working up through “Tour de France” from 2003.
For more info: kraftwerk.com
http://youtu.be/6M5ZNETaNrk
Kraftwerk Autobahn rare original video
Trommemaskine – Mystery Circuits Drum Machine
Trommemaskine built by Mike Walters, 2012. 8 x 4 matrix drum machine uses modified Paia Drum-Tone circuit for sounds. More info at mysterycircuits.com
This is the Trommemaskine, commissioned for Olivia Hjermitslev. “Trommemaskine” means “Drum Machine” in Danish. Rhythms are mapped out on the 8×4 matrix panel, which includes a Hi-hat, Kick, Snare, and a Disco drum. Those four sounds, as well as four additional percussion sounds, can also be triggered by the blue momentary switches. A toggle switch sets whether the drum triggers once, or at the rate of the sequencer.
The large orange button starts and stops the rhythm. The drum sounds come from a modified Paia Drum Tone circuit that I built ten years before the Trommemaskine. I never used the circuit, and it sat in a box for all those years. The sounds are all analog, using ringing oscillators and a white noise generator. The Paia board didn’t have a hi-hat sound, so I made a made one by simply passing white noise through an opto-coupler, and gating it the way I did with the other sounds. The case comes from an old pH Meter given to me by my friend Tim Ristau. I used my CNC to mill the panel out of 22 gauge steel. The green LEDs on the sequencer are diffused through clear adhesive rubber feet.
The sounds from the Paia are triggered by +5v pulses. A 555 timer with variable frequency clocks a 4017 decade counter configured for eight steps. There is a bank of 4081 AND gates wired to the 32 buttons on the matrix panel. The outputs of the 4017 are wired in parallel with rows of four switches (hihat, kick, disco, snare) onto their own AND gate. As the sequencer runs, and if the one of the latching switches from the matrix panel is on, it will trigger that drum sound. The sequence runs eight steps, and repeats.
The sequencer is started when the orange button sends a pulse to a 4027 flip-flop. This changes states, and sends a logic high to another bank of AND gates – one bank for the sequencer LED’s, and another to a bank of buffering gates that trigger the sounds. Pressing the orange button again changes the state of the flip-flop, turning off the logic high to the enabling gates. Even when the sequence is off, all the sounds can be manually triggered with the blue buttons. A two way switch is wired to +5v on one side, and to the output of the 555 (buffered). This allows either a continuous quantized trigger at the rate of the sequencer’s clock, or a realtime momentary pulse for the duration of the button press. The tempo LED flashes when the sequencer is on step 1 and step 5.
Talk Talk tribute album and book – new update
Following the recent news about the book, Fierce Panda have announced more details about the upcoming Talk Talk tribute album ‘Spirit of Talk Talk’.
Here is a summary of the info released by the record company.
Well we’ve been keeping it under our furry hat but the truth will always out. And so it is that likes of Pitchfork have picked up on the factette that we have been working on in our top secret bunker – a compilation tribute album to those abstract wonders TALK TALK. It was 1982 when Mark Hollis and pals first soared into view with a slew of deceptively commercial hit singles. However by the time Talk Talk delivered the seminal ‘The Colour Of Spring’ album, which brilliantly merged pop instinct with experimental flair, they’d long since shed any hint of being mere also (Duran Du)rans.
After then – in a career shift eerily similar to that of future labelmates Radiohead – Hollis and co turned their backs on the mainstream and made three albums (two as Talk Talk, one solo) of breathtaking scope and mind-blowing minimalism before completely fading from view. The compilation album entitled ‘Spirit Of Talk Talk’ is a mighty affair which, in testament to Talk Talk’s 30th anniversary, will feature artists, acts and personalities including King Creosote, Recoil, Jason Lytle, Zero 7, Linton Kwesi Johnson, White Belt Yellow Tag, Joan As Policewoman, Electric Soft Parade, Goldheart Assembly and many, many more guests from Bon Iver to Arcade Fire covering close to 30 Talk Talk tunes from ‘Today’ via ‘Life’s What You Make It’ to ‘After The Flood’.
The album is slated for release on May 28th on double CD and download and will be accompanied by a lavish book, also called ‘Spirit Of Talk Talk’, which features eulogies from, among others, the likes of Guy Garvey (Elbow), Richard Wright (Pink Floyd), Karl Hyde (Underworld), Wild Beasts and James Lavelle (UNKLE). The artwork for both artefacts is provided by original Talk Talk illustrator James Marsh and the book features all manner of Mark Hollis-related delights for music lovers old and new to swoon over, such as lost photos and handwritten lyric sheets. There is also a plan to feature a Roll Of Honour listing the names of fans who pre-order the book.
Alan Wilder (Recoil / ex-Depeche Mode) has been helping out as music supervisor and is currently involved in the compiling and mastering process.
He says: “It’s already proving quite a complicated process collecting all the mixes and final masters from each artist, deciding (with Toby the organiser) which work best, and which can be elegantly edited and tweaked in order to fit so many exciting contributions on, whilst retaining a pleasurable and balanced overall album experience. We want to avoid just throwing out a mish-mash of different styles without considering the continuity from which any album should benefit. I hope this fine tuning, along with so many great versions, will help to ensure ‘Spirit Of Talk Talk’ becomes one of the very best tribute albums ever made.”
More news will follow in the next few weeks.
Check out www.spiritoftalktalk.com to get a flavour for the project and sign up to register your interest
The Beatles “Because” on the Haken Continuum
“I wanted to do a track with polyphonic playing, poly vibrato (!), etc and this well-known (ahem!) piece seemed like a good fit for that… An imperfect performance but really fun to play! Check out the part near the end (2:05 & 2:15) when I get to bring out the other synth line just with poly pressure–Way cool!
Don’t judge the sound of this incredible instrument by my camera’s cheesy mic… It is gorgeous in person (or in a decent recording.)
Be sure to check out Lippold Haken’s incredible instrument at hakenaudio.com”
Reverse Engineering ‘Hoover’ Sound
More info – http://bit.ly/yZ2RPb
In this new video tutorial series The Petti Test, Dubspot Electronic Music Production Instructor, Propellerhead Reason course designer, sound design and sound programmer-extraordinaire Chris Petti will put any sound to test! Petti will be deciphering and reverse-engineering sounds and recordings submitted by anyone from anywhere! If you want to put a sound to the Petti Test, email ThePettiTest@Dubspot.com.
In the first installment of The Petti Test, Chris examines a very popular sound that had been used for decades in electronic music and has most certainly achieved cult status stardom. The sound is most commonly known as “the Hoover”. It has been used all the way around the board for all electronic music styles ranging from electro, dubstep, drum n bass, techno, house, hip-hop, and pop. In this example, I will be looking at its more current usage in the The Bloody Beetroots and Steve Aioki’s “Warp 1.9”.
Formalin – Dead Fashion
Sex, dirt, deterioration, destruction, fashion and arts, humankind in all its facets and the longing for the extreme: Formalin’s music is direct, forceful and hard – a sound that excellently depicts the real life in their hometown of Berlin as well as the inner abyss of the human soul – with all the subsequent extremes and emotions.
Formalin takes the listener into a dark, postapocalyptic world full of destruction and decay. One cannot help to admire with how much passion the duo has worked on every minute detail to optimize and focus the characteristic and extreme sound. A process that the many live concerts the band has played in the past years have helped to perfect. And on stage, the project unfolds its full conceptual glory and channels the rocking energy inherent in the songs perfectly.
Tominous: Vocals, Lyrics, Music Gabor: Music, Drumming, Lyrics
Taken from the album: Wasteland Manifesto
Directed by: David Wolff | www.stop-and-motion.de
Camera by: Philipp Dreissig
Music by: Gabor Poszt / Thomas Liebchen
Lyrics by: Thomas Liebchen
Vocals by: Thomas Liebchen
Piano by: Gabor Poszt
Mastered by: Sascha “Busy” Bühren @ TrueBusyness/Berlin
DATAMASKIN
