Just Can’t Get Enough – The Making of Depeche Mode
New biography of Depeche Mode has hit the stores: “Just Can’t Get Enough – The Making of Depeche Mode”. This one was penned by Simon Spence who collaborated with Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham on the memoirs “Stoned” and “2Stoned”. He also wrote a book about Loog Oldham’s Immediate Records. As a journalist Simon has written features on popular culture for many publications, including the NME, The Face, i-D, Dazed and Confused, The Independent, The Japan Times and International Herald Tribune.
This book is another unofficial Depeche Mode biography and while the awful cover – featuring a funny early photo of the band – could make you think that it’s pointless and not very interesting, it is actually rather interesting. This is probably the best biography charting the very early days of the band up to the Black Celebration era.
NME journalist Simon Spence draws on first hand interviews with people close to the band such as friends, lovers, club runners, support acts, pluggers, producers and even church elders, such as Alison Moyet, Robert Marlow, Gareth Jones, Neil Ferris, Adrian Sherwood, Martyn Atkins, Brian Griffin, Robert Gorl etc..
The first chapter deals with Basildon, because it’s important to understand this new post war experimental city to really understand Depeche Mode. Then we learn how the boys arrived there, how they met, their previous bands and how they created one of the ten best-selling bands in music history. Don’t expect gossip and trivia facts, you’ll get the real story about Dave, Martin, Alan, Fletch and Vince and experience their journey to world superstardom! Part musical odyssey, part cultural history, this book traces the story of Depeche Mode from the front rooms and school halls to the Bridgehouse and from their very first appearance on Top of The Pops to Black Celebration tour arenas.
You can order the book at Amazon US, Amazon UK and Amazon DE.
Typewriter – new sampled instrument for Kontakt
Rhythmic Robot has released Typewriter, a sampled instrument for Kontakt.
Typewriter is a sampled version of a 1920s Imperial wide-carriage typewriter. It includes a pool of randomly-selected keystrikes, plus a host of carriage-return, bell, platen wind, spool wind, shift, tab and other mechanical noises. Keystrikes can be “played” with one hand from a MIDI keyboard’s white notes while shift, tab, carriage return and so on can be added at will via the black notes.
Typewriter is ideal for special effects, stutter-type glitches, foley effects or sound design. It is being released in time for Valentine’s Day so users can “write love letters straight from their heart… in style”.
Features:
- 21 randomly-selected keystrike samples: no machine-gunning.
- Mechanical noises, platen winds, tabs, shift up and shift down, space bar etc.
- Mapped so as to be “playable” from a MIDI keyboard: type from your synth.
Price: £1.50. Requires Kontakt version 4.2.3 or later (including Kontakt 5).
The Klirrfaktor: Krautstep (Modular System & Korg Monotribe)
Background information about the gear and music:
First Track for my next album (or so).
My latest (modular) album you can find here: http://theklirrfaktor.bandcamp.com/album/an4log
Maybe this track is to dirty, noisy or trashy but it`s fuckin cold and all those stupid politicians round the world go crazy and i’m very very angry 😀
Starring:
Beats: MFB Schlagzwerg + Electro-Harmonix Metall Muff, Doepfer A-106-1 + ART Pro Channel
Bass: Bubblesound uLFO & WMD Gama Wave Source + Wiard Borg Filter modulated by MakeNoise Maths
Lead: Pittsburgh Generator + A-124 Wasp Filter + Ibanez SM7 Smash Box + A-199 Spring Reverb
FX/Percussion: Korg Monotribe & all the other modules 😀
I hope you like the track!
More @ http://www.klirrfaktor.com
Review of UVI Emulation & Drumulation Sound Library
Get ready for some real old school sample nostalgia as Russ takes a look at the UVI Emulator and Drumulator sound libraries.
This is an extended review which should hopefully help those considering making the investment/
Doepfer Dark Time sequencing
Here’s a new Doepfer video from Skoulaman, enjoy:
My next upload of the Relastic Concertmate MG-1 shows the connection with the Doefper Dark Time, a realy nice combination because teh DT does have CV and gate connections for (old) analog synths and Midi. Conneting the Moog Little Phatty with the MIDI out of the DT was the next step. I had to tune the Realistic with the Moog LP because the CV signal is not callibrated. It is just a demo, so musical the quality is not high. In the end I put some other synth sounds to it (and about the stereo effect, you can here sweeping the roland 106 when I open the filter cutoff). I found the Electrix for a fancy price because it is a very nice effect, at most for live situations.
Demonstration of the Erthenvar Patch Chord Eurorack module
Demonstration of the Erthenvar Patch Chord Eurorack module available at erthenvar.com. Functionally, the module is somewhere between an oscillator and a waveshaper – and also can be described as a bank of two octaves of oscillator controlled oscillators
The Erthenvar Patch Chord is a bank of 25 “Oscillator Controlled Oscillators”, which can be used to generate chords in a Eurorack system.
The Patch Chord continously samples the cycle duration and duty cycle of the input waveform. It outputs 12 semitone steps above the input note, 12 semitone steps below the input note, and the root note itself (available from two output jacks). All outputs are pulse waveforms with continuously variable pulse width.
An oversized tri-color LED spans the color spectrum in each octave, so each note has a unique color! The input jack is passively multipled to an output jack so the visual effects of the LED can be had even if the module is not part of the current patch.
There four modulation types available, each with an input jack and a three-position switch. The switch can turn off the modulation, allow the CV value to control the parameter, or turn on the modulation. The modulation jacks are all DC coupled and respond to audio rate signals, though the tracked waveform has a lower limit of around 20 seconds per cycle.
- The SQR modulation forces the tracked duty cycle to 50%, making all of the 25 outputs into square waves
- The INT modulation changes the relationship between each output from a semitone step to an integer or harmonic step
- The ZERO modulation resets all of the output counters to 0, similar to a sync function
- The HOLD modulation stops tracking the input and keeps the last counted cycle duration and duty cycle values
“Recreation” (NightBirds Electronic Music) 2012
Live with OBERHEIM Xpander & XK Keyboard with the ROLAND MC-202. Only 
Composed quickly with the Oberheim Xpander in multimode. Each OSC are played with different height of notes and controlled by the arpeggiator of the XK keyboard. The rest are played with the Roland MC 202.
Time for a break from the completion of the studio and here is a small piece of musical recreation!
Quick Video by NightBirds.
Publication & Copyright by NightBirds Electronic Music – 2012
http://fr-fr.facebook.com/people/NightBirds-Electronique/100000038001995
http://soundcloud.com/nightbirds-electronic
Soundtrack Loops releases Super Freak Studio Drum Beats
Soundtrack Loops has announced a fresh batch of live and electronic drum loops.
Super Freak Studio Drum Beats offers both live studio acoustic kits and electronic drum beats. There are 450 loops and 27 oneshots in total.
“The live acoustic side offers 243 loops. This folder includes beats, hi hats, and fills. Tempos range from 85-100 BPM. The acoustic kits were recorded on the 1956 Round Badge Gretsch that was used to record “Super Freak” by Rick James. They were recorded and mixed by Howie Beno – producer, mixer, for Dionne Warwick, Ministry, and Red Hot Chili Peppers. The electronic side offers 207 electronic beats. This folder includes mixed beats, kick patterns, and hi hat patterns performed by Drummer Felix Miklik (Producer of Studio Breaks by Peace Love Productions).”
Formats:
- Apple-looped .aif
- ACIDized .wav
- Recycle .rx2
- Ableton Live .alp
24 bit 44.1kHz Stereo.
Pricing and Availability:
$24.95
More information:
Rotoseq – rotary sequencer
http://www.rarebeasts.com
This is a hand generator cranked rotary sequencer. It has 8 slots and 4 sounds and uses 4 LDRs into a picaxe to make sounds.
Sorry about the sound of the dynamo it was sitting next to the mic.
Demonstration of “RheyneLooper” – Live Looping with Lemur
Link to template at Liine’s User Library:
http://liine.net/en/community/user-library/view/188/
Requirements:
iPad / iPad 2
Lemur (download from the App Store)
Ableton Live (full download)
Recommended:
Native Instruments Massive (v1.3 or higher)
A live looping template for Lemur and Ableton Live 8 for a single audio channel, drums, a monophonic synth, and a polyphonic synth. Two Ableton Live projects are included in this download: one for owners of Native Instruments “Massive” and the other version works with the full download of Ableton Live 8. No other software or plugins are required. “Massive” is highly recommended. Version 1.3 (or higher) of Massive is required, or the patches will not load.
The Massive patches are included in the download package from Liine as separate files, and are the exact patches used in 90% of the “Live Jams” on this YouTube channel.
DATAMASKIN
