Back In The Saddle...
Got home last night after the Hell Drive. (The I-5 Corridor has seen the last of me. Never again.) We'll return to our regularly scheduled programming tomorrow, as I need a day of R&R. So today's post is an open thread…
2007
203 posts. All years
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It Came From The Depths Of The Chinese Music Industry...
The various and sundry offerings from China no-name companies for NAMM are starting to rear their ugly heads. Trudging down the pike from Bizarro Land this week is the tragically named Plugiator. This is essentially a…
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Ugh... AudioUnits Give Me Headaches...
So, here I am in Phoenix, and we have a report of an issue with Replicant and Numerology 2. No big deal, really, but I have some down time, and I thought I'd take a quick gander and see what's what. So, I download and…
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Date Line Merry Christmas...
Here's to all the Australian and Japanese (and Taiwanese and Korean, I guess) AI readers who are already in to Christmas. Or whatever the analog is in your country/culture/ethnic subset. Merry Whatever! While we're on…
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Creative Comments...
There's an article by Matt Safford in the latest issue of PC Mag on the subject of Creative Commons that quotes me extensively (read it here) which you might find interesting if you're in to the whole CopyLeft scene…
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The Office? I'm Out Of It!
I hesitate to use the term "vacation," because it implies that relaxation will be involved. I don't think that will be the case. We're leaving for Phoenix tomorrow for the Holidays, then to Los Angeles to visit my…
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Pack it up...
I suppose if you're gonna be really, really good at something, it might as well be bayan, right? I mean, I'd rather be good at playing a bayan than, say, insurance adjusting or something. This fellow, Vitaly Dmitriev…
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10 Minutes Of Fun...
Here is a fun little toy that should keep you occupied for 10 minutes or so. SFXR was created to make sound effects for a video game programming competition. It is a simple little stand-alone synth with a few presets…
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I, for one, welcome our new hockey puck shaped music overlords...
Weirdly coincidental, today we find out about the Chimera bC16, which is a lil' analog synth, and the TechnoMage Life 2. Although, for what it's worth, the L2 is more of a half-a-sphere than a puck, but anything for a…
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Suspended pickup blues...
I have a Silvertone archtop which I love, love, love. Of the dozen-odd guitars I have, it is my favorite. I've been thinking of electrifying it again; the pickup had been removed when I purchased it. It obviously had…
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Stuff I Want For Christmas, And I'll Even Pay For It!
Santa, please send me someone that will sell me the following: Roland EP20 : I know, I know, but I want one, and that's that. Hohner Pianet N or T : Ditto. Yes, I'm still looking for one that isn't priced so fucking…
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And The Winner Is...
Ricochet We received a total of 493 name submissions. Unfortunately, about 450 of them were some permutation of the word "tap" and thus automatically ruled out. The most common submissions, tied at 56 each, were…
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See? Keytar can be kool!!!
Adam and I were talking about something or other, and our talk naturally turned to keytars, as it is prone to do, and I recalled that I had seen Oingo Boingo on the very tour filmed above, and the bass player played…
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Check Dis Out!
I was somewhat startled to receive a license request (as in a request to license music) in the info@audiodamage.com email in-box this morning. Actually "confused" would be a better word. We get a lot of license…
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Finalizing Open Thread...
I'm just finishing up work (for the second time, natch) on my latest Micronaut album, Callisto, which once again brings us to the somewhat painful subject of home mastering. I can, of course, afford to send my albums…
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Grime?
I might be a little behind the times here, but I've recently discovered this new(ish) genre called Grime, which is intriguing me. My 10-second review of the entire genre: play a 45-RPM D&B record at 33, and run the…
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Audio Damage
Here's a screenshot of our next product, a multi-tap delay with the usual Audio Damage twist on things. But there's a slight problem. The name we had chosen for this product, "WireTap," is already in use. The product in…
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Santa? I is one.
I'm one of those people that is impossible to buy gifts for. If I like something, I just go buy it, thus leaving no room for gifts, and if it isn't something I already wanted, I don't care, and I don't really have any…
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Deez Nutz and other subjects of import...
As expected, Adam's PACE missive garnered quite the response. (Don't even get me started.) I was fairly amused by the comments on CDM, in particular those from Matthew Davidson, who spent several posts essentially…
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Stormy Weather Open Thread...
We're having a bit of a blow here on the Wet... errr... West Coast; the power has gone out at least a dozen times today, and quite frankly, I'll be stupefied if I wake up tomorrow and I don't have to get the generator…
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Generator...
Adam is on forced sabbatical this week, because sometimes coding makes him want to go drown kittens or something. So I've been busying myself working on the Record That Never Ends, otherwise known as Callisto, and…
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Just a flesh wound...
My MachineDrum has developed a brain tumor. Bummer. The Elektron people are, as usual, quick to respond and very helpful. It's a bit of a drag that they are in Sweden and all (not for them, for me) but there you go. So…
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Unnerving...
There's some artists which you would give their due acclaim, should the opportunity arise, but you just don't pay close attention to what they're up to in general because they're so fuckin' omnipresent. David Gilmour…
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Ouch.
Back from the Big Show. Point of order: you know you're getting old when you're in not-insubstantial pain the next morning and all you did was stand in the sound booth and watch bands play. It's a wonder I didn't break…
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Tuesday Open Thread...
Argh. I just got done reading the Underworld article in the new issue of Remix, and someone needs to clean house in their proofreading department (if they even have one.) That thing is so riddled with errors that, well…
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The Doctor was a big hit...
The latest issue of Computer Music just showed up, and it has a review of Dr. Device that is almost embarrassing in its praise. In fact, we would be embarrassed but for the fact that we're generally brimming with…
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Processing...
At the risk of getting in to Mr. Kirn's territory, I've been fooling about a bit with Processing lately, to mixed results. While I have a habit of normally avoiding the coffee cup like the blight that it is, the ease of…
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My MonoMachine review...
Okay, after having this thing for a few days, I think I have a fairly good handle on it. Obviously, there are many "official" reviews available on the Intertubes, from SOS, FM, CM, and even the American magazines if you…
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Let's Try This Again, Shall We?
Okay, since I was a bit taken off guard that several hundred people might be interested in seeing me test a workflow process, I felt obligated to make haste in putting something up with a bit of musical merit. I took…
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Yout00bin'
As it turns out, my hypocrisy knows no limits. Neither, apparently, does my ability to generate zeros and ones. I've started what will no doubt be an incredibly tedious and self-aggrandizing process by creating a…
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New Shit! (Open Thread)
The UPS man is gonna be loaded down today. I have all kinds of New Shit showing up today. A MonoMachine and a metric fuckton of cables and what-not from AH, a video camera and a new rack from Amazon, and probably 10…
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Cage match!!!
Yes, it's true. I'm feeling a bit silly today. In that light, Cage vs. Cage. In the blue corner, weighing in at roughly 185 lbs, movie star Nick Cage. In the red corner, weighing in at an estimated "wet sock," John…
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Doesn't that just figure?
Elektron announced the MonoMachine and MachineDrum MKII editions today. This is all well and good. Lower noise floor, thinner case, 64-step patterns on the SPS-1 and SPS-1UW, sampling on the SFX60. Good news all around…
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BLA clock? Seems that way...
This definitely goes in the "things that make you go 'hmmmmm'" category. I tend to look askance at anything if the promotional literature says it will "provide a wide, separated soundstage and add smooth, neutral…
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*sigh*
I don't mind when people that are outside of the music business get the wrong ideas. In fact, I expect them to. But, yet again, this moron at Record-Producer.com (the most ill-named site on the Intertubes) proves that…
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Bleck...
I need to get a small mixer, 8 ins (with at least 4 mic pres; the other four can be line), at least one aux send with stereo return, and separate outs for monitor and main. Obviously, pretty much any of the current crop…
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Mental shootout...
Okay, it's time for a studio upgrade. The options are PCM96, PoCo X8, or Duende. Which to get? I'm leaning towards the latter, but could be talked in to one of the other two. Thoughts? Comments? Hate mail? My reasoning…
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Licensing Open Thread...
I'm in a much better mood now, thanks for asking. A member of the AI Frequent Flyers Club dropped me a line yesterday with some questions about licensing, and he and I thought it would be a good subject for an open…
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Really?
Just shoot me. Seriously. Take a .44 Magnum, put it against my temple, and pull the fucking trigger. I can't take it any more. I could, and would, until I read this. There's one thing I'd like to say to all the…
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Strings 'n' Things...
It's my wife's birthday, and as per her request we went to see the Oregon Symphony (w/ James DePreist conducting, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg soloist; we may be a largely rural state, but we can pull the talent) and I had…
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Get yerself a t-shirt...
The Rococo T-Shirt is now available for sale in the AD Store. We currently have all sizes available. US$20.00 plus shipping.
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I heart non-English speakers...
This has to take the cake for the all-time greatest email to Audio Damage ever. The circumstances: apparently, the customer in question didn't "return to merchant" at the end of the Paypal purchase fiesta, and wasn't…
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Leopard, spots, yeah, whee...
Got Leopard installed on both my Macs. A few minor problems, but they were largely related to networking, and were easily resolved. My initial thoughts: I'm so pleased I spent $129.00 to get some features that have been…
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A Terribly Unscientific Poll...
I'm deep in the throes of wrestling the UI for our next product in to submission, and I was kind of curious about something. I know there are basically two schools of thought viz. the user interface of a plug-in, as far…
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It's been too long...
Because you know you want it. In fact, you need it. Man up and take that shit.
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Open Thread...
Sorry for the lack of posting, but I spent Friday literally ankle-deep head-first in a hole in the ground digging out tiny rocks with a screwdriver in the high desert. I spent Saturday recovering from Friday, and now…
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MIDIjack and some AD stuff...
Just got the Synhouse MIDIjack for the The Source in the mail. I'll probably put it in tonight, and photo-doc the whole process, so you can see how easy it is (or isn't...) In other news, we're entering the R&D phase…
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And in the same vein...
Downloaded and installed the Cubase 4.1.0 update. All seems to be well. There's sidechain now, but it's kind of dumb in its implementation, I have to say. And 3rd party devs can't use it until Steinbaha releases the…
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Oh, man. I seem to have stepped in shit...
Oh, that's not shit. It's Logic 8. And it's all over my shoe. Sometimes it's hard to tell the difference. If all you fanboys can put your tender feelings aside for a minute, I'll use the opportunity to say that it's…
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Paul Raven, RIP...
One of the bestest members of one of my favoritest bands passed away yesterday from a heat attack. Despite the fact that he briefly played with Prong, the shittiest band in the world fronted by the biggest asshole ever…
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Moogerific...
Picked up a shiny new The Source today from an AI reader in PDX who shall remain nameless, but didn't charge me Moog Tax, I'm pleased to say. Or not really, anyways. This is the third The Source I've owned, and there…
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Hmmmm... (Euphonix Whee!)
Anyone know what Euphonix have up their sleeves? I'd like a "Euphonix for \[my\] personal studio." Yes, I would. I imagine it's something along the lines of the Logic/Mackie Control, only not made by Mackie, and…
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ROFLMAO ZOMGBBQWTF? IDK!
I swear to christ that if I didn't know better (and I do...) I'd think Diamond Dave 103 put this auction up. In case you don't feel like clicking, I'll just quote the auction title to you, and you can laugh and laugh…
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Desktop-format Analog Mono-synths...
I need an analog mono-synth in a desktop form-factor. There are several current models and not-a-few oldies to choose from, and I guess I just need to pick one, man up, and buy the bitch. For new, I'm considering a…
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Audio Damage releases Vapor...
That title never fails to crack me up. Anywho, if you want some Vapor, here's where you can find some. This is the third and final US$29.00 mod effect we'll be releasing. Now it's back to our regularly scheduled…
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Another freebie from SSL...
As you no doubt know, the excellent (and free, natch) Listen Compressor plugin from SSL changed the way we squeeze the life out of our drum buss. We now do it with no bottom whatsoever, where before, we kind of liked a…
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Hazarai? WTF?
Stopped by Old Town Music in Portland yesterday and picked up one of those new Stereo Memory Man w/ Hazarai pedals from EH. Pretty fun little guy, but if you're expecting, well, a stereo Deluxe Memory Man, you're gonna…
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Here we go again...
I've been asked to perform a couple shows as me. That is to say, instead of Micronaut or SMG (obviously, there will be no more SMG shows), to perform my Chris Randall material. When I wrote that particular record (and…
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Heh...
In case you didn't believe me when I said I get these kinds of letters a couple weeks ago, here's a picture-perfect example. I've quoted the letter in its entirety, un-edited in any way, shape, or form. I don't doubt…
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Audio Damage update...
The Audio Damage store now has a Vapor page with a screenshot, audio demos, and marketing bullet points, all meant to entice you to spend your hard-earned cash on something besides hookers and MD 20/20. The Windows…
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Oh, you pretty thing...
Lexicon announced the PCM96 at AES today; there isn't a whole lot of information available, but their press release page has a couple PDFs to drool on, if you're a glutton for punishment. Essentially, it's a PCM91 with…
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Formats-R-Us...
I was reading about the new LIQUID4PRE from Focusrite (note to those self-same guys: CAPS LOCK IS CRUISE CONTROL FOR COOL!!!) and I discovered that, despite the fact that I read Mix cover-to-cover every month, there's…
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A Little More Vapor...
Adam tightened up the DSP today, and we're definitely in the ballpark now. Just some tidying up to do, and I'll spend the weekend rendering the UI, and perhaps you'll be able to buy Vapor in the not-too-distant future…
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Hmmmm....
I was pondering the idea of playing a few live "shows" once I'm done with the latest Micronaut album, which will be a few weeks, and possibly dragging my boy Bounte along with me. If you live in Seattle, PDX, or San…
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Rococco...
T-shirts, and lots of 'em. Gonna be a little while before they're up in the store, for two reasons. (1) We have a lot of freebies to send out first, and (2) I'm really fucking stupid when it comes to the USPS, and my…
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Three of 'em...
I'm working on a full-page ad for the upcoming Computer Music Special Issue which will feature all three of the mod effects. Here's a test render (obviously not the finished product; I'm working on the lighting right…
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It Came From The Depths Of eBay...
Yeah, I don't have any idea what this dude was thinking, either. What I really don't know is what the guy that actually bid $3500 on this has going through his head. The auction is here, but don't expect to learn…
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Audio Damage update...
Spent the day twiddling my thumbs while test-rendering the UI for Vapor, the third and final effect in our Series Of Three Mod Effects For $29.00 Each. Just a couple little things to touch up and and what-not, and I'll…
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Time for a bib...
Sorry for not posting yesterday, but I went to the dentist in the morning, and he provided me with, among other things, a nice big bottle of Vicodin, ostensibly to numb the blinding pain that is taking over the left…
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Soniccouture Hang Drum mini-review...
Got a copy of the Hang Drum library Soniccouture released a few days ago. For those of you not in the know, the hang drum is an instrument made by some Swiss hippies, sort of a cross between a steel drum and a tabla…
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Logic 8 First Impressions...
Just nosing around Logic 8 this morning. My initial impressions are extremely favorable. I'll have to spend some time with it to see if they actually fixed/unfixed the things that have always bothered me about it. It is…
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One of those days...
Man, I can't catch a break today. It started when I whacked my head against our brick fireplace trying to catch Pablo (leaving not only a bump, but a scrape) and has generally gone downhill from there. Everything piece…
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Time Waster Maximus...
Personally, my work day consists of waking up, applying the necessary doses of nicotine and caffeine to get my motor running, then walking the 15-odd feet from my couch to my office. The point being that I'm not…
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How To Not Win Friends, Part 1
Something that comes down the pipe at AD HQ quite frequently are letters from woefully misguided companies (usually magazines) that want to "partner" with us. Usually that partnership involves them spending our money…
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Still hoping, dreaming, praying...
I'm still looking for someone to take this Evolver off my hands. I'd like another mono synth, please. I'll gladly add cash to the deal. Or buy your mono synth if someone wants to buy this off me. No reasonable offer…
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The Zen Of Nodes...
Yoiks. An instructional DVD (volume 2, natch...) for "teaching the art of screaming to metal singers." I guess it's for sale on the Alfred site but I couldn't be bothered to hunt the actual product page down. Suffice to…
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Soniccouture mini-review...
Obviously, I'm not in the business of writing reviews, and you can find all kinds of learned people without any axes to grind that have waxed poetic on any number of products. No, you come here for opinions, not…
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Hey?!! What?
I got back to making music yesterday after spending the majority of the morning tracking down whatever was causing a CPU spike in Cubase 4. (Turns out the MOTHERFUCKING COCKSUCKING PIECE OF SHIT DONGLE needs to be…
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Dealing with hecklers...
In my years of playing live, I had to deal lots of hecklers. Twice I jumped in the audience to try and fight them (which was foolish) and once I stopped the show to have a conversation, which was admittedly lame, but…
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Speaking of fun...
I went windsurfing at Hood River yesterday, because if I looked at a computer any more I was going to turn in to Stagger Lee. Today, with my sunburn well-tamed, it was time to address Installing Things in my new…
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Just Shoot Me, pt. 33054
Sometimes, I swear to god. Yesterday, I'm merrily working away on Dr. Device presets, and I hear a small "thunk" sound and my computer freezes up. I think to myself "whee, this is gonna be fun," and reboot. Long story…
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Open Thread: Compression Discussion...
One reader wrote me expressing a wish to have a discussion viz. the various plugin compressors available. Compression is one of those topics that can rapidly get over the head of someone new to recording, as it is an…
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Cigar Box Git-Fiddles...
I've been experimenting with making cigar-box guitars; I made one, then re-made it a couple times, using various parts I had lying about. Then I ordered a bunch of parts from Stew-Mac and E.M.I. to get a little more…
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Jumpin' The Gun...
It seems someone at KvR put up a news item about Dr. Device. As a result, all the other sites that put up music news also put up blurbs about Dr. Device. Ergo, there was a somewhat heightened interest in the good Doctor…
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Ouch...
I don't understand why the concept of "alternative MIDI controller" almost always leads to the actuality of "cacophony", but there you go. If you can watch the whole thing, you're a braver person than I. You can read…
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Whew...
My lovely and talented wife finished and put up the new Audio Damage site yesterday, so we were sitting around on pins and needles all day waiting for disaster. It appears that all is well, and the rock can go on…
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Electro-Mechanical DIY...
I've been pondering making a few instruments for my next CR album, and in doing so have been perusing Iner Souster's pages as a source of inspiration and ideas, along with my normal and perfectly healthy obsession with…
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An Informal Poll...
I was interviewed by the Wall Street Journal the other day; the interview won't actually be published, it seems, because I didn't Say The Correct Things to be worthy of that esteemed organ. The reporter I spoke to was…
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Here's what I don't understand...
Now, I'm no whiz with Linux. I \ can\ navigate my way around a typical Linux system, using my OS X chops (ironic, that) but quite frankly I find it to be rather tedious. But that's neither here nor there. Here's what…
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A Team Project...
Okay, I've decided that this would be both interesting and useful, from the discussion in the Pet Sounds thread. I'd like to make a publicly available library of loops of useful background noise. I have a fairly lively…
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Dr. Device Update (among other things)...
Oh, happy day. Dr. D is now chugging away on OS X, HIViews and Cocoa be damned! Have a look for yourself. What this means is that we're about to enter the Valley Of The Shadow Of All That Is T3H 3VIL In The World. (And…
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Do sharks make a noise?
I was working on some stuff for my upcoming Micronaut album today, and pondering the addition of audio to a song that doesn't really have anything to do with the song, but acts to fill out the audio spectrum. I do this…
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Thank you sir! May I please have another?!?
If you're the crafty sort, you can look at this page on the Apple site, and it might just give you hives. Big fat hives right on your face, with hairs growing out of them. If you're not the crafty sort, you'll wonder…
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Various Chandler Stuff In The Pipes.
Chandler Germ for 500 racks: As you can plainly see from the picture above, there are at least 3 Germanium mic pres now existing in the world. No price yet, but I would imagine they will be about $600. Chandler website…
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Postulatin' on a hypothesis...
Okay, here's an interesting challenge. Say you had US$2000 to spend, and you wanted to make an analog recording studio with at least 8 tracks of recording. What gear would you choose? Mixing isn't necessary; only…
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Xtreme DIY ftw...
Sometimes you see a DIY project and you're just like "are you fucking kidding me? This is one such, for sure. This dude's MIDIbox SID is a DIY synth the way that an Aston Martin Vanquish is a car. I mean, like, fuck…
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Advice? Listen to the Cap'n...
I'd seen this before but somehow forgotten it. I just ran across it again while taking my yearly troll through The Fatman's site. Whether or not Captain Beefheart actually wrote/said this, every word is true. Can also…
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Someone get this kid a Muddy Waters record, please!
Obviously, one could take issue with his lack of dynamics and vibrato, or his questionable tone, but then again, I'm not a half-bad guitar player and \ I\ can't play that song, so I'll shut the fuck up. (Thanks, neB!)
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Ah, the beach in the summer, just me and my keytar...
I've tried to tone down my hating on this site (don't hate the player, hate the game, right?) but sometimes you just can't stop yourself. Or at least I can't. Such is the case when Wade sent me a link to Key Orchestra…
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Unintentional Vintage Humor...
As the local head of the Musical Computing subset of the Society For Creative Anachronism, I'm always on the lookout for something fun to start each meeting with. I came across a NOS unopened copy of MacDrums on eBay…
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Cult Of Gear!!!
Since there seems to be some interest in this topic, and seeing how it is contextual in light of the little dust-up in the previous posting, here's the Gear Cult Thread. Why do certain pieces of gear (e.g. Evolver…
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Evolution Redux...
Okay, it's official. This box isn't doing it for me. I liked it a lot at first, but now that I've had it a couple months, I don't really care for it. I can't really enumerate my reasons for this, except to say that it…
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The Nature Of Things...
I'm sitting here listening to Aleksi Virta's excellent jazzy-house-dub-lounge-you-name-it album "..Meets Torsti At The Space Lounge" and I'm wondering about the nature of things in the music business these days. I mean…
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Chicago Shows...
If you're in Chicago, please make an effort to attend the Bounte show at the Darkroom on Thursday next, June 14th. Cheap beer, loose women, and good music. Can't go wrong, right? The beer at the Double Door is a bit…
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I'm busy, I swear. No, really...
We're finally wrapping up the new Audio Damage store. (You know, the one where I've been answering questions mailed to the info@ad account with "that will be fixed with our new store, which will be up next month" for…
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ZOMG CHORDS!
So I decided to expand my keyboard vocabulary a little bit this week. (To put this in perspective, if it was word vocabulary we would be talking about, I'd be stuck why the fuck there are three different ways to spell…
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Spring... uh... cleaning?
So I'm renovating my little studio building, with the plan of eventually returning to my hut in the not-too-distant future. I've been inside our house now for a few months, and I vastly prefer it. Unfortunately my…
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Around The Interwebs...
Just some fun things I've been sent or found during the week. First up is Stefan Goodchild's blog. He's got a couple projects (including a whopper of a MIDIbox) going, and has a really nice package of Plogue Bidule…
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Dr. Device update and a little sound...
We've now got Dr. Device basically fully operational, and it's just a matter of tightening things up at this point. When I had put the movie up a couple weeks ago, the correct delay block (that is to say, the one from…
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Monk + Coltrane = My Brain Melting...
Okay, I heard about this new "Thelonious Monk Quartet w/ John Coltrane Live At Carnegie Hall" album a few months ago, but I've been putting off buying it. It took me a \ long\ time to really get Monk, but now his…
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This never gets boring...
We might have the makings of a Mario Theme theme week here. Let me start sifting. But the best thing about this one, hands down, is his right eyebrow.
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It's that time again...
I've outgrown the "producer's desk" I made a couple years ago, and I'm of the opinion that there are many things I'm good at, but finish carpentry is not among them. That being the case, I'm going to purchase a new…
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More MachineDrum thoughts...
Okay, I've spent the better part of a day and a night working on a track where the rhythm parts are entirely MachineDrum, and I have some more thoughts on the box. Whether you find these useful in informing your…
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MachineDrum...
Adam and I got our MachineDrums today. After spending a couple hours fooling about, here are my initial thoughts: 1\. If you have been assembling drums in a DAW for, say, five to seven years now, it's actually kind of…
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On the bright side, it isn't named iSession, at least...
A few days ago eSession.com went live, and I just got around to browsing the site. It seems to be fairly comprehensive, and likely will be a good resource for someone like me that needs odd instrumentation that I can't…
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It's all in the time----ing...
I'm having an odd problem with my system, and I was wondering if perhaps one of my dear readers has had a similar problem, and what the solution might be. Here is the general layout of things: 1\. When I have an empty…
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Neü Music Open Thread...
'Tis that time of the month again. Since it's hard to keep abreast of the happenings in electronic music, what's your current favorite? (Link please, if you've got one.) And no fucking trance. On a side note, during the…
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Dr. Device screenshot and info...
Since it was pointed out that it was difficult to make out the UI of Dr. Device in the little movie I posted yesterday, here's a proper screenshot. (Click 'er for bigger.) If I've done my half of the job correctly, it…
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Strange Juxstapositions...
I'm sure I could come up with a weirder combination, but there's something strangely appealing about Jim Thirlwell and Marc Almond doing a Suicide song as a duet. The Beeb sure didn't mind putting odd things on the air…
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SEA-TAC...
I'm going to Seattle on Sunday, as a good friend of mine (and erstwhile Positron Recording Artist) is playing drums for Morrissey on his current tour, and the wife and I are going up to have dinner and chat about his…
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Vintage?
Okay, I'll admit that I'm getting on in my years. I'm 38, which makes me too old for pop music, just right for jazz, and not old enough for blues. But I wouldn't refer to myself as "vintage." That said, the word…
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Power Trips...
I've been thinking about making video tutorials for the Audio Damage products, to be included in our new (and nearly done) site, plus perhaps a series of "power tips" things for this site. A comment in this thread a…
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Dubstation Update...
We just swapped out the installers in the Audio Damage store for Dubstation, which we have just updated to 1.2 (VST) and 1.2.1 (AU). Changes are as follows: 1\. Dubstation now works at all sampling rates, up to 192kHz…
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WTF?
"There's not an ounce of excess. But there is anticipation... because on stage, in the museum, or in the living room, the Baby Grand Master™ commands." Huh. Who woulda thought it? I'm not sure what anticipation has to…
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1-800-FUKTARD
While it is certainly true that in order to make a living in the music business, you're going to have to swallow your pride at some point, I'm of the firm opinion that you have to draw the line. Diamond Dave is the…
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Hmmmm...
I stopped in Apple Music in Portland today to pick up some guitar strings, and during a quick run through their "pro audio" section I noticed something special lying in the corner. A Yamaha CP70 (in its traveling…
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Boulevard Of Broken Dreams #4
In the last installment of this series, we'll have a look at some product evolution. The above image is the starting point. Early on, while we were casting about for a direction the company would take, we considered…
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Classmate no longer vapor, it seems...
Apparently, the Classmate platform that Intel announced last year is actually going to come to fruition. This has interesting implications from a musical standpoint, so I thought it worth mentioning here. Here is a…
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Boulevard Of Broken Dreams #3
Now, this one, unlike the two I put up before, would actually have been a viable product. I was pulling for a bundle called "Konsole," of console equalizers based upon the German 60s/70s cartridges you know and love…
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Boulevard Of Broken Dreams #2
Here's another from the trashcan. This one is Deviant, one of my stranger ideas. Adam actually attempted to code this, but making a square wave from an input signal isn't very fun, it turns out. Here's what it was…
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Boulevard Of Broken Dreams #1
Now that Audio Damage is, what? A going concern, I guess... I started to think this weekend about posterity. In working on the new website (and by that I mean playing computer games while my wife works on the new…
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Am I retarded?
Due to a customer question, I was poking around Logic today trying to figure out how to send MIDI to an insert. (Basically, the dude wants to use the midi-to-pitch feature of Discord 2 in Logic 7.) Back in the bad old…
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Federal Compressor...
Now, I very rarely link to eBay auctions from this site, because I'm of the considered opinion that eBay is a tool of our alien overlords, designed to keep the audio industry from being a viable means of supporting…
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And a PC tip, just to even the scales a bit...
The only real repeat problem the support staff at Audio Damage (read: me) deals with on a regular basis viz. the PC side of things comes in the form of a letter that reads like the following. Actually, it reads as the…
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Okay...
I don't generally make music recommendations on this site, unless I'm asking you to support it by buying a Positron release (which, you'll note, I rarely do.) The reasoning here is that music is a subjective thing, and…
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Time Waster Supreme...
If you really have nothing at all to do with your time, here's a live webcam of the control room at Bob Clearmountain's Mixthis studio in Pacific Palisades. If you listen real hard, you can almost hear the engineer yell…
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Ian lays down the slap...
I have to be honest and say that while I admire and respect the concept of Fugazi, I'm not a huge fan of the actual thing. This video, in which Ian MacKaye cuts loose on the Washington D.C. city council, goes a long…
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Best Wurli Model?
Okay, I'm officially sick of Lounge Lizard. I've been using it so long that I've got to the point where I'd just as soon avoid using a Wurli sound at all as instance it. The electric piano is more or less alone amongst…
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Fun With AU Validation Tool...
One of the most common problems we experience with OSX users is permissions getting messed up on OSX machines. A side effect of a customer's permissions being screwed is that Audio Damage plugins can't read their copy…
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The Story With The Store...
As many customers who've written us know already, we're working on a new Audio Damage store. (Or, rather, my wife is working on a new Audio Damage store, while Adam and I cheer in the bleachers...) It is almost to the…
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TC Nova delay...
This got lost in the shuffle of all the Messe announcements, at least as far as I was concerned. This is the Nova delay pedal from TC. According to the available liturature, it has features cribbed from what is, in my…
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Prism Orpheus v. Apogee Rosetta 800 = Fatality...
Prism Sound, makers of ludicrously high-end A/D/A, are releasing a converter for the Rest Of Us. Assuming The Rest Of Us are sleeping on mattresses full of money, and for whatever reason find the Rosetta 800 to be…
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EMI Hops On Clue Bus, Yet Gets Off At Wrong Stop...
You've no doubt heard this by now. EMI has apparently decided to bend to the will of the market, sort of, and sell DRM-free music on iTunes. They'll be taxing the consumer for the honor of buying something that will…
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Oops...
(Via Get Lofi)
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Vacating...
I'll be out of the office until Sunday. Adam is leaving for Japan tomorrow, as well. So things will be pretty quiet around here for the next couple days. In that vein, this is an open thread for Messe announcement…
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This Amon Tobin record...
So I got the new issue of Remix in the mail the other day, and there's a story about the recording of Amon Tobin's "Foley Room" album, and it piqued my interest enough to go buy the album. (It should be noted that…
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Messe Rumors...
MusikMesse starts tomorrow, the great grandpa of all music-related trade shows. Any rumors of New Hotness you know about? Apple Insider thinks that a new iteration of Logic is coming out tomorrow. According to them…
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Acid Screamer...
While it may be the single most played (and by that I mean "tired") sound in electronic music, it still has its place, and the 303 never sounds better than when it is being run through a good distortion pedal. This…
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M-Audio fucking sucks...
No particular reason for this post, other than to reiterate what I've said many times before: if a company is owned by Avid, they are generally of the whack variety, and M-Audio is the whackest of all. Vista has been in…
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Replication...
Okay, this is turning in to more than a simple "throw a lag in there and release an update" kind of thing. There are four particular instances where clicks occur in Replicant. What they are, and what we've done, are as…
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Dumpster Diving...
You know the stories you always hear about the guy that found the perfect condition Aries modular in his friend's closet? This is one of them. pronobozo sent me a picture of this honker which came to his possession in…
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What a beauty...
This has been making the rounds, and if you're interested you have no doubt seen it. I have to be honest and say that while it is completely unnecessary, if I had the 50-odd grand this is gonna go for, I'd seriously…
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10.4.9
Has anybody had problems with their AudioUnits after upgrading to 10.4.9? We're experiencing some weird issues here, and are trying to build a consensus so we know what's wrong. PLEASE NOTE: It's a simple question, with…
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HCGP...
While we're on the subject of Virb, visit Ethan Callender's page there, and look at the pictures. He has Oberheim stuff and a rack-mount CR78. Pretties!
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Phillip Glass, meet Nora...
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Audio Damage update...
Work is proceeding on Dr. Device. We're not in alpha yet, which is where I generally drop a complete screenshot, but we're getting there. Adam won't let me put up a screenshot until we've finalized the feature set (in…
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Play that funky music, white boy...
If you missed it, in the comments of a previous post, I dropped a link for some live (as in actually played) D&B which raised some eyebrows. neB just gave me a heads-up to this fellow. Personally, I find the actual…
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Open Thread...
Sorry for the lack of posting. There are a number of reasons. In no particular order: 1\. Absolutely nothing interesting has happened in the audio world that I can make out. 2\. I sprained my ankle last Thursday, and…
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Steampunk Guitar...
I don't recall seeing this on MusicThing, but it is exactly the sort of thing Tom would post, so it wouldn't surprise me if he already has. Anyways, I saw "steampunk guitar," and I don't know what I was expecting, but…
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Good sweet baby jesus...
I just saw Burt Bacharach on "Later w/ Jools Holland" (it's obviously a c. 2005 episode) with Rufus Wainwright, doing "Go Ask Shakespeare" off Burt's "At This Time" album. Now, up front, I don't care for mid-tempo love…
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Some more C4 impressions...
Now that I've had a few days with Cubase 4, I'm ready to offer up some considered opinions. In no particular order: 1\. They took out Quadrafuzz. ZOMGWTF? And DirectX plugs are gone. This is a minor annoyance, but…
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Famicon fuckin' wrawks!
Cheer up, emo kid. There's hope! Just take a longing gaze at that picture above, and realize that no matter what a dork you are, there's someone out there dorkier. As in, dorky enough to create a Famicon-shaped guitar…
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Cubase 4 Initial Impressions...
Got Cubase 4 in the mail today. Some initial installation funnies ("This program requires Windows XP SP1 or greater to run. Exiting installation...") that were solved with a 5-minute browse of the Steinberg site, but…
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Affordable Solutions For Better Living...
Zachary Guitars. Ikea blank table tops. A match made in Heaven. Or something. Details are here, and while I don't trust any hyperbole about a guitar, especially if it's written by the person that made it, and the way…
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Open Thread...
I'm kind of in idle right now. I'm obsessing over this track I'm working on, and I can't really work on anything else until it's done. Waiting for parts at this juncture. Also, my copy of Cubase 4 will be here shortly…
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And next on the agenda...
Is one of my friendly readers a D&B turntablist? I need some scratching on a track (it's actually just barely D&B, 165bpm which is like old-school house tempo in this age of Red Bull and Vodka) and I don't know anyone…
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Bah....
So we got stacks and stacks of boxes of CDs yesterday, two releases (my own album and Bounte : One.) Unfortunately, some hoople-head at the pressing plant got the masters mixed up, and Bounte's album has my music on it…
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Cubendo...
For the record, I am having a couple problems with Nuendo 3 in Vista that people with similar setups should take in to consideration. Well, one isn't a Steinberg issue, I don't think. Firstly, there are no drivers…
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All Apologies...
Sorry; was snowboarding today, because we got hit with a ton of new snow, and new snow can't be left un-hucked. I'll attempt to actually post something here in the next couple hours.
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Audio Damage update...
Here's a little teaser of Dr. Device, next in the Audio Damage pipeline. What does it do? How does it do it? Why do you want one? All these things will be explained in time. We're still a ways away on this one; Adam had…
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Open Thread...
Okay, today's open thread topic: which is the best band in the world ever: Agent Orange or Killing Joke? Seriously, though. I'm curious as to what makes a band someone's favorite. I have probably a dozen artists that…
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Things To Buy Real Soon Now...
I've got a mental list of things I'm going to get in the not-too-distant future. These first two will finally complete my Analog Effect: Moog MF107 Freq Box. I don't know why this thing appeals to me so much, but I…
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Vista Fiesta, Rnd. 2...
Went and got a squeaky clean hard drive from PC Club today, and installed Vista on it. The installation was actually a bit less painful than a normal Windows install. Of all the odd hardware in my PC, the only things it…
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Fucktard Of The Week...
I normally try to avoid the RP.com site, but sometimes I just can't drive by that car-wreck without slowing down to see if there's blood on the highway. Now, before you read this, a word to the wise: if you've never…
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Vista Fiesta...
Just got my copy of Vista in the mail today. The thought of installing this behemoth makes me throw up in my mouth a little bit, because my PC is working so well right now. (And I'm very much of the "if it ain't…
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Some interesting free plugs...
A whole mess of free Windows VST plugs from a new kid on the block called Antress. The GUIs of the "Vintage Edition" are quite slick; note that the guy that made these almost certainly made the plugs without the real…
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Retards Keep Mailing Me. Please Stop.
Just having a blog at all, even one of fair-to-middling popularity and narrow focus like this one, means you get a lot of stupid mail. Actual readers of the blog send in tips all the time, and I use most of them. But I…
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And The Hits Just Keep On Coming...
Dianne Feinstein has Hollywood's cock in her throat, which goes nicely with my previous entry. Now, this bill wouldn't actually kill internet radio, as far as I can tell. It would just keep internet radio from playing…
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Need some thoughts on music?
Here's some: blah, blah, blah. Now, with the caveat that I happily purchase music from iTunes, and own the top-of-the-current-line iPod, and that their DRM scheme doesn't really bother me, it's worth noting that a finer…
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Wanted: MC
Okay, so I have a couple tracks I need an MC on. Think Roni Size & Reprazent, that sort of thing. To get in on this action, you need the following: 1\. A recording (MP3 prefered) I can listen to so I can hear your…
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Give me your money.
Okay, my new album is now available for purchase in shopPOSI. The CD won't ship until 2/20 (that's 20/2 in EuroSpeak) but you can buy the download version now. Of course, if you order the CD, you'll get the download…
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Evolution...
I know I'm a Johnny-Come-Lately to this whole Dave Smith thing, but I finally nutted up and bought an Evolver this week. It just showed up, and boy, howdy is this little guy the bomb. I'd have a hard time coming up with…
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Multiple-Award-Winning...
Adam got a fun package from UPS today. It held our trophies that I was supposed to pick up at NAMM. So now I can say "multiple-award-winning" without even a trace of irony, since "multiple" really only means "more than…
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Inverse Room Makes Me Happy...
The Inverse Room website has been redone, with a metric asston of pictures of his fun gear (a lot of which is circuit-bent and/or DIY), plus some new MP3s and such. Go forth.
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RSS fixed...
This is only for those of you that can't be bothered to check an actual website, because that way of getting information is apparently not fast enough. It seems the RSS feed for this site was a bit hinky, unbeknownst to…
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Some New Electronica...
If you're in the market for some new electronica, check out our new artist Bounte. His first album, "One," will be available in a week or so, simultaneously with mine. You can preview the entire album on LastFM here…
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Moving Day...
It's a big day in our other world, as we've put the final nail in the Sister Machine Gun coffin and turned that website in to an archive, basically, with no more user-driven content. Simultaneously, the Chris Randall…
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X-Treme DVD...
Just got a DHL package from our Red Bull friends in Austria containing a couple new Xtreme Sports DVDs that I licensed music for. I've got tunes on a lot of these DVDs, and something bothers me: I can't watch them…
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Yard Sale!!!
My partner Adam is (finally!!!) cleaning out his studio, and has a few tasties up for sale. Everything after this is Adam typing, not me: I am the original owner of all of these items. They have all been used only in my…
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Hmmmm...
Bounte sent me back my HP laptop today, my road dog that I use for live performance, and I thought, since I had the afternoon free, I would try out the pure:dyne Linux distro, largely based upon Peter Kirn's repeated…
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Indie promoters...
Does anyone here have any experience with an indie promoter that's worth a shit? I'm thinking 30-50 college stations, no more. The genre would be whatever is loosely defined as "alternative" these days.
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Just when you thought it was safe to get back in the water...
So Elle and I are on a brief vacation (because I'm not out of the office enough already) to celebrate our 12th anniversary of marriage, and I'm on the hotel wi-fi cruising through Zicos, and this little blurb catches my…
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Open Thread...
This is an open thread, as I'm a bit busy today. I'll post something meaningful when I get back this evening. To get the ball rolling, I need to buy some new electronic music. What's out there in the underground that I…
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NAMM: Oxford Native...
I have a kind of a love-hate thing going on with Sony. Their consumer electronics division is really fucking annoying, and pretty much everything I've ever bought from them has broken at some point and needed to be…
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NAMM: Whoa....
Now we're talkin' my language. Eventide pedals. I don't even need to say more. I'll let their site do the hard work. $499 MSRP each.
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Some NAMM Stuff Any Damned Ways...
Since I can't go, I'm stuck looking at web pages like the rest of you. That being the case, I might as well post the interesting shit I find. In that light, here's the first. This is the Ampere Flame, which will be…
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Doh.
Well, as it happens, I'm not going to NAMM. We got about 200 miles from home, and ran in to Issues with the Highway. Apparently, some people feel that a light dusting of snow is a good reason to close I-5. After sitting…
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Gettin' Ready For NAMM...
The Wife and I are leaving for NAMM tomorrow. We're going to San Francisco for a day, then L.A., then back to San Francisco for the weekend, as our 12th anniversary sort of coincides with this whole shebang, and like…
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New Moogerfooger announced...
Yay. A new Moogerfooger to add to my collection! This is the FreqBox, which looks pretty slick. There's an internal VCO, which has FM modulation via the input signal. I'm sold. Just tell me when to enter my credit card…
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Accessorize...
So I've been using these whack-ass HOSA MIDI cables for years and years. There are a couple reasons for this, and they are as follows: (a) on tour most of your gear attrition comes in the form of loss of accessories…
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Oh, please, no...
Apparently, the Rhodes remake will actually be at NAMM this year, only like 5 years after that dude bought the name and started threatening to make one. There is actually a web site up and everything, and since it's on…
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Replicant Progress Update...
Okay, everything is pretty much done and tested and working. We're putting the finishing touches on the manual today, and Elle is adding the reg code mechanism to the AD store. So you can expect to be able to purchase…