The static sigh: Spectralis 2 Sample library V2 demo
A quick, simple piece ‘acemonw’ put together using the Spectralis 2 Sample Library V2 from Radikal Technologies.
“I routed the bass sample through the LP and MM analog filters and used noise for some extra parts, otherwise… this was completely done using only the sample library.”
About the Spectralis 2:
Spectralis 2 is the even more powerful successor of Radikals sophisticated Hybrid Synthesizer. With up to 4 GB sample memory and tons of new features Radikal raises the bar again for our competition. Never stop the sequencer engine again with our fully redesigned sequencer engine that allows for on the fly realtime sequencing. Quick Sound Selection for every part – your most favorite sounds are just one fingertip away. Transpose your patterns and step sequences with the attached keyboard. There is only one thing, we left untouched in our new design – the sound engine. Still the warmest and richest sound out there with the power of a modular synthesizer in a box.
The Spectralis 2 hybrid synth, fueled by the latest DSP- and true analog technology, delivers maximum tonal capabilities and leads you into a radical new world of sounds full of life and animation. The Spectralis 2 oscillator section takes sound design to new extremes. The 4 oscillators offer continuously variable waveshapes plus time linearity modulation, FM, PM, oscillator synchronisation, bit reduction and independent pitch and volume envelopes. The self resonating filters, a 4 pole lowpass and a 2 pole multimode filter with LP, HP, BP and notch outputs, use two highly improved true analog circuit designs to overcome the restrictions of modelling based synths.
The way players can interact with the destinctive user interface makes the Spectralis 2 hybrid synthesizer a killer live instrument with unbeatable richness and stunning flexibility. The synthesis engine takes advantage of a sophisticated step sequencing system – 32 independent parameter control lines with up to 192 steps let you explore an universe of previously unheard rhythmic effects and atmospheric textures. Punchy high resolution envelopes, are the cutting edge of todays synthesizer technology. They are the perfect weapon for the creation of floor pounding kicks, state of the art sequencer staccatos and numerous percussion effects.
Jam Session with Volca Keys, Bass, Beats and Boss DR-660
Gear:
Korg Volca Keys
Korg Volca Beats
Korg Volca Bass
Boss DR-660 with Line 6 M13 multi effects
A little piece of a new track jam session!
Mute tribute compilation album “MuteResponse”
Out on November 4th is a double download Mute label tribute compilation album “MuteResponse”. Released as a double compilation download album by NominalMusics, “MuteResponse” will include 22 tracks from a range of artists who have been influenced by this pioneering imprint. The album includes contributions from producer Gareth Jones, D-R-U-N-K (Oly Grasset), Simon Fisher Turner collaborator Espen J. Jörgensen and Vic Twenty next to material from other bands.
“MuteResponse” was compiled by music journalist and Mute fan Mat Smith to coincide with the 10th anniversary of his ‘Documentary Evidence’ website. Says Mat: “I wanted to find a way of highlighting just how important Mute has been for electronic music. It would have been really easy to ask for straight cover versions of Mute’s best moments but I really wanted to find a way of capturing the essence of what the label means to people instead. In the end I did agree to one cover version being included (MO75’s instrumental take on Depeche Mode’s ‘See You’). It’s a real mixture of dark and light, which was one of the things I really wanted to showcase.”
The compilations consist of exclusive tracks created just for the albums, unreleased tracks and tracks from recent releases that suited the theme of the project. The album will be released through Bandcamp on 4 November 2013 and will include alternative artwork from some of the contributors to the project as well as Simone Grant, who designed the first sleeves for Mute, and Olivia Louvel. “MuteResponse” was mastered by Chris Sharp (Concretism).
Tracklist:MuteResponse #1
- Espen J. Jörgensen & Rupert Lally – Clues In The Rain
- D-R-U-N-K – Ghetto
- Photostat Machine – Inside #9
- Andy Clark & Jay Mass – Tacet
- Abominus – Tinnitus v2
- Jonteknik – Vincent
- Crown Estate – East Anglia
- Treza – Noizy Zion
- Vic Twenty – Christmas In Korea (New Year In Japan)
- Simplicity Is Beauty – The Agitator
- The SFTs – The Stairs
MuteResponse #2
- Gareth Jones – Summer Solstice 2013
- Teknique – Face The Reality (Remix)
- MO75 – See You (Instrumental)
- Analog Angel – The Temple
- Procedure – Isbjörn
- Komabase – Expectations
- Security – Breedophile (Documentary Evidence Mix) 8. Fatal Casualties – Glas
- Thee Balancer – Reorder Reality
- The Elixirists – Backmask
- ManMaas – Guar
Apple: New Garageband, OSX goes free and iPad Air
GarageBand for Mac has received its biggest update ever with a fresh new look, all new Sound Library, and new features, like Drummer and Smart Controls, giving you everything you need to easily make a great-sounding song.
GarageBand for iOS has been updated to match the look and feel of iOS 7 and taps the power of 64-bit to bring musicians a full recording studio with up to 32 tracks. With iOS 7 Inter-App Audio you can record third-party music apps right into GarageBand, and AirDrop allows you to wirelessly share your song projects with other iOS users so you can work on songs together. iCloud helps keep your song projects up to date across your devices, and users can start a song on iOS and pick up where they left off using GarageBand for Mac.
What’s New in GarageBand for iOS v2.0:
- All-new streamlined design.
- Create a song with up to 32 tracks* using Touch Instruments, audio recordings, and loops.
- Record compatible Third-Party music apps using Inter-App Audio in iOS 7.
- Drag and drop audio recordings to create Sampler instruments.
- Support for AirDrop in iOS 7.
- 64-bit support.
Pricing & Availability
GarageBand for Mac and iOS are free for all OS X Mavericks and iOS 7 users. Additional GarageBand instruments and sounds are available for a one-time in-app purchase of $4.99 for each platform. More info here >>
Apple has presented a new, slimmer iPad, the iPad Air, that is designed more like the iPad mini. The new iPad Air has the same 64-bit A7 chipset as the iPhone 5S, that is branded the A7X, with a slightly upgraded SOC that is optimized for the iPad’s Retina display.
- 7.5mm thin, 20 percent thinner than outgoing model.
- 9.7-inch Retina display with a smaller bezel. 43 percent thinner.
- Lighter as well: 1 pound, down from 1.4 pounds. Very light!
- M7 motion co-processor as well.
- Up to 8x faster performance, 72x faster graphics performance.
- Faster WiFI, with MIMO for multiple antennas for 2x speed 802.11ac More LTE bands
- 5MP iSight, FaceTime HD camera with larger pixels, dual microphones, 1080p HD video recording, improved backside illumination on the sensors
- 10hr battery life
- Comes in silver and white, and space gray and black.
- Replaces the existing full-sized iPad. Starts at $499 for 16GB WiFi, $629 to add in LTE
- iPad Air ships November 1st in a huge list of countries, including China in the first wave
Finally has Apple announced the final version of OS X 10.9 Mavericks, with a lot of new features. One of them is a new multitasking feature that saves battery life by putting apps that you don’t use at the moment in a kind of sleep mode, so that they don’t use any power anymore. When you then need to use these apps again, they start immediately, so you will not see or feel any difference. It will not slow down your productivity, just give you more battery life.
Another feature is a new way to keep users engaged with your website. You can now use the Apple Push Notifications Service to send notifications to your website users through popup alerts, the notifications will appear in your desktop and in OS X’s Notification Center even when Safari isn’t running. Safari Push Notifications work just like push notifications for apps. They display your website icon and notification text, which users can click to go right to your website.
Another new feature is the iCloud Keychain, it takes your saved passwords and credit card numbers in OS X, and makes them available on all your iOS devices.
OS X 10.9 is available from today, and it’s totally free. Free for existing users.
Ableton Live tutorial – Sample Chain Making (Kick Drums)
In this series, we demonstrate how to efficiently and painlessly create sample chains, to be used in the Elektron Octatrack, or any other sampler. This video focuses on creating a very simple chain with 8 similar sounding samples.
Rock ‘n Roll – spiced up Telex track
A Telex (Belgian band) inspired ditty with electronic synths and drums. With a special virtual guest.
The Belgian synth-pop group Telex was formed in 1978 by Marc Moulin, Dan Lacksman, and Michel Moers, with the intention of “Making something really European, different from rock, without guitar — and the idea was electronic music.”Mixing the aesthetics of disco, punk and experimental electronic music, they released a stripped-down synthesized cover version of “Twist à St. Tropez” by Les Chats Sauvages. They followed up with an ultra-slow cover of “Rock Around the Clock”, a hilariously relaxed and dispassionate version of Plastic Bertrand’s punk song “Ça Plane Pour Moi”, and a perversely mechanical cover of “Dance to the Music”, originally by Sly Stone. Like Kraftwerk, Telex built its music entirely from electronic instruments, and the sounds of the two groups have a certain similarity. However, unlike Kraftwerk’s studied Teutonic irony, Telex favor a more joyously irreverent humor.
The group’s debut album, Looking for Saint Tropez, featured the worldwide hit single “Moskow Diskow,” one of the first-ever electronic dance/pop songs.
In 1980 Telex’s manager asked the group to enter the Eurovision Song Contest. The group entered and were eventually sent to the finals, although it apparently hoped to come in last: “We had hoped to finish last, but Portugal decided otherwise. We got ten points from them and finished on the 19th spot.” (Marc Moulin) The group’s song “Euro-Vision” was a cheerful bleepy song with deliberately banal lyrics about the contest itself. The Eurovision audience seemed unsure how to react to the performance, and after the band stopped playing, there was mostly stunned silence, with scattered polite applause; Michel Moers took a photograph of the bewildered audience. The band walked off amid sounds of muttering. A mark of the confusion caused by the performance was when vote-counting began, and Greece awarded Belgium three points, the announcer thought she had misheard and tried to award the points to the Netherlands.
For its third album, Sex, Telex enlisted the US group Sparks to help write the lyrics. However, the band still refused to play live and preferred to remain anonymous—common practice in the techno music artists the group later inspired but, nevertheless, unusual in 1981. The fourth Telex album, Wonderful World, was barely distributed.
In 1986, Atlantic Records signed Telex and released the album Looney Tunes in 1988. By then, the band’s earlier sound had influenced many other groups, but they had abandoned it in favor of sampling and a more up-tempo humorous style. “Temporary Chicken,” for example, was a strange joke track about a man so desperate for work that he accepted a part-time job in a chicken costume. It was social commentary but so bizarre as to be almost incomprehensible to most listeners: the album found little commercial success.[citation needed]
In 1989, Telex revisited all of their old tracks and remixed them to resemble house music and other genres that had followed in the wake of Telex and others’ early pioneering work in electronic pop. The result was Les Rythmes Automatiques, which apparently inspired Kraftwerk to do the same for its album The Mix in 1991.[dubious – discuss]
After almost two decades of silence, Telex made a comeback in March 2006 with How Do You Dance on EMI Records. It contained five original compositions as well as five covers. The group’s last release, as of 2006, is a cover of “On the Road Again”, originally by Canned Heat. They also began producing remixes for other artists’ single releases, including “A Pain That I’m Used To” by Depeche Mode and “Minimal” by the Pet Shop Boys.
PurPLe – new Radiophonic Modular Analog Synthesiser for Reaktor
EverythingTurns has released PurPLe, a “Radiophonic Modular Analog Synthesiser – Sci-Fi Effect Generator” for Native Instruments Reaktor.
PurPLe takes its inspiration from the early days of synthesis and is dedicated to the pioneers of the sound effects departments that terrorised the audiences of the science fiction silver screen.
PurPLe’s sound is generated by free running multi-wave oscillators, each delivering a diverse waveform that can twist and warp almost as if it’s alive.
The key to this sonic arsenal is the Modulation Matrix Patch Bay, allowing the component parts of the synth to interact with each other. The Matrix opens up endless possibilities of frequency modulation and interaction by tapping into, chaining and merging the signal path. The more you explore the more possibilities you will discover.
PurPLE for Reaktor is available to purchase for £14 GBP. Requires Reaktor full version 5.8+.
Plank and Czukay are releasing the 1980’s album Les Vampyrettes
After the release of the Conny Plank box set earlier this year, London-based Grönland Records are releasing Les Vampyrettes, a limited edition reissue of the 1980 collaborative EP from Plank and Can co-founder Holger Czukay. Released as 3 x 10″ picture discs in a triple gatefold sleeve, Les Vampyrettes saw Czukay and Plank predicting a dystopian future where biology and artifice synthesise, giving rise to a constantly surveyed society where you “watch your step /all day and all night” because “someone’s got you in their sight”.
At the same time, Grönland will be reissuing Czukay’s classic 1981 LP On The Way To The Peak Of Normal, the first in a series of re-releases from Czukay’s out-of-print back catalogue. Although it echoes some of the lingering anxiety present in Les Vampyrettes, On The Way To The Peak Of Normal is driven by a decidedly disco aesthetic. Recalling some of the off-kilter arrangements of transatlantic contemporary Arthur Russell as well as some of the Balearic, cosmic sounds that would dominate toward the end of the decade, On The Way… is a unique 30 minute LP demanding repeated listens.
These two releases come in advance of this weekend’s talk and concert at the Goethe Institute in London in tribute to Conny Plank. The event this Saturday, October 26, features a discussion with Plank’s son and Dieter Moebius followed by live music and DJ sets featuring Laetitia Sadier, Cold Pumas and Disco Cabine. (Via Q)
polimorph – analog generative synth sounds
Concept demo of assisted sound design on the Elektron Analog Four synthesizer.
Exploring sounds by outsourcing control to dedicated external software.
The app interactively sculpts new sounds by interpolating user sounds, combining them into kits and sending them to the analog synthesizer at screen refresh rate (60 kits per second) via MIDI SysEx.
All sounds are based on sounds a user has created and sent to the app, so there is no randomness, but human intervention with the app is a guarantee for very unexpected recombinations.
The Analog Four plays its own sequence, with the app being controlled via MIDI CC – in the case of this video, the faders react to knob tweaks and LFOs from a Machinedrum’s MIDI sequencer, which is also synced to the Analog Four’s sequencer. quite frankly this is a blast.
Pittsburgh Modular Interview with Michael Johnsen
Pittsburgh Modular Analog Circuitry Designer Michael Johnsen was kind enough to sit down on camera for a chat. Over the course of the interview, Michael talks about his background, learning electronics, playing music, and building custom instruments.
DATAMASKIN
