This & That #7

One of my all-time favorite periodicals - New Scientist - has posted a very cool video on building your own Sonic Crystal.

What's a Sonic Crystal? Go here.

These are about as cool as it gets. And my birthday's only a week away!!!

Earlier this month, I was asking the guys over at Switched On if anyone had made a decent Roland VP-330 softsynth. Well apparently, someone did - and if it's Windows-only, I'm gonna key their Chevy.

Free shit and more info after the jump...

Native Instruments Announces Dubstep Softsynth

It's not April 1 yet, so this must be real. Gadzooks.

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...

This & That #2

Now that the Super Bowl is over, time to go back to being a geek...

Analog Badassery Alert

Tom Oberheim is at it again. This time he's recreating the original Oberheim four-voice as the "Son Of 4 Voice" - a modern-day take on the legendary semi-programmable behemoth.

Here are a few tidbits about it to whet your appetite:
- Son Of 4 Voice image
- Son Of 4 Voice audio examples
- TomOberheim.com main page

Beatportal Tutorials Permalink

Just posted a permanent page to my blog, so you can easily find the Beatportal tutorials and RA glossary.

William A February 2011 Minimix

Armada recording artist and good buddy of mine, William A, has posted his latest DJ set here.

More linkee goodness after the jump...