Got MeeBlip?

Just got my MeeBlip last week and I'm in loooooove.

Peter Kirn (from Create Digital Music) and James Grahame (of Retro Thing fame) have a winner on their hands with this affordable, hackable digital synth. It's a duuuurty little guy and you can expect to see some loops from this in the coming weeks.

It's got a very cool, unique, edgy sound... And at a price of less than $200, I'm certain that the MeeBlip is gonna be a massive hit.

The MeeBlip blog can be found here. Check it.

This & That #5

MeeBlip Reference Guide

A few weeks back, we investigated the MeeBlip - a hackable desktop digital synth that's more than a little innovative. 

This week, CreateDigitalMusic.com posted a link to the MeeBlip's reference guide, which is not only robo-in-depth, but actually teaches the reader the essentials of subtractive synthesis.

If you're wondering why I'm so jazzed about an inexpensive digital synth, check out the MeeBlip SoundCloud page. The little beast oozes character in ways that most digital synths don't, simply because it's not trying to be an analog emulation. The MeeBlip just uses the same architecture.

Bottom line? I want one.

Expect a six-pack in the coming weeks :)

More tidbits and free stuff after the jump...

This & That #4

Musicradar.com posted a wonderful history of Roland synths, with tons of sexy pictures. Naturally, someone took all that gear porn and made a seizure-inducing animated GIF.

Create Digital Music has a brilliant tutorial on turning that old cassette deck in your closet into a nifty little analog saturation effect.

One of the artists I'm working with these days is an extraordinary guitarist, DJ, producer, teacher, and Zen badass named Shreddward. He has some top-notch tech house tracks in the pipeline and recently added some moody guitar parts to a track I'm working on. Now, he's got his own blog too.

It's been a fun week for free stuff too... More info after the jump.

This & That #3

CreateDigitalMusic takes a good, hard look at the Korg Kronos. And by good and hard, well, you know what I mean...

Back in black, I hit the sack, I've been too long I'm glad to be back. Well, Waldorf's Blofeld is at least. (via SonicState).

Native Instruments have updated and rebranded their Audio 4 DJ and Audio 8 DJ interfaces with additional channels, now they're called the Traktor Audio 6 and Traktor Audio 10.

Whooooooooaaaa. I totally slept on Propellerhead's YouTube channel, which is packed with cool Reason tutorial videos. Peep it.

Steinberg has announced version 3.5 of their VST plug-in spec. Depending on how many developers adopt these new features, this is either massive news or a non-event. Either way, there's some interesting stuff in there. (via Synthtopia)

Memory Lane department: Somehow, a Spanish blog has gotten their hands on a copy of Sons & Lovers' independently released 1985 EP. Considering there are probably less than 500 copies in circulation, this is nothing short of astonishing. The fact that I was literally in the process of having someone convert it to MP3 next week is even stranger. Oh yeah, Sons & Lovers was my first band...

WTF is a MeeBlip?

Finally got to catch up with Peter Kirn from Create Digital Music - one of my favorite blogs.

We kicked it about Dave Smith & Roger Linn's new Tempest for a bit, talked about his plans for SXSW and as we were winding down he blurted out something about a MeeBlip.

I was like, "WTF is a MeeBlip?" then googled it and found myself rather intrigued by the prospect of an open-source hardware synth module.

Pete's gonna fill me in a lot more in the next week or two, but until then you should check this thing out.

It's more than a little nifty.