# Analog Industries
> im in ur 'puter, nibblin' ur bits
- Author: Chris Randall
---
## Guess Who's Back, Back Again?
- Date: 2026-10-10
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2026/10/guess-whos-back-back-again/
Back in 2018, this blog was 15 years old, and I was getting seriously burnt out. For some reason, I thought the solution would be moving to Patreon. Spoiler: that was not the solution. I managed to keep that going for 2 years, but those two years were some fairly rough ones. Lost my mom and both my grandparents, both of our cats, and oh, yeah, we had a pandemic. I just couldn't even. So I didn't.
Fast forward a couple four years, and I find that I miss this ol' site. So I dragged it out of the archives, gave it a fresh coat of paint, and here we are. Almost all the original posts were saved; I even managed to get a few of the very early Media Temple ones out of the Wayback Machine. The reason it starts at the beginning of 2004 instead of the beginning of 2003 is that the first year of posts predates the Internet Archive, and I don't personally have a copy.
If you have a look at the About page, you'll see a mea culpa in place; if, for some reason, you want to go spelunking back to the early days, you'll come across language and attitudes that don't necessarily mesh with our modern set of morals. I was, to put it mildly, a bit of a dick in my 30s, and the record reflects this. (Also my 40s, and currently, fwiw. I have not learned to suffer foolishness quietly in the last 20 years.)
Anyhow, welcome back if you were one of the original crew! Most of your comments have been saved as well. If you're new here, Analog Industries is a fairly in-depth document of and colorful commentary on music tech from 2003 to today. I look forward to heading in to the breach once more. We have some very interesting times in front of us, and it feels good to shout about it.
---
## Old 'n' Busted...
- Date: 2018-10-17
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2018/10/old-n-busted/
[Become a Patron!](https://www.patreon.com/bePatron?u=14256932)
Well, perhaps that title is a little out-of-line. But it has become apparent to me in the last couple years that blogs just aren't a Thing any more, at least not as this one exists.
Analog Industries has been around in some iteration since roughly 2001. By 2005 it was, along with Create Digital Music and MusicThing, one of the three music tech blogs that Mattered. My wife built its current incarnation in 2005, and one must say she built it robustly, given that it still works fine despite her having not touched the code in any meaningful fashion for half a decade. This is the 1,970th post on this iteration, and taken as a whole it comprises a fairly healthy cataloging of the music technology industry for the last 14 years. Every once in a while, I'll go to a page at random and read the comments; 2008-10 is particularly fruitful as that was the high water mark for the site. (At least as far as interaction. I was fairly mean-spirited back then, and I'm mildly ashamed that the most popular posts were the ones where I made fun of something or someone.)
Around 2010 Audio Damage began to really take off, and my time became more dear. The last couple years, I've been averaging a post every two months, but that's not because of Audio Damage. Being in this industry, rather than of it (as I was when I started the site), it has become impolitic for me to publicly say many of the opinions I hold. In addition, there are literally hundreds of gear news sites (not to mention Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and the gods-forsaken blighted land of Facebook groups), so a large portion of AI's purview had been rendered superfluous. Furthermore, while I've occasionally done runs of t-shirts and what-not to offset the cost, I've never run a single advertisement, and this piglet moves a lot of bytes. In short, it has become a bit of a boat anchor.
So I'm going to try something new. Well, new to me. I've created a Patreon account, and I will move my blogging to there, as well as the majority of my creative output in general. If you [head to the Patreon page](https://www.patreon.com/chrisrandall), you'll get the gist of it. This will have two main benefits:
1\. It will put my blog posts in a walled garden, thus giving me more freedom to express my thoughts.
2\. It will create a more incentive-oriented funnel for my creative output, of which you'll be the direct beneficiary.
So, will you come with me and at least give it a try? If it doesn't work, it doesn't work, but my feeling is that this is the way to get forward momentum, and allow me to be more open about my work and the music industry, and create a more cozy environment for those that have been with this site since its inception.
[Chris Randall on Patreon](https://www.patreon.com/chrisrandall)
---
## Tech_Time 011: Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick
- Date: 2018-10-06
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2018/10/tech-time-011-hit-me-with-your-rhythm-stick/
I'm trying like hell to get back to a weekly AI, but circumstances dictated otherwise for #11. I would have only been a day late, because I didn't have the correct flavor of Arduino to do MIDI-over-USB and I didn't discover this until I tried to code it; easily solved by Amazon Prime, but then we inexplicably had a hurricane here in Phoenix (I know, right?) and as a result, my same-day delivery of a new Arduino Leonardo took 4 days to arrive.
All's well that ends well, though. Above is the fruits of hurricane-induced tardiness, the Magic Robotic Contact-Mic Hitter Thingie. Essentially, there are four cantilevered hammers I made on my Shapeoko that are struck by solenoids; the solenoids are driven via MIDI. In the video, I have the Arduino rigged as a class-compliant MIDI interface, and it is being driven by Bram Bos' Euclidian sequencer plugin, which is part of his Rozetta suite of MIDI plugins for iOS.
After building it, I see where it could be improved somewhat, but on the whole it does what I intended, and today or tomorrow I'll make some Music™ with it and see how it sits. Watch for that video shortly. Do any of you use electro-kinetic instrumentation like this in your music? If so, what are your thoughts on use cases and such?
---
## The Stethophone: Tech Time 010
- Date: 2018-09-22
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2018/09/the-stethophone-tech-time-010/
Finally, a new Tech Time! In this episode, I make the Amazing Stethophone, using a $25 stethoscope [from Amazon](https://amzn.to/2xvCSkF), a cheap lavalier mic, and $5 worth of shit from the plumbing aisle at Lowe's. I did this video with only having a notion that it would work, although I did think about it quite a bit first, so you're actually watching my experimentation process. Whether this is fun or not is up to you.
In any case, further testing shows it works quite well. It is good for getting machinery noises out of the inside of small mechanical things, and it really picks up the resonance in wood well. (Like, stuff that is just a thump with a piezo mic is a nice ringing tone with this.) I think some refinement is in order, but it is a useful addition to the toolkit.
---
## Poppin' Tags 001...
- Date: 2018-08-12
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2018/08/poppin-tags-001/
One of my favorite things on YouTube is the [Rhythm Roulette](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tz_b7z4zsM&list=PL_QcLOtFJOUgNxURr8B4lNtf_3e9fWZzl) videos on the Mass Appeal channel; I generally love process videos anyhow, and the particular strictures of the Rhythm Roulette format really push my buttons. If you're not familiar, the tl;dr version is that a hip-hop producer goes to a record store, puts on a blindfold, picks three records at random, and then has to make a beat from what they got. It's worth noting that they hardly ever use the records they get for the percussion parts; usually, it's Rando Trap Drums from PetaBytes O' Beatz 43, and I give a big point deduction for that. The ability to squeeze a drum kit out of any given piece of music should be mandatory.
So, for my own Poppin' Tags, I made that a rule: nothing in the song that wasn't originally on the three records. And my other rule that is a departure from Rhythm Roulette is that it needs to be a full song at the end of the day, not just a beat.
Anyhow, with all that out of the way, the above video is the result. I actually filmed the entire process, but it was almost 3 hours long, and that was silly; who wants to sit and watch me edit samples for 3 hours? So I just cut out little bits here and there, and the track (along with the other four, to make a full 5-song EP), in its finished form, will be released on Bandcamp when they're all done.
[](https://analog-industries.myshopify.com/)
In further news, there is now an Analog Industries merch store... Not much in it right now, but as things progress, it'll get full up. [Check out the offerings.
](https://analog-industries.myshopify.com/)
---
## Grains, Stacks On Stacks...
- Date: 2018-06-27
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2018/06/grains-stacks-on-stacks/
Well, that took a minute, but we are hugely pleased to announce that Quanta, our hybrid granular / subtractive softsynth, is now available for purchase in [the Audio Damage store.](http://www.audiodamage.com/) What seemed like a moderately complicated project back in October of last year turned in to an eight-month exercise in applying the Kübler-Ross model to plugin development. Nominally, we try to have a bit of restraint in our designs, and hope to apply the K.I.S.S. principle to most things we make, within reason. But for Quanta, we took a more subtractive approach, and stuck everything up to and including several kitchen sinks in it, then carved away until a firm foundation remained.
Obvs, you can get the highlights, bullet points, and marketing hyperbole in spades over on the AD site, so I'll use this space to add some color commentary about the process. This all started when we were shopping for a new product idea, and I pondered that many (most?) granular synths for desktop were fairly complex and un-fun -- not to disparage them at all, mind; it is a complicated process -- and it might be an "interesting exercise" and furthermore "pretty fun" to make something more like Borderlands, which doesn't really exist outside of the iOS environment. Adam concurred, and we initially thought about using the grain engine we had built years ago for Discord. It became rapidly obvious that wasn't up to the task of a big polysynth, so Adam went in to his DSP Fortress of Solitude, and came out a month or so later with a full granular oscillator that you're using pretty much as-is in Quanta.
Now that we had that, it was largely a matter of wrapping things around it to make it in to a fun instrument to use. After getting several requests for adding MPE functionality to some of our existing products, I dropped Roger Linn a line and got us a couple Linnstruments to work with (detailed in an earlier post, if you recall) and decided that, since there aren't any MPE granular synths, it may be an interesting addition. This exploded the modulation sources to proportions big enough that it required a mod matrix. And since we have a mod matrix anyhow, might as well throw an Imperial fuckton (1.3 metric fucktons) of other mod in the thing. Which is how it ended up with four 99-step arbitrary function/breakpoint generators.
So, with a mod matrix and a pretty good grain engine, and some excellent new mod sources, it became a design project, winnowing all that down to the most usable feature set and parameter ranges, and making it all look pretty. I'm not the best judge of such things, being somewhat too close to it to actually see if there's any forest all these trees are sitting in, but I do know that I love and will definitely use the result, and I can't say that about all of our products.
The one other real departure from our normal modus operandi is that we have decided to add a demo version. We have gotten on fine over the years not having demos, and frankly, any lost sales were more than made up for by the fact that demos are a pain in the ass to make and support. But since we spent so much time on this (about three times as long as a normal product) it necessarily has to cost a bit more than our normal run, and we can't, in good conscience, ask you guys to buy something that expensive on blind faith. Hence, a demo. It is fully functional, but can not save (neither presets, nor its state in a project), and stops making sound after 20 minutes.
Anyhow, head over and give it a spin, and let me know if you have any questions about the decisions we've made, or comments on its overall usefulness. This is, by far, the most complex software product we've made, and we're sweating a bit. It's a large slab of work for a 2.5 person company. Quanta is $79 introductory price, and will go up to $99 on August 1.
---
## A Grid-Based Lifestyle: Sound Experiments 003
- Date: 2018-06-02
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2018/06/a-grid-based-lifestyle-sound-experiments-003/
Yeah, it's been a minute since an AI video, but we're gonna get back to that now. Readers may remember a series of experiments I did back in 2011/2012 with touchscreen-based control paradigms ([here](https://analogindustries.com/2012/09/enough-formaldehyde-to-choke-a-horse/), [here](https://analogindustries.com/2012/10/cant-touch-this/), [here](https://analogindustries.com/2012/11/when-i-think-about-you-i-touch-my-monitor/), and [here](https://analogindustries.com/2013/05/if-at-first-you-dont-succeed/), with some absolutely stellar discussions about usability in the comments.) Those were admittedly somewhat early days for the entire concept; the iPad had only been out a couple months when I started those experiments, and the idea of an app-based control paradigm was a fairly new thing.
Fast forward to 2018, and shit has progressed a bit, and people are generally used to using touchscreens for control. The reason for the video above isn't really about experimenting with the control paradigm, since that's pretty well-trod territory by now. I'm coming at things from a different angle. I've used a monome for years now, and I have a Max4Live step sequencer for that platform I've written that is pretty much only useful for me, and that I'm very happy with. However, I was using it last weekend, and I got to thinking that it would be dope if I could record control gestures along with the beats. Obviously, the monome itself is kind of shit for that sort of thing, so I first "ported" the control logic for the monome to a JUCE app, so I could run it full screen on a touchscreen monitor. When I did this, I was able to break out all the unlabeled control buttons to dedicated buttons, and improve the pattern memory and such.
After that, I gave each lane a four-bar gesture recorder; there are three gestures in all, and the X, Y, and Z planes can be assigned to any parameter in Live. (In the quick demo above, I generally have them going to effects sends and suchlike.) The sequence memory and control is hosted in the M4L patch, but the gesture recording and playback is hosted in the JUCE app. Note this is running on a separate computer entirely from the one hosting the Live session. (It is, in point of fact, that little Intel NUC, stuck to the back of the monitor with double-stick tape. It is communicating with M4L on the host computer via OSC over my home wi-fi network.)
There are actually 10 lanes of gesture recording; in the video above, if you look closely, you can see them labeled D1 - D6 (the drum lanes), Bass, and S1 - S3. I don't actually use the non-drum ones in the video, but they're there and working. There are 8 banks of 8 patterns, and each pattern has its own gesture memory.
I could easily add more buttons to where I could control the session entirely from the app, and not have a Push2 there, but there's no sense re-inventing the wheel. The purpose of the experiment was to proof-of-concept fast, intuitive real-time control of a Live session from a separate computer's touchscreen, and I'm pretty happy with things so far. The next step is to try to put together a whole song (or several songs) to perform; this isn't great for writing as it requires a lot of prior preparation. But for performing, I think there's a lot of potential to be explored.
Side note: the two synth pads I play towards the end are both Quanta. That fairly major undertaking is reaching its final stages, and the synth is perfectly usable in a session now. So yay for that!
---
## hardfault process...
- Date: 2018-05-24
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2018/05/hardfault-process/
Between going to Superbooth (which, taking prep and recovering from jetlag in to account, sucks up almost 2 months of my time) and working on Quanta and our complete catalog rewrite, I haven't had a whole lot of time to work on music lately, which puts my regimen of one LP or two EPs a year at risk. I am of the firm belief that I can't really offer opinions on how things should be done if I'm not doing them myself, and music tech is no exception to that.
My general habit when I'm working on AD stuff (either Research or Development) is that if I come across something interesting that sparks my imagination, I stop whatever it is I was doing for an hour or two and try to develop it in to a framework. Then, when I have 10-15 of these half-songs stored up, I go through them and pick five that have some sort of sonic relationship to one another, and then finish and mix them all in one sitting. This particular EP departs from that, as the first track, getProcessor, I actually finished some months ago (January, I think) for a podcast, and the last track (strike\_332) I recorded and mixed in one sitting yesterday. The other three fit that general description, though.
Unfortunately, this method of working precludes making process videos, for the most part, because the tracks are written and recorded over a fairly long span of time, and pop in to existence at unplanned moments. So, in lieu of a whole slew of process content, I'll just write a bit about each track, based on what I remember.
**getProcessor**
As I noted above, I finished this track a few months ago as an exclusive for the [Headroom podcast.](https://www.mixcloud.com/Bricolage_Collective/headroom-13-supply-fi-presents-violet-sage/) It starts with my usual noise bed (construction of which is detailed in several AI videos), and some synth burbles courtesy of a Reaktor ensemble. The drums are, in a rarity for me, based around a sampled loop, the beginning of 23 Skidoo's 1983 track ["Coup"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmQZi2VhGXo). I re-architected it heavily, of course. The rest of the drums are various Reaktor ensembles (I believe the kick is a Blocks patch), working on drum samples I created through my usual methods specifically for the track. The synth "lead" is Basic; I actually played it in via the Linnstrument, then reorganized it with Replicant and Eventide H3000 factory.
**linefault**
This has the usual noise bed. The 3-note bass motif is from Live's Wavetable synth; the chord pad in the beginning is Phosphor, and the granular synth line is the first recorded appearance of Quanta in its early stages. (It couldn't even load samples back then; this is the grain engine working on the sidecar oscillator.) The chord line that doubles the main pad towards the end is also Quanta, in a somewhat later stage; the source sample is an RS09. The burbly glitchy synths you hear throughout are Basic, run through Automaton and Replicant. The drums are Axon for the kick and hat and a reworked field recording run through a whole raft of plugs for the other stuff.
**osadni**
This is a fun one; all the rhythmic elements are from a Max4Live patch that runs in real-time, all synthesized on the fly and played algorithmically. (Thus, it's essentially different every time I run it.) I made controls for density, and the ability to turn individual sources on and off, and that's it. It was quite challenging to put melodic stuff over the top of this. Since the source is all on-the-fly, I was able to tune the harmonic elements of the percussion to match the root, which really makes the melodic part boxy. The melodic elements come from two main synth hits; both of these are Quanta run through various effects (Grind, Eos, Filterstation, etc.). I played them in manually with the Linnstrument. This track is far more abstract than my usual stuff, but it was fun to make, and I'll probably do more like it in the future.
**secondary interface**
In this track, I was experimenting with controlling feel in weird ways; the song is in straight time, but I gave the bass a dotted 8 LFO, and the snare has a triplet feel done with the predelay in ADverb2 (the new version has a much bigger early reflection situation than the original, so you can time it appropriately.) This results in a track that can either feel straight, swung, or in trips depending on which rhythmic element you latch on to. The foot is just a resonating filter; I don't remember how I made the other rhythmic elements, to be honest, but it sounds like the usual group of glitch plugs (Replicant, Automaton, H3000 Factory, etc.). The pad is Quanta with a heavy sidechain compression, as is the synth hit, which is driven with follow actions in Live, randomly choosing a MIDI note.
**strike\_332**
This track I wrote and recorded in its entirety just yesterday; I installed Form, a Reaktor Player synth that is part of Komplete, and was experimenting with sending it real-time controller info from a Roli Lightpad Block. I got that interesting drone, and the rest of the track just fell in to place around it. Usual noise bed (you're hearing a ambience around a pyramid in Mexico underneath everything), and the initial drum loop is, in a super extra rarity for me, lifted straight from another song. In this case it is from Chris Carter's 1980 cassette-only release "[Electrodub 2](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-muNXZk4wU)." (I had parted it out for a demo video, and I accidentally landed on the loop while sample surfing, and it laid right in there.) I believe it is a CR78 through an early digital reverb. The kick is, like most of my tonal kicks, just a filter self-resonating (two different flavors in this song, natch) and the other rhythmic elements are created much as above, with glitch plugs working on field recordings for the most part. The rolling snare that appears halfway through is a 606 snare through Unfiltered Audio's excellent Fault plug. The granular synth thing that goes throughout is Quanta on a sample of my CS5, and the pad is also Quanta, working on an MKS80 sample, which I played in real time.
---
## And That's A Wrap...
- Date: 2018-05-06
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2018/05/and-thats-a-wrap/
Superbooth 18 ended yesterday, and tomorrow I'm off to TXL to begin my journey home. So today is (theoretically) a time for quiet reflection. Largely because everything in this damn country closes on Sunday, despite their professed atheism.
Obvs we had no Eurorack to show, as we're not making that format any more. We had already paid for the booth before we came to that decision, and there were no refunds available, so we decided to just go ahead and come anyhow, and show our new software. I've attended many trade shows, but never shown software, so I wasn't quite sure how to go about it. I decided on a small Windows machine running Bitwig to best show off [Quanta](https://www.audiodamage.com/blogs/news/coming-soon) in all its hi-resolution MPE-capable glory. (In retrospect, we should have nutted up and bought a Surface Studio like the Bitwig guys used; live and learn.) There was a Roli Seaboard Rise 25 attached to this. In addition, we had a 12.9" iPad Pro with my Linnstrument attached to it. This configuration turned out to be pretty good, since the controllers attracted as many people as the software.
One interesting thing to note: this is my third time showing at Superbooth, and at Superbooths '16 and '17, we had quite a few people come up and see the Eurorack-only display and note their sadness. At this show, we only had one or two people that saw the software-only display and be demonstrably sad. This leads me to believe we made the right decision with respect to deprecating the hardware.
In any case, Simon-Claudius did the vast majority of the customer-facing demonstrations, allowing me to mostly interface with other companies and do the various press interviews. This worked out very well, as I'm no longer really physically able to stand at the booth for an entire 10-hour session by myself. I mean, I can do it, but the people towards the end of the day would get some salty comments. "Yeah. It's a fucking plugin. Yay. Go away."
But all's well that ends well. We made some new friends, got to hang out with some old ones, and talked about Quanta a _lot_. All in all, a successful show. I will be very, very glad to be home with my wife and cats and garden and pool and driving in a city where bicyclists aren't on a suicide jag, though. Once I have my wits about me, expect some high-quality video demonstrations re: Quanta. I also did one of Sonic State's excellent "Meet The Makers" videos with Nick. Until then, [here's a fun video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQKZN927kvs) from Bedroom Producers Blog. For extra credit, read the comments, then come back here and make fun of them.
---
## The Opposite Of Dogmatic Is Not Catmatic...
- Date: 2018-04-19
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2018/04/the-opposite-of-dogmatic-is-not-catmatic/
[Carl Mikael's Cabinet of Curiosities](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLejlP7lr3PFX8Rrz1nN69Q) is one of my favorite YouTube channels; his videos often get me thinking, and this one from last week was no exception. One thing I have always found intensely irritating in my time in this business is religious zealots, who use their confirmation bias as a bludgeon. Carl-Mikael is, in a round-about way, addressing that in the above video, which is, like most of his content, worth a watch. "Pragmatism beats dogmatism every hour of the day..." as he says, a viewpoint I wholeheartedly endorse. Give his channel a sub, as well. He puts up quality content.
---
## Dante Inferno...
- Date: 2018-04-18
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2018/04/dante-inferno/
A month or so ago, I got turned on to the concept of [Dante](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dante_\(networking\)), which is an audio-over-Ethernet protocol used primarily by big production houses and live sound reinforcement. (I imagine it was invented by someone that had to run a 48-channel snake from the stage to the front-of-house every night, and got sick of being covered in spilled-beer-and-shoe-dirt slime.) In the simplest terms, think of a network, but instead of files and web sites, it serves digital audio. You use normal IT shit like switches and CAT 6 cable, but your goal is shunting massive channel counts of digital audio at ludicrously low latencies instead.
I had known about it for years (you can't help but see the references if you're looking at high-end AD/DA converters, since the usual suspects in that world all have Dante capability). I didn't really think about the ramifications until a friend beat me over the head with the concept. My ultimate goal in my home studio/office is simplicity. The fewer cables I have run, and the fewer conversions I have to deal with, the happier I am. It is especially attractive to me because I run multiple computers of different flavors, and having their I/O talk to each other in more-or-less real time would be excessively handy.
Once I was tipped to the potential, the full OCD Experience kicked in, and I started thinking about replacing my current rat's nest of I/O and monitor controlling. The main attraction to me is ultra-low-latency computer-to-computer connections. I've always thought it is dumb to convert to AES or SPDIF to do a digital computer-to-computer audio interaction, and so do the Dante people. Nominally, a computer-to-computer connection in Dante would be the same as any old-fashioned way, with expensive converter boxes in the way. But Audinate (the company that invented Dante and is the Keeper Of The Holy Scriptures regarding the format) got that sorted in a big way, with three pieces of software that make Dante in a home studio an attractive option.
The first is [Dante Controller](https://www.audinate.com/products/software/dante-controller), which is essentially a virtual patchbay that lets you connect Dante sources and destinations. Dante gear all has a Gigabit Ethernet port, and you basically just run everything to a normal Gigabit Ethernet switch in a star fashion. Dante Controller sees everything on the network, and lets you set clock masters and routings and shit. Controller is free.
The second piece of software is the [Dante Virtual Soundcard](https://www.audinate.com/products/software/dante-virtual-soundcard). This is an ASIO and CoreAudio/WDM driver that works like any other sound card driver; it has 64 ins and outs (which is mildly comical in something like Live. Did you know the I/O panel scrolls? Neither did I) and ludicrously low latency. Any computer running the Virtual Soundcard and connected to the Ethernet rig throws its I/O to the network, and shows up in the Dante Controller patchbay. The driver is US$29 per computer.
The third piece of software is the one that seems like magic to me, and which is useful whether or not you have a Dante system. I only assume it isn't more well-known is because Audinate's business model doesn't lend itself to marketing to hobbyists and home studio folks. It is called [Dante Via](https://www.audinate.com/products/software/dante-via), and basically lets you route \_any\_ audio source in your computer to any other. Think of it as Soundflower or Audio Hijack, but on pharmacutical-grade methamphetamines. You can run either this or the Virtual Soundcard. It shows up as an ASIO destination in software that supports that, or a WDM/CoreAudio destination elsewhere. Instead of 64 I/O, you get 8 channels, but otherwise, it is more or less the same, as far as how the DAW works. You just drag-and-drop your sources to your destinations, and you can mix-and-match anything as you see fit and turn any piece of software or I/O in to a sender/receiver. Dante Via is US$49 per computer (which is incredibly cheap considering what you get) or US$59 for a combo of the Virtual Soundcard and Via. There is a 15-day demo of Via on the site.
I purchased a [Focusrite RedNet X2P](https://amzn.to/2Hb4m1D) to be my main monitor controller. It comes with a pair of Focusrite's high-end mic pres (their good stuff, not the prosumer Scarlett series). This can be powered off a POE Ethernet switch, so it's just one CAT6 cable to the switch and that's that. It is built like a god damn main battle tank, and is one of those _Just Plug It In And Go Because It's Really Well Made For People That Don't Want To Dick Around_ kind of things. My Adam nearfields go from that, and my desk situation is sorted. I connected the Skull Canyon NUC and my main computer to the switch via their Gigabit Ethernet ports, and with the former running the Virtual Soundcard and the latter running Via (I also use the computer for games, and would like to hear YouTube videos and shit), I have [VCV Rack](https://vcvrack.com/) running on the NUC, with multi-channel audio at no noticeable latency running in to Live, with Live Link providing wireless sync over my home wi-fi network. (Note that the X2P comes with a license for the Virtual Sound Card, as well as some Focusrite plugins I'll probably never use, but never say never, right?)
It is early days for Dante in a small studio right now, and many of the I/O solutions that are promised aren't quite here yet. I can easily just plug in a high-end convertor or mic pre rack to the system and it'll just show up. Audinate [is releasing](https://www.audinate.com/products/devices/dante-avio) a 2-channel class-compliant USB dongle so you can plug in iOS or visiting laptops to the network with ease, and there are several 2-channel AES, SPDIF, and analog solutions to bring legacy gear in to the fold. ProCo and Radial also have similar small-and-cheap solutions either already released or in the works. I've only had this rig working for a day, so I can't really speak to its robustness, but it performed flawlessly with the above VCV-on-another-computer situation, as well as an hour or so with World Of Warcraft and a brief writing session in Live. I gave the mic pres on the X2P a quick check to make sure they worked, but I can't really speak for their all-around applications at this point. I'll put up another post with further thoughts after a month or so with this system.
---
## Skull Canyon...
- Date: 2018-04-06
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2018/04/skull-canyon/
Audio Damage will once again have a booth at Superbooth this year, and I'm leaving for Berlin on April 27. That means I have about 3 weeks to finalize everything. The product we're unveiling is in feature-freeze, and it's time to start figuring out how to demonstrate it, as well as the rest of our product line. (This isn't a last-minute thing; I've been thinking about it for some time.)
The entire process is both easier than years past, and more complicated. At the last two Superbooths we attended, we only showed Eurorack, and didn't show our software products at all. This year, it will be the other way around. We have no Eurorack; we're showing our desktop and iOS software. The iOS part is easy; a 12.9" iPad Pro with the usual dongling, job done. For the desktop software, the needs were somewhat odder. The product we'll be unveiling is MPE-capable, so we wanted to have at least one MPE controller at our booth. Since the iOS and desktop versions are identical in that regard, it seemed wise to have one MPE-capable controller for each, and of those, at least one that civilians could play. Roli very generously loaned us a Rise 25 for the booth, so that will attach to the iPad, and my Linnstrument will go as well, for the desktop stuff.
All but a couple of our products are now vector-graphics and HiDpi-capable, so I wanted a 4K monitor to show this off. My own monitor is too big, so I purchased a Dell 23" 4K for the show. Now the trouble starts. You would think it would be a fairly simple matter to sling a computer at this problem and be done with it. You'd be wrong. The software we're unveiling is _nearing_ completion, but it is in no way finished, so it isn't as optimized as we'd like. I don't want to use my main work laptop for a trade show, for obvious reasons, so I pulled out a mid-2013 MacBook Pro, and between pushing a 4K monitor and this fairly heavy-duty plugin, it was screaming for baby Jesus. So, we decided to run Windows instead of OSX for the booth. That being the case, we needed a Windows machine capable of both fairly heavy lifting in the graphics department while shouldering the CPU burden of a DAW. Plus, we have a fairly thin budget and weight considerations. It was a surprisingly tough nut to crack.
After a whole lot of reading of computer gear blogs and fretting, I decided that I had enough time to take a small risk, and I ordered up one of the new [Intel Skull Canyon NUCs](https://amzn.to/2uTolAb). As it is a bare-bones system, containing only a CPU/GPU, I also grabbed 16GB of RAM, an NVMe drive, and a key for Windows Home 10 64-bit. All of that showed up this morning.
I'll admit that while I knew intellectually how small the Skull Canyon NUC was, I was unprepared for the reality of it. It is just about the same size as a VHS tape. The power brick is almost as big as the computer itself. Anyhoo, it comes with a pretty good selection of ports (including, improbably, a Thunderbolt 3 port, if you want to run a graphics card in a chassis, or a UAD Apollo or whatever.) It took me about 30 minutes in all to set it up, from opening the boxes to signing in to Windows, after I installed Windows off a USB drive built with Windows Media Creator on my big machine.
We'll be using Bitwig Studio 2 to demonstrate our products at Superbooth (for two reasons: a native understanding of MPE, and a good HiDpi implementation on Windows), so I popped over to the Bitwig site and slammed that on the machine, as well as a few of our plugs and some samples. I've been pressure-testing it for several hours now, and I have to say that, taking its size in to account, this computer is an amazing value. I wouldn't use it as my main workstation, but for situations like this, or for a secondary machine or media center, it is fucking amazeballs. With the caveat that I still have a lot to do before I'll call it Show Ready™, I'm of the opinion that this is a solid machine for the money. Two thumbs tentatively up.
---
## Let's Talk About MPE In A Roundabout Way...
- Date: 2018-03-29
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2018/03/lets-talk-about-mpe-in-a-roundabout-way/
Long-time readers will know how I generally feel about "alternative MIDI controllers" when they come down the pike. I have two metrics for a new MIDI controller:
• Is it actually better than a piano-style keyboard?
• Would you look like a giant fucking douchebag on stage playing it?
The first one isn't so hard to overcome, I don't think. It can further be divided in to sub-categories that are context-sensitive. Modern music making breeds Jacks-of-all-trades, and if the device has buttons that have notes in some semblance of order, anyone that can push buttons in a rhythmic fashion can make music with one. It's just a matter of learning where the notes are. So then the question is: are the buttons in some sort of order that makes sense to me? Speaking strictly for myself, I've played keyboards and guitar for at least an hour or two nearly every single day of my life since I was in my tweens. (Honestly, I'd think I'd be better at it, but I plateaued somewhere in the mid-80s.) I'll be 50 here in a couple months, and my hands \_hurt\_ when I play a keyboard for more than a minute or two. So ergonomics are a big consideration for me, whereas they might not be for a 20-year-old who has full command of his or her digits.
The second point is harder to deal with. It's called a "show" and not a "hear" for obvious reasons, and looking like a giant fucking douchebag is going to negatively impact shareholder value, as far as live performance is concerned. The number of swing-and-a-miss controllers I've seen at NAMM, where I don't even bother to get a demo because whatever the device is instantly triggers my "man, I'd look like a douche playing that" sensors... Definitely in the hundreds. Lasers and spheres and [light-up rings](https://zoom-na.com/products/production-recording/digital-instruments/zoom-arq-ar-96-aero-rhythmtrak) and any number of other douchey configurations. Of course you can use any one of these things to make music, and time + dedication = virtuosity, but ultimately you want to look at least a little bit cool doing it. I'm old enough to accept that "cool" is a moving target, one I can't necessarily hit any more, but even so...
Anyhow, let's go ahead and get to the point. Starting early last year, people began writing the Audio Damage info line asking for MPE versions of our synths. Despite being deeply entrenched in music tech, I only had a vague notion of what MPE was ("something for alternative controllers or something" was my general understanding.) After I'd received several of these, I knuckled down to learn about the format, and was intrigued enough to drop Roger Linn a line and ask if I could borrow a [Linnstrument](http://www.rogerlinndesign.com/linnstrument.html) for experimenting. I know Roger pretty well, having had a booth next to him at many trade shows, and he very kindly sent a Linnstrument 128 to me. The only MPE-capable synths I owned at the time were [Madrona Labs](https://madronalabs.com/) Kaivo and Aalto (as well as the Animoog synth for iOS) so I booted them up, figured out how the hell to get Live to pass MPE, and sat down to experiment. For reasons lost to the dark past, I decided to film my very first play-about with the Linnstrument and Aalto.
As you can see, it clicked pretty quickly. After a few days with it, I decided to move my Kontrol 49 off the desk and see how this felt as my main controller. After a couple weeks, the Kontrol 49 went in the Closet Of Forgotten Toys, and I wrote Roger to tell him I'd be buying this one. A couple more weeks, and I'd talked Adam in to buying one too, and now, the product we're unveiling at Superbooth is fully MPE-aware. There's no zealot like a convert.
I took to the Linnstrument pretty quickly because the notes generally follow a guitar layout, so I knew where everything was, and it was only a matter of getting used to the dynamics. Having three axii of control once you've hit the note is remarkably expressive, and since, at the end of the day, MPE is just MIDI Plus, it more or less works with everything, while synths that are designed to take advantage of the format (e.g. the afore-mentioned Kaivo and Aalto) really shine in new and interesting ways. I won't bother giving a technical description of MPE; Reverb has already done a fairly good breakdown of that [here](https://reverb.com/news/mpe-the-midi-killer-and-future-of-musicianship-in-electronic-music), and there's no reason for me to reinvent the wheel. Long story short, picture a pad controller with aftertouch (like the Push 2), and make it so that after you whack the note, you can move your finger on the X or Y axis as well, and send MIDI CCs with that. Then give each note on the synth its own MIDI channel, so you can apply those MIDI CCs to an individual note without modding the entire patch.
There are really only four MPE controllers worth talking about right now, in my opinion. They are the [Roli](https://roli.com/) Seaboard series, the afore-mentioned [Linnstrument](http://www.rogerlinndesign.com/linnstrument.html), the Madrona Labs [Soundplane](https://madronalabs.com/soundplane), and the [Haken Continuum](http://www.hakenaudio.com/Continuum/hakenaudioovervg.html). So basically your choices are "guitar-like" with the Linnstrument and Soundplane, or "keyboard-like" with the Seaboard and Continuum.
The upshot of all this, and my takeaway: I can fit five octaves of extremely expressive MIDI control in a space that is smaller than the typical PC keyboard, and I don't look like an idiot doing it, nor did I have to learn anything new, since I can already play guitar. This is a net win no matter how you math it out. As I hinted, we'll be unveiling an MPE-capable product at Superbooth, and we will have both a Linnstrument and a Seaboard Rise there to try out with it. (We'd have a Soundplane too, except that is somewhat larger, and our booth is small, and Randy will be there anyhow.)
I'd like to hear about your experiences with MPE or alternative controllers, especially playing live. I haven't played the Linnstrument on stage yet, but I'm comfortable enough with it that I would feel pretty confident doing so at this stage.
---
## Kicking That Shit To The Curb Where It Belongs...
- Date: 2018-03-27
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2018/03/kicking-that-shit-to-the-curb-where-it-belongs/
Hey, kids! Long time no talk. And there's a reason for that. As my interaction on and with Facebook went up, my interaction with the real internet went down. That "service" -- and I use the term loosely, because they, like Google, are an advertising agency whose entire reason for having their platform at all is to sell ads -- sucks all the air out of the room, to the point where my creativity can't breath, and I'm not doing the things I normally like to do because I'm busy arguing with some fucking dolt in East Nowheresville about constitutional law.
So last week, I deleted my FB account and the Audio Damage and Sister Machine Gun pages I administer. Adam and I had a brief discussion about leaving the AD page up, but the ROI for a Facebook page is not great unless that's your entire means of dealing with your customer base. Also, the hypocrisy of leaving the AD page there when I personally won't use the site for mostly moral reasons was not lost on us. As I told some friends yesterday, we may take a financial hit for losing that promotional avenue, but on the other hand, my quality-of-life immediately increased, in a noticeable fashion, and what is money for if not to improve your quality of life? So net gain all around.
I've had to quit other addictions in the past, and literally as soon as I pressed the "delete account" button (it really is that simple) I felt the hole that I'm used to. But like most people with addictive personalities, I knew it for what it was, and am able to deal with it in the same way I've dealt with others. Weirdly, there's a physical habit associated with it that was somewhat harder to break than the mental one. I would normally open a browser, and blam-blam-blam Twitter, Instagram, Facebook. To have one of those missing is very strange at first. I found myself scrolling to the spot where the bookmark lived fairly frequently for the first couple days, and experienced actual, palpable disappointment when it wasn't there. But this passed quickly under the weight of my self-righteousness (which, I think we can agree, is the most powerful drug of all).
In any event, those of you that follow me on Twitter have no doubt noticed my activity there has increased noticeably, and I believe you can safely expect this site to get back to its previous grandeur, with the caveat that I can't really bag on other companies' gear any more (I know too many people in this business now). So the focus of AI will be creativity and trends in music tech, which were the other two points of the Conjoined Tripod Of Success, at least as far as blogs of this sort go. No, I didn't delete my Instagram account. I am, apparently, something of a hypocrite. One final note: I plan to put my non-music-tech meanderings [on Steemit](https://steemit.com/@chrisrandall). While that "service" (does that word apply to a blockchain-based system?) is a fucking epic Level 9000 circle jerk when it comes to matters cryptological, it's actually a fairly good analog for a blog, and its theoretical permanence is a desirable trait. So if you want to see me write about the other things that interest me (travel, making shit, gardening, etc.) that's where I'll be doing it.
---
## Flipping The Script...
- Date: 2017-10-30
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2017/10/flipping-the-script/
Yesterday, I started writing a post about watershed moments in your creative lifestyle, when something (either external or internal) brings a change to how you make music (or, well, whatever it is you make.) Then I thought "meh, that probably doesn't really happen to anyone else, because everyone else seems totally together. I'm just a nut." I highlighted all the text and pressed DEL and got on with my day.
About 20 minutes ago, the above exchange took place on Twitter between [Noisetheorem](https://noisetheorem.blog/), myself, and [DJ Empirical](https://octave.is/djempirical) that made me realize that this sort of thing isn't uncommon at all, and in point of fact I'm totally norms.
For better or worse, your external environment greatly affects your creative output. Speaking strictly for myself, spending the last three years boxing and shipping Eurorack, talking about Eurorack, travelling for Eurorack, sleeping in piles of Eurorack, and generally devoting my entire existence to Eurorack, has left me in a creative nadir which was unparalleled in my 30+ year history of making music. Earlier this year, we came to the conclusion that we were devoting too much of the company resources to Euro, and decided to ease off and work on desktop and mobile ideas. Since the nature of the Euro market means the hockey stick is ludicrously strong, without a new Euro product we can't really justify remaking older Euro products. As a result, I got to spend the summer, which in Phoenix is like winter for the rest of the country, doing something I truly enjoy: making user interfaces, and not putting Eurorack modules in boxes.
Since confirmation bias is the name of the game these days, as you're reading this, you're going to only see the Zig Zigler Power Words and run off to say "Chris Randall's an asshole! He hates what I do!" or "GOD DAMN RIGHT, FUCK \[insert creation method here\]." I can't do anything about that, but let me relate a metaphor:
I was raised by divorced parents about 50/50 in rural Oregon and New York City. The rural Oregon half of my family are, for the most part, gun nuts. I was raised around guns, and am comfortable with their existence and use-cases. I own a gun, and know how to use it. My father (the New York half of my co-parenting lifestyle) was a general contractor, so I was also raised around power tools. I am comfortable with their existence and use-cases. I own power tools, and know how to use them. In my head, a gun is basically just another tool. There are people for whom guns are a religion. I am not one of those people. I do, however, understand the motivations and mentality that lead to worshipping guns, talking about guns, collecting guns, etc, and how guns become a lifestyle and not just another tool in the box.
Anyhow, you get the point. Lots of boxes and M3 screws, creative nadir, tedious metaphor, blah blah blah. Long story short, two things happened:
1\. Due to our considered opinion that iOS was finally ready for pro (or at least semi-pro) music-making, we decided to make a run at the mobile side of things, and began porting our desktop products to iOS. This forced me to purchase and become comfortable with a state-of-the-art iOS creation environment.
2\. Due to customer requests for MPE versions of our synths, we needed to investigate MPE, something of which I knew very little. After pondering things for a bit, I decided the [Linnstrument](http://www.rogerlinndesign.com/linnstrument.html) was probably the best source of MPE data, and since I'm friends with Roger, I dropped him a line to see if I could borrow one of the small ones to develop some test cases.
I got the Linnstrument a couple weeks ago, and the first thing I did, to test how MPE worked, was to plug it in to the first synth in my collection that understands MPE. That happened to be [Animoog](https://www.moogmusic.com/products/apps/animoog-0), the polysynth that Moog made for iOS. I spent a few hours playing with this, and decided that MPE was worth exploring. So I moved the Linnstrument to my big computer and folded it in to my development process. Since I don't have a ton of room on my desk, I moved my normal controller, a Kontrol S49, out of the way. The much smaller Linnstrument sat in its place.
Since it was sitting there anyhow, I ended up using it to try to play melodies when I was testing other shit. And I suddenly found myself puzzling out scales and chords on it, and my testing other shit turned in to making songs. At some point that I can't exactly put my finger on, it _clicked_ and I was able to play it. I'm not going to review the device itself because there are reams written about it. But yesterday morning, my wife pointed out that it was nice to see me making music again. I was like "huh?" And she goes "you haven't actually sat in your office and made a song in like 2 years, dude." That's when all this hit me, and I wrote Roger to tell him I'd be buying the Linnstrument off him.
It isn't, of course, as facile as that. There are other outside stimuli that are affecting things (new hobbies, the weather change, etc.) but putting in the time to get the Linnstrument to ease itself into my methodology was definitely the deciding factor in unwedging my creative block. Let's hear it, AI peoples. Do you have similar unblocking experiences?
---
## Some Thoughts On iOS Music Software...
- Date: 2017-08-16
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2017/08/some-thoughts-on-ios-music-software/
When we started porting our products to JUCE 5, one side effect (and I mean that in the literal sense, as it was in no way a deciding factor to do this) was that I could check a couple boxes in the project manager and poop out a standalone app and AudioUnit V3 for iOS. I was already familiar with the iOS app submission process due to my previous experiences (remember [Phaedra](https://analogindustries.com/2011/11/meet-phaedra/)?) and Audio Damage already had a paid-up developer account so we could get the Apple signing certificate we need for signing our OS X installers and AAX plugins. So we figured we'd put one up and see where it went.
As it turns out, we sort of lucked in to an empty socket, as only two of our desktop peers (VirSyn and Waldorf) had really taken the platform seriously, and the market was mostly owned, with a couple notable exceptions, by companies building specifically to iOS, who didn't have a lot of experience in making plugins for the much more robust and demanding professional music production market. This is in no way a bad thing, as the market had some very inventive tools that you don't see in the desktop world. But we just happened to stumble in (through no planning of our own) to a situation where our product line, which has heavy competition in desktop DAWs, simply didn't exist in iOS.
Speaking strictly for myself, after I gave up on Phaedra, I kind of set the iPad aside as a music-making tool, and hadn't really thought about it again until late May of this year, when I saw I could build AUv3. I then had to acquire an iPad Pro and go learn what AUv3 was, and after some trial and error, and much crossing of fingers and scratching of backstays later, we shipped Rough Rider (for free) in mid-June. Since then, we've tried to maintain something of a parity with the desktop and iOS platforms. It naturally didn't turn out as easy as I thought it would be, and usually the iOS versions require rather extensive reworking of the user interface because of the space constraints. (The notable exception is Replicant 2, where I decided to use the iOS AUv3 aspect ratio for the desktop one.)
Since we started building them, I've necessarily spent a lot of time testing and poking and prodding, and had to acquire most of the top-shelf iOS audio software. I've made a couple tracks now using [only the iPad Pro](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rki_pGx6VCM&t=2s), and I'm willing to say that, while there are a whole raft of weird little Apple-isms to deal with (better than taming OMS on OS 9, but not as bad as trying to use MIDI in OS 7) in general, I'm confident you can go to the store and buy an iPad Air 2 or Pro 9.7 (my recommended devices for AUv3 hosting right now, as the Pro 10.5 and 12.9 have some nasty RAM allocation bugs), spend about a hundred dollars on software, and have something equivalent to a fully-kitted MPC. Which, as we all know, is a perfectly viable platform for making full tracks.
Can it do everything a blown-out MacBook Pro or Surface Book can do? No, it can not. And Apple spends a lot of time trying to make seamless experiences that hide the machinations we need to know about to get the most out of our machines. Forget about using huge sample libraries, as these devices simply don't have the RAM or horsepower to pull that off. But for scratchpad recording and electronic music production, it's hard to describe the vibe. "Fun," I guess? Not a word I usually use with music-making, which, as a former professional musician, I take seriously and equate to work. New and exciting, definitely, and for creativity that is important.
Anyhow, to make a long story short, yesterday we released Pumphouse, which the video above talks about. Most of the iOS DAWs don't have sidechaining, and love it or hate it, that's an important facet of modern electronic music production. (I don't make EDM at all, and I use it all the time on my pads and basslines.) So we came up with a simple work-around by giving Rough Rider a 16-step sequencer, so you could trigger an envelope to side-chain compress the input in a rhythmic fashion. We had thought this would be an iOS-only release, and had no intention of releasing it for desktops, as that effect is easily attainable elsewhere. However, we wrote the plug as a VST (simply because it is much faster to develop audio software on a desktop than an iOS device) and it would be the work of a day or two to "back-port" it to all our supported platforms. So if this is something you're interested in, let me know in the comments. If you have any questions about iOS music production, I'll be happy to answer them to the best of my knowledge, or point you at the appropriate resource.
---
## Evolution of a Produkt...
- Date: 2017-06-25
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2017/06/evolution-of-a-produkt/
In early 2008, I got it in my head that Audio Damage needed a multi-band distortion. Like most Audio Damage products, this one came about because of a personal need. I like the general idea of multi-band distortion, but at the time, there was only really one available, Ohmicide. To be clear, Ohmicide is a very good product, one that has stood the test of time. The problem was that it had a very distinctive sound; I could pick it out of a mix from a mile away. And this distinctive sound wasn't really conducive to what I was trying to accomplish at the time.
So after begging and pleading, and much rending of garments, I somehow talked Adam in to making such a product for AD. We decided on a very simple topology, with a multi-selector for each band's algorithm, a simple resonant lowpass filter, and our normal compressor code (as heard in Rough Rider), configured for a one-knob "moar" kind of situation. And Kombinat was born.
This was the first UI we did where there were procedural knobs; this is very much a hybrid UI, where I'm using a fake screen element to display the flat stuff. But you can definitely see how my mind was working at the time.
Anyhow, it did fine, in line with our other products that aren't Eos, Discord, or Dubstation. We weren't going to finally buy that volcano lair or anything, but it sold pretty consistently. Like Ohmicide, it has an unique character that is easy to pick out if you know what you're listening for, but being far less popular than Ohmicide, there wasn't as much of a danger of having That Sound. It worked for what I needed, so I was happy.
Fast forward to 2011. In the intervening three years, screen resolutions had been creeping up, and Kombinat, with its hard-coded selector image maps, was getting difficult to read. I also wanted to experiment with a truly flat user interface, something that, aside from Live, was not common in music software. I'm sure there were other reasons as well for revving Kombinat to a version two, but they aren't coming readily to mind. But the upshot is we decided to rev it, and this is the first UI I did totally flat. It is still image maps, but instead of filmstrips of 3D Studio Max knobs, we're drawing most of the elements procedurally. We named it Kombinat Dva, because "Kombinat" is Russian for "Combination," and "Dva" is Russian for "two."
Kombinat Dva added six more algorithms (including my favorite thing we've ever made, "Nerd Rage"), a second filter topology, and a feedback loop. Since the nature of feeding back on a ridiculous conglomeration of distortion algorithms and resonant filters would result in some fairly hairy tones, I came up with the (I thought) clever idea of giving the feedback loop an envelope, triggered off the input. Which is why it has attack and release controls. Adam was fairly puzzled by this, but he built it, and it works great. The feedback control makes the entire thing fairly unstable, and I'd frequently get customers writing asking could I please make the noise stop and why did I hate them and other such ponderings. I inexplicably decided it needed seventy presets, as well, which is about sixty five more presets than anyone ever uses. Go, me.
Anyhow, Kombinat Dva did significantly better than the first one, but still lived somewhere in the middle of the field as far as our product line goes. Six years on, and Kombinat is now the ripe old age of nine. Time for Kombinat Tri.
Tri is, of course, Russian for "three." So it makes sense and is clever on enough levels that I can feel good about myself. Which is all I really ask at the end of the day.
Anyhow, this version of Kombinat gets the JUCE-ified look that all the current line are getting. Since I did the new Dubstation 2 UI in plain black-and-white (just to see if I could, really), I went the other way with Kombinat Tri and made it very colorful. We also added what I call "the filter package," which is a conglomeration of all our current filters that I like for musical applications. The destruction algorithms are unchanged, but we went through and fixed a couple little things that were resulting in DC offsets that made some people unhappy. And finally, we added a mix control, something that is of incredible usefulness in a multi-band distortion, come to find out.
The UI, like all of the new ones, is resolution-ecumenical. In addition, like all of our current re-rolls, it picks up VST3 and AAX support. It will also get a standalone and AUv3 version for iOS in the near future.
For people that know what a useful tool the Kombinat series is, they'll be very happy with this update, which extends its usefulness while keeping the core Kombinat "sound" totally intact. For people new to the Kombinat style, well, they'll be equal parts frightened and surprised, as has been the case for nine years now. In the [Audio Damage](https://www.audiodamage.com/) store now.
---
## Eye Oh Ess...
- Date: 2017-06-18
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2017/06/eye-oh-ess/
There are two major side benefits of switching to JUCE for our plugin dev. The first, you've already met: AAX versions essentially for free.
The second, you're about to meet: iOS versions for moderate effort. JUCE 5 projects on OS X have two targets in addition to the bevy of plugin formats: AUv3 and Standalone. Both of these are essentially pointless on OS X, where the AUv3 is an actual step backwards, lacking everything but the most basic ability to talk to anything but the DAW. Standalones have their purpose, but mostly as synths. A standalone effect is about as useful as... well... nothing really comes to mind. I'll have to ponder for a bit to come up with something that useless.
**But!**
Switch that target from OS X to iOS, and we're on to something. AUv3 is the only audio plugin format allowed on iOS, and standalones actually have some merit. The screenshot above is Rough Rider 2 running as an AUv3 insert effect in GarageBand. These AUv3 builds will work in any host that can stomach it; right now that list is mildly limited: GarageBand, Audiobus 3, Cubasis (full version), and some others. The situation will improve quite a bit when Intua drops [BeatMaker 3](http://intua.net/) on July 15, in my opinion.
Digressions aside, the only difference between Rough Rider 2 for iOS AUv3 and Rough Rider 2 AU/AAX/VST/VST3 is some mild fiddling with the UI to get it to cooperate in the context. It will run on any device that can run iOS 9.3, which is pretty much anything from iPad 3 / iPad Mini 2 / iPhone 6 on.
Rough Rider 2 is available now [in the app store](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/rough-rider-2/id1248448318?ls=1&mt=8), and like any good drug dealer, we give you the first taste for free. If you run in to any issues at all, don't hesitate to drop us a line.
Grind is next in line, and is currently awaiting TestFlight review so the testers can get a piece of that action, but it is pretty much done. Once that's released, we're going to turn our attention back to desktops for a bit, so we can see how things shake out. I don't want to release everything for iOS, and then find out I did something terribly wrong. But once we're sure that things generally work, we'll push out Dubstation 2 and Eos 2 in short order. I don't expect any trouble building either for iOS.
If you're an iOS musician, I'd like to hear about how you feel about pricing. I'm of a mixed mind on this; obviously, these are identical to the desktop plugins internally, and require a bit extra work, so they should be priced accordingly. On the other hand, the iOS music ecosystem doesn't really have a place for a similar pricing model, and we're in a situation where people are expected to effectively double the price of their purchase to get a 12th format to go with the other 11 they already own.
I went through every AUv3 product I could find on the App Store, and I feel that, in general, plugins seem to be in the $5 to $10 neck of the woods. There are some outliers, but on the whole, that seems to be the case. I'm okay with this in general.
The other option would be to do it free, and have an In-App Purchase to unlock all the features. This isn't terribly complicated, but it does add some frustration to the proceedings, both on my part and on the consumer's part. So I'm less likely to look favorably on this, unless someone can offer a compelling argument in its defense.
---
## New Kid On The Block...
- Date: 2017-05-30
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2017/05/new-kid-on-the-block/
Our habit, for the last couple years, has been to port our existing product line to Eurorack hardware. However, there is one product we have that is unique to Eurorack, our Shapes module, that I really wanted in the DAW. So, after we got done making Eos 2, I scraped all the Sean out of the project and got to work, moving the code from Shapes, and adding to it given the somewhat more expansive CPU real-estate available in DAW-land.
The result is what you see above, Grind. It can run both "wave" and "algo" modes of Shapes simultaneously (with some additions to both the waveform complement and the algorithms), and we threw in a huge raft of filters and a tempo-synced LFO because hashtag yolo. I was going to say that this is probably the first direct code port of a digital Eurorack module to a plugin, but I haven't looked closely at that SoftTube thing, so I couldn't say for sure.
In a nutshell, the input level determines which sample of the wavetable is accessed, and we replace the input sample with the wavetable sample. Then, this hot mess passes through the algorithms, which are mostly of the soft sat / clip variety, with a couple exceptions. After that, it hits one of the 11 filter algorithms. The filter frequency and wavetable can be hit with the tempo-synced LFO. It is a fairly unique distortion plugin, and incredibly capable. You can turn the wavetables off and just use the algos and filter and access the entire range of "analog warmth" tricks that we use in the plugin business, or go screaming acid banshee on whatever the input is. Add the wavetables to that, and it's a god damn nightmare machine.
Tonight or tomorrow I'll have a video overview of this bad boy up, but it is [available for purchase](https://www.audiodamage.com/collections/software/products/ad035-grind) now. VST/VST3/AU/AAX.
Speaking of AAX, while I was waiting for Adam to finish the Grind manual, I plucked some low-hanging fruit and ported our free FuzzPlus3 plug; while I was at it, I hit a couple little bugs. So FuzzPlus3 is now VST/VST3/AU/AAX as well. [Get it here](https://www.audiodamage.com/pages/free-downloads). We're going to have to do a version upgrade to do the same to Rough Rider, as it is not a JUCE plugin to begin with, so we have to essentially remake it from scratch. There's not a ton to it, though, so it should be fairly easy.
**EDIT**: It was, in fact, fairly easy. And is now done. Rough Rider is at v2, and includes AAX, VST3, and a new UI.
In unrelated news, working on my Summer Vibes EP. Like you do, while Adam lays out the PCB for \[REDACTED\]. More on both those things as they become pertinent. I also finally bit the bullet and bought a smoking new Kaby Lake PC (literally the day before Intel announces Kaby Lake X. Go team) and a glorious 4K monitor to peer at its innards with. That'll be arriving tomorrow, so system migration ho!
Anyhow, that was my week. What are you up to?
---
## Stand Up, Sit Down, Fight, Fight, Fight! Vol. 2: The Reckoning...
- Date: 2017-05-22
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2017/05/stand-up-sit-down-fight-fight-fight-vol-2-the-reckoning/
Lo these many years ago (or maybe [six years ago](https://analogindustries.com/2011/04/stand-up-sit-down-fight-fight-fight/)), I went and whittled myself a standing desk solution. All the cool kids were doing it, and it seemed like an excellent idea. I didn't, however, take one thing in to account.
If you read the original article, and pay attention to the fourth paragraph, you'll note that one thing I discovered early on was that I needed to get my monitors in direct line-of-sight. Not long after I moved to that configuration, I added a third monitor, a large Dell 10-touch monitor. (The first mass market cap-touch monitor available, as it happens.) This lived directly under the two original monitors, and you can see it in this configuration in many of my videos and photos of the last few years, as I've used this three-monitor system to good effect.
Anyhow, as it turns out, getting old kind of blows. Not long after I went to this configuration, I needed to get progressive lenses in my glasses. Due to the modular side of the Audio Damage Order Of Battle, I've spent a _lot_ of time with my standing desk and three-monitor rig; when developing plug-ins, I work primarily on my Macbook Pro, and just lounge about the house or on the porch, wherever the mood strikes me. But the embedded dev needs quite a bit of infrastructure, and has to be done at my desk.
Since those monitors are basically six feet off the ground to meet my sight-line, I had to tilt my head back to align the reading portion of my glasses with the text on the screen. I didn't even really know I was doing this, but one day I happened to put the IDE on the lower monitor (normally, Live runs on the lower one so I can touchy-feely plugins, and the IDE runs on the upper left, while the upper right gets folder duties.) When it was down low, all the sudden my neck pain went away. Total accidental discovery, as I didn't know what the cause of the pain was.
So, in general, lessons learned from 6 years with a standing desk: if you can see well, it's a better way to work. It was especially nice during music making, when I'm moving about wiring shit up or whatever. However, if you have progressive lenses, it may be more trouble than it's worth. Take your pick: mild back pain from sitting all day, or mild-to-severe neck pain from leaning your head back to read the screens. I decided to return to back pain for the next while, and eject the standing desk.
tl;dr: my office went to bare walls last week. Today I was able to use it again. Sitting down. And it is much more orange than it was before.
---
## Hypocrisy Is The Greatest Luxury...
- Date: 2017-05-15
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2017/05/hypocrisy-is-the-greatest-luxury/
Long-time readers will know how comically funny this screenshot is. (Either that, or a blatant display of hypocrisy. 6:5 and pick 'em.) That right there is Eos 2 as a 64-bit AAX running in PT12. We've just pushed the v2.0.2 of Eos to the store, and the installers on both platforms include AAX. All future releases will also include AAX.
It is worth noting here that the person that we had a "disagreement" with at Digidesign is long departed, and Avid reached out to us with an olive branch. You can also blame almost constant haranguing from Eric Beam and Don Gunn, both of whom have been driving me absolutely to distraction with requests for AAX.
So finally I caved and was like "how hard can it be?" As it turns out, not hard at all. The only difficult part was figuring out the PACE/Eden signing on the Windows side of things, and Sean Costello of ValhallaDSP gave me some very helpful guidance there.
So, long story short, babies under the bridge, throwing the horse out with the bathwater, etc. We are at war with Eastasia. We have always been at war with Eastasia. Grab that 2.0.2 installer and get yourself some AAX.
---
## Eos Dos...
- Date: 2017-05-08
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2017/05/eos-dos/
Now that the hardware side of the business is chugging along, we've turned our attention back to plugins. After some soul-searching and rending of garments, it became obvious that some serious re-building was in our future to make sure our rather extensive product line stays pertinent and healthy as we start knocking on the door of our 3rd decade in business.
First one on the block was (depending on how you count) either our second- or third-most popular plugin, Eos. We're rebuilding everything in JUCE, so that we can offer and support all the formats from a single codebase that is well-supported and gives us a lot of different options. So these ports aren't really ports as such, but complete ground-up rebuilds. In the case of Eos, the biggest problem was the user interface. It still held up okay on normal-res screens, but on Hi\_Res and Retina, it looked cheap and awful. Also, a continuing point of contention with me has been the lack of a common platform-agnostic preset mechanism.
Early last year, we released FuzzPlus3, which was built with JUCE and made with a completely procedural user interface. (That is to say that the UI is all code, no images at all.) It also had an XML-based preset mechanism that Randy from Madrona and Sean from ValhallaDSP came up with. Several tens of thousands of downloads later, nobody seemed to have any problem with either the OpenGL interface or the preset mechanism, so I figured they were safe to roll in to a paid product.
With all that in mind, I set to it. I decided on a darker look for Eos 2, and instead of a static background, I used a GLSL shader to give me a little animated blob that responded to knobbing, which I thought was a clever trick. We also bared some previously hidden controls (high and low crossover points, which are the corner frequencies for the high and low multipliers) and added a fourth algorithm, Plate 3, which is a derivation of Plate 2 with a somewhat different rendering loop that results in a less dense tail with a wider stereo image.
All in all the port only took about 5 days, and then we spent a week with the testers tracking down all the silly bits. The testers were surprised to hear from me, not having got a new AD plug for some time now. But they were all still game, and now Eos 2 is available for purchase in the [Audio Damage store](https://www.audiodamage.com/collections/software) and at Splice. The full version is $59.00, and the upgrade from v1.x is the difference between the two, $10.00.
This version is built with the absolute latest JUCE 5, the current VST3 SDK, and current Xcode and Visual Studio, against the current APIs from both Apple and Windows. So it should be solid for a good long while. Aside from the usual 32/64 VST and AudioUnits, a side effect of using JUCE is that we pick up the VST3 version for free. So that's included, and will be included in all our upcoming rebuilds. This version also removes the anti-denormal math, which caused a very small amount of noise to be added to the signal path. We figure not many people are using a Pentium 4 for music any more, and the ones that are probably can't run a bleeding-edge OpenGL-based plugin anyhow, so that's that.
We haven't decided what we're going to do next; I'm about 70% finished with Basic 2, which is a polyphonic version with much more extensive modulation. We've also got a couple new plugs we've been cooking up, and would like to port some of the advances we've made on the hardware side of things back in to plugin land.
---
## Booth, With Occasional Super...
- Date: 2017-04-09
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2017/04/booth-with-occasional-super/
Hectic April continues. The Audio Damage event this week at Perfect Circuit was outstanding. Huge turnout, and Baseck did a crazy excellent set. Much love all around, and thanks to everyone that came out and put up with my stream-of-consciousness presentation style. (Roughly akin to standing there and going "BLEARRRGHGGHGGHHH!!!!" for 30 minutes. Good times. Good times.)
Next on the agenda: the very first box of Eos modules will be arriving here tomorrow; I'll have time to test them and turn them around. They're all going to Control in NYC, so until l get back from Europe, that'll be the only place on the planet you can buy them. I'm going to get the product page up today, with specs and at least one overview video.
I buried the lede in that last paragraph. "...get back from Europe." [Superbooth](https://www.superbooth.com/en/landing.html) is right around the corner, y'all! The marquee event of the Eurorack World is April 20-22 at Fex in Berlin, and AD (in the form of me) will be in attendance, showing off Ensō and Eos, and all our other products. I'm very excited for this; it is, by far, my favorite event of the ones we do yearly, and I'm really looking forward to it. Instead of flying direct to Berlin, I'm going to Prague (much cheaper) and renting a car to drive to Berlin. I'll only be in Prague a couple days, but if any AI readers live there and want to grab a beer and whatever it is that Czechs eat, I'm totally down.
So, tl;dr: LA was fun. The Czech Republic and Germany will be fun. First Eos will be out the door Tuesday. Crazy times!
---
## Demo Daze...
- Date: 2017-03-31
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2017/03/demo-daze/
That right there is a mockup of our new baby, Ensō, which is an audio buffer module in 22hp, with 50 seconds of stereo 48/24 audio memory, and various ways for looping/triggering/etc that buffer. We're done with the hardware design, and are working on the software now.
You can come see it (and the new Eos module) in person if you're in the LA area. I will be doing an Audio Damage clinic/Q&A at Perfect Circuit in Burbank this Wednesday, April 5th, at 7PM. Facebook event page with all the deets is [here](https://www.facebook.com/events/1475300685814141/). Derrick Baseck will be doing a performance, and I'm given to understand there will be pizza and beer, two of the three major food groups. We will be giving away a couple modules, and buttons and stickers and the other usual shit, and I may extemporaneously perform for 15 minutes myself.
In other news, the first articles for the hardware version of Eos will be on the way to me today. So just a beta-testing round and then that will be shipping. Figure two weeks to stores at this point.
And finally, we will be attending Superbooth in Berlin again this year. I'm flying in to Prague on April 15, and then driving up to Berlin a couple days later. If you are in town and want to hook up, get at me in the usual methods.
---
## Rain, With Occasional Face-Melting...
- Date: 2017-03-05
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2017/03/rain-with-occasional-face-melting/
While Adam and I were waiting for the Lyft to take us to Holocene to start setting up Sync02 yesterday, I was taking a quick scroll through Facebook, and it threw up one of those "memories" things from the same day in 2016, which happened to be the day I arrived in San Francisco for Sync01. It was a nice juxtaposition, considering that my initial idea for a gathering of all our friends in this business to show off the gear and music we make in a comfortable and casual environment has effectively doubled in size in the space of a year.
While it may seem like I put all this together from a casual observation point, the simple fact of the matter is that I just come up with a context, and everyone else in the Eurorack Family commits their efforts and resources to making it a success. By the time the thing is running, I'm just a bemused observer.
In any event, the people at Holocene were understanding and helpful, Jason at [Control Voltage](https://controlvoltage.net/) did all the hard work, and all our amazing family of manufacturers and musicians pulled out the stops to make a great event. I'm so glad to be a part of this crew of amazingly talented people.
A special thank-you to T2, Rodent, Bana Haffar, and Derrick Baseck for putting on a fucking amazing after-event performance. That shit was epic, no joke.
---
## Sync 02...
- Date: 2017-02-09
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2017/02/sync-02/
Sync02 is the second in what is apparently going to be a yearly 1st-Saturday-Of-March affair. [Last year's event](https://analogindustries.com/2016/03/sync-01-today/) went off well enough that we decided to do it again, despite the torential rain. As you may remember if you attended, Sync01 took place at JWZ's excellent [CodeWord](https://www.codeword-sf.com/) venue in San Francisco. Saturday, March 4th at Holocene. It is over twice as big as last year's, so we got a partner. Audio Damage is doing it in partnership with [Control Voltage](http://controlvoltage.com/). The manufacturers that will be exhibiting include:
Audio Damage
Industrial Music Electronics
WMD
Mordax
Moog
S1 Synth Library
4ms
LZX
Noise Engineering
Make Noise
Malekko
Darkplace
1010 Music
01Synth
Topobrillo
Blue Lantern
Møffenzeef Mødular
AI Synthesis
Intellijel
Roger Linn Design
(more TBA)
Control Voltage will have a pop-up store at the venue, so warm up your debit card. The exhibition runs from 10:30A to 4:30P, and then we close the venue for a bit to remove the tables, and reopen at 5:30P for the show. The performers include:
Baseck
Bana Hafar
Rodent
T2
The exhibition is free to attend, and all-ages. The performance is 21+ and $10. So, if you're in Portland, and you don't come to this, well... I am given to understand that Modular On The Spot will be doing a separate event the night before. The Facebook event page is [here](https://www.facebook.com/events/1747051345615093/). Please hit the little button to let us know you're coming. That number is helpful.
It may be a little early to bring this up, but I'm also open to ideas for where Sync03 should be. It takes a while to put these together, so the city needs to have a good confluence of both manufacturers and customers. My initial first choice for Sync03 was Washington, DC, but I'm also open to European cities, or something I haven't thought of.
---
## Decks & FX: Sound Experiments 002
- Date: 2017-02-03
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2017/02/decks-and-fx-sound-experiments-002/
The second in my Sound Experiments series for the Analog Industries YouTube channel. In this one, I'm using various tape sources in lieu of my normal tools. (Although, it's worth noting, all these decks are part of my normal toolset.)
The speech, running on the small Marantz deck, is from an interview with John Cage where he is talking about a Glenn Branca performance he'd seen the night before. He calls Branca a fascist. I guess if you're John Cage it's fine to bag on Glenn Branca. I don't think I could personally get away with it.
Otherwise, I just made loops from various sources and dumped them to the decks, and perform with the decks' various controls for doing so. Of special note is the pad. I recorded two channels on the 4-track with two different chords of the same sound. I'm running the tape cue out of the 4-track to the Eventide H9 Max, set to an edited Black Hole preset, and I'm "playing" the chord by cross-fading the two send controls. This gives the nice big stereo effect.
I made the drum loop on my Eurorack, and then dumped it to Frasier, my MTR-12. I cut the one-measure loop directly on Frasier, and I'm playing it back in Edit/Dump mode (you can see me hit the dump button every time I stop the deck). The reason for this is that if the deck isn't in Edit/Dump mode, the right hand capstan, which is supposed to keep tension on the reel, spins at a ludicrous speed. In Dump, that capstan stops.
This brings up an interesting point, though: when working with tape decks in a musical context (as instruments, rather than as playback/recording vehicles) each deck has its own personality. The dump button on Frasier is a good example. On the Marantz deck that has the Cage interview, it has a pitch knob (it is a dictation deck IRL) so I was able to pitch Cage's voice, which is whiney at the best of times, down to a more reasonable listening experience. That sort of thing. Every deck has its own little tricks and features that you need to explore and exploit. This is mildly fun. "What can I do with this?" That sort of thing.
---
## Various Things...
- Date: 2017-01-18
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2017/01/various-things/
It is no doubt apparent to long-time readers that I coasted this site for most of 2016, preferring to experiment with other outlets. Having now done my research, it's time to get back in the saddle with a new plan for 2017. So here's some things that are coming up:
1\. **Videos.** Due to spending two months with someone else's teeth in my mouth (which isn't near as interesting as it sounds) I was uncomfortable making videos for the AI YouTube channel. However, that process was completed yesterday, and now we can return to our regularly-scheduled vitriol. Having tried some various things, I've discovered what works and what doesn't in that format, at least as far as my personality and skills go, and have a better idea of how to take the YouTube channel further. Essentially, I will concentrate more on tech and less on talk. The tech and technique videos get way more views and engagement than the ranting videos. So I'll stick to that.
2\. **Pedagogy.** I am once again teaching Entrepreneurship In The Music Industry for a local college this semester. However, in a mild change of things, I will be putting my lectures on the YouTube channel. There are six in all. I'd like to think that these are a bit more basic than most of you will care about, but I think highly of you guys. Maybe they'll be interesting to you; my hope is that they'll help the younglings coming up.
3\. **Travels.** During the next three months I will be visiting Portland, Los Angeles, Prague, and Berlin. If you're in any of those places and want to organize a small (like 3-5 person) meetup, get at me. I've never met many of you, and I would very much like to. Of special note is Sync02 in Portland on March 4th, which we are organizing in league with Control Voltage. There is a Facebook event page [here](https://www.facebook.com/events/1747051345615093/).
4\. **Audio Damage.** Lots happening on that front. As you no doubt know, we had a Web Site Disaster late last year (dealing with this is another reason for silence on the YouTube channel) and I have spent the last while building a new Shopify site. As a result, approximately 10,000 people have written me asking where their old account is. I love this. It's my new favorite thing. In related news, you motherfuckers can't keep a computer running for 20 minutes without doing a full bare metal re-install, if my inbox is any indicator. That aside, we have like 8 new products in the queue, some of which are happening quite soon. 2017 is going to be a very exciting year!
5\. **Music.** I'm working on a new project that is combo audio/visual, and which I will perform live. More on that as it is birthed, but I'm pretty excited about it.
So, tl;dr: more videos, some homework, new shit! Yay!
---
## Groove Experiments...
- Date: 2016-12-27
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2016/12/groove-experiments/
During the course of testing products, I often end up with more-or-less full patches. It is important to test everything in context; you can't just listen to something by itself and expect to just know how it sits in a mix. This is especially important for effects, as they generally end up far too thick for normal production if you don't test them in a song while you're developing.
Our next product is a Eurorack hardware version of our Eos plugin, and during the course of development, I built up a patch with several different sound sources; this morning, I was like "oh, that's almost music right there" and popped out a quick video. This, like most of my modular improvs, doesn't have much of an arrangement, but I kind of liked the feel of it. These sorts of pieces of music are not created with the intent of having a finished song, but rather to test something, and thus they tend to not have much Song to them. But if you know that going in, I think they turn out okay.
As is usual for me, everything is sequenced from Sequencer 1 and White Whale. The bass is coming from the WMD/SSF voice; the melody line is Noise Engineering LI -> our own analog filter prototype. The drums are Boomtschak x 2 and Neuron x 2, and the effects are the usual gaggle. The chord drone and found-sound voice are coming off the 4-track cassette, like normal. In short, nothing in this video you haven't seen a dozen times already in my stuff, but I think it's probably a fun insight in to my workday.
---
## Oscillator Breach...
- Date: 2016-10-26
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2016/10/oscillator-breach/
As some of you may know, I dropped a new album on [Detroit Underground™](http://detroitunderground.net/) two weeks ago. It is unusual for me not to self-release, as has been my habit for the last 15 years or so, but I really like what Detund is doing; they first popped on my radar when they put out Richard Devine's excellent [RISP project](http://detroitunderground.net/archives/du16), and their releases comprise a major percentage (maybe 80%?) of the music I've been listening to since then. Kero has an amazing visual sense, along with his great taste in IDM stylings, and I wanted to be part of that family.
The album consists of six tracks and four remixes (from Baseck, Proem, Qebo, and Corbin Davis.) The six tracks are, as is my way for the last couple years, all Euro and tape loops of found sounds. The [Tech Time videos](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQXfqTHMcnMw2uQThm646Fm4uFmKFkA0t) in my Analog Industries YouTube channel accurately describe my methodology for making these tracks, so in lieu of an extended process explanation, you can go watch those. The tracks all start with a stand-alone Euro patch and tape loops, and once I have something that I like, I part them out in to Live, and do the arrangement and post-production there. Once each track was done, I pre-mastered it to my Otari MTR-12 two-track deck, and then dumped it back in to the computer and sent it to Wade Alin at [Standard Mastering](http://www.standardmastering.com/) for the final squish. (The remixes were mastered and level-matched by Detund. Not sure who they used.) These are mastered to what Wade calls "Old Guy Levels," which is to say that they retain most of their dynamics, and are not square waves at 0dBfs. The artwork was done by the amazing [Layer-Based Human Activities™](http://lbha.gr/) from Athens, Greece.
If you guys have any technical questions or comments about the album, now is the time and this is the place!
---
## ADM17 Proton Now Shipping...
- Date: 2016-09-26
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2016/09/adm17-proton-now-shipping/
Pleased to report that our Karplus-Strong (or, well, "Karplus-Wrong," amirite?) voice module, Proton, is now shipping to retailers! It is a complete synth voice in a single module, with some AD Secret Sauce™, and is US$325.00. It should be hitting the stores in the next couple days. Ask at your local (that's how they know how many to order from us.) I'll put it up in the AD store next weekend if you prefer the whole direct thing.
The video above is an overview; jump to 7:20 if you want to hear it patched, and don't feel like hearing me extemporize on tuned delay lines for seven straight minutes. The product page on the AD site is [here](http://www.audiodamage.com/hardware/product.php?pid=ADM17). If you don't know what Karplus-Strong synthesis is, Nick Batt and I talk about it at Superbooth for a good long while (and I use an early prototype of Proton to demonstrate it.
---
## Hands, With Occasional Beard...
- Date: 2016-09-21
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2016/09/hands-with-occasional-beard/
In order to do the overview video for our Proton module, I needed to multi-track and clear a patch I've been playing with for the last couple days. Before I did that, I thought I'd do a quick live performance video of the patch, which you can watch above.
I'm using the four track cassette deck for the noise beds; there are three ambience loops I recorded in various places (Mexico pyramid ambience, Berlin U-Bahn, and the O'Hare airport), plus a fourth track that is a pad. The 4-track I have only has stereo outs, so I have the first track as FX send 2, going to the H9 Max. The second and third tracks go straight to the modular out the main outs, and the fourth track, the pad, goes straight to the modular out FX send 1. In this way, I have direct outs of all four tracks from a deck that doesn't have direct.
The pad is running to a Kompressor module, where I introduce the sidechain pulse, and then to Dimensions to get stereo-fied. The high hat and sidechain pulse are sequenced by the monome/White Whale. The kick, snare, and Boop sound are sequenced by the second Sequencer 1. All are Audio Damage modules. The bass is the WMD/SSF voice, sequenced by the first Sequencer 1. Recorded as a stereo pair straight to Adobe Audition. I used iZotope Ozone 7 for a mild mastering squish, but otherwise, WYSIWYG.
---
## Using External Effects And Modules In Live: Tech Time 009...
- Date: 2016-09-20
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2016/09/using-external-effects-and-modules-in-live-tech-time-009/
A couple people have asked me to do some more basic videos, so I thought I'd give that a whirl. This one is a quick-ish demonstration of using external effects and modules in a Live session, and the hidden gotchas of same.
Let me know if you have any specific topics you'd like me to cover, or any questions/comments about this particular video.
---
## Musical Stylings...
- Date: 2016-09-18
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2016/09/musical-stylings/
Although I don't actually make music to pay the rent any more (and thank all the various Gods and wildland færies and whatever for _that_!) it is still rather important to my personal well-being and understanding of the world to keep my feet wet. I find people that make gear but don't release records to be, well, you know.
To that end, I recorded a full EP, or more of an extended EP, or maybe a short stack LP... eh, fuck it... a pile of songs for Detroit Underground™, which will be released shortly, with remixes from Basek and Proem. I'll talk about that more when it's out.
In the meantime, I have merrily continued to make tracks, like I do. So these two tracks, while being "put out" _before_ the DU™ release, were in fact recorded after it was done. In both cases, everything went through the Euro. If you have any specific questions about a part, I'll be happy to answer to the best of my abilities. But suffice to say both were done with my normal techniques, which I've talked about at length on the AI YouTube channel.
[Listen to "windows - east berlin" by chris randall.](https://octave.is/chrisrandall/windows-east-berlin)
[Listen to "piece\_01" by chris randall.](https://octave.is/chrisrandall/piece-01)
If you click/tap the name of each track, you'll be taken to the Octave page, where you can download it if you so desire.
---
## Sound Experiments 001 - DIY Noise Box...
- Date: 2016-09-12
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2016/09/sound-experiments-001-diy-noise-box/
Just a fun little Saturday afternoon project. My only comment not covered in the video is that, like all piezo-based projects, you need an amplifier of some sort to bring it up to modular levels. I use a Circuit Abbey Axis module, but any preamp will do. The Music Thing Mikrophonie is probably the best tool for this job, and handy to have in any case.
---
## Yo Dawg I Herd U Like Random, So I Randomed Ur Random: Tech Time 008
- Date: 2016-09-05
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2016/09/yo-dawg-i-herd-u-like-random-so-i-randomed-ur-random-tech-time-008/
To do this video, I went through a bunch of the techniques I use in normal production to add indeterminism to tracks over the course of a couple days. I then sat down to edit it and realized I had over an hour of footage, and I didn't even cover most of the non-Live apps I use, nor hardware.
Randomization is a fucking broad topic.
Anyhow, I managed to knock it down to three techniques. Again, I'll raise this issue that has appeared a few times as I've done these: I'm not entirely sure what's worth filming. A lot of this shit is self-evident to me, so I'm not sure what people find interesting or not.
Anyhow, here you go: some thoughts on Randomization. Necessarily Live-centric.
---
## The Weekly No. 006: Milestones...
- Date: 2016-08-24
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2016/08/the-weekly-no-006-milestones/
I didn't realize it until I'd rendered and uploaded the video, but this week's quasi-philosophical meandering actually has a theme, and that theme is "milestones." In the first half, I ramble for a couple minutes about the minor yet not minor at all milestone of crossing 1,000 subs on the AI YouTube channel. I also get confetti in my ears.
In the second half, I wander around the subject of actually finishing songs. As to whether I impart any information that one could consider "useful" is open to interpretation. But whatever I'm doing, I feel like I do it with a great deal of charm, and dare I say enthusiasm?
---
## Tech Time No. 007: Voltage-Controlled Cassette Deck...
- Date: 2016-08-21
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2016/08/tech-time-no-007-voltage-controlled-cassette-deck/
Like the subject line says... I was curious as to how the [Onde Magnétique OM-1](http://www.ondemagnetique.com/) worked. Originally, I thought that these super cheap little decks might be powered directly from the sequencer. I went out and hit a few thrift stores and bought several and gave that a try, with success rates that varied between "not at all" and "fuckin' nope." (I believe I briefly referenced this failure in one of the other Tech Time videos.) So I just set that aside with a shrug and moved on to other things.
However, last night I was looking at the OM-1 video again, and I was like "oh. Duh. He's just throwing 0-5V at the speed pot." So I busted out the video camera and soldered a jack right to the pot, and sure as shit, works like a charm, as the video above shows.
Something I didn't mention in the video: this isn't 1V/Oct. It's more like 5V/Oct. Sequencer 1 actually shows the voltage value you're shitting out the CV outputs in linear mode, so I was able to just put a tuner on the ass end, and scroll the voltage values until it was tuned to 12TET. I got 14 semitones total out of it, which is plenty for demonstration purposes. But if you're going to attempt this, you'll need a sequencer that can output linear values in addition to 1V/Oct. Sequencer 1 is, of course, perfect for this sort of foolishness. I'm sure there are others that will work fine, but I don't feel like talking about them.
When it comes to the cassette itself, take the lowest note you want to play, and record a note a semitone below that (so you have some wiggle room) on your cassette, and you'll end up with a full octave above that note.
You can clearly hear the portamento in the note programming later in the video. This is a result of the time it takes the motor to move to the new speed. This is an electromechanical process, so it's not instantaneous. Something with inertia needs to be accelerated or decelerated, and this takes time. Hence, fixed portamento.
---
## Tech Time No. 006: Fun With Contact Mics...
- Date: 2016-08-14
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2016/08/tech-time-no-006-fun-with-contact-mics/
Part of the problem with having been in this business so long is that some of this stuff seems really self-evident to me. Someone in one of the Facebook groups I follow asked about this contact mic shit, and several others chimed in to say "yeah, that'd be dope!" and I happily complied. The problem is that I don't know how basic to make it.
I think I struck a happy medium here between showing the basic techniques and showing some stuff that more advanced users might find interesting. I'll let you be the judge. Let me know in the comments.
---
## The Weekly No. 005: The Road Less Travelled...
- Date: 2016-08-10
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2016/08/the-weekly-no-005-the-road-less-travelled/
A nice trip to Oregon last week; visited my mom on the Coast, did an event at Control Voltage in Portland, and visited my 90-yr-old grandparents in Eastern Oregon. A lot of driving, but good fun overall.
Side note: while I generally do the requisite things to keep my creative batteries charged, all the usual shit that everyone does, once in a while, a good set of circumstances can give me an extra boost, and that occurred Saturday morning in Portland. I had some time to kill, and the hotel was right next to the Portland Art Museum, so I figured "fuck it, let's go have a look." The Portland Art Museum has a relatively small permanent collection, largely given to portraits of overweight Flemish bankers, like most small museums that exist due to the largess of a cattle baron or some such. So most of the museum is given over to temporary exhibits.
The combination of shows at the PDX museum last weekend was really stellar, is all I'm saying. In particular, there was an installation of material studies from [Allied Works Architecture](http://www.alliedworks.com/projects/casework/) that really got my gears turning. Super inspirational. I think I caught it on its last day there, but what a great exhibit. Also, the new collection of graphic art in the basement is _well_ worth a look if you're in Portland.
Anyhow, I'm changing the schedule on these videos a bit. I've moved The Weekly to mid-week, and Tech Time will stay in the weekends. Since those are more popular, I'm going to devote the entire weekend to their creation, and bang out The Weekly during the work week, since it is inherently easier to do.
PLEASE SUBSCRIBE!!! to the YouTube channel if you haven't already.
---
## The Weekly No. 004: Techumenical...
- Date: 2016-07-26
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2016/07/the-weekly-no-004-techumenical/
Wherein your humble narrator opines on the merits, or lack thereof, of free shit on Craigslist. Also, a lengthy tirade on This Gear versus That Gear.
---
## Full Of Techno: Push 2 And Simpler...
- Date: 2016-07-23
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2016/07/full-of-techno-push-2-and-simpler/
This week's Tech Time is a more sophisticated version of something I touched on in the last Push 2 / Modular video, making polysynth patches from a mono analog. I show my whole workflow, from initial sample to laying it in the mix.
The channel is starting to get a little momentum; I'll do my Cranky Old Man video on Sunday.
---
## Four Chords The Hard Way: Tech Talk No. 003...
- Date: 2016-07-18
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2016/07/four-chords-the-hard-way-tech-talk-no-003/
Step 1: Plan out a cool video. Buy gear from eBay to shoot video about. Gear arrives broken.
Step 2: Plan out another cool video to replace it. Buy gear to shoot video about. Idea turns out to be stupid and not-working, and not in a cool way but in a stupid and not-working way.
Step 3: Look around office for \_anything\_ to shoot a video about. Shoot video about that.
---
## AI Weekly No. 003 - Battery Acid...
- Date: 2016-07-16
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2016/07/ai-weekly-no-003-battery-acid/
Super busy this week shipping the restock of Sequencer 1, the initial stock of Shapes, and generally moving cardboard around my living room. So just a shorty.
Note that I will be in PDX on August 6th at 2:30pm at Control Voltage, along with Scott Jeager of Industrial Music Electronics. Facebook event page is [here](https://www.facebook.com/events/1721671774753577/).
---
## Tech_Time No. 002: Using the Eurorack and Push 2 together...
- Date: 2016-07-10
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2016/07/tech-time-no-002-using-the-eurorack-and-push-2-together/
A slightly less esoteric Tech\_Talk this week. My own personal workflow for dumping Eurorack tracks to Live for further production. This is kind of quasi-basic, I think, but I do get a lot of people asking me how I do it, so I guess it's something that people find interesting.
Looking for topics for next week's Tech\_Talk and Weekly. Hook a brother up!
---
## AI Weekly No. 002 - Maple-Bacon Donuts...
- Date: 2016-07-08
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2016/07/ai-weekly-no-002-maple-bacon-donuts/
The new Weekly is up. Trying out a more comfortable camera-dialogue style. (This actually closely matches my internal dialogue that is going on 100% of the day in my head; this was my intent.) Let me know if you like / unlike / are ambivalent / whatever.
Anyhow, this week's subject: fear of failure.
---
## Tech_Time No. 001: Tape looping with a Nagra III...
- Date: 2016-07-03
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2016/07/tech-time-no-001-tape-looping-with-a-nagra-iii/
Someone asked in the comments of the last video if I could do a quick demo of how I loop with a Nagra III, and I wanted to do a second weekly that was just anachronistic tech shit, so the stars aligned. Here's a video about how I make tape loops with my Nagra IIII deck.
---
## AI Weekly No. 001 - Purr Louder...
- Date: 2016-07-01
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2016/07/ai-weekly-no-001-purr-louder/
The first AI YouTube vlog is up! Subject matter includes cats, field recording, bribing Mexican cops.
Comments and criticisms (other than the frame rate mismatch jitters, which I'm aware of) are welcome. Type below. Also, if you haven't subscribed to the channel, please go do so, for the ulterior motives addressed in the previous post.
---
## Addendum To The Previous...
- Date: 2016-06-25
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2016/06/addendum-to-the-previous/
Naturally, since I've spent most of the last week lying on a beach in Mexico, I'm totally amped to get home and get back to work. Item, like, three or something on my List Of Shit To Do is get my YouTube channel rolling. I've done a lot of reading over the last week on the various resources available to YouTube content creators; I'll admit I've never really used this platform to its fullest potential after reading all this shit.
(Sidebar: I also discovered that the most popular YouTube channels are for _really_ bizarre shit. [These people](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJZ7f6NQzGKZnFXzFW9y9UQ) have over 4 million subscribers, and as best I can tell, they put up a 5 minute video every day where they throw Mr. Potatoheads at each other and show off their cosmetic dentistry. Shit is a Japanese Game Show level of weird, no joke.)
Anyhow, during my journey I found out that YouTube has a complete and very nice production facility in Los Angeles that is (more or less, with various caveats) open to anyone that has 10K subscribers on their channel. I would like to use this production facility to record live performances of the people in our Circle Of Trust to build our community, and give some of these excellent performances that we regularly shit out in to the wild a more permanent home in the social fabric.
With the caveat that I have never once actively pursued subscribers, I currently have about 1300 subs to my personal YouTube channel. Audio Damage has about twice that many, and thus would be a better starting place, but many of the YouTube For Creators features (including the production studios) are not available to business channels. However, I think that our needs would best be met in this context by making [an Analog Industries channel](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxo8sMbB0hJsKxUVkj0krdw), starting from a blank slate, and taking the hit.
(EDIT: Made the channel, or at least the beginnings of it. Please go hit "subscribe" so we can quickly get to the hundred subs needed for the custom URL, which is much better for further promo.)
My reasoning here: this will enable more consistent branding between this site and the channel, and the difference between 8700 subscribers needed and 10K needed is really only just a couple rungs on an already tall (but not insurmountably so) ladder. I mean, while there's a lot of crossover, I have over 10K between my Twitter and Instagram accounts, so it can't be _that_ hard. Can it?
I guess we'll find out. It's going to take a community effort to get that many subscribers so we have access to the YouTube studios. Once that occurs, we'll have to figure out, as a community, who gets to reap the reward of having their performances recorded for posterity. I'm open to any and all suggestions in that regard; this will be somewhat technically challenging, and we'll need volunteers to assist with the technical work in LA. (And wherever else we do it; there are also YouTube Spaces in [several other cities](https://www.youtube.com/yt/space/index.html), but I'm given to understand the LA one is the best one.)
With all that in mind, I'll be shipping the new AD module (Shapes) and a long-awaited restock of Sequencer 1 all next week. In my free time, I'll be assembling the AI YouTube channel and starting to make content for it. This is where I'll do the vlog and other associated content; I'll keep the live performances and shit on my own channel, as has always been the case, and the AD channel will continue to be the hub for tutorials and what-not.
---
## Broodcast Journalism...
- Date: 2016-06-14
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2016/06/broodcast-journalism/
So Sonic State hit me up about doing a little tutorial video about Karplus-Strong when I was at SuperBooth in Berlin, the which I happily did. I totally forgot about it, to be honest, until Nick [put it up](http://www.sonicstate.com/news/2016/06/13/tell-me-about-karplus-strong-synthesis/) on his site yesterday. I was noting on Facebook that I was _deep_ in the Jetlag Timeslip when I did it, and it's actually relatively amazing that it's watchable at all, let alone fairly on-point and informative, as such extemporizing goes. (At least, in my opinion.)
But it lit a fire under my ass to do something I've been meaning to do for a long time. I have all these broadcast accounts and a commercial broadband hardline right here to my house, and it's certainly well within my means to do a fairly high-quality stream out of my office. I was thinking of doing a Twitch or YouTube Live stream maybe once a week, where you can AMA in the vein of the "10 Questions" videos we did a while back, albeit with more focus. Like "watch me patch this shit or fuck with Reaktor Blocks while I talk and answer questions and whatever" kind of thing.
I don't honestly know how it would play out, and I need to rearrange some things in my office and test some shit to get the best lighting/sound scenario going, but I think it might be fun for all. In that vein, some questions:
1\. What do you think the best platform for this endeavor would be? I have a Twitch account, and it's all set up and tested, and I think the audio and video quality is better than sending the same exact encoding to YouTube, personally. However, YouTube is the larger platform, and Twitch is, of course, aimed at gamers. Open to ideas in this regard. It would be a fairly simple matter to set up a media server right here on the AD box and stream it direct, for that matter.
2\. What would you like to see as the purview? Watch Crandall Produce Shit? Q&A? Lightly-scripted topic (like "10 Questions" or the video above where we just talk about a single subject?) I'm open to ideas. I'll try anything out. I'm leaning towards a combination of Watch Me Work and Q&A, with the caveat that I'll probably forget to look at the chat window.
3\. What sort of schedule? Should I block time weekly for a strictly live affair, or could it be more random? I'm not doing any daily bullshit, that's for sure.
Anyhow, open to any and all ideas. Your comments and input in this regard will be most appreciated.
---
## Berlin Debrief...
- Date: 2016-04-05
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2016/04/berlin-debrief/
[](https://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/26149111851/in/dateposted-public/)
Unless you've been living under a rock for the last few whiles, you are perfectly aware of last week's [Superbooth 16](https://www.superbooth.com/en/) in Berlin. Schneidersburo is one of the largest Eurorack retailers (and via their Alex4 subsidiary, the European distributor for almost all North American Euro manufacturers), and every year they've had an Analogue Superbooth at MusikMesse in Frankfurt.
The MusikMesse has, in the last few years, become a hostile environment for boutique manufacturers, and Schneidersburo/Alex4 decided, to their credit, to make their Analogue Superbooth a stand-alone event, and put it in Berlin (where it's cool) instead of Frankfurt (where it's basically Dallas Plus Schnitzel). We'd been dreading the inevitable trip to Messe, so when Schneider's announced this event, we immediately jumped on board, as did virtually everyone else. All the larger North American Euro manufacturers were in attendance, with one notable exception. Essentially all of the European manufacturers were there, as well as many other companies that ran the gamut from one-dude-in-a-basement-with-an-invention on up to U-He, Ableton, Native Instruments, Roland, Korg, Yamaha, and Moog, along with several pro-audio companies.
It was, basically, all the cool shit in the music tech business under one roof.
[](https://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/26191786536/in/dateposted-public/)
The venue was the splendid former state radio building of the GDR, and while it was a bit run down, having sat idle for some decades now, the Schneiders folks did an amazing job cleaning it up and running the event. I'll admit that the potential for a clusterfuck of massive proportions was a distinct possibility, given the location of the venue (on the corner of the Ass End Of Nowhere and Bumblefuck) and the high cost of attendance. I am personally of the mind that these sorts of events should be free to the attendees, and I give any event that has even a moderate fee the side-eye, but in this case, the stars aligned and all went perfectly.
Schneiders organized it so the first half of the (very long) days were for trade only and the second half were for the public. Since we don't actually have a whole lot of trade to do, being distributed exclusively by Alex4, the first parts of the days were spent hanging with old friends and meeting new ones, seeing the new stuff everyone's working on, and talking about the industry. The public half of the days was outstanding; the people that attended were the best informed I've personally come across at one of these events. I didn't talk to a single "so... what does this... do... exactly?" n00B. (I despise those conversations, as I've worked in this business so long I just assume everyone I talk to has the same knowledge base I do, and when I find myself explaining how an oscillator works, my eyes glaze over immediately.)
All in all, this was the single best event of this sort that I've ever attended. We've been discussing not doing the major trade shows any more (NAMM in particular) because the signal-to-noise ratio is so bad that there's no noticeable return on our investment. This, however, was money and time well spent, and we very much look forward to next year.
Adam was unable to attend, as he had a vacation in Japan planned for the same time period, and due to personal reasons was unable to change the dates. So I took Jeremy Highhouse to work our booth for the public parts. I've been to Frankfurt many times, and spent a couple months in Hamburg and Cologne, but I've never visited Berlin. I only had about a day and a half to explore, but what an outstanding city! I loved every minute I was there, except for the first day. (And this is my fault, not Berlin's. Like some sort of diptard, I left my one and only coat in Phoenix, and arrived to a very cold and wet Berlin at 7AM, unable to get in my rented flat until 3PM, after 21 hours of travel. That was... amusing.)
It was great to see people in real life that I've known for years online and talk to daily, and to make a whole mess of new friends. Well worth the trouble of getting there. Special shout out to the Koma Elektronik boys, who are, quite frankly, the coolest people I've ever met.
---
## Upcoming Events And Stuff...
- Date: 2016-03-18
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2016/03/upcoming-events-and-stuff/
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Lax at blogging. Sue me. I'm busy.
Speaking to that, if you're in the PHX area on Saturday, March 26th, we have a synth meet at Phoenix College you should probably attend. I'll be there with the latest and greatest from AD, and Blue Lantern and Synthesis Technology will also be in attendance. It's free to one and all, and runs from 2PM to 6PM, as the picture above implies. Plenty of room, tables, etc. Bring your interesting shit. Nobody cares about your D50, so leave that at home.
Immediately after that, I'll be on the way to Berlin for [Superbooth 16](https://www.superbooth.com/en/). I'll be there from the 29th to the following Monday, April 4th. I'll be at Superbooth with the Audio Damage Road Show all three days of that event, but otherwise, my time is my own, so if you're in that fair city and want to get together for whatever it is they do in Berlin, I'm down. Hit me up on Twitter or email or whatever. (With the following caveat: I plan on spending zero time in nightclubs listening to loud music. If that's your bag, enjoy, but it's not for me.)
In hardware news, DubJr Mk2 is released and shipping. Most of our retailers have it in stock. It is a heavily updated iteration of our first module, DubJr. (Naming conventions: we has them.) Product page is [here](http://www.audiodamage.com/hardware/product.php?pid=ADM16). Basically, the original shrunk to 6HP, and we added tap tempo, a clock input, a feedback loop, and a switch to defeat the internal filters. All in all a pretty slick little module, and the most live-performance-friendly delay you're gonna find. US$289, but we're totally sold out here at the office, so you'll have to hit up Control or Analogue Haven or one of our other dealers.
In software news, we've updated Sequencer 1's firmware to 1.3.4. A couple of bug fixes, plus "Note" and "Gate" modes for the CV outputs, essentially turning it in to a four-voice sequencer (well, that's a bit of a fib. Three voices is easy. Four is hard, but possible if you're clever.) We also added Actions, which are basically per-pattern directives to control various functions of the transport on a probability basis. (Think: Follow Actions in Live clips. Like that.) This has really extended the reach of Sequencer 1. You can get the new firmware on the [Sequencer 1 product page](http://www.audiodamage.com/hardware/product.php?pid=ADM06).
I've made a short video to demonstrate both the multi-mode features and the Actions, in the form of a cover of Aphex Twin's "Avril 14th."
---
## Sync 01 Today!
- Date: 2016-03-05
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2016/03/sync-01-today/
If you're in the Bay Area today, come down to [Sync 01](https://www.facebook.com/events/938039636288716/), presented by Audio Damage. Free to attend, all ages, at Codeword (917 Folsom St @ 5th). Demo systems from the following manufacturers:
Audio Damage
WMD
Dave Smith Instruments
Rossum Electro-Music
Roger Linn
Makenoise
Toppobrillo
Mordax
Industrial Music Electronics (formerly The Harvestman)
Blue Lantern
Noise Engineering
4MS
Percussa
Bay-Area retailers with systems and product:
Robotspeak
I/O Music Technology
Live performances by:
Rodent
Bana Haffar
James Cigler
Tyler Thompson
Nebyuu
It's gonna be a sweet event, and I hope to see you there!
---
## Sync 01 and stylus...
- Date: 2016-01-30
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2016/01/sync-01-and-stylus/
Audio Damage is sponsoring a manufacturer's event in San Francisco on March 5th, at [Codeword](https://www.codeword-sf.com/) (917 Folsom at 5th st). I'll be making a website and promo materials next week, as we finalize who, exactly, is attending.
There will be four live performances, and I think I can safely say that most of the Western US manufacturers will be in attendance. This is shaping up to be a fantastic major West Coast event, and is not to be missed! Codeword has a full bar and attached pizza joint, which covers two of the three major food groups. (it is a satellite of the famous DNA Lounge, and has the same set of facilities). Unfortunately, both the State of California and JWZ are anti-smoking, so the third food group is out of the question.
I'll update this post as information comes in, but I have signed the contract for the venue, so it's a "go" no matter what. For obvious reasons, this will be a Euro-centric affair, but there will be non-Euro synths there from at least one attendee, and I guarantee you'll want to nerd out on 'em. If you're in Central California, be there or be... yeah.
[Listen to "stylus" by chris randall.](https://octave.is/chrisrandall/stylus)
Also, put up a new track last night. Apparently the genre is "ambstep," something I didn't know existed until it was pointed out to me that this was very much that. (That seems to be the case with micro-genres.)
Anyhow, 100% Euro and found sounds, recorded to, mixed from, and mastered to analog tape. Vocals by [Kate Dilemma.](https://soundcloud.com/katedilemma) Mastered by [Wade Alin](http://www.standardmastering.com/). I don't have any particular process notes, as this track is very much in line with how I've been working lately: create a bed on the Euro w/ Push2, multi-track it out in to a structured song where the production occurs, stem it to 8-track tape, record the stems back in to the computer, final mix, record to the 2-track, back in to the computer, send it to Wade for the final squish. Download is available on the Octave page. Enjoy!
---
## The New Style...
- Date: 2016-01-22
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2016/01/the-new-style/
Day One of NAMM is in the books, and we've unveiled our four new hardware products. First up is ADM14 BoomTschak (or "BT," as we call it. We're hip to brevity at AD.) This is our first 100% analog product. Not a single line of code. Our motivation was to create a quality high-end analog drum voice, and I think we hit this one out of the park. Accent and choke inputs, a stonking self-resonant multi-mode filter of our own design, three envelopes with curve controls, and a waveshaper give this thing a wide palette. It is a real bruiser, and since it will join Sequencer 1 at the top of our ecosystem, you'll be seeing a lot of it here and in [my Instagram feed](https://www.instagram.com/chris.randall/). We haven't got all the quotes in yet, so we're not 100% on what it's going to cost, but we feel like $450 is attainable, despite the ludicrous parts count. (It has 16 knobs on it, for the love of all that is holy.) We should be shipping these in about 6-8 weeks.
This little fella is DubJr Mk2. It's basically DubJr, at a _much_ higher build quality, and with all the features that people have asked for since the original was released. (Was it 4 years ago? Wow.) Tap tempo, clock input, selectable "free" or "jump" times, and a feedback loop cover all your clocked delay needs, in a 6HP package. Like all of our 6HP effects, this will be $289, and will be shipping in about 3 weeks.
Aaaaand ADP01 Fluid and ADP02 Freqshift. These are stereo guitar pedals. They have true analog bypass, assignable expression pedal destination, and custom laser-cut steel chassis. Having done my time on stage, I know what a bullet-proof pedal needs to be able to take, and these are as tough as they come. ADP01 Fluid is a direct descendant of our super thick 6-delay chorus in our Fluid plugin, with the alterations present in the ADM11 Dimensions Eurorack module. (There already is a Dimensions pedal, so we just named it what it is, Fluid.)
ADP02 Freqshift is a derivation of our original Freqshift module, with alterations for the stereo guitar pedal context. I have never personally really bothered with frequency shifting as an effect in my music, so I was unprepared for what this thing can do. Adam did a hell of a job with the DSP on this one, and it is a super useful and unique effect that can go from the widest, deepest stereo phaser you've ever heard on up to insane screeching and pure industrial craziness. Every guitar player that came to our booth yesterday went "holy shit..." when I kicked that bitch on.
These will be shipping in about 5 weeks, theoretically, but as this is our first foray in to pedal manufacturing, we're approaching it with some caution. I'd rather they took a little more time and we got them absolutely right. So we'll see how that plays out. These will be $290 each.
Anyhow, as for NAMM itself, Eurorack has gone complete honey badger. It seems every company that makes anything is making a Eurorack version of that thing. I haven't really had a chance to wander about aside from our immediate area; hopefully I'll have some more time today to look around. I did have a good long play with the new DSI Obie, and it is a thing of beauty. Very excited to get one of these. Much like the Prophet 6, it is quite easy to get those classic sounds you'd expect to be able to get from an OB-Mx or that ilk, along with all the modern conveniences and some surprises. I'm calling that one a "win." I also had a fiddle with the new MakeNoise desktop synth, the 0coast. I think you should put that in your "must buy" folder. Tony really hit that one out of the park. Simple, inexpensive, and with a tonal range that isn't, to my knowledge, occupied by any other company.
And we soldier on. Day Two starts in an hour.
---
## Different Drummer...
- Date: 2016-01-13
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2016/01/different-drummer/
Whelp, I just have a bit more welding to do, and a couple prototype panels to silkscreen, and we're ready for NAMM. 2015 was a big year for Audio Damage as we got further in to our Pivot™, and 2016 will be bigger still, as we begin to make mass-market music tech products (initially guitar pedals, but soon to be other things as well) to go along with our continuing Eurorack offerings.
We'll be unveiling four new products at NAMM, at least three of which will begin shipping not too long afterwards. And we'll have at least a couple prototypes and experiments to gauge interest. We're really swinging for the fences this year, and a larger facility here in Phoenix and some local hiring are no doubt in our immediate future as we expand the operation to encompass The New Shit. I've spent most of 2015 learning about large(r) scale manufacturing, while Adam has been studying up on analog design. Even though most of the year was a learning exercise, we still managed to release three new modules (Kompressor, Dimensions, and Neuron.)
We're officially starting 2016 with NAMM, and we will also be attending an as-yet unannounced event in February in LA that promises to be pretty big, and of course the [Superbooth 16](https://www.superbooth.com/en/) in Berlin at the end of March. I will also be giving my scatterbrained clinics in New York and Portland at some point in the first half of the year, as time and finances allow.
In short, it's already been a pretty big year and it's only three weeks old. The cats are nervous, is all I'm saying. If you're attending NAMM, be sure to stop by booth 5000 and say "hi" to Adam and I. Keep in mind that I'll be adding roughly 15,000 new people a day to the several million I've already met over my career, so give me some context and don't expect my middle-aged brain to automatically know who you are. All evidence to the contrary, I'm simply not that on-the-ball.
---
## Integration...
- Date: 2015-12-05
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2015/12/integration/
I've had the Push 2 for a few whiles now, and (despite a heavy load of Logistics in the last couple weeks) I've been experimenting with how to best integrate it in to my _**Workflow**_. (I wonder if that joke has gotten old yet.)
The video above is some of that experimentation. Someone asked via the YouTube comments about what was going on, and in trying to answer, I discovered that it's so hideously complex that it beggars description in a YouTube comment format, so I thought I'd break it down here, where I have a little more control over things. So, what follows is a ridiculous process explanation. Strap in.
**Percussion:** As you can see, I have two Sequencer 1 units in my Eurorack. The lower one is driving all the rhythmic elements. I have two Neuron modules in the bottom row, and they provide (on the left) the foot and (on the right) the snare. To the right of them is a Noise Engineering [Basimilus Iteritas](http://www.noiseengineering.us/basimilus-iteritas/) , which is also making a snare-ish sound. They are triggered by the gate, accent, and one of the CV outputs of the Seq1 respectively. Another CV output in Seq1 is driving (via an LFO) a WMD env/vca through which Mad Hatter provides hat duties. The WMD Sequential Switch to the right of the lower Sequencer 1 has the two Neurons and the BI bussed through it, and the fourth output is running to a prototype of DubJr Mk 2 (which you see me occasionally send something to. Should be obvious any time I touch the Sequential Switch.) DubJr Mk2 is getting clocked off the clock output of the Seq1.
This whole mess is getting mixed in the lower right-hand corner in the Circuit Abbey Unify. The main outputs are running to a stereo pair in Live, and the headphone output is running to a prototype of ADM15 Spectre (our upcoming FFT freeze module.) This is in the lower left-hand corner. The left-hand Neuron (the kick) is the sidechain source for a Kompressor, which Spectre runs through, and thus to a Dimensions chorus, and to the Unify mixer that is in the lower right of the upper case.
That Sequencer 1's last CV output is running to its own CV1 input, with a random LFO triggering the repeats on the second pattern I run starting at 5:50.
**Euro Synth:** The synth lines coming from the Eurorack are driven by the top Sequencer 1. This Sequencer 1 is modulating itself in the same manner as above, and the CV and gate outputs are driving the WMD/SSF set in the second row, in a typical 2-osc / 2-env / 1 filter configuration. Nothing special about this at all. This is getting mixed with Spectre via the Unify in the second row, and then on to a second pair of inputs to Live.
**The Live Thing:** This is actually much later in an extended Live set (for another section that has more coming from Live, see [previous video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CS2E-Qlew0)), and the slots that have stuff in them you can't see since the right side of the Push 2 unit is out of frame. But suffice to say there's stuff there and it's running. I am, in this instance, primarily using Live and the Push 2 as a mixer, though.
The first channel, EuroDrums, has as its source the stereo pair from the lower Unify (the percussion.) I have an Effect Rack on the channel, with a whole raft of shit in it. There are two instances of Eventide H3000 Factory, an instance of AD Replicant, and an instance of SonicCharge Permut8, as well as various compressors, EQs, delays, etc. Four of the knobs in the Effect Rack (and thus on the Push 2) drive various controls on the buffer effects, three of them control delay flavor, and the last one controls distortion/bitcrushing. In this manner, I can just whack the EuroDrums button on Live, and I have a lot of control over the drum buss, at least as far as glitching/buffer shit goes.
The second channel, EuroSynth, is much the same, with an Effects Rack with all the macro knobs mapped. However, instead of buffer effects, I have stuff appropriate to the sort of synth work I do. Five of the macro knobs are mapped to Mangleverb, and three of them are mapped to another Effects Rack that contains two Dubstations arranged in a ping-pong array.
There is an audio channel off to the right that you can't see that is playing a loop of a field recording of water running throughout the video, and there is also a channel that contains an instance of Silent Way Sync that is providing the master clock for the Eurorack. There are three effect return channels, and my sends are ValhallaVintageVerb, Eos, and DubJr (this is actually my template Live set, and I have those three in everything I do.) All channels have the NI SolidBus compressor on them, and various EQs appropriate to the task, as does the master channel.
**monome:** The monome 128 that you see in the bottom of the frame is controlling an instance of Flin as a M4L midi effect. This is in front of an instance of AD Phosphor. I kick this on for the second half of the first song.
So, as you can see, a lot going on, but once it's all set up, it's pretty fluid. Effects Rack macros to control the synth and drum buss effects, Euro for sound sources, and Live for stuff that can't be done with the Euro. All directly accessible and fairly easy to control. I'm greatly enjoying exploring this hybrid workflow, and am incredibly happy with the Push 2. I imagine this is how I'll be making music for some time now. The trick is to treat the monome / Push 2 / Eurorack as a holistic instrument, and learn it that way, rather than concentrating on any one thing at the expense of the others, I think.
Here is the audio. If you click through to the Octave page, you can download a high-quality MP3.
[Listen to "glitch one / glitch two" by chris randall.](https://octave.is/chrisrandall/glitch-one-glitch-two)
---
## Octave Is...
- Date: 2015-11-26
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2015/11/octave-is/
[Listen to the album "009909" by Chris Randall.](https://octave.is/chrisrandall/album/009909)
For those of you that don't follow me on Twitter, I let it drop the other day that me and the missus and our long-time web collaborator Mark Beeson made [a thing.](http://octave.is/)
From the embed above, it should be readily apparent what it does. And long-time readers will know exactly why we made it, so I don't need to go in to any lengthy explanation about that. Suffice it to say that we've been working on it for about a while now, and Octave is now open for business. We're addressing user wishes as they come in, so its purview is adjusting (and rather rapidly, it must be said) to the use cases that we, as professional musicians, need.
Happy to field any questions/comments here. One further thing: in conversation about the service with someone that didn't fully understand the point, I quipped the following: "Soundcloud is for musicians with fans; Octave is for musicians with clients."
---
## Six Networking Tips For The Music Business...
- Date: 2015-11-01
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2015/11/six-networking-tips-for-the-music-business/
As many of you know, I teach a class on entrepreneurship in the music industry. We recently did a little block on networking, and I put up my axioms for interaction in the music business. It was intimated that others might like to read it / rip it to shreds / dismiss it with a hand wave, so I decided to put it up here.
Some context: business courses that talk about networking go through the usual Zig Zigler bullshit. That doesn't apply to our business; most people chose this business because it's cool, not so they could finally afford that Donald Trump tie set. As a result, networking in the music business isn't like networking at an insurance actuary convention. Sure, there are parts of the business (mostly on the tech and manufacturing side) that are more or less indistinguishable from normal business, so these tidbits of info are meant to apply to the music side of things (bands / labels / live show / that sort of thing) and not the tech side of things (manufacturing / distribution / retail).
**1\. NO GHERMING!**
This is the cardinal rule. "[Gherming](https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=gherm)", if you're not familiar with the term, is the act of being a slobbering fanboi to a celebrity. If you find yourself in the position of talking to someone that can make things happen in your career, you don't need to tell them that you're a big fan. You don't need to give them a litany of their own achievements. Successful artists and businesspeople are much happier when they just assume that you already know their bona-fides. You don't need to tell them about everything they've done and what it meant to you. If you do, they immediately put you in the category of "fan," and successful artists have a way of dealing with fans that is very different than how they deal with people that they do business with. You don't want to be in this category, because it will heavily inform all future interactions, and not to your benefit. Assume that they know what they've done, and let them assume that you're familiar with it, but not to a creepy stalker degree.
**2\. BUSINESS CARDS**
Almost any networking resources tells you to have business cards and have them ready. This is nonsense. Business cards only matter to business people, and in this context they're kind of weak and smell of desperation. Networking in the music business is an exercise in finesse, and the business card is a blunt instrument that carries with it a burden of societal standards that people that work in the music side of the music business are actively avoiding. In short, unless you are you're on the music tech side of things, and working a booth at a convention, there's no context in which a business card will be useful, and it actually may hurt the interaction. A successful musician or label owner doesn't need to carry a business card, because everyone knows who they are, at least contextually, and they'll just put yours in their pocket and it'll get washed in to a little doughy blob of pulp. Think of other ways to exchange credentials. See also: tour laminates. People that aren't important on tours have to wear laminates. People that are important generally don't. When you're the roadie, you have to wear a laminate. When you're the lead singer of the headlining act, you don't.
**3\. AVOID THE MIXER**
Any industry event or service that advertises itself as something where networking can occur is the last place networking will occur. The reason for this is simple: the entirety of the attendees will be people that need to network. To shine a clearer light on it: I am someone that can make things occur, to a certain extent, and at a lower tier than a real "industry player." I would never attend one of these events, and I sure as hell know that anyone that is more powerful than me in the industry (which is almost the entire industry) wouldn't, either. So everyone that is at a mixer is less capable than I am of "making things happen." And I am only barely capable. That should tell you everything you need to know. If you're kicking ass, in the places where ass-kicking can occur, people that need ass-kickers, or can help ass-kickers get to the next level of ass-kicking, will see you and ensure that your ass-kicking is rewarded. Paying to attend a cocktail party, where no ass-kicking can occur, is a waste of money.
**4\. LISTEN WELL**
One of the more annoying facets of modern conversation is that it tends to be something of a competition. You want to speak to someone as an equal, but when you're talking to someone that is _a posteriori_ more successful than you, this is essentially impossible, and the human brain offers up all sorts of annoying tics to deal with this. Don't try to compete with someone that can help you. Listen to what they're saying, and respond to questions. Don't interview them, or tell them about "this one time at band camp" unless they ask. Nobody gives a shit about how your band opened for Creed this one time, or how you found yourself in a men's room peeing within FIVE FEET!!! of Martin Gore. Keep it to yourself.
**5\. FAKE IT 'TIL YOU MAKE IT**
This is somewhat tender. Don't big-up yourself, or lie about your capabilities, but on the other hand, never say "no," unless you're physically incapable of saying "yes." As the old saw goes, "nothing ventured, nothing gained." If you become known as someone who can get things done, then people will want to network with you, and you won't have to work as hard for opportunities. If a situation presents itself that is outside your comfort zone, do it anyhow. Make it happen. People admire a failed attempt way more than they admire hesitation and uncertainty. If you don't put yourself in positions where you have the opportunity to excel in the face of difficulty, well, those situations don't happen accidentally.
**6\. CONTROL YOUR BASE INSTINCTS**
This one is simple: with notable exceptions, people that are successful in the music industry tend to have good self-control. This business is intrinsically tied to vice, and most vices are readily available, so the ability to actively avoid your vice of choice is valuable. If you know you're a sloppy or mean drunk, don't drink where business can occur. If you like drugs, don't put yourself in situations where drugs are available. Nobody cares what you do on your own time, but if your capabilities during a show or in a business situation are hindered because of your vices, this will greatly affect potential outcomes, and not in your favor. I will add a caveat to that: true "genius" artists generally get a pass for bad behavior, because the value of their art to society outweighs the damage they do to that society. But if you were one of those (and they're fucking thin on the ground) you wouldn't be sitting here learning how to network.
\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_
I open the floor to you, AI readers. Now that you see how I'm damaging the youth of today, thoughts? Additions? Subtractions?
---
## The State Of Things...
- Date: 2015-10-31
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2015/10/the-state-of-things/
You can tell it's fall in Arizona when the leaves turn beautiful shades of red and orange, and there's a crispness in the air... Just kidding. The only way I know is that my seatbelt buckle doesn't give me 2nd degree burns when I get in my Jeep. But fall and winter traditionally means we start releasing the stuff we've been working on all year at Audio Damage, and this fall is no exception. (In point of fact, it is exceptional!)
First out the chute is pictured above, [ADM12 Neuron](http://www.audiodamage.com/hardware/product.php?pid=ADM12). It is an all-in-one drum voice with a simple FM topology. After acquiring the [Dinky's Taiko](http://busycircuits.com/alm005/) and [Basimilus Iteritas](http://www.noiseengineering.us/basimilus-iteritas) modules, I found myself still using several modules to patch kick drum and snare sounds I was happy with. (Nothing against either of those modules whatsoever; I like them both for more out-there percussion sounds. Particularly BI.) So we took the Neuron voice from our Axon plug-in, altered it to broaden its tonal range and make it more capable for traditional drum synth sounds, and shoved it in a 12HP package.
The result is a nice little drum voice that we're particularly happy with. Hit the product page for specs and an overview video. I'm actually taking a break from retail-packaging the first batch of these to write this post. They're on the way to our Galaxy Of Retailers starting today, and will be available in the AD store at the end of next week if you want to order direct.
Next up, it's been no particular secret that we're working on non-Euro hardware. This turned out to be surprisingly difficult. Euro has a pretty set-in-stone standard for look and construction, and known suppliers, and you work within those parameters. When we started examining stand-alone products, well, things got hairy quick. But this summer's labor is beginning to bear fruit, and we will definitely be showing our new line of Audio Damage pedals at NAMM in January. We _hope_ to show three different pedals, but that might be optimistic. This has proven to be a surprisingly difficult and time-consuming operation.
Interestingly, most of the difficulty and time consumption resulted from the fact that I just can't stand those Hammond boxes that most boutique pedals come in, and wanted our own folded steel chassis. It turns out that you need to know quite a bit of mechanical engineering to cause such a thing to be created, and since I had two years of mechanical engineering classes in high school in the 80s, of course I was up to the task. But lo, and furthermore hark! My brother-in-law works at [Baer](http://baer.com/home.php), which is (literally) right up the street from us, and he loaned me one of their engineers. Then the fine folks at Cutting Edge Manufacturing here in Phoenix took those drawings and tuned them up a bit, and then BLASTED SHEETS OF STEEL WITH A 4000 WATT LASER! (This shit is so fucking cool, I don't even.)
The first article is pictured above. These things are so tough you could drive a tank over them. I don't know about the rest of the thing, but the chassis will definitely survive the apocalypse. The guts are digital, of course, but feature true bypass (done with relays), assignable expression pedal destinations, and true stereo where appropriate. I think the non-Euro folks are gonna be very pleased with these, and as we get a _**WORKFLOW**_ in place to build stand-alone products, you'll start to see some more sophisticated shit, in addition to our ever-expanding Euro line.
---
## Instant Anger…
- Date: 2015-10-20
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2015/10/instant-anger/
Eventide has _finally_ released a native version of the Anthology suite of plugins. About half of them have been native for a while, but it's nice to have the whole set. They might seem a bit quirky to people that didn't spend every waking hour in a recording studio in the 80s and 90s, as most of the plugs are directly modelled on the Eventide Clockworks hardware equivalent, but that said, in many cases there is no equivalent commonly available. If you make IDM, in particular, this is a desirable collection; many of the plugs have Richard Divine presets that are essentially "Instant Autechre." (In point of fact, several of his presets are named as such directly.)
H3000 Factory is my favorite of the set. I use it when I'm closing in on the end of the production process, and there is a hole in the arrangement. You can run pretty much any sound through this plug, and just skip through the presets until it sits.
Caveat Emptor: I did the UI update for Ultra Reverb, and partial design for Octavox and Quadravox. (Ultra Reverb is another special member of this collection. Reverb as a creative tool, rather than a room-maker.) There's a 30-day special on this package for cross/upgrading that you should definitely take advantage of. For the price, probably the single best bundle of plugs available. ['Tis here.](https://www.eventideaudio.com/products/plugins/multi-effect/anthology-x)
---
## Twitching...
- Date: 2015-09-30
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2015/09/twitching/
[This article](https://www.engadget.com/2015/09/30/deadmau5-is-on-twitch/) on Engadget caught my eye this morning. The tl;dr version: Deadmau5 is streaming his studio work (and gaming, I guess) on Twitch.
Now, everyone reading this is no doubt familiar with my love of process, and while I don't particularly care about Mr. Zimmerman's process in particular, I like the general idea of sharing your work while you do it. I'm a visual thinker, and I get way more out of watching someone do something than reading an article or instruction manual. The vast majority of my learning comes from watching process videos and talks on YouTube. In point of fact, my favorite YouTube channels are [Jimmy Diresta](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiEk4xHBbz0hZNIBBpowdYQ) and [I Like To Make Stuff](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6x7GwJxuoABSosgVXDYtTw), both of which are (while not music related, even a tiny bit) 100% about process.
I don't have any particular problem with people watching me work; in point of fact, the results are generally better because of the audience. (As long as I'm not doing vocals. That's a different story.) My questions about this idea is thus: is this something other people find interesting? I mean, would you sit on your couch for an hour and watch someone patch a Euro system or program beats on Twitch or YouTube Live? I personally don't generally watch music production process videos, because they are (and I am in no way tooting my own horn here; just stating a fact) usually put up by people that are far less experienced than I in electronic music production.
It wouldn't be that much trouble for me to pull this off. I have a commercial broadband connection here you can drive a truck through, and the technical knowledge to provide pretty good video and audio streams. However, I honestly have no idea if it's something you guys would be interested in, and thus worth the trouble.
(It would, however, be an excellent impetus to keep my office clean.)
---
## Stereo Effecting...
- Date: 2015-09-10
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2015/09/stereo-effecting/
[
](http://www.audiodamage.com/)
Yeah, long time no post. I know. I'm a terrible person. Email me if you need my lawyer's address. Extra super-duper busy around here this summer, as we prep for our fall releases. We have several hardware products coming out before the end of the year, and it doesn't leave me much time to do the interesting things that I normally talk about here.
Speaking of, we're pleased to announce the release of ADM10 Kompressor and ADM11 Dimensions. These are interesting inasmuch as they are the first direct ports of our plug-in products to hardware; previous releases have all been sort of based on various aspects of our plugin line, but these two are the first to basically go whole-hog. Kompressor contains the entirety of our Rough Rider plug-in, while Dimensions contains the entirety of Fluid. Both have extra hardware-appropriate features, but the DSP code is almost verbatim.
These also mark the debut of our ad-ab-03 platform, which is the replacement for our initial ad-ab-01 platform (from which all of our 3-knob effects were derived.) We have ceased manufacture of the -01 based products; they are still readily available in various retailers around the world, and we have enough stock on hand to honor warranty replacements and what-not, but we won't be making or shipping any more.
ad-ab-03 is far superior to the -01 models. It has, as you can plainly see in the above picture, four panel-bolted BI 100K-turn pots, custom Rogan knobs, and a USB port for firmware updates. We've double-stacked the boards so we could squeeze 2HP more out, resulting in a 6HP module. All in all, this new platform shows everything we've learned about making hardware in the last couple years, and is a sizeable improvement.
Some products from the existing line will be ported to the new system. Some will not. We haven't come to a firm decision in that regard. We'll keep you informed, though.
In any event, both Dimensions and Kompressor are available for immediate shipment from the [Audio Damage store](http://www.audiodamage.com/), as well as many of our retail partners. If your favorite store doesn't carry them, be sure to ask, and they'll contact us directly. We also have Sequencer 1 back in stock for direct orders.
In other news, yes, we have several more hardware releases before the holidays. At least one of those will be a Eurorack module. Read that however you want. I've been working 12-hour days for the last week, and I'm going to take the evening off to try out this new version of Reaktor.
---
## The Origin Of The Species...
- Date: 2015-06-27
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2015/06/the-origin-of-the-species/
Steve Hamann asked an interesting pair of questions on Twitter this morning: "What is the origin of the floating hands and electronic gear music video?" And he followed that up with this: "For a lot of people it seems to have become a musical end unto itself, I wonder where/when it started?"
I am obviously a strong proponent of this particular form of expression. My [first YouTube upload](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQrlUN9wVdM), in 2007, was only the first in a long string of Hands videos in my channel; roughly two thirds of my uploads fit in to this category. These sorts of videos are _de rigueur_ these days for any aspiring synthNerd, and Audio Damage even makes [a product](http://www.audiodamage.com/hardware/product.php?pid=ADM09) specifically for making them with your modular synth and iPhone.
If you've been a long-time reader of this site (10 YEARS NEXT MONTH HOLY SHIT!!) I've inflicted these videos on you many times. To address the second part of Steve's musings, speaking strictly for myself, the video is absolutely the musical end, and I generally write the music specifically for the video. This started happening in the beginning of 2011; before that, I had generally done any sort of video upload as an afterthought, but this one is the first one where making the video was the goal in and of itself:
Many others followed, of course, and while the early ones were recorded and mixed, and the audio released elsewhere, I've gradually got to the point where the video is the release entire, and I don't actually include any downloadable audio content. I'll admit I hadn't actually thought about the "why" of this until today, and I don't have a good answer for it. In pondering it, I think that a lot of the reason I put up the videos (aside from demonstrating the cool shit we make) is that they show off my skill as a musician, inasmuch as I'm capable of demonstrating skill, and serve as "proof" that no trickery was involved. I think with the growing popularity of modular synths, and the dick-swinging inherent in that group of instruments, they also serve as a nice set of _bona fides_: "look at all this dope shit I have, and here's proof that I'm good at using it."
So, that's me. But it leaves Steve's questions sort of unanswered: where's the Ür Hands Video? And why do other people do it? I personally am curious as to why people put up so many really shitty ones. One of the groups on Facebook that I belong to, it's basically just a constant stream of really terrible sound (I won't even call it music) with cell phone mic audio. These videos are essentially worthless, whether a demonstration of prowess or a snapshot of a musical moment. Your thoughts? Can we find the first Hands video on YouTube?
---
## Explorations...
- Date: 2015-05-04
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2015/05/explorations/
For reasons passing understanding, I've decided I'm going to do my next release 100% Euro. So in my munificent free time the last couple weeks, I've been trying out different workflows to make that experience relatively painless, and by that, I mean that I'm looking in to ways that the context doesn't get in my way. My normal course of action would be to do everything in individual passes, and edit/mix/arrange in the DAW, with additional production being done digitally.
For this release, I'm hoping to avoid that and do entire songs in one pass. So I went through the trouble of assembling a Eurorack instrument-unto-itself; I'm still fooling a bit with the exact layout, but I pretty much have it down right now to something I can make complete tracks with. It's a 12U Monorocket case with a pair of Sequencer 1s and an [obvious collection of modules](https://www.modulargrid.net/e/racks/view/168760). Taken as a single collective instrument, it needs to be learned and mastered. Which is what I'm doing right now.
The video above shows where I am in the process. This is by no means a musical statement, but rather just a recording of me exploring some different methodologies for performing with this thing, and learning what it is capable of. You'll note the thing I'm fiddling with off to the side, which is a Boss RRV-10 that I circuit-bent some years ago. It has made appearances in many of my videos, but it never occurred to me to "play" it in real time. So I'm experimenting with that here. The monome is hooked up to the Earthsea module, and I'm just using it to play the little melody that is running in to the RRV-10.
So, it's coming along. I think I'm getting close to being ready to patch some music in to life. I will be recording these tracks "stemmed" (in a manner of speaking) direct to 8-track tape, where they'll be mixed to my MTR-11 1/4" deck. I will \_try\_ to make a video of each performance, but I'm not making any promises there. Stopping a good creative flow to set up the camera, and deal with all that nonsense, is kind of a drag.
For an earlier snapshot of the current journey, you can have a listen to this (no video, sorry.) Unlike the above song, I made this before I made the decision to not multi-take things, so it is actually 4 passes, rather than one.
---
## Crandall's Simple Steps To Avoid UI Suck...
- Date: 2015-04-21
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2015/04/crandalls-simple-steps-to-avoid-ui-suck/
When I gave my talk on UI design for music software at UCSB, at the end of the talk, I attempted to distill my rant to its essence, and provide a simple set of guidelines for uX and UI for plug-ins and apps for musicians. While some of this seems self-evident, I came up with these steps with the idea of providing some insight in to our world for engineers and academics that might not have any experience with professional musicians.
These are by no means Rules™ that must be adhered to, but rather some simple tips to keep your software product from looking like Pd. Basically. I break them all the time, but I have 75+ commercial products under my belt, so I get to do what I want. :-)
**1\. LIGHT ON DARK**
Musicians are generally either in a dark studio/spare bedroom/basement or on stage, and generally working in the evening or at night. Looking at a bright white slab of screen can be irritating, and occasionally painful. A UI for musicians should be lighter colored elements on a dark background. The accepted guideline for contrast is 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for large text. In real world RGB terms, assuming a black background, your text should be at least #959595 or lighter. (I prefer lighter.) Dark text and elements on a light background just sucks for the most part, but if you do it, maintain the same contrast ratio for any element that provides information to the user.
**2\. USE A MODERN DISPLAY FONT**
Traditional fonts (and yes, I include the venerated Helvetica in this group) were not designed for readability on high-resolution computer screens at small sizes. They were designed for signs and newspapers. Don't use them. Make the effort with a modern display font, designed for modern systems. I am a DIN whore, I won't deny. But you can do far worse than [Source Sans Pro](https://www.google.com/fonts/specimen/Source+Sans+Pro), which is free as in your mom, and made by Google specifically for modern high-resolution displays. (Google actually makes quite a few modern display fonts for UI work that are free-ish.)
**3\. FLATTER IS BETTER**
Unless, in addition to being a top-notch DSP engineer, you're also highly skilled at using 3D modelling software to make user interfaces, Don't Do It. There is a place for skeumorphism in audio software: this place is usually reserved for interfaces meant to ape vintage gear, to provide the user with a familiar experience. So I won't dismiss it out of hand. But it's something best left to pros. You're far better off just making a circle with a little line on it for a knob. It's hard to fuck that up.
**4\. MAKE THE UI FIRST**
When an engineer or academic sort is intent on making a piece of commercial (or professional, at least) music software, he/she tends to get the DSP done first, then put a UI on it during or after the process. This results in a product that doesn't have a holistic feel. It is far better to codify your initial DSP idea, then design and code a full UI, then fit the DSP in. There's no law that says you can't change the UI during or after the process, but it really helps make a better product when you're building to a set goal, rather than "seeing where things lead." Sometimes, that's unavoidable, but you should really see where things lead _before_ you draw the first pixel.
**5\. ASK A MUSICIAN**
Designing products for musicians, if you're not one, results in bad products. You wouldn't want to buy a car designed by someone that doesn't drive, would you? There are... well, I won't say "standards," but there are ways of doing things in the music world that can perhaps go against normal uX conventions, and if you've never made music for money, in the studio or on stage (preferably both) then you should get somebody in your Circle of Trust that has, and does. And I don't mean at the beta-test stage. I mean as soon as you have the UI coded. Fitting the DSP in to a musician-friendly context is much better than trying to make a scientific/academic chunk of DSP musician-friendly by brute force after the fact.
Anyhow, these are just ideas that some may find helpful. If I'm way off the reservation, or other designers that read this blog have some different (or better) ideas, by all means hit up the comments.
---
## Roland On The Case...
- Date: 2015-04-14
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2015/04/roland-on-the-case/
Details of the long-rumored Roland Eurorack modules leaked today, ahead of the Musikmesse announcement. In a nutshell, four 21HP DSP-based stereo effects units (delay, distortion, "scatter" effect, and bitcrusher/filter) with both 9VDC and Euro power connectors on the back, along with USB for Aira connectivity, and the ability to live as a desktop unit. $299 each.
Now, as my time in the music tech business has lengthened, I've gradually stopped putting up editorials about gear on this site, because I have to see all these people at NAMM and various other functions all the time, and I don't want to be that crabby old man that sits in the corner grumbling. But for these, I'll make an exception.
Roland is like Stevie Wonder. At one time, a long time ago, Stevie made some records that are ludicrously good. Then, in the mid-80s, he made "Ebony and Ivory" and "I Just Called (To Say I Love You)." And he's been coasting ever since. As musicians, each and every one of us respects Stevie Wonder, and we all own all those good records and know them by heart. But we willfully ignore everything past a certain point.
Sure, once in a while, Stevie does something that just makes us go "wow." But on the whole, we're not terribly interested. If Stevie went back in the studio and made some stinky, funky iteration of "I Wish," we'd all be like "daaaaaaamn, Stevie still got it!" But for the most part, we're not too concerned with what he's up to.
Same thing with Roland.
Talk of Roland snooping around Euro was the main grist for the NAMM rumor mill, at least among the Euro guys. Our general consensus was that either they would come up with something that would move the platform _way_ forward, or they would repackage their guitar pedals.
As we can plainly see, it is the latter case.
I will say one thing: these will be a powerful gateway drug, as they will be a much less threatening introduction to the platform. But for the real Euro user, they miss the mark by a country mile. What a waste of the biggest and best R&D department in the industry.
**EDIT:**
When I wrote the above, we didn't know about the System 500. This changes matters quite a bit, and here's how:
1\. Powerful gateway drug? I don't even. The System 500 is a very, very good thing on that front, as it is a comprehensive and (I assume) well-supported starter system with Roland's marketing machine behind it. This will really hurt companies that sell full voices for n00b buyers (Pittsburgh, Intellijel, Doepfer, et al) but for those of us that deal primarily in the icing, not the cake, this is a HUGE deal. Especially for us, because I'll note that we sell the best "Roland-style" sequencer on the market, and Roland didn't make a sequencer.
2\. This system will be in every music gear retailer on the planet, thus bringing the concept of modular synthesis to the masses, in a way that the existing Euro manufacturers could never hope to do.
Overall, I'm like "whatevs" with the digital modules, because they're by and large pretty dumb and duplicate already-existing Euro products, and not well. But the analog system is, to all appearances, absolutely outstanding, and exactly what was needed.
---
## Robotron...
- Date: 2015-04-10
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2015/04/robotron/
Just for fun, we did a run of shirts with the [marquee art](http://s148.photobucket.com/user/fickensie/media/DSC00316.jpg.html) from a Robotron coin-op arcade machine reformated for our nefarious purposes.
This is a strictly limited item, and when they're gone, they're gone. US$24.00, which includes shipping in the US. ($1.00 shipping everywhere else.) [Get 'em while they're hot.](http://www.audiodamage.com/hardware/product.php?pid=ADT02)
---
## A Little Context...
- Date: 2015-04-02
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2015/04/a-little-context/
As you've no doubt seen if you follow me on Twitter or Facebook or down the street in real life or whatever, we've been busy shipping our new module, [Odio](http://www.audiodamage.com/hardware/product.php?pid=ADM09), which is a little 2-in, 2-out audio interface for using iOS devices in your Eurorack kit. Entirely coincidental to this, but alarmingly convenient, Chris Carlson finally updated his excellent [Borderlands](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/borderlands-granular/id561369733?mt=8) granular synth for iPad to v2.0.
Never was a match more made in Heaven than Odio and Borderlands, as Marcus Fischer's post [yesterday](http://www.dustbreeding.com/520-april-first/) on his excellent Dust Breeding blog proved. I thought a little video demo of using Borderlands with Odio might be appropo, so after my shipping chores were done for the day, I busted the above out.
In the video, the analog synth melody is coming from my full boat of WMD/SSF modules I just got this week, the hi-hat is coming from our Mad Hatter module, and the speech synthesis is courtesy of a prototype module I'm currently researching that runs a full emulation of the TI speech synthesis chip. (In other words, those aren't samples, at least in the traditional sense of the word.) The whole mess is sequenced via Sequencer 1.
You can hear in the beginning that the synth line is passing through the iPad via the AudioBus app. After a moment, I instance Borderlands. Since Borderlands is a synth, and not a real-time effect, the audio is interrupted. I then flip to the Borderlands instance, and record a couple measures of the synth line.
After fooling with that for a bit, I then move the speech synthesizer's output from the mixer to Odio, and record a bit of it, while I'm twiddling knobs on the prototype. What happens after that should be pretty self-evident from watching the video.
Anyhow, I think the video shows how powerful the Odio/Borderlands combination is. If you'd like to see videos of other iPad-based software in use, let me know your specific requests.
---
## Im In Ur Rack, Blinken Ur Lites...
- Date: 2015-03-15
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2015/03/im-in-ur-rack-blinken-ur-lites/
[](https://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/16197926933)
Just got back from my trip to the Denver Synth Meet 2015. Pretty good showing for a regional meet, all in all. Saw lots of old friends, made some new ones, got some business done. No complaints. Here's a [Flickr set](https://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/sets/72157651291036636) of all the gear on display at the meet, if you're in to that sort of thing.
We showed our newest product, Odio, to the public for the first time at the meet. Odio is a 2-in, 2-out class compliant USB audio interface designed principally for using an iPad or iPhone with your modular. These will be shipping to retailers this week, and you can pre-order Odio at [Control Brooklyn](http://www.ctrl-mod.com/Audio-Damage-Odio-p/audio-damage-odio.htm) or [Analogue Haven](http://www.analoguehaven.com/audiodamage/adm09/) right now. Other retailers to follow shortly. It is a super-handy little module, and I'll have some videos up of use cases very soon.
In other news, all the ad-ab-01-based modules (everything but Sequencer 1 and Odio, basically) are in production, and will be back in stock at our retailers, and in our store and Amazon, within the next few days. And we just pulled the trigger on another run of Sequencer 1. All this building and shipping will give me something to do while Adam puts the finishing touches on the hardware design for our next product, which is a whopper.
---
## I'm In Ur Town, Eatin' Ur Donuts...
- Date: 2015-02-28
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2015/02/im-in-ur-town-eatin-ur-donuts/
Got some localized instances of Crandall to mention, in the event you want to come breath on me and bask in my effervescent glow IRL.
**March 2: MAT Seminar Series, Santa Barbara, CA** I am giving a talk at UCSB's MAT seminar series about product design. Apparently, they thought giving me a microphone and a projector and standing me in front of a bunch of tenure-track academics for an hour was a good idea. We'll see how that pans out. This is free and open to the public, and I'm given to understand that coffee will be served. I don't drink coffee. [Info here.](http://www.mat.ucsb.edu/595M/?p=1563)
_**EDIT:** That one's in the can. Interesting experience. It's the first time I've given a "seminar" or anything, and I think it went over fine. It was strange seeing people that, you know, invented C-Sound and stuff taking notes. I am ill-equiped to get all erudite in that august company._
**March 14: Denver Synth Meet, Denver, CO** Audio Damage are sponsors of this event, and both Adam and I will be there with systems to demo. We will also (theoretically) unveil our next hardware product at that show. It runs from 10AM to 10PM, with live performances and, I can only assume, games of some sort. We will be giving our demonstration talk at noon. Tickets are $20, and $10 if you bring a synth. (No word on drum machines.) Open to the public. [Info here.](http://denversynth.com/)
**April 18: Control, Brooklyn, NY** I will be giving a full clinic / demo of Audio Damage hardware products, as well as a Q&A/grin-and-grab, at [Control](http://www.ctrl-mod.com/category-s/1983.htm) in Brooklyn on Saturday, 4/18. This is free and open to the public, and should be a fun event. This is my first return to NYC since the mid '00s, and the first time we've done one of these in-store clinic things; should be interesting. I'll put more info up as I have it; we only just booked the date.
---
## Eurorack Drums For Maschine...
- Date: 2015-02-15
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2015/02/eurorack-drums-for-maschine/
In my explorations the last couple days, I accidentally a couple kits of more-or-less traditional drum machine sounds for Maschine (software 2.1.2 or later) with my Euro stuff. Since I'm reasonably convinced this is the sort of thing that is of interest to the above-average AI reader, [here they are.](http://www.samplehedz.com/downloads/eurodrum.zip) (4.3mb zip file.) It is a pair of kits with 15 samples each; I've utilized pad 16 in both kits for the Maschine plate reverb.
These can, of course, be utilized in any sample playback device; there are a pair of folders in the zip containing the raw samples. They will not have the benefit of the (generally mild) production in the Maschine software, as I didn't bake the effects or EQ or anything.
Enjoy!
---
## 10 Answers, Riparian Edition...
- Date: 2015-02-12
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2015/02/10-answers-riparian-edition/
Better late than never, right? My optimism about doing this at NAMM was ill-advised, and then when I got home from NAMM, events conspired to keep me from having time. Today, I finally had the opportunity. So, blatantly disregarding the level indicator on my digital recorder, off to the desert I went. Here's your answers. Enjoy!
---
## YO DAWG I HERD U LIKE PROCESS SO I PROCESSED UR PROCESS!!!
- Date: 2015-02-10
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2015/02/yo-dawg-i-herd-u-like-process-so-i-processed-ur-process/
Just having some fun out on the porch today, thinking about what a Euro/tape rig for live performance might encompass. Many different organizations and promoters have asked me to perform modular sets in the last couple months, and I'm just poking around, thinking about how I might pull that off, in the interests of due diligence. Since some of my methods are a bit old-fashioned, even for the modular crowd, I thought it'd be interesting to some of you if I rolled camera while I was noodling. There's no musical statement here whatsoever. Just peeking around the corners, until inspiration either strikes or doesn't at this point.
Now, that said, I don't have any particular problem making process videos, if that's something people are interested in. I use a lot of techniques that used to be commonplace but are much less so now, and perhaps people find that sort of thing intriguing? I'll let you guys be the arbiters. A vote for "more process" would essentially result in tutorial videos with me extemporaneously blathering on about a particular technique. A vote for "less process" would essentially result in the usual "hands" videos I put up all the time.
Side note: I know I haven't done the 10 Questions answers yet. I'm a shit-heel. Wednesday or Thursday.
---
## Splice Partnership...
- Date: 2015-02-05
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2015/02/splice-partnership/
As those of you who follow me on Twitter know, Audio Damage has entered a partnership agreement with [Splice](http://www.splice.com/). As a result, most (soon to be all) of our products are available for purchase within the Splice interface, directly from Splice. If you sign up to Splice and invite two friends to join, our monosynth Basic will be added to your account for free. The details are on the [Splice blog](https://blog.splice.com/invite-2-friends-to-splice-get-audio-damage-basic-synth/).
This is an interesting time for us; back when we only had a couple plug-ins, many of you will remember we entered in to a similar arrangement with Cakewalk. But the difficulties of managing licenses and what-not proved to be more trouble than they were worth, and we ended up ending that partnership nearly 10 years ago. (I still get support email about Cakewalk transactions, almost a decade later.) Since then, we've been approached many times to enter in to various sorts of agreements, from the plain-Jane reselling of the hideously-named Don'tCrack, to some incredibly Byzantine arrangements that, as one would guess, never got off the ground.
The difference here is that the Splice guys are cool, and they understand the Audio Damage Way Of Things. The service itself is a cloud-based backup and collaboration tool, but it deals in sessions (Live, Logic, Cubase, what-have-you) rather than individual files. It also has a social aspect, with the ability to share sessions, stems, and mixes in a manner similar to other music sharing services.
All in all, this is an interesting thing, and we hope good things come of it. One note: if you purchase one of our plug-ins through Splice, we will, of course, provide full support just as if you bought it through us. However, the license and its management are handled by the Splice interface and their support staff. Long story short: don't buy it on Splice then write me asking if I can move the license to your Audio Damage account or something. That'll be fun for me, like, once. When a plug-in is updated, your Splice interface will inform you. (In that regard, it's actually better than our system, where you're on your own as far as being informed of updates go, unless you follow me on Twitter.)
---
## NAMM Wrap-Up...
- Date: 2015-01-26
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2015/01/namm-wrap-up/
Okay, I know long-time readers are used to a daily NAMM round-up, wherein I make biting comments about the latest and greatest from our fine business. Long-time readers also know that I'm not, as a habit, an exhibitor at NAMM. That all changed this year.
I'm not going to apologize for not walking the floor and trying out every new thing under the sun. While I would have greatly enjoyed doing exactly that, the simple fact of the matter is that it was virtually impossible to make the time. Not only was I generally tied to the Audio Damage booth, but this NAMM was unusually crowded, at least relative to the last few I've been to. And the Eurorack format is really exploding. At this rate, we'll have an entire hall in two years.
So, as I say, I was unable to either poke or prod any new things. The only instrument I did spend a total of about 45 seconds with was the Sequential Prophet 6. That was long enough to decide it was the modern analog synth of my dreams. Keybed: great. Control surface: great. Sound: great. I saw almost nothing else during the show, I'm sorry to report.
We did get a lot of good business done, which is, I guess, the point of the operation. We discovered that both Adam and I are really shitty at giving demos and doing sales pitches. Adam gets in to the minutia of the device so quickly that the potential customer's eyes glaze over, while I take a more patronizing "well, it's shit-hot, and you should buy it, unless you're stupid or something" meta-approach. We will, in the future, be paying Jeremy Highhouse to do our pitching for us, because we suck at it, plain and simple.
I had big plans to film the 10 Questions answers on the show floor, but a raging bout of insomnia that waylaid me for virtually the entire trip kept me in this sort of strange FML zone that prevented me from being extemporaneous, at least in any intelligible fashion. I'll do the answers in the next couple days.
Anyhow, if I was able to meet you during the week, rest assured that I think you are both handsome and charming, and I'll tell anyone who asks. Don't bother posting anything like "hey, did you check out the new DeeJay EZ-Tron 5000 XS?" because I didn't.
A very special thanks to WMD for organizing the group booth, and to Stan Cotey and Fender for saving our bacon in at least two ways. When the largest American music equipment company takes time out of their ludicrously busy show schedule to help out one of the smallest, it makes you feel good about the future in general, and this business in particular.
(Side note: those in the general know of things might view the previous paragraph as an attempt to lay the blame for the noise warnings WMD received at Fender's feet. NOTHING COULD BE FURTHER FROM THE TRUTH!!!)
---
## January's 10 Questions, Special NAMM Edition, And Some Other Shit...
- Date: 2015-01-15
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2015/01/januarys-10-questions-special-namm-edition-and-some-other-shit/
For the January edition of 10 Questions, I'll be at NAMM, obviously. So I'll do the answers video at the show itself, on Saturday, Jan. 24th. The Google Moderator page for asking your questions and voting on your favorites is [now open.](https://www.google.com/moderator/#15/e=21c4f6&t=21c4f6.41)
One thing I noticed last month: the people that get their questions in early naturally tend to come out on top, because everyone that follows them is encouraged to vote by the Moderator software. So your best bet is to get in early. And not ask something idiotic, of course.
A couple other things:
1\. We're entertaining the thought of adding hardware bundles to the AD store. If anyone has any thoughts on this subject, now would be the time to voice them, and this would be the place.
2\. When I get back from NAMM, Audio Damage t-shirts will once again be available in the store. We got a new style done. I \_think\_ it'll be all awesome and shit, but I won't know until I have them in my paws on Monday.
3\. There will be some prototypes from a couple new manufacturers in our racks at our NAMM booth. Come visit and see some new shit in the WMD Manufacturer's Booth, Hall A, booth 6990.
---
## So Long, 2014...
- Date: 2014-12-31
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2014/12/so-long-2014/
[](https://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/15437406724)
Happy New Year, AI-ers! 2014 was, like most recent years, pretty awesome for me personally and Audio Damage as a company. I don't believe in luck (or, well, magic of any sort) but if I did, I'd think I had some.
What's coming in 2015? On the AD front, some new hardware, and some updates to classic AD plug-ins. We'll also be making our first appearance at NAMM as a company with a physical presence. On the personal front, a new Sister Machine Gun record in March, and I'm beginning the phase of my life where speaking engagements at universities seem to be a thing I do, also in March at UCSB. During the next 12 months, I am going to attempt to do a Cool Thing Every Month here on AI (t-shirt, sample pack, whatever), as well as a monthly installment of the 10 Questions video blog on YouTube.
In short, it's going to be busy. What awsomeness happened to you in 2014? (Or, well, didn't, I guess?) What amazing thing do you have planned for 2015? TELL ME, FOR THE LOVE OF ZOG!
---
## 10 Answers...
- Date: 2014-12-21
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2014/12/10-answers/
That was actually quite fun to do, as it turned out. Other than glancing over the questions in Google Moderator a couple times, I didn't do any preparation, so the answers are more-or-less totally extemporaneous. (I had to do a couple over, because I got lost in thought or digression.) Basically, I printed out the top 10 questions this morning, took a drive out to the desert, set up my Olympus OM-D E-M5, and let 'er rip. Audio was recorded on a Tascam DR-2d via a [JK MIC-J 044](https://www.amazon.com/MIC-J-044-Omni-directional-Condenser-Microphone/dp/B00KMILKGS/ref=as_sl_pc_ss_til?tag=analogindustr-20&linkCode=w01&linkId=32HQVAFA3D3SPFBR&creativeASIN=B00KMILKGS) lav mic. (I highly recommend the latter. For the money, turned out to be pretty sweet.)
If this is something that people find interesting, I'll be happy to do it again. I enjoyed it quite a bit. If there's another form factor for videos you'd like to see, I'd be happy to consider those, as well.
---
## Ten Questions?
- Date: 2014-12-15
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2014/12/ten-questions/
So I have this idea of doing a monthly YouTube video.
"PARTY!!!" you all scream at the top of your lungs! You're all a bunch of cynics, and frankly I'm amazed I'm friends with you, because I'm not cynical at all.
Anyhow, here's my idea: you all anonymously submit questions via Google Moderator, and I'll answer the top ten in a live-to-camera video for YouTube. I won't do this via YouTube Live, because I'm not a complete idiot (present evidence to the contrary), and I reserve the right to edit gross mistakes and mis-management. So it would be sort of an AMA, only theoretically more fun.
Hopefully.
Anyhow, I would _prefer_ the questions cover subject matter I know something about (electronic music production, user interface design, esoteric control methodology, Audio Damage products, music publishing, making things, earning a living in the music business, touring, that sort of shit) but whatever gets voted to the top, I'll answer.
If it's fun and cool, we can make it a regular thing. If it's not fun (for me) or cool (for you) or generally retarded, we won't. But it can't hurt to try, right? I have made a Google Moderator page [here](https://www.google.com/moderator/#16/e=21c4f6). The questions won't appear in the list until I've allowed them, which means I'll just delete anything truly stupid, so don't bother asking nonsense.
If you have any ideas of how to make this come off better, or examples of how it's been done well, feel free to comment/criticise.
**EDIT:** Voting is closed. Filming now.
---
## Movin' Right Along...
- Date: 2014-11-26
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2014/11/movin-right-along/
I won't lie to you. The main point of this post is to roll that Doctorow photo below the fold so I don't have to see his stupid face when I check the site. However, I will use this opportunity to provide a general update as to the State Of Things here at the Audio Damage Logistics And Research Facility. In no particular order.
1) My personal experiment time of late has largely revolved around C. Elegans, pictured above. This lowly nematode is unique inasmuch as it is the only living creature to have its brain entirely [mapped](http://www.openworm.org/), neuron-for-neuron. This intrigued me for a number of reasons, and I've spent the last few weeks tinkering with the brain model, trying to come up with musically useful applications of a fully functioning nematode brain. Believe me when I say this isn't as easy as it sounds. (And since it doesn't sound easy at all, well, you get the idea.) I've been using a Python script developed by [this fellow](http://connectomeengine.com/) running on a Raspberry Pi, but that's mainly served to teach me two things: first, that Python is stupid for this sort of thing, and second, the Raspberry Pi might be a fun piece of equipment to tinker with, but for the kind of shit we do, it is retarded. Especially when it is weighted down by Raspbian. So I've moved my experiments back to C++11 (via Cinder) and a real computer, and we shall see what we shall see.
2) We are currently out-of-stock of DubJr, and are running low on Sequencer 1. I re-ordered panels for DubJr some time ago, but due to a communication error on Metalphoto's part, they weren't actually ordered until today. I have two units left currently, and they are in [our Amazon store](https://www.amazon.com/gp/node/index.html/?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&linkCode=ur2&linkId=A2OB3OZ74Y3WQMXV&linkId=EQBUDZAB5P3WZIO2&marketplaceID=ATVPDKIKX0DER&me=A2R4LTTR0FYNI2&merchant=A2R4LTTR0FYNI2&redirect=true&tag=analogindustr-20&linkId=MQH5I6ZY6U2C3KUR). If you want a DubJr, long story short, either get it at Amazon, or via one of our retail partners. Vis-a-vis Sequencer 1, we're not going to do a second run of these for a while, so if you want one, best get on it, either direct or via one of the retailers that stock it. We'll have the first major software update for it here in a week or thereabouts, which will add the most-requested features.
3) Not next week, but the following week, we will have an addition to the small modules line, ADM07. For this, we're not announcing anything until we have units here shipping, but suffice to say you didn't know you needed it, but once you see it, you'll wonder how you ever managed without it. Yeah, one of those.
4) And finally, I've been asked to give a seminar/talk at UC Santa Barbara on March 2nd of next year. Other than "music tech" I have a pretty broad palette to choose from for the subject matter. I was thinking of a brief overview of what it is I do and have done, then a talk about massive design failures and why failing matters and is useful (both my own and other peoples'.) Unless I'm still interested in nematodes by then, of course.
---
## Dear Cory Doctorow: Please Shut The Fuck Up About Music...
- Date: 2014-11-19
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2014/11/dear-cory-doctorow-please-shut-the-fuck-up-about-music/
_Cory Doctorow portrait by [Jonathan Worth](http://jonathanworth.com/), altered by me for comedic effect._
Cory Doctorow did a Q&A [on iO9 today](https://io9.gizmodo.com/this-is-how-artists-make-their-livings-in-the-internet-1660864329), wherein he provided everything you need to know about making a living in the arts in the Internet Age. Naturally, he was talking out his ass, like he does. The problem is he was talking mostly about the music industry, a subject of which he demonstrably knows very little, despite his protestations. Since his comments are so brazenly misinformed, I thought a line-by-line breakdown was in order, in the hopes that people will understand how little this dude knows about our business.
_It's always been all but impossible for individuals to earn a living from the arts!_
No. It hasn't. Hundreds of thousands of people do it every day, and have for centuries.
_Nearly everyone who ever set out to earn a living from the arts lost money in the bargain. Of those who made money, almost all made very little. Of those who made a lot of money, most stopped making money quickly._
Where's your proof of this? Did you just make these "facts" up? My own experience in the arts, going on 30 years now, is that it's actually fairly easy to make a living, as long as you are better-than-mediocre at your job of choice (and even that isn't a deal-breaker. For instance, you have a career writing science fiction.) Aiming to be the next Mick Jagger is most likely going to lead to disappointment, sure.
_Success in the arts has always been a six-sigma event, a huge rarity. It's only because we apply survivor-bias to our perception of the arts (only considering the successes, because by definition we never even hear about the failures) that we think of the arts as a business, instead of lotto._
Hardly. Success is a largely a function of perseverance, practice, and ability. Pick two.
And survivor bias? Well, every single comment you've made here is a result of your own survivor bias. You're overlooking the hundreds of thousands of working musicians that do totally fine, everywhere. All the members of every orchestra in the world (and any city of a reasonable size has at least two) and their understudies all make fine livings. Every pit player in every live musical or stage production can make their mortgage every year. Every employee of every record label in this country, and the employees of all the music publishing houses, library companies, game music studios, TV and film scoring shops, commercial/industrial music companies... they all do just fine. Every venue that plays live music has bouncers, bartenders, managers, DJs, and never mind the bands. All these people are making a living in the arts. And that's just music.
Survivor bias, my hairy white nuts.
_Every single person who's ever pursued a career in the arts without a plan B was doing something insanely risky, and most of them had a diastrous \[sic\] outcome as a result._
Do you have numbers to back this statement up? In my experience, anyone who's pursued a career in anything without a plan B was doing something risky. But insanely risky? How do you figure? What's insane about risk?
"He either fears his fate too much,
Or his deserts are small,
That dares not put it to the touch
To gain or lose it all."
\-James Graham
There ain't no such thing as a free lunch, buster. And define "diastrous" \[sic\]. Did they die? Lose a limb? Grow a third nipple? Or did they only find out that perhaps their talents didn't run to the arts? I don't think that qualifies as "diastrous."\[sic\]
_When we try to defend certain kinds of professional artists, we always end up doing so at the cost of other artists. For example, before the advent of the record and the radio, it was inconceivable to ponder a musical performer who loved to perform, whose performances would please millions, but who didn't want to perform in front of an audience. This was as weird an idea as a notional champion swimmer who just didn't like water._
Is Frederic Chopin inconceivable? How about Beethoven? Barbara Streisand has a notorious case of stage fright. Is her career somehow inconceivable to you? Ditto Andy Partridge of XTC. If you have ever had to get up on stage and sing, which you obviously haven't, you'd know that it's difficult. This is why success is largely a function of skill, not magic internet dust.
_The live performers hated and feared the radio/record performers. ASCAP boycotted radio for years (opening the way for "hillbilly" and "race" music to rise to prominence in America)._
Hated? Feared? How so? Where's your proof? Did you just make that up? Aside from that, your premise is wrong. Radio stations [boycotted ASCAP](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASCAP_boycott) from 1931 to 1939. Not the other way around. How the ever-loving fuck would ASCAP boycott radio? I've seen you mention ASCAP many times over the years, and it's pretty obvious that you don't really have a clear understanding of what they do. And you never mention BMI or SESAC. Why is that? ASCAP is a fucking non-profit, for all love, and its sole purpose is to make sure musicians get paid for their work. Unlike the other two. Seriously, dude.
_Today, the people who succeeded at recording careers rebel at the idea of being live performers._
Really? Where did you find this out? Proof? Or is this another fact you just pulled out of your ass? Also, you're mixing verb tenses. You're a professional writer, for the love of Christ.
_But the technical reality that changed how the tiny minority of successful artists got their income has a much wider effect than artists' income -- radio didn't mostly affect music, it changed every fact about the world. The Internet, too._
I don't think you fully understand what the phrase "successful artists" means. Or "fact," for that matter. But that aside, this doesn't make any sense whatsoever, so I have nothing to rebut.
_The biggest challenge to the incomes of the tiny minority of artists who do succeed today is the fact that there is a highly concentrated entertainment industry (five publishers, four labels, five studios) and they have incrediby abusive, one-sided standard contracts._
Again, define "success" before you build an argument based upon it. There isn't some "success" benchmark, below which is non-success, and above which is Easy Street™. Do you mean "I can pay my rent"? Because that's not that difficult. Or do you mean "I have a house in the Hills / Overlookin' the sea / It's worth eight but I only paid five point three." Because those are two very different things. Even your precious Amanda Palmer, who is successful by any reasonable benchmark, can't roll with Dre. In my opinion, I'm quite successful. I have an income that is twice the median, own a house, have a two-car garage and a swimming pool, but compared to Ms. Palmer or Dre, I've barely moved the needle in my career. Back to your lottery analogy, you imply that Dre's success is the result, for all intents and purposes, of hitting five digits plus the Powerball. News flash: Dre didn't win the lottery. He made the fucking Chronic.
And "incrediby \[sic\] abusive, one-sided standard contracts..." Have you ever even seen a recording contract? Record labels are essentially very specialized banks. If you've ever bought a new car or a house, this is pretty much the same thing. "We'll buy this thing for you, and then you'll owe us all the money we spent, plus some more to pay for our time and expenses and effort." It's really not complicated. You act like a dick and snort your advance off the tits of a Sunset Strip hooker, you're gonna have trouble. You act like a professional and do your fucking job, and happen to make some music that people like, you're in pretty good shape. It's not fucking magic.
_The real fix for this is to eliminate the de facto subsidies to giant multinational corporations (lobbying priveleges \[sic\], legalized tax-cheating, etc). (This would also fix pretty much everything else!)._
Really. Will it fix the fact that some people just aren't good at making music people want to hear or pictures people want to look at or books people want to read? Because those are pretty important factors in your mystical "success." Also, there are about 5 logical fallacies in this one single paragraph. That has to be some kind of record.
_But in the meantime, we can encourage the 'competitor of last resort' - the Internet and all the services that allow artists to opt out of the big five/four and go on their own. That means not imposing enormous copyright liabilities on them (to found Youtube today, you don't just need a garage full of hard-drives, you also need a $300M Content ID system, which means we aren't going to see a lot of Youtube competitors any time soon)._
Ah, here's the source of all magic and unicorns, at last. The Internet. The Great Arbitrator™. Finally, I can leave this life of poverty and hardship. Man, you need to get the fuck out of your house once in a while. I strongly suggest you come down to NAMM, and see what the real music industry looks like. At the risk of going all ad-hominem on your Canadian ass, it's a very different beast than this YouTube-based morass of Ukulele covers by quirky beflanneled Millennials that you've concocted in your head.
And there are like [60 YouTube competitors](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_video_hosting_services). At least.
_The existence of an alternative to the big companies puts a floor on the worst offer they can make to artists -- it has to be better than the best deal we can get for ourselves, outside of their walls._
There was \_always\_ an alternative to "the big companies." It was the small companies. Your precious internet made getting a nice deal with a middle-sized indie really fucking hard, though. So thanks for that. I never used to blame you directly, Cory, but I think I'm going to start.
But here's the onion: the ability to put up a YouTube video (or a Bandcamp album page, or populate the upload fields on TuneCore ingestion) doesn't mean an audience will appear out of thin air. And while you've never straight-out defined it, I'm pretty sure your definition of "success" isn't "can pay my bills," but rather "has an audience." Because that's the coin you trade in.
Let me ask you this: if I paid the appropriate amount of money, and sent you some records to listen to, would it ensure a nice above-the-fold article on the front page of Boing Boing? Just curious. Hope my Bandcamp records move enough units this week to cover that.
---
## It's Gettin' Hot In Herre...
- Date: 2014-11-14
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2014/11/its-gettin-hot-in-herre/
So, a glance at the calendar (well, a glance at Calendar.app, which is the functional equivalent) shows that NAMM 2015 is just around the corner. It seems like only 10 months ago I was at NAMM 2014, trying to keep the secret of this massive sequencer we were about to make. How time flies!
Anyhow, I'm pleased to report, for those of you that attend this heady event, that Audio Damage will have a booth for the 2015 show. Or, rather, we'll be part of the WMD "Manufacturer's Booth." Which is conveniently chock full of all your favorite Euro guys, along with some other various things. (Let's just say that Audio Damage will be the only ones there with software.) The WMD booth backs up to the Schneidersbureau booth, so that whole neighborhood in Hall A is gonna have some ridiculous bleepings and bloopings going on.
Adam and I will both be attending the entire show, as well as our little booth betty, Jeremy Highhouse. Jeremy is picking out his outfit now. I personally lobbied for "Naughty Elf," but I think he's leaning towards "Naughty Leprechaun."
My next task, which will hopefully not prove too monumental, is to design our little mini-booth so that it looks cooler than the other mini-booths, since that's important to me. Cutting of aluminum will be involved.
Which brings me to the actual point of this post: I'd just like to mention that I am _extremely_ grateful for the support of this community of musicians that allows me to do cool shit like having lasers blasted at a sheet of metal until a robot appears, instead of having to go to an office every day and do stupid shit for other people that I hate. I honestly love everything about my job, and am incredibly lucky that it pays the mortgage. I don't think I say that often enough, so I'm saying it now.
---
## All That Jazz...
- Date: 2014-11-07
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2014/11/all-that-jazz/
It's official. I've reached peak Number Of Projects I Can Do At One Time. Which is, as it turns out, almost entirely, but not completely, unlike Peak Oil.
First, as many of you know, I'm in the process of making a new Sister Machine Gun EP. It is named _The Future Unformed_, and will be released in the Spring of next year on WTII Records, as is right and proper with the world. (WTII is owned by the former Wax Trax! office manager; he and I have had a working relationship for going on two decades now.) As to whether this was a wise decision or not, only time will tell.
Next, on to Audio Damage stuff. [Sequencer 1](http://www.audiodamage.com/hardware/product.php?pid=ADM06) has been distributed and is in stock to all the retailers that wanted units; it is also in stock at the Audio Damage site. We still have some units left from the first run, so get 'em while the getting is good. We'll be working on the first major software update for the next while; keep an eye on my Twitter (@chris\_randall) and Instagram (@chris.randall) feeds for teasers and progress updates.
We'll also have a little Eurorack Surprise just in time for Christmas. Not a word about it until release, but it's cool and useful, and should be ready to ship by the end of the month.
And in other Audio Damage news, we have put all the hardware products for sale [on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/gp/node/index.html/?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&linkCode=ur2&linkId=A2OB3OZ74Y3WQMXV&marketplaceID=ATVPDKIKX0DER&me=A2R4LTTR0FYNI2&merchant=A2R4LTTR0FYNI2&redirect=true&tag=analogindustr-20&linkId=EQBUDZAB5P3WZIO2). There is hardly ever any Euro stuff on Amazon, except for the ubiquitous Pittsburgh Modular, who occasionally make an appearance via a 3rd party seller. I was thinking though that I use the Amazon ecosystem heavily myself; it is the way I buy most everything that isn't groceries. (I like their 6 months same-as-cash store card, and I like Amazon Prime's various features.) My thinking is that people often get Amazon gift cards as gifts, and it'd be nice to be able to use those to buy Audio Damage hardware.
So now you can.
Anyhow, that link above goes to our Amazon Storefront, which I am in the process of filling out. If you could do a brother a solid and write a short review if you own one of the hardware products, that would be cool.
And finally, in mid-December I'm going to host a Nerd Herd gathering at my house for all the Sandland AD/AI folks. (Unless I get, like, a million RSVPs or the weather is terrible, in which case I'll move it to a larger facility.) Bring some gear or your lappy, hang out, talk nerdy, try (and fail) to beat my high score on my Tempest machine. Good times. If you're in the Phoenix area and want to attend, [drop me a line.](https://web.archive.org/web/2014/http://www.analogindustries.com/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#dcbfb4aeb5af9cacb3afb5a8aeb3b2aeb9bfb3aeb8aff2bfb3b1) Saturday, December 13th.
So, I guess that's about it for now. What are you up to?
---
## On Working In The Creative Industries...
- Date: 2014-10-25
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2014/10/on-working-in-the-creative-industries/
(Sorry for embedding this from Daum, and the inevitable confusion that will cause, but two things: first, I'm a shareholder, so fucking take your Korean YouTube and like it, and second, the Paley Center, for reasons known only to them, removed this talk from YouTube, but left it on Daum. \*shrug\*)
When I give my talks at colleges or whatever, someone always, 100% of the time, asks this exact same question, and I used to give a similar, albeit less well-formed, answer to what Louis CK gives here. I first saw this a couple years ago, and ever since, I've been giving more or less this exact answer, lifted wholesale.
Every word of his answer is absolutely true and perfect, for any of the creative industries. If you're of the n00b persuasion, and are thinking of coming in to this business, you should memorize his answer, and make it your holy scripture. If you're attending one of my talks or booking me for same, or planning on meeting me in real life and asking me this question, prepare yourself to hear this more or less verbatim.
(In point of fact, the entire talk is illuminating, and 55 minutes well-spent; a lot of inside baseball that is television-specific, but most of it translates to our business quite well.)
---
## On Creativity...
- Date: 2014-10-23
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2014/10/on-creativity/
Long-time readers will know my fascination with the discussion of creativity, and its care and feeding; in point of fact, many of you come here specifically for that discussion when it rears its head, and not (evidence to the contrary) to make snarky comments about silly synth-nerd gear.
I've been at this (for values of "this" that equal working in the creative fields) for long enough now to recognize my own limitations and strengths vis-a-vis the creative energy, and in general, to know when I'm "in the mood" and can be productive, without having to go full Barton Fink. (There is a time and a place for that, though, it must be said.) In fact, my general impression of the matter is that I'm so good at recognizing that flow-state, or the beginnings of it, that I actually miss out on a lot of good ideas because I don't bother even attempting a creative endeavor if I'm not "feeling it" or whatever. And I can trigger it at will with a couple simple methods, but I don't feel that the flow-state that I purposefully trigger is as productive as one entered in to unwarranted, or even unwanted.
That's my own personal opinion and experience. In this, as all things, your mileage may (and most likely will) vary.
The reason I put that picture of Jackson Pollack up top: he was one of those lucky son--of-bitches that was the recipient of the Bolt Of Lightning. The Mack Daddy of inspiration flow-states. One of those that changes everything. Whether you like his work or not is beside the point. There was before he made _Full Fathom Five_, and then there was everything after. His bolt was so powerful it touched other forms of art, and it's not often we get a heavy cross-polination. That's something to remark on.
Anyhow, on to the purpose of this post. In Slate this morning, they published a long-forgotten essay from Isaac Asimov entitled [On Creativity](https://www.technologyreview.com/view/531911/isaac-asimov-asks-how-do-people-get-new-ideas/). It is an excellent read, given in Asimov's usual conversational style. The purpose of the essay is to provide a framework by which a group of scientists may do research for the government, but it easily translates to "band" or any of the other expression forms we're familiar with. It is, it seems to me, largely concerned with control of the flow-state, mostly in the manner I do myself. I came about my method through trial and error, and it's nice to see it codified and given credence by such a luminary.
If you know Jackson Pollock's history, you'll know that he didn't really just happen on _Full Fathom Five_ by accident. In much the same way as Asimov describes the Theory Of Evolution in the preamble to his essay, Pollock attended workshops with other experimental painters, and was actively searching for a new method of expression to convey to the world what was in his mind. He wasn't gifted this method out of whole cloth; it was the result of taking in other people's work, and talking to other people that were also actively searching for new methods of expression. In the same way, _Sgt. Pepper's_ didn't just happen one day. It was the result of heavy competition, both within the Beatles, and with other bands of the day, like the Beach Boys, and actively searching with an open, experimental bent, for a new way of expressing old ideas, by a group of highly skilled musicians.
In short, a nice gift from beyond the grave Dr. Asimov left us today, and some food for thought. Comments? Criticism? Disagreement?
---
## Sequencer 1 Now Available...
- Date: 2014-10-08
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2014/10/sequencer-1-now-available/
As the title says. We're "soft-launching" Sequencer 1 today, shipping on Friday. We got the first few units in the office today, and we're going to sell this little batch direct before we stock the retailers.
If you hit up the [AD store](http://www.audiodamage.com/hardware/product.php?pid=ADM06), you can get a load of the feature list in the shipping v1.0 software. There is a fairly long list of feature additions that will be rolled in over the next couple months. The v1.1 version of the software, which isn't feature-complete or tested yet, has some ludicrously face-melting features that will essentially make this sequencer untouchable. Other than little stuff we've already mentioned, there are two marquee updates in v1.1 that will basically ruin all. I'm loath to talk about them at this point, as we haven't verified their stability yet, but... wow. Even I was amazed when Adam sprung this shit on me.
In any case, Sequencer 1 is, and will be for some time, our flagship product. We basically bet the entire company on this thing, and it needs to do well. If you live near one of our retailers you'll be able to check it out in person as we stock them. The manual will be up in the store by Friday, but honestly, it's pretty self-evident for the most part. If you're familiar with Elektron products, this will be a walk in the park for you.
If you have any questions about functionality or any of the features mentioned on the AD site, here's the place to bring it up.
---
## Various Things And Stuff...
- Date: 2014-09-18
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2014/09/various-things-and-stuff/
And now I want to start every sentence with a conjunction, in the hopes that it'll annoy Chris Killer. But that's just petty. Or is it?
Anyhow, this is my usual "here's what we're up to" post that I put up in lieu of having actual editorial. Adam is in Japan for the next few days for a well-deserved break from embedded programming, and I'm doing stress-testing on the (nearly) final software for Sequencer 1, looking for bugs. I made the video above while testing external sync and Seq1->Seq1 slaving. The video isn't meant to demonstrate those features, but rather while I was testing this nice little groove presented itself, and I thought I'd pop off a quick footage-chunk.
Other devs, do you find yourself making music while developing or testing? I do all the time. Most of the "experiments" or whatever I put up are exactly that: something I came across while either researching or bug-hunting. Another example of that very thing:
I wanted to test out the [Granz Graf](https://www.ableton.com/en/blog/ganz-graf-futuristic-visuals-max-live/) visualizer for M4L, and just threw a big stack of AD plugs in some various channels. Ended up accidentally a music. That's how these things happen, I guess.
As a return to the subject, a status report: Sequencer 1 is in production. It is being built by WMD in Denver. The PCBs have been made; they're waiting on the little octave up/down buttons, which are on back-order. The metalwork for the panels has shipped and should be here tomorrow or Monday. Software is in RC1. Basically, we're in it to win it at this point. Won't be long before you can buy this bad boy.
In other news, in the last few days I've sharted out a bunch of DRM removals and updates on the plug-in line (watch the [Audio Damage Feedburner feed](https://feeds.feedburner.com/audiodamage) in your RSS reader of choice to keep appraised of that situation, or follow me on Twitter). I updated the UI of Automaton to be a little less Gameboy-hokey as well. Dr. Device today (barring unforeseen circumstances.) As with all of these, we're not doing any feature additions, strictly speaking, just bug fixes, DRM removal, minor graphic updates, signed installers, etc. So if you're not experiencing any issues with your particular iteration of one of our plugs, there's no real need to update.
So that's where we're at. tl;dr: Sequencer 1 a-building, will ship soon. Other shit.
---
## Shitcockery...
- Date: 2014-08-26
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2014/08/shitcockery/
The video above is outstanding. There's no other way to describe it. I'm not a big Goldie fan, being more on the Roni Size side of the fence when it comes to rollers, but the Heritage Orchestra performing Goldie, with that level of musicianship, and the joy the proceedings bring to the table, is a prime example of the Perfect Storm, where everything comes together, and the energy that it gives off is greater than the energy that went in to making it. (And that, in my opinion, is the definition of art, overall.)
I don't really have anything to say about the performance, because it is both objectively and subjectively outstanding. I do have something to say about this, though:
Here's the thing: it is perfectly acceptable to not like something. It's even acceptable to voice that opinion. Music, like anything creative, is a subjective endeavor. But that comment is a prime example of the form of Internet Fuckwittery we've come to learn is a byproduct of making cool shit. The [Dunning-Kruger Effect](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect) in full force. (The tl;dr version: the Dunning-Kruger effect is a scientific study that proves the old saw that a fool is certain, while a wise man is full of doubt.)
In my various careers, I've run in to this a lot. There's the pedigreed version, in the form of the guy that writes reviews of records and live shows. There's the semi-pro version, where someone has enough knowledge to make music, but not enough to do it well, and becomes a self-taught expert on gear, but not its use. There's the fan version, wherein lyrics that were generally chosen for their ability to fit in to a rhyming scheme become the subject of debate and broad declaratives about an artist's state of mind. There's the Agile version, where stakeholders and user stories substitute for actually having a vision. It goes on and on.
Chris Killer is phrasing his comment in this form: "I am an expert on the live orchestration and performance of 90s drum 'n' bass, and this fellow needs to work at things a little while in order to properly meet my exacting specifications of what, exactly, constitutes same." Chris isn't, however, an expert on anything having to do with this performance. He isn't even a semi-expert. As far as I can tell, the only relationship he might have to this performance is that he bought a Goldie record once.
And there's the rub: it's okay to just say "I don't like this." Leave it at that. "In my opinion, this isn't done the way I like to see Goldie's music done." That's totally fine. Everyone's okay with that. But when you're all "I KNOW EVERYTHING THERE IS TO KNOW ABOUT THIS THING AND YOU DID THIS THING WRONG EVEN THOUGH IT'S YOUR THING AND NOT MY THING" you're running a serious risk of coming off like a fuckwit.
---
## Notes In A Row...
- Date: 2014-08-19
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2014/08/notes-in-a-row/
The next big hardware product from Audio Damage, Sequencer 1, is about to go in to production (one could argue it has actually already entered that state, as the front panels were ordered and the 1st Article is being made). I've posted about Sequencer 1 previously [here](https://analogindustries.com/2014/05/the-new-shit/), and there is a lengthy thread (at the time of this writing 19 pages of discussion) on the Muff Wiggler forum [here](http://www.muffwiggler.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=113866). There's no product page in the AD store yet, but that will be coming in the not-too-distant future, as soon as we have panels to do a proper product glamour shot.
Anyhow, the video above is the first of what will no doubt be many missives issuing from my office, now that the software is nearing completion. I wouldn't say we're at RC1 yet, but we're getting close; mostly just little esoteric things left. It is highly usable, and other than one major feature (the ability to update the OS from the SD card), it is actually shippable at this point. In the video, I'm demonstrating four key features: the ability to control Hz/V gear (to wit: the Yamaha CS-5), the live looping feature (functionally identical to the MIDI input feature in Replicant), the live ratcheting feature, and external sync (via Silent Way Sync and an Expert Sleepers ES-4, from Live.)
We wanted to do two things with this sequencer:
1\. Take the normal concept of x0x note sequencing in the modular context and make it highly live-playable/tweekable.
2\. Make a sequencer that could do the traditional Tangerine Dream/JMJ kinds of things one would expect, yet also be pertinent to modern-day electronic music styles.
That second one was inevitable, as Adam likes more traditional e-music, while I vastly prefer, as is apparent from what I make, modern house, minimal, and IDM. Making a sequencer that would please both of us was a difficult prospect, but we've managed it.
Here's a an ambient piece I did last week. Most of it is live tape manipulation, but the bassline is a four-measure pattern from Sequencer 1, and the percussion sounds are also triggered from the sequencer.
Anyhow, that's where we're at. Sequencer 1 will be US$599.00, and will be available starting in early October, direct from AD or via our many retail partners. This is the most ambitious product we've ever undertaken, and we're very proud of the result.
---
## Monophony...
- Date: 2014-08-08
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2014/08/monophony/
Well, that only took us a year, but it's finally out. We're pleased to announce Basic is now available [in the AD store](http://www.audiodamage.com/) for immediate purchase.
You'll recall we've had two discussions on AI about mono synths, [here](https://analogindustries.com/2011/05/the-perfect-monosynth/) and [here](https://analogindustries.com/2014/03/lets-talk-mono-synths/).It's no secret that we have a hardware agenda, and that agenda includes eventual non-Euro releases. However, subtractive synths haven't been in our purview, and it's something we needed to learn how to do. While that was going on, I've been teaching at a local college, and via my own observation and discussion with the department head, it became obvious that beginning students have a hard time wrapping their head around Massive (which has every feature ever in the history of ever) or Monark (which requires an instanced host), and most of the synths that remake classics are so idiosyncratic their usage doesn't translate.
So, two goals: learn about how to do subtractive synthesis and performance-oriented MIDI handling in software, and make a synth for college-level sound design and synthesis classes that is easy-to-understand. Hence, Basic.
I also took the opportunity to try out a new UI style; it generally seems to be well-received, but we'll see how that goes. I borrowed heavily from the styles of FUI designers [Ash Thorp](http://ashthorp.com/) and [G-Munk](http://www.gmunk.com/) for the look, and all deference is due to those two, men amongst men.
Basic is US$39.00 until Sept. 4th, when it goes up to US$49.00.
---
## News Of The World...
- Date: 2014-08-03
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2014/08/news-of-the-world/
[](https://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/14578550607)
That's the next Audio Damage VST/AU plug-in, right there. You'll meet it on Thursday.
In other news, as many of you know, our friend Jeremy Highhouse (man-about-town in PDX, the other half of [RT60](https://rtsixty.bandcamp.com/), and one of the nicest people you'll meet in this business,) lost his rather large video/audio modular due to theft a few weeks back, and as this modular was actually part of his livelihood, he's pretty much fucked.
After much hang-wringing and arm-waving, we decided to do [this](https://rafflecreator.com/pages/2984/ultimate-sound-freak-charity-raffle). Long story short, a $10 ticket gets you a swing at the Audio Damage Omnibus: everything we make, including hardware (a $2600 retail value.) The proceeds will go towards replacing Jeremy's modular so he can get back to work, and the remainder will go to the [Children's Music Fund.](http://www.thecmf.org/)
And finally, Sequencer 1, our next hardware product, is basically mostly working at this point, and we're about to pull the trigger on the production run. So this will be a busy week for us; expect a couple updates here, the release of Basic, and a whole mess of Sequencer 1 mediablitzen.
---
## floats on air...
- Date: 2014-06-23
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2014/06/floats-on-air/
Well, it's finally done. _floats on air_, my new album of electronic meanderings, is now available on Bandcamp. It will be exclusive to that site until July 7th, where it will go live on all the other services.
This is my first "produced" album in some years; my last five-odd releases are EP-sized collections of various experiments and research, but _floats on air_ is a cohesive whole, planned that way from the start. Since this is Analog Industries, a few process notes for those interested in that sort of thing (which is, I assume, most everyone that reads this site.)
**1\. Shoeboxen.** For most (but not all) of the tracks on this album, the root rhythm comes from a rather strange source. I initially purchased a [small shoebox tapedeck](https://www.amazon.com/RCA-RP3504-Cassette-Shoebox-Recorder/dp/B004SNL9ZK/ref=as_sl_pc_ss_til?tag=analogindustr-20&linkCode=w01&linkId=TESQJUYPIVORWPTY&creativeASIN=B004SNL9ZK) with the intent of finding something interesting to do with it, but not having an idea exactly what. What I ended up doing was using its little included mic to just record random semi-rhythmic sounds around my neighborhood, then taking the recordings, physically cutting out small lengths, and looping them in a different cassette body. I'd then record these short loops in to Live, and have my way with them with the various DSP tools that came to hand. The tracks _sunderverl_ and _fader in_ have the most obvious pieces of this sort of thing, but almost every track has at least two of these little loops in it. Once you know what you're listening for, they're easy to pick out.
**2\. Nagra.** I used the Nagra a lot on some of the tracks. _fader in_ has the best example. I asked Don Gunn to send me a few minutes of jazzy drumming; once I'd received his mixed stem, I summed it to mono, then recorded it to the Nagra. I then spent an hour or so slicing out half-measure chunks. (And I mean with a razor blade.) I then took these chunks, mixed them up, and spliced them all back together. I then made a continuous loop of the result. There are 4 other tracks in all in that song, and each one is a looped cassette. I fed them all in to Live on individual tracks simultaneously, and recorded the level automation on the way in with a Korg nanoKontrol. So _fader in_ is named what it is: a live recording of tape loops that I "performed" on a nanoKontrol. I obviously added enough insert effects to stun an ox, for the final result. Most of the cassette loops are recordings (again, with the little mic that came with the shoebox deck) of the speakers in my living room system as I played Daphne Oram vinyl. Those of you that follow me on Twitter may have seen my synth -> tape -> vinyl -> tape -> synth palindrome tweet. This track is what I was referring to.
**3\. Modules.** I don't have a hugely high opinion of the modular synth in my own particular writing process, but I figured "fuck it, the damn thing is sitting here." One of the little leitmotifs I use throughout the album to tie all the songs together is a little acid line breakdown, and I used the modular for this in all cases. It appears here and there elsewhere, but that was its main task in this project.
**4\. Other Gear.** I used the Analog Four quite a bit. Notably in _porch\_field_, where it creates most of the sounds. I also used \[redacted\] quite a bit, for about half the basslines. The other main synth I used was Monark, which got a lot of mileage on this album. For effects, VallhallaVintageVerb is the two-buss verb throughout the album, with occasional appearances by Eos as an insert "effect" verb; delay is about equal parts Dubstation and the H3000 Factory from Eventide. I used several other Eventide products for insert and compressor duties; most of the sidechain pumping (and fuck it, but there's quite a bit. There's no zealot like a convert!) is done with Glue. Obviously, heavy use of AD products throughout. I mixed 8 of the 9 tracks in Live 9 Suite; the exception is _dawn_, which was mixed in Bitwig Studio.
Anyhow, I'll field any specific production questions you might have in this thread, but the above is the general gist of things.
---
## I Downloaded This Amazing Free Plug-in, And You Won't Believe What Happens Next...
- Date: 2014-06-15
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2014/06/i-downloaded-this-amazing-free-plug-in-and-you-wont-believe-what-happe/
I'm experimenting with clickbait-style post titles. Other audio blogs appear to be testing the waters with this information abortion, so I figure "hey, why not join the crowd?" How am I doing?
Anyhow, this is just a general info-dump of goings-on in my little corner of the world.
1\. Unless you live under a rock, you know about the Eventide freebie, UltraChannel. I actually wouldn't normally bring it up here at all, as even though the Eventide guys are BFFs of ours and make stupifyingly good plug-ins (and even better hardware), their plugs are iLok only. However, as a result of a UI contract I'm currently doing, I had to install and tame an iLok. (And, god forbid, PT11.) Since I have one now, I was all "fuck it" and furthermore "whatevs." And got myself an UltraChannel. (And all the other Eventide native plugs while I was at it.) I'll say this much: UltraChannel is almost worth sucking it up for iLok. A fantastic, creative channel plug that is light on the CPU, yet extremely capable. If you have an iLok, or are thinking about buying one of those little buttplugs, [here's](http://eventideplugins.elasticbeanstalk.com/ultrachannel.jsp) where you get the Ultrachannel; use coupon code **0F736710**. It'll be like $249 or something in a month or two, so if you're gonna do it, do it now.
2\. Just in case you think I might have changed my mind or am in any way endorsing it, fuck PACE and fuck iLok.
3\. I'm pleased to report that my schedule, which was a bit hairy there for a while, is returning, slowly and surely, to its normal lazy, meandering ways, which means I'll be able to finish off the Audio Damage DRM Removal Event, and also bring the next Audio Damage plug-in to the finish line while Adam flails about in his Code Hole whipping Sequencer 1 in to shape. It was a little ridiculous there for a while, but I've cleared a majority of the nonsense now, and am back to being my usual self.
4\. And finally, a question: what constitutes an "album" these days? Throughout my (first) career, I was all 10 SONGS OR BUST but the idea of a complete record seems to be slipping through the cracks in favor of a burst mode kind of release system. I tried this out a couple years ago, by pooping out 4 of what our oldsters call "EPs" in a row, and it was somehow... uh... unsatisfying? Even without physical media, there's just something about a cohesive chunk of music that is more visceral, at least to the maker. So my general takeaway: it is far easier to come up with 5 cohesive songs than 10, and the consumer seems to be indifferent. My forthcoming release that I'm just finishing up now is 10 tracks, but I'm left with the lingering impression that I should strip it to a pair of 5-track releases. Thoughts?
---
## The New Shit...
- Date: 2014-05-24
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2014/05/the-new-shit/
We unveiled this module this morning at the Muff Wiggler / Trash\_Audio synth meet in Portland, and here's some info on **Sequencer 1.**
The astute among you will notice a passing similarity to the Elektron Analog Four, and if imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, we're flattering the fuck out of those guys with this little bitch. Here's some vital statistics:
• 36HP, 20mm depth.
• 4 banks of 16 patterns, each pattern can be from 1 to 64 steps long. The entire state (all banks and patterns) can be saved to SD card as a preset, so the memory is essentially unlimited.
• Clock input can be per step (like any other sequencer's clock), or 24ppq or 48ppq for DIN sync (via a simple 5-pin DIN -> 3.5mm adaptor). Clock output can be a staggering number of choices, which is handy if the unit is acting as the master clock. The Run input can be operated a couple different ways, as can the output. In short, it can interface to pretty much anything clockish, and can in turn drive pretty much anything in a clocklike fashion.
• Each step gets a 1v/Oct output, three CV outputs (that can each be either 0-10v, -5 to +5v, or 0 to +5v), a main gate output, and an auxiliary gate output. Gate length is programmable per step.
• The playback modes are forward, reverse, pingpong, pingpong with double end triggers, skip forward, walk, and random. This is programmable per pattern.
• There are several ratcheting features; you can program a ratchet of various lengths per step, or you'll note the 6 buttons labeled "REP." These will repeat, in order, the last 8, 4, 2, or 1 steps as a loop, or cause the step you hit them on to repeat in half or quarter time. (In the same manner that the MIDI triggers in Replicant work, basically, if you own that plugin.)
• As I hinted before, SD card for storage and OS updates.
There are many other deep features that I'm not able to talk about at this point. Our goal is to make the single most sophisticated sequencer available for Euro, and I think we've accomplished this already, let alone what we're adding as we go along. We haven't finalized pricing yet, or availability. We're _hoping_ for US$599.00, and about two months. But both those numbers are subject to change.
---
## Birth, School, Work, Death...
- Date: 2014-05-10
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2014/05/birth-school-work-death/
[](https://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/13971537604)
It's getting tedious saying "holy shit I'm working a lot sorry for not posting blah blah" but you all know that, so I won't bother reiterating the point. On Tuesday next, me and the missus leave on a much-needed vacation to Hawaii for a week, and then Adam and I are off to Portland for the TRASH\_AUDIO synth meet / Muff Wiggler store grand opening, where we will (as it turns out) definitely unveil the next Audio Damage Eurorack product. This bad boy is not an effect, nor is it based upon any existing Audio Damage product.
(Nor will it be entirely done by the time we get to PDX; we'll be showing a prototype.)
Some non-Audio-Damage news, in no particular order:
1\. My new album is nearly completed. It's actually been nearly completed for a while now; I have two tracks left to mix, but due to the sudden influx of Work Related Time Suck, they've been in that state for some weeks now. I hope to have it finished by this time next month. It is a full album, unlike my last few releases, and I'm pretty proud of it. IDM, of course, but emphasis on the D instead of the I, for a change. (Read: four can be found on the floor for the most part.) It is, to not put too fine a point on it, full of techno.
2\. Our good friends Standard Beat Co. have a new sample set out, continuing their Dark Downtempo series with the fifth installment, which you can and should purchase [here](http://www.standardbeatcompany.com/products/dark-downtempo-5).
3\. I guess it's just those two things for now.
In any event, this is an open thread, and since a lot of projects tend to come out this time of year, if you'd like to take this opportunity to do some self-promotion or talk about what you're up to, that'd be totally cool.
---
## Audio Damage Spring Sale...
- Date: 2014-04-21
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2014/04/audio-damage-spring-sale/
[](http://www.audiodamage.com/)
Yes, it's that time again! Our bi-annual sale in the Audio Damage store has come 'round again, to meet all your plug-in needs! Use the code "EASTERPIG" at checkout to get 40% off your entire order. Note this doesn't include hardware, which we don't sell directly.
**EDIT**: All done now. Thanks, everyone!
Also, a general update on the State Of Affairs with regards to all things Audio Damage. Adam is currently working hard on the next hardware product, which we _hope_ to unveil at the Trash\_Audio meet on May 24th in Portland. (No promises there; this product is far more complex than what we've previously released, and is proving somewhat reticent to being born.) While he does that, I'm dealing with the plug-in line for the most part.
With regards to that specifically, I have the DRM removed from the following products:
Dubstation
Discord 3
Eos
Liquid
Fluid
Ratshack Reverb
Tattoo
Replicant
The versions of these products in the store do not require a registration code, and have no DRM whatsoever. Vapor is next, and so on, 'til they're all done. The DRM removal has taken a bit of a back seat currently while I work on the next product, which is nearing beta testing stage. The only thing I'll say at this point: it is a synth. The rest I'll leave to your imagination and detective skills.
So, that's where we're at. Back to the salt mines!
---
## Audio Damage ADM05 - Æverb Now Available...
- Date: 2014-03-29
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2014/03/audio-damage-adm05-verb-now-available/
Like the subject says, our little algorithmic reverb module is now available for purchase at [Analogue Haven](http://www.analoguehaven.com/audiodamage/aeverb/). US$189.00. Other stores coming soon. The manual is on the [AD site.](http://www.audiodamage.com/hardware/product.php?pid=ADM05)
---
## Let's Talk Mono-Synths...
- Date: 2014-03-18
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2014/03/lets-talk-mono-synths/
I was joking to my wife the other day that I have like five jobs right now. Which made me sob a little on the inside, because I actually do. In my ludicrous amount of free time, I'm trying to come up with the archetype mono-synth design. And I thought it'd be interesting to get some input from people that aren't me on this subject.
The mono is kind of a beast unto itself, and that platform is the source of some of the most enduring sounds in the synthNrrrd's arsenal, to the point where we refer to particular sounds not by the place they fill in the sonic spectrum (e.g. "squelchy, knocky bass") but rather by the machine that makes the particular sound best. (e.g. "303.") I find that interesting, because with other instrumentation, we don't generally dwell on the toolset used to create it (say, Strat through Fender Super Reverb) but rather we generally reference a player who used that combo ("I think this song needs a Stevie Ray tone...")
We do this with keyboards too, but much more specifically. The Hohner D6 Clav and "Superstition" are so intertwined as to be functionally synonymous, for instance. Likewise the Mellotron and "Strawberry Fields Forever." But by and large, these are still machine-specific references. P-Mac is hardly recognized for his keyboard chops. You never say "get me that Paul McCartney keyboard sound." You say "I want the Strawberry Fields Mellotron flutes."
Anyhow, how about it? I'm not asking for a running litany of everyone's favorite monosynth. Nobody gives a shit. What I'm wondering is more about the "why" of it. If you were going to make a mono, what would you absolutely require of it?
---
## My Current Toolset...
- Date: 2014-03-07
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2014/03/my-current-toolset/
Hey, hey, it's time for **_WORKFLOW_** talk! One thing that has been happening to me with alarming frequency lately (due in no small part to dipping my toe in the torpid waters of academia) is that Dude makes a declarative statement about Gear in the context of Task, then says "what do you use for Task?"
Now, I often point out that my way for Task, and the Gear I choose to accomplish it, is in no way the right way, or even the best way. It's my way. Sub-conversation: tools are just that, tools. You don't look at a beautiful house and say "gee, I wonder what hammers the carpenters used?" Same thing here. While it's nice to learn new techniques and move your craft forward, at the end of the day, figuring out a way to accomplish Task without knowing how Dude did it is far more satisfying than aping his technique. To that end, knowing _how_ to produce is far more useful than knowing what to use to produce.
Anyhow, as a merciful return to the subject, it was recently pointed out to me (and the which is something I knew, but hadn't vocalised before) that when I'm doing an album project, I pick a palette of sound sources and tools, and use pretty much only that to create the end product, not straying from it too far. This conversation was started by way of inquiring what palette I had chosen for the album I'm working on now. It was further intimated that perhaps I could write this down as a conversation starter. Since this album is far more "produced" than my last few, and the first album to which I've applied significant production in some years, I agreed it merited some talk. Anyhow...
**DAW:** I'm actually splitting duties almost equally on this album between Ableton Live 9 and Bitwig Studio. The **_WORKFLOW_** is nearly identical in both DAWs, so it's not much trouble to flip back and forth between the two. There are things that Live does that Bitwig sucks at (M4L being chief among these, plus far more control over MIDI sync) and things that Bitwig does that Live sucks at (hosting 32-bit plug-ins and 64-bit plug-ins side by side, a much better arrange view), and I like keeping my brain nimble. I've mixed all the Live-based tracks and have moved on to the Bitwig-based ones. We'll see how things shake out.
**Synths:** For this project, I find myself using Monark for bass almost exclusively. I'll go out on a limb and say this is the best 3-osc subtractive mono-synth plug-in made currently. I wish it was a real plug-in and not Reaktor-hosted, but that's not a big deal. Most of the pads and FM-ish tones are coming from the DK Synergy II+. Bleeples and blorps are from the Euro, the Analog Four and Aalto. I just acquired a Novation Ultranova the other day, and it may make an appearance. A surprisingly handy little synth.
**Drums:** Here's where things get interesting. 99% of the rhythmic information on this album is location recording or real-time recording, to cassette or Nagra loops. I'll put up a detailed explanation of how I did this once the album is released, but I'm using a lot of ambient "open-mic" noise as rhythmic source material. This is very satisfying. Every track on this album has 10 to 20 tracks of ambient noise from tape loops that are gated, sliced, diced, Beat Tweaked™ _(©2014 BT, All Rights Reserved)_, or otherwise coerced in to being drum-like. I'll put up a more detailed post of what I did once the record is released, but this is the unique aspect of this album and I'm fairly proud of what I came up with and how I pulled it off.
**Effects Plug-Ins:** I have, via either purchase or NFR trade, pretty much every native plug-in ever made. There's a strong temptation to go buck wild with the plugs, and thus, for this project, I made a separate plug-in folder, and only put the stuff in it that I'm "allowed" to use (circumstances permitting.) As a result, the only effects I'm using here are the Audio Damage plug-in suite (duh), Valhalla Vintage Verb (along with Eos, the main send 'verb on all tracks), Ozone 5 Advanced, DMG Compassion, and Trash 2. I am, aside from Rough Rider Pro, using the built-in compressors and EQ in Live and Bitwig exclusively.
Anyhow, that's my palette for this project, in its entirety. I personally find using everything to lead to non-finished tracks, which is why I do this sort of thing. Do you guys, when you're committing to a full project, similarly limit yourselves? Or do you just use everything you have all the time?
---
## The Usual Wednesday Bullshit...
- Date: 2014-02-26
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2014/02/the-usual-wednesday-bullshit/
Time for an omnibus update. In no particular order:
1\. I'm deep in the mixing for my next release, which is, as it happens, a full album, not an EP, and far more "produced" than my last few releases (which are mostly compendiums of improvisational stuff.) This thing is shaping up to be pretty slick, and full of techno. I'm pretty happy with it, overall. Lots of field recordings, lots of tape loops. No idea how long this is going to take, but we're making good headway. I have four songs mixed at this point.
2\. The next module from Audio Damage, Æverb, is in production. Couple weeks away. While I deal with that, Adam is building the prototypes for our first "big" module. (And "big" is an understatement. 36HP!) I won't give anything away at this juncture, except to say that it has almost 50 panel controls.
3\. TRASH\_AUDIO's [next synth meet](http://trashaudio.com/2014/02/trash_audio-synth-meet-14-portland-or-may-24th/) is in PDX, on May 24th. Both Adam and I will be attending. We will unveil the afore-mentioned prototype at that time.
3\. Avid got de-listed from the NASDAQ yesterday. Next step: bankruptcy, and they'll start selling off assets. We'll see how this shakes out. Korg might be jealous of Yamaha and Roland, both of whom have professional recording apps, and pick up PT. That's just a guess. I don't have any inside info.
This is an open thread. What do you want to talk about?
---
## It's Process Day!!!
- Date: 2014-02-04
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2014/02/its-process-day/
My attempts at creative endeavors over the weekend were utterly and completely foiled by hardware (not software!) problems. My Maschine Studio got crashy all the sudden, I had to whittle a new tape loop for the echo, the old Doepfer modules/Stackables problem reared its head, and basically everything was conspiring to keep me from making music.
However, creativity struck last night and I was able to pull things together on a track I've been making on and off for a couple weeks now. Just for fun, I let the GoPro Hero 3+ run while I was trying to come up with a part on the DK Synergy for this track. So the video above is actually a snapshot of my writing process, not a finished and arranged song (or real-time improv, like most of my videos, although it does smell like that.) When I'm doing a track with full production that isn't real-time, I like to separate the parts out in the Clip view in Live, blow up the UI so I can run it from the touchscreen, and dick around with different arrangement ideas while I'm trolling for sounds, and that's essentially what I'm doing in the above video.
Sidebar: the DK Synergy is a strange and wonderful beast, and I dearly love owning and playing it, but Jesus fuck the fan in that thing is loud. Something needs to be done about it.
I'm intrigued to learn about your writing process. Since electronic music is almost more about sound design than songwriting, do you play parts first, then do sound programming like me? Or do you come up with cool sounds, then figure out how to use them? Or some other method entirely?
---
## Another One Down... (NAMM Report 2014)
- Date: 2014-01-25
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2014/01/another-one-down-namm-report-2014/
Another January, another winter NAMM. Thoughts, in no particular order:
1\. Once again I'll state the obvious: Anaheim hates you if you're not there to go to Disneyland. I will again propose that NAMM move to the LA Convention Center, where at least if we have to put up with bad food and no parking, we can do it somewhere we don't have to drive two hours to get to.
2\. The little synth pictured above. This is the Murmux Semi-Modular, a new product from [Freaqbox](http://freaqbox.com/synthesizers.html), who are nominally guitar pedal people. Bog standard, mediocre silk-screening, a case that is way bigger than it has to be, and tweed, of all things. Somehow, that combo works. There is also a non-modular version called The Initiate, and one with a big ol' foot-pedal keyboard, if you're in to that sort of thing. There is zero shortage of simple analog desktops, and this is one of them, but the filter is to die for, and the big-ass knobs... PEW PEW PEW!!! No idea what the MSRP is, or availability. But me likey.
3\. The [Waldorf 2-Pole](http://www.waldorf-music.info/en/2pole-overview.html). Mono I/O, no MIDI, no USB, no runs, no hits, no errors. Another box that is way bigger than you'd think. It sounds farking awesome. $250-ish. Outstanding.
4\. Bitwig Studio. I'm now running this jank. Haven't dove in to it in detail yet (i.e. made a track with it) but it shows promise early on. It's good Ableton has some competition now. All consumers benefit.
All in all, NAMM 2014 was exactly like NAMM 2013, only more so. A good time was had by all. Anything you see in the firehose of social and normal media that caught your eye?
---
## Good Times, Good Times...
- Date: 2014-01-15
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2014/01/good-times-good-times/
Strange days are here. In no particular order...
1\. The video above is me giving a little workout to a prototype reverb module; same DSP platform as our current products. It is, given the constraints of the platform, a mono 'verb very much in the style of the reverbs you find in the 90s IDM that comprises the majority of my listening habits. I kited the original algorithm from a Csound sketch that Sean Costello put out about 15 years ago, but it has been altered for context. I've been working on this on and off for about a year now, and I think it's to the point where it could be a commercial module. I'll keep you posted on that.
2\. We have been updating our current product line at a punk rock clip, removing the DRM, updating the graphics, and generally tidying things up a bit. Dubstation, Replicant, and Eos have been done so far. Discord3 is next out the chute, probably early next week.
3\. NAMM is upon us. Looks like Roland might give the people what they want, finally. I would prefer these companies with gigantic R&D departments spend time inventing new interesting tools than making permutations of old stuff, but I'm in the minority. In much the same way that 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013 were "THE YEAR OF ANALOGZZZ!!!" we can expect the same in 2014. Just keep in mind that the vast, vast majority of NAMM announcements are workstation synths, MIDI accordions, and relic-finish Strat copies.
4\. For reasons passing understanding, I have been hired by Phoenix College to teach their Electronic Music 3 class. Several students will get the joy of trying to keep up with my Catcher In The Rye level digressions ("SQUIRREL!!!") for the next few months. Wish them luck. That starts tomorrow.
All of these different things are occurring because Adam is building the hardware prototype for a new Euro module, and Eric is building the hardware prototype for another new module. So there's nothing for me to do but fuck with our existing IP, as is my wont when they're not wiggling strings to distract me. So, next week you'll get my usual NAMGLA posts. I'll be attending Friday and Saturday, if you'd like to meet for some reason. And then a return to our regularly scheduled zaniness.
---
## Sandbolloxed...
- Date: 2013-12-26
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2013/12/sandbolloxed/
As you no doubt know, especially if you are a Logic user, there are Big Changes coming down the pike, in the form of a sandboxed version of Logic, most likely before the middle of 2014. Developers have been given a preview copy of Logic X Sandboxed, so we can test our products to see if they will work when the update occurs, and make necessary changes. The current Garageband X is already sandboxed, so you can do a quick test to have a gander at how many of your current AUs will work in Logic X Sandboxed.
The short answer is "hardly any."
There are some very big problems with sandboxing something like Logic, from a developer's perspective, and almost no benefit to the end user. (In actual fact, it harms the end user, because products he was able to use previously, and may have come to rely on, will suddenly cease to work.) We could talk in circles all day long about that sort of nonsense, but at the end of the day, it is what it is.
While this stands a very real chance of having a consumer backlash something on the order of what occurred when Final Cut X was released, that's neither here nor there in the scheme of things. Our concern at Audio Damage is to maintain a seamless transition, so our customers aren't affected. And, let's be honest, there is _nothing_ we like more than dropping everything and spending a couple months re-building our entire product line every time Apple has a fit of the Shinies.
In that light, we had a difficult decision to make. The only thing preventing our products from working in Logic X Sandboxed (and Garageband X, for that matter) is the erstwhile copy protection. For a decade now, we've had the simplest, least intrusive copy protection that we could have and still call it that. It has done very little to prevent piracy, and is the number one (and two and three and four and five and six and seven) source of support problems. It is, in short, a gigantic fucking pain in the ass that doesn't do what it's supposed to. And now it prevents our products from working in the Apple hosts.
So, we're taking it out.
We'll begin rolling out updates next week that will eventually encompass our entire product line, removing the DRM and updating the installers and UIs (and doing some bug fixing along the way), in order of popularity. The license control mechanism in the store will continue as-is, but the current reg codes will basically become serial numbers, and will not be required during the installation process. We'll also be able to deliver the bundles as one-click installs instead of 22 separate packages, which will no doubt please our bundle customers immensely.
This is obviously a pretty big risk for us, but we think it will be a good solution in the long run. We have long been of the opinion that there are people that care about supporting a company and its endeavors, and people that only care about themselves. Both Adam and I make a living on the former sort, and we hope that will continue to be the case. I can't speak for Adam, but I'm really shitty at blanching fries.
Anyhow, my Twitter feed and the Audio Damage RSS feed are the places to watch for updates as they're rolled. If you have a specific bug report that you think we might not know about, email it to [\[email protected\]](https://web.archive.org/web/2013/http://www.analogindustries.com/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection) and I'll put it in the list. We'll be doing the products in order of popularity (with shiny new digitally signed installers, natch!) so expect Dubstation, Eos, Replicant, and Discord3 to be the earliest recipients of this treatment, and so on down to the perpetual tail-end Charlie, Ronin.
---
## Insert Pun On The Name SEM...
- Date: 2013-12-15
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2013/12/insert-pun-on-the-name-sem/
A few months back, I was at my family reunion in Oregon, and I borrowed a barely-working original SEM from my good friend Jeremy. I trundled it back to SandLand in my carry-on, and a while later dropped it off at Five Star Engineering in Mesa for a thorough going-over and fixemup. It had a ton wrong with it, including some very old, very poorly-implemented mods. I had Five Star remove all the mods, re-cap it, and bring it back to its former glory.
And then I set it on my shelf, because I was busy remodelling a house.
Fast-forward to today, I was thinking "man, I bet Jeremy wants his SEM back one of these days." So I sat down to sample the living shit out of it, and [this](http://smg.org/samples/AISEM.zip) is the result. (90mb .zip file.)
I just sampled it directly with AutoSampler (looped back in to Live so it could control Silent Way Voice Control.) It is sampled at 48K, every 5th note, for 13 different patches. These are all Kontakt 2 .nki files, with no programming/looping/layering/anything, so they should load directly to virtually every sample playback device made.
Obviously, these would benefit from some programming and production; dry, this synth is fairly unimpressive. But there should be enough here for you to work with to make them your own. Enjoy, and Happy Holidays! If you want to spring for some bandwidth, as always, I'll never turn down a little drop in the [Paypal bucket](https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=B3AZ5KNKA92CN). But it is in no way necessary. I would be sorely disappointed if I found these for sale somewhere, but the worst I'll do is call you names in public to my thousands of Twitter followers and readers. Otherwise, they are unencumbered.
---
## The Synth Nerd Holiday Gift Guide...
- Date: 2013-12-04
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2013/12/the-synth-nerd-holiday-gift-guide/
I present to you the guaranteed-to-please good for all budgets Synth Nerd Gift Guide. You're here because someone you know is a Synth Nerd, and they have given you a link to this article, and said "anything off this list is fine." Well, they probably mumbled it, as your average Synth Nerd isn't much of a people-person. But you're here now, so settle in. You don't have to know what any of this stuff is. Just click the link for the amount you want to spend, then click "Buy Now." Easy peasy.
**1\. The Cheap Bastard (less than $25)** You really can't go wrong with the [Stylophone Retro Pocket Synth](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000SKHSRU/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=analogindustr-20&camp=0&creative=0&linkCode=as4&creativeASIN=B000SKHSRU&adid=0F2HWR389NF2MQAHGD56&), which will set you back $24.99. Even if the Synth Nerd in your life already has one, or has an original one, or one of the new super-duper ones, they'll still find a use for this, if only to annoy their co-workers. I guarantee it.
**2\. The Cheap But Not A Bastard ($25 - $50)** Another fun little pocket noise-maker, only a bit more capable. I chose the [Korg Monotron Duo](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00684KFFW/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=analogindustr-20&camp=0&creative=0&linkCode=as4&creativeASIN=B00684KFFW&adid=0PVJKCZ0F6J161FDPQNW&) ($49.00) here, because virtually everybody bought a Monotron a couple years ago, and while it was fun and all, the shine has probably come off that penny. And of the three Monotrons, this one sounds the most interesting, in my opinion.
**3\. The Risk:Reward Ratio ($50 - $100)** Now we're getting in to things that are actually useful to, you know, make music. Sorta. This is useful enough to actually elicit a "wow, you actually put some thought in to this and got me something you think I might like." Of course, you didn't. I did. But that'll be our little secret. Anyhow, if you want to drop a little more bank, go get that Nerd an [Axle Grease Delay.](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003R6VH06/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=analogindustr-20&camp=0&creative=0&linkCode=as4&creativeASIN=B003R6VH06&adid=1S5VBQJSBPWZ059SRBYN&) It'll only set you back $69, and there are zero scenarios where a Synth Nerd isn't happy with a new analog delay. Especially one that is kind of semi-awesome. (For the money, anyhow.)
**4\. The Now We're Getting Somewhere ($100 - $250)** If you're looking to spend a bit more, pick up a [Korg Volca Bass](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CAKQCHS/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=analogindustr-20&camp=0&creative=0&linkCode=as4&creativeASIN=B00CAKQCHS&adid=1ZE884HDT49MT5H384CA&) synthesizer. ($189.) That is, if you want the easy way out (i.e. Amazon.) If you don't mind putting in a touch more effort, and perhaps risking not getting your gift before Christmas, then the thing to buy is the [MeeBlip Anode.](http://meeblip.com/get-one/) ($129). I personally think the Anode is the better gift, and I'd go with that, even if it's late. It'll show you care.
**5\. The Groove Is In The Heart ($250 - $500)** I had to think about this for a while. My initial inclination was to go with the [Waldorf Rocket](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BQBUOSU/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=analogindustr-20&camp=0&creative=0&linkCode=as4&creativeASIN=B00BQBUOSU&adid=1X0XAQGKNRREDRGA54FF&), as it sounds very cool. However, I feel that it is overpriced at $329.99. It simply doesn't have the feature set or usefulness of other synths in this price range. Which is too bad. It's a cute little guy, with a unique twist on the tiny synth. No, in this price range, the hands-down winner is the [Arturia Microbrute.](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00G31YMVS/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=analogindustr-20&camp=0&creative=0&linkCode=as4&creativeASIN=B00G31YMVS&adid=0YZWHEGSHK67GVH9BMFB&) ($299.) As of right now, this is probably the best value on this list, when you look at capabilities, feature set, and general usefulness. Very difficult to beat, and your Synth Nerd will be ecstatic. And you'll be happy because the keyboard doesn't have enough notes to play the lead line from "The Final Countdown."
**6\. The Hey, Big Spender ($500+)** If you're gonna make it rain on your Synth Nerd, probably best to just give him a Visa gift card, because it's everywhere he wants to be.™ Just throwing that out there. But if you want something with a more personal touch, then I recommend the [Korg MS-20 Mini.](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00B5SKWBS/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=analogindustr-20&camp=0&creative=0&linkCode=as4&creativeASIN=B00B5SKWBS&adid=1DY9DFXKY70HGSM0WHZT&) ($599.) I personally don't care for this synth, and I certainly don't want it for myself. But I'm demonstrably strange, and absolutely in the minority. Your Synth Nerd will definitely be happy with it.
So, there you go. Something for all budgets. Happy holidays!
---
## Changeable Moods...
- Date: 2013-11-26
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2013/11/changeable-moods/
[](https://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/3438589530/)
While I was spending the last 7 days building modules, packing modules, shipping modules, and delivering modules, all kinds of fun things happened in the music tech industry, as it turns out.
**1\. Elektron Analog Keys** - Interestingly, when Elektron first announced they were going to announce that they would be announcing a new product, my [initial reaction](https://twitter.com/Chris_Randall/status/398935432890953728) was "hey, an A4 with a keyboard!" Then I got to thinking "nah, they wouldn't do that, would they?" So I went off on this harebrained mental exercise on what they were _actually_ going to announce they would be announcing. Turns out, I was right the first time. Yay, me. I'm not entirely sure how I feel about it at this point. The A4 has ingrained itself in to my **_WORKFLOW_** so much so that I don't really like the way I conceptualize its use to be fucked with. On the other hand, it would be snazzy to have a keyboard version. Apparently, they also announced that they'll be announcing another announcement soon, so we shall see. I'm obviously buying _something_ from Elektron in the next couple months. I just don't know what it is yet.
**2\. MeeBlip Anode** - I don't know why, but the word "anode" makes me want to get out my Crandall's Big Book Of Snark. It's a funny word. Whatever. New [MeeBlip](http://meeblip.com/)! I have the other two iterations, so I will, of course, buy this one. Although I'm of the considered opinion that Peter should just give it to me for all the joy I bring him. He won't, but he should. This one has all the controls nobody ever used removed, and an analog filter added. (The previous two had digital filters.) It's a Twin-T filter, the same one that makes the 808 Boooooooom, so there's that. $109 until Dec. 3, $129 thereafter. The MeeBlip family has always been, and will continue to be, the best value in hardware synthesis, and the Canadian Royal Mail will probably continue to suck. Immutable facts, ladies and gentlemen.
**3\. Cubase Adds Gesture Control** - And strangely enough, Logic still doesn't understand what to do when I flip it off. Typical Apple DAWs, always playing catch-up.
**4\. Big Beat Is Not Coming Back** - Who's stupid idea was that? Shit's sooooo 1996. I am working on a new EP. It will have guitar on it. I'm so sick of synths right now, I don't even...
In scrolling back through the week's RSS trail, that is actually kind of it. [New sample set](http://www.standardbeatcompany.com/products/calderwood-percussion-instruments) from Standard Beat Company that is worth checking out (one of Wade's better sets, IMO), I'm back to working on an iOS port of Phosphor, and Adam is working on the panel circuitry for the big-ass Audio Damage Eurorack modules. What are you up to?
---
## It's The New Style...
- Date: 2013-11-16
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2013/11/its-the-new-style/
Yay! A new module in our simple effect line-up, Freqshift. As the name implies, it is a frequency shifter. Originally coded by Sean Costello (ValhallaDSP) for us, and then extended by Adam, there is a ludicrous amount of functionality in this module. The manual is up at the [Audio Damage site](http://www.audiodamage.com/hardware/product.php?pid=ADM04) so you can read all about the various modes and how they're accessed.
It will be available next week at Analogue Haven for US$189.00, and at various other retailers the following week.
I've also bitten the bullet and made an [Audio Damage page](https://soundcloud.com/audio-damage-inc) at Soundcloud so I can stop putting these modular and plug-in demos on my personal page. Follow that for a continuous stream of bleebles, blurps, and synth cricket sounds.
In further news, I've begun porting Phosphor to iOS; we're going to release several Audiobus-based effects over the next few months, re-contextualizing existing products for the iOS environment, but we thought it best to start with a synth. Since Phosphor is the only synth we have, there you go. This process will no doubt be tedious to my Twitter followers, as I live-tweet Adventures in iOS Programming. But at the end of the day, you'll have an extended version of Phosphor on your iPad for a couple of bucks, so deal with it.
In any case, if you want to know what the next few days will be like in my house, let me introduce you to a bag with 6500 knobs in it. This takes up a rather alarming amount of space.
---
## Two Steps Forward...
- Date: 2013-11-06
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2013/11/two-steps-forward/
[](https://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/10693309895/)
I got a Maschine Studio last week, and let's just state right now that it's a pretty nice piece of kit. In a nutshell, they've taken the original Maschine controller and broken out all the shift buttons to direct control, and added a jog wheel and a pair of whopping big hi-res color displays.
There are plenty of [reviews](http://www.musicradar.com/reviews/tech/native-instruments-maschine-studio-587663) out on the Interwebs, by people that specialize in that sort of thing, so I won't bother going over all the differences between the Maschine 2.0 software and its predecessor, or all the fine points of the new controller. Rather, I'll just toss off some comments that have come to mind in the last week as I've used it, and answer some of the obvious questions.
**1\. Not A DAW**. There was a bit of a hope among a certain type of person (myself included) that the Maschine 2.0 software would turn it in to a full production environment, but let's make one thing clear: this software has its roots in MPC-oriented programming, and it hasn't strayed from that path. In order to function as a DAW, the software must operate in a non-linear way, and Maschine 2.0 is about as linear as it gets. The ability to chain Scenes to make a song is identical to the one in Maschine 1.x, and that hasn't been added to at all. Without a more advanced, less linear method of chaining patterns, this device and its software are still very much a sampling drum machine.
**2\. Renderless, So Render Less**. The audio export function will only export the current scene. There is no method in which to render a song chain. If you're using it in stand-alone mode, the only way to record your performance is with an analog loopback or a separate recording device. One person's advice was "render the scenes, then put them together in your DAW." That's an awful idea for so many obvious reasons I won't go in to it. My solution, such as it is, is to build the song's parts in stand-alone, then instance Maschine inside Live, and use a Resampling track to record the performance.
**EDIT:** The above is not entirely correct. The "Export Audio" function exports the loop range, whatever that is. So if you've extended the loop range to encompass several scenes, then that's what gets exported. My mistake.
**3\. No Studio Required**. As I said, the Studio controller is essentially the earlier controller with all the shift buttons broken out. I don't personally see the need for the jog wheel, which only duplicates functionality that is occurring where your hand already was. I could have thought of many better things to put in that spot, but they didn't ask me. The jog wheel is basically superfluous, for all intents and purposes. The displays make browsing for sounds and plug-ins and effects from Komplete very nice. However, if you're using your own library and 3rd party plugs, then you don't see them at their best. So you can live without it. In short, the Maschine Studio controller isn't strictly necessary; it won't limit your ability to control Maschine 2.0 at all, best I can tell. That said, it is a very nice controller, and is extremely well-built. It occupies a much larger footprint than the originals; it is, in surface area, roughly twice as big. However, the pads themselves, where the rubber meets the road, are identical to those in Maschine Mk 2.
**4\. Synthesize!** The built-in drum synths are honestly a bit amazing. I don't know how they did some of them, and I am pretty well-versed in drum synthesis; I assume they're mostly a combination of physical modeling, traditional synthesis, and minor sample playback. You get a variety of starting points for each of the traditional drum voices, with 5 to 8 controls for the voice. In many cases (especially the snares) the result is indistinguishable from a sample. I wish these were a bit more out-there, but no complaints. I can always instance a synth to get what I need.
In any event, my feelings are thus: the Maschine 2.0 software is a must-upgrade. No joke, it is head and shoulders above the first iteration. As far as the Maschine Studio goes, it is extremely nice; if you already have a Mk 2, you probably can live without it, but why on Earth would you want to?
(Obligatory Caveat: I did not pay for the Maschine Studio; I received it as an NFR.)
---
## Cycles...
- Date: 2013-10-26
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2013/10/cycles/
When I first began releasing instrumental music in, what, 98? (I think that was the first Micronaut record, but I'm sure about 85 people will correct me...) most of the instrumental music I made had one purpose: to appear in Bunnim-Murray produced shows for MTV, Red Bull extreme sports videos, and X-Box games. I was pretty good at this, and from '99 to about '05 ASCAP checks were half of my yearly income, as a result.
The style of music I made throughout this period was Big Beat. That genre is now almost 19 years old now, counting from the release of "Exit Planet Dust," the first real Big Beat record, in 1995 . Weirdly, many younger people don't really know about it as a genre; they know the biggest acts, but never seem to connect them in to a cohesive group. I only discovered this last night when I put up that video, mentioning in my Twitter and Facebook posts that I thought Big Beat was ripe for a comeback.
So, a primer: Big Beat is easily described as sample- and breakbeat-heavy electronic music done with rock arrangements and stylistic nods. The key acts are, of course, Chemical Brothers (_Exit Planet Dust_, 1995), Propellerheads (_Decksandrumsandrockandroll_, 1998), and Crystal Method (_Vegas_, 1997). There are [a bunch more](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_beat#Notable_big_beat_artists), many of which put out some pretty amazing shit. The thing about Big Beat is that it wasn't really something you could make in your bedroom; to do it right, you needed more of a band presentation. This greatly limited the number of artists involved, and ultimately the form died out when the easier-to-make EDM styles gained popularity.
Anyhow, one earmark of a Big Beat track is the attention paid to the song structure; most tracks in this genre have a clear ABABCAB format lifted straight from rock music. (Or, more specifically, the popular industrial rock tracks of the early 90s, when that genre ruled the roost. You're welcome.) Perhaps that's why the genre appealed to me, specifically; I easily understood its structure, and it utilized my already-extant skillset.
When I got some of my tools shoehorned in my new office this week, I sat down to play and make sure everything survived the move, and the above video is the result. While it only loosely deserves the "Big Beat" moniker, having no defined structure (it is, like almost all my "live" videos, a pure improvisation), it borrows that genre's sound palette. And once I'd made it, I wondered out loud whether Big Beat was ever coming back. In my opinion, it's time. Can I get an "amen"?
---
## You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin...
- Date: 2013-10-23
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2013/10/youve-lost-that-lovin-feelin/
Spent an entertaining morning sniping at the Apple Mavericks announcement yesterday. Right up until the point where Craig Federighi said "Free. Today." Once I got done wiping the orange juice off my MacBook Pro, I settled in for the usual nightmare.
Now, to be clear, I in no way \_want\_ to upgrade OS X. Ever. But the nature of Audio Damage's product line makes it so I have to, the second it comes out. So as soon as a new version of OS X is available, it's off to the salt mines for me. I strongly suggest (and not for the last time in this post) that you absolutely do not follow my lead.
First things first: there is no reason whatsoever to upgrade to Mavericks. Aside from all the memory compression fapping (which doesn't affect us, not being idle users of memory) and pipeline this and yadda-yadda that, there is nothing in Mavericks that will improve your songwriting skills or make your DAW run better. At all. Just don't bother. What you get, for all intents and purposes, are tabbed finder windows (which don't work as well as TotalFinder's do) an update to Calendar, and a mediocre mapping app. If an hours-long update process to get some kind of shitty tabbed finder windows is how you want to spend your time, knock yourself out. Otherwise, **don't do it.** Not today.
Since you're gonna ignore my advice and do it anyhow, here's what I've discovered so far:
All Audio Damage plug-ins, both 32- and 64-bit, swallow the update seamlessly. They are, as best we can tell, unaffected by Mavericks, which doesn't touch the folders they live in.
I did cursory checks of some other plug-ins. I had a couple crashes with Maschine when trying to load kits. Other NI stuff seems fine. I'm personally having some issues with FXpansion plugs, but I don't know if this is me or Mavericks or what. Studio One Two crashes on instance. Plogue Bidule seems to work fine. Max/MSP 6 (and M4L) require a Java update, but otherwise work fine.
So, spotty, basically. If you want to dick around with crashes and strange performance, and some plugs not working, by all means, update. If you have a show coming up, or are in the middle of a project, and you update, you're stupid, and I don't want to be your friend. You deserve all the problems you're having.
---
## I'm Givin' Her All She's Got, Captain...
- Date: 2013-10-11
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2013/10/im-givin-her-all-shes-got-captain/
This post initially was just a quote of the complete St. Crispin's Day speech from King Henry V. But I thought that might be a bit opaque. So, in the interests of providing a pop culture touchstone, I'll say "Houston, we have a problem."
The above photo is my little work desk on any given day. Some days, you can replace the Arduino stuff with splicing tape and reels of 1/4", or various little desktop synths, or like four laptops, but in general, that's what I'm looking at. That needs to stop. We need to think about **_WORKFLOW_**, basically. Part of the problem is that my office is equal parts R&D lab, light industrial assembly, recording studio, and graphic design shop. I'm hoping, at some point in the not-too-distant future, to move the "light industrial assembly" portion of the proceedings to points elsewhere. (This depends on you, dear customer. Make it so!) So I'm left with the other three, all of which are messy.
Anyhow, my point, such as it is: with our new house, which we're (finally) moving in to this week, I have a blank slate. Cooks always talk about the Triangle (stove, refrigerator, sink) and I feel that musicians generally use a similar setup. What I'd like to hear about are crafty solutions for the instruments <-> desk <-> multi-purpose area. What did you do that solved like 18 problems and left you with a ton of storage and a clean work surface? Please tell me.
---
## The Next Episode...
- Date: 2013-09-21
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2013/09/the-next-episode/
The first production run of Audio Damage modules is officially sold out, at least as far as we're concerned. We've sold the entire production run to Analogue Haven, Alex4 (which is a European distro company started by SchneidersBuero), and EquionoxOz. We've pulled the trigger on the second production run, and will have more backplanes in early November. When this second run shows up, we're going to introduce at least one more new module. Possibly two, but not likely.
Simultaneously, we've begun development on a more powerful CPU/RAM backpack that will enable us to make much more sophisticated modules (think a pretty much full-featured Replicant or Dr. Device in hardware). This will take some months, as these things go, and we'll discuss the feature set here and get some input. We made every attempt, and were largely successful, at keeping the initial Euro release secret. But now that the cat's out of the bag, we'll be pretty open about what's upcoming, unless it's a case where spilling the beans would mean opening ourselves up to competition. However, something like Replicant is an advanced case study in DSP in a Euro context, and is difficult to pull of without starting with an existing DSP library tailored to the task, so I'm not too worried about that. If someone else could have done it, they already would have, since it's such an obvious effect for the Euro environment.
Now, this is not to say that we'll only be releasing DSP-based audio effects. We have plans for several different things, now that we have a _**WORKFLOW**_, and finally I get to my point, such as it is. Adam is on the way to Japan, and I'm in charge, and when that happens, my imagination runs wild. (Every time he gets back from Japan, I spend the first three days interrupting his tales of travel to tell him about The Next Big Thing I thought of while he was gone.) One of the things I'd like to think about is a desktop synth.
Now, there is no shortage of desktop synths. One could make the argument that market was all full up. But one could (and in fact did) make the argument that all DAWs come with a delay, so why make one? We built a pretty nice business on that concept. So...
Now, this wouldn't have to be a digital synth (like, say, the MeeBlip -> Blofeld range of devices.) We have strong analog chops up in here. My question is this: if you were presented with a new desktop, a little guy, what would you like to see that you haven't seen before?
---
## Flipping The Script...
- Date: 2013-09-13
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2013/09/flipping-the-script/
I think that picture tells far more than a thousand words could. After two years of R&D (a sentence fragment that in no way conveys the experience we've just been through), and coincidentally during the week of Audio Damage's tenth anniversary, we have succeeded in releasing a hardware platform for our DSP effects, and are ludicrously proud to unveil the first three Audio Damage hardware products: DubJr, Grainshift, and Errorbox. You can read about them at the [Audio Damage](http://www.audiodamage.com/) site.
All three are 8HP Eurorack modules with ARMv7 CPUs doing the dirty work; they all retail for US$179.00, and all three are now available at [Analogue Haven](http://www.analoguehaven.com/) for immediate purchase. Analogue Haven will be the exclusive U.S. distributor for our hardware products; they will not be available via the Audio Damage website. We're currently in negotiations with a couple other distributors; we expect to have product at EquinOz within the next couple weeks. If you'd like to see Audio Damage Euro products at your favorite (non-U.S.) modular synth store, tell them to drop us a line, and we'll try to get it sorted.
We'll be rolling out audio samples in the next while (although if you're familiar with our products, you know what these sound like for the most part already) and videos in a few days. I'd like to take this opportunity to personally thank Shawn at Analogue Haven, who bootstrapped this whole operation, and my lovely wife Elle, who made boxes and power cables, tightened knurled nuts, and packed hundreds of modules. Hundreds. She is, if I'm not putting too fine a point on it, the shit.
---
## In Memoriam: Kid Baltan...
- Date: 2013-09-08
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2013/09/in-memoriam-kid-baltan/
When [MusicThing](https://musicthing.blogspot.com/) was a going concern, before Tom Whitwell got his job with the Times, he had a regular feature called "Music Thing Heros," which was a source of much awesomeness. I've never done that here, because it was Tom's idea, and it'd look like a cheap rip if I did it. (The Venn diagram of Music Thing readers and Analog Industries readers was essentially a single circle.)
However, if I did do it, or something similar, there's no scenario where [Dick Raaymakers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Raaymakers) (better known as Kid Baltan) wouldn't be on the list. Along with Tom Dissevelt, he was instrumental in creating the palette of sounds and methods of early electronic music, much of which is still used today, in various permutations. He passed away this week at the age of 83, and I thought I'd put up some of my favorite media.
This is a classic that I've posted before. It shows Kid Baltan (the one with the glasses) and Tom Dissevelt (the un-impressed chain smoker) working in the studio. The voice-over is in Dutch, but you can get the general gist of things pretty easily.
This track, Vibration, was on one of the four "[Popular Electronics](http://www.bastamusic.com/product/tom-dissevelt-kid-baltan-henk-badings-and-dick-raaijmakers-popular-electronics-vinyl-singles-collection)" 7" records released by Phillips in the mid-50s. It is basically a happy 1950s version of whatever the hell it is Autechre is doing this month. When you think about all the work they had to do to make this music (as witnessed in the above video, which was contemporary) your argument about workflow is invalid. Stop your whining.
Obviously, Mr. Raaymakers' music isn't for everyone, but credit where credit is due, and we all owe him a debt of gratitude.
---
## Omnibus...
- Date: 2013-09-01
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2013/09/omnibus/
I have a blessed day off from renovating our new house today. Unfortunately, this wondrous event occurred only because I stepped on some exercise gear in the dark last night, and lacerated my right foot to the point where I can't actually do anything renovation-wise, but must sit around all day convalescing. Those who know me know this is something I find intensely irritating, so I'm sure I'm going to be an utter joy to be around for the next couple days.
We're in the calm before the storm of a new Audio Damage product(s) as well, so the most productive use of my time appears to be trolling YouTube for funny cat videos. Since YouTube knows me so well, it won't let me watch too many of those without offering up something along the lines of this:
This fellow, [Wouter van Veldhoven](http://www.woutervanveldhoven.nl/), is a Netherlands-based musician experimenting with ambient, IDM, and minimal techno using reel-to-reel decks, solanoid-triggered electro-acoustic instruments, and modular synth. So, as you can imagine, he and I are very much of a mind about how to make music. I like how he uses the artifacts of tape recording (tape stop, reversing, overdrive) as elements of musical expression. I recommend perusing his [YouTube channel](https://www.youtube.com/user/woutervanveldhoven/featured) for some interesting shit.
---
## Let's Talk About Reel-To-Reel Decks...
- Date: 2013-08-23
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2013/08/lets-talk-about-reel-to-reel-decks/
I know this is a painful subject for the more modern amongst us, but feel free to step aside and let the old fogies go at it for a little while.
It is going to be a year or more before I can begin [tilting at windmills](https://analogindustries.com/2013/06/man-of-la-mancha/) in earnest, and in the meantime I'd like to do some experimenting and reminding myself of these techniques. While I know how to edit tape, make drum loops from tape, make "real" tape delay, all that jazz, it has been some years since I have exercised those particular muscles. While I already know what decks I'm getting for the Windmill (Otari MTR-10 with stereo 1/4" headstacks) I don't have the room in what will be my current space for those beasties, and I just want to have some fun.
So, in shopping about for smaller decks that might have the features that are necessary for What We Do, I landed on the Pioneer RT-701 as a possible candidate. These are readily available (there are several on eBay, and one on PHX Craigslist), reasonably priced, and _appear_ to have the features we need in a very convenient form factor for the ultra-small studio I'll have for the next year. I have never seen one of these in real life, however, let alone used one.
My concern comes from the fact that these are direct drive. Nominally, in a situation where you'd be making tape loops and such-like, the pinch roller pulls the tape off the supply reel, and the take-up reel just has tension on it to ensure it, well, takes it up. So when you don't have a take-up reel (like when you're running tape loops) the device still operates correctly.
So, basically, can any AI readers verify that these will operate in the correct manner? That's the question. If not, suggestions as to another small form-factor (Gods forbid, even portable, aside from the too-spendy Nagra IV-S and its ilk) R2R that will fill the bill.
**EDIT:** It appears that deck does not have a cue mode, which makes it essentially useless for our needs. Back to the drawing board.
---
## And The Baby Jesus Wept...
- Date: 2013-08-06
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2013/08/and-the-baby-jesus-wept/
Okay, no apologies for the lack of posting. I told you in the last post but one that we had bought a house, and that, coupled with some Big News coming on the Audio Damage front in a short while, is currently demanding about 138% of my waking moments.
So the main reasons for this particular post are two-fold. First, I would like to get that neckbeard in the YouTube video screengrab below the fold, because I'm tired of seeing it. (Mission accomplished.) And second, I need to vent.
My wife has often told me, in our nearly 19 years of marriage, that if something's worth doing it is worth doing right. That has never been more apparent to me than now. While my discovery isn't specifically (or, well, even generally) music-related, the same precepts apply, as it turns out. I have occasionally taken on remix and production projects. It isn't something I terribly enjoy, and usually the benefactors of my tender ministrations don't enjoy it either. The reason for this is that if something is done half-assed or stupidly, I have a knack for letting the person that did it know. Come to find out, people don't really like being called stupid. Go figure.
But this house... it was built in 1967, and was "builder-grade" (which is Real-Estate language for "the bare minimum") for its time. In the 46 years between when it was built and when I acquired it, it had two owners. In that time, both owners did various upgrades and repairs. And in _**EVERY SINGLE INSTANCE**_ that the opportunity presented itself, they took the path of least resistance. This has built up in four and a half decades to a rather ludicrous collection of half-assed bailing-wire-and-band-aids fixes and upgrades. The most egregious example is the $3000 worth of new granite countertops laid over the original particle board kitchen cabinetry. Today I discovered a pre-hung door frame that was held in place solely by the trim. (I was removing the trim prior to painting the room, and the door and frame literally fell out of the wall.) It goes on and on.
I fully expected this, and was aware of most of the problem "fixes" prior to purchasing the house. We got it for an excellent price, and it is in a good neighborhood; our fixes prior to moving in (which mostly consist of undoing the previous owners' errors and making all the doorknobs match) will increase its value by several tens of thousands of dollars, lubricated almost entirely by sweat. In short, I got what I paid for and will make a lot of money off this house; we wanted a mid-century modern Atomic Ranch that we could bring back to a modernized version of its original state, and build a ton of equity in the process, and for that particular want, we couldn't have done better.
However, let this be a lesson: if it's worth doing, it's worth doing right. This house is like the difference between using a pre-made drum loop someone ginned up (no offense, Wade and Huggy; much love!!!), and taking the time to custom record and synthesize your drum sounds, with which you make a well-produced and nicely grooving rhythm part. Sure, the loop will work. But 46 years down the road, don't you wish somebody knew you took the time to do it right?
---
## The Depths Of My Bits And The Rates Of My Samples...
- Date: 2013-07-20
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2013/07/the-depths-of-my-bits-and-the-rates-of-my-samples/
Once I got past this dude's beard and the ImageLine logo that they splashed on someone else's video (the [original](https://xiph.org/video/vid2.shtml) isn't embeddable), I quickly realized that this is the single best explanation of bit depth, sample rate, and dither that anyone has bothered to make.
I've always thought that 48kHz (which puts the Nyquist frequency above 100% of the human race's hearing ability) and 24 bits (which puts the noise floor below that of most any instrument, recording method, and reproduction method) were perfectly acceptable values. This video pretty much says that's fine, although not for the reasons I thought.
Anyhow, if you're a musician that records digital audio, you owe it to yourself to spend a half hour watching this.
---
## Hands, With Occasional Face...
- Date: 2013-07-12
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2013/07/hands-with-occasional-face/
Fun with the Analog Four, driving an original Oberheim SEM and the Eurorack jank with its CV outputs. No DAW, no plug-ins, no computer. Everything is sequenced from, and mixed in, the A4. It's worth noting, if you're thinking of buying one, that the analog inputs on the A4 have very limited controls. If you want to give up a synth channel, you have full control, but if you're just bussing them to the outputs, you only have pan, level, and FX sends (chorus, delay, and verb.)
That being the case, the A4 isn't ideal for this situation. I think if one had both an Octatrack and an A4, one would have better luck with this sort of environment. I had actually been planning to buy an Octatrack fairly soon.
HOWEVER...
As those of you with the constitution to follow my relentless tweetstream know, the missus and I bought our first house last weekend. Things are moving at a punk-rock clip (largely because we got fully pre-approved before we offered on a house) and we close on August 9th. Aside from nipping my Octatrack Dreams right in the bud, this will no doubt prove to be a wise decision in the long run. Not least of which because it has a huge back yard. More than large enough to build a Facility in. (c.f. the previous post on the subject of Facilities.) Now, whenever someone says to me "I'm building a studio!" my first response is "did your parents drop you on your head?" But yeah...
Anyhow, if you don't hear from me for a couple three weeks, that's why. In other news, I did another video a few days back, and I never posted it here. Similar kit, but I multi-tracked it in Live instead of mixing directly in the A4. Here 'tis:
---
## Man Of La Mancha...
- Date: 2013-06-29
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2013/06/man-of-la-mancha/
Okay, here's the deal: I'm not a millionaire. Or even a ten-thousandaire. But I was always told "dream big!" And I _do_ have a big dream. I've had this dream for a while, but I've only told two people about it, because I thought it sounded kind of stupid. They didn't laugh in my face when I told them, so maybe it's not a stupid dream after all.
Here's the thing: I would like to (re)create a late-50s / early-60s tape-based electronic music studio (of the sort used by Stockhausen, Varese, Schaeffer, Dissevelt, Dockstader, et al) that was completely free for interested parties to use. My thinking here is that a facility like that is not a whole lot of use to a single person, but wouldn't it be interesting if, say, Richard Devine or Alessandro Cortini or other current experimental electronic musicians had access to a vintage electronic music studio? What would they make, bringing today's musical vernacular to that context? I think that's music worth hearing, honestly.
I have a firm idea of what equipment such a studio would have, and I have a good working knowledge of how that equipment is used. But I have no idea how to bring it about other than throwing a shit ton of money at it. My dream precludes financial renumeration (it would be fiscally impossible to make such a facility actually turn a profit, of course) so I would operate it on the following basis: if you have musical credibility in our peer group (and since it's not a terribly large group, that isn't even really a judgement call) and you can get yourself here and put yourself up and pay the expenses (tape ain't cheap), schedule permitting, it's yours to use as you see fit.
Okay, maybe it isn't silly. It would be tough to pull off, though. Go ahead. Have at it. Laugh and laugh. In the meantime, here's some vintage e-music studio porn:
---
## Hit That Perfect Beat, Boy...
- Date: 2013-06-21
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2013/06/hit-that-perfect-beat-boy/
[](https://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/9093965677/)
As anyone that follows me on Twitter knows, I'm currently in Hood River, Oregon at my family reunion. I spent a chunk of time earlier in the week at J-Hi's studio recording the rhythm parts for what will be the next RT60 release (which, as it happens, will be a double A-side 7" only, no digital. Sue me.)
While there, I became a convert vis-a-vis the SEM module. While I appreciate the power of Oberheim synths, their general sound has never done anything for me. I had not, however, ever used a real SEM. The original one in the picture above (run via CV/Gate outs from the A4) changed my mind in a hurry. I don't know how close the new ones sound to this vintage one, but jesus fuck, what a cool sounding synth. I think I'd need to do a side-by-each comparison, but I may break my moratorium on GAS if the new ones are even in the ballpark.
Speaking of GAS-moratorium-breaking, I recently got a Craigslist score in the form of a like-new DK Synergy II+ with all the Wendy Carlos cartridges, which will get a video and "review" as soon as I get back. Suffice it to say, mind: blown by this thing. I've been trying to coax an emulated Kaypro II in to being able to program it, and I feel I'm not far from success in that regard, but honestly, there are only so many hours I can dedicate to that task that would be better spent doing, you know, my job and stuff.
Anyhow, that's it for now from the Great White North(west). Back to our favorite family sport, trying to belittle each other to the point of tears.
---
## Let's Go Ahead And Kill Your Dream Early...
- Date: 2013-06-09
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2013/06/lets-go-ahead-and-kill-your-dream-early/
I typed up a fairly lengthy rant on the current state of Kickstarter that was largely triggered by [this article.](http://torontostandard.com/culture/stop-giving-your-money-to-rich-people-on-kickstarter) I think the author, while perhaps not exactly clear on how capitalism works, makes some very good points. Then I realized what I was really building up to was some rather delicious schadenfreude about [The Cabin Sisters.](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/512169314/the-cabin-sisters-zosia-and-clara-mamet?ref=live) All that by way of saying that 00tz 00tz, the band pictured above, shouldn't feel that bad. You're in the same boat as David Mamet's kids. There are worse boats to be in, mostly operated by Carnival Cruise Lines, where you'll apparently be stuck on the Promenade Deck with David Foster Wallace footnoting the experience as he tosses off another cynical rant about people from flyover states that don't buy his books.
Anyhow, I deleted that tirade. Why? Because it's so fucking obvious. Yeah, Kickstarter have demonstrated that they have malleable morals. Yeah, Amanda fucking Palmer. Yeah, Penny Arcade, whatever. Veronica Mars? There's a stretch goal for the people that give a shit. David Mamet? Sorry girls. Sins of the father, and all that jazz. Plus, it helps to be able to play an instrument before you go off making records. And seriously, music video? 1993 called. They want their marketing (and their joke) back.
Also, I don't want people to confuse me with DFW. (I generally expound parenthetically.)
Basically, it comes to this: there was a brief time from the 1970s to the mid 1990s, where being a musician didn't also mean being a panhandler. That time is gone. Which brings me to the actual subject of our conversation: [Flattr](https://flattr.com/). Go peruse that site, then come back here and we'll discuss. I'm intrigued with the idea, personally. Interested to hear the thoughts of the AI readership.
---
## Mangleverb Overview Video...
- Date: 2013-06-02
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2013/06/mangleverb-overview-video/
One of my major failings is that I assume everybody else is as fluent with music software as I am. That's a bad assumption, given that I live, eat, breath, and sleep music software, and have for a decade. But there you have it. I'm not saying I'm smarter than everybody else. Far from it. But what you're doing to escape from your day job \_is\_ my day job. I mean, do anything for 10 years and you'll probably get pretty good at it, right? Anyhow, I try to design the UIs of our products to be as self-apparent as possible, but at the end of the day, I've discovered, not everybody knows what every feature does just because of the name of said feature.
This assumption I make accounts for a lot of my support email bitchiness, and when I'm pissing and moaning on Twitter, I'm doing it for the benefit of the 50-odd people I have daily conversations with who are generally as fluent as I am, not the other few thousand that are just observers.
Anyhow, all this by way of saying I've been slacking off on the video overview chores the last few months, but I just updated my **_Workflow_** to the latest and greatest, and put up another one of my droll, rambling explanations of a new product.
I'm in the process of making a second one that only shows how to use the sidechain input in various DAWs. That should be up this afternoon.
---
## Meet Mangleverb...
- Date: 2013-05-31
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2013/05/meet-mangleverb/
[
](http://www.audiodamage.com/)
Hey, want a new plug-in? Why, yes. You do. And we happen to have one right here. Let me introduce you to Mangleverb. It's a reverb! It's a filter! It's a floor wax! It's a dessert topping!
In all seriousness, it's a VCF/VCA (with pretentions of analog-ness) with LFO and envelope mod sources, and it has the original Deverb reverb algorithm that can be placed either after the inputs or after the VCA. This is a surprisingly versatile combination, as it turns out. Ducking 'verb, ducking filter, "trance gate," heavy duty special FX reverb, tremolo, all kinds of stuff.
I will admit up front that we borrowed from the concept of the [Vermona Retroverb Lancet,](http://www.vermona.com/index.php/en_retrolancet.html) since eagle-eyed readers will point it out anyhow. We've never actually touched a Retroverb Lancet in real life, so this isn't a clone or a slavish copy or anything. We basically looked at pictures of the front panel and thought "well, that seems like a good idea."
One further note: this is our first VST2.4/AU plug-in to have a sidechain input. In all the major DAWs we tried that are capable of routing sidechains, it seems to work. A little dancing about is required in Cubase, and the manual talks about this. It works the best in Logic and Live, the two most sidechain-friendly DAWs.
Anyhow, Mangleverb is available now in the [Audio Damage store.](http://www.audiodamage.com/) US$49.00 for VST and AudioUnit.
---
## If At First You Don't Succeed...
- Date: 2013-05-25
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2013/05/if-at-first-you-dont-succeed/
As all regular readers of AI know, I've spent the better part of a year (and gone through two fairly expensive touchscreen monitors) trying to come up with a touch-based app for songwriting and live performance. I've just got my seventh (!!!) attempt working to the point where it can actually be used to make music, so I thought I'd toss up a quick video.
As with the other attempts, no DAW is used at all. The DSP is entirely Max/MSP (not M4L) and the app itself is written in C++ using the Cinder framework. Two-way communication between the app and Max is done with OSC. Right now, all that's working is the mixer and the step sequencer. The drum samples are hosted in Max itself for a change of pace (previously I'd used Maschine for these adventures), but all the synth noises are coming out of either the Analog Four or the Virus Ti. You get the idea.
Yeah, I'm gonna keep kicking this can down the road until it shakes out in to something usable.
---
## Audio Damage Summer Sale...
- Date: 2013-05-20
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2013/05/audio-damage-summer-sale/
When I was a little tyke, we went to visit my grandparents who lived in San Diego once. While we were there, I saw a television commercial (once, natch) that was so powerful in its delivery that I remember it verbatim to this day. A Google search shows me that this was apparently a well-known commercial series, fondly remembered by all that saw it. I can't find the specific commercial I remember, but here's a [compendium](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOsLdT4slsk) of a whole bunch of them with the same general theme.
Caveat Emptor: that is quite possibly the E-Bola virus of ear worms. You've been warned.
All this by way of saying that my failings in the marketing vein are manifold and obvious. I am, in every way possible, the exact opposite of the marketing genius that put those commercials together. All I know is this: you kids like you some sales. So we're having one. Hit the [Audio Damage store](http://www.audiodamage.com/) and enter the code **HOTINHERRE** at checkout for 30% off your entire order. I'll stand upon my head 'til my ears are turnin' red.
EDIT: Sale all done. Thanks all! Now it's time to go fuel up the Gulfstream and fly off to my private volcano lair to work on the next product.
---
## Wicked Cool...
- Date: 2013-05-05
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2013/05/wicked-cool/
We had a fun week at both Audio Damage facilities. (For some reason that word gives me the gigglesnorts. I can't explain it.) While Adam largely spent the week swearing at our next product, I worked on an Audio Damage tech demo for \[REDACTED\], which was interesting, in a sort of academic fashion. The last few days I've been doing some OpenGL experiments with plug-in UIs that will hopefully bear some fruit down the road. As to whether you can expect a plug-in called Lazer Disco Cat, well, that is open to discussion.
Anyhow, the reason for this post: I'll be in Boston most of the week "consulting," and I was wondering if there were enough Boston-based folks on this list to warrant some sort of Analog Industries get-together for tropical cocktails and nerd-talk, on Friday (5/10) preferably.
---
## The Room In The Elephant...
- Date: 2013-04-30
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2013/04/the-room-in-the-elephant/
Audio Damage is a month in to its 9th year of operation, and throughout the history of the company, there are some constants. I regularly receive letters that essentially say "your products look great, but no demo = no purchase. Sorry." These have come about once a week, pretty regularly, since the company's inception. There is no question in my mind that we lose sales because of our No Demo policy. However, mathematically speaking, we'd also lose sales by having demos. (The entire point of a demo to see if you like it; having a demo doesn't automatically mean having a purchase from the person that downloaded the demo.)
There are a _lot_ of forum posts from various points of view about our policy, mostly on KvR but elsewhere as well. I look back with amusement at posts on OSX Audio and KvR from c. 2003 or so where people often would say "there's no way this company will stay in business without demos." Those don't occur any more, of course. There were many discussions about why we do this, with most people deciding it was an anti-piracy tactic, which it is not. Whether or not we have demos has had zero effect on piracy, and we never thought it would.
Which brings me to the real point of this post. The following letter, which I quote verbatim, leaving out only the author's name, has become increasingly common in the last couple years; just this weekend I received three letters that were variations on this theme. This one came this morning:
_Hey guys,
I'm a huge fan of your plugins and actually got to check em out a pirated version of your software (I am a student so please excuse the lengths I go to to try out what's good before buying). Anyways, I really love your stuff and was wondering if I could maybe make my own bundle with you guys? I know it's sort of a long shot but I'm on a student budget and I'm trying to go by any means to get legitimate software, so I figure it wouldn't hurt to ask. I was wondering if I could get Kombinat Dva, Discord 3, Eos, and Dubstation. I've only tried Dubstation and Kombinat but the others seem amazing as well. Please let me know if there is any way something can be arranged. If not, I very well understand. Thank you so much for your time. Take care._
Now, using cracked software is like masturbation. 90% of the people do it, and the other 10% lie about it. I'm fully aware of this. We've always just accepted it as a fact of nature. I frequently have to do support with people that have been using a cracked older version of a plug (e.g. BigSeq 1, Discord 1.5, the original Kombinat) and then they actually buy a current version and discover their presets don't work, or they're Logic users and the AU cache chokes on the new version. But this sort of letter is a New Thing, and I'm never sure how to respond.
On the one hand, I'll usually give people deals if they're reasonable. And I always want to turn pirate customers in to paying customers. On the other, well, you know. It's a hard pill to swallow.
Thoughts?
---
## Fresh Coat Of Paint...
- Date: 2013-04-22
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2013/04/fresh-coat-of-paint/
As you can plainly see, Analog Industries got a site-wide redesign courtesy of my lovely and talented wife. We also moved the site from the Audio Damage box to a grid server (i.e. The Cloud) because that's what all the cool kids are doing. If you have any questions or comments, or run in to anything odd, feel free to post in the comments.
If, on the other hand, you plan on posting "well, the orange isn't my favorite orange," or some other peanut gallery design commentary bullshit, nobody cares, least of all me. Just thought I'd throw that out there.
---
## There Might Be Something There...
- Date: 2013-04-18
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2013/04/there-might-be-something-there/
My job, such as it is, is about 50% mining pixels, and 50% researching new ideas (or, as my wife puts it, "watching YouTube videos.") I spend a lot of time hunting down interesting new methods for controlling or creating sound, and pondering how they'll work in Real Life. In the vast majority of what I find or think up, there is very little application to a normal studio workflow, but sometimes that's fine, too. There's a lot to be said for something that just looks cool and gets you away from the piano roll / analog mixer clone paradigm for a bit. In that light, here's a few things I've come across recently that might be interesting.
(Sorry about all the Vimeo embeds; hope they work. That's where people put this kind of stuff.)
**Cycles 720** - This was built by Craig Allan ([Numbercult](http://numbercult.com/)) in VVVV to control an M4L patch. The Vimeo description says "rhythm and swing are dictated by the size, number of circles, their degree of separation, orientation and elasticity of each collision." Yeah, sure. I don't know about all that, but it does look pretty. Mr. Allan does a lot of cool things that align with my interests, and his site is worth a perusal.
**Cube with Magic Ribbons** - This one, created by [Simon Katan](http://www.info.simonkatan.co.uk/), has less of a disconnect between what you're seeing on the screen and the result. It is an openFrameworks app controlling a SuperCollider patch, and strongly reminds me of an interactive score for a mid-50s avant garde piece. Check the Projects tab on his site for some other interesting works. Of particular note is the "What Is Life" demonstration.
[Hexagrama](https://vimeo.com/23500643) from [lasal](https://vimeo.com/lasal) on [Vimeo](https://vimeo.com/).
**Hexagrama** - This is an interesting take on the tried-and-true Euclidian sequencer, made by [Aristedes Garcia.](http://aristidesgarcia.tumblr.com/) No notes on how it is made, but I assume the usual suspects (VVVV, Cinder, openFrameworks, or Processing, with OSC to whatever.) I think this particular idea merits some more exploration.
There are a metric shit-ton of these sorts of experiments out there. These are just three that I thought were interesting. What's your favorite weird-ass sequencing or synthesizing experiment?
---
## At Long Last...
- Date: 2013-04-15
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2013/04/at-long-last/
[](https://rtsixty.bandcamp.com/)
Only four short years in the making, the debut RT60 album is now available [at Bandcamp](https://rtsixty.bandcamp.com/), for pay-what-you-want, minimum $5.
I'm not going to go at length in to the process of this album, because there are already about half a dozen posts here on that very subject. Suffice it to say that if you like analog synths, this is none more analog. The equipment list is somewhat staggering, so it's easiest to say "all of it." It was recorded to analog tape, just for the icing on the anachronism cake.
This is also the first release that I'm involved with that has vocals in quite some time. (I believe ["The Devil His Due"](http://shop.positronrecords.com/products/product.php?pid=posi020&aff=posi) is the last one, when I was in my "Jesus, I'm getting old. I better get on with ripping off Tom Waits" phase, c. 2007.) Granted, 100% of the vocals are through a vocoder, but still...
Anyhow, hope you like it. We're recording the follow-up in June.
---
## D2...
- Date: 2013-04-13
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2013/04/d2/
Forgot to post this here. I put this up last Sunday, a bit of afternoon jamming. No DAW, no plug-ins. Just Analog Four and modular. I was trying to get a handle on the A4's CV outputs, and it turned in to a reasonable track kind of on its own. Like they do.
---
## Drive By Snark, Round 2...
- Date: 2013-04-10
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2013/04/drive-by-snark-round-2/
So the big news of this morning is the trio of Korg [Volca](http://korg.com/volcaseries) "analog loop synths" (their words, not mine) that further extrapolate the idea of the original Monotron in to its obvious conclusion. I'll be honest and say that, like the MS-20 Mini, these do absolutely nothing for me. Korg will, of course, sell a shit-ton, and lots of people will have lots of fun with them, and some good music will be made. Hell, I'll probably buy them all myself, of course, as my moods are changeable, but for right now, my verdict is "toys." Fun for a minute, but ultimately useless.
Yesterday, Nord announced the [Nord Drum 2](http://createdigitalmusic.com/2013/04/nord-drum-2-playable-drum-synth-gets-more-sound-options-nord-pad-companion-photos/), which gives everyone the stuff they left out of the original one. (Stereo outs, and 6 voices.) I can only assume the Nord Drum 3 will have individual outs. But that said, this will make the first version one of the best buys out there when the big retailers dump their stock; of that I have no doubt. In a studio context, the mono output is fine, and honestly, stereo kick drums for dance music = ur doin it rong, anyhow. I'll keep my eyes peeled for a deal on the first version.
[This](http://www.softube.com/index.php?id=console1) caught my eye this morning. Softube has taken time out of their busy day making studio plugs for NI to create a channel strip plug-in that is ostensibly an SSL 4000G clone (albeit unlicensed, so they say "famous British console" a lot) with a dedicated hardware controller. This kind of goes at the desktop console problem from the other direction, letting the DAW do what the DAW does, and having an ecumenical channel plug with its own controller. The controller doesn't have any transport, nor channel arming controls of any sort, so for the Full Analog Console Experience, you'd still need a little DAW controller of some sort. Don't think this will do well, as it assumes you're only going to use one EQ or comp ever. Might be handy in certain scenarios, but it sort of defeats the purpose of having a DAW in the first place, which is the lack of limitations on EQ and comp choice. Interesting idea, though.
And that brings us to the [Bass Station II](http://us.novationmusic.com/hardware-synths/bass-station-ii). I may have my timeline mixed up, as I used to do a lot of drugs, but I'm pretty sure the original Bass Station was the signal that the Long, Dark Nightmare of the late 80s and early 90s was over, and we could once again have knobs and analog stuff. In short, it was the first synth of the Analog Revival, best I can recollect. So the Bass Station II, aside from its appearance 20-odd years late, is a logical release.
Of course, the ~$500 price point for two-osc analogs with tiny keyboards is pretty full. I was joking with someone the other day that I wanted to have a huge synth rig just made up of tiny analogs. That dream is now within reach.
---
## Drive By Snark...
- Date: 2013-04-08
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2013/04/drive-by-snark/
Musikmesse starts on Wednesday, so naturally all the pre-announcements are rolling out, like they do. I was strongly considering going to Messe this year, but then we decided to go to Hawaii instead, for reasons that should be patently obvious. So like most of you, I admire from a distance. Here's what we know so far:
**1\. ProTools 11**: The shit I don't give is apparently only equalled by the shit that Avid doesn't give. I have to say, though, this is the first time I've seen "multiple meter modes" as a leading bullet point. So they're groundbreaking in that, at least.
**[2\. Nord Lead 4:](http://nordlead4.com/)** This synth never did anything for me, and it continues to not do so. If I was in a Cars cover band, I might think differently. But I'm not.
**[3\. MFB Dominion 1:](http://www.musicradar.com/news/tech/musikmesse-2013-new-mfb-dominion-1-analogue-synth-and-tanzbr-drum-machine-573480)** MFB, laughing in the face of the 2-osc onslaught from Korg, Moog, and Arturia, explores the mythical land of the _THIRD OSCILLATOR!_ Behold! All kidding aside, they shoehorned every feature ever in to this little analog. 3 oscs, 3 envs, 3 LFOs, sequencer, two ribbon controllers, aftertouch, full CV I/O. I suppose it could sound shitty, but on specs alone, if you like that sort of thing it is the sort of thing you'll like.
[**4\. GRP A4:**](http://www.grpsynthesizer.it/default.aspx) And very similar in specs to the MFB box is the GRP Synthesizer A4. I absolutely love this bit of copy: _The Loop EG function enables the conditioned and unconditioned repetition of the envelope, in order to reach particular and temporal articulated sonorities._ All my articulated sonorities have been atemporal to this point, so this is a nice development.
**5\. New Roland Stuff:** I was really hoping for a V-Hurdy Gurdy. No such luck. The [RC-505](http://www.musicradar.com/news/tech/musikmesse-2013-roland-unveils-rc-505-hands-on-looper-573379) is kind of nifty, I guess. It is the first time someone has made one of these loopers specifically for Reggie Watts. But Mr. Watts seems to be a dyed-in-the-wool EH 2880 user, so good luck getting him to switch, Roland! I guess we'll just end up with a lot more shaved-head white guys that beatbox, then sing like White Bob Marley over the top. Always a growth market, that.
That's it for now. Stay tuned all week for more Drive By Snark from your hard-working music tech reporting team at Analog Industries!
---
## Say April Fools Again, Motherfucker...
- Date: 2013-04-01
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2013/04/say-april-fools-again-motherfucker/
Just breath through it. It'll be over soon.
In other news, here's the deal: I generally work on about three or four things at once. Usually one Audio Damage thing, one thing for myself, and one contract job. The reason I haven't been verbose about what I'm up to lately is several-fold. There are currently five (!!!) Audio Damage projects going on; one of them is for another company and we're under NDA, two of them I promised Adam I wouldn't talk about (which is kind of the same as an NDA without paperwork,) and one of them is so close to being done that there's no point in talking about it.
(Yes, that was only four, if you're counting. I'll get to the fifth here in a minute.) On top of that, I have my usual UI contract work I do for others going on; currently, a very large project that, once again, I'm under NDA for and can't talk about, except to say that I'm in the process of making it pop more.
So, I find myself in the unenviable position of being a relatively open person without anything to say. But if you follow me on Twitter, you'll note that last week I spent some time porting Filterstation to iOS. Here's a screenshot. When Audiobus for iOS was updated while I was in Hawaii, they added a feature called "Audiobus Filters." While the name of this function maybe isn't the best, it is an interesting idea. You can designate Audiobus-aware apps (or the system I/O) as both sources and destinations, and the Filters go in between.
So I recreated Filterstation in iOS as an Audiobus filter. It doesn't do anything without Audiobus installed, and after looking at JACK and its supported apps, and the possibly hare-brained rig I'd have to build to support that method, I decided that it should be just an Audiobus filter. It will not work stand-alone. Functionally, it is identical to Filterstation except it doesn't have MIDI or sidechain inputs. The UI is even more-or-less the same, taking in to account the foibles of Cocoa Touch. (For instance, our scrolling digits don't work in that context, so I came up with a nifty pop-up slider device that works in their stead.)
This is pretty much done, and works fine. However, I have to wait until Adam returns before finishing it off and submitting it, because my ADC account is in my name, and there are business considerations to take in to account that require some discussion.
**TL;DR: Busy, busy, busy. Cool shit coming. Yay!**
---
## Home Again...
- Date: 2013-03-22
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2013/03/home-again/
[](http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/8564983217/)
Back at the Kompound again, after a fantastic week in Kauai. The only bad thing about the trip was the crying babies on the plane (both ways, natch) and that wasn't even that bad, honestly.
Since I didn't take a laptop, and we didn't actually do very much besides lay on the beach and stuff food in our face-holes, I had a lot of time to just soak up ambience. This turned out to be remarkably refreshing, creatively-speaking. I haven't taken a vacation like this before, the sole purpose of which was to relax, so I didn't really have a good idea of how it would affect my general workaday experience. I think the fact that I spent most of the plane ride home thinking about user interfaces and music and the interaction thereof, via some new ideas I had while laying in the sun speaks to the generally effective nature of vacationing.
I've developed--or more to the point Elle has developed--methods for managing my creativity over the years. She knows far better than I when I'm in a slump, and she knows what to get me to do to un-slump things. But I have to admit that I've never really done a cold reboot like this before, and I'm somewhat amazed at the floodgates opening like this. Do you find that taking some serious Time Away (no work, no creative endeavors, actual vacation time) does this for you as well? I'd like to think this is a tool I can use to stoke the engines repeatedly in the future.
---
## aloha...
- Date: 2013-03-12
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2013/03/aloha/
I'm going to be out of the office for a week starting on 3/14. I'll be enjoying the location pictured above in Kauai, Hawaii. (That's a picture of Tunnels, a few minutes walk from the house we rented.) This is the first real vacation (that is: no laptops, no work) that my wife and I have taken since 1996, and I plan to enjoy it by pointedly not thinking about plug-ins, synths, or Amanda Palmer's hubris.
I will be checking my email and this site occasionally via my iPad (my hypocrisy has limits, but I haven't discovered them yet) but I won't be responding to emails that aren't Audio Damage customer emergencies of some sort, so if you have something you just have to get in touch with me for and it isn't "yo, this plugz doesn't work in ProToolz!!!11!", it's going to have to wait until 3/22. You can get a hold of me via twitter, as long as you keep it pithy. If you have my phone number, don't fucking call me.
So this is an open thread. You pick the subjects. Don't break anything while I'm gone.
---
## ripspace...
- Date: 2013-03-09
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2013/03/ripspace/
I've been busy as hell the last couple weeks; multiple plates are spinning here at the Audio Damage Marketing And User Interface Design Facility; I was in dire need of a headcleaner, and thankfully, an excuse presented itself in the form of a new soundbank for the Analog Four by Richard Devine that Elektron put up this morning. After my day's trials and tribulations, I loaded that bitch up and sat down to noodle. When I looked at my watch again, 3 hours had gone by and I had a pretty reasonable jam.
This speaks volumes for both the A4 and Richard's programming skills; in my advanced years, it is incredibly hard to get zoned in like I used to, as there is very little in the music tech world that can excite my imagination at this point.
Anyhow, I thought my noodling was worth a bit of hard drive space, so I recorded a pass, and I figured while I was at it, might as well roll (virtual) film. The video above is the result. Analog Four, MeeBlip, Maschine, and modular. The Maschine and A4 are doing all the sequencing. I used Live 9 as a mixer and recording deck, but nothing is sequenced in it.
Enjoy!
---
## Samplefest...
- Date: 2013-03-03
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2013/03/samplefest/
I spent most of the week in L.A. on a business trip (and also: Karting, the which I have the bruises to prove), which will account for my relative silence the last few days. The next few months are going to be very exciting for people that like it when Audio Damage releases weird shit, I'll say that much.
While I was out of the loop, my two favorite sample companies both released new products, the which I will now proceed to pimp:
First up is Standard Beat Company's [Black Surface Volume One](http://www.standardbeatcompany.com/products/black-surface-volume-one). As is usual for SBC products, you get a slew of hits and loops in various formats. For the first time, Wade jammed Maschine kits in there, which makes me happy. _Black Surface_ is a bit less roomy than the last two SBC products, more digital and tight-sounding. Recommended, of course.
Next up is Goldbaby's [Urban Cookbook Vol. 2](http://www.goldbaby.co.nz/urbancookbook2.html), which expands on the original Urban Cookbook collection, and contains roughly one quintillion samples and loops, in every format under the sun, for US$49.00. This, like the previous Urban Cookbook, is a more general collection than the typical Goldbaby stuff, and is a great starter pack to get you a nice, well-recorded multi-purpose electronic drum toolkit for a reasonable price.
---
## Out With The Old 'n' Busted, In With The New Hotness...
- Date: 2013-02-24
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2013/02/out-with-the-old-n-busted-in-with-the-new-hotness/
If you head over to [AudioDamage.com](http://www.audiodamage.com/), you'll be treated to a full ground-up re-design courtesy of my lovely wife, [Elle Randall.](http://www.ellerandalldesign.com/) To say that this is mainly a cosmetic update is to understate the matter quite a bit.
The major difference, other than looks, is in the license control. As of today, when you buy a license from us, you may transfer it to another customer free of charge. However, if you bought a license from someone other than us (e.g. on KvR) and you want to re-sell that license, you need to purchase a license transfer option for $4.00. I've been doing all these 2nd hand transfers by hand for a decade now, and it has gotten completely out of hand, so we're tightening the options a little bit.
The other thing, and this won't affect hardly anyone, is that any order over $500 (which usually only means "Everything Bundle") has to be done through Paypal. We've had several instances of people purchasing Everything bundles on stolen credit cards, and we don't find out about this until like 30 days after the fact, when we get a chargeback notice from our credit card service.
No other policy changes at this time, and other than looking and working much better, the store will operate more or less the same. Enjoy, and let me know if you run in to any hiccups.
---
## To The Moon...
- Date: 2013-02-22
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2013/02/to-the-moon/
Waldorf surprised us all this morning with the [announcement](http://www.waldorf-music.info/rocket-sythesizer.html) of the Rocket, a little hybrid monosynth (analog filter, digital everything else) that will retail for about $299 here in the US.
The synth features some crafty oscillator hijinks to craft an interesting sound. Whether it's your bag is a subjective opinion, but the nice thing is that they're actually taking in to account the fact that it is 2013, and making the little guy modern, unlike other manufacturers I could name but won't (cough \*Korg\* cough-choke \*Moog\* cough). Looking over the specs on the Waldorf site, it seems to be a fairly current and comprehensive feature set, with full control over USB or MIDI. I assume a control plug-in will follow shortly.
This is what I mean when I say "take some risks," instead of re-hashing 30-year-old tech for the sake of income. There isn't much risk here, and it's obvious this will be a smashing success, but at least they're trying something new-ish. (For this price point, anyhow.) Here's a video:
---
## And Again...
- Date: 2013-02-17
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2013/02/and-again/
I'm working on several interesting things right now that would be excellent fodder for conversation here. Unfortunately, I can't talk about any of them. At all. So that leaves us with yet another Disembodied Hands video.
The fine folks at Elektron put out a new OS for the Analog Four yesterday, and after lunch today I installed it, and discovered that it gave the A4 channel mutes in performance mode like those on the MonoMachine and MachineDrum (and, I assume, OctaTrack.) I was just dicking around and testing this out against a Maschine patch I'd made earlier in the week, and figured that it'd be fun to throw up on YouTube.
Anyhow, as I said, lots going on 'round here, but nothing I can blabber about just yet. How's your day going?
---
## blinkerette...
- Date: 2013-02-11
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2013/02/blinkerette/
Busted out a little jam with the Analog Four and Maschine. All the synthy stuff is coming from the Analog Four, of course.
---
## Analog Four...
- Date: 2013-02-05
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2013/02/analog-four/
After several days of slogging around NAMM, and experiencing so many product demos they kind of turned in to a blur of specs, connectors, and knob labels ("SAY iOS AGAIN, MOTHERFUCKER!!!"), when all was said and done there were only two pieces of gear I really wanted. The Prophet 12 and this lil' feller, the Elektron Analog Four. Since the Prophet 12 is made of unobtanium (unless you're [Trent Reznor](https://twitter.com/trent_reznor/status/298553837596332033), which I apparently am not) I had to throw money at Sweden when I got home. UPS dropped off a shiny new Analog Four yesterday, and away we go.
I've owned every single piece of Elektron gear except the Octatrack at one time or another, and this unit is a logical progression of the general Elektron design philosophy and UI methodology. As such, thinking of it as a synth isn't really the right tactic. I mean, you can load up a sound, and play it with MIDI, like any other synth. But it is really a synth/sequencer combination, in that without using its own sequencer, you're not getting the full experience. (In much the same vein as a 303, honestly.) The synth topology is designed to take advantage of the internal sequencer, and sounds kind of funky without it.
After playing around a bit, I hooked it up to Live to try making a track. This engendered the usual raft of problems with syncing Elektron gear. Took me an hour or so of fooling about before I remembered that Live 8 and 9 have an adjustment in the MIDI setup panel to time-compensate MIDI clock. In order to get the correct timing differential (which is a result of several factors, including the latency of the audio I/O) I recorded a couple measures of the metronome in the Analog Four, time-corrected them in Live so that they were exactly on the beat, then adjusted the MIDI clock delay value until the recorded metronome and the one coming from the A4 were flanging. For me, this was -40.5ms, but your mileage may vary. In hosts that don't have this clock compensation method, you'll have to delay all the non-A4 tracks by the appropriate amount.
It doesn't seem to have the timing drift and end-of-cycle hiccups that plagued the MachineDrum and MonoMachine (at least when I had them); once I compensated for the clock offset, it is rock solid, timing-wise. I recorded 64 measures of a 16th note white noise tick just to make sure, and a visual check showed every beat was perfectly in time.
In use, it is somewhat easier to program than the MonoMachine. I usually had to resort to programming the MM with an external MIDI controller, as entering note values was quite tedious. The Analog Four includes a 1-octave keyboard on the front panel, and you can either use this to program note values of existing steps, set the note value of steps you're manually entering, or play the selected synth voice live directly. This makes a HUGE difference in ease of use, honestly. I wouldn't have thought such a small addition would do so, but I would have been wrong.
The sequencer, by and large, is identical to the sequencers in the other Elektron products. They've added a "Performance Controls" section, which is per-kit and can be used for macro control of all sounds, so you don't have to go menu diving during live performance. This is a very nice addition for live use, I imagine, although I don't do hardly any of that any more.
The synth is intriguing. They somehow managed to bring their sound design philosophy to a nearly entirely analog environment, which is quite a trick considering how _digital_ their previous products are. Even though it is very obviously an analog synth, it still sounds entirely Elektron. As to whether this is your cup of tea is a subjective opinion. I like the topology quite a bit. The only real minus is that each mod source only has two destinations. This necessarily limits the complexity of the sounds. But it still sounds unique, which is the important thing. Most of the true analog synths that have come out in the last couple years are virtually identical in their topology, differing only in the filter design. This unit doesn't have that problem.
Overall, I like it, and I think it is well worth the money. You're essentially getting four independent analog synths, an effects engine, a sophisticated live performance sequencer, and a full CV/gate control brain for a small modular, all in one convenient package. Figure each synth costs $275 (which is, it must be said, a steal for such a sophisticated and unique analog voice) and all the rest of the stuff is a bonus.
Now, it won't just drop in to your rig like any other synth. It is its own environment, and has a much steeper learning curve than a typical 2-osc analog. It also sounds very Elektron, and the results you're going to get are going to rapidly taper to a particular sound and vibe that is heavily informed by the sequencer. But that said, it is sophisticated, powerful, and sounds good. My only real complaint is that there aren't individual outs for the voices; it only has stereo outs. This can be dealt with, but it is obviously easier to have multi outs in a modern production environment.
My recommendation is Buy It Now, at the end of the day. If you have any specific questions, I'll be happy to attempt to answer them.
---
## Audio Damage Bitcom Now Available...
- Date: 2013-01-31
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2013/01/audio-damage-bitcom-now-available/
[](http://www.audiodamage.com/)
To say that Bitcom took longer than expected would be to understate the matter in a somewhat ludicrous fashion. We decided to bang out a simple, fun sequencer-based bit-basher in August. It was supposed to take a couple weeks to make. Real Life, along with a fairly stupendous collection of computer and code problems, proceeded to kick us in the face.
So don't let the lengthy dev time fool you. Some plug-ins want to be born quickly. Others require some pushing and lubrication. This was of the latter sort. But we're not going to pass on the sadness, dismay, and lack of a will to exist to you. This bad boy is $39.00. Go get one. Please. VST/AU 32/64.
And yeah, there is no VST3 in this release. If you want to know what making this plug-in in VST3 was like, watch this video. In the metaphor, Adam is Chef, the boat is VST2.4, and the tiger is VST3. I am, of course, Captain Willard. Because it's my metaphor. Absolutely god-damn right.
---
## NAMM 2013 Day Three And Other Stuff...
- Date: 2013-01-28
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2013/01/namm-2013-day-three-and-other-stuff/
Yesterday was my last day at NAMM (I don't go on Sunday, as the words "fucking ridiculous" can only be uttered so often before people start thinking I have Tourette syndrome) and my mobility was somewhat hindered by a flare-up of last year's leg problems, thus necessitating going Cane On.
The only instruments I demoed extensively are noted below:
1\. [Dubreq Stylophone S2](http://www.dubreq.com/stylophone-S2-p1.html): While the original Stylophone is much-loved, especially by our cousins across the pond in the UK, it is so limited it is really only handy if you're David Bowie and it is 1969. The S2 model attempts to remedy that situation by turning the Stylophone in to a full metal synth extravaganza. I'll be honest and say that while it is quite playable (you don't even need a stylus any more) and sounds not bad at all, the control layout is kind of odd, and somewhat difficult to deal with. But there are only a dozen or so controls, so how hard can it honestly be? CV/Gate in so you can control it from a sequencer or whatever if that's your bag. Is it worth £299? You'll have to be the judge of that. I'm personally not convinced at this moment, but my moods are changeable.
2\. [Studio Electronics Boomstar 5089 and 303](http://www.studioelectronics.com/products/synths/boomstar/): Studio Electronics released four different Boomstars, but only the 5089 (Moog ladder) and 303 models were working at NAMM. The other two were displayed, but neither was playable. (The SEM version didn't even have insides.) These are obviously based upon the ATC-X rackmount membrane-panelled synth, but with extra features from the SE-1x and some stuff they've come up with since. Is the 5089 a better purchase than the Phatty McPhatness from Moog? It sounds a bit better, in my opinion. Plus it has more I/O for external control, and quite a few additional routing and modulation options. It is a more sophisticated synth overall, and at $200 less, probably the better purchase.
The 303 version has identical topology, but substitutes the Roland diode ladder filter for the Moog transistor version found in the 5098. It has the same oscillator section, though. As far as I'm aware, all four Boomstars have the same oscillators; they only differ in filter topology. It doesn't sound much like a 303; it doesn't squelch like one, and the square wave sounds nothing like the square in a 303. But it does have a very nice, round low end, and is a perfectly serviceable synth with an interesting panel. I liked it better than the 5089 version. Personally, I can't say I found either terribly interesting, but if you need a single bread-and-butter analog monosynth, they're perfectly useful as such, and have enough mod routing and I/O to go to some strange places.
In other news, we're nearly done with the Bitcom re-write. We removed VST3 support, and went back to the old VST2.4 model. Hope you weren't too hung up on VST3; we've pretty much jumped ship on the whole concept at this point. The only compelling reason to build VST3 was the free-as-in-your-mom AU and 2.4 versions. And if the AU doesn't work, that really is pretty much a deal-breaker. But apparently (last I heard) things are going smoothly on the re-write and I hope to have good news shortly.
---
## NAMM 2013 Day Two...
- Date: 2013-01-26
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2013/01/namm-2013-day-two/
Okay, NAMM, we need to talk. It's time you put on your big boy pants and moved to a real convention center. Anaheim was fun and all (okay, well, not really), but you've grown too large. It's time to consider moving to a larger convention center like L.A. or, if I might be so bold, Vegas. Anaheim can't feed all the people. Anaheim doesn't have room for all the vendors. Anaheim doesn't have a place to put all the cars. And wouldn't Anaheim really be happier just getting people to Disneyland, which is all they truly want to do anyhow?
In any event, between the two and a half hours (!!!) I spent parking and screaming at shuttle bus drivers, the hour (!!!) I spent in line trying to get lunch, and the hour (!!!) I spent un-parking, I didn't actually see very much yesterday. It was a banner day for the Anaheim Convention Center service industries. Many Shuvs and Zuuls knew what it was to be roasted in the depths of the Slor that day, I can tell you!
So, with that:
1\. Eventide H9: This is a pretty crafty product. It's actually sort of a meta-pedal, and you get an iOS app to program it. Not _great_ for synth-tweakers like the other pedals, which have banks of knobs for performance (you have to use the iPad app to program it) but the shear amount of DSP power in this tiny little pedal is somewhat overwhelming. It is more-or-less identical to the other pedals inasmuch as you, say, load up the Black Hole preset, and it's exactly like the the Black Hole algo on the Space pedal. Feels solid as hell, and looks great. If it had a "Like" button, I'd press it.
2\. Eowave: Nori Ubukata was in the Eowave booth, and he was playing one of the stranger things I've seen at NAMM. Eowave makes a stand-alone ribbon controller, and he had it driving an oscillator/VCA combo. This was sent to a [gong/speaker thing](http://www.eowave.com/metallik.php). In this way, he was able to "play" the resonant frequencies of the gong/speaker thing with the ribbon controller. Very odd and cool sounds. Throw that shit through the H9 pedal and we have ourselves a drone party! They had the Magma, of course, which is their current marquee product, and they were also showing a [6U all-in-one modular](http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/8414198819/in/photostream). It is labelled in French, so I wasn't able to parse out its full complement, but it looks pretty nice and capable.
Other than that, I had a couple meetings, and I wasn't actually at the convention very long, so I didn't see anything else worth noting. Today I have no meetings and I'm going pretty early, so it should be more productive.
---
## NAMM 2013 Day One...
- Date: 2013-01-25
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2013/01/namm-2013-day-one/
One long-ass day of wandering about and strained politeness in the bag. I took a few pictures, but it's early in the morning, and I don't feel like digging out my camera and dealing with that right now. Besides, Brandon Daniel did his usual photodump [here](http://www.fdiskc.com/syn/namm/2013/index.html) and it includes everything I'd put up anyhow.
**Brief Impressions:**
1\. DSI Prophet 12: This is the standout synth I've seen so far this year. It basically distills Dave's 30-odd years designing hybrid digital/analog instruments in to one fixed focal point. Beautifully built in the USA end-to-end (the electronics fab is done in downtown San Francisco, natch), eminently playable, and it sounds _fantastic_. I'm not saying that I gave everyone in the booth tinnitus with the resonant highpass filter (which self-oscillates.) But I'm not saying I didn't, either. Two thumbs way up. Absolutely getting one of these.
2\. Korg MS20: The real MS20 was never one of my favorite synths, and this one is basically exactly the same in all respects (including Hz/V oscillators) only size-stunted, like it smoked a bit too much in its pre-teen years. I'm definitely in "do not like" territory with this, bordering on active hatred. So I guess I'm gonna be that one guy. That's fine. Those synths only make like 4 sounds, and Richard James killed them 15 years go. So now there's gonna be 3,000,000 other people making those four sounds, except in indie rock I didn't like with a microKorg. I don't even want to talk about the King Korg or whatever it is. TOOOOOOOOOOBZZZZZZZ!!!111!!!ELEVEN!!!
3\. Phatty McPhat Phat Phatty Phat Phat Phat: Briefly poked at this. Opinion unchanged from previous post. Phat. The Moog booth is absolutely _dominated_ by that gold-plated Voyager, and it's really difficult to concentrate when you're within 15 feet of that thing's powerful Phorce-Phield. Phat. The Voyager XL is still the best thing they make. Phat. Now, _that_ is a nice instrument. Phat. They have a white one in the booth, and it looks and sounds great. Phat.
4\. Buchla Music Easel: Apparently, it is identical in all respects to the original (except the font on the front panel, which is italics like the current Buchla modular.) The two units they have at NAMM are not operationally complete, so a full workout can't take place. I've only seen one of the originals in real life once, and I didn't get to play with it, so I couldn't say how they compare; you'll have to talk to Mark Verbos or Allesandro Cortini for that. The price is really the catch, at $3900, which is about 1/5th what an original Music Easel will set you back. It _feels_ like a work of art, in the same way that a really well-made guitar or car feels. Whether that translates in to hit singles is open to question. But if you can afford one of these, you already had hit singles, so whatevs. As to why I don't hate this recreation (which is a hand-made labor of love) and do hate the Korg one (which is mass-produced Chinese Craplastic), well, I'm a fucking snob. But you already knew that. Deal.
5\. Bitwig Studio: I got a full demo on this. They're getting very close to having a shipping product, and it feels polished. Now, I feel obligated to say the following: Ableton has been nothing but nice to Audio Damage, and to me personally. As a musician, Bitwig Studio excites me. In-clip audio editing (in the same way that Rex files work when you're in Cubase), multi-window support (for huge monitor spreads) and a buttload of other features that help inspiration flow. As someone with business ethics, it feels a bit creepy, to be honest. There is no possible way you can see it in action and not think it is a clean rip of Live. But competition is a good thing: it benefits all musicians (and, in a round-about way, the companies getting competed against), and if Ableton has to add these features to Live, well, I won't complain.
6\. Elektron Analog Four: Got a full demo of this as well. I hadn't really, prior to today, thought of it as a full music-making tool; I was just kind of thinking it was an analog monomachine. That's not really the case. It has a far more sophisticated parameter-management system, and the ability to control and loopback a modular synth is the killer app. One of these and a little 6U Euro case and you've got yourself a show. I rate instruments that I try at NAMM by whether I start to write music while I'm playing with them, and how much I want to continue that exploration at the expense of seeing more new shit. The Analog Four delivered in that regard, and will probably be my next gear purchase.
Those are the highlights from Day One. Today, I'm going to bother Ray and Dan at the Eventide booth, to the point where they're going to ponder asking me to leave before they call security. I also hope to catch a Push demo at the Akai booth, and have a gander at the new Cubase iApps, and that sort of thing. Keep an eye on my Twitter feed; connectivity in the convention is not great, and I ran my phone's battery to zero yesterday waiting for Flickr photos to upload (and I only did like 6.) I'll see if I can't work something out today.
If there's anything you'd like me to specifically look at or ask about, post it in here or (if it's after 10AM PST) Tweet it to me.
---
## NAMM 2013: DSI Prophet 12. Fap Fap Fap Fap Fap...
- Date: 2013-01-24
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2013/01/namm-2013-dsi-prophet-12-fap-fap-fap-fap-fap/
And this, from a company that knows how to use "ph" in a word. I have no editorial comment, other than to say "want. Now." Product page, more pics, and a video [here.](http://davesmithinstruments.com/products/prophet12/index.php)
---
## Noink...
- Date: 2013-01-22
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2013/01/noink/
The Tweetscape was all abuzz today with the [Moog Music announcement](http://voxcaliber.com/moog-reveals-sub-phatty-priced-at-1099/) of Yet Another Two-Oscillator Monosynth. It is essentially a Source with Moar Knobs, because that's what the kids want these days, apparently.
I look at it as a bridge device for when an indie band outgrows a microkorg, and can't afford a Source. I'm sure they'll sell a bunch. I understand the purpose of the product, of course, because (despite all evidence to the contrary) I'm not a fucking retard. But it'd be nice to see them take a risk on inventing [something new](http://www.moogmusic.com/products/Moog-Guitars) for a change rather than re-hashing 35-year-old tech. Yet again.
The other big news today is that Korg officially said that yes, they're showing a [mini re-make of the MS20](http://www.synthtopia.com/content/2012/12/25/the-korg-mini-ms-20-monophonic-synthesizer-namm-rumor/). Funny story, that. I used to be endorsed by Korg, and right after the Z1 was released, I wrote a lengthy letter to my artist rep explaining why they should release a new MS20. Okay, not that funny a story. But it only took 18 years!
This is cooler than the Moog announcement, for reasons that should be obvious, but only slightly. It is, in the pantheon of Raping Your Childhood In Search Of Products, far below Roland's ridiculous Jupiter re-tooling, though. And neither of these can be reasonably used by wedding bands, so the Jupiter really schools them in that regard.
Now, when I bitch about these things, I know I come off as a bitter, jaded old man. That's totally fine. I can dig it. But there's a difference between making something new and cool, and just making a product because you can sell a lot. As you all know, I tend to frown on the latter, because it smacks of taking advantage of musicians. And both of these products exist because someone thought extensively about risk mitigation.
And that's okay, too. Business is business. But the way we get inspiration to make new music is by getting new gear that makes sounds we haven't heard yet. There's no danger of that with these two articles.
---
## Obvious...
- Date: 2013-01-15
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2013/01/obvious/
One thing I learned back when I was semi-famous was that as soon as you have a little something, people that think they should have got a little something sue you. A lot. I've been sued for some stupid fucking shit during my career. It's really tedious. Which brings me to KazeLoon (née Jason David Yonai.)
About two months back, he put up a cracked AD product on some file sharing service or another, and posted that fact on his Twitter account. Since one of my many Twitter searches uses the string "Audio Damage" I was immediately informed of this fact. So I sent a DMCA to the sharing service, like you do. Then I tweeted directly to him, and then a couple about him. He replied in a somewhat comical, if woefully misguided, fashion, and many of you know the rest of the story as you saw it unfold.
Anyhow, fast forward to today. I was really busy not giving a flying fuck about this dude, when this little gem shows up via SoundCloud direct message:
_Once again i ain't a scandalous person because very numerous people were telling me to sue you for everything but I'm a humble dude i ain't a greedy person you feel me but I am a man of dignity and honor as well so that's why out of self pride I have to sue to save face here is my business email [business@kazeloon.com](mailto:business@kazeloon.com) email me if you want to settle out of court with that I'm gone
With Saludos Your Friend
Jason D. Yonai
a.k.a KazeLoon_
Isn't he adorable? The following is the rest of the conversation. My replies are bolded.
**_Out of idle curiosity, exactly what do you think I've done that gives you warrant to sue me? You're the only one that's broken the law here._**
_Hey bro remember you made death threats to me implying dropping a safe on my head, then you said I was suing Jimmy Iovine, Slim Shady, 50 cent, Interscope, etc. [which is not true](http://dockets.justia.com/docket/new-york/nysdce/1:2007cv07152/311845/) because you hurt my chances of getting signed because nobody wants to get back at me from Major Contacts last I heard from my cousin you ruined my reputation on twitter bro that's why everybody is giving me the cold shoulder treatment look how much would you be wiiling to settle out of court right now what you think is fair but keep in mind I could Sue you for alot of money I'm trying to work with you bro get at me Sincerely Your Friend Jason D. Yonai a.k.a KazLoon_
**_So you're telling me to pay you money or you're going to sue me? Do I have that correct?_**
_Yeah bro that is correct I am giving you one chance to settle before I am forced to hire a lawyer so how much can you put in my bank as of right now we can work on installation plan payments monthly just tell me how much you can put in my bank_
**_You crack me the fuck up, man. I await communication from your lawyer._**
_Alright have it your way I tried to be reasonable bro like I said I have resources I don't need your money several of my family members are multi millionaires and others have at least a million dollars bro and I'm in the process of selling part of my record company to a celebrity I cannot say I don't need your money like I said I have resources bro have it your way I tried to show you love I know the civil law bro trust me I know you aint gonna win bro due to the factual evidence honest opinion
you sure you don't want to settle because I'm going to call a lawyer A.S.A.P_
**_Knock yourself out._**
I don't really have any editorial at this point. I'll let the record speak for itself.
---
## One Step Forward, Two Steps Back...
- Date: 2013-01-12
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2013/01/one-step-forward-two-steps-back/
Late last week (or was it early this week?) I told Adam that I was gonna risk the Wrath of the Guy from high atop the Thing and put up the product page for Bitcom.
In retrospect, there might have been a little bit of hubris on my part.
We have hit a brick wall in Bitcom dev, in the form of a deadly bug that causes a hard crash in Logic. It took us a while to track down the source of the bug, but it appears to be in the VST3 SDK provided by Steinberg; specifically, the AU wrapper. We were, late yesterday, basically presented with three options:
1\. Ship it as-is, knowing about this bug. (It doesn't prevent the plug-in from working; it hard crashes Logic when you remove the plug-in from a track while the GUI is open.)
2\. Re-write the entire plug-in in VST2.4.
3\. Set it aside, wait for a fix or some guidance from Steinberg, and work on something else.
This is a comparatively simple plug-in, so #2 was an option that we pondered for a bit. #1 is really out of the question, of course. We ultimately settled on #3. As soon as we get a fix from Steinberg and verify that it works, we can put Bitcom on sale. There is nothing else holding it back. So it seemed a little drastic to go all cray-cray.
So, while we're waiting, we'll be putting out something else. I'm not going to say how long it will take or what it entails, or even what it is. Apparently, I need to placate the Guy again.
In other news, yours truly will be heading to NAMM next week, of course. Any other AI readers going to be attending? Anything in particular you want me to scope out?
---
## Some Maschine Kits...
- Date: 2012-12-31
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2012/12/some-maschine-kits/
[](http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/8327308189/)
As you no doubt know if you're a regular reader of this blog, I very rarely use any pre-built drum sounds; I prefer to make my own via various synthesis and recording methods, and I do individual kits for nearly every song I write nowadays. For the last EP, most of the drum sounds are either recorded electro-acoustic sounds, or created via synthesis in Max/MSP. However, I made several synthesis-based kits on other gear that I didn't end up using. If you have a Maschine, you might find these handy. [Here is a zip file](https://web.archive.org/web/2012/http://www.analogindustries.com/samples/CR_Maschine_1.zip) containing three Maschine kits. (Zip is 3 megs and change.)
**1\. CR MeeBlip Drums** - This, as the name implies, is a kit of drum sounds made on the MeeBlip SE.
**2\. CR Reactive Drums** - This kit is farmed from a custom drum synthesis Reaktor patch that Adam and I made last summer.
**3\. CR Massive Drums** - I made the sounds in this kit with Massive.
Note that all three kits are fully resampled; you don't need to have Massive or Reaktor installed or anything. You do, however, need the latest Maschine software update. Obviously, the samples are in the appropriate folders, so if you don't have a Maschine, you can still grab 'em; you'll just need to build your own kits in your weapon of choice.
---
## This One Time, At BandCamp...
- Date: 2012-12-28
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2012/12/this-one-time-at-bandcamp/
[](http://chrisrandall.bandcamp.com/)
Just put a new group of songs [up on BandCamp](http://chrisrandall.bandcamp.com/) for your listening pleasure. These are the tracks I made using (for the most part) all that shit I welded up over the summer. So they're largely an exercise in sound design. Enjoy!
---
## Various, and also Sundry...
- Date: 2012-12-18
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2012/12/various-and-also-sundry/
Coupla things:
1\. Plogue has just released [sforzando](http://www.plogue.com/products/sforzando/), a free .SFZ format sample player available for all the usual plug-in platforms, plus stand-alone. Why do I care? Well, Plogue are cool, for starters. Also, they released a bunch of free SFZ format packages pre-built, and one of them is the CR-909 sample set. You can find the samples [here](http://ariaengine.com/forums/index.php?p=/discussion/5783/free-sounds-for-aria-engine#Item_1). David broke all the samples down so you it actually ends up with the same controls as a normal 909. Very handy.
2\. Bitcom is getting close to being something approaching done. Only a couple little features left, then the inevitable fixes once Jeff Laity starts breaking the OS X version (something he has a truly irritating knack for), then out the door. Probably not by Christmas, but soon thereafter.
3\. My on-going experiments On The Side might perhaps bear fruit here in the next day or two. Another interminable process video will be forthcoming shortly.
4\. I'm planning an update to Phaedra; I'm moving the sequencing engine to the built-in MIDI sequencer that comes with iOS now; it didn't exist when I initially made the app. If anyone has feature requests, now's the time to tell me. I definitely plan to add a note randomizer (per key/mode/scale/whatever) so you don't need to ask for that.
So, how's your day going?
---
## All Your Bits Are Belong To Us...
- Date: 2012-12-04
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2012/12/all-your-bits-are-belong-to-us/
(Click to embiggen.)
Coming soon, from deep in the heart of the Audio Damage Research Laboratories. What does it do? It fucks shit up. How does it do it? No fucking idea. Adam will speak to that point when he's good and ready. He's tried to explain it to me no less than three times, and I'm still mystified. Bits are involved. Of that much I'm certain.
When will it be available? No idea! How much will it be? We haven't decided! Is there any information actually imparted in this post? Not really!
---
## Dr. Drum, Or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Con...
- Date: 2012-11-29
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2012/11/dr-drum-or-how-i-learned-to-stop-worrying-and-love-the-con/
As you know, from time to time I use the fairly massive Google footprint of this site to provide a public service to musicians that are just starting out, informing them of the various cons that are floating around, in the hopes that a search on a particular product or service will turn up some helpful information.
Today, our target is [Dr. Drum, the "Digital Beat Making Software](http://www.drdrum.com/)." Even if you're not remotely interested in this product, and there's no reason whatsoever you should be, the video (that auto-plays when you hit the site, natch) is worth its weight in gold, for the simple fact that a generic female voice actor is given a script full of "street" vernacular, and while she enunciates most every word, she regularly drops the G for bangin', which is hilarious.
_"Who wants to mess around with all that tweaky stuff when you could be making beats to impress your gang?"_
This software is, of course, a joke. Most of the language in the description is designed to trick you. For instance:
_"Remember that I used to suck at mixing beats until I started using Dr Drum. Now, I create professional quality DJ tracks that make my friends jealous. You can too!"_
Really? Prove it. Let's hear these "DJ tracks" that are "professional quality." Better yet, I'd like to hear from the jealous friends.
_"You'll have access to the same tools as the pros use, but at a fraction of the cost. We've got you covered! It's so simple...."_
Okay, two things here. First, these are IN NO WAY "the same tools as the pros use." Trust me on this one. On the list of the tools pros use to "make beats," this application would rate somewhere near Microsoft Excel. As in, it's not. In any way, shape, or form. Period. The second thing? It's not simple. Making good "beats" is quite difficult, and "Kanye's producer" (who is, in fact, Kanye) had years of practice on high end kit to be able to do what he does.
_"There is almost no learning curve at all. **Every song you make will be a banger!**"_
(Emphasis theirs.) Yes, there is a learning curve. No, every song you make will not be a banger. There is no Magic Potion that can turn you in to Dre or Skrillex. (Well, maybe there is for Skrillex.) If you're going to spend $29.95 on something to help you in the music industry, I'd suggest $20 on lottery tickets, and the other $9.95 on a pack of cigarettes and a Bic lighter. Believe me when I say the money will be far better spent that way than on this heaping shitpile of shitty bullshit.
We now return to our regularly scheduled program.
---
## Blue Monday...
- Date: 2012-11-26
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2012/11/blue-monday/
It's that time of year again. The annual Blue Monday sale at Audio Damage! Use the code HOWDOESITFEEL at checkout for 25% off your entire order; this includes bundles, of course.
**EDIT:** Sale is over. Thanks, all!
One thing it _doesn't_ include, however, is Bitcom. Still workin' on that bad boy. But here's a picture to salivate over.
---
## Now If Only Someone Could Invent A Mechanical Lead Singer...
- Date: 2012-11-25
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2012/11/now-if-only-someone-could-invent-a-mechanical-lead-singer/
Due to my recent (and ongoing) fascination with electronic music via electromechanical means, this video piqued my interest. (Or "peaked," maybe, since this is, after all, the internet.) While the music in the video is, both objectively and subjectively, atrocious (apparently it is a Muse song? Not a fan...) the concept itself, which should be readily apparent, is not.
The MechBass is essentially four bass strings with servo-driven plectrums and dampers, and a fretting mechanism controlled by stepper motors, the whole thing driven by an ATMega328 doing MIDI-to-'bot conversion. Many technical details at [this Hack-A-Day page](http://hackaday.com/2012/11/22/mechbass-a-robotic-bass-guitar-that-sounds-fantastic/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A%20hackaday%2FLgoM%20%28Hack%20a%20Day%29), but I think you get the general idea. Obviously, throwing a bunch of motors around the string would create a ridiculous amount of magnetic interference, and he got around that by using some permutation of the [LightWave](http://lightwave-systems.com/technology/) infra-red pickups (not sure if he made his own, or just parted out a stock LightWave pickup.)
Anyhow, cool idea. A hybrid electro-rock band could totally get away with using this on stage; in fact, it would be pretty slick. (Although perhaps a bit gimmicky in the short run.) I should mention that bass is the instrument I am best at playing, and I'm fully aware that there is no possible way a rig like this could even begin to approach reproducing what is a surprisingly complicated and dynamic instrument. But it's pretty neat. And it looks cool. Other than player pianos, what other easily controllable electro-mechanical drunk band member replacements are out there?
---
## When I Think About You I Touch My Monitor...
- Date: 2012-11-19
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2012/11/when-i-think-about-you-i-touch-my-monitor/
I was able to get back to the Continuing Saga Of Crandall's Experiments In The Exciting World Of Touch-Screen Control this week. I realized, at some point well in to the making of version 4 of the control software (this is version 6), that I'm looking at the whole problem wrong. I was thinking about the micro-level control of individual sounds (which is why I had five or more nodes per page in the previous iterations.) However, it recently occurred to me that that was, for my purposes, wrong.
This particular video reflects my new tack, wherein I'm looking at the song as a single sculpture rather than a collection of different parts. The Max patch is essentially a synthesizer unto itself, and its sole purpose is to synthesize this one song. The Cinder app's sole purpose is to control this one song. This method is somewhat ass-backwards from our normal way of thinking about things; the net result is that each song would be an instrument unto itself that needs to be learned on an individual basis.
This is, of course, an insanely complex way to write music. It goes far beyond just purposefully putting stumbling blocks in one's path, and in to making work for myself simply for the purpose of making work for myself. But with that said, as I intimated in a previous post on the subject, I'm trying every idea out as it comes to me until I hit on the right combination. I do like this idea of thinking of the song as a whole, with parameters that affect it; however, I don't believe this particular pairing is where I wanted to go with this. Once again, we shuffle back to the drawing board in mute embarrassment.
As an aside, I filmed this one with my iPad 3 and "edited" it in iMovie on the iPad and pushed it straight to YouTube. That's a workflow I won't ever use again. Probably the single shittiest combination of tools I've come across in a while, and virtually unusable for anything besides putting up clips of your baby or puppy or some other stupid shit. For what we do, to be avoided at all costs.
As a further aside, don't ever buy an optical touchscreen, especially an HP-branded one, if you want to do this sort of thing. I can not _wait_ until [this](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B009W4SKGG/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=analogindustr-20&camp=0&creative=0&linkCode=as4&creativeASIN=B009W4SKGG&adid=1SX8E7C9MB3RJDSZQKD6&) is available. A lot of the problems I'm having are fighting with the tool itself, and that's not helping anything. (It is roughly akin to trying to record a guitar part and the jack on the guitar keeps cutting out.)
---
## The New Shit...
- Date: 2012-11-03
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2012/11/the-new-shit/
First things first: my condolences to the victims of the Storm. That one was a whopper, and no mistake. If there's any city in the world that can take a hit like that in stride, it's New York City; I personally am sanguine for the future of that great metropolis. If any AI readers got their shit all fucked up, and you need help of any sort, don't hesitate to post here.
Second (and a distant second at that), the election is _finally_ coming to a close here in the US. I saw a statistic that more money has been spent in advertising in this election than in all previous elections combined. I don't generally have a problem with that, for two reasons: first, I don't watch TV hardly at all, so I don't have to put up with the commercials. And second, that money is usually going from ultra-rich people who have more money than sense anyhow, to media professionals of some sort or another. So good one! Well done, media professionals! But that said, I'll be well and truly glad when this nonsense is over, and our government can get back to its normal acrimonious standstill. (I'm not one of those people that's gonna say "I don't care who you vote for! Just vote!" If you're some sort of asshole or Republican, I'd really rather you didn't vote at all.)
Anyhow, on to the main event. In the last two weeks, we've seen some pretty interesting news in music tech. First, as you're no doubt aware, Ableton r[evamped their site](https://www.ableton.com/en/), and announced Live 9 and a bespoke hardware controller called Push. The hardware is made by Akai, and is, I assume, a logical extension of the working relationship they started with the APC-40 et al. This is far more sophisticated, of course, and is a pure MIDI controller with two-way communication as well, so it will be extremely useful for people that work in Max/MSP and Reaktor, as well as Live. Assuming the build quality is, let's be honest, better than the APC-40, and the pads are nice and responsive, I'm tentatively putting this in the Win column. I'll get one as soon as they're obtainable, so if you want to wait for my inevitable review and the Q&A that follows, you can be assured it will appear here.
Next up, Elektron, makers of the SIDstation, MachineDrum, MonoMachine, and Octatrack, are [teasing](http://www.tradition-and-future.com/) what has become increasingly obvious is a 4-voice analog synth, following the MonoMachine form factor, with CV sequencing abilities. At first, I was all "meh," because the world has enough four-voice analog synths. But I got to thinking that what really makes the MonoMachine is not its sound, which is middling at the best of times as far as digital synths go, but its UI and sequencer, and if you tack those on to a simple analog, plus the ability to control a EuroRack modular, you have the makings of a Muff Wiggler Wet Dream Jizz Explosion of epic proportions. Personally, I'm witholding judgement until NAMM, when I assume I'll be able to get hands-on with one.
And finally, down in the cheap seats, Mutable Instruments, makers of the Shruthi-1 kit, have announced a new hybrid digital/analog synth (mostly analog, I guess) called the [Anrushi](http://mutable-instruments.net/anushri) that merits a look. Plenty of info and samples at the Mutable site.
'Round here, we're putting the final touches on the next Audio Damage product. I'll tell you the name at this juncture: it is called Bitcom. Expect some teasers and such-like shortly. I'll also have the next chapter in my Great Touch-Screen Adventure of 2012 up before the end of the week.
---
## Can't Touch This...
- Date: 2012-10-23
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2012/10/cant-touch-this/
_"I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work."_ - Thomas Edison
Continuing my exploration of making a touchscreen-based recording/performing environment (that isn't on a fucking Twitter Machine... errr... I mean iPad) I decided to try a different tack this time. Since Brian Crabtree has already done a lot of the hard work on this front, I thought I'd bust out a touchscreen monome emulator, just to see how that might work.
As it happens, not so much.
While the monome is a comparatively simple device (the only things that make it special, as such, are the facts that the LEDs are decoupled from the buttons, and the extremely high construction quality and craftsmanship; otherwise, it's just a box full of buttons), as it turns out, and I think the above video proves, actually having the buttons under your fingers is somewhat important.
It was a pretty easy thing to code, just being a grid of lights, and some simple OSC messages. Rather than go through the trouble of faking the operation of the driver software, in the interests of quickly having a working prototype, I just altered mlr slightly so it could talk directly to my Cinder app and not look for a monome. I made a grid of 16 x 16 buttons (ignore the column on the left of larger buttons; those are scene triggers for Maschine, which I didn't use in the video) and it's off to the races.
While the functionality is, in and of itself, flawless, I think that the combination of mlr (and other patchers I tried) and the monome hardware is what makes the instrument. The more sensitive nature of the touchscreen sort of precludes laying in to it, and not being able to feel the buttons makes any sort of virtuosity difficult.
That said, it was a fun idea that, I think, merited exploration. But for this sort of thing, the money is better spent on a real [monome](http://monome.org/), in my opinion.
Back to the drawing board.
---
## Granular Shoot 'n' Loot...
- Date: 2012-10-17
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2012/10/granular-shoot-n-loot/
Yay, Borderlands Granular for iPad is finally out! Despite my personal opinion that the author may need to re-address his product-naming paradigm (related: watch for my new synth app for the iPad, Fallout 2 Subtractive), this one is right in my wheelhouse, visually. Any iPad audio app that doesn't look like an oscilloscope from 1967 is A-OK in my book, and this app is most assuredly _not_ a skeuomorphic disaster area.
Functionally, it is similar to Curtis, except you can overlay several sounds; it lacks some of the playability of Curtis, but by the same token, it lacks a lot of the questionable control mechanisms, and in my brief relationship with it, it lacks all the bugginess. (Unlike Curtis, which I can freeze in a matter of minutes, I haven't managed to crash Borderlands yet.)
I won't go and give it a one star "ZOMG U CANT LODE URSER SOUNDS FAILZZZZ111ELEVENTY!!" review in the app store, because I'm giving the developer the benefit of the doubt and assuming that he has an update planned in a most ricky-tick fashion to allow me to load my own sounds. (Edit: see below.) As of release, it has four samples, and that's that. Also, there is no way to save a state and recall it later; Borderlands lives very much in the Here, the Now, the Holy Fucking Tide in the Affairs Of Man. Etc. I assume this will be addressed as well.
Why do I assume those two things? Because visually and operationally, this developer knows his shit, and there's no way that he didn't think of those. So he'll get to them eventually, or we're gonna have a problem here.
So, maybe not ready for prime time just yet, chiefly because there is going to be a fundamental sameness to all its output given the fact that everyone is sharing the same source material. (Such is the nature of granular synthesis, after all.) But as an exploration in to a more sophisticated and visually stimulating iteration of the general ideas put forth by Curtis, it merits support, and I would like to see where it goes over time. Provisionally, five star review from me, with the noted caveats.
$3.99 in [the iTunes store](http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/stat?id=sTCd28A32go&offerid=146261&type=3&subid=0&tmpid=1826&RD_PARM1=https%253A%252F%252Fitunes.apple.com%252Fus%252Fapp%252Fborderlands-granular%252Fid561369733%253Fmt%253D8%2526uo%253D4%2526partnerId%253D30). I recommend an iPad 2 or 3; I don't really see how this would be any fun on an iPad 1, but you're welcome to try. Overview video on Vimeo [here](https://vimeo.com/49586854). (I'd embed it, but it's Vimeo, so that'd suck.) Product website [here](http://www.borderlands-granular.com/app/).
**EDIT:** Apparently, it \_does\_ load user samples, but not in the normal manner. You can make a playlist called Borderlands in iTunes and it will access those. It actually says this in the second paragraph of the info page, but for some reason I didn't notice it. I just looked in the File Sharing part of the Apps tab, because that's where such things normally go. So, perhaps a bit of a usability fail, but nothing too tragic. I'll try it out later today and report in the comments.
---
## Cut Me Off A Line Of That, Please...
- Date: 2012-10-08
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2012/10/cut-me-off-a-line-of-that-please/
It looks like Jonathan Heppner, the creator of [AudioGL](http://www.audiogl.com/en/), has finally made a beta available; $80 for a full license, and there's a save-disabled version to try out, if you want to give it a whirl. (32-bit Win only, requires a pretty robust PC with OpenGL 2.0 support.) Worked fine on my system. I took that screenshot myself, but it's worth noting that my PC is so blown-out overpowered that I'm not a terribly good test case for such things. Don't let the look of it scare you; at its base level, it is more-or-less a boxes-and-wires synthesizer that we're all familiar with, that happens to have a _very_ sophisticated sequencer, and you can, if you so desire, look at things in a perspective mode for some visual interest. No plug-in support, as yet. Peter Kirn did a full write-up with all the deets at [CDM](http://createdigitalmusic.com/2012/10/audiogl-beta-arrives-complete-with-futuristic-3d-musical-creation-flythroughs/), so I won't bore you with the technicalities.
What I really want to talk about is how this shoehorns in to my latest flight of fancy. What I like about this app is that Jonathan has, for the most part, ignored the standard conventions that the music tech industry relies on. (COMMANDMENT ONE: THALL SHALT MAKE ALL COMPRESSORS LOOK LIKE A BEAT-UP 1176! ETC.) Instead, he's just made it look cool and logical.
There are two opposing points of view to this methodology. For those against it, the general vibe seems to be that music software should look like the music hardware it clones, because the interface is familiar, and musicians are stupid and can't be bothered to figure out even the most simple departures from this method. The second, and the one I personally follow, needs some explanation.
I find it ironic that musicians are so conservative in their use of technology, when their lifestyle choices are anything but. Of the 10 most popular DAWs, 8 follow the "tape deck and mixing console" paradigm, even though the vast majority of the people that use those DAWs have never set foot in a commercial recording facility, nor have they seen an analog multi-track tape machine in real life. Ask a guitar player what his pinnacle rig is, and dollars to donuts he won't say a Parker Fly Artist and a Kemper Modeling Amp (which is a demonstrably high-quality, playable, great-sounding, versatile combination.) He'll say a '57 Strat (sigh) and a vintage Marshall Plexi (deep, shuddering sigh.) Want to see an electronic musician jump around like a monkey on coke? Put him in the same room with a MemoryMoog, ARP 2600, or Prophet 5. Recording engineers? Fairchild, Neve. Fairchild, Neve. Fairchild, Neve. EMT! kktnxbai.
Of course, those things are all popular wishes because they sound "good," for various values of good. Although I've heard plenty of shitty records recorded on Neve consoles to analog tape, that have MemoryMoogs and Strat/Plexi guitars tracked through Fairchild comps, with EMT plate reverb. There are, no doubt, tens of thousands of suck-ass records that use those very pieces of gear.
My opinion on the matter is that when you are first presented with a piece of software, if that software's user interface follows some real-world gear, you concentrate on the things it can't do, or the reasons it doesn't sound like the "real thing." If, on the other hand, it is unique to the software, you spend your time figuring out what it _can_ do, while you learn how to use it. Sure, the learning curve is a bit steeper; the only thing you have to figure out on an 1176 plug-in clone is how the developers implemented the "all buttons in" mode. But look at it this way: one day, way back in the mists of time, some engineer opened a box and in it was a brand new 1176, a product he'd never seen before, and didn't know how to use. He put it in his rack, and some time later he just, for the fuck of it, decided to see what it sounded like when he pushed in all four ratio buttons.
Nobody has made that discovery with an 1176 plug-in.
---
## Gear Clear...
- Date: 2012-10-02
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2012/10/gear-clear/
Yesterday was a sad day; my entire "pro" audio chain left the house to greener pastures. My general reasoning here is that since I work almost entirely ITB these days, everything in my office that had enough dust on it that fingerprints would show when I turned a knob needed to leave, and I've pretty much succeeded in doing just that, leaving only what I need for my normal research.
At least the big shit. There is still a metric fuckton of little shit that's gonna go, so keep your eyes peeled for the inevitable Yard Sale posts here and on Twitter, but the majority of the expensive shit is either on the way to new homes, or already arrived, where it will be used to good effect (hah!) rather than just sitting in my office.
(Side note: I now have no credit card bills to pay. This is an interesting turn of events I hadn't anticipated.)
In any case, it's a breath of fresh air, and has allowed me to concentrate on my current projects with much more clarity. I have all the software, and most of the samples, so it's not like I have any shortage of sound generating mechanisms or anything, but it's nice not to have all this gear staring me in the face every time I sit down to do something. I heartily recommend it, but I know most of you will get a pussy-ache if you don't have all your knobs and cables, so let's just say that it might not be for everyone.
---
## Enough Formaldehyde To Choke A Horse...
- Date: 2012-09-26
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2012/09/enough-formaldehyde-to-choke-a-horse/
After a disheartening false start, which entailed pretty much starting over from bare metal (protip: might want to have some idea of what you're gonna code before you start coding) I have my personal R&D project at a state where I can start playing with it. This is part of a larger schema I have, where I'm determined to prove (to myself, mainly) that we, as musicians, can move past our absolutely ludicrous love of "vintage" technology that most of us have never clapped eyeballs on in real life, and start to grab the future by the ears and shake it about a little bit.
So my study of environments that don't shamelessly ape the traditional recording studio and its inherent limitations has only just begun, and this is very much a work-in-progress that will most likely take years, but the video above is the first footage of some of my ideas in this regard beginning to take shape in usable fashion. The R2 app itself is created in Cinder for portability; currently all the audio stuff is a Max 6 patch, because DSP is most assuredly not my strong suit. I could have conceivably done everything in Pd, then built libPd in to the app, but frankly, I'd rather pull my own fingernails out than deal with that, so here we are.
I think it's probably pretty obvious what's going on in the video. I haven't built the master control section or the FX page yet, but the four loopers are more-or-less in working order. Essentially, they are 1/2/4-measure circular buffers, and you can record a loop and overdub to it at this point, and move the endpoints of the loops arbitrarily. (Although for my own purposes, I've quantized the loop points to 16th notes against the master tempo.)
[](https://analogindustries.com/images/blog/R2_ss.png)
On the lower half of the screen are 5 control nodes; each one controls a different parameter for X and Y so for, e.g., the filter, X is resonance and Y is frequency. I have a more sophisticated schema in mind, but I wanted to try out the playability of this method first. For the drums, I just instanced Maschine in the Max patch. I'll build a full drum machine that is appropriate to the environment at a later date, but Maschine is working fine for right now.
Anyhow, you get the general idea, I imagine. I have a fairly grand vision for this whole thing, but there's a lot of exploring to do first. Thoughts? Comments? Criticism?
---
## Various And Sundry...
- Date: 2012-09-22
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2012/09/various-and-sundry/
It's that time again, my bi-annual Gear Catharsis. This time, however, I'm going nearly to the bare walls. I'm basically only keeping the Virus and the Maschine, and starting fresh. To save the usual go-round about why one would do such a thing, please refer to one of the previous lengthy discussions on the topic, littered throughout the years of this site's existence.
Anyhow, to get the party started, the above-pictured item is first on the block. 'Tis a Doepfer 6U portable case, chock full of modular mania. Well, not so manic, actually. It is a comprehensive starter system we purchased during the R&D phase of our ill-fated foray in to Things Euro. If you can't tell what's in it, and it's important to know, [drop me a line](mailto:chris@positronrecords.com) and I'll pop the complete list over. The actual retail cost of this system, if purchased today from Analog Haven, is $2847.50. It is essentially brand new. Make me an offer I can't refuse, and that doesn't embarrass either of us, and it's yours. I'll ship it both hither and yon, if you're willing to cough up the coin for the true shipping cost. (Keep in mind that it is quite heavy, and if you live in, say, East Timor or some shit, you're gonna want to buy local.) I have absolutely zero interest in selling individual modules, so don't bother asking. If there are no takers for the complete system, that's what I'll do, of course, but don't bother writing me about it until I've said I'm doing it here. Once this is out of the way, I'll put up a complete list of the other shit that is leaving, but if there's a particular thing I have you're interested in, go ahead and hit me up.
In other news, research is progressing on the Rathakan front (the touchscreen app.) I seem to have coded myself in to a cul-de-sac; I was, as of this afternoon, about 6 hours away from being to do a demonstration video. However, things have gotten away from me, and I'm considering starting over. As soon as I'm done digesting dinner, I'll take another crack at it. I'm currently heavily medicated, awaiting a trip to the dentist, so my ability to do OpenGL front-ends for Max/MSP is curtailed somewhat.
Finally, Adam is on his usual trip to Japan this week, so the next Audio Damage product is on hold until he gets back, but we're pretty close to a working example. This one is firmly in the "FSU" category. In fact, it kind of ownz0rs that category. It is the most F of all our FSU products, by a long shot. I look forward to the puzzled comments.
So, how's your week been?
---
## Instrumental...
- Date: 2012-09-11
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2012/09/instrumental/
I'm currently doing some research and experimentation with a full-sized (22") multi-touch screen; I'll put up more info about that specifically as I learn/create, but in thinking about what I'm doing with that, I keep finding myself pondering the nature of what, exactly, an instrument consists of.
After giving it some thought, I've decided that an instrument, at its base level, needs to allow for three things:
1\. Expression. Any instrument has to be capable of triggering a range of emotions in the listener (since, after all, that is the point of music.)
2\. Virtuosity. In order to be an instrument at all, our instrument needs to have facets that can be mastered, and it has to have a depth of usefulness to warrant that mastery.
3\. Purpose. An instrument is mainly an instrument (that can, occasionally, be something else) and not something else that can also be an instrument.
For instance, take the spoons. I don't think anyone could deny that there are people that are very, very good at playing the spoons. So that might satisfy our second rule. But as for the first and third, that's open to interpretation. Not a terribly expressive instrument, as such. And spoons are always better at being spoons than being a musical instrument. As opposed to, say, a guitar, which might make a serviceable hurley bat, but really, is much better at just being a guitar.
On the other end of the spectrum, here's a thought-experiment: is Ableton Live an instrument? One can at least re-create a huge range of expression, and one can also master it. And it is most assuredly purpose-built for making music. I've often found that people that don't "get" Live tend to look at it as a DAW, while people that do tend to look at it as an omnibus instrument.
In any case, my goal is to create something that satisfies all three of my criteria above, and utilizes a flat plane with visual feedback as its playing surface. We'll see how things turn out, but once more in to the breach...
---
## The Usual...
- Date: 2012-08-30
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2012/08/the-usual/
Sorry for the tepid posting. Well, not really sorry as such. Okay, not sorry at all. I've been busy as busy can get. Just finished a pair of contract UIs, plus we wrapped up a 2-month R&D project and sent it off, in the hopes that it will bear (bare? I'm never sure about that) fruit at some point in the near future. So no complaints.
For some strange reason, there was a slew of product announcements in the last few days. Novation announced Yet Another Little Keyboard With A Microphone For Hipster Bands, Roland is about to announce Yet Another Combo Platter Of Blasé Versions Of Everything They've Ever Made, and NI just popped out a new iteration of Maschine.
Korg is apparently about to announce something along the lines of [this](http://www.synthtopia.com/content/2012/08/29/the-korg-maxitribe-analog-mini-synth-too-good-to-be-true/comment-page-1/). There's a lot of talk about that being a Photoshop or 3D rendered fake. I've had a good look at it, and in my considered professional opinion, the image is real. It is definitely not a Photoshop fake. There's just too many things in the image that are far too difficult to do in Photoshop. (Note the different reflections on each key.) It could be theoretically done in a 3D program, but in that event the person that made it is a grade A Illuminati-level 3D modeller. In short, while it is possible it is a fake, Occam's Razor applies. We'll know on the 4th, I guess.
EDIT: Definitely a fake. I stand corrected. (I didn't think of it from "putting it together from other sources" viewpoint. I don't design or think that way. My bad.)
In other news, Adam is working on a small update to Axon to fix some persistent bugs with the envelopes and preset saving/recalling. While he does that, I'm trying some envelope-pushing UI design stuff out. I hope to have something to show off here in a bit.
**EDIT:** Axon 1.2.1 for OS X is now in the AD store for immediate download.
So, this is an open thread. How's your day going? AMA.
---
## An Existing Paradigm...
- Date: 2012-08-21
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2012/08/an-existing-paradigm/
[](http://chrisrandall.bandcamp.com/)
I've collected the audio from the last three YouTube videos ("Experiment 10," "textural," and yesterday's track, "barthes") and put them together with two other tracks I had lying about, and put them up [on Bandcamp](http://chrisrandall.bandcamp.com/) as "an existing paradigm." I'm also taking this opportunity to retire the Micronaut name once and for all, so if you'd like to be the 9th or 10th artist to use it since I started it in the mid 90s, then be my guest. This, and all future releases, no matter what genre descriptor they fall under, will just come out under Chris Randall. Seems easier all around.
The interesting track on this collection, from a technical standpoint, is "improvisational 2." This is one of the tracks I made using "pure" algorithmic composition techniques in Max4Live that I talked about doing some months ago. It is all hardware, and recorded in real-time; the algorithms control the dynamics as well as the individual notes, so it is different every time I render it; this particular one came out fairly okay, flow-wise, so I thought I'd include it here.
The other track that isn't the score for a YouTube video is the first one in the collection, "a whole entirety." This track was what I originally wrote for the Unsuspected Sounds compilation; it ended up being released originally on [this comp](http://sorghum.bandcamp.com/).
Anyhow, pay-what-you-want minimum $0, although it must be said that the "Chris Randall" Bandcamp page is new as of today, and doesn't have the gigantic free download payload that the Micronaut Bandcamp page has built up over time (well in to the mid 5 figures on that one) so if I run out of downloads, I'll turn it to minimum $1 or something.
---
## Some More...
- Date: 2012-08-20
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2012/08/some-more/
I won't deny that my non-commercial instrumental work is incredibly derivative of the mid-to-late 90s "IDM" sound. It has lately gotten to the point where I'm essentially the world's only tribute band for that narrow genre. From last week's µ-Ziq fapathon to today's bastard love child between Squarepusher and YMO, it is really starting to get out of hand.
But whatever. I make what I like. Deal.
For the gear-spotters: first synth is the MeeBlip, and the second one is Animoog running on the iPad (and you'll note how I lovingly jammed my iPad 3 in to the iO Dock so it would work.) Bass is from Massive, and the drums are a drum loop sliced via Maschine's excellent slicing engine. When I'm dinking with that little Akai controller, I'm triggering Replicant 1.6 via MIDI notes, and the knobs are mapped to the two filter freqs and Reverse Random. The only other two effects used are Eventide Space and the RE-201 (pretty obvious what's going where.) The 2-buss is squished with Ozone.
---
## When You See A Chance, Take It...
- Date: 2012-08-17
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2012/08/when-you-see-a-chance-take-it/
There was some discussion about the "right place, right time" aspect of my mission statement in the previous post, so I just wanted to put up an example of what I meant. This is fairly old news; I'm not breaking some big scoop or anything, and this particular performance has been covered six ways to Sunday in the various media that cover opera, but it's a perfect example to illustrate my point. Some back-story...
The opera in question is Offenbach's _The Tales Of Hoffmann_. This particular opera contains an aria, "The Doll Song," with vocal calisthenics that make it considered by some (many? All?) to be one of the most difficult pieces of singing anyone can take on. During the Metropolitan Opera's 2009 season, the part of Olympia (and thus "The Doll Song") was played by consumate professional Kathleen Kim.
She could sing this aria night after night, twice on Saturday, note perfect every time. The woman is incredibly skilled, and there's no denying it. But right before Christmas in 2009, she got sick, and with 3 hours (!!!) notice, her understudy, Rachele Gilmore, had to take on one of the hardest coloratura parts in opera, on one of that art form's most respected stages.
So, the young Ms. Gilmore, seeing the chance to hit one out of the park, decided to use that opportunity to do what you see in the video above. Note the reactions of the other actors when she hits an Ab above high C towards the end. This is generally recognized to be the highest note ever sung at the Met. You can clearly hear the audience's reaction when she hits the first G above high C about mid-way through.
(For extra credit, [here's](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkpsbp0Is2Y&feature=player_embedded) a little spectrograph of the pertinent section, with audio. The crazy part is that she's within a couple hertz of spot-on pitch too.)
Now, whether opera is your cup of tea or not, the skill involved in pulling that off, the risk at even attempting it, and doing it in front of one of the most critical audiences in existence, in effect risking your career, is absolutely unquestionable. If she had phoned it in, nobody would have thought less of her for it. But this is what I mean when I say that being in the right place at the right time is nice at all, but you also have to be able to put your money where your mouth is.
---
## It's Not A Memo...
- Date: 2012-08-15
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2012/08/its-not-a-memo/
For the last couple months, I've been trying to codify all my various thoughts about the shape the music industry is beginning to take now. Last night I sat down to write a post for this site on this very subject, and 4,400 words and four hours later I realized that I'd written what I will take extreme pains to point out is **not** a manifesto. More of a mission statement, really.
Since it is so long (much too long to post on this site as a single entry, and this blog doesn't have a multi-page post mechanism) I've rendered the whole thing as a PDF, which you can find [here](https://dl.dropbox.com/u/14963589/Have_You_Got_Any_Matches.pdf). I look forward to your comments and criticisms.
---
## Kickin' It Old School...
- Date: 2012-08-13
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2012/08/kickin-it-old-school/
I apparently decided to spend the entire weekend dealing with various computer problems instead of doing anything productive. On Saturday morning I was just gonna kick out a little jam video, like the couple dozen I've done before. Easy peasy, right? Not so much, no. Virtually every piece of soft- and hardware I own decided to fuck off in such a way that troubleshooting was required. (Hell, I even had to flash the OS on the Virus.)
In any event, by 8PM on Sunday, I finally got everything working. At that point I was feeling fairly AAARRGH, so my normal working tempo of 80-100 got doubled, and obviously my back-brain thought it was a good idea to channel mid-career µ-Ziq and Aphex Twin. (As Jamie Zawinski terms it, the "Silica gel, DO NOT EAT" era of electronic music.) So here you go. I resisted two urges: first, I did not use the Amen break, and second, I didn't name it _Hasty Boom Alert With 100% Less Forethought_. I'm not looking for praise or anything, but if those two points could receive their due acknowledgement, that'd be cool.
Anyhow, since I did this one with the lights off, not so easy to see what I'm using, so here's a paragraph for the gear spotters. Sole 'verb is the Eventide Space. The first synth you hear is Phosphor. All the "drums" are actually bits of flotsam and such-like on my back porch, sampled directly in to Maschine as I was learning how it worked. The Maschine 2-buss has Automaton and Replicant on it, controlled via a Korg NanoKontrol.
The bass is coming from a MeeBlip SE; I slapped Filterstation on the outs, and a knob on the Nanokontrol is hitting both filter freqs; the filter topology is the MS20 LP models. As you can plainly see in the video, this is the chain that produces the wobble bass, or as I have now named this sort of manual filter LFO, Crobble bass. The main melody is from the Virus Ti.
---
## BabyPlate...
- Date: 2012-08-06
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2012/08/babyplate/
I was at Target a couple weeks ago, and (as I occasionally do) I took a quick browse through the toy section to see if there was anything that could be construed as "cool," and furthermore "neat," and could be co-opted in to being used as a musical instrument. As luck would have it, they happened to be blowing out [these](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003LVY7AO/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=analogindustr-20&camp=0&creative=0&linkCode=as4&creativeASIN=B003LVY7AO&adid=1JX0WZ0ZAD66W6NQ426Y&) for $2.50. It is essentially a cardboard box with a little battery-powered amp inside and a 3.5mm jack input. I thought it would have a little speaker, but when I opened it up, it turned out to be a transducer attached to the cardboard of the face with double-stick tape.We'll leave aside the tedious discussion about the fact that speakers and mics are essentially the same animal, and that all mics are transducers, as are all speakers, and just hope that the members of the Pedantic Posse can be happy with that. Hope in one hand, of course. But, given the context, I'll just assume that you know what I mean and move along.
So, looking at this contraption, my first thought was "PLATE REVERB!" I didn't know if such a tiny transducer could move a plate of any size, but as it turns out, it most certainly can. I drove over to the Industrial Metal Supply shop, where they have an excellent department of leftover pieces of cold-rolled steel for $0.69/lb. I bought two 1" square tubes that were 4' long for the uprights, and a piece of 1' x 3.5' 26-gauge steel sheet for the plate itself. Total $10.90. I then bopped over to Ace Hardware and grabbed four little springs to hold the plate, which ran me $7.25. Total spent: $20.65. I had some scrap lying around for the cross-pieces and the feet, but if I had to buy that metal as well, it would have been another $2 or so.
Anyhow, took me about an hour to build the thing. I didn't get fancy and dress the welds or sand the whole unit or anything, as I didn't know if it would work or not. It stands about 3 3/4' (just over a meter) tall, and as I pulled the amplifier entire out of the Paperjamz thing, it runs on 4xAAA batteries, of all things. As to how it sounds, here's my first test:
_\[Embedded media, no longer available.\]_
[BabyPlate](http://soundcloud.com/chris-randall/babyplate) by [Chris Randall](http://soundcloud.com/chris-randall)
That's with the Barcus Berry piano transducer I've been using. I also have some piezos for it, which I will install in the fullness of time, as well as coming up with a more permanent mounting solution for the transducer. The drums are from Tattoo, and I gradually roll the send knob up from 0% to 100%. The only "production" I did was to roll off the low end on the reverb return, as that Barcus Berry pickup has too much bottom for this usage. When I install piezos, I expect that problem to go away, as they don't normally have the big lows that this pickup produces. But long story short, I got a portable battery-powered plate reverb that doesn't sound half awful for $20. I'm gonna go ahead and put that in the Win column for the day.
---
## Here, Kitty Kitty Kitty...
- Date: 2012-07-26
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2012/07/here-kitty-kitty-kitty/
_Fuck you, I'm a mountain lion!_ - Mountain Lion.
So I spent the first four hours of yesterday dealing with Time Machine fuck-ups (I did a full snapshot instead of just the partial one I normally do, and it turns out my Time Machine drive wasn't big enough. Hilarity ensued.) After that, the Mountain Lion download from the app store, and install were painless as a major OS upgrade can be.
Did I say "major?" This update should really be called OS X 10.7.6 or something, as all it really does is give you a couple widget apps and tune the system to where it should have been for Lion. I mean really. Game Center for OS X? I can't speak for \_your\_ peer group, but I don't even need one hand to count the people I know that give a flying fuck about that. I don't even need one finger, as it happens, as I don't know anybody that does. And I know quite a few people.
On the whole, though, it feels _much_ more solid than Lion, which was a wall-to-wall disaster. As a musician (or, well, anybody at this point) the first thing you want to do is turn off Gatekeeper. This is a safety feature that prevents unsigned installers from running. It is the first step Apple is taking in their push to make everything on OS X sandboxed in the same way it is on iOS, and to give them total control of the supply chain. Apple's general vibe towards 3rd party devs: "well, sure, you can still do whatever the hell, but honestly, the customer experience will be better if you just buy the Developer Account, sign your installers and apps, and sell them through the App Store." Not really, and it's only the first real move towards a completely walled garden. They'll use the excuse that they're trying to save customers from themselves, but at the end of the day, in my opinion, this is all about money.
I should mention at this juncture that if you're an exclusive AudioUnits user, your days are numbered. I don't have anything but rumors to go on, and my own experience in this business, but the sandboxing method they've chosen leaves plug-ins in general (for all apps that use them, not just music) out in the cold. When I think of the man-hours we've wasted on this stupid format, I get a little sick to my stomach.
In any event, aside from disabling Gatekeeper so I can actually run unsigned installers, everything else seems copacetic. My MOTU Ultralite Mk3 works fine, in both USB and FireWire modes (and this means all MOTU interfaces should work fine, since they all use the same audio driver.) Maschine works fine. All the audio apps I have, and all the plug-ins I have (too many to list in either category) work fine. Peter Kirn has coverage of the [Native Instruments audio interface problem](http://createdigitalmusic.com/2012/07/audio-woes-now-on-new-apple-os-not-just-new-apple-laptops-ni-driver-fix-in-beta/) with USB, but I don't have any NI audio products to test it with. I've also read anecdotal evidence of problems installing some things due to changes in the Apple installer, but I haven't seen any myself.
So, on the whole, my advice is this: if you're still at 10.6.8 like you should be, Mountain Lion will be a safe upgrade. You should skip Lion entirely. I would advise waiting until 10.7.3 to upgrade, and like Lion, you absolutely _must_ have 8gb of RAM or more. Both of these operating systems are useless with 4gb. If you're currently at Lion, and are not running a Native Instruments audio interface, I advise upgrading now, as Mountain Lion is a demonstrably better OS than Lion.
**Edit**: I've heard anecdotal evidence that other USB audio interfaces are not working. So perhaps I should say that if you're running Lion and you're using a FireWire interface, you can (and maybe should) go ahead and update. If you're using a USB audio interface, you should wait.
---
## Effecting, Affecting...
- Date: 2012-07-22
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2012/07/effecting-affecting/
In the interests of moving along from the remarkably tedious discussion of insurance in the previous post, I'm forced to essentially manufacture a topic. Luckily, this is within my blogging skill-set, and you're welcome, at this point, to admire the deft hand I apply to the task.
The picture above is of one of my unicorns, the Sequential Circuits Pro-FX (ambient version). It is for sale currently. It seems that whenever I have coin lying about to blow on stupid shit I don't need, I can never find one of these. But when I don't, lo and behold, [there they are.](http://www.muffwiggler.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=63275) Now, anyone with a reasonable purchase on, you know, reality and stuff, would say "hey, Chris, that's a mediocre pair of digital delays and a small spring reverb. Do you seriously think spending CDN$1600 on that is a good idea when you can easily replicate that with commonly available vintage effects?"
No. No, I don't. But a unicorn is a unicorn, and there you have it.
The larger point, though: I have long been of the firm opinion that any sound can be made in to any other sound with the cunning use of effects, if you know the mechanics behind what is occurring. You don't need a comprehensive understanding of the physics of sound, but rather a fairly modest knowledge of why, say, a kick drum works. For instance, you recall my posts a couple weeks ago about the instruments I've been welding. Here is a short excerpt from the drum part for a track I'm working on.
Every single sound you hear in this track started from SpringThing, recorded with the Barcus-Berry transducer mic. I basically have every guitar pedal I own slapped on the output of the transducer, and am merrily using everything available to me in Maschine once I've recorded one-shots, then stacking a whole raft of Audio Damage plug-ins on the outputs of Maschine. The point being that if you look at the instrument I started with, and listen to the result, there is no apparent way the latter could have come from the former; the one possible exception is the "ride cymbal" sound, which is obviously a Biro pen hitting a stretched spring, through a high-pass filter and a grain delay. Isn't it?
My question is thus: is this "cheating?" Are you all about the purity of the recorded sound? Or do you break out the carving knives?
---
## Back In The Swing Of Things...
- Date: 2012-07-20
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2012/07/back-in-the-swing-of-things/
A fairly awesome vacation was had; always nice to see my nieces, who are, I'm sad to say, far cooler than all other kids, including yours. The only truly remarkable thing is that I live in Phoenix, and went to the Oregon coast to get a sunburn. If you've visited the Oregon coast, you'll know immediately how ludicrous that statement is.
Trying to get all caught up on Audio Damage stuff, plus the various contracts I have out currently. I basically stepped off the plane and right back in to the Pixel Mines. Such is the life of a user interface designer, I suppose. Not as glamorous as being a rock star, but it certainly is far more likely to pay the bills, and that ain't nothing.
Which brings us to a somewhat more somber subject. Our good friend Adam Jay, who posts here often, had a pretty bad health problem a couple weeks ago that involved a run to the ER, several days in the ICU and lots of follow-up treatment. Adam is a professional musician, and thus, like all professional musicians, he doesn't have health insurance. The bills from this emergency treatment are fairly alarming, and Adam is really in a bind.
He has started an [Indiegogo](http://www.indiegogo.com/adamjay) campaign to help defray the costs of this whole extravaganza, and it falls to us to help a brother out, in the same way that we'd want to be helped if we were in a similar situation. One of the tiers in the campaign is a vinyl EP created from recordings of the hospital gear he made while in the ICU, which is, I think, both crafty and cool.
So do the right thing and hook Adam up. We often speak here about how the public-at-large expects us to entertain them, while continually giving us the fuzzy end of the lollipop. We have to take care of our own, and Adam is one of us, and needs our help.
---
## Dog Days...
- Date: 2012-07-10
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2012/07/dog-days/
It's that chunk of summer we see every year, when the entire continent is sweating under a heat wave (except for here, where it's always hot; a dry heat, but hot nonetheless) and not much is happening in the music industry.
We have several things going on at AD right now, but as I said a couple weeks ago, I can't talk about them. So that's no fun at all. I'm also doing a couple other non-AD things that would be interesting to you, the reader, but that I also can't talk about. I have a stack of NDAs on my desk an inch thick, and they all basically say the same thing: "talk about this shit on your blog, and we'll unleash a plague of lawyers on you that will make the Borgia Popes' machinations seem tame." While my nature is to scoff at such things when someone else's signature is on them, when it's my signature on them, I internalize the scoffing and soldier on.
Related: is there a band named The Borgia Popes? If not, why not?
Anyhow, I'm heading to Oregon on Thursday for five days at the coast. Nothing but fun and sun! Oh, wait, it's a family reunion. So fun is out of the question, especially in an election year (although I've received word that the ultra-Teabaggers aren't coming, so that should tone things down a bit). And sun? The Oregon coast and "sun" rarely, if ever, meet. My sister, thoughtful person that she is, secured a campground that has both electricity and wi-fi. So I should theoretically only have a brief interruption to my regularly scheduled vitriol. We'll see how that works out.
So this is a semi-open thread. If something newsworthy happens between now and Thursday I'll swap it out. Possible subjects of interest: the Microsoft Surface's imminent arrival (I'm looking forward to a slate that actually can compute), Bitwig Studio in beta (lighting a fire under Ableton's ass), the now-almost-certain implosion of Avid and what that means for the music industry. I bet I know which one you guys will want to talk about.
---
## SpringThing...
- Date: 2012-07-07
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2012/07/springthing/
[](http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/7521670862/)
I haven't put in the electronics yet, but the electromechanical portion of SpringThing is complete. I'm experimenting with different combinations of effects that will work in the context, for the best possible result. One more instrument to make, plus the alterations to the MATG, and it's off to the races!
As to what SpringThing sounds like, the missus is in bed with a migraine, and I'm thinking that banging on metal with other metal is probably not the best path to marital bliss, so you're gonna have to wait on that. But suffice to say it sounds about like you'd imagine. Except more doomy.
---
## Fire Sale And Various Things...
- Date: 2012-07-03
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2012/07/fire-sale-and-various-things/
We're currently having our summer sale at [Audio Damage](http://www.audiodamage.com/), if you didn't get the info through one of the roughly 3,000 media outlets it appeared in prior to me putting it here. Enter the code BURNINGUP at checkout for 30% off the contents of your cart. This sale will last until Friday at midnight CST. We've also put the Rough Rider Rack Extension on sale in the Props store. The way their tiers work out, it ended up being more like 33% off or something. (Maths aren't my strong suit.)
**EDIT**: The sale is over. Thanks for everyone's support! A smashing success!
It was noted on the [AD Facebook page](http://www.facebook.com/AudioDamageInc) that having a Fire Sale because the two states where the company resides in are on fire might be in poor taste. I retorted that in the Western United States, fires are quite common this time of year, and while they occasionally (as is the case with the Colorado Springs situation, nowhere near our offices) make national news, they are a constant, not a rarity. So while it may seem to be in poor taste to use this situation as kind of a humorous aside, in the context of where we live and work, it's a daily occurrence, met with resignation and perseverance, not fear or sadness (unless things get out of hand, which they rarely do, and it's not like we don't see the damn things coming for days). Thus, ripe for self-depreciating humor. We live in the places we live by choice, not necessity. People that live on the flood plain of the Mississippi get floods. People that live in Fargo, North Dakota get hard winters. People that live in a forest in a hot, dry climate get fires. That's just the way of things.
In other news, as I mentioned in the previous post, I started my other blog, [1 and 7/8ths](http://www.1and78ths.com/). I generally try to avoid making subjective statements about songs here on AI; conversations about song quality among musicians are the most tedious conversations devised by man. Since 1 7/8ths is meant for civilians for the most part, it is virtually all subjective observations from yours truly. Give it a couple weeks and you'll see the general tenor of what I'm attempting there; whether that's your bag or not is entirely up to you. If it is, please spread the word.
Also, that site showcases the latest iteration of my wife's content management system ("blog software" in English). If you need a CMS and you don't want to have to spend all your time tuning the spam catchers on a Wordpress install, a bespoke site like that is the way to go, as unique sites get virtually no spam. That software is available, and highly customizable. There's a link at the bottom of the page to her site if you want to contact her about getting that package running for yourself.
**EDIT**: I have been Informed that I worded that poorly; using "CMS" as a descriptor implies that the blog package is a ready-to-install blob o' software you can just buy and put in; that is not the case. It is, as I said, bespoke (for non-native-English speakers, bespoke = custom-made, one of a kind), and is customized to each individual use case. This site and 1 & 7/8ths, along with a few others, run iterations of this software, so it is torture-tested over several years. But it isn't a one-size-fits-all-add-some-pictures and you're good to go kind of situation. Didn't mean to imply that it was.
---
## Building An Empire, One Optimus Prime Cock At A Time...
- Date: 2012-06-27
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2012/06/building-an-empire-one-optimus-prime-cock-at-a-time/
As those of you who follow me on the Twit-scape know, I completed the MATG last week, and began work on the third instrument, SpringThing. MATG turned out... interesting, I guess? Not quite what I expected, I'll say that much.
As you can see, I used turnbuckles as "tuning pegs" and aircraft cable for the strings. The issue I'm experiencing is that I believe I've made the bridge too stiff (it is 3/32 plate steel) and not enough of the string vibrations get transmitted to the pickup. So I'm going to take it apart this week and cut out the old bridge and replace it with 1/32 steel, and use smaller gauge aircraft cable for the two middle strings. It sounds interesting, but not what I was hoping for. Easy to see where it can be improved, though. So there's that. Here's what it currently [sounds like](https://soundcloud.com/chris-randall/matg), but the new version should have much more body and sustain.
SpringThing is along similar lines, I guess. The frame will hold 6 different springs that I acquired at Ace. Along the bottom, where you see that plate, will be controls for some custom electronics. I'm giving it its own preamp, distortion, a compressor (Orange Squeezer type), and one of those looper things from Radio Shack. So SpringThing will theoretically be a comprehensive rhythmic looper doo-hickie. We'll see how that plays out, and you can follow along with the hilarity on my Twitter feed, as always.
In other completely unrelated news, I'm starting a sister blog to this one that is focused entirely on music, rather than music tech. It should be up by the end of the week; (now up [here](http://1and78ths.com/)) the missus is putting the finishing touches on the software, and it will also serve as a showcase for her bespoke blogging platform, of which this site is a distant grandparent. I'll keep you posted on the progress on that front, and post here when it's ready. I'm hoping for discussions that are more subjective in nature on that site; I generally try to avoid inflicting my opinions on you guys here with respect to actual music. That won't be the case on the new blog. We'll see how it goes.
---
## And In The End...
- Date: 2012-06-23
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2012/06/and-in-the-end/
This time it came through Facebook. We've gotten the news first hand, second hand, over the phone, via email, pretty much any communication medium we humans possess. "Hey, Chris, did you hear? One of your friends died."
The worst is finding out how.
There's a certain schadenfreude to be had in passing the news along. You don't want to be tail-end Charlie, the last one in line, because that guy has to carry the burden or something. So you have to get rid of the news as soon as you can. With today's instant communication, bad news travels fast (much faster, it seems, than good news) and one can divest oneself of this terrible thing in a hurry. Everyone in my circle of peers in the music industry has had to go through this multiple times, and we all have a pretty advanced skill set for dealing with it. That doesn't make it any easier, any time. But this time... fuck.
To say Jamie Duffy was my friend is to greatly devalue the word "friend," and also to claim possession of something that was shared by virtually everyone in the Chicago music scene for the last 20-odd years. He wasn't my friend any more than he was anyone else's friend. He just was. Everybody's. Friend.
I'm trying to come up with some sort of anecdote that I can point to and say "Jamie Duffy was X because Y." But there's not any particular scenario I can put my finger on. I can't even recall how many tours we were on together, or how many times he mixed a band or played at Metro while I was doing lights, or how many of my shows he did sound for, or how many songs of mine he engineered or seconded on, or how many times I ran in to him at Dome Room or Neo or Crowbar or House of Blues...
I am, however, thinking of this one night at Crowbar, October 12th, 1995. He and I are leaning against the bar, and I'm eyeballing this girl I've been eyeballing for a couple weeks at various clubs around Chicago. Jamie leans over to me and says "dude, if you don't fucking talk to that chick soon, I swear to god..." And I'm all "fine, okay, I'm going." And I go over and introduce myself to the woman I've been married to for 17 years.
I would like to think every music scene, in every city around the world, has a Jamie. That guy that just makes things happen. The dependable, nice guy that maybe drinks a bit too much, but it's okay, because he's Jamie. That dependable guy who can get a bit moody, but hey, everyone has bad days, and that's just Jamie. That guy you could depend on.
We lost our Jamie. Don't you lose yours. Stay frosty. If someone's asking for help, even if they don't know they're asking, give it to them. You depend on them, but they're depending on you too. If you miss it, you'll hate yourself later. Trust me on this.
_Please read Jim Marcus' [lovely piece](http://regenmag.com/blog/for-jamie-duffy-and-all-my-fellow-artists/) about Jamie and all of us. I didn't know what I wanted to say, but Jim said it for me._
---
## Emily The Intern...
- Date: 2012-06-19
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2012/06/emily-the-intern/
There's quite the kerfuffle on the 'Tubes this week due to [a post](http://www.npr.org/blogs/allsongs/2012/06/16/154863819/i-never-owned-any-music-to-begin-with) to NPR's All Songs Considered blog by one Emily "The Intern" White. If you haven't read it, you don't really need to bother. The gist: "I love music a whole lot. I just don't like paying for it."
That post is typical of the mindset of people her age, but I'll tell you one thing three times: there's like a thousand performing, recording, touring musicians (in America, anyhow) at any given time that aren't flat broke. This hasn't changed since the 50s. Nobody makes shit from touring or album sales. Nobody ever has, nor will they ever. Soundscan says my own Sister Machine Gun records have sold around 400,000 copies total; this isn't including the various soundtracks and comps I'm on. Figure a CD costs about a buck to make, and the wholesale is around $6.00 per, someone walked away with about $2,000,000 courtesy of my creative output. But it wasn't me. You want to know how much I've made in artist royalties? $0.00. Zip. Zilch. Nada. Goose-egg.
My absolute best year as a professional touring musician was 1996. That year, we had a semi-hit that tied in with a multi-platinum selling soundtrack album. I got a large (for me at that time) amount of mechanical royalties from the sales of that soundtrack, plus we played about 300 shows that year, mostly in theaters and larger venues as a headliner. I was, by any measure you'd care to use, one of the more successful musicians of that year. You want to know what my before-tax income was? $75,000. That's the best I ever did, as a demonstrably successful artist in the top tier of my chosen genre. That seems like a lot now, but I paid self-employment tax on that money, and whatever was left over went to bills. So I spent 1996 more or less broke, like every other year in the 90s.
And that lifestyle isn't really available to musicians today. I was signed to the largest indie record label in the world, one that had plenty of money and let me indulge myself. That label doesn't exist any more. None of the distributors it sold records to exist any more. The record stores where my records were sold are almost universally out of business as well. The entire supply chain, from the guy who bet I would sell records by fronting the costs of recording them on to the store where the physical product was ultimately purchased, is gone.
But you know what? I got to ride around in a tour bus with someone else footing the bill, and play a show every night. To an audience. A SHOW! How awesome is that? I have songs in some cool movies. I've been to every state in the Union (except Alaska, because who the fuck plays in Alaska? **EDIT**: Apparently Berlin played Alaska twice) and to a bunch of other countries. I've been on MTV. I've been in Rolling Stone. I don't think I get to complain. I signed the contracts, with legal representation advising me. I knew what I was getting in to back then, and I knew what it would turn in to the day Napster went live.
So I don't blame Emily for the fact that I'm not in my 20s any more. She grew up in a different world than me and that dude from Camper Van Beethoven. In the world we grew up in, we created a commodity, with a supply chain, bankers, retail outlets, and a fairly strict machinery for ensuring all that moved smoothly. While Emily can certainly enjoy lots of material that was created with that machinery, I'll bet you her tastes largely revolve around the current DIY-flavored indie scene. (Yeah, while I was indie to the bone, I recorded my albums at Chicago Trax, Battery and Brittania Row, mastered them at Bernie Grundman and Sterling, and sold them in Tower, like everyone else. Different meaning to the word "indie" today.)
So David Lowery, get off [your high horse](http://thetrichordist.wordpress.com/2012/06/18/letter-to-emily-white-at-npr-all-songs-considered/#comments). Emily doesn't need to donate any money to Old Musicians Who Don't Have Shit Any More. She is no more responsible for the state our industry is in than I am responsible for something stupid my parents did before I was born. She doesn't understand what the fuck you're talking about. She just likes music. It isn't a commodity any more, but value-added content. If people want to make new shit for her to diss on All Songs Considered, that's their own prerogative. It has nothing to do with us and our 80s/90s understanding of the music industry.
If you want to blame someone, blame Sean Parker.
---
## Instrumetal...
- Date: 2012-06-18
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2012/06/instrumetal/
[](http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/7395386810/)
After several trips to various light industrial zones, wherein pieces of metal and pressure tanks filled with noble (and not-so-noble) gasses were procured, on Saturday I busted out my shiny new MIG welder, and proceeded to go to town.
Emerging some hours later from an enveloping cloud of plasma and argon (the noblest of gasses) with my first Experiment, I stuck this Planar 4000 contact mic to it, and smote it in various ways, with various implements. The first thing I discovered was that this Barcus Berry piano transducer is fucking _sensitive_. I'm reminded of that section in Cryptonomicon where dude is doing some safe-cracking and builds his own transducer with a piece of carbon and two razor blades. Seriously, I could hear drug mules crossing the border with duffle bags full of Mexican brown-pack 200 miles away.
So, dialing back on the gain a smidge, I determined that the difference between these transducers and the normal little piezo-soldered-to-a-quarter-inch-cable method is quite vast. I was able to easily fill a couple Maschine groups in about 10 minutes time just by gently tapping my contraption (twss) with various pieces of kipple lying about my office (viz. Dr. Pepper bottle tops, paper clips, the little wooden Q-tips you clean tape heads with) with hardly any smiting actually necessary. Which no doubt pleased my long-suffering wife.
In any event, my next Contraption will be a MATG (Mini Anti-Tank Guitar) which I hope to accomplish the minute my back porch doesn't strongly resemble the surface of the Sun. (twss)
---
## Various Things...
- Date: 2012-06-12
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2012/06/various-things/
First up, if you didn't get the memo, there's a new set from Standard Beat Company, [Boiler Room Beats.](http://www.standardbeatcompany.com/products/boiler-room-beats) Single hits, some loops, plus Poison. It's like if Bell Biv DeVoe was produced by Adrian Utley. (I'm aiming for a pull quote Wade can use in his marketing. NAILED IT!)
Next up, I'm 97.3% certain that RoughRider Re will be included in the initial offerings for the Reason 6.5 Rack Extension store. It will be $29/25€. They use tier pricing like Apple, so the price will vary somewhat depending on where you are. Sorry, people that take advantage of exchange rate differentials. In any event, it has passed all tests from the Props folks, and has been accepted, so as far as I know, we're good to go.
Next, it is my birthday next week. In honor of this lofty event, I have purchased a MIG welder, because nobody I know would think to get me one. I shall weld things. The first thing I shall weld is an Anti-Tank Guitar. Because I'm of the firm opinion that there's a good buck to be made starting a Lab Report cover band and trying to get a gig at the Gila River Indian Casino. I'll let you know how that goes.
Finally, in the interests of continuing our discussion from the previous post, during my research I came across this video. When I saw the Make logo I thought it would either be an optical theremin (gag) or something crafty but ultimately useless. (Cute for a minute, but ultimately gag.) Turns out, not at all. Worth a watch if you're intrigued about this sort of thing, but it takes a while to get to the good stuff. Here is the dude's [website](http://tim-kaiser.org/). His name is Tim Kaiser.
---
## In Search Of Hidden Sounds...
- Date: 2012-06-09
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2012/06/in-search-of-hidden-sounds/
After bagging the completely procedural algorithmic album idea (which turned out to be a lot more fun to think about than to actually create, as it happens) I started pondering my next release in earnest a couple weeks ago.
And we'll leave aside for now the concept of earnestly pondering.
What I decided to do was an EP with vocals (which is unusual for me in the September of my years), where the music itself, while heavily programmed and produced, would be sourced entirely from found sounds and home-made musical instruments. To that end, I purchased [this book](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1565235592/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=analogindustr-20&camp=0&creative=0&linkCode=as4&creativeASIN=1565235592&adid=0GPDNH9KN8WG2W2P5MPD&) to get me started. As it turns out, the word "ultimate" might be mis-applied, as roughly 2/3 of the book is concerned with cigar-box guitars. There are, however, some interesting ideas in it, provided you look beyond the author's fascination with all things jug band. Virtually everything in the book can easily be done with various tutorials and pictorials on-line, but it's kind of handy to not have to drag my laptop out to the garage.
Anyhow, the first instrument I built was what my brain has decided is called a Dookie Stick for some strange reason, but what is actually a Diddly Bow, the simplest home-made stringed instrument. Turned out pretty cool, although his directions differ rather greatly from the ones I built when I was a kid.
The music itself, despite starting from the simplest home-made electro-acoustic instruments, will follow my normal abstract techno production techniques. I've been thinking about attempting a combination of the ultra-spare and dirty early Chess blues sound and modern IDM for a couple years now, and this will be my first stab at it. We'll see how it turns out, I guess.
What's your favorite home-made electro-acoustic instrument? If you use found sounds in your music, what sources do you gravitate towards? Do you mic things or use a transducer? Do you have any production tricks for this sort of thing?
---
## Our Hypocrisy Knows No Limits...
- Date: 2012-05-29
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2012/05/our-hypocrisy-knows-no-limits/
Sorry for the lengthy pause, but we've been working long days since Thursday when we received the Propellerheads Rack Extension SDK. Since we're under a fairly detailed NDA, I can't really go in to all the trials and tribulations involved in making a Rack Extension; suffice to say that while the DSP part of things copies more or less straight across from our existing plugs, the GUI part is another matter entirely. It bears exactly zero resemblance to anything we've thus far experienced in The Land Of Plug-ins. If a plug-in dev doesn't have someone on staff that has a fairly extensive knowledge of 3D modeling software and how assets from that software are utilized, that plug-in dev is gonna be pretty much out of luck when it comes to Rack Extensions.
With that caveat out of the way, we're just about to send in our first Rack Extension, which is Rough Rider. Here's a screenshot of Rough Rider in a Reason rack:
As you can see, instead of the "hidden" mix control (the bypass switch on the front panel of the Rough Rider VST and AU is actually a knob, as far as automation goes, if you weren't aware) we've broken that out to a proper mix knob, as Reason doesn't really have time for that sort of hidden tomfoolery. Here's a screenshot of the back of the unit:
There is a CV output for gain reduction, just in case you want to use Rough Rider's envelope to drive something else. To answer the obvious questions:
1\. No, this will most assuredly not be free. We haven't quite settled on a price yet, but it won't be expensive.
2\. We are going to wait and see if this does any numbers before making other products for Rack Extensions. We won't be porting anything else directly, as the environment is simply too different. In the event, we will be making similar products that utilize the same basic DSP.
3\. No you can't beta-test. Don't even think of asking me.
4\. I don't care if you don't like the GUI. It was extremely difficult to make, and I just don't want to hear it right now. Conversely, if you \_do\_ like it, now's the time to tell me. Har har har.
---
## Inspirational Activities...
- Date: 2012-05-24
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2012/05/inspirational-activities/
When I do a post like this, half the readership goes "sigh. Another process post." And the other half goes "Yay! Another process post!!!" When I started blogging lo these many years ago (Jesus fuck, has it been 18 years?) I quickly learned that, even though my first blog was about my band and not music tech, and it wasn't called a blog because there was no name for them then, there was a certain segment of the audience that loved process, and another segment that hated it.
I happen to number myself in the "love it" camp, as declarative statements about gear can get really tedious, in my opinion. So suck it, naysayers.
Anyhow, the one aspect of my life's work that I really love is the "R" half of the R&D equation, and that's where we are now with Audio Damage. And the main tool in my mental toolbox for doing Research is, surprisingly, YouTube. For a right-brained person such as myself, the non-linear information firehose that is the YouTube recommended videos sidebar is an amazingly handy thing. I can type "Generative music" in to the search bar, and in three short steps be watching a video from the Nature Channel about how [water has memory](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILSyt_Hhbjg&feature=related). From there, it's only a couple clicks to what I call Costello Land (Schumann Resonance videos and the like, from people that really enjoy fractals). I can't click away from that hippy shit fast enough, and a few random pokes later I'm watching a video from someone that has made a valiant but ultimately futile attempt to use the L System equations to make music.
In the space of maybe 10 minutes, then, from typing in a relatively random seed, I've set all the gates on the right side of my brain to the proper mode for having ideas, and to be clear, I'm not looking for wholesale ideas in these videos; rather, I'm trying to set my brain in a state where it can have its _own_ ideas. My theory (which practice has more or less proved out over the years) is that a given idea is really the result of the ingredients you feed it. My habits to create that idea are sort of like following a recipe that I know works, and while I don't know how the result is going to taste, or if it will be any good at all, I do know that if I follow these steps, I'll end up with _something_ edible.
I have a couple other things I do (usually a trip to the public library will get me a whole stack of fodder that costs only time; it's a great way to taste things outside your areas of interest) to get myself in the right frame of mind, but on the whole, the best thing I've found is YouTube.
What do you use to get yourself in a creative mindset? Do you find my method works for you? Would it work for an extremely left-brained person? Or do they need something more linear to engage the gears? (With any luck, we'll avoid a lengthy Sean Costello treatise on Schumann Frequencies, but I think I've tempted fate just mentioning them; I'll take whatever punishing 3,000 word essay Sean sees fit. Also, water doesn't have memory. It has impurities. That was a stupid video. But it's all part of the process.)
---
## 8 BITS OF DOOM...
- Date: 2012-05-22
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2012/05/8-bits-of-doom/
Puremagnetik has just released a new Micropak called [alphaSynth](http://puremagnetik.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=397:alphasynth&catid=36&Itemid=161). It is a heavily re-tooled and much improved version of the sample set I used to have here that I made from the alphaSyntauri. They are much, much better at that sort of thing than I, what with doing it for a living and all, and the alphaSynth set is available in several formats, including Live Rack, Kontakt, and ESX Universal.
I've made a bunch of other samples for them with various pieces of Apple \]\[ based kit, and you can watch out for those in the future.
---
## ...
- Date: 2012-05-17
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2012/05/untitled-2/
---
## Digits...
- Date: 2012-05-14
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2012/05/digits/
The vinyl of [unsuspected sounds](http://analogindustries.bandcamp.com/) has arrived here at the compound, and assembly and shipping will commence in the morning. As promised, and since this is a good cusp, here are all the numbers so far, with annotations where appropriate. I had meant for this to be a learning experience as much as anything else, and I think everyone that hasn't had vinyl pressed before will benefit from this information. (I no longer count myself among those sad individuals. Now I'm a different sort of sad individual.)
Since this is a compilation for charity (more on that at the end) with tracks submitted royalty free by all the artists involved, there is no cost in acquiring the music. The costs are 100% related to the production of the final product. So don't use this number and say "SEE THIS IS WHAT A RECORD COSTS TO MAKE!!!" If you're pressing someone eles's music, at least here in America (and most Western nations) you have to pay the statutory mechanical royalty at the bare minimum, so figure that in to your accounting. With that out of the way...
**Mastering:** $675. This included 5 hours of mastering at $125/hr, the digital master, the vinyl master, and one reference acetate.
**500 Jackets:** $1280. These were done by Stumptown Printers as true old-school offset, one color on recycled heavyweight dyed stock. This was a more expensive option; normal jackets would be about half this price.
**500 Vinyl Records:** $1261.48. The pressing was done at RTI in California, and the price included 5 test pressings, a small over-run (35 copies), plus shipping to Phoenix.
**300 Vinyl Record Shipping Boxes:** $242.83. I got these from U-Line. Betcha forgot about shipping 'em, didn't you? I didn't. This is a cost. Notice I only ordered 300.
Total Actual Cost Of Production For 500 Units: **$3459.31**
Now, with that out of the way, as you know I put them on sale as soon as I got the jackets, about 3 weeks ago. So pre-orders have been running for nearly a month. And here's the result. Note that figure does not include the Paypal fee or Bandcamp's fee. With my other sales, and Bandcamp's largess, they dropped their fee from 15% to 10% when we had taken in about $2200, so it's difficult to figure exactly, but best I can tell, I have received $2635.48. Also, the artists collectively ponied up $100 (or more in a couple cases) each to pre-buy copies for themselves, and that was another $700 in the kitty. So basically we're not even close to breaking even, technically, but in real dollars, figuring a slight overage on the S&H, we're in the black at this point, albeit barely.
Some notes on the sales: you'll notice that the average price paid for the vinyl is over $18. This number is skewed by three people who paid much more than the asking price. On the whole, the vast majority (I'd say around 90) paid the asking price for the vinyl. The average price paid for the digital only was just a touch south of $6.75.
You'll also see the two big peaks in the sales graph. The first one is my initial promotional push. The second peak is when Peter mentioned the album on Create Digital Music. I have done no promotion whatsoever beyond that. (I wanted to actually have the vinyl before I got carried away.)
So, long story short: it has, more or less, paid for itself, and at the end of the day I'll still have over a hundred units to get rid of, which are, at this point, the pure charitable donation. 100% of every sale from this point forward will go straight to charity. But it was a close thing.
Anyhow, I'll be packing and shipping for the next few days. This should be great fun. I hope this info will be useful to some future person considering this course of action.
---
## Yeah, It's That Time Again...
- Date: 2012-05-11
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2012/05/yeah-its-that-time-again/
If you point your browser at [this little gem](http://prod.lists.apple.com/archives/coreaudio-api/2012/May/msg00029.html), you'll be rewarded with an interesting insight in to Apple's continual process of legacy software pruning. They learned long ago (c. OS 9) that it is far easier to just not support older software rather than try to work it in to whatever current version of their OS they're building.
To be fair, this is a continual source of headaches for Redmond, and a big reason that Windows is so full of security holes. Apple has different problems, of course, but life as a developer for OS X is basically a long string of beatings. We all have Stockholm Syndrome at this point, and anything like this is met with resignation, and a muttered "thank you sir, may I have another?"
For those that don't see what I'm talking about, Gatekeeper is a new whiz-bang feature in OS X 10.8 that essentially won't let the user install any software that isn't digitally signed. The user can turn this feature off, theoretically, but it is on by default. If you use a piece of software that is not currently supported by whomever made it, you can pretty much write that software off with respect to 10.8.
For plug-in companies that have a large product line (like, oh, I don't know, Audio Damage?) this means a rebuild of everything, yet again, plus we have to buy the ridiculous Mac Developer License at $99 a seat to get the signature in the first place. The only other option is to continue to sell our products unsigned, and hope that our customers decide to run Mountain Lion with Gatekeeper disabled.
Adam and I haven't discussed this issue at any length yet, but I imagine we'll go ahead and get the signatures and such-like, because that's the pro thing to do. But expect us to complain about it at length. (A question: if the host is signed, why does the plug-in need to be signed?) Also note that, in the event we do this, we will **NOT** be rebuilding and signing our own legacy products. This means that if you want to continue using, say, Discord2 or the original Kombinat, you need to stay at 10.7 or earlier.
Gatekeeper? Many Shuvs and Zuuls knew what it was to be roasted in the depths of the Slor that day, I can tell you!
---
## Various Things...
- Date: 2012-05-09
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2012/05/various-things/
Been a busy few days 'round here.
1\. I went to L.A. yesterday. While I was there, I got a tour of NI's LA office. They have a nice office. It's just like the Audio Damage offices, except in a big building on the Sunset Strip, and with no empty monster cans lying about, and as far as I can tell, no cat hair.
2\. Tattoo is now 32/64-bit on all platforms, and version 1.1.2 is in the AD store for download. The only one of our commercial products left to do now is... uh... I know there's one left but I can't think of which one it is, because I just woke up and there's no caffeine in the house. Dr. Device, maybe?
3\. New set from [Standard Beat Company](http://www.standardbeatcompany.com/), called Doom Dub. This is is, in my opinion, one of Wade's best collections. US$29.00, and a bargain at twice the price.
4\. The vinyl of Unsuspected Sounds should be here today or tomorrow. As soon as it arrives, I'll begin shipping the pre-orders, in order of ordering. That should be hilarious. I'll also put up the numbers so far. I haven't added everything up yet at this juncture, but I'm not losing my shirt. Only a tank top and a pair of socks.
---
## ...
- Date: 2012-05-04
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2012/05/untitled/
---
## Welcome To The Maschine...
- Date: 2012-04-29
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2012/04/welcome-to-the-maschine/
As I noted a few weeks ago, I got a [Maschine Mikro.](https://analogindustries.com/2012/04/hands-with-occasional-beard/) I've been very happy with the software, but for the way I work, the hardware was not up to the task. This is not in any way to belittle the Maschine Mikro controller. (Ha, ha, ha, see what I did there?). It is a fantastic piece of kit, and the two Maschines have identical pad banks, which is where the rubber meets the road in a drum controller.
Anyhow, this week I got the normal Maschine, and I've decided to keep it and let my Mikro go. The larger one is better suited to my workstyle. (As you know from watching the videos I put up occasionally, I'm not a fan of poking at a laptop while I'm actually making music, and the big one is better suited to those habits.)
So, if you would like a Maschine Mikro, here's your chance. Mine is essentially brand new. I had it for, what, a month? Something like that. It will come with the never-installed software that came with the big Maschine (they use identical software, and since I'd already installed it from the Mikro, I didn't need to do so again) so you won't have any funky installation or license transfer issues.
Since it is essentially NIB, I'd like to get $300, which is $50 off the normal street price. I'll ship anywhere, you pay actual shipping costs. I'll also consider trades of commensurate value; you know the sort of things I like. [Drop me a line](mailto:chris@audiodamage.com) if you're interested.
**EDIT:** Sold.
---
## unsuspected sounds Now Available...
- Date: 2012-04-20
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2012/04/unsuspected-sounds-now-available/
[](http://analogindustries.bandcamp.com/album/unsuspected-sounds-vol-1)
The long-awaited day has come. I was waiting until the jackets arrived, so that I knew the most time-consuming part of the process wouldn't have to be repeated. They just showed up today, and look fantastic. So I've made the unsuspected sounds page at BandCamp live, and you can listen to and purchase the album, in either digital or vinyl + digital forms.
All net proceeds will be donated directly to the Breast Assured Foundation of Tucson, so here's your opportunity to show you're with boobs, and hook them up. They do very good work taking their mobile labs to poor neighborhoods and providing free screening for breast cancer. Plus they have just about the best name of any charity group ever.
The vinyl will arrive on 5/5, and barring any unforeseen circumstances, I expect to have all orders shipped by 5/10. If the temperature has climbed too high here in Phoenix, I may pick up the vinyl in California and drive it back here, rather than relying on the good graces of UPS. (Their brown trucks get very hot here. I've received packages in Autumn I couldn't even pick up they were so hot. This wouldn't be good for vinyl.)
Anyhow, pay what you want, minimum $5 for the digital, $15 for the album. [Go forth!](http://analogindustries.bandcamp.com/album/unsuspected-sounds-vol-1)
---
## Las Tortugas Comen Queso...
- Date: 2012-04-14
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2012/04/las-tortugas-comen-queso/
I'm currently writing my next EP, and this album is interesting inasmuch as the particular set of constraints I've set for myself this time involve using only generative techniques for the sequencing. That is to say that while I'll be recording to and mixing from Live, there are no Live clips playing MIDI; all the hardware and softsynths are driven from generative methods created in Max4Live.
Simultaneously, I decided I wanted to finally learn Spanish, so I joined [Duolingo](http://www.duolingo.com/), which is a very nice service. However, many (most? all?) of the learning phrases are generated algorithmically, and I'm left with the lingering impression that there is some synchronicity here. Or, in other words, the turtle eats cheese.
Now, you and I know that turtles don't eat cheese. Or if they do, they probably regret it later. However, the algorithm that generates statements for me to translate in Duolingo doesn't know that. It just does animal + verb + food. Thus, we get: _las tortugas comen queso_. On the one hand, the sentence makes perfect sense. If you actually saw some turtles eating cheese, you'd turn to your monoglot friend Javier and say "las tortugas comen queso" and he would no doubt be in full agreement.
On the other, you're never going to do that. Because you most likely will live your whole life without ever seeing a turtle eat cheese. So the sentence itself, when used as an example of language, is correct, but ridiculous. This is largely the same thing with generative music, I discover. I was having a conversation with Matthew Davidson (stretta) about this via email earlier this week, and he pointed out that generative techniques probably best serve when they are just one tool in the musician's toolbox. I, ever the purist, bristled a bit at this; when I set myself a paradigm for recording, I don't do it by half measures, and the tracks I'm creating play by themselves, with zero input from me, and the resulting recording is already pre-mixed, even.
However, this methodology of mine, while crafty, usually results in a cheese-eating turtle. That is to say that my algorithms are choosing notes that are harmonically correct, but not necessarily something a person would play. I suppose this is the point of the exercise, but I was hoping for a more organic sound.
So my question is thus: what are your feelings vis-a-vis generative techniques? Are you like me, where it should be an all-or-nothing affair? Or is some subtle randomization to a hi-hat pattern or hand-editing MIDI output more to your taste? What's some good electronic music that was created wholly generatively?
---
## Asshole Alert...
- Date: 2012-04-10
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2012/04/asshole-alert/
As you know, I provide a public service occasionally where I point out situations where musicians are being taken advantage of. Haven't had to do this in a while (although TuneCore's "Get My Money" boondoggle has been tempting me) but this here is a doozy, and needs to be addressed.
The site is [AlbumCredits.com](http://albumcredits.com/), and here's the grift: it is owned and operated by AMG, the company that brings you the [All Music Guide.](http://www.allmusic.com/) What they've done is create a site that is a separate front end for AMG's database, where you can pay for the opportunity to correct it. The image above is a screenshot of what I'm met with when I click the "Claim This Profile" on my own page.
So, for a cool hundred bucks a year, I get the opportunity to fix AMG's database for them. This heaping pile of poorly collected, badly managed pig shit, that hasn't been worth fuck all since the Internet was knee-high to a short goat, will _finally_ allow corrections, but only if you pay.
Seriously, this company can't go out of business fast enough. I would be sorely disappointed if any of you fell for this. (Look at it this way: I was _always_ right about TAXI. I'm right about this. Just trust me.)
---
## Standard Beat Company...
- Date: 2012-04-06
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2012/04/standard-beat-company/
As you all know, our good friend Wade Alin folded his Beatserv sample company a few months ago, due to issues beyond his control with his partners and other things. Much dismay and rending of garments ensued. Well, from the ashes comes [Standard Beat Company](http://standardbeatcompany.myshopify.com/). Wade picks up right where Beatserv left off, with his first offering, Dark Downtempo 4. He has a new pricing model (cheaper sets and more of 'em, rather than big, relatively expensive packages) so DDT4 is only US$29.00.
There is also a free set to get you started, a fantastic warped acoustic house set called Penthouse that is eminently usable. Here's to success with the new endeavor!
---
## The Real Deal...
- Date: 2012-04-04
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2012/04/the-real-deal/
The funny thing about getting vinyl (or CDs, for that matter) made is that it is essentially a long, boring process, punctuated with brief flashes of blind panic. My sister has told me that this is what being in Iraq is like, but I don't think the parallel is very accurate, honestly. The mastering lab didn't lob any mortars at me, for starters.
In any event, I got the test pressings today, and as I listened to 'em I had a couple of thoughts. The process for making CDs, while sharing the net result, is significantly different than that for making vinyl. When you have a CD made, you send off (or upload) a digital master and some Illustrator files with artwork, and in a couple weeks, FedEx Ground shows up at your doorstep with a couple dozen boxes. It's a fairly simple workflow, without much in the way of things that can go wrong. One time, a friend of mine who owned a label had a CD pressed, and instead of whatever industrial band's music, it had Tito Puente's Greatest Hits on it. While I felt this was a sizable improvement, subjectively, obviously his customers wouldn't have been too happy with that. That's the worst problem I've ever heard of when pressing CDs, and easily remedied with a phone call and a couple more weeks of waiting. (After that, we always did what we called the Tito Check; that is to say that we made a point of listening to units from several different boxes to ensure they had the correct content.)
Where making CDs is a science, making vinyl is much more of an _art_. You have to make subjective choices along the way that are heavily informed by the process itself. The only real limiting facet of a CD is the total time; when manufacturing vinyl I have discovered that there are many interdependent factors, and the entire process is sort of an exercise in finding out how much fuck you're willing to give about any particular aspect.
The main thing I noted is that receiving these test pressings made the whole thing much more real. A CD is, at its base level, fundamentally indistinguishable from a downloaded file or a USB thumb drive. It is simply a container for bits. With a vinyl record, however, the medium is part of the message. Yes, it is anachronistic. That much can't be argued. Yes, the sonic quality is demonstrably different than the digital file from whence it came (and, on paper at least, worse, although there's a subjective "better" in there as well.)
I hate to use the word "cooler," but the simple fact of the matter is that it's fucking cool to make a record. And I relish the fact that I can use the words "record" and "album" in their proper context, rather than as placeholders. It's big. It's black. It's round. It fucking crackles. Drop that tonearm, yo.
---
## Hands, With Occasional Beard...
- Date: 2012-04-01
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2012/04/hands-with-occasional-beard/
It's been a while since I did a Disembodied Hands Touching Gear video, so I busted one out this afternoon. I've picked up quite a few new pieces of kit in the intervening months, and some of it appears in this video.
The bassline is the old MeeBlip, while the main melody is the new MeeBlip SE; I think you can pretty clearly hear the difference. The new one is quite a bit cleaner and more sedate. There are significant UI differences between the two, despite their identical panel layout, and this means a pretty big divergence in the results. I had a feeling this would be the case when I saw the specs for the new one, which is why I didn't update my old one. I plan to keep both. They are essentially different synths entirely. That said, a MeeBlip of any stripe is now, and has been since its initial release, the best deal in new hardware synth gear, period, for what you get versus cost.
The drums and percussion are all from the Maschine. I have a Mikro controller, and am seriously thinking about switching up to the Makro one; I'm still trying to decide if it fits in my workflow, though. I'm having a strange struggle with the gain structure, and I'll probably upgrade to the bigger one if I figure it out. (Obviously, the software part that actually makes sound is not dependent on which controller is used.) The samples are all from my pretty large library of TX81Z percussion sounds; I sampled directly in to the Maschine software. This was an interesting exercise, since it functions essentially identically to a hardware sampling drum machine. Kickin' it old school with the new hybrid gear, yo.
Towards the end, the little percussion pattern that comes in is the SammichFM, which is a [MidiBox FM](http://www.ucapps.de/midibox_fm_manual.html) in a little desktop box, from the same folks that brought you the SammichSid. Information available [here](http://www.midibox.org/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=sammichfm). Short version: it is basically a MIDI-to-Yamaha OPL3 Chip interface unit, so essentially a 4-op FM synth nearly identical to a Yamaha TQ-5, except without the FX. Or a volume knob. This will rapidly drive me insane; as you can see in the video (or any of my many other videos) I arrange when I improvise by turning the volume on the units up and down. Grrrr. Argh. It sounds like an OPL3-based synth, anyhow, albeit with a much nicer user interface.
The DSI Tetr4 makes its normal appearance, as well as my Eventide TimeFactor and Space. (They are the only effects used, period, other than a couple compressors and gates in Live to tame things; they are configured as External Effects in Live.)
---
## Roland - The Synthesizer Pt. 4...
- Date: 2012-03-24
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2012/03/roland-the-synthesizer-pt-4/
Sorry this took so long, but real life intervened. Anyhow, here it is: the last of Roland's four-book primer on synthesis, The Synthesizer. This one is mostly concerned with how to synthesize different string and drum/percussion sounds; there is a brief (and slightly amusing) section on sound design, namely thunder, wind, and raindrops, that sort of thing. The most useful section is probably the drums. Most of the patch diagrams also have block diagrams, which should translate directly to any modern modular with a reasonable complement of modules.
[Here 'tis.](https://web.archive.org/web/2012/http://www.analogindustries.com/samples/RTS_Practical2.zip) (15mb Zipped PDF.) If you haven't yet got the other 3 yet, here's all four in [one folder](https://web.archive.org/web/2012/http://www.analogindustries.com/samples/The_Synthesizer.zip). (51mb Zip file.) Scroll down to see the other three blog entries about this book and its contents.
Anyhow, this was quite time-consuming and expensive. If you find these useful in any way, a tip would be appreciated.
---
## Busy, Like A Bee...
- Date: 2012-03-21
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2012/03/busy-like-a-bee/
Oh, taxes. Joy of joys!
Oh, the flu. My favorite thing!
Oh, MusikMesse! Can we get a minimum of one new plug-in format per major trade show, please?
Oh, 64-bit updates! Saved the hardest for last, apparently!
Oh, making a vinyl record. My credit card statement looks like it was beat with a motorcycle lock.
This has been a fun seven days. Very eventful. Guess I got a new iPad in there somewhere. It's just like the last one only morso. Also, I built, and then summarily hated, a Hackintosh. If I never see another computer again, in any form factor or platform, it'll be too soon. Adam is going on vacation next week. I'm wondering if I'll fit in his luggage.
---
## Patching With Paradiso...
- Date: 2012-03-15
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2012/03/patching-with-paradiso/
Heavy synth-nerdery alert.
If you've been in the synth game for a while, you no doubt know about Joe Paradiso of MIT and his monster DIY modular. The video above is some basic background. I question whether it is the largest DIY modular in the world, but it is definitely large. (twss)
In any event, it recently got moved to the MIT Museum, and is constantly running, with a patch that is updated every couple weeks. You can stream the audio live, but that's not the nifty part. They just added a feature called Patchwork, which is a module that can be controlled via the Intertubes, and alters certain aspects of the patch in real time. The main page for the synth is [here](http://synth.media.mit.edu/), and the Patchwork control page can be found [here](http://synth.media.mit.edu/synthclient/). Note that the four buttons are not toggles; you have to hold them down to hear them. And any change takes a few seconds to show up in the audio stream. The synth also has its own [Twitter feed](https://twitter.com/#!/ModularSynth), where Mr. Paradiso lets you know when he changes the patch.
This is the first I've ever seen something like this. Are there other interactive instruments that actually exist on this temporal plane (i.e. hardware) that are floating around the 'Tubes? How could this be extrapolated in to something that was musically a bit less... nerderific? (For want of a better word.)
---
## The Plague...
- Date: 2012-03-14
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2012/03/the-plague/
I imagine you're getting sick of hearing about me being sick, but I'll absolutely guarantee that you're not as sick of hearing about it as I am of being it. I am paying penance for nearly a lifetime of being in perfect health, apparently. This fresh hell is some sort of violently invasive cold. Or something. Please make it stop.
And the first fucking hippie that recommends Pho is getting banned for life. I'd sooner drink a bottle of Windex.
In charitable news, I have a track on [this comp,](http://sorghum.bandcamp.com/) a collection of e-music that benefits the victims of the tornado in West Liberty, Kentucky that happened on March 2nd. It's only $4, and is a nice collection of e-music. Go buy it, and spread the word.
In other charitable news, I've ordered the jackets for _unsuspected sounds_ from Stumptown Printers. So we're off to the races now, no turning back on the hardware version of the album. Which brings me to an interesting question...
I had intended (for fiscal reasons that I hope would be so patently obvious they don't need to be explained) to not put the album up on Bandcamp until I had the whole finished run in my possession, and only sell the vinyl+download until the vinyl had run out. However, there's a couple points that merit consideration:
1\. I actually have the mastered digital files now; there's no real reason we can't start the ordering process.
2\. A lot of (I assume "most") people don't actually want the record.
So, I could put up the vinyl + download for pre-order now. I could also put up a download only for sale now. The pre-orders would come with the caveat that you wouldn't receive the vinyl for nearly two months. There would be a slight risk involved, mainly for me, as while I have everything costed out, and 2/3rd of it already paid for, I'm making the assumption that there are no fuck-ups that are my fault, that won't require a massive cash outlay on my part to fix.
The problem I have with this course of action is that the digital sales will necessarily subsidize the vinyl until everything has washed out. The original plan negated this.
So, thoughts? Should I put up a poll?
---
## Updates...
- Date: 2012-03-10
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2012/03/updates/
The compilation has been mastered; I'm just waiting for the upload of the digital version from SAE. Some updates on that front: the name of the album is now "unsuspected sounds." This is from an Edgard Varèse quote I've always liked. The entirety is thus:
_I dream of instruments obedient to my thought and which with their contribution of a whole new world of unsuspected sounds, will lend themselves to the exigencies of my inner rhythm._
He said this in an interview you can find in the book [Classic Essays On Twentieth-Century Music.](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0028645812/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=analogindustr-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0028645812) The majority of the content is fairly precious from our lofty position in the year 2012; you need to constantly remind yourself of technological context, else these guys come off as incredibly pretentious.
In any event, the cover art is done, as well. I created the front piece using a Processing sketch written by [Stefan Goodchild](http://stefangoodchild.com/#_) (who also, you may remember, did the portraits for the Pioneers Of Electronic Music t-shirt series we did a couple years ago.) This sketch created a circular motif from the audio waveform of the entire album and pooped out a vector that I could lay right in to Illustrator un-altered. I'm just waiting for final approval of the audio from the mastering, and sequence notes from the mastering engineer, and I'll order the jackets and labels and start the pressing process.
I have unilaterally decided to give the proceeds from the album sale, assuming there are any (I am _killing_ one of my credit cards to pull this whole thing off), to the [Breast Assured Foundation](http://www.breastassuredfoundation.org/). Because, after all, this is an Analog Industries compilation, and I can't speak for other on-line communities, but around here, we're with boobs.
In other news, just finishing up the Tattoo 64-bit update; barring unforeseen circumstances, that should be up Monday. After that, just Ronin, Fuzz+ 2.2, and PulseModulator. Then we can get back to the business of making plug-ins. If we still remember how, that is. Our next product is almost certainly going to be a percussion instrument; I'm doing the design now while Adam polishes off these last couple updates.
---
## The Long March...
- Date: 2012-03-05
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2012/03/the-long-march/
Things are moving at a punk-rock clip in Compilation Land. The mastering session is booked for Thursday, and jacket and pressing situations are firmly in hand. This is an interesting process; while I've made dozens of CDs (comprising hundreds of thousands of units) and Wax Trax! had vinyl made of the early SMG singles and such-like, I've never directly caused the creation of a vinyl record. Since I imagine many of you are curious about this process, I will document it thoroughly throughout.
The first step is the mastering, of course, where they create the digital master used for the download version of the album, the vinyl master (which necessarily has different EQ), and cut the lacquers. These look like records, but are aluminum disks covered in lacquer, and the cutting lathe cuts grooves in them. The result is essentially a record, although not near as durable as a finished vinyl record. The mastering lab will give me one as a reference; these can only be played a few times before they start to wear out.
The lab sends another lacquer to the pressing plant, and they coat this disk with silver nitrate, and then a couple layers of copper, then some other janky metal, and then break out the laquer, resulting in a negative impression of the lacquer. This negative can be used to stamp vinyl records directly (usually only about 700 or so) but more often is used to make a "mother," which is a metal positive that can then be used to make as many stampers as needed by repeating the process above.
Once the pressing plant has the lacquers, they go in to a sit-and-wait situation, while they wait for the paper parts (the round labels and the jackets.) The jackets are being printed by Stumptown Printers in Portland, and the labels are being made by the pressing plant's printer. I'm waiting to pull the trigger on those until the mastering has been completed to everyone's satisfaction.
Regarding the mastering itself, if I was only doing vinyl, I would provide a CD-ROM with two audio files, side A and side B, with everything correctly spaced. Since I'm also getting a digital master for the downloads, I just give the engineer a CD-ROM with the files on it named appropriately (A1, A2, B1, etc...) and he will create the file necessary for the cutting process. These are all 48kHz 24-bit WAV files. Since this project will never be on CD Audio, we don't have to bother with the typical 44.1/16 scenario, and can work at the higher quality rate. If I was doing a jazz band or a classical project, I would record and mix at 96/32, in the interests of future-proofing, but since that would generally be pointless in this situation, and just a big pain in the ass besides, we're sticking with 48/24 for now.
So as you can see, this is a complicated dance that has to take place. I will say that other than the expense and the somewhat lower tolerance for error, it is really not all that different from having a CD pressed. I'm not going to attend the mastering session, since I know that mastering engineers find clients to be the Most Annoying Thing In The World, and would very much rather do their thing alone. If they wanted to hang out with musicians, they'd be normal engineers. I will try to snap a photo or two of the lathe and the mastering room when I drop off the files on Wednesday. We're using [SAE](http://www.saemastering.com/) here in Phoenix, as Chad suggested (and in these matters, Chad Clark's opinion carries some weight.)
**EDIT:** It was asked in private what the mastering cost; I don't see any particular reason to hide that information. Assuming that he gets it right the first time, and we don't ask for any changes, it will run right around US$1000.
---
## Roland - The Synthesizer Pt. 3...
- Date: 2012-03-03
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2012/03/roland-the-synthesizer-pt-3/
Here's what you've all been waiting for: the first half of the Big Mo. Practical Synthesis For Electronic Music Volume One is the third of the four books in The Synthesizer, and is probably the most informative of the collection. While I'll admit that I don't go out and find every synth book ever written, I have a reasonable knowledge of tomes of this sort, and I'm not personally aware of a better primer for modular synthesis.
It is necessarily System 100M-centric, but 99% of the info translates directly to Euro-Rack modulars (or, well, any other modern modular, for that matter.) Even though it was written in the 70s as a manual for a synth that is no longer produced, it is perfectly applicable today, and is an excellent tool if you're just getting in to modulars and don't know how the hell they work.
Anyhow, I'll get Volume Two up shortly, probably tomorrow time permitting. These two are quite a bit larger than the two I already put up; this one is over 100 pages and so is Volume Two. [Here's the file](https://web.archive.org/web/2012/http://www.analogindustries.com/samples/RTS_Practical1.zip). If you've already donated to this effort, thank you kindly. This is a time-consuming and expensive process. (And, it turns out, hard on my scanner, a fact I didn't foresee.) If you haven't donated, and you find these PDFs useful, here's a button for you to whack:
---
## And The Envelope Please...
- Date: 2012-03-02
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2012/03/and-the-envelope-please/
I just want to say at this juncture that this was exceedingly difficult. In order to keep from exhibiting any favoritism for people I know, I removed the names and numbered all the tracks, 1 through 92. I then put them on a spare iPod, so they were the only tracks on that device, and used the star rating system to get the final list.
I ended up with 17 five-star tracks, and the last few days I've been experimenting with flow and different combinations, and I think I ended up with 10 that are all forward-looking tracks that are mildly experimental (or wildly, in two cases) and give a good cross-section of the electronic music scene, without being too genre-specific. There is only one track in the ten that anyone would immediately ascribe a specific genre to, but as that genre is deep house, it's all good. Because deep house is the best electronic music genre, as everyone knows. And even with that context, it still manages to push the envelope, in both production and songwriting.
In the interests of full disclosure, I'll admit the following: I made my own submission at the beginning of the process, but by the end, I didn't think that my own could hang with any 10 of the 17 I chose from the other submissions, so I did a new one. Since I'm the one that has to do all the hard work here, I hope you won't begrudge me that bit of license.
So, with that mea culpa out of the way, here's the list, and this is in no order at this point. It is just the ten tracks I selected. There are physical constraints to how the LP is constructed, and that will inform the final track listing.
1\. Ancient Young - Silica Resonance
2\. Milkfish - It's Happening Too Late
3\. Bitmud - All The Beauty Is Gone
4\. Chris Randall - Compilator
5\. Goldbaby - Ten OP
6\. Jukebox - Objects In The Mirror...
7\. Pauk - Here She Comes
8\. Russian Corvette - Pattern Recognition
9\. Sabama - Doublethink
10\. Anodize - Bismuth
If you're on that list, I'll be contacting you about getting a master to me and how we'll be moving forward. If you're not on that list, and you plan on putting your track out in any of the various platforms we do such things, hold off for a little bit, as I have seven alternates, and I want to make sure these tracks are all good to go before moving to the next step.
Anyhow, congratulations to the other nine, and to all of you. Now comes the hard part.
---
## Roland - The Synthesizer Pt. 2...
- Date: 2012-02-28
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2012/02/roland-the-synthesizer-pt-2/
Here is the second of the four books in The Synthesizer. This one, Multichannel Recording For Electronic Music, is probably the least useful of the four, as the techniques described are almost entirely for a four-track tape context, and they simply don't translate to the modern DAW environment.
That said, the book is useful in two respects: first, as a primer for proper recording workflow, and secondly, in the event you do want to experiment with four-track analog recording and have never done so, this book is about as good a manual as you're going to find. It also inexplicably has the sheet music for a short Hadyn string quartet, and a rather odd arrangement of Greensleeves for string quartet, harp, and two recorders that I'm sure is absolutely banal in performance.
In any event, [here is the PDF](https://web.archive.org/web/2012/http://www.analogindustries.com/samples/RTS_Recording.zip). If you've already donated for the previous one, don't bother doing it again. If you haven't, here's the button:
---
## Roland - The Synthesizer Pt. 1...
- Date: 2012-02-26
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2012/02/roland-the-synthesizer-pt-1/
I was able to scan in the first of the four Synthesizer 2nd Edition books. This is "A Foundation For Electronic Music," and the title pretty much sums up the contents. It is the smallest of the four, and contains a general overview of synthesis types of the era and what filters do.
It is perfectly pertinent today, as we've not diverged much in the 40 years since this book was made, with the caveat that it only talks about the methods available at the time, which were subtractive, additive, and some very basic computer stuff. There are three others in the set: Multichannel Recording For Electronic Music, which mostly describes recording and mixing techniques for a four-track tape deck and a 6-channel mixer, and the two-volume Practical Synthesis For Electronic Music, which has in-depth programming techniques. It mostly uses the System 700 for its examples, but the second volume also uses the System 100 and SH-101.
In any event, [here](https://web.archive.org/web/2012/http://www.analogindustries.com/samples/RTS_Foundation.zip) is a zipped version of the PDF. I'll put up the rest in the next few days as I get to them, and once I have them all scanned, I'll bundle 'em all together and put them on the Free Shit page. If you find these useful, here's a tip jar. I paid too much money for these, and it'd be nice if I could spread the pain around a bit.
---
## Home Is Where The Algae Is...
- Date: 2012-02-25
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2012/02/home-is-where-the-algae-is/
Home from my travels, at last. That was an interesting week. In no particular order:
1\. I strongly recommend the [Hotel Modera](http://hotelmodera.com/) if you have to stay in PDX. Reasonably priced, yet with all the normal trimmings of a nice boutique hotel. Very happy with my stay there.
2\. Between all the photos I took on the trip and that Roland thing, I have a lot of scanning to do. I'm going to put the books up one at a time, I guess. I'm just going to put them up as PDFs, since everyone with an iPad uses GoodReader.
3\. The [Monotron Duo](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00684KFFW/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=analogindustr-20&camp=0&creative=0&linkCode=as4&creativeASIN=B00684KFFW&adid=0M2GGF5328G77FQVJX5C&) and [Monotron Delay](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00684KFAM/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=analogindustr-20&camp=0&creative=0&linkCode=as4&creativeASIN=B00684KFAM&adid=0EKWANTHQXD98FVPVYCY&) are both finally available in the U.S. US$49.00 each. I'm thinking of putting all three in a single case, and breaking out some of the obvious patch points. I'll let you know how that goes.
4\. Regarding the AI Comp, I have now listened to every submission in its entirety, and whittled the list down to 30 or so. This was difficult because I know a lot of you personally; I ended up renaming all the submissions with a numbering system so I wouldn't be swayed by friendships or whatever. The main things that got tracks axed off the bat were either obvious musical and technical flaws, or failing that, tracks I felt were too derivative. The purpose of this comp is to move things forward, not look back at what has already been done. I hope to have the final list done tomorrow or Monday, at which point I will put it up here.
Anyhow, that's it for now. I have a lot of work to catch up on. Phase Two is the next one out of the chute for 32/64 update, probably on Monday, or maybe today if I can talk Adam in to booting his compilers to fix one little thing. The only ones left are Ronin, Axon, Tattoo, and the two remaining freebies. This long nightmare is almost over.
---
## A Change In The Weather...
- Date: 2012-02-23
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2012/02/a-change-in-the-weather/
After a 1400 mile drive in an un-heated RV, whereupon I was reminded that it is in fact February everywhere else in the country (you can discerne the ambient temperature from my AmEx bill, as I purchase things made out of wool that have sleeves and stuff) I arrived safe and sound in Hermiston, Oregon. At which point I immediately recalled why I left this town as soon as I was physically able. The amount of particulate matter in the air that came out of the south end of a northbound cow is somewhat higher than I'm prepared to accept in my advanced years.
That out of the way, I headed to Portland yesterday, and visited all (three of) my favorite businesses: Compound, Powell's Books, and Ground Kontrol. I fixed the high scores on Ground Kontrol's Tempest machine to the mid six figures, and gave Robotron a good thrashing. I need to find a Robotron machine. Also, at Powell's they have that book set pictured above. It is necessarily somewhat System 700 centric, but a very cool set. I'm tempted to buy it and scan it if it isn't already on line somewhere. It is kind of expensive, but something that needs to be in the Public Record, I think.
I'll be home tomorrow. This will be the first time I've flown since 1998. Is anything different? (Har har har.)
---
## Phaedra updated to 1.0.1...
- Date: 2012-02-18
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2012/02/phaedra-updated-to-1-0-1/
Phaedra version 1.0.1 is now available in the [App Store](http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/stat?id=sTCd28A32go&offerid=146261&type=3&subid=0&tmpid=1826&RD_PARM1=http%253A%252F%252Fitunes.apple.com%252Fus%252Fapp%252Fphaedra%252Fid486128228%253Fmt%253D8%2526uo%253D4%2526partnerId%253D30). Changelog:
1\. Fixed issue where LIVE CONTROL knob was incorrectly affecting gate time.
2\. Fixed issue where OCTAVE settings per note were not recalled correctly when loading a saved document.
3\. Timing and stability improvements.
4\. Changed "SET RESET" button text on front panel to read "PATTERN LENGTH" since many people didn't realize that was what this button does. Changed manual to reflect the different UI.
I'm still working on adding the ability to drive analog clocks via the audio outputs. I have it _sort of_ working, but the analog outs of the iPad are simply not loud enough to generate enough voltage to tick some sequencers. Currently, it'll drive an Intellijel uStep and a Monotribe, but not the Makenoise René, nor generate enough voltage to kick a Doepfer EG. So I'm kind of at an impasse at this point. You basically need to amplify the signal to pull this off, and while most modulars would have that ability, it also is worth noting that the iPad's outputs are 16-bit, and thus only have about an 85dB S:N ratio (I know scientifically they're supposed to be 96dB or something, but this is the real world we're talking about, not Pedant Labs.) Amping the signal enough to where it will fire anything also brings that noise floor up to nearly unusable levels.
I'm also waiting for an SPDIF-capable interface, so that I can check the code for driving the Expert Sleepers ES-4. This will be extra cool and no problem, I think.
Anyhow, recommended update, blah blah blah.
---
## Historical Significance...
- Date: 2012-02-18
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2012/02/historical-significance/
Bootleg audio of this have been making the rounds for years, but I've never seen the video. I imagine Warner Bros. will have this taken down in short order, so enjoy it while you can: the entire nearly 14-minute live recording that forms the basis of the album version of Purple Rain, complete with commentary.
I'm not to proud to admit this made my day. What a piece of music, and what a lucky audience.
**EDIT:** Well, that didn't last long. By the time I refreshed this page, it had been taken down. You'll have to find a boot, I guess. Spoiler alert: the song has four verses in this version, and the guitar solo is twice as long.
**EDIT 2:** See the comments for a link to one someone grabbed from YouTube.
---
## All She Wrote...
- Date: 2012-02-16
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2012/02/all-she-wrote/
Okay, submissions for the AI compilation album are now closed. It may surprise you to hear that I received 91 tracks. Taking one of the ten slots for myself, that means you have a roughly 10% chance of getting on the comp, which is not bad at all for this sort of thing.
I didn't listen to every track as it came in; it kind of depended on the delivery mechanism. If someone just put a track in dropbox or embedded it on their site, I generally gave it a listen; if it came as a YouSendit payload or something I generally didn't. But my general feeling is that there is a good theme to be had here; most of the submissions are free of any genre restrictions (which was the ultimate goal) and several that I heard are pure electro-acoustic enterprises, which is interesting.
In any event, on Sunday I am travelling (by Airstream RV, of all things) up to Portland to visit the family for a few days. During the course of this trip, I'm going to listen to this over 6 hours of music and try out themes and groupings, and see if I can't come up with a cohesive album. I should have a final grouping by the time I get to Phoenix. (Hey, you guys catch that?)
So the next order of business is mastering, getting lacquers, and the pressing. While I've had hundreds of thousands of CDs manufactured, and am intimately acquainted with that process, it may surprise you to learn (or not, rather) that I have never had any vinyl pressed. I know that quite a few of you have, and some advice on the process, along with recommendations of people to talk to, would be appreciated.
---
## Oddses And Endses...
- Date: 2012-02-08
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2012/02/oddses-and-endses/
A couple little things:
1\. One week left to submit for the [AI comp](https://analogindustries.com/2012/01/submit-thyself/). February 15th is the cut-off. (I expect a bunch of "OH HAI I JUST SAW THIS CAN I STILL GET UP IN THIS BITCH???!!" letters on the 16th, since that's how you guys roll.)
2\. Dr. Device is now 32/64 across the board, and in the [AD Store](http://www.audiodamage.com/) for immediate download. Some bug fixes in this one as well.
3\. I ordered a Maschine Mikro. It'll be here today. I'm not entirely sure \_why\_ I ordered one.
In that vein, here's what I'm curious about today: we've all owned drum machines (some of us more than others.) In my experience, every drum machine has that one quirky feature that makes it funz0rs. Well, except the Alesis SR-16. That's a quirk-free zone all up in there. What's your favorite quirky feature from a drum machine you've owned? Be specific: instrument, feature, why, and what-for?
---
## Two Weeks Notice...
- Date: 2012-02-01
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2012/02/two-weeks-notice/
There are two weeks left to get your submissions in for the AI Comp. (For those just joining us, info and discussion [here](https://analogindustries.com/2012/01/submit-thyself/).) On Twitter and via email, I've received a number of questions, enough to where it might warrant posting some meta-answers here:
1\. If you have more than one track you'd like to submit, that's not the end of the world. However, one of your tracks is better than the other, and you're only going to get one on the comp. Submit the better one. Since I definitely won't pick the one that isn't better if I have two to choose from, right?
2\. Style isn't important. Several people have been concerned that the type of music they make won't fit. I've received everything from ambient noisescapes to electro-funk thus far. There are three tracks I've received that are almost certainly going on; all three are of hugely disparate styles. I will say that if your overriding descriptor is a genre tag, then you're going about it wrong. Just make a good tune. Don't worry if it fits in someone else's idea of what might get played on a particular club night, or that it might not fit the "synth crickets" (to quote Jeff Laity) genre that I myself work in.
3\. I've also seen many comments that boil down to "I'd submit if I wasn't a total greenhorn nubsauce." You know what? I want to hear new shit. So does everyone else. If you're a total greenhorn nubsauce, that means everything you do is new by definition. The worst I can say is "no," right? If you're afraid of hearing that word, then making music might not be such a good idea. Nothin' to it but to do it. Or in the words of my good friend Martin Atkins, "GET THE FUCK OUT OF BED."
Anyhow, keep 'em coming. This is your two-weeks notice!
---
## Secret Weapons...
- Date: 2012-01-27
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2012/01/secret-weapons/
Okay, I figure this subject is interesting enough to warrant its own post. In the previous topic, we discover that we generally agree that the following synths, which can be had for a song for the most part (or at least they could before this post, sorry...), are all worth space in your studio:
**1\. Ensoniq ESQ-1 / ESQ-M / SQ-80** I lump these together because they're all essentially the same thing; the SQ-80 has _moar_ of everything the ESQ has. I just bought an ESQ-M for $100 last week, and this is right in line with what I've paid for the four I've owned. This one is kind of a no-brainer. I am personally baffled as to why these are not more desirable. DCOs with CEM filters and VCAs.
**2\. Yamaha TG-33 / SY-22** I've never used one of these, so I can't speak to them, but apparently people feel strongly about them. Enough to where I'm considering hunting one down. It is a vector synth like the Wavestation, Prophet VS, Microwave, et al, but unlike those, it combines that with a full FM synthesis engine. The reason, I think, that they don't command higher prices today is that there are no filters. At all. My research shows they go for about $150 to $200, with occasional $75 - $100 bargains.
**EDIT: 3. Kawai XD-5** This is a drum synthesizer that creates sounds with DCO oscs similar to those found in the ESQ, DW8000, etc. It is a sophisticated drum synth that is capable of both normal (albeit somewhat dated) and rather strange percussion sounds. They go for $125 to $175. (Or did today, anyhow.)
**EDIT: 4. Pearl Drum-X** This is an all-analog drum synth with kick, snare, and three tom voices. It has patch memory for 8 kits, and five trigger inputs. (No MIDI.) It is easily modded. Not terribly common, but they go for $75 to $150.
**EDIT: 5. Lexicon Vortex** Typical Lexicon semi-preset effects box of the era; however, it has one interesting feature. You can attach an expression pedal (and thus a modular synth) and "morph" between two states of a given preset. There is also an internal envelope morphing function. This unit requires some patience, and is really shitty as a send effect because the mix parameter is soft, and part-and-parcel of many of the presets. However, used inline on a synth or guitar, very strange and wonderful things are possible. I've seen these anywhere from $50 to $200.
Since we've already discussed the first two (or five, depending on how you count) ad nauseam, and all seem to agree they're desirable, let's start the list with them, and I'll add to it as others come up that we all seem to agree on. The Ensoniq Fizmo can't really be on the list, as it is borderline rare, and commands a minimum of $350 to $450 when it comes up (and works.) The Yamaha FS1R is also quite expensive; I rarely see them going for under $750. We're looking for instruments and effects that can be had in the $50 to $200 range without looking too hard, that are innovative and unique enough to fit in the Secret Weapon category.
A side note: since I last mentioned it, we've updated Vapor and Rough Rider (free) to 32/64-bit. Adam is working on Dr. Device right now. We're about 2/3 of the way done, and most of the remainder are pretty simple. So we should be done with this 64-bit update and back to making new shit Real Soon Now.
---
## NAMGLA Day Three & Home Again...
- Date: 2012-01-23
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2012/01/namgla-day-three-and-home-again/
On the third day of the convention, I mostly just talked to people about AD stuff and the suchlike and played pianos. I didn't make any earth-shattering gear discoveries, unfortunately. I didn't go to the fourth day, because that's the day they let the Dirt People come and touch things, and I don't want any part of that.
One thing I did do that was interesting was listen to Morton Subotnik give a little Q&A at the Buchla booth. The conversation wound, in a circular fashion, towards limitations, and someone asked about intentionally limiting one's palette (a subject, as you all know, near and dear to my heart). He basically informed the questioner, who was thankfully not me, that limitations are stupid. He rhetorically asked "why would you not want to be able to make the sound you know you need?"
Obviously I have a fairly fluid idea of intentional limits, and I have my reasons for imposing them, but it was an interesting point. He's a smart man. He's also touring all year in various parts of the world, and it's probably worth going. [Info here](http://www.mortonsubotnick.com/).
After Saturday's NAMGLASTRAVAGANZA, I went in to L.A. to grab an ESQ-M off a friend, because I suddenly needed one of those. (You know how it goes.) When I got home and started fooling with it, I realized this 25-year-old synth that I paid $100 for is easily on par with most of the current analog offerings I saw at NAMM. This made me sad, for obvious reasons. We get all excited about new shit, just because it's new shit. We overlook the fact that it is lacking in many ways. The Minitaur could have been released in 1986. Easily. So could the Aurturia Minibrute. There is \_nothing\_ in these products that makes the intervening 26 years seem relevant, except maybe some construction methods and materials science.
And then the Trash\_Audio BBQ. Which wasn't a BBQ at all, but rather Taco Time. So they might want to re-examine their naming paradigm. Good fun that; saw many people I normally only speak to in the twatscape, hung out with [Tom Erbe](http://soundhack.com/), who is very smart, and [Peter Nyboer,](http://lividinstruments.com/) who is also very smart. Basically I just stood around feeling stupid. There were several AI regulars there, and I had some excellent conversations about meta-stuff, which I always enjoy.
Anyhow, home again, and back to work, which is stacked up like planes waiting for approach vectors at O'Hare. Shit just got real.
---
## NAMGLA, Day Two...
- Date: 2012-01-21
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2012/01/namgla-day-two/
I hit all the obvious highlights yesterday, so this morning I spent some quality time in Hall E, the Basement Of Failed Dreams And Sadness. This is the fun hall, because it has all the booths where an inventor is risking everything on a throw, plus all the hyper-aggressive English-challenged Chinese clone-mills. (Remember last year's classic signage: "Nearly Zero Defects!") There's a lot of heart in Hall E. I tweeted a lot of the fun stuff I came across, and for most of it there's not much more to tell than that. I mean, [Chord Dice?](http://chorddice.com/) Those are so patently obvious, it doesn't bear explaining. Lots of that sort of thing.
[](http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/6734276641/)
One thing I did spend a little time with was the Rhizome SXE. Aside from Empowering Your Creativity™, it is actually a pretty cool live performance tool, especially if you're in to the whole streamlined workflow thing. Unlike a lot of Linux-based all-in-one tools, it is \_very\_ quick. I tweeted [a video](http://yfrog.com/htgnqz) of me switching modes and such on it. While I tend to give this sort of thing the Hairy Eyeball, the Rhizome actually intrigues me a bit, surprisingly. The creator wasn't in his booth when I stopped by, so I'm going to hit it again tomorrow (twss) in the hopes of getting a full demo.
[](http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/6734268995/)
It seems like there are about 20,000 boutique pedal makers at NAMM. The vast majority of them are slinging the usual clones (Octavia, FuzzFace, Tubescreamer, Orange Squeezer, etc.) and [Jam Pedals](http://jampedals.com/) is no exception. However, what sets them apart is that each and every pedal is hand-painted; not like ZVex, where there's a general style for a particular kind of pedal, but rather each individual one is its own work of art. Jam is a Greek company, if that matters. One thing they do is combine their pedals in to single [multi-pedals](http://www.jampedals.com/custom-multi-pedals/), where you pick the signal flow and features (within reasonable limits) and they make you your pedal. Each one is decorated uniquely, and you effectively have an all-in-one pedalboard built to your specs, that is also a small work of art unto itself. I like their style. Pure Hall E.
I went through all the guitar displays in the main hall today, and came across a couple nice guitars (the [Fano](http://www.fanoguitars.com/) stuff really caught my eye) but NAMM really isn't the environment for noodling with something, and honestly, one quirky tube amp sounds pretty much like another after a while. And the guitar area is right next to the drum area, and you know how I feel about drums, so it was just pretty stressful all around.
Saturday is my reward for a job well-done. This reward consists of hanging out in the Fender area, where I have several friends, and spending some seriously quality time in the piano room, fondling $200,000 instruments and pretending I can, like, play and stuff. I'll also attempt to get to any questions that you have that I didn't manage to answer today via the twatscape. And the Trash Audio BBQ is tomorrow night, of course.
---
## NAMGLA, Day One...
- Date: 2012-01-20
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2012/01/namgla-day-one/
[](http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/6729168455/)
Just got back to the RPV after the first day of NAMM. The best thing I saw today was the Schmidt Polysynth. While it is somewhat comical when you're sitting on your couch reading about it (and I laughed when I saw the Messe announcement, just like the rest of you) in real life it is as close to a work of art as a synthesizer can be in this day and age. Completely over the top? Sure. But you get a lot for your synthesizer dollar. Good thing, because it's a lot of dollars. Absolutely beautiful synth, though.
[](http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/6729178289/)
Its panel is a little overwhelming, honestly. But at the end of the day, it is a sophisticated synth with a lot of programability. Sonically, it wipes the floor with any other modern analog I've played. (No offense to my many friends who make modern analogs, but this thing swings for the fences, no expense spared, no corners cut.)
[](http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/6729186713/)
A lot of people here and on Twitter asked about the nord drum, so I asked for, and received, a full demo. They cut a lot of corners to keep the costs low on it, and it has some interesting design choices as a result. A single monophonic output is probably the most glaring oddity. No headphone out will probably disturb some people too. The way the nord rep explained it to me, this is for that rock band that has one pad to trigger the big 808 foot. (Think Korn.) In that context it is fine.
Sonically, it sounds very nord-ish. I've always thought that nord products had a particular boxy sound to them, sort of like every solo Greg Hawkes ever played all jammed in to one red box. The drum is right in line with that. If I had to pick one word to describe the sound of this box, it'd be "electro." The trigger inputs work incredibly well, but that's no surprise considering Clavia's situation with ddrum. Lots of good IP for drum triggering up in there. The salesman told me $250 street, but I got the impression that's not a final number.
I fiddled with the Minitaur briefly. It is exactly what it says on the tin: a cheap-ish way to get a big ol' Moog bass sound. Very limited, sonically. It essentially makes about 6 sounds total, all of which you've heard a bajillion times before. If you need that particular bass sound, here's yet another way to get it.
The Arturia Minibrute is about the size of an SH-101, maybe a touch smaller. It really reminds me of the Novation BassStation, sonically and features-wise. The keybed feels like ass on a platter, and it is about 8 keys short of playable, in my opinion. But there was a Roland rep at the Arturia booth laying down some serious stank on the thing, so it's certainly possible. Another one-trick pony. If that's the trick you need, you'll find it here.
I got a full demo of the Solaris from John Bowen and (shit, I'm sorry, dude, I forgot your name...). The Solaris is the logical progression of the Prophet VS and Wavestation. It takes those concepts and just extrapolates them out in to what a DSP-based synth can pull off in 2012. The panel is really well laid-out, and super playable. Some very crafty features internally as well, and the many mod routing possibilities, coupled with an extensive oscillator and filter library (and user samples, natch) gives it a really broad palette. I think this is going to be my next synth purchase.
That Alesis keytar everyone is crowing about is a complete piece of shit. It feels like a RockBand controller. About as cheaply constructed as they could get away with. Setting aside the fact that it's a keytar and thus pre-retarded (pretarded?), it's a shitty controller. Period.
iPad docks. iPad apps. iPad accessories. iPad. iPad. iPad. To quote Art Gillespie, Alesis/Numark/Akai went all Honey Badger on the iPad. So did everyone else. There's so much iPad-related gear at NAMM this year I don't even know where to start. So I won't.
Anyhow, that's my general take-away from today. My mobility is somewhat limited so I couldn't cover the ground I could last year. Tomorrow morning I plan to spend my time looking at guitar-related things, so if you have any guitar, bass, pedal, or amp requests, now's the time. And I'll field any and all questions about what I saw today until I fall asleep.
---
## Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick. Hit Me Slowly. Hit Me Quick.
- Date: 2012-01-18
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2012/01/hit-me-with-your-rhythm-stick-hit-me-slowly-hit-me-quick/
[](http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/6142095277/)
Leaving for NAMM in an hour or two. L.A. is a five-hour drive on what is both the most boring and most exciting highway in America. Boring because it is essentially a straight line all the way there, and the only visual stimuli are dirt and the occasional rock; exciting because you could easily get crushed by a tractor-trailer driven by a methed-out redneck talking on his cell phone, so you drive in this constant state of near-catatonic boredom, with occasional doses of adrenalin red-line.
Anyhow, needless to say, I'll be hard to get ahold of for the next 5 days. There is no wi-fi worth the name at the Anaheim convention center, so my "live" updates and pithy comments will be made chiefly via my [Twatstream](https://twitter.com/#!/Chris_Randall). If there is some piece of gear you'd specifically like information about, and if it isn't too physically taxing to find this information (keep in mind that I am still somewhat handicapped in the locomotion department) then I'll be happy to hunt it up for you. Let me know in this thread, or if I'm actually at the show via Twitter.
And the first person that says anything about my fucking cane except "hey, nice cane!" is getting beat with same. Soundly. Anyhow, this is an open thread. Subject is NAMGLA.
---
## I Call Bullshit...
- Date: 2012-01-17
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2012/01/i-call-bullshit/
Synthtopia is [reporting](http://www.synthtopia.com/content/2012/01/17/auria-48-track-recording-system-for-ipad/) on Auria, a 48-track DAW for iOS (specifically the iPad 2) from [WaveMachine Labs](http://www.auriaapp.com/Products/auria) that will supposedly bring 24-channel recording and VST support to iOS.
I call bullshit, though. And for two reasons:
1\. VST Support means what it says: the app hosts VST plug-ins built to the VST standard. However, there is no such thing as a VST SDK for iOS. This being the case, it is a physical impossibility for Auria to host VSTs; what it hosts are VSTs that have been **ported** to Auria. WaveMachine say they are "leading the charge" to bring the VST format to iOS. I personally like to think that, due to the nature of my business endeavors, I'd be aware of any such "charge." However, this is the first I've heard of it. Be that as it may, the sandbox design of iOS precludes any of this sort of thing at a basic level, at least in the manner we know it.
2\. They claim the app can record 24 channels simultaneously. Yeah. Let's point out a couple things. First, there is no such thing as a 24-channel class-compliant USB 1.1 audio interface. So that's kind of important. There doesn't need to be a second thing. The first is enough.
I wouldn't be incensed about this except that in a situation like this we get a lot of people asking whether our plugs are going to be available on this platform. WaveMachine hasn't contacted us, which is interesting considering we're one of the largest of the 2nd Tier plugin companies. And if they did, we'd tell them we're not interested in porting a plug-in to sell it as an in-app purchase in a single DAW. We don't support single-DAW formats. Never have, never will. And rest assured this requires a port. This app can not host OS X VSTs. It is an impossibility.
---
## Even More Things...
- Date: 2012-01-13
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2012/01/even-more-things/
It's been a surprisingly busy time here in the new year, and I haven't had the opportunity to sit down and do one of the big Things I Do that warrants a Real Blog Post. So I just keep dumping these little nuggets; thanks for being patient. Anyhow, in no particular order:
1\. We've just updated Replicant OS X to 1.6.2 to fix a few problems the AU was having; notably, some users were losing their presets when installing or upgrading. Also, we've added back the mono->mono and mono->stereo modes. This update is in the [AD store](http://www.audiodamage.com/) now. The Windows version is unchanged, and the VST on the OS X side is unchanged.
2\. I'm just finishing up on a big contract UI I've been working on for the last month and a half, but can't talk about except to say that it's big and I'm just finishing up. I believe the company I did it for will announce it at NAMM, and I can speak on it at that time. It is an extremely cool concept, though, and it was a pleasure to do it. Wish I could show it off.
3\. In other Wish I Could Show It Off news, making good headway on the next AD product, which will be what we call internally a "top line effect." That is to say that it will be one of the non-traditional effects Audio Damage is best known for (c.f. Replicant, Automaton, Axon etc.) and in that light, it is a good one. I don't normally make a habit of talking about these kinds of products until we have a working example in-house, since it's not always clear they're gonna do what our fertile imaginations have suggested they'll do. Or that they're possible to build at all. But as longtime readers know, I almost always show off these top-line effects once they're mostly working, in order to gauge interest and get feature feedback, and we'll most likely do that with this one, as well. It's still a ways away; I'm working on new UI code, utilizing the new animation tools that Steinberg were kind enough to add in the latest VSTGUI SDK, while Adam continues his work in the 64-bit Salt Mines. He pretty much hates me, you, Apple, and the horse we collectively rode in on at this point, and I can't blame him. But we're making good headway; all the hardest ones have been done, and it should be smooth sailing for the next couple weeks until the whole line is built to current standards. Just in time for Apple to announce a new plug-in format or some other stupid shit, no doubt.
4\. I'm starting to get more submissions for the AI Comp, all of which are uniformly awesome. You have just over a month remaining. I have also been thinking about the sleeves for the LP, and to that end have ordered the sample pack from [Stumptown Printers.](http://www.stumptownprinters.com/store/c-blank-disc-packaging-24/) I would like to do these recycled sleeves with silk-screened artwork for extra arty-fartyness. As soon as the samples arrive, I'll take them over to my screenprinter and see what he thinks about screening them. I'll keep you informed on the progress on that front.
---
## A Couple More Things...
- Date: 2012-01-09
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2012/01/a-couple-more-things/
1\. Bigseq2 has been updated to 64-bit on all platforms, and there are a bunch of minor bug fixes. v1.1.0 is now in the [AD Store](http://www.audiodamage.com/) for download. Free update, and recommended for all users.
2\. Steinberg has released current all-platform 32/64 versions of Neon and Karlette; info [here](http://www.steinberg.net/en/newsandevents/news/newsdetail/archive/2012/01/09/article/neon-and-karlette-plug-ins-revived-1829.html). Neon is one of a handful of synths that can lay claim to the title of "first commercial soft-synth." It kind of sucks, of course, but in its own special way. Karlette is a "tape-style" delay with a ludicrous user interface and an almost unusable sound; pretty good fun. Both are free as in your mom.
3\. Starting to gear up for NAMM. I have nothing to add to that except to say that there will be knobs.
---
## A Couple Things...
- Date: 2012-01-06
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2012/01/a-couple-things/
1\. Just a quick note as a reminder: if you are sending me a track for the comp, **DO NOT SEND ME AN UNCOMPRESSED WAV OR AIFF.** Read the last two paragraphs of the instructions again. I want an MP3 with your name and contact info in the metadata, so that I know who made the track, and how to find you again. I am, of course, not going to put the MP3 out. But if I have a folder with 70 files in it named things like "submission\_1.aiff" there's no reasonable way to organize it. Just follow the instructions. If I pick your track, I will contact you about getting me the uncompressed, unmastered version, and the format I need for that. Don't try to be fancy.
2\. Ricochet is now 32/64 on all platforms, and is now in the AD store for download. I forgot to mention this here. Go forth. Should be a seamless transition, and it contains a number of minor bug fixes, as well.
3\. Young Americans records is releasing a quadruple album set of some of the highlights of the Daphne Oram tape collection. Looks like a really nice set, even if you don't care for this sort of thing; it is available [here](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006FY1ON2/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=analogindustr-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B006FY1ON2), and there are images of the set and three sound samples [here](http://boomkat.com/vinyl/473521-daphne-oram-the-oram-tapes-volume-one). I just went ahead and ordered it, because these things don't come along often, and it would be nice to have. If you're not clear on who Daphne Oram is, get thee to ye olde [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daphne_Oram).
---
## Submit Thyself...
- Date: 2012-01-02
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2012/01/submit-thyself/
[](http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/5724360845/)
New Year, y'all, and it's time to get this party started. Pursuant to the [earlier discussion](https://analogindustries.com/2011/12/and-the-hits-just-keep-on-comin/) on the subject, I'm hereby announcing an open call for submissions for the first Analog Industries compilation album. Here's the rules:
1\. This will be primarily a vinyl release. As such, certain restrictions are in place that one would not normally find in a digital release. The track you submit can not be more than six minutes in length, and in the event of acceptance you must be able to provide an unmastered 24-bit version, so that mastering needs that are specific to vinyl release may be met.
2\. The track you submit must be new, unreleased in _any_ form, and will be exclusive to this compilation for six months after the release of the album. When you submit it, I should be the first person outside your Circle Of Trust to hear it. Ideally, you'll write it specifically for this compilation. Obviously, we're gonna have to go on the honor system for this, but you and I want the same thing here, and that's for this to be a special release. It is going to be expensive to make, and we have to pull off the nearly impossible in 2012, and that's to store all the value we can in the release itself.
3\. Financially, this will almost certainly be a losing prospect, just by the nature of how this sort of thing works. When you submit your track, you are doing so with the knowledge that the ten artists chosen may be called upon to kick in a bit to realize the actual physical product. If I'm able to pay for it all up front when it becomes necessary to do so, I will, but the nature of my income (which goes in fairly severe cycles) dictates that when the time comes, I may not be able to do so, and making a physical album, especially vinyl, is not a cheap proposition. The ten chosen artists will decide what best suits them and how to go about it. In the event, it won't be a lot of money, maybe $150-$200 at the most? But the possibility exists that this will be necessary, and when you submit a track, doing so shows a tacit acceptance of this fact.
4\. Here's what you're really looking for, isn't it? The musical guidelines. We're going to avoid a genre label here, and just set the style as whatever can loosely be defined by the term "abstract electronic music." When I'm listening to all the submissions to determine the best group, I'll be listening for two things: first, does the track add to and improve our collective experience? I won't dismiss a trance or dubstep or whatever track out of hand, but the stricter the limitations of the starting point, the less likely this will fit in with the whole. Second, technical craftiness is worth bonus points, because it's me doing the selecting, and that sort of thing impresses me. If you just throw a bunch of pre-made loops in FL Studio and mix to taste, I'll be able to hear that, and the songwriting better pick up the slack. Likewise, if you did something new that pushes the boundaries of our field, I'll know when I hear that, too. If you work to impress here, you'll be well-served, and whether or not the result makes the cut, everyone will be better off for having made the effort.
5\. The release will be sold via Bandcamp. Initially, it will be vinyl only, get the download when you buy the vinyl. Once the supply of vinyl is exhausted, then it will be digital only, no repress. First in, first out for money, so if you are chosen and have to kick in to make the release, you'll get paid back first. Once all expenses are met, 100% of the proceeds will be donated to a charity that the ten chosen will collectively decided on. The release will be a CC A-NC-ND 3.0 license, but you, the artist, will retain all copyright to the track.
I think that about covers the highlights. All submissions must be received by February 1st February 15th. (EDIT: changed due to NAMM.) The only way I will accept a submission is as a high-quality MP3. If you feel that the transcoding removed important information, then feel free to also provide a link to a place I can download an uncompressed file. But the initial submission should be a good, listenable MP3. Send me a link to the track. Do not email the track itself, nor send me to a Soundcloud, Myspace, or Facebook embed. Make sure the metadata for the MP3 is filled out as thoroughly as possible, so that I can find you again assuming the two become separated. Due to the volume of submissions I expect, anything that doesn't meet this mild guideline will be dismissed out-of-hand. In other words, help me help you.
So, you have a month and a half. Go forth! When you're done, [hit me with it.](mailto:chris@audiodamage.com)
---
## Richard Lainhart, RIP...
- Date: 2011-12-31
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/12/richard-lainhart-rip/
I'm very sad to end the year on a down note, but I have to report that Richard Lainhart, master of the Buchla / Haken, has passed away from an infection picked up during surgery. He was an inspiration, and a super nice guy. He will be sorely missed.
---
## Year End Wrap Up...
- Date: 2011-12-31
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/12/year-end-wrap-up/
[](http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/5935774958/)
Since everyone else is doing it, I thought I'd jump on the bandwagon. I imagine I'll hear in short order if anyone actually gives a fuck about this information, but it's easy to get, so here you go.
**The Top Five Most Popular AI Posts In 2011:**
[1\. Tempest First Impressions.](https://analogindustries.com/2011/09/tempest-first-impressions/) I am Jack's total lack of surprise.
[2\. Beepcat: A Modest Proposal.](https://analogindustries.com/2011/09/beepcat-a-modest-proposal/) Still working on this. We're getting there.
[3\. The End Is Nigh.](https://analogindustries.com/2011/06/the-end-is-nigh/) I am Jack's smirking revenge.
[4\. Monotribe Mini-Review.](https://analogindustries.com/2011/07/monotribe-mini-review/) Interesting. Wouldn't have thought, but there you go.
[5\. adm02 - 2io.](https://analogindustries.com/2011/04/adm02-2io/) I am Jack's broken heart.
Interestingly, none of these cracked the top five of all time, a heady zone apparently reserved entirely for my frothy rants. I just didn't have much to rant about this year. Whether that is fortunate or unfortunate is entirely up to you. Judging from analytics alone, you guys are generally big fans of me losing my fucking mind. Bastards.
Audio Damage released three new products, if you count Kombinat Dva as a new product, which I do. This is right in line with our average. I also found the time to release three [Micronaut EPs](http://micronaut.bandcamp.com/) (including Particulate, which is most likely the swan song for the Micronaut name, as I don't like sharing it with 15 other trance-making idiots.)
I also added 20 videos to [my YouTube channel](http://www.youtube.com/user/Cranda11?feature=mhee), including 13 live-to-camera performances. These are quite fun to do, and I have some cool shit on tap for the new year in this regard. So much easier than playing a show.
And finally, two iOS apps, including the App From Hell, and somewhere in there we managed to move house, as well, plus I got to spend two months with a debilitating disease, which was hilarious. Oh, and got arrested for graffiti, of all stupid things.
So, pretty much in line with my normal output. Not a hugely productive year, but not too shabby either. Thank you to all the AI readers for supporting my various hare-brained schemes. Pour some out for 2011, and here's to 2012!
---
## And The Hits Just Keep On Comin'...
- Date: 2011-12-29
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/12/and-the-hits-just-keep-on-comin/
Just put away another 64-bit update, this time to Automaton. Every platform is now 32/64, and there are some minor bug fixes, stuff you probably wouldn't have noticed anyhow, but will definitely not notice now.
Free update, in the store now; if you're an owner, go grab v1.1.0, and don't say we never gave you anything.
In entirely unrelated news, to add insult to injury I seem to have gotten the Mother Of All Colds. Or a fairly mild flu, possibly. So I am once again bedridden. This has given me plenty of time to just sit and think, time I would normally spend doing shit without thinking about it, so everyone is probably better off.
One of the things I thought about today was as follows: the vast majority of AI readers are musicians with the ability to output some interesting music. I am pondering the idea of doing an AI compilation album. Now, when I say "album" I mentally picture an actual vinyl record, but there's no way I could afford to have such a thing made myself. (Believe me, I've been trying for years now.) But if we all threw in... well, something to consider anyhow. Is there interest for such a thing? It would be for a suitable charity, of course, not a cash-generating enterprise.
---
## Happy Holidays!
- Date: 2011-12-25
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/12/happy-holidays/
Normally, someone like me who is non-religious (I don't choose to use the term "atheist" because it implies actively disbelieving in something, which is in and of itself a belief) and who is decidedly left-of-center politically would be stumbling all over himself to provide a "Happy... something!" that is both completely ecumenical and entirely secular.
This is a difficult task, because you have to take in to account the "reason for the season," which (aside from the axial tilt of the planet) is essentially Judaeo-Christian in basis, plus the amalgamation of Christian, pagan, and modern inventions that comprise "Christmas," plus all the made-up recent shit (the Wiccan iteration of Yule, Kwanzaa, et al), plus real Atheists who get all prissy if you even imply that the modern version of Sinterklaas and the Baby Jesus have anything at all to do with the fact that it is late December. (I've actually heard someone utter the following phrase with righteous indignation: "First of all, Jesus was born in the summer.") Did I leave anyone out? Oh, Jews and Muslims, who have their own fucked up shit all wrapped up in words like "tradition" and what-not, but which conveniently fall close enough to the Christ Mass to cause all sorts of headaches. Cthulhu only knows what the hell goes on over in the exotic Orient.
So you know what? I just ain't gonna bother. It's Christmas. Have a good time! Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and the best for your endeavors in the year to come, no matter where you are or what you believe!
---
## Some Fun Shit...
- Date: 2011-12-22
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/12/some-fun-shit/
Sorry for the vertigo-inducing "camera" work, but I shot this with my iPhone in one hand, while I tried to drive the iPad with the other. Anyhow, what you're looking at is Phaedra sequencing a Korg Monotribe. I did the super-simple version of the MIDI modification for the Monotribe that is talked about [here](http://blog.gg8.se/wordpress/2011/08/14/monotribe-midi-and-me/). I did the one without the opto-isolator, so basically all it is is a MIDI plug, a single resistor, and two wires to connect to the Monotribe's circuit board. Note that, in theory, you could fry your Monotribe doing things this way; MIDI has opto-isolators for a reason. However, I'm really smart and lucky besides, so I could give a fuck.
Once the mod is done, you can sequence the synth on MIDI channel 1, and the drums on ch. 10. It responds to CC for the LFO parameters (the LFO in the Monotribe is digital) but not filter freq and res. No velocity, either, but pitch bend works. Pretty fun, and makes the Monotribe much more usable.
**EDIT:** I just did the v2.0 update to my Monotribe and I can report that yes, it does indeed respond to velocity over MIDI now, after a fashion. It only has about 10 levels, from the sound of things, but this is enough to provide some articulation. The drum voices do \_not\_ respond to velocity, however. I also did the decay mods on [this page](http://monomodder.blogspot.com/2011/07/monomod-1.html), and that was pretty easy, and produced acceptable results.
Next up, Phosphor is now 32/64 on all platforms. Previously only Windows users enjoyed the awesome power and super high-fidelity that 64-bit operation brings. There may or may not be bullshit in the preceding sentence. Anyhow, the OS X versions are now 32/64 as well, and the installer is in the store for immediate download.
We're still having some trouble with the 32/64 AU of Ricochet, which was supposed to be our next update. The older plugs are always problematic when we drag them kicking and screaming in to this zany modern world we live in. Hope to have that solved on Friday, and then a lengthy (and by "lengthy" I mean "48-hour") company vacation for Saturday and Sunday, and then back at it. We hope to have the majority of the catalog done before the New Year.
---
## A Little Improv...
- Date: 2011-12-18
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/12/a-little-improv/
As much as I was tempted to bust out in to high-speed Tyner-esque runs (a fellow lefty, and that's how we do) I managed to hold myself back. Since there will be an inevitable question, I'll go ahead and say now that the CP-80B is running through the TimeFactor and Space, and the Space is set to its Shimmer algorithm. These are the only effects on the piano. (I'm using Ableton Live as a mixer in this context, and Eos and Dr. Device are the sends, but neither of them are on the piano.)
Anyhow, sequenced by Phaedra, as is proper for music like this.
---
## All Kinds Of Fun Stuff...
- Date: 2011-12-14
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/12/all-kinds-of-fun-stuff/
First up, Ratshack Reverb 2 is back in the [Audio Damage store.](http://www.audiodamage.com/) It has been revved to v2.1.0, and is now 32/64 across the board. It has some internal bug fixes and new Lion-friendly installers and the whole shebang. We have also dropped the price to $29.99.
As an aside, it was hilarious (for me; not so much for Adam) to dredge up this code and give it a good cleaning. Ratshack Reverb is our second product ever, and is almost 8 years old. I did it on my own for the most part, while Adam was spending several months researching and developing what would become our main piece of IP, our delay line, as used in most of our delay-based products (including this.) Let's just go ahead and say that it really is a wonder it worked all these years, as I couldn't code my way out of a wet paper bag back then. There were some whopper bugs in the audio loop that really go to show how resilient and robust the VST environment is.
Anyhow, it is all sparkly clean now, with the current framework, running like a champ. If you're a previous owner, swapping your current version out with the new one is recommended, no matter what the platform. In the next episode of 64-Bit Running Man, Ricochet will come out guns blazing.
In the meantime, I'm working up a design for our next big product; this will be a return to our bread-and-butter, the FSU / Buffer effect; I am of the considered opinion that we've come up with something unique that will be nearly an instrument unto itself. We won't start working on it in earnest until early next year, as we have to keep knocking these 64-bit updates out, to get the majority (if not all) of our catalog up to date before Logic Pro X is released, since it will be 64-bit only.
In other news, Coccidioidomycosis Has Left The Building. Or nearly so. Thanks to everyone that sent well-wishes and sacrificed small mammals to the elder gods on my behalf. I still lack all but the most basic locomotive skills (which is a fucking downer, because all the AZ ski resorts just got fucking \_dumped\_ on) but on the whole, I'm pretty much on the mend, and look forward to not shuffling about like an old man Real Soon Now.
---
## Phaedra Now Available...
- Date: 2011-12-10
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/12/phaedra-now-available/
Phaedra, my "analog sequencer" app for iPad, is [now available](http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/stat?id=sTCd28A32go&offerid=146261&type=3&subid=0&tmpid=1826&RD_PARM1=http%253A%252F%252Fitunes.apple.com%252Fus%252Fapp%252Fphaedra%252Fid486128228%253Fmt%253D8%2526uo%253D4%2526partnerId%253D30) in the iTunes App Store. It is US$4.99 (otherwise known as "Tier 5" pricing, so whatever that equals in your currency) until 1/1/12, when it goes up to $9.99.
---
## Wanna See Some Bullshit?
- Date: 2011-12-09
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/12/wanna-see-some-bullshit/
**Exhibit A:** The Akai Analog Custom Shop Analog Delay. [Available here.](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004MZUDR4/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=analogindustr-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B004MZUDR4) $122. This is one of several pedals in the Akai Custom Shop line of analog effects, about which Akai says the following:
_"Building upon this history of quality and ingenuity, Akai Professional is bringing a new generation of boutique-quality effects to guitarists. Each one delivers everything that discerning guitarists demand: rugged all-metal construction, premium internal components including germanium transistors, and true bypass signal paths."_
**Exhibit B:** The Biyang AD-8 Analog Delay. [Available here.](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003VI8NZ2/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=analogindustr-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B003VI8NZ2) $66. This is one of several in the Biyang line of inexpensive analog guitar pedals, about which Biyang says the following:
_"Tonefancier series effects,which have used the high-class handwork effects as standard, with a high cost in adopting a lot of high-quality and well-known HI-FI audio parts and combined with classic circuits and good internal structure, have reached a very high quality level!"_
Yes, that's correct. Every single pedal in the "Akai Custom Shop" line is a Biyang "Tonefancier" pedal with an Akai-flavored coat of paint, for twice the price. These Biyang pedals are readily available on Amazon and eBay. They're shitty. Everyone knows they're shitty. I mean, they're fine and all, for shitty pedals. They are in no way "custom" or "boutique." These are sharted out of a big-ass factory in China by the bajillion.
This is the kind of shit that drives me batty. Akai can't even be bothered to come up with their own shitty products? They're just rebadging \_other\_ shitty products now? Come on. At least put some fucking effort in to it, guys!
---
## Kombinat Dva Now Available...
- Date: 2011-12-06
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/12/kombinat-dva-now-available/
As the subject says, Kombinat Dva is done and in the store. It's $49.00 for the full version, and a $10 upgrade from the original Kombinat. [Git some!](http://www.audiodamage.com/)
Note: this will not affect any existing projects if you upgrade. Kombinat Dva is a separate plug-in from Kombinat, and projects that had Kombinat in them will still load the original. Kombinat Dva has the 40 main presets from Kombinat, so if you just used a preset in the original one, the same preset will sound pretty close in the new one and you can "port" your project settings accordingly.
---
## The App So Nice I Made It Twice...
- Date: 2011-12-03
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/12/the-app-so-nice-i-made-it-twice/
So way back in April, TASCAM approached me with this idea of "re-skinning" the PortaStudio app I'd already made them to make it act like one of their handheld recorders. I said "hmmm..." because the cassette paradigm really didn't match a handheld concept but what the hell, it was an easy job. So I told 'em "sure" and banged out a new skin and changed the functionality a bit to match. Took me a week or so. Frankly, it wasn't very fun, but it did what they asked.
Then it got to their QA department in Japan. Their QA department was apparently unaware of (a) what had been specced to me, and (b) the program upon which what they were using was based. (It's also worth noting that they are apparently unaware that dB is a relative measure, not an absolute one, but that comes later.) Now, when I say I'm gonna do something, I do it, so this put me in a bit of a bind.
\[Trauma, heartache, and despair redacted.\]
No harm no foul, we call that one done, and they ask me what would be involved in making one that was direct-to-disk recording (PortaStudio works with RAM) etc. So I spec out some features and a price, everyone agrees, and we go to town.
\[Further sadness and existential crisis redacted.\]
Now, keeping in mind that Audio Damage takes most of my workday, I was doing this largely on the weekends. Every weekend. 16 hours a day. Since April. I lost my entire summer to this app. It actually would have been done two months ago, but again, their QA team, who are (to _greatly_ understate the matter) sticklers, have me going up a dB here, down one there, can you move this one pixel to the left, Chris-san? And features. Features. Features. Let's add this, change this, move that, put that in here.
Adam told me that a friend of his said that only the very stupid or the very smart do fixed-rate contracts. I am of the considered opinion that I fall squarely in the former category in this particular instance.
In any case, PCMRecorder is now done and [in the app store.](http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/stat?id=sTCd28A32go&offerid=146261&type=3&subid=0&tmpid=1826&RD_PARM1=http%253A%252F%252Fitunes.apple.com%252Fus%252Fapp%252Fpcmrecorder%252Fid481055155%253Fmt%253D8%2526uo%253D4%2526partnerId%253D30) It is free, and is Universal Binary. It essentially duplicates the TASCAM DR-2d. It is ostensibly for use with the new TASCAM iM-Z and iM2, but will work with any CoreAudio-compatible iPhone mics. Enjoy! I KNOW I DID!!!!
**EDIT:** The first person that posts in this thread with a bug or feature request is getting banned for life, and you're lucky if I don't come to your house and teach you some manners. I honestly lack the ability to put in to words how little the fuck I give is at this juncture.
---
## The Difference Between Vintage And Old...
- Date: 2011-11-29
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/11/the-difference-between-vintage-and-old/
Steinberg today announced that they updated their old Model E and VB-1 plug-ins from VST1 days to modern 32/64 VST2.4 standards, and made them free. They are available on [Steinberg's site](http://www.steinberg.net/de/newsandevents/news/newsdetail/article/discontinued-products-revived-1776.html).
Model E, along with Neon (also available free [here](ftp://ftp.steinberg.net/Download/Legacy_Plugins/PC/VSTi_Neon/), but PC only, and don't expect it to work) is one of the very first softsynths that didn't require extra hardware--I believe Creamware made the first softsynth, but it required their cards to work--and at the time was one of the best. It is obviously based upon the MiniMoog, and is coded extremely tightly, in order to run at all on computers of the era. In today's terms, it uses essentially no CPU.
Anyhow, it's a fine softsynth, and a bargain at twice the price. It is quite bright by today's standards; Adam conjectures this is due to a lack of band-limited oscillators which would have been too heavy-duty at the time. Certainly usable for certain situations, though, and you can instance a bajillion of them on a modern computer.
It brings to light an interesting semantic issue, though. While the term "vintage" gets bandied about to the point of uselessness on eBay and Craigslist, in real life we all know what it means. The difference between "vintage" and "old" is essentially desirability. A Neve Melbourne console is vintage. A powered Conn console from the same era is "old." A Moog Source from '81 is "vintage," while a Bontempi chord organ from '81 is "old." Easy enough, right?
How does that relate to software, though? I use a lot of old software like TurboSynth, M, and UpBeat when the mood strikes me. But it would never occur to me to call UpBeat "vintage." It's just old. It runs on an old computer, and does old shit. In the computer world, though, it is so ancient as to be almost indecipherable. But by our normal metric as specified above, to me it is desirable; building a system running it that works with my modern rig is a worthy goal. That makes it "vintage," right?
Semantic issues like this are rife in the music industry. I think it's the result of music being an inherently subjective art form. Everyone working in the industry, or utilizing its resources, carries that thought process over to the gear itself. Millions of lines of code are devoted to recreating desirable (i.e. "vintage") gear in the modern DAW context, while almost none is devoted to recreating gear that is just plain old. Obviously, someone isn't going to go out of their way to try and clone something that was inherently shitty, but as we've learned, shitty is also in the eye/ear of the beholder.
This is a strange world we live in.
---
## Meet Phaedra...
- Date: 2011-11-25
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/11/meet-phaedra/
[](http://dl.dropbox.com/u/14963589/phaedra_ss_lg.png)
In my ludicrously ample free time, I've been working on this bad boy, Phaedra. It is an "analog" style four-channel MIDI sequencer for the iPad. Click the picture for the full-rez screenshot. In the interests of full disclosure, I borrowed heavily from the Moon Modular 568 Quad Sequential Trigger Source, which you can read all about [up in here.](http://www.lunar-experience.com/home.html)
I still have a long way to go, but it is coming along nicely. Each step has note, velocity, gate time, and a pair of MIDI CCs of your choosing. I haven't yet coded in the chaining feature, but it'll be able to do 4 x 32, 2 x 64, and 1 x 128 modes. The steps can be 32nd note, 16th note, 8th trips, and 8th note, and each "bus" can run in arbitrary lengths. The "Live Control" knobs on the left can be used to modify one of the four destinations.
I haven't yet conquered "MIDI background mode," as used by many iPad synth apps, but I hope to include it, as well as Korg's WIST. It already does normal hardware MIDI and Network MIDI fine, though, and can clock, or be clocked from, an external source.
I have no idea when I'll have this done, as I'm only working on it in spare moments, but I hope to be done before Christmas. I'll keep you posted. Note this is not an Audio Damage product. (I know that even though I say that, and it clearly does \_not\_ say "Audio Damage" anywhere on the UI, all the other blogs that pick this up will say it is. You can lead a horse to water...)
**EDIT:** I made a simple video showing Phaedra driving my modular and a DSI TETR4, while clocking an Eventide TimeFactor.
---
## Kombinat Dva On The Ropes...
- Date: 2011-11-23
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/11/kombinat-dva-on-the-ropes/
Above is the more-or-less final UI of Kombinat Dva. Click to embiggen. All that remains to be done on the Windows side is presets, then some simple porting and we can roll this bitch out. Probably next week some time, holiday hi-jinks permitting.
The final engine compliment is 13, six of which are new. Also added is a second less-screamy filter topology and the ability to turn the filter off entirely. The feedback path has its own envelope follower, to prevent runaway shrieking.
It is unusual to have internal feedback in a plugin of this nature, and it is a somewhat experimental thing. The results vary greatly; as I do the presets, I'll put some examples up. The long and short of it is that what you're going to get in the feedback path depends greatly on the input signal, the engines selected, and their relative gains. If your goal is to utterly thrash the output to where it bears no resemblance whatsoever to the original signal, then the Feedback control will be your friend. If your goal is a nice, subtle tube-style clip, then you're gonna want to leave that off.
Anyhow, we're in the home stretch on this one. We hope to have the Windows side ready for the beta testers shortly.
---
## Audio Damage Blue Monday Sale...
- Date: 2011-11-21
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/11/audio-damage-blue-monday-sale/
As the image says, use the code HOWDOESITFEEL at checkout in the AD store until midnight Tuesday, and take 25% off your entire order, no matter what it is. [Rock it.](http://www.audiodamage.com/)
EDIT: Sale is over, sorry.
---
## A Note About How Copyright Doesn't Work...
- Date: 2011-11-19
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/11/a-note-about-how-copyright-doesnt-work/
[](http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/4879801981/)
One question I get with fairly alarming regularity in the AD Info box goes something like this: "I bought $PLUG\_IN from you, and I'm going to use it to make samples to sell. Is there some sort of royalty I need to pay?"
I had a fellow a month or so ago that downloaded our three free plug-ins, then wrote me a lengthy request for freedom from indemnity should he actually use them.
If I only got this question and its variants once or twice, I'd just chalk it up to "kids today." But it comes pretty frequently, enough to be a little alarming. And enough to actually warrant me saying this out loud: There is NO SCENARIO in which you need to pay royalties to an instrument or effects maker for the use of a product you purchased, or which the maker gave you, in no legal system in any country.
I will grant that copyright is a somewhat confusing subject, made all the more so by the addition of things like Creative Commons, which only serve to complicate it. (I would wager that 1 in 100 that use Creative Commons licenses actually understand what they're doing.) Audio Damage can patent a sound-generation method, and exploit that patent, but we can not copyright the resulting sounds. There is no mechanism by which this can occur.
Things get a little odd when it comes to sample collections. The onus is on the creator of the sample set to make it clear to the customer the nature of the license he purchased. In the early days of sample CDs, I bought one that was made by George Clinton, and the obligatory license was roughly the same as the hoops you'd have to go through and what you'd have to pay to use a snip of an actual P-Funk song. And many of the sample sets for GigaStudio in the early days of that program had licensing that was so ridiculous you essentially couldn't use the products without a legal team on standby, and a checkbook at hand.
But that's a different thing entirely. We're talking about plug-ins. To the best of my knowledge (which, in this case, is fairly extensive) it is impossible to copyright the output of an instrument, or a sound that has been altered by an effect, if you purchased a product expressly for that purpose, sold as such. While it'd be nice to get a couple cents every time a song was played with Dubstation on it, the simple fact of the matter is that ain't how things work.
---
## A Couple Videos...
- Date: 2011-11-13
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/11/a-couple-videos/
This is a quick overview of the highlights of Filterstation. Pretty much what it says on the tin. Wubwubwubwub.
This one is a little more involved. It is most of a complete track, done in the style of Autechre's "Corc" from LP5. I use a whole raft of AD products to do it. I didn't capture the actual programming, because that's tedious. This is just a live pass, with some minor arrangement via a Korg nanoKontrol.
---
## Meet Kombinat Dva...
- Date: 2011-11-09
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/11/meet-kombinat-dva/
Closing in on Kombinat Dva's imminent release. I'm still not settled on the final UI (I may replace the crossover with a graphic, for starters) and things need a lot of touching up, but that's the general idea. It will have several more FSU engines, in addition to the feedback control I spoke about in the last post on the subject, and is a whole 'nother animal, really. You will be able to program it to duplicate the original, and it will include all the original's presets, in addition to its own collection.
Anyhow, that's what we're working on this week. Progress is Being Made.
---
## Noink-O-Rama...
- Date: 2011-11-05
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/11/noink-o-rama/
One visit to my studio/office/Hellmouth, and you'll rapidly realize that my preferred form-factor for both effects and instruments is the desktop box. I couldn't justify this in any particular way except to say that I just like 'em. I like that I can move 'em around easily, and that they don't take up much room, and that they're easy to store. I don't like all the wall warts I end up dealing with, but we take the good with the bad.
November is turning in to a banner month for desktop units. I've been eyeballing the OTO Biscuit for some time, but frankly I just thought the price was a little high for what it did. However, I think OTO may have solved that problem. On Nov. 11th, they're releasing a new version of the Biscuit that adds a feature to flip the Biscuit in to a synth mode. The synth is designed by the creator of the Shruti-1/Shruthi-1, and apparently follows its general topology.
The best part? The update is free for existing Biscuit users, and the Biscuit will remain the same price. [Info here.](http://www.otomachines.com/)
And you already know about the new monotrons, the [monotron delay](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNXOI1AIjKo) and the [monotron duo.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWLOxRSll5Q&feature=related) The former is like the original monotron, but loses the filter and adds a digital delay. The latter loses the LFO and replaces it with a second VCO and a cross-mod knob. Frankly, these don't do much for me. I think I may be all monotronned out by this point.
For those of you holding off on getting an Alesis iO Dock because I told you to, go ahead and [get one](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004NMU1Y6/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=analogindustr-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399373&creativeASIN=B004NMU1Y6). The other one I was referring to was apparently cancelled. I will note once again that this is in no way Cthulhu's Gift To The Music-Making Masses, but it vastly improves the iPad's usefulness in a musical context. (Or, rather, it allows a musical context for the iPad at all, since IMO the iPad is essentially useless to a musician without it.) As long as you cover up the Alesis logo with a little piece of black electrical tape like I did, your pride doesn't even have to take too much of a hit.
In other news, I've been sick as a dawg all week. At first I thought it was just allergies, then I thought it was the flu, then I thought it was allergies again, but now I'm fairly convinced it's something that people in the PHX metroplexus get called "Valley Fever," or coccidioidomycosis. It's not as bad as it sounds, basically feels like a really bad cold or a really mild case of pneumonia. I'll survive.
Kombinat Dva is coming along nicely. Despite my dilapidated state, the UI is mostly done, and Adam has been adding new distortion methods at a punk rock clip. (Hah! See what I did there?) Gonna be a pretty slick unit when it is done. So how is your day going?
---
## ADverb Updated...
- Date: 2011-10-31
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/10/adverb-updated/
Audio Damage ADverb, our "vintage digital" plate, has been updated to 1.1.0. This update includes 32/64-bit Windows VST and 32/64-bit OS X VST and AU. Any remaining vestiges of PPC support have been removed, so if you think you're getting the New Hotness for your old 'n' busted G4 tower, think again. Anyhow, hit the [AD Store](http://www.audiodamage.com/) and you'll find the new ADverb in your account if you're already an owner. If not, I strongly suggest you buy it, because I'm of the considered opinion that the more you engage in commerce with the Audio Damage site, the more I'll like you, and I think we should put that theory to the test.
Kombinat Dva is next out the chute, then the 64-bit version of BS2, and so on and so forth...
---
## The Current State Of Affairs...
- Date: 2011-10-25
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/10/the-current-state-of-affairs/
A picture may be worth a thousand words, but in this case I'm just gonna have to prattle on for a bit, because we're not ready to show off yet.
However, I'm pleased to announce that Kombinat is getting a much-requested refresh in the near future, in the form of Kombinat Dva. This will be a pretty big update to Kombinat, and will constitute a new plug as far as your DAW is concerned. (You know how we do that sort of thing by now.) It is getting several more algorithms of various fuck-up-ed-ness, a feedback control that is quite nifty, and a UI that is in line with Filterstation and Panstation. I have no idea on the timeline for this, but I'm about halfway done with the UI; then I hand it over to Adam for the new algos and to clean up the mess I made, and we're off to the races.
In the meantime, Adam is bumping some of the older products to 64-bit. First up will be ADverb, because, well, it starts with A, and everyone knows A is first. We're going to have nothing but refreshes and updates for the next couple months, so make sure you're subscribed to the Audio Damage RSS feed if you're waiting for a particular product. I only usually mail the mailing list if money is involved (that is to say, if it's a major paid update.) Otherwise, all update announcements go in the RSS feed, which you can find [here](http://feeds.feedburner.com/audiodamage).
In other news, I'm putting the finishing touches on Location / Procedure / Experiment 2, the follow-up to [this release.](http://micronaut.bandcamp.com/album/location-procedure-experiment) It will include the audio of Experiments 7, 8, and 9, a new Location (which I haven't done yet), and two procedural work-outs from Max/MSP. For the latter, I will also provide the Max patches, both as stand-alone executables and as unlocked patches that you can "remix" with if you're so inclined.
And finally, I'm closing in on the finish line for this iOS contract I've been laboring on for nigh on 4 months now. As such, I'm casting about for a new iOS project to take on. If you have an audio-based idea that you think should be realized for one or all of the iOS platforms, I'd love to hear about it.
---
## Eventide Stompbox Modular Magic Trick...
- Date: 2011-10-22
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/10/eventide-stompbox-modular-magic-trick/
Now, I'm fairly well versed in many things, but when it comes to electronics, I'm strictly rule-of-thumb and follow-instructions. For some reason, as soon as you stick a soldering iron in my hand, my IQ drops like 50 points, which coincidentally puts me exactly at the same IQ as George W. Bush. And you wouldn't really want him soldering your gear, would you? Neither would I.
So, while I've known this little trick from other contexts for some time, I have no idea how or why it works. It is, as far as I'm concerned, a magic trick that defies logic. I'm sure one of the many people that read this board that are well versed in electronics theory will jump in to explain in ludicrous detail exactly why this works, thus taking all the magic out of it, and putting it squarely in the realm of "mundane things you should know." But until then, we can have our fun.
So the name of the game is this: Eventide stomp-boxes (such as the Space pictured above, but this applies to all of them, as well as almost any digital stompbox that has an expression pedal input) can be controlled from a modular synth via the expression pedal jack. Now, you're saying "Fuckin' duh, Chris. I can hit that shit with voltage all day long." Well, fine, but (a) we don't want to be squirting voltage in to our expression pedal port, which is really just a breakout point for a potentiometer, and (b) while Eventide pedals are fairly robust in design, and unlikely to get cooked in this context, we can't speak for other makers. So I'm going to show you a _safe_ way to emulate an expression pedal in a modular synth. As I previously stipulated, I don't know why this works, as it just doesn't seem like it should. But it does.
**What you need:** Obviously, you need a digital stompbox of some sort that has an expression pedal input. You won't really want to bother with this unless you have a modular synth as well, so one of those, too. It should have a VCA that has a "linear" mode. It'll work with a logarithmic/exponential VCA, but not as nice (a log VCA has a huge dead zone in this context, fully half of its range.) You'l also need what's pictured above: a 1/4" jack and a spare patch cable appropriate to the flavor of modular synth you own, and ludicrously basic soldering skills. (Basically you only need to have a soldering iron and know enough not to pick up the hot end.)
So, first things first, cut the patch cable in half. Now, strip the cut ends back a little ways. You'll notice that behind the insulation are a sleeve of copper or nickel wire, and inside of that is another wire. The sleeve is connected (derp) to the sleeve of the jack, and the wire inside is connected to the tip. Cut back the sleeve to where you stripped the insulation, then strip a little bit off of that inside wire. Do the same with both halves of the patch cord.
Now comes the magic part. Twist the stripped ends of the inside wire together, and wire them to the TIP connector of the 1/4" jack. That's it. One connection. Reassemble your cable after verifying that all three tips are connected. (Note if you're rockin' a banana jack synth, your patch cables only have one internal wire, so this is even easier.) It doesn't matter what's going on with the sleeve parts, but for posterity's sake, make sure none of the sleeves are conducting. You might want to insulate the wires a bit with some electrical tape or heat shrink tube or some such, if you're the sort that gets in to such fripperies. Here's what you end up with:
Now, plug the 1/4" cable in to the expression pedal port of your Eventide pedal. Take the two patch cable ends and plug 'em in to the in and out of a linear VCA (doesn't matter which goes to which). If your VCA has a "gain" knob, more the better; you can use this to program the heel and toe positions for whatever parameter you're controlling. Consult the manual for your pedal on how to control parameter programming for expression pedals. With Eventide pedals it is almost too easy. You just zero your VCA, move a knob, crack the VCA full open, move the same knob to where you want it to be in the full position, and you're done. You can essentially create two complete states in the pedal, as a single expression pedal can control all the knobs simultaneously, and crossfade between them in this manner.
Anyhow, with a couple simple steps, you can effectively consider the CV-In of the VCA as CV-In to your Eventide pedal, in a manner that is essentially impossible to harm it, or any other digital stompbox, as there's no possible way to send it voltage straight from the modular with this method; the VCA protects it entirely. Easy peasy, Japan-easy. Here's a little video of me controlling both a Space and a TimeFactor via this method. I've intentionally made the settings rather extreme so you can easily hear what's going on. In the first example, I'm hitting several parameters on the Eventide Space with a Doepfer ADSR. In the second example, I'm controlling both time parameters in the TimeFactor with the positive side of a bipolar LFO.
---
## Words Of Wisdom...
- Date: 2011-10-18
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/10/words-of-wisdom/
In the early 60s, saxophonist [Steve Lacey](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000000Y3X/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=analogindustr-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399369&creativeASIN=B000000Y3X) played with Monk briefly. This is kind of quasi-ironic, considering at the time he joined Monk's group, virtually all his recordings to that point had been of Monk tunes. Sort of a 60s jazz version of the movie "Rock Star," I guess. Anyhow, Monk was well known for dropping nuggets of science in an unending stream--as anyone who has seen "[Straight, No Chaser](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000053VC9/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=analogindustr-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399373&creativeASIN=B000053VC9)" can attest--and Steve Lacy took the time to jot these nuggets down in a notebook. Pictured above are the two pages of that notebook where he wrote down all Monk's advice, and there are some real gems in there. Since it's kind of hard to read, I've transcribed them here:
**Monk's Advice**
1\. Just because you're not a drummer doesn't mean that you don't have to keep time.
2\. Pat your foot and sing the melody in your head when you play.
3\. Stop playing all that bullshit / those weird notes. Play the melody!
4\. Make the drummer sound good.
5\. Discrimination is important.
6\. You've got to dig it to dig it, you dig?
7\. All reet!
8\. Always know... (Monk)
9\. It must be always night, otherwise they wouldn't need lights.
10\. Let's lift the bandstand!!!
11\. Avoid the hecklers.
12\. Don't play the piano part. I'm playing that. Don't listen to me. I'm supposed to be accompanying you.
13\. The inside of the tune (the bridge) is the part that makes the outside sound good.
14\. Don't play everything (or every time). Let some things go by. (Always leave them wanting more.) Some music just imagined. What you don't play can be more important than what you do.)
15\. A note can be small as a pin or as big as the world. It depends on your imagination.
16\. Stay in shape! Sometimes a musician waits for a gig, and when it comes he's out of shape and can't make it.
17\. When you're swinging, swing some more!
18\. What should we wear tonight? SHARP AS POSSIBLE!
19\. Don't sound anybody for a gig. Just be on the scene.
20\. You've got it! If you don't want to play, tell a joke or dance, but in any case, you got it! _(To a drummer who didn't want to solo.)_
21\. Whatever you think can't be done, somebody will come along and do it. A genius is the one most like himself.
22\. They tried to get me to hate white people, but someone would always come along and spoil it.
---
## Audio Damage Filterstation Now Available...
- Date: 2011-10-18
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/10/audio-damage-filterstation-now-available/
Our newest bouncing baby, Filterstation, is now available in the [Audio Damage store](http://www.audiodamage.com/). It is US$49.00 for VST3, VST2, and AudioUnits. 32/64 across the board.
---
## More Disembodied Hands Doin' Stuff...
- Date: 2011-10-14
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/10/more-disembodied-hands-doin-stuff/
I got an [Eventide Space](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004Z5GPSW/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=analogindustr-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399373&creativeASIN=B004Z5GPSW) pedal yesterday, and only had a chance to fool with it for a few minutes. But today, I had a couple-hour window between when Adam decided he couldn't take AudioUnits any more and when the folks at $MEGA\_CORP get to work, so I decided to spend some quality time with the Space.
I started at the last preset, #100, since I have 25 years of experience with virtually every product Eventide has ever made, and I know that they put the best presets at the end, always. I only made it to, like, 85 or something before I was all like "man, I gotta bust out a track." So I fired up the Tempest on a Project of synthesized drums I've been working on in my copious free time and whacked in a couple patterns. Then I pulled out the [Genome](http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/stat?id=sTCd28A32go&offerid=146261&type=3&subid=0&tmpid=1826&RD_PARM1=http%253A%252F%252Fitunes.apple.com%252Fus%252Fapp%252Fgenome-midi-sequencer%252Fid450475494%253Fmt%253D8%2526uo%253D4%2526partnerId%253D30) sequencer from White Noise for my iPad and went to town.
So, the net result is that this video is essentially an advertisement for Eventide, Dave Smith Instruments, and White Noise Audio. And, I guess, polyrhythms. As you're aware, I'm one of the only music-tech bloggers that actually informs you when I get freebies, and the Space falls in to that category. But you also know that I have purchased, at one time or another, virtually everything Eventide has made, from the H910 on up to the H8000FW. The Space is, like the other pedals in this series, top notch.
In other news, after a week of truly nightmarish problems (brought on, no doubt, by my sanguine outlook in the previous post) we now have in our possession all 10 (yes, you read that right, the number ten, including 32- and 64-bit builds of VST3, VST2.4, and AU) builds of Filterstation. We have some tidying up to do, and a couple little bugs to work out, but we're getting very close. I'm guessing this will go out to the NFR list shortly, so they can bang on it while we write the manual, and at some point Real Soon Now, Filterstation will be on sale.
Theoretically.
---
## Various Things...
- Date: 2011-10-06
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/10/various-things/
First up, you may or may not have heard but Beatserv is going out of business. Wade makes beds and background music for television as his main job, and his work has really taken off in the last few months. While this is excellent news, it means he doesn't have time to do Beatserv any more. He's doing one big throwdown before he shuts the virtual doors on the Beatserv site, so [hit that shit](http://www.beatserv.com/) and stock up before it's gone forever.
Next, I have an [Eventide Space](http://www.eventide.com/AudioDivision/Products/StompBoxes/Eventide_Space.aspx) coming, so if you were waiting for my glowing report (aside from the one I gave at NAMM) that'll be forthcoming. I have an interesting theory about the operation of that unit that I don't believe anyone has tried yet, which I'll experiment with and report on.
Finally, we'll probably have the OS X side of Filterstation wrapped up and a beta version off to the testers today. I'm finishing up the presets today, as well. If we don't run in to any more issues, RC1 will go out for its wide test this weekend, and we'll have this bitch on sale next week.
**EDIT:** The preceding paragraph is a perfect example of what is known in this business as "hubris."
That's it for right now. Keep on keepin' on.
---
## And Even More Tempest Stuff...
- Date: 2011-10-03
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/10/and-even-more-tempest-stuff/
I'm trying to get as much use out of this thing as I can before it has to go back to its rightful owners, hence overlapping videos and blog posts.
Anyhow, in this one, you can see me utilizing the "16 Mutes" mode of operation, in order to arrange the song on the fly. In this mode, you essentially sequence one whole pattern with everything going on that you might need, and turn the sounds on and off with the appropriate buttons.
Also making an appearance in this one is the Beepcat/Beagleboard, which you can just make out sitting on the Juno 60. I'm controlling it with the Akai MPK as in the Beepcat video. It is doing the higher-pitched melody thing that comes in when I drop the foot out.
The Euro-Rack modular is providing the bassline; it is a single TipTop oscillator running through a Harvestman Kuzminorgel in to a Harvestman Polivoks filter, plus some Doepfer stuff nobody gives a shit about.
And last but not least, my trusty Meeblip is doing the wubs.
Like the last few videos, recorded to and mixed from a TASCAM TSR-8 1/2" tape deck. MIDI sequencing done in Live. You know the drill.
---
## More Tempest Stuff...
- Date: 2011-09-29
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/09/more-tempest-stuff/
Richard Devine put up [a video](http://trashaudio.com/2011/09/richard-devine-tempest-exercise/) the other day that got me all bummed out because (through complete coincidence) I was working on one showing exactly the same thing, the fun to be had with the quantized pattern switching and ribbon controllers. Richard is necessarily better at this sort of thing than I am, and once I saw his video, which went up right as mine was rendering, I was all "DAMN YOU RICHARD DEVINE! DAMN YOU TO HELL!"
Then I planned to do a different video.
Then I thought "fuck it" and whacked the Upload button. So here you go. Essentially the same sort of thing Richard was demoing, the quantized pattern switching in Tempest which allows you to switch patterns in the middle of a measure and maintain the measure position, along with some ribbon controller fun. The left ribbon is assigned to decay of all voices, and the right ribbon is assigned to relative pitch of all voices. I'm also using a MeeBlip (the sorta-bass-sound-thing) and a DSI TETR4 (the melody thing). The result is what I feel is a reasonable example of the Crunkstepno genre. Enjoy.
(PS: I did get one ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED!!! on this bitch, though. I'll lay money this is the first time a Tempest hit analog tape. What do I win?)
---
## Tempest First Impressions...
- Date: 2011-09-26
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/09/tempest-first-impressions/
[](http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/6185186899/)
DSI were kind enough to loan me one of the first production versions of the upcoming [Tempest drum machine](http://www.davesmithinstruments.com/products/tempest/) for beta testing and to write some presets. The word "loan" there is loaded, because they're gonna have to send heavily armed gear ninjas to my house to get it back. To describe this thing as bad ass is to understate the matter entirely.
There are plenty of articles out there on what the Tempest is, and a simple Google search will give you the full technical run-down, so I won't bother with that. Long story short, if you're familiar with the Mopho/TETR4/P'08, this is obviously designed by the same folks, and has the same general vibe.
The oscillators are one of the two places where the Tempest really departs from the normal DSI analog voice architecture. Each of the six voices has two analog oscillators and two digital ones; all four can blow at once. The digital oscillators comprise several methods of making noise (they did a very good job in the noise selection department), a couple hundred different drum samples running the gamut of styles, and the complete Prophet VS waveform library. They are quite capable, and while being necessarily drum-centric, Tempest can also do a pretty favorable turn as a synth.
The other place the Tempest differs from normal DSI gear is in the envelopes. There are five in all. Three are hard-wired to pitch, LPF, and VCA respectively, and two are not pre-assigned. These envelopes can be ADSR (synth-like) or AD (drum-like), and they are _very_ fast and accurate. These are some of the best envelopes I have come across, period, and I might have a little experience with synth programming. I'm going to strongly lobby that DSI put them in all their products from here on out, and that other synth manufacturers license the design. Another pure win aspect: the envelopes can mod themselves via the excellent mod routing page. What this means is that DSI doesn't have to have a bunch of extra controls for envelope shapes. You can just hit an envelope with its own output to change the response curve. Extremely simple once you get the knack of it, and it extends the sound palette considerably.
The timing and feel of the unit is rock solid. No offense to Elektron, but they need to send someone to DSI to learn how this is done. I recorded several passes and got in to single sample viewing range trying to find diversion, but there is none. "Spot on" doesn't begin to describe it. The _feel_ of the sequencer is subjective, I'll grant, and is a function of the timing, the swing, and the velocity response curve, and how they interface with your worldview. The swing in this unit is lifted directly from the LinnDrum via the MPC60, and feels exactly right, as it should. Roger Linn knows swing, and this unit reflects that.
Several people have asked me on Twitter about its sampling capabilities, and suffice it to say that there are none. It is a drum synthesizer with some sample ROM, not a sampler at all. There is no audio input on the unit, period.
Anyhow, long story short, this is my dream drum machine, and I'm turning my house in to a bunker to fight off Dave Smith and his Ninja Army. I'll be happy to field any questions anyone might have, within the confines of what I've been given permission to talk about. (Keep in mind that despite being a production unit hardware-wise, this still has beta software, and I can't talk about features that haven't been implemented, or that are experiencing a state of flux.)
---
## Beepcat: A Modest Proposal...
- Date: 2011-09-16
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/09/beepcat-a-modest-proposal/
I've spoken to some of you in person about this idea, and received generally good feedback, but we're getting to the point in this project where we need to start committing real resources, and I wanted to open it up to the wider community for discussion and to gauge interest before taking it to the next step.
The Elevator Pitch™: Beepcat is an open hardware and software shield for the Beagleboard Linux-based SBC. The board has a 128 x 64 graphic LCD, eight pushbutton/knob encoders, and eight buttons, and has stereo balanced audio I/O with a high-quality A/D/A convertor and MIDI I/O.
Some background information: after (and indeed during, to a certain extent) our ill-fated and somewhat expensive foray in to the Euro-Rack world, we were looking in to projects that didn't involve a fairly expensive infrastructure and a... okay, I'm gonna go ahead and say "slightly crazy" userbase. There. It's out. After much consideration and discussion, we've hit upon this idea of a totally open and somewhat freeform platform called Beepcat.
The Beepcat could be purchased fully assembled, tested, loaded with software, in a nice case and ready to go. Or you could just buy the shield and an SD card containing the disk image from us and make your own case, or use our provided schematics and information from the Wiki and provided source code files to make your own or whatever. It would just plug right in to any existing Beagleboard; we have examined the idea of making a custom Beagleboard that doesn't have all their video and shitty audio and what-not (the Beepcat shield has its own audio codec, as the one on the Beagleboard is simply not suitable for pro audio) and this is something that we believe can occur.
The Beepcat software would consist of a custom Linux kernel that kicks a Beepcat Bootloader (BeepBoot) that allows you to choose one of the available programs on boot. The disk image we would provide as a stand-alone Beepcat environment would have programs that we made in-house (and which would necessarily not be open-source, for obvious reasons), along with a stereo effect framework with code and a monosynth with fully commented code to be used as starting points.
The shield itself would have, as I said, MIDI I/O and a much higher quality stereo balanced audio I/O rig, and the [LCD display](http://www.adafruit.com/products/438) and controls, all of which are controlled by an ATmega; this wouldn't be written in Wiring, so you couldn't code for it just like for an Arduino, but it wouldn't be that dissimilar.
Coding for the Beepcat would not be that difficult. (With the caveat that "not that difficult" is a loaded statement when it comes to DSP.) With a full Beagleboard backplane, you can code directly in C++ or C on the Beagleboard itself, using the Geany IDE. That's how I wrote that synth above, right on the device. With the full monty provided, you could use the hardware plane for any number of things; it would make the Beagleboard in to a whole multi-media powerhouse.
So, in a nutshell, what Audio Damage would provide:
1\. Two different packages to purchase (Full assembled tested ready to take on stage Beepcat, Shield + SD card only)
2\. Beepcat Linux kernel and starter software as a downloadable image. This wouldn't include any of the AD-coded synths, but would enable you to use other people's Beepcat programs.
3\. Full Wiki for coding for Beepcat, a repository for non-commercial programs, a method for selling commercial programs (e.g. if DMG Audio wanted to make and sell a high-quality compressor or EQ for Beepcat, we could handle the transaction.) The repository would also contain the Gerbers for the shield, a BOM, and firmware for the ATmega, should you want to just make your own from scratch.
Anyhow, that's the general idea. Eric and/or Adam will jump in and correct me if I make any technical mistakes, and can address any deep technical questions and comments. We are totally open to any and all ideas at this juncture. We're just getting to the prototype stage, and now's the time to open the floor for comments and to see what kind of interest there is in this concept. We've seen some rather spectacular failures of this idea (the Chameleon being the most notable example) but that was before the whole DIY / Maker scene really got traction, and I feel it's a different time. MeeBlip opened the door, and I think that we'd all benefit from something like this.
Comments? Criticisms?
---
## Meet Filterstation...
- Date: 2011-09-14
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/09/meet-filterstation/
Here's a screenshot of our upcoming plug, Filterstation, running in Studio One on PC as a VST3. From the UI, you should be able to get a pretty good handle on what it's all about.
As you can see, it is a pair of filters that can be configured as serial, parallel stereo, and true stereo (one filter for each side). Each filter can be one of 12 types, including our usual 2P, 3P, and 4P models, the bandpass filter that 914 Fixed Filter Bank is made up of, the original 4P LP from FilterPod (our first product, and the first filter we coded), a monster face-melting MS20 LP and HP that Adam built a month or so ago, and a VCA type.
The latter is useful if you'd like to do a filter-vibrato thing like some amps and electric pianos do (notably the Fender Vibrolux, but many others as well). It can also be used for rhythm gating and rudimentary panning. (Nothing near as sophisticated as Panstation, of course.)
The LFO has the usual suspects, and four rhythm patterns, one of which you can hear in this demo:
_\[Embedded media, no longer available.\]_
[Phosphor to Filterstation](http://soundcloud.com/chris-randall/phosphor-to-filterstation) by [Chris Randall](http://soundcloud.com/chris-randall)
In that demo, you hear Phosphor dry for a measure, then three measures of the 914 types in true stereo, being modded by the LFO on Pattern 3. I am sweeping both filters via the link knob (the little box between the "1" and "2" boxes in the image above), which is what is causing the general sweep from high to low.
We've also taken the opportunity to (finally!) implement our own preset handling mechanism that is separate from the host. So presets can now be dealt with like any other file, and they are completely cross-DAW, cross-OS. Very excited about this.
**EDIT:** As Adam pointed out in the comments, I forgot what is maybe the most nifty part. We're utilizing the "one base plug, multiple iterations" feature of VST3; when you install Filterstation, in a VST3 host it'll actually show up as 2 plug-ins: Filterstation, and Filterstation Sidechain. The latter has a sidechain input to the envelope follower, so you can key the filter freq off the level of another track as a send. Very cool.
Anyhow, the Windows VST3 is pretty much done except for little stupid things. We're using Steinberg's provided VST2.4 and AU wrappers this time, and this is a first for us, so we're not sure how well everything is going to work out. You'll know when I do. So I don't have a time-frame for release, and we haven't settled on a price. But "soon" and "not much" are both perfectly acceptable answers for both those questions.
---
## Pics from LA T_A Meet...
- Date: 2011-09-11
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/09/pics-from-la-t-a-meet/
[](http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/6136821034/)
Here's a [Flickr set](http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/sets/72157627521604037/with/6136821034/) with some pics from the LA T\_A meet on Saturday. It was necessarily Euro-Centric, so most of the pictures are the usual cast of characters. Of note, if that sort of thing interests you, were the new 808 foot module from TipTop, and Harvestman's Polivoks oscillator, both of which I'll be getting. I'm not familiar enough with that scene to know what was earth-shattering or whatever. That Buchla was really pretty. I'll say that much.
There was a DSI Tempest in attendance, but I was up on the roof socializing, and didn't fondle it. Otherwise, a whole lotta patch cables. Heading back to PHX in a couple hours, then a busy, busy week ahead. I have to turn in the RC of this iOS app I've been working on, I have at least one sound-alike contract due, and somewhere in there we're gonna try and finish off Filterstation. Should be interesting. I'll need another vacation in a week or two.
---
## Out Of The Orifice Open Thread...
- Date: 2011-09-08
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/09/out-of-the-orifice-open-thread/
[](http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/5726816717/)
Heading to L.A. in the morning. I've got a gallery show to go to before it closes, and on Saturday, a meeting of Close Talkers And Other Social Misfits Anonymous... errrr... I mean [Trash\_Audio Synth Meet 10](http://trashaudio.com/2011/08/trash_audio-synth-weekend-10-los-angeles/). I will, of course, have photos on Saturday evening, but they'll all be shallow depth-of-field shots of knobs and patch cables, so nothing you haven't seen many times before. Fair warning on that.
Today I helped a friend move his studio. One of the things we moved was a CS-80. While I used to think it was cool, in retrospect I have decided that a CS-80 is only marginally less retarded than a CP-80B. At least a CP-80B comes apart. You have to move the CS-80 in one fell blow. I mean, I wouldn't turn one down if someone handed it to me, but by the same token, it'd also be nice if they handed me several strapping young lads to shift it about.
Anyhow, this is an open thread. Anything and everything. You pick it.
---
## micronaut - trapezoid (Fun With Synthi!)...
- Date: 2011-09-02
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/09/micronaut-trapezoid-fun-with-synthi/
I'm busy as fuck right now, as I've mentioned not upwards of half a dozen times. But I took a couple hours late last night to bust out this little improvisation with the Synthi. This is entirely computer-free, start to finish. It is clocked from a single shitty Doepfer LFO, which is driving an Intellijel uStep and a MakeNoise Réne to do all the sequencing.
The sounds in the beginning are the Synthi and the Korg Monotribe. The Synthi is shitting a lot of sub bass, so if you're listening to this on laptop speakers, you're simply not hearing about half the track. The accelerando-thing that comes in every now and again is the Univox Maxi-Korg, and the other reverby thing that comes in later on is the MS-20.
I still have a couple tracks free on the tape, so I might do some overdubs with melodic shit and turn this in to an actual song. But not this day. Too much to do.
---
## Viva Italia...
- Date: 2011-08-28
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/08/viva-italia/
Yesterday, one of my many Craigslist search spiders turned up this little gem, a Melo-Sonic 350 combo organ (with drum machine, natch!) I'd never heard of this particular instrument, but that's never stopped me before, and the early bird gets the worm, as far as Craigslist postings for cheap instruments go.
As luck would have it, the dude wrote me back straight away, and he only lived like 4 blocks from here, so I hopped in the CReagle and went over to grab this mythical Melo-Sonic. It's a tiny little combo organ with integral legs. Once I got it home, I went a-googlin' to see what was known about this thing. Turns out, the "Made In The United States" sticker on the bottom is somewhat misleading, as the boards inside come from (and it says so right on 'em) Italy.
The Whippany Electronics Company in New Jersey made (perhaps "assembled" would be a better word) combo organs throughout the 60s and early 70s for several brand names, including Realistic, Rockland, Clark, and our Melo-Sonic. They're all the same organ and really there are only two models: one with a drum machine, and one without. This company sourced boards from Italy (where a thing or two is known about making a combo organ) and built the enclosures here, in their New Jersey factory.
Unfortunately, the Italian company that made these boards is not Farfisa. The guy selling this to me said "yeah, it's like the Poor Man's Farfisa!" I don't want to disagree with his detective work or anything, but it'd have to be a really, really poor man. Instead of 12 divide-down oscillators like every other solid state organ, it only has four, with each oscillator serving three notes in the octave. This makes certain chords and inversions impossible to play, and results in some very strange voicing. To add injury to insult, it is in need of re-capping (it is, after all, over 40 years old) and some of the notes bend a bit when you strike 'em.
So, being me, I took the couple hours necessary to do a full multi-sample, so I can pack this thing up and put it in The Land Of Unused Instruments. I have added a Live Set to the "Free Shit" page (link on the right) that contains an Instrument Rack with Samplers for every voice in the organ, plus the bottom octave monophonic synth bass (which is, by far, the best feature). I've also cloned the knob functionality, including the "Vibrato" feature (which is, of course, actually tremolo.) For some strange reason, the designers chose 7Hz exactly as their tremolo speed, which is a punk-rock clip for organ trem. Maybe they were doing amphetamines or something. Anyhow, I've duplicated that as well.
Also included in the set is a Drum Rack containing every drum sound the little fucker can make. The drum loops are actually not terrible for this sort of donka-donka drum machine, but I didn't bother to sample them entire, as most of their character comes from the unpredictable nature of the result, and I can't duplicate that with a loop.
Anyhow, this is the sort of sample set that you need when you need it, and the rest of the time you don't need it. Everything is parted out inside, so you can, if you so desire, just grab the samples folder out of the project and make a set for your sampler of choice. As always, hitting the Donate button is appreciated but in no way required.
---
## SQUIRREL!
- Date: 2011-08-25
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/08/squirrel/
_\[Embedded media, no longer available.\]_
[Fs qd1](http://soundcloud.com/chris-randall/fs-qd1) by [Chris Randall](http://soundcloud.com/chris-randall)
_\[Embedded media, no longer available.\]_
[Fs qd2](http://soundcloud.com/chris-randall/fs-qd2) by [Chris Randall](http://soundcloud.com/chris-randall)
Here's a couple quick (well, "quick" as in I just banged 'em together, not "quick" as in "wow, that Soundcloud embedded player loads quick!") demos of the upcoming AD plug. I imagine that if I give you a little context, you can figure out what it is. In Fs\_qd1, the source is Massive, with the filters turned off. First you hear it dry, then with the effect. In Fs\_qd2, the source is FabFilter Twin2, again with the filters turned off. Any delay or reverb you hear is coming from elsewhere, not the effect.
I'll bet you crafty fuckers can tell exactly what it is from that information.
We're on a Death March to finish it before Adam leaves for Japan; we've currently run in to an interesting issue wherein the VST2.4 and AU plug-ins created by the built-in VST3 wrapper code can't read the VST3 presets. This is something of a conundrum. It's not really that big a deal with the AU, as worst case scenario we can just clone the VST3 presets as AU presets and put them in the preset folder on install. With the VST2.4, however, the user will most likely have to load a bank manually, unless we figure something crafty out. Working on it.
Anyhow, the plug-in is pretty much feature-complete at this juncture, and we're just working on "tuning" and that. Once I'm 100% certain the UI won't change, I'll throw it up. Not gonna be all secretive and shit about this one like the last couple.
---
## particulate...
- Date: 2011-08-19
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/08/particulate/
My latest micronaut EP, particular, is now [available at Bandcamp](http://micronaut.bandcamp.com/) for download, pay what you want at least a dollar. This EP was essentially an experiment at removing the DAW and its ludicrously powerful audio editing tools and stacks of effects from the recording equation, and hitting a reel of tape like the Old Days.
I also, unlike that recent YouTube video I put up, eschewed MIDI entirely, relying on CV/Gate sequencing from the Roland CMU-800R/Apple //e combo or good old-fashioned playing. The majority of the percussion on the EP comes from a combo of the CMU-800R's built-in drums and the Monotribe. Either one by itself wasn't sonically sophisticated enough to support a track, but the two together opened up a much broader spectrum.
Most of the pad sounds are from the alphaSyntauri, something it is singularly good at. They are all coming through an Eventide TimeFactor pedal to give them some motion and stereo width. I necessarily played all these, as well as the main melody line in compumusic, direct-to-tape, as there is no way to sequence the alphaSyntauri, at least where it can sync with the outside world. (It actually has a fairly powerful sequencer in Metatrak, but it can only sequence itself.)
I use the Korg 770 here and there for sound FX and drones, the two things it is good at. The MS20 gets used quite a bit, and any time you hear a sequenced melody line, it is most likely my little Euro-Rack modular, sequenced from the CMU-800R. In a couple cases, the bass or a melody are coming from the Monotribe, but as I haven't given it separate outs yet, I'm not a fan of tracking melodic material in with one of my two drum tracks. But needs must...
One of the two places I bowed to modernity was with the [Curtis](http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/stat?id=sTCd28A32go&offerid=146261&type=3&subid=0&tmpid=1826&RD_PARM1=http%253A%252F%252Fitunes.apple.com%252Fus%252Fapp%252Fcurtis-for-ipad%252Fid384228003%253Fmt%253D8%2526uo%253D4%2526partnerId%253D30) app for the iPad (stuck in its iO Dock), which I used for a lot of the little squeaky sound effects and shit.
The other place I allowed for the 21st Century was in send 'verb. The only hardware verb I have worth a shit is the Lexicon 300, and for reasons that would be tedious to explain here, it would have been difficult to use. However, Eos has several patches that are direct clones of Lexicon 300 patches, so I made a little patch in Plogue Bidule, and used my MacBook Pro as, for all intents and purposes, a hardware 'verb on an aux send from the console, with Eos on one aux for the long 'verbs and ValhallaRoom on the other aux for the drum 'verb.
Anyhow, this was quite fun to make. A real brain-bender in places as I tried to either figure out a technique for doing what I was hearing in my head, or tried to remember long-forgotten methods of recording in an all-analog environment. Note that there are no bounces on this EP. I did all four tracks with four mono tracks and two stereo pairs. I mixed sounds in some tracks where they could stand it (notably in the first song, synclok, which has quite a bit of overdubbing) but otherwise, what you hear is what I recorded, in one pass where I could pull it off; mostly I had to do the alphaSyntauri shit in a second go-round because it uses the same computer as the CMU-800R, and, well...
The one thing I forgot about working with tape: when you're doing multiple takes on a 7 minute song late at night, the minute or so it takes to rewind is good for nodding off.
---
## Movin' Right Along...
- Date: 2011-08-14
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/08/movin-right-along/
As you've probably guessed by the lack of pithy posting, I'm in one of those super-busy times that always seem to occur around August/September/October. Just trying to plow through this mountain of work, keeping my head down. Some updates:
1\. The iOS app I'm doing under contract is nearly finished, so I'll have that out of my hair soon.
2\. I'm about 3/4 done with the next micronaut E.P., tentatively entitled "analogical." That name is kind of Captain Obvious, given the paradigm of the record, though, and I'm not completely sold on it. This collection of songs is, while not strictly analog as such (the alphaSyntauri and iPad both make appearances, and the CMU-800R is used for all sequencing) about as close as you're gonna get to 100% these days. No DAW, no MIDI, recorded to and mixed from tape. It should be up on my Bandcamp page by the end of the week.
3\. The next Audio Damage product is moving in to the home stretch. We (and by "we" I mean Adam) have all the difficult pieces done, and now it's just a matter of hooking everything up and tidying up the UI. No time frame yet, but watch my Twatstream for leaks and such, as that's where I tend to do such things. I will say that this plug will definitely be from the VST3 base; hopefully this entire operation is problem-free and we've got our building framework for the next couple years. We won't be porting our existing line to VST3, but assuming this works out, all future products will be built using this system.
That's it for now. Open thread! What's on your mind? First person to post gets to set the topic.
---
## micronaut -oxide
- Date: 2011-08-08
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/08/micronaut-oxide/
Something a little different this time. I've been trying to come up with a workflow to enable direct-to-tape "live PA" style performances for the next round of micronaut stuff, and this video is a proof-of-concept of that.
(As an aside, every time you see me use the word "workflow" you are to drink one shot of The Macallan 18-year-old Scotch whiskey. It's the new AI drinking game.)
In any case, with this one, I'm only using Live for sequencing during the performance itself. There are 6 sound sources, two of which (the TETR4 and the iPad) are running in stereo, for a total of 8 tracks. These are sent to the 8 tracks on the (conveniently enough) 8-track tape deck. I've been trying to come up with an 8-buss console solution that didn't take up half my office, but in the mean-time, I just bussed these direct. What this means is that there is no EQ or mic pre prior to the sound hitting tape. Each sound is, for all intents and purposes, plugged right in to the deck.
This would only work if you had all line-level signals to work with, as is the case here, obviously.
Anyhow, coming out of the deck, I'm using my lil' trooper, the Yamaha MW10, to mix the outputs of the deck, and apply a touch of EQ. I've also got an instance of Eos on my MacBook Pro, which I'm using as the sole send effect. So a tiny bit of cheating, but I didn't have cables long enough to use my Lexicon 300 as the send 'verb, and really, when you get to it, they're both digital, so it's not that much of a cheat.
Anyhow, the net result is a 7-minute hybrid analog/digital synth jam recorded to and mixed from a 1/2" 8-track tape deck. In 1990 this would be a stupid high-end home recording rig. In 2011, it's a silly anachronism that really only proves I have time on my hands. But it's puzzles like this that make life worth living. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it.
---
## iGear...
- Date: 2011-08-06
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/08/igear/
I thought, since I've had this combo for a bit now, and had a chance to work with it in a production environment, I would take this opportunity to provide some further thoughts about the Alesis iO Dock and the Korg Monotribe.
First up, the iO Dock. The first order of business was covering up the Alesis logo with a piece of black electrical tape. Having that blue harbinger of Doom staring at me while I'm trying to work is just not gonna happen. I was briefly tempted to take the whole thing apart so I could spraypaint that one piece. I may still do that.
I will say the following, after having it for a bit, though: apps that were stupid before are still stupid. They just have better outputs. But apps that were pretty good without the iO Dock are stellar with it. Figure $399 or thereabouts for an iPad 1, $199 or so for the iO Dock, and $39 for Korg's iMS-20 app, and you've got a pretty capable VA monosynth with a touchscreen, balanced I/O, MIDI I/O, and some wireless features, for the sum total of less than $650 that can also play Angry Birds. In all honesty, I'm having a hard time coming up with a scenario that has more bang-for-the-buck, synth-wise.
There is a lag when playing synths via the iO Dock's MIDI ports. One should remember at this juncture that the iPad isn't any more powerful than an iPhone or iPod Touch. It just has a bigger screen. People tend, in my experience, to think it is just a funny-shaped computer that is on-par, power-wise, to any other laptop. This is not the case at all. The lag isn't terrible. I didn't time it, but applying my experience to a SWAG, I'd guess about 60-70ms. So long enough to feel, but not too long to be playable. It would have been more annoying 10 years ago, but now we're all used to a certain amount of time passing between when we play a note and when we hear it, so this isn't such a big deal in the grand scheme of things, and isn't a deal breaker.
**EDIT:** I discovered a fun fact: the latency changes. I was working with the iO Dock / iMS-20 in a song, and last night the latency was 120ms. (Easily compensated for in Live.) This morning, I pressed play, and everything was fucked, timing-wise. Turns out, the latency now is 60ms. The iPad was in its dock, on all night, and the iMS-20 app had focus. Nothing had changed in the setup at all. I've never seen anything like this. Use this information as you see fit.
Since someone on Twitter asked, I hooked up my iPhone 4 to the Monotribe, using Korg's SyncKontrol app, and slaved it via WIST to the iMS-20 app. This works fine, with the caveat that the Monotribe has a funny idea of what to do with the sync info, as I mentioned in the previous post.
Which brings us to the Monotribe.
On the one hand, for $220 or thereabouts, this is a true analog drum machine and a true analog synth that is mildly hackable (no doubt pleasing Peter Kirn to no end) and sounds pretty good. Or does it? The drum sounds are, in my professional opinion, unusable, and no amount of modding is gonna change that, unless you mod DR-110 drum circuits in to the Monotribe. There just isn't enough contextual information to make them anything besides novelty sounds, and the attack is so clicky that it is nearly impossible to use them without resorting to a transient designer of some sort. And honestly, I have better things to do with my time than spend hours dicking with three little rudimentary drum sounds in order to get them to sit in the mix. (Which they steadfastly refuse to do.)
The drum channel also has a fair bit of noise (the synth side of things is much quieter than the Monotron, if you were curious) that renders it nearly useless, as well. I have many high-quality and comprehensive sample sets of great drum machines, most of which I've made myself, and it is so much easier to use one of these sets than the one in the Monotribe, I can't even tell you. So it's fun for a minute, but in a professional environment, you can't shake the novelty. I'd love to be proved wrong here, but I doubt I will be.
The synth sequencer is nearly unusable as well. Your choices are 8th notes, or clocking it in double time for a half measure of 16th notes. On the one hand, I can get behind this, from a certain aesthetic standpoint. On the other, it's fucking annoying. And there's only the one pattern, so it's not like you can get crafty.
In short, while it is fun, you'd be better off doing one of two things:
1\. Saving up for an MS-10, which is much more capable and useful.
2\. Buying an Electribe EA-1 for 1/3rd the price.
In short, I'm changing my "must buy" on the Monotribe to a "this is a toy; don't buy unless you have $220 burning a hole in your pocket" recommendation. As far as the iO Dock goes, my general opinion after 2 weeks with it is that it is worth the money. I'll still point out that competing products are on the way that will no doubt be less expensive (if not necessarily physically _better_) so if you're not in any particular hurry, waiting for a couple months would be my advice there. But it, unlike the Monotribe, is $200 well-spent.
---
## The Big Sale, Round 1...
- Date: 2011-07-30
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/07/the-big-sale-round-1/
I'm clearing out stuff I don't need / use / appreciate in preparation for a new series of projects. Most of it isn't synth related, and thus won't get posted here. However, there are two items might be of interest to AI readers:
1\. Eventide H8000FW. I know, I know. I just don't use it enough to warrant owning it. It deserves to be in a home where someone will appreciate it. US$3000. I bought it straight from Eventide, and it has never met cigarette smoke or a stage. It has a little rack rash in the usual spots, and the LCD screen has a little tiny blotch in the upper right hand corner. This doesn't affect the unit in the slightest (which is why I haven't bothered replacing it) but Eventide will send you a new one for freebies if you're the sort that gets sent around the bend by this kind of thing.
2\. BurnSmart 1-to-7 tower CD/DVD duplicator. This is the model that immediately precedes the current 1-to-7 they sell. It is not the E-SATA version, but rather the IDE one. We only used it a couple times. One side has a little scrape from shoving it in next to another computer, but otherwise it is as new. It has an internal HD to store up to 20 disk images, so if you're a label or whatever, you can just put in an image, then burn at will. I'm thinking $200 for this, but if you can make a reasonable case for your need, I can consider offers. Ditto on the shipping, and this fucker is on the heavy side. Imagine a normal tower PC with 8 optical drives in it, and you'll have a good idea of what it weighs and how annoying it will be to ship.
Drop me [a line](mailto:chris@audiodamage.com) if you're interested in either of these things. If they're still here, they're still available.
---
## Workin' For A Livin'...
- Date: 2011-07-28
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/07/workin-for-a-livin/
It's been an exciting (interesting?) couple of weeks here at Audio Damage Command And Control. Adam and I decided, for reasons that aren't entirely clear to either of us any more at this juncture, that we would finally tackle the Big Bear, and release our next product as a VST3.
The VST3 SDK was updated to a new stable release a month or so ago, and in this release is the ability to also build VST2.4 and AudioUnit, off the VST3 base plug-in. These aren't "wrapped" as such, but are the real deal, just using a different base than the VST3. They necessarily lack the extra features that VST3 has (moreso in the case of VST2.4, as AudioUnits and VST3 plugs are remarkably similar in feature-sets.) We also, since we were making such a big jump anyhow, decided to switch from VSTGUI 3.6, which we've been using since Tattoo, to VSTGUI 4.
On the Windows side of things, it was relatively (!!!) painless, but when we moved to OS X, things got pretty hairy for a while there. Yesterday morning, I was actually about to lobby for bagging the whole idea and going back to the Old Way of doing things, but as luck would have it, Adam found the Issue, which turned out to be our fault, not Steinberg's. Now the VST3 on OS X is merrily working away.
Anyhow, long story short, if you're wondering where I've been for the last few days, it was a combination of that, some legal troubles (I was arrested for doing graffiti, or "street art" as I like to call it but the police in Tempe don't, of all things), and various other demands on my time, including an iOS contract I took without, perhaps, thoroughly thinking through the ramifications of same. In that respect, the iOS contract and the arrest are remarkably similar.
Adam is on his way to Wyoming, of all places, for the next few days, which will allow me to finish the iOS thingy, and we can return to our regularly scheduled vitriol. In the mean time, this is an open thread. Questions? Comments? Criticisms?
---
## Monotribe Mini-Review...
- Date: 2011-07-22
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/07/monotribe-mini-review/
[](http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/5964590596/)
Last night my BFF The UPS Guy dropped off a shiny new Monotribe. I really haven't had time to put it through its paces, so I'll pre mea culpa this review in to submission by saying that once I've attempted to use it in a song, I'll almost certainly have different views. If you're reading this via a Google search and it's more than about a month old, chances are good there's another review later in the timeline.
With that out of the way, some thoughts:
1\. It is much larger than I thought it would be. It is bigger than a TETR4 / Mopho. About the same footprint, but it is quite a bit taller. It is also heavier. It ships with 6 AA batteries, but it doesn't come with a wall wart. Korg, being Korg, didn't give it a standard 9V power hole, so you can't power it with one of the 30-odd 9V bricks you already have. Thanks for that, Korg. Good lookin' out.
2\. Construction-quality-wise, it is far sturdier than the Monotron. It is fairly chunky. The pots have some wiggle to them, but I imagine this is made with the cheapest possible components, and if the Monotron is any indicator, we're lucky to get knobs at all. In fact, four of the controls are the same as the little pot shaft things on the Monotron, while five of them (the more often-used ones) are of a more substantial construction.
3\. The sequencer is very crafty in its operation. However, the 8 step thing is really truly annoying. And note that the unit runs at 1/8th note steps. It's kind of normal to think of 8 steps as half of a measure, but as far as this is concerned, it runs at 1/8th notes for a whole measure.
4\. There is an iOS app ([here](http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/stat?id=sTCd28A32go&offerid=146261&type=3&subid=0&tmpid=1826&RD_PARM1=http%253A%252F%252Fitunes.apple.com%252Fus%252Fapp%252Fkorg-synckontrol-for-monotribe%252Fid438617344%253Fmt%253D8%2526uo%253D4%2526partnerId%253D30)) which allows you to send sync to the Monotribe, using a number of different methods. You could, for instance, be running iElectribe on your iPad via MIDI sync, and sync to the Monotribe app via a WIST session. You'd be best served by having several iDevices to pull off this tomfoolery. Also, when driven by the app, the Monotribe switches to a 1/16th note timebase of a half measure, sort of. (The opposite of point #3, above, but you can really only program 8th notes, still. So you get four.) You can also hit the sync control with a 5V voltage spike (or dip, selectable) so if you have a modular or a DC-coupled audio interface, you can sync the Monotribe's sequencer that way.
**EDIT:** The drum machine is 16 steps, and can save one pattern. I have verified this. See comments. The synth is 8 steps only, though.
5\. The synth voice sounds like an MS10 to me. Taken in concert with the LFO, it is a fairly capable voice, much broader in ability than the Monotron. The filter is even a little bit screamier. The drum voices sound like they came from an SR-120. Not "phatt" by any means.
6\. I couldn't find any mods with a cursory Google search. I'm sure they'll be along shortly, though.
Anyhow, that's the general idea. I'll use it in my next Experiment video, so you can hear it in context. There are a couple dozen demo videos on YouTube already, so you can get a good idea of its operation. I bought it [here](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0050G7VR4/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=analogindustr-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399373&creativeASIN=B0050G7VR4) for $229. If you have any specific questions I'll be happy to answer them to the best of my abilities.
---
## OS X Lion Bullshit Thread...
- Date: 2011-07-20
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/07/os-x-lion-bullshit-thread/
I am in the process of installing Lion right now, and will update this post throughout the day with my findings. If you're in a mission-critical situation and you're updating your main working machine to Lion, and you have problems, you only have yourself to blame, and I have no sympathy for you. Let me take the pain, so you don't have to.
**9:24 AM** About halfway through the download; it is coming slow. I've seen quite a bit of anecdotal evidence about major issues, but the only actual report I've seen from a major audio dev is Native Instruments, who say [this](http://www.native-instruments.com/en/support/compatibility/mac-os-x-compatibility/).
**9:43 AM** Ableton just posted [this](http://www.ableton.com/answers/mac-os-x-lion). Still downloading.
**10:33 AM** Downloaded. I'm waiting for Time Machine to finish its snapshot before installing, though.
**11:33 AM** Running Lion. The fucking trackpad scrolls the wrong way. FUCK!
**11:57 AM** Did a first round of tests with Live. If you only use VSTs, it seems to work okay. If you use audio (loops, clips), MIDI, or AUs, it crashes almost instantly.
**12:11 PM** Just did a quick test of Max/MSP 5. Loaded two patchers. One was just DSP, no samples, no externs, no VST~. The second had all three. No problems whatsoever with either one.
**12:22 PM** Just ran a simple test in Cubase 6 64-bit with all 32- and 64-bit AD products and some audio files. Works fine on cursory examination. No problems to report.
**12:43 PM** Ran a cursory check in both 64-bit and 32-bit Logic. I ran 64-bit first, so it scanned all our 64-bit products, and everything seemed to be fine. I then ran the 32-bit version to scan the 32-bit products, and BigSeq (the original one) and Ricochet both failed AU Validation. A few other AUs failed as well, notably FM8. Other than that, Logic seems fine, although I am in no way a power user of that DAW like I am with Cubase, Live, and Max, so while it _seems_ fine, that should in no way be taken to mean that it _is_ fine.
**1:35 PM** Did a short examination of DP 7. I don't understand this DAW, which is the single most left-brained piece of software ever written. (I don't have a left brain. At all.) I was able to instance every AD product, though, and all seems fine. There is a hiccup in the audio when opening/closing windows, though. This is across the board. It would rapidly drive you insane, I think. Otherwise, it seems okay with the caveat that I wouldn't really know if it was fucking off beyond the obvious.
**1:57 PM** Checked energyXT. It seems to be fine. Also did a quick check of MIDI Network Sessions for Audanika, and that seems to work as usual.
**Fin.** I went through every DAW and plug-in I have, and on the whole, everything seems fine. Logic has some pretty big issues, which isn't surprising considering Logic is lucky to not have big issues on a normal day, let alone when OS X gets a version rev. Live is the most surprising, as it usually gets through these pretty painlessly.
**Conclusion** If the hub of your digital music recording environment is Cubase 6, Max/MSP 5, DP 7, or energyXT, you're in good shape, and shouldn't experience any trouble. If you use NI products, expect an interminable round of Service Center updates (more than usual) but as long as you're not 64-bit, things seem to be okay. If you use Logic, you can probably make it through your working day. If you use Live, don't update to Lion. Period.
---
## This Too Shall Suck...
- Date: 2011-07-19
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/07/this-too-shall-suck/
Matt Davidson (Stretta) put up an interesting comment on Google+ the other day that sparked a rather long and involved discussion. Since he put it on G+ instead of his blog, and limited it to his Circle Of Compadres or whatever, I assume he doesn't want me quoting it in entirety here. However, I'll paraphrase him (badly, and take specific points out of context even) here, and provide my own color commentary that I touched upon in the comments of his missive.
His general premise was that when one puts up an album on Bandcamp for "pay what you want," one is somewhat disappointed at the prevalence of the $1 that many people kick in for a full album, especially in the context of one's altruistic nature. Matt, like me, puts up a ton of secondary and tertiary content in the form of samples, entire songs, and software for free, in addition to the meta-project that is the album itself.
Looking at my Bandcamp stats, I feel I can break consumers of my (recent) music in to three groups: Benefactors, Listeners, and The Curious. The Benefactors kick in ten bucks every time, pretty much no matter what the content. Listeners tend to make a quantitative assessment of the value ("This album has 10 songs, therefor it is $10. This one has 5 songs, so here's your fin.") The Curious are the ones that pay a buck. I generally put up my EP-sized material for Pay-What-You-Want-Minimum-$1, so this number gets colored.
Benefactors are who really drive the commercial side of the process. After so long in this business, when I release an EP or LP, I know for certain fact that there is a group of people that will give me $10. I can count on them. I don't know how they perceive me in general, or why they do this, as I'm not one of these sorts. But this amount of money that I _know_ is coming is essentially my budget. I use it for the TuneCore shit, and to buy anything else specific to the release. It is an immutable fact.
The Listeners are a source of extra income, but they're more fickle. These are the people I actually have to please, because the Benefactors, as long as I don't go all Metal Machine Music on them, will support virtually any endeavor. They aren't a terribly good sounding board. The Listeners, on the other hand, don't buy something they don't like.
The Curious are the people that find my material on YouTube or via a retweet, or hear it in Real World vs. Road Rules #23: Des Moines, or some shit like that, and are like "fuck it. It's here, I don't have to hunt up a Torrent. It's a buck. Fuck it." I look at this as value-added to me. I don't attempt to please these people. It's nice if they turn in to a Listener or a Benefactor, but they don't figure in to the equation except tangentially.
A commercial success for me is a release I didn't have to spend any of my own money to make. That's the 2011 version of the music industry. Even if I did, it's not that big a deal, because I make music I like, and am beholden to anybody only inasmuch as the more Listeners I alienate with any given release, the less income I'll see from that release.
Mark Beeson, who most of you don't know, but you're currently reading and commenting via a big chunk of code he wrote a long time ago, brought up an interesting point that is tertiary to my mission statement, but should be touched upon anyhow: iPod don't care. iPod don't give a shit. An album is no different than a song as far as your playlist is concerned. To put that in the context of what I'm talking about, from a crass commercial standpoint, to maximize the benefit of your Benefactors and Listeners, you should release a lot of single songs and two-song packages, rather than saving everything up for a single monumental release. Those of us that are older have an incredibly difficult time getting rid of the notion of the Long Playing Album Of 45 Minutes as a unit of music, but in this amazing modern world we live in, that is a relic of the 70s, for better or worse.
Thoughts?
---
## Alesis iO Dock Mini Review...
- Date: 2011-07-14
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/07/alesis-io-dock-mini-review/
My Alesis iO Dock showed up in the mail today. One thing I should say right from the start is that it Just Works. There ain't nothing fancy about it, and this is roughly akin to reviewing a 2 in / 2 out audio interface with MIDI. In fact, that's exactly what it is.
One reason I hardly ever use the iPad in musical endeavors is that I fucking _hate_ the Camera Connection Kit method. First off, you essentially have to choose between audio and MIDI. Secondly, your iPad slides all over the damn place, and is constantly in danger of getting yanked off the table/shelf/top of the keyboard where it is sitting. Third, the 30-pin connector is a serious weak link in the chain, being both dense and delicate. It is, in short, the ass end of suck.
This solves that problem. It's cheap. It's plastic. It's got "Alesis" written all over the top. These are indisputable factors that make it less than enticing. However, it gives you a pretty good audio / MIDI interface for your iPad that Just Works. It also acts as a MIDI class compliant interface via USB, so you can just jack it in to the USB port of your computer and not have to fuck with MIDI cables at all.
In operation, the mic pres sound like cheap mic pres, because that's what they are. They work, but I wouldn't want to do location recording of a string quartet with them. The output is **HOT AS FUCK.** I'd repeat that if I didn't already boldface-cap it.
For apps that support CoreMidi, it Just Works. If the app shits MIDI, it comes out the out holes and appears via the USB, no problem. If the app can listen to MIDI (e.g. Korg iElectribe) then it Just Works as well. Nothing to see here.
Anyhow, if you're expecting some masterpiece of industrial engineering, this will be sure to disappoint. It is the same build quality as any other piece of mass-produced gear from a nameless factory in China. You get what you pay for. Now, that said, it makes the iPad a useful musical instrument, where before it was just sort of a toy. In that respect, it is well worth the price. I bought it [here.](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004NMU1Y6/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=analogindustr-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399373&creativeASIN=B004NMU1Y6)
Worth noting: as I mentioned in the previous post on this subject, there is at least one similar product I'm aware of that is a couple months away from release. As far as I'm aware, this product has more or less the same feature set, but is significantly cheaper. So you might want to hold off. I will state here and now that it won't be better, per se. It will, however, be less expensive.
As an aside, the Korg Monotribe has begun shipping. I bought one from [these guys.](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0050G7VR4/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=analogindustr-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399373&creativeASIN=B0050G7VR4) $229, which seems about right. I'll let you know when I get it, of course.
---
## Audio Damage Update...
- Date: 2011-07-11
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/07/audio-damage-update/
Well, with a couple hiccups, our new framework for porting older products (e.g. those without the newer "flat" UIs, everything released after Tattoo) that we first tried with Dubstation seems to be standing the acid test. We're going to give it a couple more weeks, but at this juncture I'm willing to say that we are now able to port the entire existing product line to 64-bit, so it's just a matter of doing that.
Now, this transition is going to be a bit problematic for AudioUnits users, but hey, you bought in to a format made by a company that changes its mind a lot, and you gotta roll with the punches.
The main thing to note: all the upcoming new versions will be stereo-only as far as AUs are concerned. We're done paying homage to Logic's ridiculous stereo-fying habits, which play fast and loose with the entire concept of turning mono channels in to stereo ones. The process should either be entirely transparent (like in Live) or not subject to change (like in Cubase and any hardware studio). So if you want to use a stereo effect on a mono channel, you need to do it as a send, like a real producer.
Anyhow, since we have bills to pay, and updating existing products to 64-bit means almost nothing in the way of income, we're going to release another new product before we do the rest of the line. This next product will be built as a VST3, and use Steinberg's provided methods for making a VST2.4 and AudioUnit. It will, as a result, have sidechaining and all the other features available to VST3 users. We're essentially learning a new format here, so our testing process will be a little more strenuous than normal, but we're pretty sanguine about the concept at this juncture, and expect this to be fairly painless, as we've already overcome all the hard parts. (Theoretically.)
Anyhow, that's where we're at. I have a Google+ account now, and my profile can be found at [gplus.to/Crandall](http://gplus.to/Crandall). If you're rollin' with the Big G, you can find me up in there. Since I don't have the Book Of Faces, I'm not exactly sure what I'll be using the G+ account for, but it's there, and will no doubt contain pithy prose of the sort you already know and love. G+ doesn't seem to have the obvious commercial angle that FaceBook and MySpace had, so making band and company pages to "like" seems fairly pointless, at least at this juncture. I'm sure they'll fuck it up down the road, though.
---
## Jaymar My First Piano...
- Date: 2011-07-05
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/07/jaymar-my-first-piano/
[](http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/5905425503/)
I'm working on the music for an iOS game, and in one of the level songs, I wanted a little lietmotif played on this 1950s toy piano I got. Unfortunately, the keys stick so bad as to make it nearly unplayable, so I decided to take a few minutes and make a multi-sample of it.
Since some interest was expressed on Twitter in this set, here it is. This is for Live Sampler, so you need Live Suite or you have to have purchased Sampler in order to use it as-is. Of course, the audio file is just sitting in there, so you can pull it out and make your own sample. It's a single mono file. I did it at 44.1/24, because these iOS tracks are all at 44.1/16, being the canonical format of iOS audio. I recorded it with a single home-made piezo mic, through a Purple Biz Mk pre-amp and a Drawmer M500 compressor to a Mytek 8x192 A/D/D/A.
There is a distinct "click" sound when you release the keys on this little piano, and I added that as well, as a single sample. It's the first layer, and if you don't like it, you can just mute it. I sampled every note, starting at C#, because the low C is broken on the toy.
Anyhow, [here's the file](https://web.archive.org/web/2011/http://www.analogindustries.com/samples/toy_piano.zip). Enjoy, and as always, if you find commercial use for it, like all my samples, a Paypal donation is appreciated but in no way mandatory. Hit the "free shit" link to the right; the donate button is at the top of the page.
---
## Terms of (Dis)Service...
- Date: 2011-07-03
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/07/terms-of-dis-service/
This is a subject which will no doubt be incredibly un-interesting to you, but which should be paid attention to. I'm not gonna do it in the neck-bearded "Information Wants To Be Free" bullshit arm-waving way, and neither am I gonna give in to the "well, I'm sure they mean well..." frame of mind. I'll just present the facts, and my interpretation of the ramifications, and let you come to your own conclusion.
On Friday last, DropBox, a service we all know and use (it figures heavily in to the Audio Damage workday, for instance) changed their Terms Of Service, and specifically the rules regarding the rights to your uploaded files, to read as follows:
_We sometimes need your permission to do what you ask us to do with your stuff (for example, hosting, making public, or sharing your files). By submitting your stuff to the Services, you grant us (and those we work with to provide the Services) worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sublicenseable rights to use, copy, distribute, prepare derivative works (such as translations or format conversions) of, perform, or publicly display that stuff to the extent reasonably necessary for the Service. This license is solely to enable us to technically administer, display, and operate the Services._
Now, any musician that has ever done work-for-hire will recognize that wording. It is the general "I made this, you paid me" boilerplate that we see all the time. So what's it doing here in the DropBox TOS? And why do I care? The problem here is that the wording is so vague that it serves as a catch-all for any possible scenario. Of particular note is this bit: **_rights to use, copy, distribute, prepare derivative works (such as translations or format conversions) of, perform, or publicly display_**
Now, any normal, reasonable person would be all "well, they need to, e.g., make thumbnails for your Public folder, blah, blah, blah." And that's fine, and totally acceptable. They want licensing terms that remove any possible potential lawsuit from that. I can accept that. The problem isn't that, but rather that the wording is so broad as to include virtually any scenario they might feel is appropriate. They say "\[t\]his license is solely to enable us to technically administer, display, and operate the Services." That makes perfect sense on the face of it, but what does that even mean?
Now, you're thinking "Chris, you've gone off your rocker. Any reasonable person knows exactly what it means." And you're absolutely right.
But I'll tell you what _I'm_ right about: lawyers are not reasonable people. And the boards of large corporations aren't reasonable people either. And these people make their living exploring the hazy area between the intent of a contract and its actual wording. And they make good livings. And they're way, way better at reading and interpreting that intent than you or I are. Sure, DropBox is run by reasonable people. Now. What about next week when it is purchased by Yahoo. Or Google. Or the marketing company that bought MySpace?
Now, it doesn't have to be like this. Look at, for instance, the relevant passage in the TOS of Box.net:
_By registering to use the Services, you understand and acknowledge that Box.net and its contractors retain an irrevocable, royalty-free, worldwide license to use, copy, and publicly display such content **for the sole purpose of providing to you the Services for which you have registered.** In the event that you give Box.net the right to distribute your content, additional terms may apply to Box.net's usage or distribution of this content. You continue to retain all ownership rights in any User Content you provide and shall remain solely responsible for your conduct, your User Content, and any material or information transmitted to other Users for interaction with other Users. Box.net does not claim any ownership rights in any User Content._
This is much less open to interpretation, and still makes perfect sense. Or how about SugarSync? Same thing:
_After setting up your account and downloading our Software, you can select the Files you want to sync and/or store. You can change the Files you want to sync or store whenever you want. In order to make the Service available to you, we need your permission to sync and store your Files. Accordingly, you hereby grant to SugarSync a license: (i) to use, copy, transmit, distribute, store and cache Files that you choose to sync and/or store; and (ii) to copy, transmit, publish, and distribute to others the Files as you designate, whether through the sharing or public linking features of the Service, **in each case solely to provide the Service to you.**_
So, I'm going to give DropBox a few days to pull their collective heads out of their collective asses and get with the program. But the simple fact of the matter is that their wording is so broad that it includes virtually any purpose they could conceivably come up with, and that's simply unacceptable.
**EDIT:** I don't know if this blog post or my letters had anything to do with anything (although, in my defense, I was quoted in several blogs of more, uh, respectability?) but on Tuesday they updated their TOS to define "stuff" (one of my major complaints) and clarify the points of contention. It is essentially in line with the other two TOS I quoted above now.
---
## And Away We Go...
- Date: 2011-07-01
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/07/and-away-we-go/
We've just put Dubstation 1.5.2 in the AD store. With this update, Adam has theoretically mostly conquered the problem of porting our older stuff to 64-bit.
On the Windows side, it should Just Work. On the OS X side, things might get a little dicey. We've tried to make a 64-bit AU that can pick up existing sessions in Logic, and it seems that we have succeeded. But as always, doing a major update to a plug-in like in the middle of a session is stupid. If you do it, and you have problems, don't cry like a little girl.
Now, some other notes about the OS X versions:
1\. We're trying out a new installer package that obviates the separate authorizer applet. If this doesn't experience problems once it gets out in to the world, then this will be our method going forward on the OS X side, at least until Apple deprecates PackageMaker in favor of only selling things through the App Store or some other stupid shit like that.
2\. This build **REMOVES PPC ENTIRELY.** If you're a PPC user, do not do this update. It's pointless to you anyhow because you can't run 64-bit anything. Assuming this build passes muster, we're gonna turn the firehose on and update the whole remaining product line in one fell swoop. When we do that, we're removing PPC builds from everything. If you plan on continuing down that lonely, dismal, underpowered road called PowerPC, you should take this opportunity to archive all the Mac installers in the store, because any updates after today on older products are Intel only.
3\. With this update, Dubstation goes from being a "real" AudioUnit to a Symbiosis-wrapped VST in AU clothing. This is a fairly major architectural change as far as your DAW is concerned. We've made every effort to ensure that the new Dubstation picks up all existing saved sessions without any drama. The one place we're experiencing a tiny bit of oddity is if you saved a session in 32-bit Logic, with a 32-bit pre-1.5.2 Dubstation, and open it in 64-bit Logic where it uses the new 1.5.2 64-bit version. If you notice anything peculiar in this scenario (or, well, any other scenario) please drop me a line at your earliest convenience.
Anyhow, that's about it. There are no internal changes to this version; it is mainly to provide 64-bit versions to those that need them. If you don't need a 64-bit version, you don't really need to do this update at this juncture. Hit your account in the [AD Store](http://www.audiodamage.com/) to grab the downloads.
---
## Shit Just Got Real...
- Date: 2011-06-29
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/06/shit-just-got-real/
TNR-i, the Tenori-On clone for iOS created by Yamaha (so it would stand to reason it's pretty close) is now available in the US app store finally, a week after it appeared in Japan and the UK. You can grab it [here](http://ow.ly/5sWel). Note that I haven't purchased this yet, and am in no way endorsing it. We get iTunes gift cards as a reward from one of our credit cards, and I'm waiting for this month's to arrive so I don't have to, like, pay real money for it. If you've purchased the app, please let us know the good, bad, and ugly. Does it work with CoreMidi, or is the only way to sync it with that stupid Game Center method they came up with? And does it work in Landscape mode? Those are my two main questions.
Slightly related, the Alesis IO Dock is now available [for ordering](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004NMU1Y6/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=analogindustr-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399373&creativeASIN=B004NMU1Y6), $199 at Amazon. I played with this a bit at NAMM, and assuming the shipping version is the same as the one I fucked with, it's a solid little piece of kit, and turns the iPad from a cute but slightly annoying device to an actually useful musician's tool in one fell blow.
Now, it is worth mentioning at this juncture that I have it on good authority that, unless you're in any particular hurry, it might be a good idea to wait a couple months to make a purchasing decision vis-a-vis the IO Dock. I can't say any more than that, but I think you can figure out what I'm getting at, without me beating you over the head with it.
---
## The End Is Nigh...
- Date: 2011-06-24
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/06/the-end-is-nigh/
The recent hubbub over Final Cut X (which you're no doubt familiar with, but if you aren't, Tom Ellard's highlights [here](http://tomellard.com/wp/2011/06/rough-cut/) and a funny but informative bit from Conan O'Brian [here](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRzLP0FJ82I&feature=player_detailpage)) is kind of silly. It's like standing on the train tracks, watching a train coming straight at you, and saying "there's no fucking way that train's gonna hit me." They showed it at NAB a couple months ago, and all the pros had a look at it. They knew what was coming, but they're all "there's no way they'd release that. It's just iMovie Pro!"
Newsflash: Apple don't care. Apple don't give a shit.
Ironically, for the kind of video stuff I do, which is of the "line up an audio track with a single video file, and shit it to YouTube" variety, Final Cut X is remarkably well kitted. I tried to use Final Cut Express for a couple months, and eventually pitched it for iMovie. Apple realizes that there are a lot more people out there like me (video-wise) than there are people that edit feature films. They'd like to make some money, please. Enter Final Cut X.
The thing to watch out for (and down the road when it happens, I'll reference this post as an I-Told-You-So) is this: Logic Pro is managed by the same group at Apple as Final Cut Pro; the Pro Applications group. This is the group of managerial types who most assuredly don't work in the media professions any more, and haven't for years. They're the group that thought making a "pro" version of iMovie and replacing the top-of-the-line video editing software with it was a good idea.
What do you think that bodes for Logic? Logic / Garageband has exactly the same pro:hobbyist footprint as Final Cut Pro / iMovie, and is managed by the same people. Pretty simple math there.
If you're a professional user, I'd strongly suggest taking a serious look at the other top-line DAWs: ProTools 9 and Cubase 6. I would, for obvious personal reasons, recommend the latter. It is a mostly lateral move from Logic Pro, features-wise. I'm not saying it's time to jump ship. I haven't heard anything more than you have. I am, however, deeply ingrained in the music software business, as you know, and have been for some time. You can smell these cycles.
Or don't bother, and when Logic X comes out and doesn't have a mixer, you can come back to this post, wherein I say I told you so.
---
## Calling All Southwest Nerdcore...
- Date: 2011-06-23
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/06/calling-all-southwest-nerdcore/
[](http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/5862261724/)
I don't believe there are enough 'core types in the Pho-Sco / Tucson area to warrant a true AH-type meet-up, and also, I find that format to be somewhat stifling. "THOU SHALT HAVE PATCH CORDS!" But I thought it might be fun to have a Hard Core Gear Porn Get-Together type thing for the folks here on the surface of the sun in the Valley Of The Sun.
To that end, I'm attempting to gauge interest in same. If it's just, like, 6 people or whatever and nobody is bringing a GX-1 or a full stack Plexi we can just do it here at my house, as I have plenty of room. However, if it's more than that, some other plan would need to be come up with, and that plan would depend on the number of people attending, and what gear they would like to pimp.
So, if you'd like to attend a get-together tentatively scheduled for the 2nd Saturday in August (8/13/11) [drop me a line](mailto:chris@audiodamage.com?subject=Nerdapolooza) and let me know what, if anything, you'd like to show off, and any what infrastructure you'd need for same. I'll attempt to make some sort of spreadsheet or some shit and determine whether an external locale would be needed.
Also too, if you just post something in the comments but don't write me, then you're not counted. Email me so I can take advantage of the wonderful filtering technology of today's advanced e-mail apps.
---
## More Update News...
- Date: 2011-06-17
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/06/more-update-news/
Okay, we've now put new installers for Replicant and Eos in the store, in addition to Panstation. If you were experiencing any problems whatsoever with getting 64-bit versions of our plugs to validate/instance/whatever, on all three platforms, these updates should sort you out.
Another thing that is worth mentioning, since it is contextual: I just got an email from the AU group at Apple informing me that Lion **will** be fucking up 32-bit AudioUnits. They mentioned Tattoo and Ricochet specifically, but I imagine that they didn't do a thorough test, and whatever problems those two have will be endemic to our entire product line. This makes the 5th time, if I'm counting correctly, that an OS X update has totally crapped all over the AU kit.
I also don't know what other manufacturers will be affected, but I can certainly guess and say "most of 'em." So if you rely on 32-bit AudioUnits, and are, say, in the middle of a mix or something, updating to Lion should be very, very low on your list of priorities, at least until Audio Damage and other manufacturers have had a chance to put things through the ringer and figure out what's fucking off where. This is, of course, good advice for any major OS update, but naturally most people will ignore it. So when you install on the first day, and find out that Lion fucked up your music shit, you can refer to this blog post as an official "I told you so."
---
## Panstation Updated, Others To Follow...
- Date: 2011-06-15
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/06/panstation-updated-others-to-follow/
If you follow me at all on Twitter (or even happen to occasionally glance at the sidebar of this site), you'll note that I occasionally mutter semi-disparaging comments about Logic. Turns out that at least some of the problems we were seeing were actually our fault.
(At this point I'm hanging my head, shuffling my feet, and sniffling a little bit.)
The code that comprises the majority of what we laughingly refer to as "copy protection" has a bit in it that was poorly written, and when compiled for 64-bit, it would produce different results on some machines. There was no rhyme nor reason to this whatsoever, and we'd see two identical computers with one having the issue and the other not.
As luck would have it, Adam bought a Mac Mini last week, and it, unlike every other Mac we have on site, had the issue. So he was able to diagnose, and ultimately fix, the problem.
So, long story short, we need to rebuild and update every one of our 64-bit releases to squish this bug once and for all. If you previously were able to instance the 32-bit but not the 64-bit version of one of our plugs in a 64-bit DAW, this was most likely the cause, and these updates will fix the problem. We'll be rolling them out one or two a day until all the 64-bit stuff is rebuilt.
In that light, Panstation is now at 1.0.1. There are also a couple minor bug fixes for shit you probably didn't notice, but may down the road, so re-installing with 1.0.1 is recommended for all users, whether or not you got bit by that 64-bit bullshit. Hit [the AD store](http://www.audiodamage.com/) to get a shiny new bitstream.
As an aside, I've been working on this sound-alike music bed for an industrial for several days now, in the process re-learning to play guitar and learning to really and truly loath Coldplay and U2. But that's why I've been somewhat silent, if you were curious.
---
## AD Hardware...
- Date: 2011-06-09
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/06/ad-hardware/
We made an update to the [Audio Damage store](http://www.audiodamage.com/) today. This will be mostly transparent to you guys, as we added the ability for the store to query the USPS for true shipping prices and apply those to orders that contain mailed goods. The only differences you'll note are that the "Merchandise" category is now "Hardware," and in it, ironically, is some merchandise.
The Audio Damage BotShirt and Stickers are now available for purchase. The shirt is $15 plus actual shipping costs, and the stickers are 2 for $2.00, free shipping.
---
## The Three Hour Challenge...
- Date: 2011-06-05
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/06/the-three-hour-challenge/
My wife is a good sport about my noise-making habits, bless her heart, but she draws the line at cranked tube amps. For extra bonus points, we both work at home. This being the case, my guitar playing usually goes via NI Guitar Rig, which is nice and all, but can't really compete with my '67 Guild Thunder I Reverb.
Today, however, she went to a birthday party for one of her friends, and I had three hours of me time. I decided to set myself a challenge to write, perform, and mix a track in those three hours that I could make all the noise I wanted. For an IDM track, this would be easy enough. Load up some samples, set Replicant to "stun," and render. But I decided that this particular song was going to have guitar _and_ vocals.
Now, in candor, this wasn't from bare metal. I spent the better part of the day getting the sounds together. I used my general Micronaut "experiments" rig for the backbone. The kick drum is coming from the DSI TETR4 to Eventide TimeFactor, that first snare-ish sound you hear is the MeeBlip running through my circuit-bent Boss 'verb, and the bass noink thing is the MS20. I also had to bust out My First Piano with a piezo for a little special sauce. All recorded in to Live through my utilitarian TASCAM USB interface, which I consistently wish had more outputs for FX sends. TASCAM seems morally opposed to making an interface with more than 4 analog outputs, though, so I abide.
Since I'm not only a southpaw playing right-hand guitar, but not an especially gifted guitarist in the first place, it takes a lot of practice time to be able to play and sing at the same time; I have to memorize hand positions per word. Since time wasn't a commodity I was blessed with, I used Live's Looper plugin to grab an 8-measure rhythm part, and then just vamp over the top of that at the end. The guitar, a Harmony Stratotone with Airline badging, is running through a Realistic Electronic Reverb (which is an excellent distortion box) to a Maleko B:Assmaster, to a compressor of my own design based upon the Orange Squeezer, then in to the amp.
For the vocals, I wrote down a couple phrases, and had a general idea of what I was gonna do, but largely ad-libbed it. Ain't gonna give "A Day In The Life" a run for its money any time soon. The vocal chain is [DMG Compassion](http://www.dmgaudio.com/index.php?_view=products.product.1) -> Kombinat, with a touch of Dubstation on the ass end. Compassion is also on the drum buss, the guitar, and the 2-buss. Love that plug.
Anyhow, it was fun to do. As far as setting intentional limits for yourself, the short-span-of-time one is the most unforgiving, and the one most likely to be cast aside. But it can be refreshing. The hardest part is showing it off afterwards, because it will never be the best you can do. Any other takers for the 3 Hour Challenge?
---
## Audio Damage Panstation Now Available...
- Date: 2011-06-03
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/06/audio-damage-panstation-now-available/
Meet our newest bouncing baby plug, Panstation. As you can pretty much guess from the name, it is an autopanner, and as far as we're aware, the most sophisticated autopanner plug-in available. (If you feel like correcting me on that, don't, because I've sort of hung my hat on that bullet point.)
It is "inspired by" the Drawmer M500. We took basically every feature from the panning engine of that box (including a detailed clone of its pan law and waveforms) and added some other jank we thought would be handy, like the audio trigger counting mechanism from the A&D PanScan.
32/64-bit across the board, AU and VST for Mac and VST for Win, US$39.00. [Go get it.](http://www.audiodamage.com/)
---
## New Toy, Oh Way Oh...
- Date: 2011-05-28
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/05/new-toy-oh-way-oh/
[](http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/5766119147/)
\[insert usual apology for lack of posting here.\]
I've been swamped the last two weeks. I took on an art project, of all things, that is sucking up my copious free time at an alarming pace, plus dealing with a t-shirt company that obviously was unaware of the power of this fully operational Death Star. They shorted me in my order, plus gave me a lot of shitty pulls; I ended up with only 74% of my order, which won't stand, of course. But it entailed a dozen trips to their office. Needless to say, we won't be using these guys again.
And on top of that, we're in the final push on the new plug. This is one of our rare utility plugs, having an utter lack of weirdness. It is now feature complete and the Windows version is in beta. We've decided to not drop any science on it until it is actually released. As soon as it is out, back to the relentless 64-bit porting. Yee haw.
So yeah, busy busy busy, blah blah blah. I am, however, in the mood to make either seriously heavy Killing Joke / Cop Shoot Cop music, or produce a hip-hop act. If you're in the Phoenix metroplex and are either looking to jam on some heavy post-industrial, or you have a good flow and need some beats, hit me up via the contact link. Because I don't have enough to do right now.
---
## The Perfect Monosynth...
- Date: 2011-05-21
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/05/the-perfect-monosynth/
While it's generally accepted as a truism that either the Korg MS20 or the Moog MiniMoog is the perfect monosynth, in this modern world we live in, both are horribly behind the times.
The reason I bring this up is that a side project I'm working on in my spare time involves creating a monosynth. The platform is fairly limited, so I can't put in every feature under the sun. As such, I have to limit it to about the same number of features as a MiniMoog, give or take a few. I've used the Source as the starting point of my topology, so two multi-wave oscillators plus a noise source through a LPF. Envelopes for LPF and Amp, and a single LFO.
What would you add to/remove from this topology to make it t3h awesome?
---
## Get Busy, Y'all...
- Date: 2011-05-16
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/05/get-busy-yall/
[](http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/5724267293/)
'Tis the season, apparently. While it may seem that little is emanating forth from the various Audio Damage facilities, that's about to change. We'll have at least two additions to the store in the near future, possibly three. One is a new utilitarian plug-in and two aren't. Neither are they Euro modules. Or anything that plugs in at all.
After these three releases occur, we're gonna lay in to the Dubstation 64-bit update, and make an attempt at some of the problems plaguing the 64-bit Logic side of things (fucking Logic.)
So anyhow, you can expect a lot of AD news in the next few days as we roll these things out. We'll also be updating the store, so we'll be offline for a while (most likely tomorrow), so don't freak out if you see that.
And finally, as you can see from the photo above, I finally got a proper photo scanner to replace my dead all-in-one. I picked up one of [these bad boys](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002OEBMRU/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=analogindustr-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399349&creativeASIN=B002OEBMRU). Two thumbs way up. If you have film to scan, you need this, plain and simple.
---
## Out Of The Office Open Thread...
- Date: 2011-05-12
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/05/out-of-the-office-open-thread/
[](http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/5700573982/)
After that last epic conversation, I'm busy congratulating myself for having created a blog that, after years of tuning, can have such a high level of completely bullshit-free discourse. The previous post didn't have a single comment deleted (I only have to delete maybe one a month now) nor a single ad spam, nor a single instance of anyone calling anyone else a Nazi, nor a single "LOL +1" jumping smily face. This is a rare thing on the internet, and I'm pleased to have had a role, however minor, in its genesis.
In any event, the missus and I are rolling to Los Angeles today. We're hitting the MOCA tomorrow for the [Art In The Streets](http://www.moca.org/museum/exhibitiondetail.php?id=443) exhibit, and going to the JPL Open House on Saturday. A little mini-vacation, if you will. I may or may not post, depending on available time and inspiration.
In the meantime, as a conversation starter, I propose [this article](http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/7.01/eno.html) that Eno wrote for Wired some 12 years ago. I assume, from the context and time frame, the console in question is a Neve Capricorn, one that I have a similar experience with. Anyhow, here's the keys. Don't break anything.
---
## Medium != Message...
- Date: 2011-05-08
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/05/medium-message/
[](http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/5066692580/)
One thing I've often said, when confronted with the type of person that gets in to the minutia of the recording process, perhaps at the expense of the big picture, is that a good song will survive any production process, while a bad song can't be saved by the most sophisticated gear and recording techniques available.
This sort of idea is anathema to the Gear Queer, who is always certain that there is that one more piece of kit sitting out there, just beyond grasp, that will push things over the edge and make all the difference. We're each of us guilty of this behavior, of course. Let he who is without sin cast the first stone, etc. But the simple fact of the matter is that the work of art exists already, as a wave function, and whatever you need to collapse that bitch and bring shit out in to the cold light of day is what you need. There are records that wouldn't exist without a massive, and relatively expensive, modular synth and a fairly detail-oriented production approach (see: [A Funneled Stone](http://stretta.bandcamp.com/album/a-funneled-stone)), and others that would sound fucking retarded if they were anything but a guitar and a vocal. (See: Robert Johnson's entire ouvre. Happy 100th b'day to Mr. Johnson, btw.)
Now, this entire approach could be perceived as my own way of justifying my several rather ridiculous recording habits, the which you're all perfectly aware of. I approach photography and music-making in the same way, trying to squeeze something interesting out of a device not really meant to do what I'm asking of it, largely via a trial-and-error approach rather than any cohesive planning on my part. My general philosophy with respect to photography is the Shakespeare/Monkey method: if you take enough pictures, some of them are bound to be interesting, and quantity has a quality all its own. No particular reason this can't be applied to music. (See: Wesley Willis.)
I guess what I'm trying to say, when it comes down to it, is this: I am of the firm opinion that there is interesting shit hiding in my brain. All I have to do is figure out how to get it out. While a new piece of The Shiny might make certain aspects of that chore easier, at the end of the day, the song lives in my brain, not in the gear. The medium is the messenger, not the message itself.
---
## Buy Shit Now!
- Date: 2011-05-03
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/05/buy-shit-now/
Yeah, you pretty much need this. While Dave is a good friend of mine, and I wouldn't talk some bullshit about a friend, this plug is honestly the bomb, plain and simple. It has an easy-to-use front end that hides a fucking huge amount of control over the dynamics of a track. Strongly recommended from me; I've been using it for some time now. Get it [here](http://dmgaudio.com/index.php?_view=products.product.1).
Also too, Beatserv has two new packs out: Bombs & Bits 2, and the super awesome Baby Breakz, which I highly recommend. It is a bunch of loops of actual good drummers playing a child's drum kit, and doesn't sound at all like you'd think. Get 'em both [here](http://www.beatserv.com/).
---
## Stand Up! Sit Down! Fight! Fight! Fight!
- Date: 2011-04-29
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/04/stand-up-sit-down-fight-fight-fight/
I'd been thinking of going to a standing office solution for some time now. I kind of got half-way there when we moved to our new house in February. Most of my music gear was in a standing work configuration, but my main desk was kind of in an in-between stage, where I could sit at it with a tall office chair (the kind you'd find in a lab or something) and I could stand at it. But standing at it wasn't terribly comfortable, because I had to look down at the monitors, so my neck ended up hurting at the end of the day. As a result, I mostly sat at it. Plus, it wasn't quite tall enough, so my wrists were bent when typing, which added to the general discomfort.
After hearing a couple pieces on NPR on the subject of being much healthier if you stand/move around for at least part of the day, plus seeing the radio desk solutions at NAB (some of which were motorized, like [this](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003I410QS/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=analogindustr-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399349&creativeASIN=B003I410QS)) I decided to go whole hog. So I broke out the measuring tape, and figured out that the exact right height for a desk for me was 40" (I'm 6' 4" tall). This would result in a comfortable typing position while standing.
A trip to the excellent Industrial Metal Supply here in Phoenix was in order, wherein I bought nigh on 30' of 1.5" square steel tubing, then over to my friend Mike Fisher's house, where a MIG welder can be found. A couple hours later, and I have the perfect sized standing desk, no motors necessary.
The next thing, and this was, as it turns out, the most important part, was to get my monitors to eye level, so I didn't have to look down at them. After some browsing about, I settled on [this contraption](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002R9HQLI/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=analogindustr-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399349&creativeASIN=B002R9HQLI). It works perfectly, and gets my pair of 23" LCDs right up to where I don't have to bend my head down to look at them, thus alleviating the neck pain part of the operation.
A tabletop from Ikea later, and my standing desk is in full form. I got all this done on Sunday, and have now spent a week doing my normal work at it. My feet hurt from standing the first couple days, and the small of my back hurt from standing up straight for 8 hours. I was warned about this, and all is to be expected. After a few days, it is more comfortable to work at, and I've adjusted the height of the monitors a couple times to get them in just the right spot.
I can't strongly recommend this course of action at this point, because I don't know what the long-term effects are going to be. Whether I'll be healthier or not is kind of a subjective thing. I would vastly prefer to sit in a comfy chair all day, leaning back and pondering life's complexities. But after 10 years of basically sitting at a desk all day every day, I'm starting to notice the effects, and it's time for a change, even if it is painful at first. I'll post again on this subject at this time next year, and we'll see how things went.
Has anyone else gone to a complete standing workspace? Have you been doing it for a while? Notice any major differences, good or bad?
---
## Poll Time...
- Date: 2011-04-23
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/04/poll-time/
We're busy building our latest Roadmap To Success/Five Year Plan/Whatever, and while I have a fairly good idea of what the answers to this poll will be, I'd like a little less anecdotal evidence. While it's true that most of us use multiple platforms, I'll wager one of those options is the one you can't live without. Click that one.
(Note: if your main DAW is Live OSX, hit the "OSX 32-bit VST" option. Obviously, you can use AUs in Live, but it is more or less pointless to do so unless you need to share presets with Logic.)
**Which plug-in platform is most important to you?**
---
## 2io Progress...
- Date: 2011-04-20
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/04/2io-progress/
[](http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/5638548905/)
Making nice, albeit somewhat slow, progress on the 2io module, the first Audio Damage hardware release. I now have the prototype in my possession, and am busily trying to break it. It works entirely as expected once we solved a rather silly mistake in chip choice. The original USB audio codec chip we chose reports its power current consumption as 500ma, despite only actually using around 30ma. The iPad won't recognize a chip that reports more than 100ma. So while it worked fine as a USB interface, it didn't work at all for its main purpose.
In any case, initial tests with this current rev with [Silent Way](http://www.expert-sleepers.co.uk/silentway.html) and [CV Generator](http://ow.ly/4EAYS) show that it works like a charm in those contexts. As a Euro-format iPad audio interface, it is working flawlessly. So, in short, all is well.
We're doing one more rev of the prototype just to double-triple-super-duper check our work, then it's off to production. While all that is going on, we're just getting in to the prototype stage for adm01, so expect some reporting from that front as well, as soon as I have something to show you.
---
## Purity Of Procedure...
- Date: 2011-04-17
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/04/purity-of-procedure/
Ever since I switched from Pd to Max and didn't have to deal with incessant Problems, I've spent a lot more time working on my own music in this environment, rather than just using it for product development and such.
Lately, I've taken to making songs that run with little input from me, and contain no samples whatsoever. These tracks are built entirely from Max rudiments, and my only concession to convenience is in using reverb and compression plug-ins. (The main reason is that I'm not really able to make a compressor or reverb sub-patcher that is anywhere near the quality of Eos, ValhallaRoom, or DMG's upcoming Compassion compressor.)
These tracks use no external hardware of any sort (which sets them apart from, say, Procedure 1 off the most recent [Micronaut EP](http://micronaut.bandcamp.com/), which uses external effects units) and, as I mentioned, no samples or pre-recorded material of any kind. They are, other than the 3 VSTs I'm using, entirely Max synthesis.
Now, the reason I'm bringing this up isn't really about the musical result, which is subjective, of course. As you all full well know, one of my foibles is placing strict limits on my creative process, and this is about the furthest I've taken that particular course of action. It is fundamentally the same as drawing a single Oblique Strategies card at the start of a session, one that says "Make Things Hard On Yourself." I mean, on the track from the screenshot above (which isn't even close to done) I spent about 5 hours coming up with the first sound, the kick drum. Working in a DAW, I'd have spent maybe 5 minutes in the Kick Drum Samples folder (called, in my case, Foot Samples, of course, since I'm funny like that) to find something that worked, then carving it for a bit with some EQ and compression and calling it done, and moving on to the next thing.
Anyhow, the net result of this process, aside from the music itself, is that I have a fundamental understanding, at the physical level, of each and every sound in the track. This makes the creative process quite odd, I find, being so close to the sound generation. Obviously, none of us are strangers to these general techniques, but we usually deal with them at a much more abstracted level (e.g. the front panel of a synthesizer). Whether I could heartily recommend this course of action is open to question as well, but it is an interesting thing, being so close to the sound generation. I think the closest analog would be building a track sound by sound using a modular synth, but even then, once the track has been laid down, you've unpatched it and moved on. Here, the entire song is a living, breathing sculpture with all of its parameters bare for tweaking.
But it ain't what I'd call a Streamlined Digital Workflow, I'll say that much.
Anyhow, has any other AI reader done something similar, so willfully obtuse? Obviously, making wrawk music or jazz with traditional instrumentation is a nearly identical process, but embracing physics instead of pure math. Or at least I think it is. I'm willing to be dissuaded from that viewpoint.
---
## Makin' Shit, Yo...
- Date: 2011-04-14
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/04/makin-shit-yo/
Obviously, I bailed on NAB early, because I got both sick and tired. Working at home doesn't prepare you physically for the necessary miles and miles of walking that have to occur at a show of that size. I'm in good shape for my age (or even someone 15 years younger, all other factors being equal) but I don't spend a lot of time walking. Anywhere. So my dogs were barking after the first day.
On top of that, not interfacing with the GenPop on a daily basis, I'm a virgin field as far as comunicable diseases go. I got waylaid that evening by some bizarre bug, most likely from either a third world country or Texas. Luckily it passed through me by the time I actually got home.
In any case, yeah, streamlining digital workflow. The Cloud. Buzzwords. Yay.
Anyhow, since I got home I've been working on assembling the various tertiary shit that will go out with adm02 units. Namely, I've been making cables. Lots of cables. Lots and lots of cables. Using the usual metric for how I value my time, we'll be ordering pre-made cables in the future. I'm a big fan of vertical integration, but I draw the line, you know? I've also been moving machine screws from a box in to individual baggies.
Come work in the glamorous music tech industry! PARTY!
Anyhow, I'm putting that aside today to work on the UI for the actual next AD product. I don't want to throw it up until it's done, but suffice to say it will make some people mad and others happy, as is the case with refreshes. Back to the salt mines.
---
## NABster Pt. 2
- Date: 2011-04-12
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/04/nabster-pt-2/
Day one of my trip to NAB is in the bag. Those of you that follow my Twitter stream saw the highlights. Pretty much the same shit as last year, for the most part, and the show is somewhat smaller, as well.
Last year, the catch-phrase was "streamlining your digital workflow." I could't walk 10 feet without hearing some permutation of that phrase. This year, the word is "cloud." Everybody and their second cousin's babysitter has some sort of "cloud" solution. Even companies that were already fairly cloudy to begin with (e.g. AT&T) had all kinds of cloud motifs around their booths. I got a demo of AT&T's media caching/clouding/whatever service, and actually left the booth with less understanding of the service they offer than when I went in to it, taking in to account that I'd never heard of it when I went in to it, so my understanding baseline of their "cloud" media service was zero.
The Microsoft Cloud stuff felt kind of pained. That sort of shit just isn't their style, and there was mute embarrassment all around. I'd like to get all the guys from the New Cloudy Companies together and give them a crib sheet. They could say "it's like Amazon S3 only we charge more," or they could say "it's like Amazon S3 only we charge less." It would really save everyone a lot of time and energy all around. YOUR SHIT, OUR SERVER FARM. LET'S GET IT DONE!
It's really surprising that I'm not a professional pitchman.
I was going to put a little thing up on that Edirol video sampler (the which is sort of like an SP-202, but for video instead of audio.) Except that after I played it, I decided it was basically tragically unplayable, and is a rare miss for their Edirol division. There's like a 1 second pause when the clips start. Maybe it's a software bug and will get fix. I tried to ask one of their booth Bettys, but he was too busy trying to give some lard ass a demo. So I guess we'll never know.
I didn't really see anything else that would be of general interest here that we don't all already know about, I'm sorry to say. The audio side of things was the usual suspects; nothing new. This is the show where the broadcast divisions of all the names you know come out, so you see a slightly different side of Yamaha, SSL, whatever. Kind of fun, but ultimately, it's rather tedious talking to those guys, because you have to put a translation layer over all their terminology.
Anyhow, back at it tomorrow, then back to Tempe in the afternoon to rest my tired feet.
---
## NABster...
- Date: 2011-04-10
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/04/nabster/
I'm heading to the NAB convention in Vegas on Sunday. The best way I can describe it is that it's like NAMM if there were no drummers or guitar players, and a fuck of a lot of video post editors. It has a fairly extensive pro audio section, with the caveat that the cool little boutique companies don't show up. Think "yes" to Eventide and Lexicon, "no" to Elektron, essentially.
Its main purpose, though, is video, and all the industries that revolve around same. My question is thus: I'll be more than happy to post any interesting audio stuff I come across, but the vast majority of this vast convention (it is larger than NAMM by quite a bit) is broadcast and post-related, and I was wondering what percentage of the readership of AI was interested in cool post and video production stuff, and if I should add coverage of that to my purview, at least for the two days I'm there.
So, it's up to you. Should I cover interesting post and video things I find? Or should I just stick to the pro audio side of things? There aren't going to be any audio announcements that we didn't see at NAMM. This isn't the convention where those things are done. I'll say that much. So it'll be the usual up-close-personal-hands-on touchy-feely shit I normally spout, no matter what the subject.
---
## Messe Redux...
- Date: 2011-04-08
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/04/messe-redux/
It occurs to me that I could just re-post my MusicMesse comments from last year, and nobody would be the wiser. (Synopsis: cool little analog synth from Korg, and the rest of it is kinda whack.) But in the interests of thoroughness, I've gone through every press release so far, and here's some interesting shit that might have got lost in the shuffle, since we're all completely blinded by the awesomeness that is the Roland Jupiter 80.
**Alesis Nano Verb 2:** There is nothing really outstanding to say about the original Nano Verb. It is what it is. We've all had to use them at one time or another. They're simple little workhorse units that does what it says on the tin, and you can get one on Craigslist for like $40. Alesis has finally revved that model with a [Nano Verb 2](http://www.gearjunkies.com/news_info.php?news_id=6252) that uses exactly the same form factor, but jacks up the available algorithms considerably. I am absolutely certain that it'll be worth the money, but if you wait a few years, it'll _really_ be worth the money, just like the first one. My opinion: Must Buy, in 2015.
**Focusrite Control 2802:** Like another British company, Focusrite is trying to come up with a marriage of a small high-quality analog console and a DAW controller. The [2802](http://www.focusrite.com/products/consoles/control_2802/overview/) is a little more analogue than its competitor, and almost certainly cheaper. Focusrite has been doing their damnedest in the last few years to dilute their brand in to meaninglessness via slapping it on every piece of worthless Chinese kit imaginable, but they can still make something pretty slick, given the desire. Although I assume this is also Chinese kit, seeing how "Made In The UK" isn't plastered all over the marketing material. In fact, if you look closely at the high-res image of the backplane, under the Focusrite logo, it looks like a little Photoshop smudge tool was applied to the image, to ostensibly hide the "Made In China" text. My Opinion: I'll skip it in lieu of American and European-made gear, of which there is no shortage, unless someone can prove to me it wasn't made in China.
**Kosmonaut:** I don't have any opinion about this one way or the other, but the [Gearjunkies report](http://www.gearjunkies.com/news_info.php?news_id=6274) provided me with a good chuckle. Note the last sentence before the picture, "\[t\]he user-friendly layout guarantees an exceptional playing experience." Then look at the picture. I'm giggling again just typing that. Too funny.
I'll amend this post if anything else catches my eye. Back to working on this plug-in UI that is fighting me every step of the way.
---
## adm02 - 2io...
- Date: 2011-04-06
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/04/adm02-2io/
Since the intrepid sleuths over at the Muff Wiggler forum essentially deduced what it is, and in order to at least have the facade of a certain amount of control over the information, we've gone ahead and released the highlights. That being the case, there's no harm in doing a "coming soon" kind of thing.
As most of you have figured out by this juncture, Audio Damage is about to wade hip-deep in to the Euro Rack modular market. The reason for this is that we wanted to start releasing hardware as the next logical step in the progression of the company, and the infrastructure provided by the existing Euro-Rack market makes an entrance in to hardware releasing less risky than, say, making a Jupiter 80.
Anyhow, market-speak aside, we've designated a new catalog line, adm (which is obviously "Audio Damage Modular"), and the first product released will be adm02, the 2io module. This is a USB1.1 class-compliant audio interface with two inputs and two DC-coupled outputs. Its main claim to fame is that it will be fully compatible with the iPad, enabling you to use any CoreAudio-compliant iPad app in a Euro-Rack modular environment.
Next, our reasoning was that in a Euro live performance rig, you might want to use plug-ins as send effects, and this would enable you to use a netbook or whatever, and a simple ASIO host, and have low latency insert effects or audio sources with your modular. (We might have a plug-in or two to recommend in that context.)
And finally, with DC-coupled outputs it can work with Volta or Silent Way as a method of controlling a modular. With only two I/O, this isn't its prime directive, but it'll work in that context, should you need it to.
Here are some pictures of the prototype:
It is a 4HP module, and is just shy of 40mm deep. And that's about all the info I have at this time. When we have panel art and videos and more pictures and all that, I'll drop info bombs left and right.
A couple points. First, you'll note that this is adm02. Yes, there is an adm01. Due to this being somewhat easier to make, it is coming out first. Second, this shouldn't affect the software side of things. We're not giving up plug-ins to make hardware. We hope to develop the two side by side, with a mind to eventual complete integration (and independence.) And finally, we don't know the price yet, nor the availability date.
---
## Happy Birthday Muddy Waters...
- Date: 2011-04-04
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/04/happy-birthday-muddy-waters/
My general theory is that if you have style in your delivery, everything else (production, lyrical content, the music itself) is fairly unimportant, and Muddy Waters went a long way towards supporting that theory. I mean, if you listen to his records or live shows, they're kind of a mess. The music is all over the place, everyone on stage or in the studio was self-taught, you can tell they generally tuned by ear, and the gear is the 50s/60s equivalent of Behringer shit.
But these dudes delivered more style in one note than most of us can manage to conjure in a lifetime of playing and performance. No histrionics. No cutesy bullshit. No outlandish outfits. No backing tracks. No video. Just a sharp suit and a huge wallop of attitude.
---
## Well, Shit...
- Date: 2011-04-03
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/04/well-shit/
I was going to, at this juncture, put up a lengthy rant about the Roland Jupiter 80. And the person that wrote [this slavish bullshit.](http://www.muffwiggler.com/forum/userpix/3773_keyboard_magazine__may_2011_16__17_1.jpg) But then I thought what's the point? Why should Roland give a shit about 2,000 hard-core gear fetishists, when they can sell 10K of these to wedding band keyboard players?
And while that last sentence is, on the face of it, a sad thing, they're a business, and they have shareholders to please. There is a certain sort of company that will endeavor to get people like me or Matthew Davidson or others of our ilk to say nice things, and occasionally even solicit our opinions, and will work to make things that please people like us, and Roland is definitely not in a position where they need (or even want) to do that. The kind of quirky things that please us are inherently only really of interest to the couple thousand people that think like we do. The _real_ music industry exists to please the 50,000 garage bands and the 50,000 wedding bands in the world. This is where the money is. And a corporation is generally beholden to its shareholders. Unless those shareholders are people like me and Matthew, their chief interest is a return on their investment.
Purists like us simply can't be pleased by a product like the Jupiter 80, as there's no room for (to borrow a word that Mr. Kirn uses with [wild abandon](http://www.google.com/search?q=hack+site%3Acreatedigitalmusic.com&hl=en&biw=1440&bih=780&gbv=2&num=10&lr=&ft=i&cr=&safe=images&tbs=#sclient=psy&hl=en&lr=&biw=1440&bih=780&gbv=2&q=hack*+site:createdigitalmusic.com&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&fp=7222b5efa7d4217b)) hacking. Roland's chief goal with an instrument like this is to make getting a sound that, well, sounds good for what it is supposed to do easy, quick, and thought-free. People like us like to think. We like to find new sounds, and figure out how to work them in to new contexts. The vast majority of the performing musicians in the world are much more concerned with easy access to old sounds, the ones that have already been thought of.
(As a brief aside, if you clicked that link, you'll see that there are 2,170 instances of the word "hack" in its various permutations on the createdigitalmusic.com site. For comparison, I have used the word "fuck" on this site [1,740 times.](http://www.google.com/search?q=hack+site%3Acreatedigitalmusic.com&hl=en&biw=1440&bih=780&gbv=2&num=10&lr=&ft=i&cr=&safe=images&tbs=#sclient=psy&hl=en&lr=&biw=1440&bih=780&gbv=2&q=fuck*+site:analogindustries.com&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&fp=7222b5efa7d4217b))
While I was pissing and moaning about this thing on Twitter, someone replied that perhaps I should wait to hear it before casting aspersions. I don't need to. Something like this may have "the best upright bass" a ROMpler can recreate, but it'll never make the bottles behind the bar rattle like a real one. It may have an excellent B3 emulation, but it doesn't have waterfall keys, two manuals, and a Leslie that makes your pantlegs flap. It might have a really pristine sample set of a Steinway grand in it, but it'll never look like polished laquer under a Leko framed _just so._
In short, it may have science, but it is utterly lacking in art.
It'll sound like those things the same way it looks like a Jupiter 8: sort of. It will be, no doubt, a high-quality instrument for the paint-by-numbers set. Those guys make good money, too.
---
## What The Hell Are They Building In There?
- Date: 2011-04-01
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/04/what-the-hell-are-they-building-in-there/
Let me state for the record that this is not an April Fool's prank. Homie don't play dat. This industry's habit of putting out fake press releases on April 1st is right down there with genital warts and Logic on my list of favorite things about the music industry.
Those PCBs are very real. And that's all I'll say right now.
In other news, we're forging ahead with dealing with the 64-bit Boondoggle. The easiest ones are done, and now we have to figure out how to deal with the old products. This is an especially difficult process with the oldest ones, since we've been coding the plugs with this Boondoggle in mind for some time, and the younger plugs (basically from Ronin's re-release on) are able to deal with it in a certain fashion. But anything before that (roughly half our catalog) has Issues that need to be Dealt With.
The upshot is that you'll see me saying "FUCKING LOGIC" on my Twitter feed a lot more often in the next couple months.
---
## Discord3 and Replicant 64-bit OSX AU and VST...
- Date: 2011-03-28
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/03/discord3-and-replicant-64-bit-osx-au-and-vst/
I have, in my grimy little paws, 32/64-bit installers of Discord3 and Replicant. We'll push them out tomorrow, but if you'd like to test, and you already own either or both, hit me up and I'll sport 'em to you.
**EDIT:** Okay, Discord3 v1.1.0 for OS X and Replicant v1.6 for OS X are now in the store for immediate download. If you own either, you're good to go. A note: if you only use Ableton Live on a Mac, or one of the other 32-bit hosts, there is no earthly reason to do either of these updates. This update is mainly for Logic users and people using Cubase 6 (64-bit), along with the couple of other minor hosts that are 64-bit on the Mac.
Also, the number of comments this post initially got before the edit (1), and the number of e-mails I received (2) will show you exactly how important this 64-bit boondoggle is. These are two of our best-selling plug-ins, with many thousands of legit purchased copies of both out in the world, in heavy use every day by industry professionals, and only two people were like "shit, gotta have it."
---
## New (and older) Micronaut Stuff...
- Date: 2011-03-24
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/03/new-and-older-micronaut-stuff/
This is definitely absolutely the final "experiment" video. I have decided how I'm going to do the next micronaut full-length, and am going to begin work on that in earnest now. In this one, everything is sequenced in Live. I'm using the SoundPrism Pro app to play the TETR4 for the main melody line. I record the one-measure clip in to Live, then loop it, as you can see.
A quick note about SoundPrism. If you have an internet connection and are a musician, you probably saw the hullaballoo a couple weeks about how Apple had rejected a SoundPrism update because of MIDI capability being an in-app-purchase. Audanika re-submitted the MIDI version as a "Pro" build, and it is now available [in the App Store](http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/stat?id=sTCd28A32go&offerid=146261&type=3&subid=0&tmpid=1826&RD_PARM1=http%253A%252F%252Fitunes.apple.com%252Fus%252Fapp%252Fsoundprism-pro%252Fid425733007%253Fmt%253D8%2526uo%253D4%2526partnerId%253D30) for $9.99. This is a very cool app, and I recommend it.
Due to many requests, I've taken the audio from three of the "experiment" videos, plus the full track of "location 1" (the field recording video/song), plus one previously-unheard track called "procedure 1" which I did entirely in Max, no samples, no external synths, and made a BandCamp release. (Boy, that was a long sentence.)
Anyhow, it can be found [here](http://micronaut.bandcamp.com/) for pay-what-you-want-minimum-nothing, which is how I've taken to doing the off-release stuff.
An interesting technical point is that these five tracks were created with five different methods.
1\. location 1: Field recordings, re-sequenced in Live.
2\. experiment 2: hardware synths, sequenced with an Apple //e and Roland CMU-800R.
3\. procedure 1: Entirely procedural/algorithmic, done entirely in Max/MSP, end to end. No samples, no hardware synths, no plug-ins.
4\. experiment 4: MIDI algorithmically generated in Max/MSP, driving hardware, recorded in Live.
5\. experiment 5: All hardware, driven by MIDI sequenced in Live, recorded in Cubase 5.
While those facts, in and of themselves, aren't that amazing, what I found odd was that, upon assembly of the collection, all five tracks are strikingly similar. I think this was a result of the whole point of these experiments, which was to determine a new workflow that didn't involve making short samples and moving them about until I had a song. In other words, I wasn't looking to push any melodic envelopes; rather, I was concentrating on technical matters.
Strange how things work out.
---
## The End Of The Road, Vis-A-Vis Hipster Cool...
- Date: 2011-03-22
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/03/the-end-of-the-road-vis-a-vis-hipster-cool/
My main purpose in putting this up, aside from strictly historical interest, is to make James from [RetroThing](http://www.retrothing.com/) wet his pants with jealousy. Jeff Laity from TASCAM (who posts as synthetic here) sent me this little gem completely out of the blue, because he knows this is the sort of thing that makes me all giggly like a little girl.
What it is: the TEAC Open Reel cassette system. Check it. You've got an empty shell of a cassette, and you can swap out the reels of tape as if it was a reel-to-reel. There's a take-up reel included with the system, and each roll of tape has its own little plastic case that screws apart. I think, from a commercial standpoint, that it's interesting this was ever released at all.
The construction quality of the reels themselves, and their little holders, is top notch, just as nice as a roll of Quantegy 2" or some such. The cassette shell thing is kind of not-as-awesome, but it'll get the job done. There's a slot in the side of the shell that you slide the reel in to, and then you spool the tape over to the take-up reel, and Bob's your uncle.
As far as I can tell, the point of this system is to be able to just leave the shell in your Walkman (or TEAC-branded version of same) and then you've got these little spools instead of a rucksack full of cassettes. They're much, much tinier, of course. A pretty cool concept all in all, but I wish (oh, how I wish) there was a tiny little 1/8" reel-to-reel deck they went with. No such luck.
---
## How To (Not) Make A YouTube Video...
- Date: 2011-03-21
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/03/how-to-not-make-a-youtube-video/
Okay, here's the deal. Either you're a media professional of some sort, or you want to be one. Concurrently, you got a new piece of kit and want to show it off on the 'Tubes, to amaze your friends and amuse your enemies. So why, oh why, do you insist on doing something like this?
The days of "Fucktard Of The Week" are long gone, and I didn't pick this video just to give the dude who made it a hard time. Rather, it embodies virtually everything nobody likes about YouTube gear demo videos in one fell swoop.
**1\. The Disembodied Hands.** I'm guilty of this myself on occasion; sometimes it can't be helped if you're demonstrating a product, or making a video for eBay or something. But seriously, if there is any way you can fit an elbow or something in that frame...
**2\. That Boy Can Play!** Jump? Blue Monday? Born Slippy? You're fucking killing me here. This may come as a shock, but we can all play those parts. Most of us can play them right, even. Unlike you.
**3\. The Rarest Of The Rare.** The reason for making this video is obviously the super rare _blue_ JP-8000. Nobody ever sees one. Seriously, if you're gonna put up a video of parts everyone can play, on a synth everyone has, at least wear a funny costume while you do it.
**4\. The Shit Quadrella.** In short, shitty video, shitty audio, shitty performance, shitty gear. This is the very definition of a waste of bandwidth.
That video has 45,000 views. If you put all those people in one place, that place would need to be a football stadium. If you were going to play a stadium show, is this how you'd want to present yourself?
**Crandall's Golden Rules Of YouTube Videos:**
**1\. Play something we've never seen before.** Either gear or technique, but ideally both. That way, you're adding to popular culture rather than taking from it.
**2\. Never apologize.** If you plan to spend the whole video or description box telling me how your performance or gear or whatever isn't the best you can do, why should I watch it? Go back and do the best you can do, _then_ hit the "upload" button.
**3\. Ditch That Cell Phone.** The [shittiest camcorder currently available](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003HBYJJM/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=analogindustr-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B003HBYJJM) takes video that is an order of magnitude better than the best cell phone. And for fuck's sake, buy a tripod, unless your BFF is a steadicam operator.
**4\. The Mic On Your Camera Is Fucking Useless.** Record the audio of your performance _anywhere_ but via the camera's mic. Record in the DAW you're using as a mixer, render, swap that shit out in iMovie.
Seriously, it's not that hard to put up something that is at least mildly interesting, if not outright entertaining. It's harder than recording a video on your iPhone 3GS and pressing the "Upload To YouTube" button, I'll grant. But if you're the sort of person that wants to do things half-assed, you wouldn't be reading this part of the article, anyhow.
---
## iOS Apps: ur doin it rong...
- Date: 2011-03-18
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/03/ios-apps-ur-doin-it-rong/
My goal today was going to be to put up a fairly thorough review of the [Fairlight App](http://ow.ly/4hegw) for iOS devices. However, I'm a little pissed off now, and with the mood swing comes a goal change.
I purchased the app essentially the minute it went live in the app store. It was $9.99, and I didn't really read the description. I was just like "ten bucks for a Fairlight IIx. Buy now. Click." Here's what I didn't know:
The $9.99 version is, for all intents and purposes, useless. All you can do with it is browse the IIx library, play those sounds from the on-screen keyboard, and play two fairly shitty Page R demonstration songs. That's it. End of story.
Right now, you're saying "but Chris! It says MIDI is a built-in feature right there in the App description! Plus I know from Audanika's [recent experiences](http://audanika.tumblr.com/post/3852198985) with Soundprism that you can't sell MIDI support via an in-app purchase! So it's still useful, right?"
Wrong.
CoreMidi support is not available in the $9.99 version. Page R doesn't send MIDI. The voices don't respond to MIDI. The keyboard doesn't send MIDI. It is, for all intents and purposes, a fart app that plays shakahuchi flute samples instead.
Is that image big enough to read? The entries without checkmarks are the ones you get in the Pro version, for which you need to pony up another $39.00. Now, the next thing you'll say is "well, it's a total of US$48.98 for a full-featured Fairlight IIx. That's not so bad." I agree. So what the fuck is the point of the trick, then? The $9.99 one should be free, because it is useless. The "Pro" one should be $49.99. And that's that.
I'll tell you what else I don't like: the fucking gimmicks. The keyboard and disk drive sounds are irritating. The little puzzle you have to complete at the beginning about made me want to frisbee my iPad across the fucking room. When an app is more than, say, $1.99, no matter what its price point beyond that, I expect it to be professional. Not a toy. This thing is made of wood, and someday, if the In App Purchase Fairy comes and touches it with a magic wand, it'll turn in to a real boy. It gets a "DO NOT BUY" from me.
**EDIT:** I was able to get the CoreMidi working by killing the app and restarting it. Note that it only works on the instrument that is selected via the P3 page. In the simple version, the MIDI implementation is just the selected voice, and that's it.
---
## The Sun Also Rises...
- Date: 2011-03-17
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/03/the-sun-also-rises/
As I remarked to someone on AIM last night, my e-mail inbox looks like Half Life 2. Shit is total destruction right now. So in lieu of pondering the complexities of life or ranting (or both) I'm gonna drop some tidbits up in here, and spend the next 12 hours trying to figure out why (Logic User A) can't install (Plugin B). Rinse. Repeat.
First up, Goldbaby drops an interesting new set on us, in the form of the [iAm k3m](http://www.goldbaby.co.nz/iam_k3m.html) package. I'm downloading this bad boy as we speak. It is, as the name implies, a sample set of the Kawai K3m. I've never owned one of these synths, but lately I've been curious; I kept coming across mentions of it when we were researching for the Phosphor project. Now I can see what all the hubbub is about.
Next up, and still in Sample-Land, Puremagnetic is running a deal where, if you donate for Japanese Tsunami relief via [the SxSW site](http://sxsw4japan.org/puremagnetik), they'll give you a subscription to match your donation. $30 gets you 6 months access to their basic sample library and $60 gets you a year. Do the second one, as you'll need all that time to download the fairly gigantic quantity of sample sets you get access to. Micah & co. have a knack for rolling out some weird shit that I like and use often.
And finally, I've been digging on [Stereognosis](http://www.stereognosis.com/stereognosis-the-hybrid.html) lately. This is an interesting mix of modern electronic music (which is funny, because all music is electronic nowadays, but you know what I mean) production and (mostly) middle-eastern instrumentation. I particularly like track 2, Blaglama Boxer, a YouTube rendition of which you can find [here](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaLTWNCyAXY). Jeremy Highhouse, who posts here as Cutter Filtoff, and is the other half of the perpetually tardy RT60 project, did a lot of the work on this album. Worth a listen.
---
## Happy Anniversary!!!!
- Date: 2011-03-15
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/03/happy-anniversary/
Seven years ago today, Adam and I released our first product under the name Audio Damage, the Mayhem FX suite. In seven years, we've never had a sale or discount of any sort. We've fiddled with prices here and there, but as many have gone up as have gone down.
Today, on our seventh birthday, as a thank-you to all our customers for their continuing support, use the code MAYHEM at check-out in the Audio Damage store to receive 25% off your entire order.
This code will expire at midnight Pacific time on March 16th. [Audio Damage store.](http://www.audiodamage.com/)
**EDIT:** All done. Jesus, that was huge. (That's what she said.) Now it's time to settle down to a massively increased support load.
---
## Eos 1.4.0 for OS X Now Available...
- Date: 2011-03-14
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/03/eos-1-4-0-for-os-x-now-available/
If you hit your account in the [Audio Damage store](http://www.audiodamage.com/), you can grab the Eos 1.4.0 installer for OS X. This installer throws what Apple terms "Standard (32/64-bit Intel)" builds of both the VST and AU. These work in every 64-bit host we could find on the OS X platform, both VST and AudioUnit. The sum total of these are Logic, Cubase 5/6, Reaper, Plogue Bidule, and Studio One, best I'm aware.
In any case, the version number change should force a re-scan, but if you run in to any issues at all, drop me a line via the AD info@ address, or if you have some info that everyone will benefit from, feel free to post it here.
We're going to do Discord3 and Replicant1.5 next, because they are built with the same framework as Eos, and it should be fairly easy to give them this treatment. We're going to wait a couple days, though, to make sure this Eos version doesn't have any problems before we do, though.
And finally, note that if you haven't updated Eos in the last update round (v1.1.0) then you need to make preparations before using this one. Your existing projects that use Eos won't break, but the preset manager is somewhat different, and as a result, Eos will return to its default state (the first preset, "This Budd's For You.") Also, any presets you've created for Eos won't load. There's nothing we can do about this, due to a fundamental architecture change internally. So plan accordingly.
---
## On Location...
- Date: 2011-03-13
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/03/on-location/
I've been intrigued by the videos Diego Stocco puts up on [der tüben](http://www.youtube.com/user/DSSessionVideos) for a while now, and I decided to give that sort of thing a whirl. So I soldered a couple piezo speakers to a hacked-up RCA cable, packed up my [DR-2d](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003838PHQ/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=analogindustr-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B003838PHQ) and Silvertone, and headed up in to the Superstition Mountains for some quality time, just me and the flora and fauna of the Sonoran Desert.
Well, come to find out, what Diego Stocco does is incredibly difficult. Who knew? After a few hours getting par-boiled, I headed back to the compound and tried to piece the pieces in to a coherent whole. That's where the trouble started. Easy enough to grab little rhythms here and there and turn them in to a song, but trying to find that specific 4-second burst of plant-drumming in a 6-minute video clip is nigh on impossible. So I threw in the towel. I made a nice long audio track, essentially a normal song, but about half way through assembling the video pieces, I ran out of incidental footage, and was pulling my hair out trying to find the specific bits that lined up with the playing. You can see that I gave up right when the cactus plucking starts.
Fade to black.
Anyhow, I have a new respect for that dude and his methodology, I'll say that much. I'll probably do more of this sort of thing, but I need to come up with a better workflow. Is there such a thing as a battery-powered 8-track that has some full-featured shit on it? It would be a lot easier to get the video and audio all lined up if I was able to make the whole song in the wild, rather than trying to remember what went where when I got home.
Anyone else try this? Success? If so, methods please.
---
## ZOMGWTFBBQ BUY NOW!!!
- Date: 2011-03-12
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/03/zomgwtfbbq-buy-now/
SimpleMidiPad was approved, and is now available in the [iTunes App Store](http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/stat?id=sTCd28A32go&offerid=146261&type=3&subid=0&tmpid=1826&RD_PARM1=http%253A%252F%252Fitunes.apple.com%252Fus%252Fapp%252Fsimplemidipad%252Fid423582819%253Fmt%253D8%2526ls%253D1%2526partnerId%253D30%3Cbr%20/%3E) for immediate purchase. It is what Apple calls "Tier 2 pricing," which means $1.99 in the US and Canada, and all kinds of arbitrary amounts in the rest of the world. It is iPad only, as we've gone over in previous threads on the subject.
Let me know what you think, and what I need to do to improve it. The next one on deck is a bouncy ball shizzle (like that one on that one device which ceased to be made not too long ago) which I'm still putting the finishing touches on.
---
## Whelp, Said The Mother Dog...
- Date: 2011-03-10
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/03/whelp-said-the-mother-dog/
I had hoped by this time I'd be putting up a "HEY ZOMG BUY NOW!!!!111!1" post about SimpleMidiPad, because in my experience (which, in this particular subject area, is not vast, but exists), when an app goes in review, a few hours later it's good to go. SimpleMidiPad went in to review, all right. On Monday morning.
And there it sits. The days of the dreaded Apple Pocket Veto via "In Review" Limbo are long gone, so I can only surmise that the wait is due to the fact that they pushed an iOS update out today. So I don't have that to talk about, and I don't want to leave the Pd post at the top, because it is just sending ripples of bad vibes... uh... rippling, I guess, through the coffee shops of San Jose and Cambridge, and the more fashionable Scandinavian cities.
So, I guess we'll have to Open Thread this shit. You start. What's on your mind? Could it be [this post](http://tomellard.com/wp/2011/03/audio-mouth-breathers/) Tom Ellard just put up?
---
## Old And Busted < New Hotness...
- Date: 2011-03-07
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/03/old-and-busted-new-hotness/
I'm sad to say that I'm pitching Pd. While it is _reasonably_ stable on my PC, on the MacBookPro where I do most of this sort of work, it is something of a travesty. I've put up with its little annoyances (having to set the MIDI and audio I/O every single time I open it, or its incredibly hard-on-the-eyes UI, e.g.) for years, but I just can't take the crashing any more. By virtue of being a software developer, I'm fairly patient with software problems, but there's no rhyme nor reason to Pd's instability, and something as simple as instancing a new object (say, a simple metro or something) can randomly cause it to just disappear.
I have no idea how much work I've lost over the years with Pd's OS X behavior, but I imagine it is quite a bit. I have successfully built fairly complex patchers (Axon was designed entirely in Pd, for instance) and indeed entire songs using Pd, but the benefits no longer outweigh the detriments, unfortunately.
So, the other day I downloaded the trial of Max 5, to see how things had shaped up. To give an idea of how long it has been since I used this program, I was employed at C'74 on the QA team for the initial Windows port of Max, which if you recall occurred at the cusp of the 3->4 transition. So, almost 8 years since the last time I opened this program. I imagine this will come as no surprise to the Max users among the readership, but come to find out there is a world of difference between Pd (and indeed Max 3/4) and Max 5.
I was able to bang out a fairly complex song in a matter of hours, it didn't crash once, and lo, and furthermore hark, I forgot all about vst~. The baby Jesus wept.
Anyhow, an adjustment to my workflow over the weekend (luckily not a drastic one, as Max and Pd are quite similar in operation), and Max 5 is now the hub of my generative lifestyle, pitching both MIDI and audio hither and yon. The patcher I've got going on pictured above is mostly procedural drums and synth stuff, with a couple AD plug-ins for effects, and a couple outboard synths and effects, with full MIDI CC control, and not a single crash. The mere thought of trying to do something so hybridized in Pd gives me little tiny hives all over my face.
So, sorry, Pd. I tried. I really did. But you've gotta go.
---
## Just To See If I Could, Really...
- Date: 2011-03-04
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/03/just-to-see-if-i-could-really/
This was interesting to make. Instead of sequencing the MIDI for this track, I made a Max patch that shits MIDI notes via an intricate system of nested metro and delay objects. Sort of a brute-force generative system. I also picked up a BOSS RRV-10 reverb (the little half-rack jobbie under the MeeBlip) last night. I've been looking for one of these for years as I have a couple circuit-bending tricks I wanted to try on it, but I didn't want to pay the going eBay rate. Finally found one on Craigslist here in PHX for $50, which is much more reasonable.
Anyhow, yeah, you can pretty much tell what is going on here, I imagine. The face-melting foot is from the Source; normally that synth isn't really very good for percussion sounds, but it can do that one fairly well. The only sound not from one of the hardware synths is the snare, which originated in New Zealand in the Goldbaby Labs, and makes its way to your ears via Kombinat. I think this about wraps things up for my "experiments" videos, and I'm going to get down to the nitty gritty of writing and recording the next EP, which (as I've mentioned in previous posts) will be complex and time-consuming.
---
## Well, That Was Easier Than I Thought It Would Be...
- Date: 2011-03-01
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/03/well-that-was-easier-than-i-thought-it-would-be/
[](http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/5489906994/)
I've now submitted SimpleMidiPad to the App Store for review. Normally this sort of thing isn't so quick, but for this particular app, which I dearly wanted anyhow, I had all the parts lying around from other projects, so it was just a matter of piecing them together.
I'll make a video showing it in use, and simple techniques for hooking things up. If you don't have the Camera Connection Kit and a compatible USB MIDI interface, or do your music on an OS X machine, you're kinda outta luck. It defaults to a Network Session MIDI node, and looks for a host on your Wi-Fi network. As those of you who have used this know, it's a little tweaky. For realtime CC it's fine, but I wouldn't want to play a synth over it. But it works.
If you plug in a USB MIDI interface via the Camera Connection Kit, it grabs on to that and stops sending to the Network Session. There are a number of MIDI interfaces that work; I have [this one](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00006I5HD?ie=UTF8&tag=analogindustr-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00006I5HD), which works fine, but doesn't have anything in particular to recommend it otherwise, except perhaps that it doesn't have integral cables like so many 1x1 interfaces do (and which I intensely dislike.) I was amusing myself for a bit by driving my modular directly from the iPad. The MIDI->CV interface I have only has two CC out, so I could only use one pad, but it works as advertised regardless.
Anyhow, four pads, and you can set the X, Y, and Z CC destinations for each. (Z is just off/on, of course.) It remembers your previous settings, but I didn't provide any sort of preset mechanism aside from that. I put it in at what Apple calls "Tier 2 Pricing," which is $1.99 in the US and Canada, and whatever your local equivalent is. I'll keep you informed on the progress, of course. Should know in a couple of days if it was approved or not, but unless I made some silly mistake (entirely possible) it'll be rockin' sooner rather than later.
Assuming it is approved and those of you that try it provide some good feedback, I'll adjust the framework accordingly and bang out a couple of the other simple ideas I have. Then we'll give porting the Axon sequencer a whirl, which is necessarily a much more involved process. If you have a request for a specific MIDI generator for the iPad, now is the time to bring it up.
---
## The Next Cycle...
- Date: 2011-02-27
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/02/the-next-cycle/
[](http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/5482662341/)
I'm currently in the planning stages for the next cycle of Micronaut EPs. If you don't know by now that I'm all about process, and the purity thereof, then you haven't been reading this blog very long.
Setting up the process by which I'll write the next go-round of music is actually the most pleasurable part for me. For the last cycle (what I internally call "the Bandcamp albums," collectively [Resistor](http://micronaut.bandcamp.com/album/resistor), [Capacitor](http://micronaut.bandcamp.com/album/capacitor), and [Transformer](http://micronaut.bandcamp.com/album/transformer)) I didn't really set up a particular workflow to get a specific result; it just kind of worked out that way, for better or worse.
For the next go-round, my intention is to create what I term "state machines," where the entire song can play in real time, composed by a variety of procedural means, without utilizing any piano roll sequencing or DAWs. Essentially like the three "experiment" videos on YouTube that I put up recently, but not using the CMU-800R software for sequencing.)
In general, I will be allowed to _guide_ the tracks, muting and unmuting instruments, diddling with the effects and settings and such, but the actual note choices are going to be left up to Skynet, when it comes down to it. And therein lies the point of this post. I plan to be making most of the states in Pd, since that's the environment I'm most comfortable in, when it isn't searing my eyes with its ugliness or crashing. But I also intend to create some MIDI control and sequencing applications for the iPad.
I'll talk about the whole process as I do it, and film the actual performances, of course. I intend to record everything direct to 8-track tape, and mix from that, which should be entertaining.But my question is thus: if you're an iPad user, would you be interested in these simple sequencers and control apps that I intend to make? Think the Axon sequencer, MIDI only, or the Tattoo sequencer, likewise. Or a functional equivalent of a Kaoss pad, but only MIDI. Simple little apps at simple little prices.
The reason I ask is that if I'm only making it for myself, the app doesn't need a lot of user-friendly features. But it's easier to plan for App Store release down the road if I do it at the beginning of the process, rather than trying to make some private rat's nest of code behave later on.
---
## Defining Results...
- Date: 2011-02-22
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/02/defining-results/
[](http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/5418648150/)
For some reason I can't quite explain (perhaps it was all the Fashion Week articles in my New York Times RSS feed) I was hit with an overwhelming urge to re-read [Zero History](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0399156828?ie=UTF8&tag=analogindustr-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0399156828) last week. In the course of doing so, I came across this passage:
_It's all about atemporality. About opting out of the industrialization of novelty. It's about deeper code._
Of course, Mr. Gibson was talking about clothing styles, but the "industrialization of novelty" is, I realized, a base level instruction set for the music industry. The British and their former colonies are best at this, of course, inventing genres at the rate of a couple a week, it seems, but every level of the music industry, from a potential musician's first ham-fisted attempts, on up to the A&R guys that grease the major labels' remaining machinery, operates on the industrialization of novelty.
There are three factors that drive this event, in my opinion. They are:
1\. Consumer desire to find More Like This. A genre identifier provides some ease in this regard.
2\. A label's desire to build upon the accidental success of an individual artist, or the success of an artist from a competing label, to satisfy consumer demand. (See #1, above.)
3\. An artist's desire to capitalize on the success of another artist.
I find it ironic that electronic music, which is arguably the most forward-looking of the various styles (and note I use "style" rather than "genre" here), has some of the strictest rules. Granted that there are some hundreds of distinct genres within the style known as "electronic," each of which has their own ruleset, with over-arching meta-genres (e.g. House) which contain sub-genres (progressive house, minimal house, deep house, acid house, et al.; in fact a new one just showed up, "fidget house," which is like minimal house made with a deep house soundset, arghhhh!) One could easily describe any track from any of these sub-genres as "house," of course, because house music has three key elements: four-on-the-floor kick drums, a bit of swing, and a hi-hat on the "and." In this system, the sub-genre identifier is arguably more important, allowing a deeper classification in the "I Like This" hierarchy, because one can't be expected to like Farben's "Beautone" just because one likes Marshall Jefferson's "Move Your Body."
Atemporality, however, should be the end goal of any musician, and in fact, any creative endeavor. Mr. Gibson points out, later in the book, that well-made articles of clothing don't wear _out_. They wear _in_, and artificial distressing and aging is used to hide sub-standard manufacturing methods. This also applies to music. A well-made piece of forward-looking music (think: Sgt. Pepper's) doesn't ever wear out. It wears in. An artificial construct built to capitalize on the original (the movie Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, starring Peter Frampton and the BeeGees) sounds ludicrously dated.
The net result, in any event, is that you hear a song you like, and you do a little research and discover it is identified by Style:Genre:Sub-Genre. If it is electronic music (or, you know, ska or something), this means you can almost certainly find dozens, if not hundreds, of tracks that are more or less exactly like it, and quickly get saturated with hearing the same song in various keys, with some minor tempo drift and slightly different synth sounds.
Obviously, there's no parthenogenesis here. A musician needs a creative sperm to fertilize his imagination egg (there's a mental image that's gonna fester...) and this almost always comes from someone else's creation. You hear a song and, for some reason, you want to re-work the idea in to your own thing. Or a working method, or whatever. Another caveat is that we can necessarily date electronic music via the technology and production methods used, since electronic musicians are habitually using the latest technology and methods. There are exceptions to this, of course, and atemporality again rears its head.
My point, if I have one, is that one should draw from a deeper pool of inspiration than "ZOMG I WANT TO MAKE A DUBSTEP TRACK BECAUSE THAT SHIT PAYS!" Genre and sub-genre identifiers are at best a marketing tool, and at worst an artificial limitation, and shouldn't be used to define your creative output. It's time to opt out of the industrialization of novelty.
---
## The Results Of Saturday's Endeavor...
- Date: 2011-02-21
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/02/the-results-of-saturdays-endeavor/
[](http://micronaut.bandcamp.com/album/live-in-los-angeles-21911)
_**EDIT**: I took out the Bandcamp player because it is slowing down the site in a nasty sort of way. Hit the image to go to the Bandcamp site and listen there._
I've just got done cleaning up the audio from the live PA I did on Saturday in Hollywood, and the audio is now on Bandcamp for pay-what-you-want-minimum-nothing. My original intention was to use the dual recording feature of the TASCAM DR-2d, and lay in the microphone audio in the background to lend a live ambiance to the recording, since live recordings of electronic acts sound pretty much like the un-live sort.
However, being me, I neglected to properly set the recorder up for dual recording before the show. The net result was that I tried to pull off what is a somewhat complex process in the space of about 3 seconds. The line feed part of the equation is, as you can hear, quite good. However, the microphone part suffered from the fact that I had the gain set to something on the order of +850dB or something. As a result, the mic recording sounds like I was playing an Atari Punk Console through a Rat pedal, so I pressed "delete" on that sumbitch and just put up the line recording as-is.
Aside from the various mistakes that are a result of performing live, and thus aren't worth talking about, there is one small recording glitch in the middle of the first track. I was going to edit around it, but I couldn't really get the edit sounding right, so I just left it. It's live. It's digital. It is what it is.
On a personal note, this is the first (and so far only) time I've performed a strictly electronic show without pre-recorded backing tracks. In all candor, I was fairly uncomfortable, as I'm used to having pre-memorized a set-in-stone arrangement and every timing nuance, whereas here, on top of the normal performance aspects, I also have to control the arrangement in real time. I'm sure this sounds somewhat silly to those of you who have used Live for most of your performances, but it is a relatively late addition to my arsenal, and it is, as it happens, quite difficult to teach an old dog (e.g. me) new tricks (i.e. Live.)
But that said, after some more time in the woodshed, I'll get the knack of it, I'm sure.
---
## Cluster-Grade Fuck...
- Date: 2011-02-18
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/02/cluster-grade-fuck/
[](http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/5457036594/)
Heading to L.A. in the morning to play my Big Show at Bar Sinister. (I'm on at 11PM. Wear black.) I've managed to rehearse my set several times with only minimal mistakes, the kind an audience would never notice. So I think I'm in pretty good shape. (He said, with admirable yet utterly mis-placed self confidence)
Concerns? None to speak of, except maybe the Manta. I've noticed that it gets a little... balky, I guess... when my fingers are wet. On the good side, it should be quite chilly, so no danger of sweating. On the minus, it's going to be pouring rain, so the relative humidity will be on the order of 120% or some such. I'll admit that I'm curious as to whether that will affect it. Not so curious as to actually _want_ to find out, of course.
I'm exploring using self-oscillating delays heavily throughout the set. Luckily, being half owner of a company that makes several delay products, I have a fairly good idea of what goes in to making a delay self-oscillate, and how to control same. My 2-buss effects rack is like a commercial for Audio Damage. For the hardware, I'm using the Eventide TimeFactor pedal, which oscillates quite nicely in certain modes.
In any case, this will be my first time on stage for some 5 years. I'll be recording the show, and the results will be available for download as soon as I get back to Tempe and edit out whatever fuck-ups are in the set.
---
## Eos 1.1.0 Now Available...
- Date: 2011-02-15
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/02/eos-1-1-0-now-available/
Eos 1.1.0 is now available for download in the [AD Store.](http://www.audiodamage.com/)
**New UI.** We've updated the user interface a touch to match the other recent AD products. Operationally, no change whatsoever.
**Windows 64-bit.** The Windows installer now installs a native 64-bit VST as well as the 32-bit VST.
**All-new AudioUnit.** The AudioUnit architecture has been entirely changed to ease future versions, and to fix several bugs existing in the previous AU version.
Those are the major changes. The VST versions are otherwise completely un-changed, and are drop-in replacements for version 1.0.2.
Now, a word about the OS X side of things. Due to some fairly major changes in the way that Apple's installer maker works between when we pushed 1.0.2 and now, here's the deal. If you're installing the OS X version, and you have 1.0.2 already installed, you **must** delete both the VST and AU prior to installing. If you don't, you're gonna gum up your AU cache, and while Live and DP and other AU hosts may be able to deal with things, Logic, being somewhat retarded, will get all confused. If you don't delete the prior versions, you're going to spend some time in an email conversation with me getting things un-stuck. If this is the sort of thing that sounds like fun to you, by all means ignore this warning.
**ALSO TOO:** If you open a previous project that had the AudioUnit version instanced, 1.1.0 will instance fine. However, the settings will revert to the default preset ("This Budd's For You.") This is due to a change in the preset structure in the AU version. Plan accordingly. The VST doesn't suffer from this problem, on either Windows or Mac.
**AND FINALLY:** This is only semi-related. I've lately noticed a lot of people that use Live as their main DAW, and don't have Logic at all, who use the AU instead of the VST. All our recent products are built using Sonic Charge's Symbiosis compatibility layer, and the AU is just a VST with an extra layer of crap on top to make it act like an AU. With commercial plug-ins, it is very rare for the plug to be a true AU. Almost all commercial plugs use some sort of compatibility layer or wrapper to create the AU, and you are nearly always better off using the VST, given the choice between the two.
I imagine that the reasoning behind using an AU in Live is that people think "well, I'm on an Apple. The AU must be better!!!" This is false. The AU is never better. Ever. You might like the preset mechanism more, but as far as Live's presets go, this is a transparent experience to the user, and thus moot. The only reason you'd have for using an AU in Live is if you want to make presets there and then use them in Logic or DP, or vice-versa. If you don't do this, use the VST.
So, with that out of the way, go get your new Eos and enjoy!
---
## Who Gives A Fuck About A God Damned Grammy?
- Date: 2011-02-14
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/02/who-gives-a-fuck-about-a-god-damned-grammy/
We're still working away at the Eos update, as those of you who follow me on Twitter no doubt know. We've got the Windows versions done and ready to go, but the OS X side of things is causing some troubles. The VST seems fine, but the AU is being somewhat balky.
So... if you're an Eos user on Logic or DP, or if you regularly use the Eos AU in Live, please [drop me a line](mailto:info@audiodamage.com) and say "hey, send that shit over this way!!!" If you're going to take, like, a week to get back to me or something don't bother. I just need you to run a quick install and say "it works in Host X," with the caveat that you may need to put the old one back in.
---
## The Experiment Station...
- Date: 2011-02-10
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/02/the-experiment-station/
Another Experiment, this time mostly digital. (Sorry, synth nrrrds.) I just scored all of [Twisted Tools'](http://twistedtools.com/) stuff, and their newest, Scapes, really caught my ear. It's kind of hard to describe in detail, largely because I'm not entirely sure what's going on, but it is essentially six granular engines that can either respond to input, internal oscs, or via the Reaktor sample playback jobby. There are four mod sources and a sequencer that can mod the grainStuff and fire the internal sounds and such.
I'm using two in this little piece. The first one you hear right away; the chain is Axon->Scapes->Reaktor->Rough Rider Pro, with a send to Eos. The mix in Scapes is 100% wet. The second one I fade in starting at about 45 seconds, and this one is using Scapes' internal sounds, and is then hitting Discord3. You can pretty much watch the screen of the laptop to figure out the rest. Phosphor->Discord3 is the next sound to come in, followed by Tattoo, and then I start playing the TETR4->Eventide TimeFactor chain via the Manta.
It's kind of fun using my live rig to make music; the PC has every plug-in under the sun, a terabyte of samples, and the highest of high-end summing rigs and hardware effects hanging off the ass end. With my little live rig, I'm limited to Audio Damage and Native Instruments products, and no samples to speak of, other than the loops I've made of my own material for my live set. The limited environment is refreshing and inviting. Let's just say it's a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there.
---
## The New Eos UI...
- Date: 2011-02-09
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/02/the-new-eos-ui/
My original plan was to update the Eos UI to bring it in line with D3/Axon/Replicant 1.5/Phosphor. (Some of you may have seen my first attempt, as I posted a screenshot to Twitter.) However, after reading an article about the Chroming of user interfaces on [3 Quarks](http://www.3quarksdaily.com/3quarksdaily/2011/02/against-chrome-a-manifesto.html), I decided to make the next jump in the Audio Damage Design Path somewhat more drastic than I had originally intended.
This would have been easier with a plug-in that _didn't_ already have a huge installed user-base, of course, but naturally I wouldn't let a little thing like that stop me, and Adam seemed to be, if not exactly encouraging, well, he wasn't putting his foot down.
In any case, the Windows 32-bit version is done. Adam is doing the Windows 64-bit version today, and as that should go pretty smoothly, we'll also probably have the OS X versions done today as well. There will be no functionality changes as far as the VST side of things go and this will be a drop-in replacement. On the AU side, it is a somewhat different matter. We're moving from the "raw" AU which has a few problems to Symbiosis, the excellent AU engine provided by Sonic Charge. As a result of this fairly major architectural change, it is likely that this install will break existing projects. It definitely won't cross-load presets or project settings. We're pondering a way around this, but it may involve naming this Eos 1.1 and having it be a separate plug-in.
In any case, it should be along in a day or two. The usual places will be notified when it is. I don't believe I'll mail the mailing list on this one (it is fairly expensive to do so.)
**EDIT: Haters Gonna Hate.**
Since customer service is job one here at Audio Damage, I rolled back to the D3-style one I originally Twatted the other day. Some minor changes in coloration and placement, and voila.
The Minimalist Look needs some refinement; this is where my desires as a designer butt up against my skills as a graphic artist. (Or lack thereof.) Back to the drawing board, literally.
---
## Great Taste, Less Filling...
- Date: 2011-02-05
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/02/great-taste-less-filling/
[](http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/5417249112/)
I hesitate to use the term "rehearsal," because that implies a poorly-soundproofed room in a warehouse somewhere in a bad neighborhood that smells like rock (that is to say a combination of stale weed, cigarettes, spilled beer, and exploded capacitors) and has a shitty Traynor P.A. from the late 70s. The nice thing about playing "electronica" live is that you don't have to bother with that shit, and you can just jam out at home for the most part.
So, anyhow, yeah, I've got this show in L.A. on the 19th of this month, wherein I will be performing as micronaut. I'll be performing almost entirely new material, either from the [Bandcamp](http://micronaut.bandcamp.com/) releases or as-yet-unheard. Pictured above is my set-up for the show, in its entirety. Interestingly, it doesn't look entirely dissimilar from my normal desk.
I'm hoping I can eliminate the computer from the equation in future performances, via an Octatrack/Tempest combination, but we'll just how that works out. For the now, that's what we're working with.
Got a picture or description of your live rig? Let's hear about it. I'm intensely curious as to what other people deem necessary to play on stage.
---
## What Are They Building In There?
- Date: 2011-02-03
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/02/what-are-they-building-in-there/
We've got Big Things brewing at both the Rocky Mountain R&D Facility and down here in Tempe at Human Resources And Marketing And Other Shit. The picture above is representative of one aspect of those Big Things.
One of the other aspects is something I _can_ talk about, and that's the Eos refresh. Our next release is a maintenance release of Eos, and I'm sorely tempted to give the UI a bit of a goose to put it in line with Axon, D3, and Phosphor. Not all dark and shit, and the layout wouldn't change at all, nor the controls. I'd just get rid of the 3D surround and change the fonts, basically, so it looked like the other current stuff.
Other than that, the AU side will get some bug fixes related to automation that people have been noticing since Logic 9.1.x came out, and the Windows side will get the 64-bit VST. Functionally, nothing will change with this release. Can't say when it will be done, as it depends on whether we do the UI or not.
---
## Phosphor Video Overview...
- Date: 2011-02-01
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/02/phosphor-video-overview/
Here's a quick run-through of Phosphor's capabilities. Nothing fancy; the first half is a general collection of sounds, and the second half hits the highlights of the UI.
---
## Some CMU Samples...
- Date: 2011-01-30
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/01/some-cmu-samples/
Since there was some interest in this, [here](http://dl.dropbox.com/u/14963589/CMU_Live_Sampler.zip) is a Live project that contains the following:
1\. Drum Rack containing all the CMU-800R drum sounds.
2\. Sampler containing a multi-sampled version of the "Melody" voice of the CMU-800R. Note that the "Melody" voice and the "Chord" voice are exactly the same. The "Melody" one has a bit more extensive enveloping on it, so I just sampled that one.
3\. Sampler containing a multi-sampled version of the CMU "Bass" voice. This voice is slightly different, inasmuch as it has a Sallen-Key LPF on it, and a slightly different envelope. The oscillator source is the same, though.
If you don't have Live, or have Live but don't have Sampler, you can still dig the recordings out of the appropriate folder and make a multi-sampled instrument in your sampler of choice. These were recorded, like all my samples, through Purple BizMk mic pres in to the Mytek 8x192. Any noise you hear is a result of the device being sampled.
And finally, [here](http://dl.dropbox.com/u/14963589/CMU-800R.agr) is a Groove Template for Live made from the CMU-800R's sequencer. It is a one measure 16th note groove template, and definitely gives any cut the loping feel of the CMU-800R software sequencer. This is, of course, worthless in any other software; it'll only work in Live.
In any event, this should put to rest any lingering Interweb Bullshit that the CMU-800R is a 606 + 303 + four 101s, or whatever other nonsense people are spouting. It is more like a DR-55 + 5 totally unfiltered voices from a Juno 106 + some bass sound I can't even think of a simile for.
---
## And Another One...
- Date: 2011-01-29
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/01/and-another-one/
I used a lens with a bit wider angle and deeper DOF for this one, so you could kinda see what's going on. Less arty-farty, but a bit more informative, I suppose. Same general gear and workflow as the last one, except I added the Manta, MeeBlip, and CS5 to the mix, and got rid of a whole stack of pedals.
I think that's it for me vis-a-vis sequencing entire songs with the CMU-800R. It's fun and all, but quite tedious. I like the feel of the sequencer, but I've made a groove template for Live should I desire the same feel in the future.
---
## A Science Project...
- Date: 2011-01-26
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/01/a-science-project/
Once I got everything hooked up, I banged out a little track just to make sure it was all working. The usual suspects are used. The interesting bit is that this is live, sequenced from the CMU-800R.
---
## I Almost An Office...
- Date: 2011-01-24
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/01/i-almost-an-office/
[](http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/5384493745/)
Getting very close to done with my new/improved workspace. The only thing I'm missing on the analog side is an 8-buss mixer, which I don't currently own, so it's not like I just haven't plugged it in or something. The digital side is all in and working, though.
The shelf that all the synths are on is from Ikea, of all places. It's probably the only thing they sell that isn't made of pasteboard, that paragon of entropy. All lightly chromed steel, and it can easily take the weight. (I tested it by sitting and bouncing on the bigger shelf. It wasn't happy about it, but it took the abuse.)
Anyhow, I'm almost ready to get back to making music. My next cycle of Micronaut releases will be DAW-free, as I mentioned earlier, and I've still got a bit of building to do; I also need to get a Hz/V convertor for the MS-20. But it's definitely coming along.
---
## Der MeeBlippen...
- Date: 2011-01-22
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/01/der-meeblippen/
[](http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/5364919412/)
Those of you that have been following my snark on Twitter and here know that I've been less than kind to James and Peter about the whole MeeBlip Situation. For what it's worth, some early adopters like myself got left out in the cold for a little while due to them greatly underestimating the desire for a $129 synth that was fairly capable and didn't require any soldering. (If I was feeling snarky still, I'd throw a "well, duh" in there. But I'm only feeling passive-agressive at this juncture.)
As a result of demand outstripping supply, and supply having its own problems (the folks that were supposed to make the cases turned out to be raging idiots) it just took a lot longer than one would hope for the original group of easy-build kit folks to get theirs. As luck would have it, I was in that group. I've noticed here and there on the Intertards, where such things are discussed, people are referencing my comments as a reason for not getting a MeeBlip, and I'd just like to state for the record that it will eventually arrive, and is exactly what they state. Patience is apparently a virtue, albeit one I'm not particularly in touch with. All new MeeBlip orders, no matter what flavor you get, ship no later than next business day.
In any event, the MeeBlip finally arrived (no thanks to Canada Post, who haven't apparently discovered motorized transportation), and went together with almost no difficulty. The pictures about how to hook the backplane to the main board in the instructions are not entirely clear, I don't think, and I got that wrong twice, but I didn't let any magic smoke out, and once I got it right, the device worked fine. The only hard part, otherwise, was getting the overlay to sit exactly above the holes, but I've never been good at such things. YMMV.
_\[Embedded media, no longer available.\]_
[Micronaut v MeeBlip](http://soundcloud.com/chris-randall/micronaut-v-meeblip) by [Chris Randall](http://soundcloud.com/chris-randall)
Here's a little taste of the MeeBlip in action. It's the first thing you hear, running through an RE-201 (not a plug-in). The first thing you'll notice, if you're listening on headphones, is the clock noise. This is fairly obvious when the cutoff freq of the filter is low, and there's not much to be done about it that I can see, other than the usual production techniques for getting rid of such things, none of which I applied here. It's a fairly broad-spectrum noise, too, so it might be tricky to get rid of.
One other point that caused a brief bit of confusion is that this is a digital synth, and the knobs are pots, not encoders. As such, the pick-up of values is absolute, not relative. This wouldn't be a big deal except that all the knobs have two functions. I mean, it's only got a few controls, so it's not the end of the world or anything, but I don't believe anyone has mentioned it anywhere else, and it might be a bit of a surprise in live performance, so you should be aware of it.
All in all, the MeeBlip works and sounds as advertised. It is much more sophisticated than a monotron or Gakken box, but much less sophisticated than, say, a Mopho or something of that ilk. It is also fully digital, although you might forget that in use. One minor beef I have is the otherwise useless USB power port. A single cheap chip gives one the ability to program the Atmega directly, and allows MIDI over the USB. I understand using the USB port in this context, but I personally wouldn't have stopped at just power, since the jack is the hard part.
But, hey, whaddya want for $129? It is an unique addition to the sound palette that does what it says, for a low price. Anything on top of that is gravy. Get one [here](http://meeblip.noisepages.com/).
---
## The Unusual Wednesday Bullshit...
- Date: 2011-01-19
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/01/the-unusual-wednesday-bullshit/
On the bright side, we've got the vast majority of our shit in to the new house in Tempe, and are now living there. On the not-so-bright side, Cox fucked up the transfer order for the Intertubes rather massively, and we won't have Tubes until tomorrow afternoon. So I'm sitting in a nice little coffee shop in Tempe, but only because there's apparently no such thing as a hot chocolate shop. (I don't drink coffee.)
I'm also looking forward to the fairly heavy-duty project of re-assembling my studio/office in its new and much more spacious home. I've got a particular workflow plan for the next cycle of Micronaut releases that will require some thought. I'm going to record and mix them DAW-free, only allowing computer use for MIDI sequencing (if that) and mastering. It should be intensely amusing to all concerned, I'm sure, but it involves some thought; my system is necessarily heavily reliant on computers, and I can't just pack my main music PC in a box until the job is done because I need it for many other things.
So, I essentially have to have two complete rigs: a DAW-free side of the room, and a DAW side. My big rack, which contains both the A/D/A and summing for the DAW, and the H8000FW and Lexicon 300 (which both sides will share) is sort of the Line Of Demarcation at this point. It'll be tricky to pull this off, but an interesting challenge.
Anyhow, that silliness aside, we should be back to our regularly scheduled programming tomorrow. If you write the AD Info@ address for support, it might take a little longer than usual for a reply.
---
## AD Phosphor Now Available...
- Date: 2011-01-17
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/01/ad-phosphor-now-available/
[](http://www.audiodamage.com/)
Phosphor is now available for purchase in the [AD store.](http://www.audiodamage.com/) US$59.00 for VST and AU.
---
## NAMGLA, Day Two (Updated)...
- Date: 2011-01-16
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/01/namgla-day-two-updated/
I just got back from the [Trash\_Audio](http://trashaudio.com/) BBQ. You may or may not have heard a rumor that I tried to start a fight between Alessandro Cortini and BT, the two friendliest people in the music industry. This is patently untrue. Alessandro started it. I had nothing to do with anything. These are not the droids you're looking for.
NAMGLA, well, what to say? Today was stupider than yesterday because of the simple fact that all the has-been musicians that have to spend the week working a "day job" have Saturday off, and don't realize that hanging around other musicians isn't really a good enough reason to pull out the full Genre-Related Fashion Statement. We were noting, however, that nowhere else on earth could you take a random picture and have every fashion fad of the last 45 years equally represented in its full splendor, from Rockabilly to Hippie to Punk to Hairspray Ass Metal to Industrial to Grunge to Hipster (and some outliers like "Candy Raver Goth" and Ukelele Ray.) This has to be worth something. Today's highlights:
[](http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/5359688656/)
**1\. Black Waldorf Blofeld.** It's a Blofeld. It's black. What the fuck else you need to know?
[](http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/5359682680/)
**2\. Perzina Upright Grand.** This instrument is very obviously the absolute pinacle of both woodworking craftsmanship and mechanical engineering. I played several pianos while I was there, and this was, by far, the nicest. It sounds as nice as it looks. Above my pay grade, unfortunately. It also comes in Grand.
**3\. The Z-DSP Euro-Rack Module from TipTop.** I know, I know. These things are old news. But seriously, I didn't really understand what it could do until I got a hands-on demonstration from Gur. The cool thing isn't that you can use some random DSP program that you downloaded from the Spin Audio site. The cool thing is that you can _SERIOUSLY_ fuck with it afterwards, via CV. I couldn't believe some of the weird-ass yet useful sounds he was getting from $RANDOM\_FILTER\_PROGRAM. Extremely cool module, and the programmer makes all the difference.
**4\. The Vintage Vibe Electric Piano.** Interestingly, NAMM put these guys right next door to the new Rhodes people. This made things a little uncomfortable albeit convenient for someone that wanted to compare and contrast their new EP against the Rhodes. But that said, I played both their new one and the new Rhodes for quite a while, and the Vintage Vibe piano dusts the new Rhodes. It sounds better (Rhodes smooth on pianissimo, barking in to Wurli territory on forte), is lighter, has a much nicer action, and looks cooler. All other things being equal, my opinion is that it is the better instrument. Wish I had thought to get a picture, because it's a really sharp looking instrument.
Anyhow, I was on my feet talking for over 20 hours yesterday, and frankly I'm too old for that shit. I'll post further thoughts on the Tempest later today or tomorrow. It was really cool to meet so many active AI members at the Trash\_Audio BBQ. (Yet my Twitter stream is strangely silent this morning, which leads me to believe that things got a bit out of hand after I left last night.) I'm already looking forward to next year.
---
## NAMGLA, Day One...
- Date: 2011-01-15
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/01/namgla-day-one/
I know, it's actually Day Two of the North American Man/Gear Love Association (NAMGLA, and unfortunately I didn't think of that; my friend Carl did. But I'm using it from now on, and it'll eventually get credited to me, and I'm fine with that.) But it was day one for me, and what a day it was. I only saw a small fraction of the actual show, because most of my time today was spent catching up with friends. But the highlights of my first day, which you can file under "fucking duh..."
**1\. Elektron Octatrack.** This motherfucker is the BOMB. I was initially somewhat reticent, although I've purchased everything Elektron ever made, and there's no particular reason not to continue that trend. But now that I've spent a little time with the box, I'm quite impressed. This thing is the pinacle of the Elektron style of sequencing, which is more or less unique to them. (Although, their method has always heavily reminded me of the Sequential Studio 440, fwiw.) Chock full of features that you can read all about elsewhere. It looks and feels more advanced than the MachineDrum/MonoMachine, and it's obvious that a lot of thought has gone in to it. I give this one a strong Buy. Obviously worth the money, if it's the sort of thing that can fit in to your workflow in the first place.
**2\. DSI Tempest.** Forget about it. The tits, plain and simple. I'll be getting one, no question about it. There simply has never been another drum machine so thoroughly designed for what I need in such a box. Another strong Buy. I'm going to spend some quality time with it tomorrow morning, so my post tomorrow will some more comprehensive impressions.
**3\. Eventide Space.** I know you're thinking "well, fuck, it's reverb. In a pedal. So what?" It's really hard to describe how cool this is. It is, for want of a better term, playable. I personally use a lot of 'verb, but I tend to use it in a static fashion. I don't think I've ever automated a 'verb plug or hardware in my entire career. This thing, though, just begs to be cranked in real-time. A really nice selection of effects that are eminently tweakable. A very strong Buy on this one, and no mistake.
Anyhow, that was Day One. One thing I will say about NAMGLA is that you can lose your faith in humanity quick-fast, in a hurry. The _vast_ majority of the attendees fall in to two camps: young and hopeful (and thus stupid) and old and burned out (and yet still hopeful, and thus really, really sad.) The former generally desperately needs to be punched in the face, and the latter is essentially a walking metaphor for stale cigarettes, flat beer, and video poker. I imagine, other than the fact that I have a bit of taste in my clothing and accessories, that I fall in to the latter camp. Which is causing a bit of an existential crisis right now.
That sound you hear is me softly sobbing in to my pillow.
---
## Micronaut - Transformer
- Date: 2011-01-12
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/01/micronaut-transformer/
The third and final installment in my 3-EP "Electronics" series is now available [on Bandcamp.](http://micronaut.bandcamp.com/) These last five tracks complete my exploration of this particular workflow, and round out the collection to 16 tracks in all. As always, pay-what-you-want, at least a buck. Enjoy, and I'll be happy to field any process questions at this juncture.
In other news, getting ready for NAMM. The weather in SoCal should be absolutely phenomenal for this pass through El Lay. Looking forward to it.
---
## The Usual Monday Bullshit...
- Date: 2011-01-11
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/01/the-usual-monday-bullshit/
For three years running, January has been as busy for me as all the other months put together. I think next January, I'm going to rent a cabin in Tahoe, take my [special ladyfriend](http://www.ellerandall.com/), and split my time equally between a hot tub and breaking in a new Arbor snowboard. Yeah. We'll see how that turns out.
Anyhow, still moving. About 50% done, so our existence is split between two abodes, thus requiring extra bananas in our diet. (Get it? Existential dread comes from lack of potassium. Yeah, a little oblique even for me.) With that out of the way...
I've made a store page for Phosphor, and begun filling it with market-speak and audio samples. Find it [here](http://www.audiodamage.com/instruments/product.php?pid=AD027). I also have some more info for you. Phosphor will almost certainly go on sale on Monday, and the price will be US$59.00. We're doing the final dance right now.
On a completely separate tack, I suggest you take a quick side trip to the official [NAMM site.](http://www.namm.org/thenammshow/2011) Is it just me, or does it lend the impression that the entire music hardware industry runs on bad puns? Choice tidbit of text:
_ON A SCALE OF 1 TO 10, THE NAMM SHOW IS TURNING IT UP TO 11! If you want to boost the volume on your company's sales, then the 2011 NAMM Show in Anaheim, January 13-16, is the place to do it!_
Aside from being the grammatical equivalent of a 10-car pile-up, we're treated to no less than four double entendres, all couched in a reference to a movie that is older than many of this generation's musicians. The music industry has never been terribly subtle, I'll grant, but this little stinger really takes it to a whole 'nother level. The 11th level, in my inexplicably humble opinion.
The greatest irony (and, coincidentally, the greatest sign of the genius of "This Is Spinal Tap") is that the only people that find that sort of market-droid humor funny "ha ha" (as opposed to funny "queer") are _exactly_ the people that the movie was making fun of. (See, NAMM? I can do it too.)
Thinking out loud: the music industry, being comparatively low-rent, doesn't really attract the best marketing people, so we, as consumers, are constantly inundated with bad puns and worse copy. Do you find that, after a while, the marketSpeak in something like that Avid Viper ad from a few days ago just rolls off your back? Do we become a self-fulfilling prophecy after a while, where we only speak to each other in phrases lifted from Tap or The Big Lebowski?
---
## The Various Shits...
- Date: 2011-01-04
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/01/the-various-shits/
I'm monumentally busy. I will attempt to enumerate the things that are causing this rather distressing turn of events, and you'll rapidly begin to understand why it has been four days since I posted.
**1\. Moving**. Yee-fucking-haw. This move is only 28 miles, down to Tempe, instead of 1260 from PDX, so it's not near as bad. Even so, it's still moving, and still sux0rs. With loud sux0ring noises. Wouldn't be so bad except...
**2\. NAMM.** Fast approaching, and before which we'd like to release...
**3\. Phosphor.** I fully realize why people pay Richard Divine to write presets. Synths need a lot of presets, for reasons passing understanding. The Windows version is done, anyhow, and being beta-tested, sans presets. I'd just like to interject that the Minimoog, one of the most desirable synths of all time, has no presets.
**4\. Oh, and...** We just ran the numbers, and Audio Damage had its best sales year ever in 2010. I know I say that every year, but every year since we started has been better than the previous. Downturn, schmownturn!!!
So, that's what's going on. The Meeblip folks are in danger of getting bitched at, with loud bitching noises, as I'm not terribly fond of companies that sell something they're not prepared to ship; they get a pass for now, due to who they are, and the fact that they have good intentions, but let me state for the record that I'm the sort of person you want to move to the front of the queue.
In any event, if you don't hear from me for the next day or two (or three or four), suffice to say that I haven't turned in to a hermit or anything. Just moving and writing presets. This is an open thread, and the subject is bad buying/selling experiences. Go!
---
## 2010 RIP. Long Live 2011...
- Date: 2011-01-01
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2011/01/2010-rip-long-live-2011/
[](http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/5283882426/)
Another revolution around the sun, thus completing our somewhat arbitrary, albeit quite handy, unit of meta-time one more time. Overall, I feel I had a pretty productive year. Three AD products, or five if you count Replicant (I don't) and Phosphor (which ain't done yet). Two Micronaut EP releases (three if you count Transformer, which is mixed but not mastered or sequenced), 12 columns and one feature article for Computer Music, 138 posts here, a fairly chunky app for TASCAM, and somewhere in there I managed to move 1260 miles.
So, not bad, all in all. Not a hugely productive year, but nobody could call me lazy and get away with it. Except my wife, who seems to not be fond of socks under the coffee table. Who knew?
Anyhow, here's to you all for essentially subsidizing my existence on this mortal coil, and here's to a happy, healthy, and productive 2011.
---
## Phosphor Audio...
- Date: 2010-12-28
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/12/phosphor-audio/
_\[Embedded media, no longer available.\]_
[Phosphor Test Tracks](http://soundcloud.com/chris-randall/sets/phosphor-test-tracks) by [Chris Randall](http://soundcloud.com/chris-randall)
Here are all the quick Phosphor demos I've done so far, all in one handy set. Interestingly, I neglected to do any pad-like stuff, a situation I'll remedy shortly. But this should give you a pretty good idea of where its wheelhouse is. It is capable of some seriously loopy shit, as well, which I'll also be adding in the near future.
As far as progress goes, only one major feature left, which we should have nailed today or tomorrow, then presets, manual, porting. So it won't be long.
---
## 'Tis The Season...
- Date: 2010-12-28
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/12/tis-the-season/
Some good deals going on right now amongst the various Friends Of AI.
[Beatserv](http://www.beatserv.com/) is having a 20% off sale on everything in the store until Friday. I personally recommend the (h)idm set. There's quite a bit of useful content in that package.
[SonicCouture](http://www.soniccouture.com/en/) is having a nice sale until Friday, as well. 50% off four of their products (Konkrete2, which I love, Pan Drum, Tremors, and Bowed Piano), and Buy One Get One Of Lesser Or Equal Value Free. I don't believe you can stack those.
Goldbaby isn't having a sale or anything, but his SP1200v2 set has been out for a couple weeks, and is fantastic, as always. ['Tis here.](http://www.goldbaby.co.nz/sp1200vol2.html)
For what it's worth, the (h)idm set, Konkrete2, and the first SP1200 set are basically all the drum sounds I ever use that didn't come from one of my self-made Roland sets. I highly recommend all three. Bust out that Visa Gift Card that Grandma sent you and go to work. Are there any other mack sales going on 'round the InterMusicTubes?
---
## Merry Christmas, Baby...
- Date: 2010-12-25
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/12/merry-christmas-baby/
Preach it, Brother Ray, preach it.
Have a happy and safe \[acceptable celebratory paradigm of your cultural framework\].
---
## I Bet You Wanted To See This...
- Date: 2010-12-23
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/12/i-bet-you-wanted-to-see-this/
_(Click image for full-sized.)_
Avid has been doing some kind of [teasing campaign](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=as-ZtC6bw8A&feature=player_embedded) for some sort of Magic Box that will be released at NAMM. Gearjunkies got the specs and posted them this morning, but Avid apparently stepped on them pretty hard, and since Gearjunkies are, like, professional and stuff, they removed the post.
I, however, could give neither a flying fuck, nor a rolling doughnut, about Avid's hopes and dreams of a sneaky tease-y product roll-out. So here's what my wife (her Google-Fu is deep) was able to pull this morning about the Venom, which will be released under the M-Audio brand. The original was in Romanian, and this is the Googlish:
_Venom comes with 512 patches and 256 straight multi-sound patch (the layers) made by the renowned team of sound designers in the world. All the Venom will find a classical arpeggios, for more animation. With the new synth engine of the M-Audio, Venom flavor blends anolog sound on digital power. Thus they create a distinctive note that is distinguished easily from other digital synthesizers. Where you have 4 oscillators and 53 sample drum sounds from the keyboards of cargo last 40 years, and an oscillator for a DSP May retro vibe. Each of the 12 simultaneous voice virtual analog oscillators have three each, which gives tremendous flexibility for octave, intervals and detuning. For more ways to manipulate the sound, the filter multimodal operations can 12dB/octava Venom (2-pole) and 24 dB / octave (4-pole)._
We haven't found any pictures yet, but it's only a matter of time. And Avid, if you're thinking of writing me to ask me to take this down, either don't bother, or make it at least vaguely threatening. Anything in between will be a disappointment.
---
## Nearly Getting There...
- Date: 2010-12-22
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/12/nearly-getting-there/
[
](https://analogindustries.com/images/blog/12-22-2010_8-41-19_AM.png)
Unfortunately, you won't be able to get Phosphor for yourself on Christmas; we're still a couple weeks away from release. But here's an early present for you: the whole UI. This is subject to change as we get further along in to a wider beta, and I may touch up some things in the graphics here and there, but I'd say this is 95% of what the finished product will look like at this point.
(Obviously, all those little "8bit" text entries will be the value displays for the various sliders. I say "obviously" in the hope that the first question wasn't "what are all those little 8bit entries?")
What it is: a two-oscillator 16-voice polysynth loosely based upon the topology of the alphaSyntauri additive synthesis add-on for the Apple \]\[+ and //e. We've added some modern features like the delays and mod routing, mono modes, and a "clean" setting for the sine waves and noise, in order to extend the capabilities of the synth past its original limits. But this plug is mainly designed for recreating the alphaSyntauri, and at that, it excels.
I can't give you a release date, and we haven't decided on a final price, but it will be in line with our other offerings. VST on Win and AU/VST on Mac, of course. Intel Macs only, as with all our recent products, and 10.5 or greater required. 64-bit on Windows. You know the drill.
---
## Disembodied Hands Are Disembodied...
- Date: 2010-12-19
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/12/disembodied-hands-are-disembodied/
In the interests of adding to the already ludicrous number of disembodied hand performance videos on YouTube, I uploaded a quick render of my hands working on a bit of the set for my upcoming micronaut show. My hands also spelled the name of the track wrong (it is "metatrak," not "metatrack") when they were typing out the titles. They have a mind of their own.
I am not too proud to admit it, but the Manta is my New Favorite Thing. Such a handy little controller. This video would also have the MeeBlip in it if someone (James!) would send me one already.
---
## Out Of Due Respect...
- Date: 2010-12-18
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/12/out-of-due-respect/
In all deference to the Late, undeniably Great Captain Beefheart, I reprint, in its entirety, the most linked-to and visited [post](https://analogindustries.com/2007/06/advice-listen-to-the-capn/) in the history of Analog Industries.
\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_
**
Captain Beefheart's Ten Commandments For Guitarists:**
**1\. LISTEN TO THE BIRDS...**That's where all the music comes from. Birds know everything about how it should sound and where that sound should come from. And watch hummingbirds. They fly really fast, but a lot of times they aren't going anywhere.
**
2\. YOUR GUITAR IS NOT REALLY A GUITAR...**Your guitar is a divining rod. Use it to find spirits in the other world and bring them over. A guitar is also a fishing rod. If you're good, you'll land a big one.
**3\. PRACTICE IN FRONT OF A BUSH...**Wait until the moon is out, then go outside, eat a multi-grained bread and play your guitar to a bush. If the bush doesn't shake, eat another piece of bread.
**4\. WALK WITH THE DEVIL...**Old delta blues players referred to amplifiers as the "devil box." And they were right. You have to be an equal opportunity employer in terms of who you're bringing over from the other side. Electricity attracts demons and devils. Other instruments attract other spirits. An acoustic guitar attracts Casper. A mandolin attracts Wendy. But an electric guitar attracts Beelzebub.
**
5\. IF YOU'RE GUILTY OF THINKING, YOU'RE OUT...**If your brain is part of the process, you're missing it. You should play like a drowning man, struggling to reach shore. If you can trap that feeling, then you have something that is fur bearing.
**
6\. NEVER POINT YOUR GUITAR AT ANYONE...**Your instrument has more power than lightning. Just hit a big chord, then run outside to hear it. But make sure you are not standing in an open field.
**7\. ALWAYS CARRY YOUR CHURCH KEY...**You must carry your key and use it when called upon. That's your part of the bargain. Like One String Sam. He was a Detroit street musician in the fifties who played a homemade instrument. His song "I Need A Hundred Dollars" is warm pie. Another church key holder is Hubert Sumlin, Howlin' Wolf's guitar player. He just stands there like the Statue of Liberty making you want to look up her dress to see how he's doing it.
**8\. DON'T WIPE THE SWEAT OFF YOUR INSTRUMENT...**You need that stink on there. Then you have to get that stink onto your music.
**9\. KEEP YOUR GUITAR IN A DARK PLACE...**When you're not playing your guitar, cover it and keep it in a dark place. If you don't play your guitar for more than a day, be sure to put a saucer of water in with it.
**
10\. YOU GOTTA HAVE A HOOD FOR YOUR ENGINE...**Wear a hat when you play and keep that hat on. A hat is a pressure cooker. If you have a roof on your house the hot air can't escape. Even a lima bean has to have a wet paper towel around it to make it grow.
---
## An Open Letter To Senator John Kyl...
- Date: 2010-12-17
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/12/an-open-letter-to-senator-john-kyl/
Dear Senator Kyl:
I'd just like to let you know, as an Arizona resident, and the owner of a small business that creates and sells software, that your support of [COICA](http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s111-3804) is completely and utterly misguided. Not only will it do absolutely nothing at all to stop piracy (the bane of my industry, without question), but it flies in the face of your many references to "freedom" in various speeches you've given. The list of countries that do this is very short; we're in excellent company with North Korea, Myanmar, and China, a trio of freedom-loving forward-thinking nations if ever there were.
I'm a pragmatic person, and I understand the depth of the piracy problem, as I live with it every day, and it directly takes money out of my pocket. I also understand that cutting off our noses to spite our face is absolutely not the answer. You lead from the front, not from behind, and this is a ridiculous bill that will only serve to make us look foolish in the eyes of the world.
I realize that, as a US Senator, your job is to look inward, but as a business owner that relies on the internet to do business, I bring a not-inconsiderable amount of money in to the state of Arizona every year, and 90% of it comes from beyond this nation's borders. Our state already looks xenophobic enough because of the ridiculous (yet ultimately toothless) wedge issue of SB1070. Why do we want to take this further in to actual harm?
---
## Huh, Who'da Thunk It?
- Date: 2010-12-16
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/12/huh-whoda-thunk-it/
Hey, look at this. Keyboard players can over-play drum parts ludicrously ahead of the beat just like real drummers. Who knew?
(For what it's worth, it's fun to make fun, but I can't do that, even ahead of the beat.)
On a completely unrelated note, I went and had lunch today with the head of R&D at Fender, and got a quick tour of their shop(s). Cool place, cool people, I gotta say. They didn't think my idea of a 13-necked guitar on a rotating belt-clip with an on-board artificial neural network was really marketable, but I'll keep plugging away.
---
## ZOMG! IT'S MONDAY! WTF?
- Date: 2010-12-13
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/12/zomg-its-monday-wtf/
[](http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/5250154023/)
I spent the weekend working out which songs from the rather extensive Micronaut oeuvre I'm going to build a set with, and arranging and stemming same. Part of the problem with the Micronaut catalog is that most of the material (except for the first record and the most recent three releases) was done with a specific purpose, generally a video game or television show. As such, the vast majority are quite dated, stylistically, and don't really work in a modern performance context.
I've been steadily modernizing some of the older tracks for inclusion in the Many Moons compendium release, so I've got the ones I've already done to draw upon, conveniently. Even so, the set will be centered around newer material from [Capacitor](http://micronaut.bandcamp.com/album/capacitor) and [Resistor](http://micronaut.bandcamp.com/album/resistor), though, plus at least two tracks from the upcoming Transformer. The nice thing about the nature of Micronaut's past is that I don't have to play a selection of "hits." That's what really made SMG not a lot of fun towards the end, as we were trying to play new songs we're quite proud of, and people kept yelling "SINS!" or "HOLE IN THE GROUND!" the whole set. Not a problem with Micronaut.
But anyhow, with such a large catalog to choose from (there are over a hundred published Micronaut tracks) it's just a matter of finding the right flow. I like themed sets; one of the hardest SMG sets to pull off was the last tour we did, where we did the entire set in reverse chronological order; that was an interesting challenge. With this Micronaut set, I'm doing two tempo builds, which is something that I've seen other electronic acts do (notably Underworld, who commonly use this mechanism) to good effect. I also, in this case, have to pay attention to the harmonic relationship between the keys of songs, so they can overlap if I feel the urge.
Do you find, when designing a set, that you do stylistic groupings like this? Or do you do it for mechanical ease? I suppose it really depends on the kind of music you make. Much easier for an indie rock band to change things up on a whim than a strictly electronic project, I imagine.
---
## The Manta, She is Here...
- Date: 2010-12-10
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/12/the-manta-she-is-here/
[](http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/5249721979/)
The [Synderphonics Manta](http://www.snyderphonics.com/index.htm) showed up last night. My initial impression is that it's a really nice little instrument. It is functionally similar to the monome, inasmuch as it is (at its base level) a bunch of buttons and a bunch of LEDs. However, the thing that makes this a vast improvement over the monome is that it has several different levels of control in addition to the single on/off state of the monome. (The monome's main attribute that sets it apart from the Manta is that it is far more tactile; you could theoretically play it without looking. Not so much with the Manta.)
Each hex sends a variable along with the touch, and basically, how much of your skin is in contact with the hex informs the amount of the variable. In this way, you get an initial velocity and a continuous control message. (For example, you can have the initial hit as note velocity, and then a finger rolling kind of gesture gives you, say, aftertouch.)
In addition, there are two control-value-only "sliders" and four buttons at the top which essentially act the same as the hexes except they don't have the contact-area, and thus can't have velocity or continuous control. They're just on-off or momentary buttons. And finally, the whole unit has a "centroid" x/y/amount value that is a running average of how much flesh you have pressed against the unit, and where that flesh is centered.
Much like an EWI or similar instrument, you can just play a synth sound out of the box, or fire off some samples, but one really needs to develop a specific technique for this thing, I think. It is quite expressive once you get used to its quirks, and learn to take advantage of its strengths. One aspect of the essentially flat profile is that I'm able to play _lightning fast_ on it. This obviously isn't that useful in the kind of music I make, and it also is heavily dependent on how the notes are grouped, I think. But I believe that if you were to adopt this as your main controller, you could develop a fairly articulate style.
The OS X stand-alone software is not quite there; it is rather crashy, in the "I don't want to use this on stage" way. The available Max patches work fine with the Max runtime, and that's how I'm currently using it; I'm sorely tempted to build a VSTi for it or some such, because without M4L or Max, it is kind of hobbled. I'm given to understand there is a Pd external in the works, as well.
So, overall, my impression is that it is well worth the money, provided you either work in Max, or don't mind using the Max runtime. If you plan on using it with the OS X standalone, plan again, and there is currently no Windows or Linux standalone. But for my own needs, two thumbs up.
(Full disclosure: I did not buy this unit. It is a loaner from Snyderphonics. I'll see how I take to it, but I'm fairly certain I'm going to end up buying one at this point.)
---
## Hey, Look What I Made...
- Date: 2010-12-08
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/12/hey-look-what-i-made/
That project I kept mentioning that I couldn't talk about? It's [now available.](http://itunes.apple.com/app/portastudio/id402568182?mt=8) Since you're reading this blog, you're most likely a musician, and since you're a musician, you most likely had a TASCAM Porta One, or one of the many rip-offs from the likes of Fostex. Portastudio is a more-or-less complete clone of the Porta One for the iPad.
It works pretty much like you'd think it works. It can utilize a USB audio interface via the Camera Connection Kit, or use the built-in mic or a headset mic. (Normal iPhone earbuds, e.g.) Render to WAV, which shows up in iTunes in the App Sharing section. Since it's going to be the first question, and will most likely be asked by Beauty Pill, I'll go ahead and answer now: yes, we'll be adding Soundcloud uploading.
Anyhow, there 'tis. US$9.99. Let me know here or via email if you have any issues; if you write TASCAM support, the email will eventually make its way to me anyhow, so you might as well go ahead and jump to the front of the line.
---
## Welcome Back, My Friends...
- Date: 2010-12-05
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/12/welcome-back-my-friends/
A club owner I've done several shows with in the past recently contacted me, wanting to commission a single micronaut show, and (most likely due to an utter want of common sense on my part) I accepted the invitation. Long story short, I'll be performing as micronaut at Bar Sinister in Los Angeles on February 19th, pending a contract.
This is a tiny bit problematic as I haven't played a live show in several years (five, I think) and thus have no show to play. So now I need to assemble a live rig and put together a set. With that in mind, I've been pondering the issue the last couple days and I believe I have come up with a composite of gear that should do the trick.
This is, of course, subject to change as I actually attempt to play things. Being me, I'm tempted to do an entire performance of CP80B through H8000, with a backing band consisting entirely of CMU-800R. However, that is utterly ridiculous, on several levels that are so obvious it would be pointless to enumerate them. I believe the collection above will serve the dual purpose of providing a comprehensive sound set, yet still be anachronistic enough to be fundamentally _me_.
I'll also not mention at this juncture that I don't have either the MeeBlip or Manta yet, and I don't know if the latter is even playable, let alone able to be my sole controller when I'm used to having at the bare minimum 63 semi-weighted keys, and usually a lot more.
But anyhow, that's what I'm thinking.
---
## Busy, Teasing, Busy, Teasing...
- Date: 2010-12-03
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/12/busy-teasing-busy-teasing/
I'll fill this out a bit later today, but I put up another Phosphor demo in my Soundcloud account.
_\[Embedded media, no longer available.\]_
This one is 100% Phosphor, two instances. The first instance is the only thing you hear in the beginning; pulse LFO to noise level and some other shit. That's the shift-register noise (that is to say, with the Space Invader switch on for noise) that you're hearing. The second Phosphor instance is the melody line that comes in after a couple measures.
---
## Interfacing...
- Date: 2010-11-29
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/11/interfacing/
Lately I've become intrigued again with "alternative" interfaces. (I hesitate to use the words "tactile" or "tangible" because every interface that you don't control directly with your brain is inherently either or both.) This one caught my eye from my Twitter feed this morning:
Aside from being yet another example of the Right Handed Overlords oppressing the lefty minority, it is a really pleasing-to-look at device. Not exactly expressive, as such, as you need at least one degree of modifier in addition to the initial touch to even remotely be called expressive, but it's nice to see someone take things in a new direction. More pics [here](http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/8/view/12114/yuri-suzuki-urushi-musical-interface.html).
Most of you probably saw the "Seven Mantas" video that was making the rounds the other day, as it appeared on several of the normal tech sites in addition to CDM. This is Chris Lloyd demonstrating a [Manta](http://www.snyderphonics.com/) controlling his SevenUpLive monome patch. I theoretically have a Manta on the way here, and I'm intrigued to see if it can fit in to my daily work. It looks like it should be able to, with the caveat that controllers of this sort are very rarely of the "plug it in and go" type of things.
If you have an "alternative" controller, do you use it in daily music making, or is it more of a special purpose thing, where you've got to find a need for it in any given song?
---
## Yard Sale!
- Date: 2010-11-25
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/11/yard-sale/
My friend Mike Fisher is selling his Roland SVC-350 vocoder. You know what it is already, so I won't belabor the obvious with a description. If you don't, there are about 200 demonstration videos on YouTube. I can personally vouch for both Mike and this unit, which is here in Phoenix. It has some cosmetic scratches and such from 20+ years of use, but Mike has owned it since 1989 and it has sat in his (annoyingly smoke free) studio since he purchased it. This unit was used on several Machines Of Loving Grace songs, if you're the sort of person that cares about provenance.
He'd like to get $1200 for it plus shipping, and would prefer to sell to a U.S. buyer. If you're interested, I have some high-resolution pictures I'd be happy to send you, and I can put you in touch with Mike. [Drop me a line](mailto:chris@positronrecords.com) if you want to know more.
---
## Look At That Fucking Hipster, pt. 1/3...
- Date: 2010-11-25
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/11/look-at-that-fucking-hipster-pt-1-3/
Two points:
1\. I'm totally in favor of building your own instruments and composing for them. I think we can all agree, however, that Harry Partch didn't create this concept.
2\. 43-notes to the octave makes my teeth hurt.
Now, I'm not bashing on Harry Partch just for the hell of it. I just think that academics can display some truly remarkable blindness to the world about them.
(Note: I kited this from [GetLoFi](http://www.getlofi.com/?p=3776))
---
## Phosphor Sneak Peak...
- Date: 2010-11-21
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/11/phosphor-sneak-peak/
I will put up some far more sophisticated demos, movies, the usual shit here in a few days, but here's a little clip of the UI, and a very simple little sound clip.
_\[Embedded media, no longer available.\]_
[Phosphor Test 1](http://soundcloud.com/chris-randall/phosphor-test-1) by [Chris Randall](http://soundcloud.com/chris-randall)
In the audio example, there are two instances of Phosphor: one is playing the melody, and the other is doing bass chores. (Percussion is Axon, the "Dotted Rhythm" preset, and drums are Tattoo.)
As you've no doubt guessed from the screenshot and the audio demo, Phosphor is an additive polysynth. Rather than going whole hog like Chameleon5000, we went the other direction, and Phosphor is, for all intents and purposes, a clone of the alphaSyntauri in entirety. You see the little space invader switch next to the partials? Each section where it's appropriate there is one of those, and it puts that section (and only that section, be it envelope, partials, noise) in to alphaSyntauri mode, where it sonically reverts to a much earlier computer music era.
I'll explain more about this at the appropriate time, with audio and video examples, but suffice to say this is a fun little synth, and sounds like absolutely nothing else. Won't be too long.
---
## Bundles? We Don't Need No Stinking Bundles...
- Date: 2010-11-16
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/11/bundles-we-dont-need-no-stinking-bundles/
But that doesn't mean we don't have them. If you head over to the [Audio Damage site](http://www.audiodamage.com/), and direct your gaze to the top, you'll notice a new category, Bundles.
Yes, this is what you think it is. We (and by "we" I mean my beautiful and talented wife) have worked out a method of "soft" bundles, where they're assembled by the store instead of needing a single installer, and have now made bundles a purchase option. We started with four bundles initially: an "Everything" bundle that is, well, everything, and then I went back through and looked at the common groupings for people that purchased multiple items, and came up with three other bundles that reflected general habits. We'll be adding more as time progresses.
There are also some changes internally; the one customers will notice most is that, in order to prevent a copy-paste error that occurs with Windows users, we've made the reg codes auto-select. Lots of admin changes, but you wouldn't notice those.
_\[Embedded media, no longer available.\]_
In unrelated news, I just put "Study One" on my Bandcamp page. This track is interesting from an academic standpoint, as I used a [Korg monotron](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003DX96TW?ie=UTF8&tag=analogindustr-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B003DX96TW) as the sole sound source, other than the drums, which are three Goldbaby samples. I actually took the time to make several different multi-samples of the monotron, and create Sampler objects, which got stacked in Instrument Racks in Live. Most of the craftiness is a result of stacking and enveloping; there are less plug-ins than you'd think.
Anyhow, I'll put the Instrument Racks up on the Free Shit page when I get around to it, but I thought the song would be interesting by itself.
---
## Back To Business As Usual...
- Date: 2010-11-15
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/11/back-to-business-as-usual/
I'm pleased to announce that the contract job I've been working on for the past several months is finished, and about to be released. When it is, you can find out what I've been up to that has kept me silent all summer. Suffice to say that of the several plates I was spinning for the last few months, most of them have been put away. A pleasant feeling.
I am most assuredly of the "nothing ventured, nothing gained" school of thought (or "big risk, big reward," if you prefer a different banal aphorism) and feel that if you constantly work within your safe zone, it becomes increasingly difficult to set new goals that enrich society (or yourself, if that's your bag.) The best personal results come from accepting a challenge to do something that is beyond your skill level. Not too far beyond, though, as that leads to intense frustration, in my experience.
So, for me at least, all creative endeavors are a balancing act between what I _think_ I'm able to accomplish and what I am _actually_ able to accomplish. The trick, as a self-educated person, is to know what the "actually" really is. I wonder if college affects this, since a college-educated person has a better handle on what they know, and thus what their capabilities are.
No matter. My question is thus: do you follow my "damn the torpedoes" approach to life/creativity? Or do you work within defined boundaries to perfect what you know you can do? And so we can get some correlation, did you go to college?
---
## Dear Soundcloud...
- Date: 2010-11-13
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/11/dear-soundcloud/
_\[Embedded media, no longer available.\]_
[Micronaut - Capacitor](http://soundcloud.com/chris-randall/sets/micronaut-capacitor) by [Chris Randall](http://soundcloud.com/chris-randall)
Soundcloud, you're turning in to the uncle that we don't really want to invite to the Christmas Eve party, but, well, he's family, and we'll just have to put up with his drunken ranting and meth habit. I think it might be time for an intervention.
You're in an extremely lofty position as one of the three net-related services I pay directly for. (The other two are TuneCore and DeviantArt, if you're curious.) I do, however, realize that I pay for every service I use in some manner, usually by thoughtfully aiming my eyeballs at ads, or via a percentage (like BandCamp.) In any case, the result of this direct payment on my part is that I feel like I have license to bitch and moan a little bit.
Soundcloud, you need to get your shit together. Your service, when it works, is incredibly useful. But I live in Phoenix, Arizona, where it's never a rainy day, and I sure do get tired of various features not working, or your more-or-less constant lack of bandwidth. In your defense, you're not a bunch of hypocrites like the folks at Vimeo, who act all neck-beardy and web-2-point-oh-ee when it suits them, but take all sorts of corporate Gawker-cock behind the curtain. So I give you a pass, but seriously, it's time to get on the "Let's All Just Have A Service That Works As Advertised" bus, or I'm gonna take my money elsewhere.
This is all because I love you, and I hope you realize that.
---
## Viva Las Vegas...
- Date: 2010-11-09
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/11/viva-las-vegas/
I'm going to be out of the office until Thursday, spending some time in Sin City with my Special Lady Friend. We'll rock this shit when I get back. Until then, an open thread! The subject: the worst show you've ever played. I'll start:
In 1992, SMG was opening for KMFDM on the Angstfest tour, and we played in Palo Alto at a venue who's name escapes me. I recall it was in a large Quansit hut, if that helps anyone, and it may or may not have been called The Edge. KMFDM traveled with a large P.A. that was about 3/5ths subs. These subs lined the entire front of the stage at most places we played, providing a de facto stage extension for those lead singers inclined to do Lead Singer Stuff in front of the monitor line. (I was, up until that day, just such a person.)
Normally, the edges of these subs would be marked with white tape, because seeing the difference between a black sub and black nothing isn't easy in a dark club. This day, for some reason, they never got marked. Around mid-way in to our set, I was out in front doing whatever dumb shit I earnestly did back then, walking along, when I discovered the hard way that there was (unusually) space between the subs. For the record, I'm 6' 4" tall. These subs were 6' tall. So I essentially disappeared, guitar and all, causing much curiosity among my band-mates. (And, knowing the group I had at the time, a certain sense of relief, no doubt.)
Much like falling in to a swimming pool, there is simply no way to recover from such a thing and look cool at the same time. I've been spit on, called every name in the book up to and including (inexplicably, given my general pallor) a nigger, punched, kicked, had full beer bottles thrown at me, guns pulled on me, got a mouthful of chipped teeth with a side order of meaty lip chunks and Beta 58 windscreen on many occasions, body-tackled, electrocuted, and generally mis-used throughout my tenure on stage, but that is the one moment I really wish I could have back.
---
## Deconstructing Dad Now Available...
- Date: 2010-11-05
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/11/deconstructing-dad-now-available/
If you recall, [a while back](https://analogindustries.com/2008/06/raymond-scott-on-to-something/) I mentioned that Audio Damage had donated a fairly substantial sum towards the creation of the film "Deconstructing Dad: The Music, Machines, and Mystery Of Raymond Scott." Well, as it happens, the film is now done, and is making the rounds of the festival circuit as you read this. Even better, a DVD of the film is now available to [purchase](http://kunaki.com/Sales.asp?PID=PX00ZHU2PG).
The film was made by Stan Warnow, Raymond Scott's son, and thus provides a much deeper insight than a normal biopic might. He's also a hell of a nice guy, and wants to do right by his father's legacy. Wall-to-wall win, basically.
---
## micronaut - capacitor Now Available...
- Date: 2010-11-04
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/11/micronaut-capacitor-now-available/
_\[Embedded media, no longer available.\]_
Another heaping slab of analog squishies served up, in the form of **Capacitor**. This is a continuation of the theme I started with Resistor, and will finish with Transformer (coming in Q1 2011.) It is, by and large, a plug-in free zone. Almost every sound is generated from either an analog synth, drum machine, or guitar (mic'd; I don't condone the use of amp sims except in writing) and almost all the effects are hardware.
The interesting track to converse about here will be _CMU_ which is, unsurprisingly, 100% created and sequenced with the Apple //e and CMU-800R. It was an extremely tricky track to make, as I had to do a ton of individual track recordings, and sequencing on the CMU-800R software is roughly akin to, as I explained to someone the other day, driving a car via Morse code. So it's a fairly satisfying track for me.
Anyhow, there you go. Pay What You Want, At Least A Buck at Bandcamp. I'll put the Tunecore submission up this weekend, for people that prefer other avenues of distribution, but obviously Bandcamp is my preferred outlet.
---
## This, That, And The Other Thing...
- Date: 2010-11-04
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/11/this-that-and-the-other-thing/
Someone in a previous thread (or perhaps it was on Twitter; I feel like Shamann said it) wondered out loud if the [new Brian Eno record](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0040V7J36?ie=UTF8&tag=analogindustr-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0040V7J36) would be considered "good" if some random unknown schmoe put it out. I've listened to it three times now, and I think that's still an interesting question. There are some tracks on it that are very obviously Eno, that only he could have come up with. About half of it is, in my opinion, extremely good. The other half could be described as "groundbreaking and challenging" or "aimless wanking," depending on who was doing the describing. In any event, I don't know any more than I did before I heard it, but I enjoy most of it enough to want to hear it again and wonder how it was made, and really, how often can you say that about a new record?
Unrelated: the mailman brought me a [Korg Monotron](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003DX96TW?ie=UTF8&tag=analogindustr-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B003DX96TW) today. (In a rather blinding slice of circular logic, I purchased it with the gift certificate I got this month from Amazon Associates, which was exactly enough. So you guys actually bought it for me, in a roundabout sort of way. So thanks!)
After fooling about for a few minutes, I decided to track it on the song I was working on today. So I laid down some little noinks and wheedles in the spots where such things go, and then I remarked to a friend on iChat that I just made a $60 track. It only makes one sound; that sound is useful. Once. If that's worth $60 to you, then by all means pick one up. Just be sure to do it via the Amazon link provided so I can get a Stylophone next quarter.
For what it's worth, I'm kidding a bit. There's a filter in, which will actually be useful with the CMU-800.
---
## What's Goin' On...
- Date: 2010-11-02
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/11/whats-goin-on/
Start your Tuesday right with a little Marvin. In no particular order...
1\. AES. Ain't going. Something came up that precludes me from making the Pilgrimage. Not a big deal, and frankly the drive and expense are something I won't miss.
2\. Audio Damage. I won't tell you exactly what we're up to just yet, but I will say the following: its name is Phosphor, and it is a polysynth. The smarty pants among you can probably deduce what it is from those two hints. It is building very fast, and I may have something to show off next week.
3\. The Syncrosoft license control center eLicenser was built by assholes who hate everyone.
---
## Aeon...
- Date: 2010-10-31
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/10/aeon/
The above is a screenshot of Aeon, the next Naughty Panther release. It is functionally similar to DroneStation, inasmuch as it is an envelope-free environment, but it's iPad-only. As you can see, I'm not quite done with the panel yet; I'm going to add reverb and delay, which is what those empty sliders on the upper right are for.
The whole synth engine is in place, though, and working fine, and I should be able to submit this to Apple in the next day or two. I'm only gonna charge like $2.99 for it, or thereabouts.
If you recall a post from a couple months ago on the subject, my original intention was to make some sort of "Dronestation HD" or some shit; however, I didn't think that served any purpose, and started over from bare metal a couple days ago. The interesting thing about this synth, from an academic standpoint, is that there is not a single PNG, nor a single sampled waveform; nor am I using a single built-in Apple control (except for the presets button and bar up top, which I may yet do away with.) The entire thing is done procedurally, which, as you know, makes me happy.
Anyhow, once everything is done and submitted, I'll do a video; the goal here, as it was with Dronestation on the iPhone, is to make a usable synth that embraces the paradigm and form-factor of the iPad.
---
## Various Things...
- Date: 2010-10-30
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/10/various-things/
We're coming up on convention season at the Audio Damage Social Networking And Community Outreach Center, otherwise known as the third bedroom in my house. I took that as a sign that I should probably get business cards with the new logo. At the risk of going all [American Psycho](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoIvd3zzu4Y&feature=related) on this shit (the which I have a definite tendency to do, as anyone that has the misfortune of being on my iChat Buddy List will attest), I got the 16 pt silk cards with .25" rounded corners from [Taste Of Ink](http://www.tasteofinkstudios.com/business-card-printing.html), who are a bit pricey but a quality shop for this sort of thing.
So anyhow, on to the conventions: AES is next week in San Francisco; if you're attending, and want to rant at me in person, hit me up, but note I'll only be there on Saturday, and only on the exhibition floor, since the thought of sitting through someone reading a paper about new ways to simulate the resonance of toilet paper tubes with Math! makes me throw up in my mouth a little bit.
Then we have NAMM in January. This may come as a shock to people that haven't been reading this blog for a long time, but AD are not members of NAMM (mostly because the people in charge of membership think these newfangled "computer" things are just a fad, and also because they're sort of asshole-ish) and I have never attended a NAMM show. I've been assured by virtually everyone I know that it's like Guitar Center on Memorial Day Weekend, on meth, times 10,000. I have no reason to doubt that, but even so, it's fucking Anaheim, and I can always pop over to Disneyland. Also too, a lot of the people that have told me this are most assuredly not of the Type A personality, and I actually kind of relish the opportunity to just be ridiculously rude and get away with it that a convention packed full of has-been musicians and fanny-packed salesmen provides.
After that, Musikmesse, which I'm going to make a concerted effort to attend, and NAB in Vegas. Should be a hoot all around.
And in other news, SAMPLES! Goldbaby have a new set, the [iAm MS20](http://www.goldbaby.co.nz/iam_ms20.html), which is exactly what you think it is. I don't even need to tell you about it, or why you should get it, because you're smart, and you already know. Also, Wade has put a monster freebie collection up on [BeatServ](http://www.beatserv.com/sampler.html), which has chunks from everything they've made.
And finally, I'll almost certainly unveil the next Naughty Panther release tomorrow; just touching up the UI a bit today; it isn't in the state where a screenshot would do it justice, but hopefully today's work will change that.
---
## The Death March...
- Date: 2010-10-26
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/10/the-death-march/
[](http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/5066081979/)
I had to go to L.A. this weekend; it's no secret I've been working on a project I can't talk about, and that has been sucking up the majority of my time, but that project is pretty much done as of yesterday, with only some minor things left, and I'll be able to talk about it soon. It is simultanously not as cool as you might think and far cooler than you'd think, if such a thing were possible. But this final Death March to the finish would hopefully explain my recent silence.
Anyhow, the stretch of Interstate highway between Phoenix and Los Angeles is a radio no-man's-land, unless your taste in radio runs to modern country, Mexican oom-pah-pah, or classic rock, in which case you're well sorted. I long ago reached saturation with classic rock radio as a result of touring; I could easily make it to the end of my life without ever hearing another Pink Floyd or Eagles song and die happy. I can't stomach the other two genres, so I load up the ol' Pod with NPR shows when I make the drive. Car Talk, Wait Wait, This American Life, and whatever episodes of Fresh Air that look interesting will get me all the way to L.A., unless I'm in one of my Silent Moods.
You're wondering at this juncture if there's going to be a point to this post, and I'm pleased to inform you that I'm getting there. One of the Fresh Air episodes I had with me was [this one,](http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130704771) which is an interview that Terry Gross did with Jon Stewart at the end of last month. There were a couple things that Jon said that I found had dovetailed nicely with points I've been trying to make for some time, either here or in my columns for Computer Music (and specifically the column I just wrote the other day, which will appear in the December issue.)
In talking about the routine that is necessary to create the Daily Show ever day, he said that (and I'm paraphrasing from memory here) he felt that, creatively, it was important to have a strict set of creative limits within which to improvise, rather than complete freedom. I can't remember the exact phrase, but that's the general idea. There is also a lengthy riff on developing your voice as an artist, and some other subject matter that is interesting from an artistic standpoint, and easily applicable to music. It is well worth the 45 minutes.
Anyhow, we will now return to our regularly scheduled programming. Or something along those lines.
---
## Axon Updated To 1.1.1...
- Date: 2010-10-21
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/10/axon-updated-to-1-1-1/
We have just put version 1.1.1 of Axon in the [AD store](http://www.audiodamage.com/) and it is now available for immediate download. Changes in this version:
1\. The weird issue where it would not pick up the transport for a bit if you started your DAW anywhere but at the beginning has been fixed. This issue affected all users of 1.1.0, and was a side effect of adding the reset feature.
2\. The odd preset skipping issue that was occurring in Cubase and some flavors of Cakewalk products on the Windows side has been (theoretically) fixed. This is a puzzler, and it's not certain that we've addressed it, mainly because we can't figure out what's causing it. But it's not a deal breaker in any event, as it doesn't affect the operation of the plug-in in any way, and all presets can still be selected via the dropdown menus.
Anyhow, if you're an owner, we recommend this update, especially if you updated to 1.1.0, as the main fix was for a bug spawned in that version.
---
## Replicant 1.5 Now Available...
- Date: 2010-10-18
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/10/replicant-1-5-now-available/
[](http://www.audiodamage.com/effects/product.php?pid=AD013)
As the title says, Replicant 1.5 is now available in the AD store. This is a free update for all registered owners. Here's what's new (taken from the manual):
**Completely redesigned user interface.** Knobs, which are poorly suited to fine control on a computer
screen, have been replaced by numerical controls, horizontal sliders, and two-dimensional "XY" pad controls.
**MIDI triggering.** Replicant can now be triggered by MIDI note messages. You can "play" Replicant from a MIDI keyboard and/or sequence triggers in your DAW with notes.
**MIDI Learn.** This effect has MIDI Learn like all our products, but we have added it to the AudioUnit as well; if your AudioUnit host allows sending MIDI to an insert effect, Replicant AU will respond to MIDI Learn just like the VST always has.
Also too, the Windows installer throws the 64-bit version. The Mac versions are now Intel only, 10.5 or greater, like all our newer shit. Whack that image, go forth, and get your new hotness.
---
## It Don't Get Much More Vintage Than This...
- Date: 2010-10-13
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/10/it-dont-get-much-more-vintage-than-this/
[](http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/5078025261/)
This is the main screen of the Roland Compu-Music software that drives the CMU-800R. As you can see, liberally sprinkling the word "bias" about makes it seem fairly pro. The point of the CMU-800R itself is to give the user an 8-channel CV-based sequencer that runs in a computer. The audio that comes out of the unit is most assuredly an afterthought, and there is no mention of the sounds themselves in the software other than the drum voices on the beat programming page.
[](http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/5078618754/)
This is the page where you make a drum beat. It (unlike the note entry screens) is actually really easy to use. As you can see, it is vertical rather than horizontal, but otherwise is a standard Roland drum grid. The voices, left to right, are foot, snare, low tom, hi tom, cymbal, open hat, closed hat. You just cursor around, laying down an X every time you want a hit. You control the timing on the right side in the ST column. The CMU-800 software, like most music software of the era, runs on a 24PPQ time base, so that "6" you see running down the side equates to 16th notes. Pretty easy to add swing to specific notes or whatever. If I wanted what would equate to about a 56% swing in today's sequencers, I'd just alternate the numbers 7, 5, 7, 5, and so on. Don't want a step to play? Slap a zero in that bitch. Easy peasy.
[](http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/5078618570/)
This is the note entry screen. Never having used a tracker before, I'll admit I was somewhat flumoxed by it for a while. I had to crack the manual (the shame and horror) and experiment for a bit, but I got it eventually. The "CV" column is the note number, 0-127, where 0 corresponds to the C four octaves below middle C. The ST is "Step time," or how many pulses until the next note fires. (Remember, we're operating on PPQ here.) The GT column is "Gate Time," how long the gate is open in this step. I've given this pattern (a bassline) a touch of swing, so it's kind of a trick to see wtf is going on, but stare at it long enough and it'll either make sense or not.
I won't bother going in to the details of how to make a pattern, since the usefulness of this information is limited to, well, me and like two other dudes. But it's kind of interesting to draw parallels between this c. 1981 tech and what we do today. It took me about an hour to get a few patterns in for the backing tracks of an existing song. If I had to actually _write_ music on this? My paradigm done shifted away from that a long time ago. Don't know if I could do it, honestly.
---
## The True Power Of This Fully Operational Death Star...
- Date: 2010-10-13
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/10/the-true-power-of-this-fully-operational-death-star/
[](http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/5077107584/)
Got the Roland CMU-800R all up in this bitch. This unit essentially completes the Complete Professional Musician's Apple //e System. This Apple //e now has a pair of Mountain Computer synthesis cards, a Decillionix sampler card, an alphaSyntauri keyboard and software, and the CMU-800R. There were, as far as I'm aware, no other "pro" pieces of music-making gear for it, other than the Passport Soundchaser system, which also uses the Mountain Computer cards, and thus is the same additive synthesis as the alphaSyntauri.
I'll put up a full workup with sound samples and what-not as soon as I get balls-deep in the step editing heaven that is the Compu-Music software. Suffice to say that the following things are true:
1\. People that have written that the CMU-800R contains a complete TR-606 are off their fucking rocker. It is a full analog drum voicing board, but it ain't no 606. In looking at the schematics, it's kind of its own thing. I compared it to the 606, DR-110, and TR-808, and found very few similarities other than a general Roland-ness. It is much thinner than any of those.
2\. People that say the bass voice is a complete 303 are _really_ off their rockers. The bass voice is coming out the same voice source as the other 5 voices; it and the melody voice have an envelope structure that is somewhat different than the 4 "chord" voices, and the bass voice is the only voice that has a filter, a simple Sallen-Key 2 pole LPF. But it ain't no 303.
Anyhow, I'll put up samples and maybe a short video when I've got it sequencing like a champ, but suffice to say it works fine, and if you're in to 80s computer-based music making, you can't touch this rig.
---
## Kickin' It Old School To Start Your Monday Right...
- Date: 2010-10-11
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/10/kickin-it-old-school-to-start-your-monday-right/
The band: The Original Dixieland Jazz Band. The date: February 26th, 1917. The place: Recording Room B at the Victor Talking Machine Studios. The event: the very first time a jazz band put it on wax. The album was released on March 7th (how's that for fast turn-around?), and it was an immediate hit, although a bit of a novelty song with the animal noises. Livery Stable Blues (the track above) was b/w The Original Dixieland Jazz Band One-Step.
It was the best-selling record ever of its time, at a quarter million copies. This is at a time when there were probably only a half a million record players in the world. Imagine releasing an album today that ends up on one out of every two MP3 players. The monument of this achievement is something that is completely without peer in the modern age.
For what it's worth, the band (all white guys, a couple of whom were complete racist fucks) got a bit pompous, touring Europe as "the inventors of jazz," regularly denying in print that black people had anything whatsoever to do with the creation of the music they played. This is obviously not even remotely the case, as jazz was a reasonably well-known form of music by the time they came around, and that band had only been in existence for a year. However, the world they lived in isn't the one we live in. I don't give 'em a pass for it, but they're dead and gone, so I can't yell at 'em.
---
## And Now I'll Finally Be Able To Make Some Music...
- Date: 2010-10-06
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/10/and-now-ill-finally-be-able-to-make-some-music/
As you probably know, I have, in my possession, this Apple //e, with an alphaSyntauri and a Decilionix sampler. The one piece I've been missing for it to be the hub of my analog/digital hybrid 1980s lifestyle was the Roland CMU-800R. The CMU-800R is (more or less) a TR-606, along with a monophonic bass synth, a monophonic "lead" synth -- both typical Roland analog voices of the time -- and a four-voice "chord" synth, which follows the Juno 106 topology, sorta. It can only be controlled by an Apple //e. (There is rumored to be a PC version of the card and software, but I've never seen it.)
One of the loyal AI readers that knew this hooked a brother up this weekend, and a (basically new-in-box) CMU-800R is on its way here as I type this. I'm quite excited, as this has been on my radar for a long, long time. In fact, I bid on this very unit when it was on eBay a couple years back, and the gentleman in question outbid me for it. So it's synchronicity squared.
In any event, the complete Apple //e music computer, with an alphaSyntauri, Decilionix, and CMU-800R is essentially my unicorn. It's taken me some 10 years of fairly concerted effort to assemble the complete system in working order, and I'm looking forward to the post next week where I put up a complete process video of the entire system working, as the final mark of success. What's your White Elephant, that thing you're searching for that will make it all worth it?
---
## The Usual Monday Bullshit...
- Date: 2010-10-04
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/10/the-usual-monday-bullshit/
Making good headway on the 45-odd projects I'm currently involved in, but Spinning Plate Syndrome is setting in. In no particular order:
**New Beatserv Kits**. There's a new Beatserv sample set, _(h)IDM_, which you'll obviously want. No loopy-loops this time, just quality noises. Obviously this sort of thing ain't for everybody, but it is, on the other hand, for me. The sample audio on the [product page](http://www.beatserv.com/index.php/h-idm.html/) is a pretty good IDM e.p. in its own right.
**Apple TV Haxoring.** I'm working on a generative art piece, for which I was going to use a [Beagleboard](http://www.beagleboard.org/) for the brains (mmmmm, brains!) but the company I ordered the Beagleboard from (who shall, at this juncture, remain nameless) couldn't be bothered to actually send me same in a timely fashion. So I grabbed myself one of them shiny new Apple TV hockey pucks, and am now waiting patiently for the iPhone Dev folks to jailbreak it. If you're curious, it's basically an 8-gig iPod Touch, guts-wise, with a front end app called Lowtide that is, more or less, Front Row. In any case, I've got a fair chunk of the code done (screenshot above) and running on my iPad, for what it's worth.
**Replicant 1.5**. This will probably be done on the Windows side today. I would be very surprised if it wasn't out by the end of the week.
**Micronaut.** Two Micronaut releases on the way. _Many Moons,_ which is a selection of tracks from the first decade, including some unreleased, re-mixed and remastered. The other is _Capacitor_, another EP in the vein of [Resistor.](http://micronaut.bandcamp.com/) Those are coming along nicely. The collection is a real bear, as I have to hunt down all the old files, which are in god-only-knows what format (one of the unreleased tracks, which pre-dates the release of the first Micronaut album, was a Master Tracks Pro file, the horror and shame of it all.) But I'm making headway.
---
## Replicant 1.5 Almost Done...
- Date: 2010-10-01
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/10/replicant-1-5-almost-done/
The Replicant 1.5 update is nearing completion. All we have left to do is sort out some small issues with the MIDI triggering, and then we're off to make the many builds that comprise any given release.
In the screenshot above (click for full-sized) you'll note a lot of dead space on the right side of the UI. This is intentional, and is for eventual Replicant 2.0 additions, so don't get all in a tizzy 'bout that. I may, in the meantime, fill it with images of unicorns and rainbows. The pan X/Y control (which controls width and pan position) will get a more informative graphic, as well.
Anyhow, this won't take but a moment to finish; this update will free to all Replicant users, and will include a 64-bit VST release on the Windows side of things. The only functionality addition is the MIDI note trigger feature, of course.
---
## 2 Forms Of Anger...
- Date: 2010-09-30
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/09/2-forms-of-anger/
_\[Embedded media, no longer available.\]_
[Brian Eno - 2 Forms Of Anger (taken from Small Craft On A Milk Sea)](http://soundcloud.com/warp-records/brian-eno-2-forms-of-anger-small-craft-on-a-milk-sea) by [Warp Records](http://soundcloud.com/warp-records)
This is the first teaser from the upcoming Eno/Hopkins/Abraham album _Small Craft On A Milk Sea._ I'm not sure entirely what I was expecting, but it was either this sort of thing (sonically related to the backing music of the Karl Hyde/Eno colab on [Athens,](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002R5V7XU?ie=UTF8&tag=analogindustr-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B002R5V7XU) which is the same group of musicians) or something like the epic Leo Abrahams track [Spider,](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001U4974U?ie=UTF8&tag=analogindustr-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B001U4974U) the remixed version which is on the Chillout Lounge comps. (As an aside, that is one of my favorite pieces of music of all time. Production, flow, programming, and playing chops are all in fantastic display.)
Turns out it is very obviously the former. It's nice to hear a well-made track in this vein that is outside the normal Genre Soup of electronic music. I tend to like the concept of Eno more than the execution, by and large, but this teaser bodes well for the upcoming album.
Only slightly related: the timeline comment track in Soundcloud embeds? Boycott that shit. It is intensely annoying to see what little Bobby Dokken from Weehauken thinks of any given transition. I mean, honestly, who gives a fuck?
---
## Around The Intertubes...
- Date: 2010-09-26
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/09/around-the-intertubes/
Here's some interesting things I've come across in the last few days, in no particular order:
**AKWF Generic Waveforms**: [This](http://www.adventurekid.se/akrt/waveforms/adventure-kid-waveforms/) is a gigantic collection of single-cycle waveforms, handy for various purposes. I haven't used them to make anything yet, but they seem to be "the bomb"-ish.
**anbb mimikry**: If you're in to this sort of thing, you no doubt know about the anbb (Alta Novo & Blixa Bargeld) project, and the EP that came out in June. On Oct. 1st, they're dropping a [full-length](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0042NI72Y?ie=UTF8&tag=analogindustr-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0042NI72Y). Not for everyone, I know, but definitely makes me do the happy dance. A friend of mine, upon learning of this album, said "if someone told me I wouldn't end the day without hearing Blixa Bargeld covering Harry Nilsson, I'd have called them a bald-faced liar." This album will definitely scratch that particular itch, the which you probably didn't know you had. (As I mentioned, an EP with all the best tracks has been available [since June,](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003U73PC0?ie=UTF8&tag=analogindustr-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B003U73PC0) fwiw.)
**Shruthi-1**: The [Shruthi-1](http://mutable-instruments.net/) kit finally started shipping. And immediately stopped. I got the email that it would be available on Saturday, but it's some kind of weird-ass metric Saturday, as it was already over when I got there, and the kits are sold out. I assume there will be more at some point, and while I'm no longer very interested in spending an afternoon bent over a hot soldering iron, I'll take one for the team with this kit. All the important parts are still available individually, but frankly, I have too much to do already without having to try and order all the extra parts.
Anything interesting and obscure I missed in the last few days?
---
## The Donation Economy Kind Of Blows...
- Date: 2010-09-25
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/09/the-donation-economy-kind-of-blows/
[](http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/4879801981/)
I actually learned this years ago, but I thought, since times had changed, I'd give it another shot, and I can already tell it hasn't changed at all. I put that payload in the "Free Shit" category, with a donation button, in much the same way that I did in the first real iteration of Analog Industries, when it was basically a site entirely devoted to free drum loops. After a few months of putting up new loop sets most every week, I had received a grand total of about $30 in donations, which prompted me to put up [this page.](http://web.archive.org/web/20030523172912/http://www.analogindustries.com/)
What's different seven years later? The ratio. That 909 set has been downloaded so many times now that the transfer of that one file alone has eclipsed everything else residing on this computer, many times over. And the number of donations? Zero. Goose egg. Nil.
Now, I could really give a fuck about the money aspect. If I cared about that, I would have sold the set, and most likely done quite well with it. I was just curious as to whether things had changed in the public conscience since last time I did this, and the answer is "no."
Compare that to the [Bandcamp Experiment.](http://micronaut.bandcamp.com/) That has proved quite successful. The Bandcamp payments far outstripped any income from the 20-odd other services that EP is available in combined, and in about 20% of the payments, the buyer payed _more_ than they would have if they had purchased from iTunes or Amazon.
It's too early to make a sweeping generalization (like that ever stopped me) but in my considered opinion, asking people to pay **something** in order to acquire the content is a wiser choice than relying on their conscience or largess alone.
I know that many of you have explored the same paths here, and it's time for a discussion of the relative merits of the tip jar versus even a simple required payment. What's your experience with these two methods?
---
## Back To Business...
- Date: 2010-09-23
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/09/back-to-business/
Okay, that was fun, but it's time to return to the matters at hand. In no particular order:
**1\. Are You Fucking Kidding Me?** Apparently, the raging cuntfuck that owns the house we live in hasn't been paying his mortFUCKYOUSPAMMERgage. As a result, my (snail) mailbox is suddenly full to the brim with foreFUCKYOUSPAMMERclosure-related materials. As it happens, the President did us a solid, though, in the form of the Helping Families Save Their HoFUCKYOUSPAMMERmes Act Of 2009. There is now rather strict federal law dealing with this, so we don't have to worry about Sheriff Joe showing up on our doorstep to put us out or anything. Even so, a rather major annoyance that will no doubt turn in to the usual rolling clusterfuck before it is all over. Be prepared for me to bitch long and hard about that.
**2\. Replicant 1.5.** This is pretty close to done. Just have to finish placing the UI elements while Adam works on the new MIDI features. It may be out next week. I'll show the UI here once it's completed, of course. But it'll look like a cross between the existing Replicant and the Axon/D3 style.
**3\. Next T-Shirt.** I've started to ponder the next AI t-shirt, and am accepting ideas in that regard. Post away.
**EDIT:** I had to add some words to this post to keep it from showing in Google searches that content spammers use. You can probably figure out what I added.
---
## The New Hotness...
- Date: 2010-09-21
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/09/the-new-hotness/
[](http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/4880411472/)
After threatening to do this for more than a year, we've finally flipped this site. It's a fairly extensive redesign, going right down to the bones. All the .jsp pages are gone, replaced with .php innards. As a result of this switch, some of your links may not be working correctly; you'll need to update them accordingly.
The RSS feed, which we cloned to Feedburner, needs to be updated as well if you're rocking the old one. The new RSS feed is [here.](http://feeds2.feedburner.com/AnalogIndustries)
As far as commenting goes, everything should work like it did. You might have to clear your cache or press the refresh button a couple times to get everything lined up. If you're about to post a comment that says "hey, Feature X looks all fucked up" then press refresh or clear your cache before you do; this new version of the site has been tested for a couple months, and should be fairly clean.
You'll note new links on the right. All the remaining T-shirts are in the AI Shop, and that's where new stuff will go when we make it. The Free Shit page is for exactly that; I've put a few odds and ends up for now, with more coming. We've also added a mailing list, and a much better archive and search mechanism.
On the left side of each post, you'll note the Twitter and Facebook auto-links. The Twitter one uses our custom link shortener (I was voting for an.al but I didn't get far on that quest) and I don't know what the fuck the Facebook one does, as I don't use that soul-sapping mess of a service, but my wife assures me it's quite handy and attractive.
The final major new feature is a full mobile version. This has been tuned for the iPhone, but it should be equally happy with any smartphone. There is a browser check at log-in, and if a mobile browser is detected, it defaults to the mobile site. You can, however, view either one from your phone or mobile device.
So, big ups to the missus, @ellerandall, who has been working on her bespoke blogging back end for a couple years now, with this site as the crown jewel. Have a look around and see what's what with the new hotness.
---
## Axon Updated to 1.1.0
- Date: 2010-09-16
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/09/axon-updated-to-1-1-0/
If you own Axon, hit your account in the AD store and grab v1.1.0. In this update:
**Multiple Outputs.** We added 7 stereo outputs, one for each voice/neuron. These are pre-mixer, so are not affected by mute, solo, pan, or fader.
**Zero Reset.** A third sync mode has been added, RST. In this mode, Axon syncs to host, but every time you stop the host transport, the counters in each Neuron reset to zero. The net result is that Axon becomes much more determinate. (It always was, but in this way, it starts exactly the same every time.) This makes it much less likely to start on the "and" or whatever. The downside is that the neurons lose their phase relationship if you've been noodling for a while, so the resulting pattern the first time you stop will be a bit different.
**Bug Fixes.** The timing bug in Logic has been dealt with, as well as another obscure automation bug in the AudioUnit version, and some other minor shit.
**CPU Load Improvement.** This is almost undetectable, maybe 1% on a modern quad-core, but it sure does make a nice bullet point.
This update is, of course, free. [Go forth.](http://www.audiodamage.com/)
---
## The Usual Monday Bullshit...
- Date: 2010-09-13
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/09/the-usual-monday-bullshit/
This made the rounds a couple months ago, courtesy of a @GreatDismal tweet, if memory serves me. For some reason I keep coming back to it. This agency, MK12, owns After Effects in a manner far beyond that of mere mortals, and their [Vimeo channel](http://vimeo.com/emkaytwelve) is absolutely littered with ludicrous examples of their skill. This particular video, which combines completely off-the-hook sound design with AE trickery the likes of which you rarely see, is the best of the bunch, though.
I'm working on a group of generative artworks that kind of have the same feel to them; being done in real time and purely procedurally, they won't be at this level of sophistication, but visually they're in the same ballpark. I'm using the covers of several 50s era electronic music records as touchstones/starting points. Each work will consist of a 19" LCD monitor (4:3, not 16:9) with a [Beagleboard](http://beagleboard.org/) strapped to the back, running Processing, in an aluminum frame. It will have the ability to generate, on the fly and with motion, four different pieces. I have the code running on my Mac right now; the first Beagleboard arrives this week, and I'll put up a video when I've got the whole mess running. I anticipate many, many headaches getting the proper combination of Linux and Processing to work, and I also assume I'm going to have to dumb the works down a bit, as a Beagleboard doesn't have a lot of horsepower.
In other news, the RT60 record is completed, song-wise. I have to go back and mix a couple tracks again, but for the most part it is done. I'll have some more info about that in the immediate future; Jeremy and I have to decide how we're gonna roll things out, but Bandcamp will no doubt be involved.
In AD news, we ran in to a weird issue with the Axon update; when we moved the OS X version to VSTGUI4, it got really laggy, visually. Adam is (as I write this) trying to figure out what's causing the slowdown. As soon as that's out of the way, we should have the update out pretty quickly. While he's working on that, I am, of course, working on the UI update to Replicant.
So, that's what's going on around here. You know what we haven't done in a while? Had a Hawt New Music thread. I could seriously use some new tracks to listen to while I'm pushing pixels. What's caught your ear lately? And, as always, try to put at least a little editorial in your post rather than a big fat list of names. I don't want to have to google some band that turns out to be some Norwegian death metal bullshit, and I assume nobody else does either.
---
## Discord3 v1.0.1 OS X Now Available...
- Date: 2010-09-09
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/09/discord3-v1-0-1-os-x-now-available/
We just pushed out v1.0.1 of Discord3 for OS X, and it is now in the AD store for download. This update essentially duplicates the update of a little while ago for Windows, fixing the infamous Fart Bug in the granular engine. It is recommended for all OS X users of Discord3.
This update also has a couple minor things addressed you wouldn't notice and one major thing you wouldn't notice. This update replaces VSTGUI3.5 with VSTGUI4, which we need to use for upcoming 64-bit janks. It shouldn't affect you in any way, shape, or form, but if you run in to anything graphics-related, be sure to drop me a line via the AD Info Line.
Next is the Axon multi-outs update, which Adam is gonna tackle tomorrow, and then the Replicant 1.5 update. I should be able to show you a design mock-up in a couple days, once I have it worth looking at.
---
## Somewhat Ahead Of Their Time...
- Date: 2010-09-07
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/09/somewhat-ahead-of-their-time/
In 1952, Philips Industries, those zany Dutchfolk that bring us fancy new TVs and lightbulbs every now and again, saw fit to make an electronic music studio in their main R&D facility in Eindhoven, The Netherlands. This studio, which was moved to the University Of Utrecht in 1960 as part of their new Sonology Studio, and again in 1972 to the Royal Conservatory Of Music (as pictured above), still exists today as Studio BEA-5 at the [Institute Of Sonology,](http://www.sonology.org/UK/frameset-uk.html) with most of the gear in that top image still in daily use.
(Click that image to go to a Flickr set taken in 2007. Note that it is the same room, and more or less the same angle, as the top photo.)
This is, for some reason, one of the lesser known of the old electronic music studios. Obviously, we're all familiar with the BBC's efforts in that department, and the famous electronic music studios in Paris and Cologne, but BEA-5 and its parents had a reasonably profound effect on the history of electronic music, and it also has the distinction of being the Last Man Standing of bespoke electronic studios from the '40s and '50s.
An interesting sidebar: it is where Varèse created Poème électronique while working with Le Corbusier on the Philips Pavilion at the 1958 World's Fair, and as such is the pivot point for the acceptance of electronic music as a valid form of musical expression, in my humble opinion.
This video is a trip. Although it's in Dutch, you get the general idea. This is the original studio at the Phillips labs before it was moved the first time, and gives a good overview of the techniques used to make music at this studio (and, indeed, the techniques in general use at the time in all the electronic music studios). The next time someone sends me a litany of "can you make Plugin X do task Y so I can spend more time with my vaporizer?" I'm just going to send them this video and say "now you have a vague inkling of an idea of how easy you have it."
Here's an interesting piece of music by Tom Dissevelt & Kid Baltan (the two dudes in the previous video), called _Vibration_ that was also recorded at the Philips labs iteration of Sonology. That intro bit, well, slap a nice Machinedrum kick under it, and you've got yourself some minimal techno, plain and simple. Given the chronology of things, you can safely assume that the methods in the first video directly resulted in the music of the second video. Speaking of chronology, to put the age in perspective, the above track was recorded the year that Buddy Holly released _Rave On._ Either that, or it's on the new Autechre album. You be the judge.
Anyhow, I imagine at least one, if not several, of the daily readers of AI have visited BEA-5, and may have an anecdote or two to relate in that regard. If you'd like an excellent compilation of music recorded at the first locations of this studio, you could do far worse than to pick up [Popular Electronics,](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003R6BJ4U?ie=UTF8&tag=analog%22httpindustr-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B003R6BJ4U%22) which has virtually all the highlights.
---
## Hectricity...
- Date: 2010-09-03
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/09/hectricity/
[](http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/4930005591/)
Man, what a week. I've got about 85 things going on, and am trying to plow through it all. I had to get several of my photographs in to a state where they could be displayed for First Friday tonight, which involved drives to Mesa, several trips downtown, and haunting the aisles of Michael's looking for frames for some time. If you're in Phoenix, they're at the Just Breathe Gallery (and, not coincidentally, yoga studio. Every building in that area is Business XXX + Gallery, so it's not as strange as it sounds.)
That was a massive time suck, of course. I also had to go down to Chandler twice for things to do with our local Hackerspace, Heatsync Labs. This was a nerd-gasm of epic proportions, and the less said about it the better. But if you picture Phoenix as a person that is about 100 miles tall, we live around the eyebrows, and Chandler is that crust that grows on your feet if you spend too much time in a men's locker room.
Also too, somewhere in there I managed to get 90% of the UI make-over for Replicant 1.5 done. This is our first semi-major update to Replicant, and since this is our most popular product, we're rather reticent to add or remove any features. It won't be a huge make-over like the BS1-BS2 jump. The things I know it will have:
1\. New UI. It will be losing its algae-colored knobfest and getting a UI that is in line with Axon and D3. The general layout will remain the same, though, so there will be no learning curve.
2\. MIDI Note Trigger. We are making it so you can fire the events with MIDI notes instead of the sequencer, if you want. Still working on the mechanics for this, but it should make Replicant play much nicer with swung (swinged?) material.
3\. In addition to the bitcrush thing, we'll be adding a sample rate reduction because, honestly, why wouldn't we?
That's about it for this update. The UI is the big part. It'll also get the 64-bit Windows treatment, and get all the current VSTGUI and AU tech so that the 64-bit OS X port won't be difficult when we're able to do that. It'll be a free update for all users.
---
## Upcoming AD Stuff...
- Date: 2010-08-30
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/08/upcoming-ad-stuff/
Okay, now that the release excitement of Axon has died down, we're on to the Next Phase in our Big Plan. We're actually working on several things at once, and I'll attempt to boil them down to the essence.
**1\. Discord3 OS X update.** There will be a minor update on the OS X side of Discord3 shortly; we've got some internal re-working, plus a minor bug fix. We have decided to not release 64-bit versions of OS X at this time, as the 64-bit port of AU is essentially impossible with our current working methods. We need to wait until the compatibility layer we used for Discord3 (and Axon) has been updated. We have successfully built a 64-bit OS X VST of Discord3, and we'll release as soon as Cubase 5 64-bit is stable and public on the OS X side.
**2\. Axon Update.** We're adding multiple outs, counter reset on transport stop, and a couple other requested features to Axon, along with some minor bug fixes (mostly relating to Logic). This update will be both sides, and is a ways away.
**3\. The Next Product.**
**EDIT: Read the comments.**
This isn't a new product _per se,_ but rather a significant update that will combine and deprecate several old products. One of the problems with our relatively large product line is that doing line-wide updates is disagreeable in the extreme; our intention in that regard is to reduce the number of products we offer, so that we're able to better deal with the fairly regularly timed body blows emanating from Cupertino.
So, this product, as yet unnamed, will be a multi-effect consisting of the engines of Liquid, Fluid, Vapor, and Phase Two. You will be able to select any one of those engines per instance, and the whole will be lovingly wrapped in a stereo delay. In this regard, it will be similar to Discord3, in both layout and operation, but rather than three different pitch shifters, it will have four modulation effects. The delay will be routed slightly differently, more like a send effect than inline as it is in D3, but that's a design decision that is down the road a bit.
For purchasing, we haven't decided on a final price, but we will almost certainly hew to our current major effect price of $59. The way upgrading will work will be that for _each_ of the four individual effects you own, you'll receive a $10 discount from the price. So if you only own, say, Liquid, your price for this plug-in will be $49. If you own Liquid and Fluid, your price will be $39, and so on. We will, as I mentioned, be deprecating the four plug-ins in question.
If you have any thoughts on this combo-platter, now's the time to make yourself heard; otherwise, we'll forge ahead.
---
## Axon Tutorial #2...
- Date: 2010-08-26
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/08/axon-tutorial-2/
Here's the second video in my 6-part "How To Run This Little Fucker" series. In this one, I show a little more in-depth about how to make connections, and the rhythms that result. I changed the format a bit to make it less wordy than the last one, which was apparently causing some problems.
---
## Automatic, Systematic, Hydromatic...
- Date: 2010-08-23
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/08/automatic-systematic-hydromatic/
[](http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/4914647306/)
Movin' right along around these parts. Various things, in no particular sequence:
1\. In order to facilitate the 64-bit OS X versions, we apparently need to use the bleeding edge VSTGUI 4.0. I'm pleased to report that Adam has successfully built Discord 3 using VSTGUI 4, which required a lot of changes in our internal GUI code that took him the majority of last week. The only thing remaining is updating the compatibility layer we use to turn VSTs in to AudioUnits. This layer uses something called HIView, which is the Carbon API windowing system. We need to change it to something called NSView, which is the Cocoa windowing system, as there is no 64-bit Carbon. We don't know exactly how complex that's going to be, but we're sanguine about things at this juncture.
As soon as the 64-bit OS X versions of Discord 3 are out, we'll have a fairly rapid update to Axon, then turn our attention to the rest of the catalog. I'll update as is necessary.
2\. A bit outside the purview of this site, but for those of you that find my photography explorations interesting, I opened a Deviant Art account, the which you can find [here.](http://chris-randall.deviantart.com/) I'm only putting my current run of "serious" works (my dip- and triptychs, basically) up there; the majority of my photographic output will still go in my [Flickr account](http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/) as always. Slightly related: I got one of [these](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001AK1DOG?ie=UTF8&tag=analogindustr-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B001AK1DOG) the other day, an example of which you can see above. Fun little camera, and a hoot at a party.
3\. Yes, the other Axon videos are coming.
4\. Musically, I'm mixing the last RT60 song this week (it is, in fact, open on my music PC right this minute.) This record needs to be released on vinyl, but due to the heavy front-loaded costs, we're exploring various options in that regard. One idea we've had is to have a separate Bandcamp item that gets the download, with a pre-order for the vinyl. If anyone has any different ideas in that regard, I'd love to hear about them. I've also got the next Micronaut EP, Capacitor, on deck (it's about half way done) and the Many Moons (Selections 1998 - 2008) LP, which contains new-mixed versions of several Micronaut tracks, plus some unreleased stuff from the early days, is nearing completion as well.
5\. And finally, today is the 7th Anniversary of the founding of Audio Damage, Inc. Yay, us, and a huge thank-you to anyone that ever bought a plug-in from us!
---
## Fucking Physics. How Does It Work?
- Date: 2010-08-19
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/08/fucking-physics-how-does-it-work/
Hey. Remember me? It's been a while, I know. But you're used to it. You know how it is after a release. Lots to do.
Anyhow, I couldn't let [this beauty](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:Oi06md947_oJ:www.malcolmsteward.co.uk/%3Fp%3D2479+malcolm+steward&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk) slip by without a comment. It seems this fellow, using his Naim audiophile rig, can easily hear "greater low-level musical detail and presentational improvements in the soundstage and the ‘air’ around instruments."
Now, trying to talk sense to an audiophile is a quixotic task at best, but I'll give it a whirl.
Dear Mr. Steward:
Despite what you may _think_ you heard, speaking as someone that is heavily involved in the technology (and physical act) of music creation, let me state for the record that it is physically impossible for the SATA cable that connects your hard drive to your motherboard to have any bearing whatsoever on the "air" or "soundstage" of the music you listen to, unless that cable has experienced catastrophic failure, in which event, you won't be hearing any music at all.
Mr. Steward, I'm sure you're a very nice guy, who is only trying to make a living writing about that which you love. In that, at least, you and I are the same. In this article, however, you're either lying outright, or you're demonstrating the old human foible of hearing what you want to hear at the expense of the truth. It is fundamentally the same as a Christian or Muslim professing faith. "It doesn't have to be true. It is enough that I believe it to be true."
Since you're obviously not clear on the technical details, your "music," which is in fact a data file, is not really "passing through metres of CAT-5." It's not a physical thing that has to travel from Point A to Point B, possibly in a tiny dump truck. Networks, hard drives, and data files don't work like that. It isn't like speaker wire, where one could conceivably make an argument for quality (when, as you and I both know full well, the only thing that really matters is size and conductivity.)
In short, there are too many variables, up to and including the barometric pressure and relative humidity in your house at the time of your listening, to make any quantifiable statements about "soundstage" and "air." All of these variables happen **AFTER** your D/A converter, though. Suffice to say that there is no possible way that an audio file streamed off a hard disk, assuming that everything is working correctly, can be affected by either the SATA or CAT-5 cables. It simply doesn't work that way. You can consider everything before your D/A converter as a constant in any equation.
In closing, Mr. Steward, I would like to thank you for taking the time to inform us of an exciting new product, but it would be wise to consider that your obviously vivid imagination is playing a role. Either that, or the company gave you either product or money to say that nonsense. In any event, this deeply flawed article has called in to question virtually everything you have published, unfortunately.
Sorry 'bout that.
**EDIT:** Stretta had something to say on this subject as well. ['Tis here.](http://stretta.blogspot.com/2010/08/super-sata-cables-on-sale-soon.html)
---
## The Usual Monday Bullshit...
- Date: 2010-08-16
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/08/the-usual-monday-bullshit/
[](http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/4880411322/)
The initial release hullabaloo of Axon has died down a bit, so things can start returning to normal. It's an interesting function of the division of labor in Audio Damage, Inc. that when I'm relatively idle, Adam is usually working hard, and vice versa. My busy times book-end the release cycle of the product (design and sales) while Adam's busy time is the couple weeks immediately prior to release.
For the first 24 hours of sales, Axon was our fourth most popular of the 30 plug-ins we've released. However, I think it's interesting to note that of our four most popular first-24-hour products (the Discord3 update, Automaton, Tattoo, and Axon, in order) the difference between first and fourth is only 10 units.
All of these four products have a long, long way to go before they'll catch either Replicant or Dubstation, so it's not necessarily time for a party, but the risk we took by releasing Axon seems to have been worth it, and for that, we're extremely thankful. For the record, on the list of all opening day sales, Dubstation is 24th, and Replicant is 7th. Just goes to show that the opening day has nothing to do with final adoption of the product in the production community's mass consciousness, but is more a function of our ability to build excitement and anticipation, I believe.
Anyhow, OS X 64-bit versions of D3 and Axon are next out the door (don't know how long that will take; our couple of half-hearted attempts at 64-bit OS X builds met with a lot of errors), along with an update to Axon with some bug fixes and various features requested like multiple outs. In my ubiquitous free time (what ever will I do with myself?) I'm piecing together a selection of tracks from the first decade of Micronaut, and mixing them again for more modern sound and technique, and releasing the whole to Bandcamp here in a few days. So watch out for that. Also, 2/6 of the Axon Video Series should be done and up today. And so on and so forth...
**OH AND...** There's a new free kit up at Beatserv, and they're having a back-to-school 20% off sale. [Go forth.](http://www.beatserv.com/)
---
## Axon Programming Tutorial 1 Of 6...
- Date: 2010-08-12
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/08/axon-programming-tutorial-1-of-6/
Here is the first of the six tutorials I'll do for Axon. This one is a super fast overview of the Neuron Sequencer programming method, for people that want to see it in action. I'll go way more in depth in Pt. 2, showing how to make more predictable beats, multiple senders for fun and profit, and how to get the most out of external triggering.
---
## Axon: The Process (And How It Isn't An ANN)...
- Date: 2010-08-10
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/08/axon-the-process-and-how-it-isnt-an-ann/
I have to take my wife to the dentist in a bit, so it's going to be a few hours before the first Axon programming video is up. In lieu of that, I'll take this interlude to talk about how Axon came about, for those of you that are interested, and some of the theory behind it. It all started when I bought the excellent O'Reilly book [AI for Game Developers](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0596005555?ie=UTF8&tag=analogindustr-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0596005555). After the success of Automaton (which turned out to be one of our more successful plug-ins) we spent some thought cycles pondering other ways to implement some sort of rudimentary AI in a music context. The book is mostly about simple path-finding, following, and "find your way home" algorithms, but there was one chapter which (greatly) simplified the concept of artificial neural networks (ANNs) that I found quite intriguing.
Now, the problem with an ANN in a music context--and it has been tried; the pages of Computer Music Journal are rife with nasty-sounding examples--is twofold:
1\. The context is generally not appropriate to the learning process that ANNs require.
2\. The results, whether you're applying them to sequencing or sound design, are uniformly unlistenable.
I broached this subject with Adam as a possible path of exploration, picking an incredibly bad time to do this (we were in the middle of Tattoo's lengthy and frustrating troubleshooting process) and he was... uh... not excited. He pointed out Nos. 1 and 2 in short order, and that was that.
**HOWEVER!!!**
When I have an idea in my teeth, it won't be taken from me without a lot of slobber and jumping about, in a most dog-like fashion. The main hurdle to overcome to make an ANN full of techno is to make it so you don't have to teach the fucking thing. So I went to the basic idea of what an ANN node was; essentially, when you strip away all the academic bullshit, it's a few nested if/then/else statements. IF these conditions are met THEN fire a pulse, or ELSE figure out whether we need to change our IF to compensate for the outside world being a strange and wonderful place.
Now, Adam has a fascination with all things hexagonical, and in order to sell him on the idea, I knew hexes would have to be involved. I then opened up Pd and went to work, trying to come up with a hex-based system of counters that would allow user interaction but not need to be _taught_. I came across some interesting work done by some guy (which I can't find right now) that augmented my ideas in this regard, and tied the output to a whole mess of simple FM synths, and the result is as you see here:
This is, for all intents and purposes, Axon, except in Pd instead of a VST/AU, and without a shiny GUI. There are only six voices, as I didn't give the center timing node a voice, but the general idea is fundamentally the same. I actually prototyped the UI in TouchOSC to run it on my iPad, and the TouchOSC UI is, in layout anyhow, what you see in the Axon UI now.
Of course, this bears no relationship to an ANN any more. It is really just a set of interconnected counters. I called it the Retarded Neural Network, because it _was_ a collection of simple neurons, which _did_ operate in a network, and it _was_ retarded, inasmuch as it couldn't be taught. Obviously, it would be in fairly poor taste to use this as a bullet point, but that's what it is in my mind.
An actual operating instrument that produced unique and interesting results and that was (sort of) easy to program, and furthermore (FURTHERMORE!) had a hexagon in it, well, it was just a matter of time before Adam caved. As soon as D3 was done we decided to make it, and after a spirited argument on the semantics of the words "artificial neural network," whereupon I agreed that it wasn't one, we were off to the races.
Now, to be clear: the goal of these sorts of things is not to replace the creative process, but rather to augment it by producing results that you fully control, while leading to things you wouldn't have thought of on your own. In this respect Automaton and Axon are two peas in the same pod. While Automaton has a fairly robust randomization feature set, it is, at its root, fully controllable and repeatable, just like Axon.
---
## Audio Damage Axon Now Available...
- Date: 2010-08-09
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/08/audio-damage-axon-now-available/
['Tis here.](http://www.audiodamage.com/instruments/product.php?pid=AD026)
---
## The Office? I'm Out Of It!11!!!1ONE!
- Date: 2010-08-06
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/08/the-office-im-out-of-it-11-1one/
[](http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/3339401675/)
The new AD product is at RC1, and is out to the full AD NFR list for poking and prodding, and I am taking my first day entirely off work (or, well, driving back and forth from Idaho) since the middle of February. The missus and I are heading to L.A. for the weekend, wherein I will dote upon my nieces and eat good food and do the things men do when they're not working, whatever those things might be.
Interestingly, I just looked at the weather for Manhattan Beach, and the high temp today is (on the Fahrenheit scale) just about half of what it is here -- Mid 60s there, 110 or so here. This will no doubt entail wearing things like pants and a coat, and maybe even shoes instead of flip flops. Let's see... where did I put those socks? I know I have some...
My point here is that I acclimated to the warm (okay, I'll go ahead and say "hot," you raving pile of pussies) weather here fairly quickly, and now when I even see temps like "67" my internal thermometer is going "WARNING WARNING YOU WILL FREEZE TO DEATH!!!"
Well, on the bright side, it's a wet cold.
Anyhow, no gear talk for me until Sunday. No business talk. None of that. I'm taking my proxy children to Legoland. Don't break anything while I'm gone.
---
## Abandon Hope, All Ye Who Enter Here...
- Date: 2010-08-04
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/08/abandon-hope-all-ye-who-enter-here/
[](http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/4861016502/)
A brief public service announcement: in going over the "opportunities" on the YouLicense.com site, I just came across this little tidbit from [Pureplay Music](http://www.pureplaymusic.com/):
_
WE ARE CURRENTLY LOOKING FOR ARTISTS THAT ARE NOT REGISTERED WITH ANY COLLECTION AGENCIES, I.E. ASCAP, PRS, PPL ETC. ALL GENRES CONSIDERED. TO BE CONSIDERED FOR A RANGE OF NEW INSTORE MUSIC CHANNELS.
_
Now, if you don't have long experience licensing music to various sources, that "not registered" phrase is something to _really_ watch out for. For those that might not know, I'll try to explain this as simply as I can:
When a licensing house wants unregistered music, it's **not** because they're going to get some "better deal" where the licensee doesn't have to pay performance royalties. EVERYBODY PAYS. All stores in America pay. All radio stations. All nightclubs. All TV networks. Virtually anywhere that commerce and music intermingle, that business pays royalties to BMI, ASCAP, and SESAC. That money is already there. Your job is to get your share of it.
What this licensing house wants to do is register your music as if _they_ wrote it. It's a common scam at the low end of this business, and the sync fee isn't where the money is; it's in this fact. There are two halves to performance royalties: the publisher half and the writer half. If you're your own publisher (like me) you get both halves, and thus receive at least one check from ASCAP/BMI/SESAC a month.
There is _no_ earthly reason to give up this money, as it's just sitting there waiting for people to claim it. If you wrote music that is worth getting licensed, and you take some $50 one-time payout for it, rest assured that the entity that licensed it registered it with whichever service their publishing company is a member of, and are busily collecting both sides on your behalf.
So please, please, please take the time to learn about how licensing and its attendant royalties and buyouts work. This is a fairly consistent and easy way to make money as a musician and what Pureplay Music is doing is the equivalent of 3 Card Monty. You can't win with their method. Pureplay can take their "empowering artists" catchphrase and ram it right the fuck up their own anus.
---
## The Smell Of Victory...
- Date: 2010-07-29
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/07/the-smell-of-victory/
We're so close with the new AD product I can practically taste it. Adam is doing the OS X builds today while I assemble all the materials we need to sell it. The only things remaining are some minor housekeeping, presets, and the manual.
I'm not dropping any more hints at this moment, except to say the following: it is a sequencer/synth (groovebox in the pidgin of our business, although I believe that term is mis-applied, as it doesn't really groove, and it certainly isn't a box). The UI is blue, it is quite strange--the strangest plug we've ever made, and that's saying something--and people that make IDM, ambient, and minimal will be exceedingly happy with it.
So, don't expect to hear much from me until it is released. We're in the final Death March phase of the operation and I'm sitting in my darkened office muttering the St. Crispin's Day speech to myself. Once more unto the breach, dear friends.
---
## Some Numbers...
- Date: 2010-07-26
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/07/some-numbers/
[](http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/4608137036/)
As promised, here's some initial numbers for [Resistor,](http://micronaut.bandcamp.com/album/resistor) the EP I put out on Bandcamp last week. (If you're just joining us, scroll back a couple posts for the full skinny.)
**Plays**
Bandcamp has a fairly extensive stats system, and shows you the difference between plays on the site and plays via an embedded player, and also shows you how many people played the whole song versus people that just played part of the song. I personally don't think that latter information is useful, unless the partial plays far outweigh the normal plays. In this case, they do not, so we'll just lump 'em all together.
The long and short of it is that I got 7,255 individual song plays. This is naturally heavily weighted towards the front of the album, with Metatrak alone getting roughly 40% of all plays. This isn't surprising in the least, as you all do what I do, which is listen to the first 10 seconds of the first song, and make a snap judgment on whether to listen to more. The embedded plays (plays from either here, CDM, and Matrixsynth, the only sites that embedded the player to the best of my knowledge) accounted for almost exactly half of all plays.
**Sales**
In 10 days, I received a total of 148 paid downloads, for a total of US$655.17. This works out to an average of US$4.42 per download. As a pay-what-you-want album, this bit is significant, I think. The first and second days, the vast majority of the payments were US$5.00. For the most part, anyone that contributed more, I probably knew them, either as long-time fans of my oeuvre or people I talk with often. The average has gone down significantly in the last couple days, as have the purchases in general, but right now, we're at US$0.09 per play when you put everything together. This is a very high number by any metric you could care to name, and in that regard I count the Bandcamp experience as an absolutely smashing success.
I think it's worth mentioning a couple of things at this point:
My third SMG album, Burn, sold 64,000 copies its first year of sales, and is now up in the quarter million range, according to Soundscan. The amount of actual cash money I received in artist royalties from that? US$0.00. So, in that respect, Resistor is a far more successful record.
The actual cost of making the EP is tougher to pin down. It's pointless to figure in the cost of the gear itself (roughly US$28,000 at current values) as I didn't buy it expressly for making this collection of songs. I also don't value my time in dollars earned, but rather in accomplishment. Time that doesn't result in accomplishment (that I can point to and say "see, I made this!") is time ill spent, and thus a cost, in my stilted worldview. But since the time spent on this resulted in the accomplishment of the release, it is at parity in this particular case.
If I was to relate these figures to the release of an actual CD, like we would have done as recently as three years ago, this would be an incredibly dismal failure, I wouldn't lie to you. But the obverse is that my wife and I didn't have to fight over cover art and bios for a couple weeks, we didn't have the massive front-loaded costs of the pressing, and we didn't have to package hundreds to thousands of CDs and go wait in line at the post office several times a day for a week.
I purposefully did essentially no promotion aside from my post here, Twitter, and asking Matrix to put up a blurb. Peter Kirn put up a nice post on [CDM](http://createdigitalmusic.com/2010/07/20/listen-personal-sounds-of-circuits-from-micronaut-phil-archer-caribou/) of his own volition, and there are some various other mentions here and there, as well.
Which brings us to the next phase. Now that sales are essentially idling, I'm able to do individual promotions and see the direct effect, and I'm looking for some suggestions and ideas in that regard. What would be the proper course of action at this juncture? We have a little money we can spend on advertising, but I'd rather keep it in the free realm, for obvious reasons.
---
## Trainwreck...
- Date: 2010-07-23
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/07/trainwreck/
How I start my day:
**Step 1:** Stumble bleary-eyed to the bathroom and do the things that Men Do in the bathroom in the morning.
**Step 2:** Get a Lo-Carb Monster, my MacBook Pro, and a pack of cigarettes, and go outside on the porch to properly EQ my nicotine and taurine levels so I can function in polite society.
I'm actually still in the middle of Step 2 as I write this, so it might be a little gamier than normal. I was perusing my RSS feeds just now, and I've set up several search feeds for Phoenix Craigslist. One of them has "Drum Machine" as its string, and today it gave me [this little gem:](http://phoenix.craigslist.org/evl/msg/1858353449.html)
_**Roland TR-505 Drum machine/Sequencer $200**
This is another piece of my collection that I regret to let go but I haven't been using it much in the last couple years and I'd rather get some $'s out of it and have someone making use of it as part of their collection of classic electronic musical instruments. **\[...\]**. This unit is still very popular for its cool sound and its old-school Roland sequencer which has a "feel" that has no comparison. A lot of pro's still insist on using the 505 as a click track when working with Pro Tools because it adds a little life to your music as opposed to an ultra-modern click track (metronome) which has absolutely perfect time, the 505 and 606 have very close to perfect time but tend to have a little bit of "push and pull" to them that is the sound and feel of classic hip hop and music from the golden age of MIDI :)_
Now, whatever with the 505 itself. It is obviously not a favorite of, well, anyone. This is largely because it sounds like shit, and is most assuredly the red-headed step child of the TR family. (We only say this because we've never heard Madonna's infamous TR-404.) Whether it's worth $200 -- and it's not -- is between this guy and the witless sap that buys it from him. Since this is Phoenix, that witless sap has probably moved to the San Fernando valley by now, and is currently working as a grip on Anal Amateurs 49.
(Cue several comments from people that own a 505 and are trying to make themselves feel better about paying actual money for it, plus the mandatory "it sounds awesome circuit-bent!!!")
**Pro Tips:** There is no "golden age of MIDI." The 606 doesn't have MIDI. No self-respecting hip-hop producer would ever admit he used a 505 on a record. Pro's \[sic\] don't use the 505 as a click because of its "feel." It has no feel. It's a 505.
Seriously, dude: just because it has "TR" in the name doesn't make it magic, and no amount of con on your part is gonna change that.
---
## Time Keeps On Slippin' Slippin'...
- Date: 2010-07-21
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/07/time-keeps-on-slippin-slippin/
I feel bad about leaving that previous post up for 5 days, especially since Matrixsynth just [turned five](http://matrixsynth.blogspot.com/2010/07/5-years-of-matrixsynth.html) (CONGRATS!) and he posts more in a week than I do in a year. In my personal opinion, though, he needs to be medicated. He's making the rest of us look bad.
Anyhow, the Bandcamp experiment is a smashing success. I will say that we used to move a lot more units when we printed real CDs and stuff. On the other hand, it was a gigantic pain in the ass to pack and ship them all (Hello, four trips to the post office in one day) and it's really, really nice to have making the album itself be the hard part of the operation. I'll put up a numbers post as soon as I have a bigger pool of data, but suffice to say that my experience with Bandcamp is, on the whole, quite positive.
The album is also [in iTunes now](http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/resistor/id383028631?uo=4) if that's your thing. Since the audience here is largely musicians, a majority of whom have released music digitally, I won't go in to the vagaries of why I'd rather have a Bandcamp purchase than an iTunes one, given the choice, but it should be fairly obvious even to run-of-the-mill consumers.
And our newest game show: [Feature Or Bug?](http://studionebula.com/blog/2010/07/20/the-sound-of-software-not-working) While we build these AD products, there are a lot of cases of Shit Just Not Working Right. I'm generally in favor of trying to harness the event for repeatability, and Adam is generally in favor of making everything so it doesn't, like, crash and stuff. Somewhere in the middle is where our product line lives. Now, before all the "I'm with boobs" comments come, which will make Adam look bad and me look cool, it is worth mentioning that the bug that resulted in that particular audio file is absolutely not something that can be included in anything. It's a seriously unstable situation, and making the customer's system freeze up is generally accepted to be a Bad Thing.
But that said, it does sound kind of cool, doesn't it?
---
## Resistor...
- Date: 2010-07-17
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/07/resistor/
I just put the finished Micronaut EP, _**Resistor**_, up for sale on Bandcamp. The Micronaut page is [here.](http://micronaut.bandcamp.com/) I put it up for "pay what you want, at least a dollar," as I'm relatively interested to see how it works out. The Bandcamp site is fairly easy to work as such things go, and gives you a nifty embedded player to use, to wit:
_\[Embedded media, no longer available.\]_
I'll also be placing the album in Tunecore as per usual, to spread it to all the other services. Once it has been up for a month, I'll do a "Numbers" post like you often see the big iPhone devs do, so you can see exactly how it worked for me, as a relatively known artist. (Relative to, say, my sister, who is not.)
Regarding the album itself, it is what I feel are the best tracks of my weekend work over the last year and a half. I completed 15 tracks in all, but (as I hinted in the last post) I feel that the majority of them were quite derivative. I'll probably put them in my Soundcloud account for interested parties.
Most of the instrumentation in these tracks is hardware. Adam often says that his day job is software, so when he makes music he wants to use hardware, and I'm beginning to be of the same mind. When you've spent the entire day staring at a monitor tweaking presets, there's something inherently more visceral about grabbing a knob and getting an immediate and satisfying result. This isn't to say that "analog" is an important aspect. While it's true that the majority of synth sounds you hear come from the MKS-80, Source, TETR4, Mopho, or CS-5, there is a fair amount of digitalness in these tracks as well, in the form of the TX802, TX81Z, and AlphaSyntauri. (Most of the pads on these six tracks are Syntauri, which will come as a surprise to anyone familiar with that box.) Anything that sounds like a piano is a piano, namely the lovely Yamaha CP80B that takes up half of my office. Drum sounds come from a variety of sources, but in most cases are either the TETR4 or a real 909 I had borrowed for a while in PDX. There is some Tattoo, notably in DSP3 and Metatrak.
This entire album was mixed to stems, out to my Mytek 8x192. I used the internal summing buss of the Mytek to sum the stems. I have a Dangerous D-Box, but I feel that the make-up amps in the Mytek (which have a rather API quality to them) add a nice color that the incredibly transparent D-Box lacks. The only two reverbs used are Eos and my Lexicon 300 hardware unit. Since I use the Lexi as a digital insert, and it basically predates the thought that someone might want to use a higher sampling rate than 48, that's the rate I work at. Obviously, the AD line gets a heavy workout here, and I also use the H8000FW as a pair of inserts. Usually you'll hear that on the pad sounds, as that's where it's happiest.
Nerdgasm aside, and on a personal note, whether you like the music or not is utterly unimportant to me. I finally feel (after four full-length albums and one EP, natch) that I'm finding a voice for the Micronaut project that matches my internal music. I'm pretty happy with these tracks and their abstract nature. Next up is the final mixing for the RT60 album. We're not putting that out in public until we can get vinyl pressed, though. Essentially working out how to pay for it at this juncture.
---
## Once More In To The Breach...
- Date: 2010-07-16
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/07/once-more-in-to-the-breach/
Man, this was a tough week. I find myself at (or possibly over) the limit of the number of individual things I can successfully focus on. We've got the next AD product chugging along, I'm doing some contract software work for another company, I'm trying to finish DronestationX, I am one mix away from having this Micronaut EP done, and somewhere in there we managed to ship off a metric fuckton of t-shirts and an MKS-80, and I wrote my monthly column for Computer Music.
Sometimes I don't have any issue with this many plates spinning. We managed to release 8 full length albums of my own music (plus quite a few records from other people) in the first half of the '00s while I worked a full time job. Social life? Not so much, but it was Chicago. Half the year was a wash because of shitty weather anyhow.
Nowadays it's tougher, though. Ever since we moved to Portland in February of last year, I've had terrible anti-completionist syndrome. (The dreaded ACS!!! O NOES!) I _start_ a lot of songs, but I don't seem to finish many. Well, that's not strictly true. We're one track away from the holy Finished land on the RT60 full-length, and that track is mostly recorded. I have actually finished about 15 tracks for this Micronaut EP; it's just that 10 of them didn't make it past my internal A&R dude for whatever reason. (Mainly that reason was "this sounds like a Chosen Lords outtake...")
Anyhow, long story short, my shit is a jumbled disaster right now. My office looks like Hurricane Cables And Floppies passed through, immediately followed by Tropical Depression Empty Monster Can. It's sort of a fractal mess, where every individual pile of shit is a mess unto itself, continuing down to the size of a rack screw. I've found that going down to the bare metal is really the only solution to this scenario, so as soon as these two albums are completed (O, Happy Day!) I'm gonna go to Home Depot and rent myself a front-end loader, clear this shit out and start new.
---
## Weekend Update...
- Date: 2010-07-12
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/07/weekend-update/
Some various things to report upon, in no particular order:
1\. I put my MKS-80 up on the 'Bay. ['Tis here.](http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=300445559152) Pool not included. That bad boy is done sold.
2\. My lovely and talented missus is packing the Full Of Techno shirts as I write this. All the US orders will ship bright and early Monday morning; I would be shocked if they weren't in your greedy little hands starting Wednesday. The non-US ones will probably go out Monday evening or Tuesday morning at the latest.
**EDIT:** All USA orders have shipped. Foreign orders will all be out Tuesday morning.
3\. DronestationX, the iPad version of Dronestation, is nearing completion. I've added a few features, and given it a UI much more suited to the iPad's form factor. I'll be submitting it to Apple at some point this week, and at some point after that it will either be approved or not.
4\. In Phoenix, [5" long flying cockroaches](http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/4782151254/) fall from the sky. We were having a dinner party when the first one showed up, and one of our guests was all like "you'll probably never see another one again. They're really rare." Well, I guess we're just lucky then, because our back yard is starting to bear a striking resemblance to Klandathu. It's really, really unpleasant.
---
## Unlikely Sources...
- Date: 2010-07-09
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/07/unlikely-sources/
This sort of thing has always intrigued me. I've spent hours coaxing single sounds out of unsuitable objects (one SMG song is sourced entirely, except for vocals and guitar, from a cage fan) but honestly it never occurred to me to edit a video rhythmically with found sound.
This methodology naturally brings to mind the work of [Diego Stocco,](http://vimeo.com/user647380) which I find incredibly fascinating and inspirational. Every time he puts up a video, I actually set aside a block of time to dissect what he did and think about its ramifications, and as a musician, that's about the highest complement you can give another musician, I believe. Obviously, Mr. Stocco's main forte is sound design, but I find what he does with the sounds to be extremely refreshing, and the resulting music is fulfilling without being oppressively songish.
This all dovetails with my favoritest band of all bands, Neubauten, who are the unquestionable masters of creating music out of the detritus of modern society. And there's a lot of detritus to go around. They've got much more traditional in their old age, as the video below demonstrates, but they still use essentially the same tools today that they did early on. They're just better at bending those tools to their will.
I propose that sound design and songwriting using invented instruments requires as much practice and virtuosity to pull off as, say, being able to play Dueling Banjos. It's doubly impressive for the fact that the instrument didn't exist prior to the musician imagining it as such. But ultimately, it's all pissing in the wind if the song itself isn't interesting to a non-musician, right?
---
## Tunnel Vision...
- Date: 2010-07-05
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/07/tunnel-vision/
So we had a board meeting over at ADHQ last month, and decided that we wouldn't drop any info at all about the next AD plug until the day it went on sale. The reasons for this were largely marketing-related. When I put up the videos on YouTube and the teasers here before-hand, they get a shitload of views, and we were hoping that if we were gonna get those anyhow, we might as well take advantage of the situation and actually have a product, you know, for sale and stuff.
It's killing me, I gotta be honest.
I want to talk about this thing soooooo bad. Adam completed a crucial puzzle piece today, and now the thing actually works, after a fashion; it is missing a large chunk of personality, but it has its brains, for the most part. You already know that it is an instrument, of course. I can also say that it is generally aimed at percussion-oriented duties, although it isn't a drum machine, in the strictest sense of the phrase, and it can do music just fine, as long as you aren't too particular about what the word "music" means.
The only other thing I can say is that all the pieces are in place now, and it's really just a matter of hooking everything up at this juncture. Everything we needed to invent for this plug has done been invented, so the license-plate making part of the operation has now commenced.
God damn, this is killing me.
---
## The usual Thursday Bullshit...
- Date: 2010-07-01
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/07/the-usual-thursday-bullshit/
Updates! Updates! We got 'em. Whether you want 'em or not is another matter entirely.
First up, the next AD product is coming along nicely, except that Adam has run in to one of those things that he has a knack for running in to, the which I don't fully understand. I code vicariously through him. But we're truckin' along. That will be next, then the other half of the Discord3 update.
Speaking of the other half of the Discord3 update, a note came through the VST dev list today that 64-bit Cubase 5.5 for Mac is available as a dev preview. We'll have D3 OS X 64-bit ready before it is actually released.
In other news, I would be remiss if I didn't mention that our good friend Hugo has released a new sample set, volume 3 in his excellent Taped Drum Machine series. ['Tis here.](http://www.goldbaby.co.nz/tdmvol3.html) This one is my current Goldbaby Favorite, because he thought to include an RZ-1, which is the drum machine I used to make my very first demo, back when I was knee high to a short goat. There's also a Kawai XD-5 up in that bitch, which is a hidden gem in the world of drum synths. Or at least it was, until I mentioned it. Go watch the eBay prices rise now.
And finally, in non-synth news, as a late birthday present (because on my birthday I was, you know, in Idaho) I got the Camera Of My Dreams, a Mamiya 645. It isn't exactly the model I wanted--I was eyeballing a Pro, because I'm pro as fuck and having a camera that says "Pro" on it really just sums that up nicely--but it came up on Craigslist here for a price I couldn't refuse. I just ran an expensive roll of film through it, and it is now getting expensively processed. I decided to forgo the expensive scanning; I thought it best to wait and see if I could actually take pictures with the damn thing and if they were actually worth looking at. We'll know this afternoon, I guess.
**EDIT:** As you can see from the image above, I got the roll back. This camera takes fucking _amazing_ pictures, but is unforgiving as hell. Gonna take some learning.
---
## In Search Of The Perfect Part...
- Date: 2010-06-27
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/06/in-search-of-the-perfect-part/
I've got this thing in my head that needs to get out. Unusually (for me, anyhow) it's not music, but rather a piece of actual physical art. It is driving me quite crazy; to say I'm obsessing over it would be to understate the matter mightily.
Now, I have absolutely zero training in fine art, unless you count surrealist experiments in grammar school with construction paper and paste. So I'm not entirely sure how to realize this particular piece of... what? I guess it'd be called sculpture, except it will hang on the wall. See? I don't even know the word for it.
But the whole zero training thing has never stopped me before. I didn't know how to sing, play an instrument, or write a song before I started a band (one which, let's be honest, was rather derivative but still managed to move quite a few albums), and I didn't know the first thing about code, 3D modeling software, or Photoshop before joining with Adam to start a plug-in company (and we all know how that worked out). As a rule, I don't consider prior knowledge or experience particularly important to the realization of any given goal.
I've always found people that are highly trained and skilled in one particular facet of creativity to be somewhat intimidating. Being a Jack Of All Trades, Master Of None sort of person, I admire the singular drive that creates mastery, but only as a spectator. I'm simply not wired that way, as far as I can tell. I often set out to learn a particular skill, but I'm always distracted by the Shiny at some point in the process, and end up traipsing off in to parts unknown.
Anyhow, as a return to the subject, in order to realize this particular piece of wall-sculpture, I need a fairly large supply of a very particular thing: 1" x 6" boards that have been in the Arizona sun for several decades. You'd think this'd be relatively easy to find here, what with the preponderance of abandoned dwellings and businesses that dot the landscape, but so far in my travels around the state I've only found one suitable source, and these were still being used as a roof. I was tempted to take 'em anyhow, but I thought about how pissed I'd be if I lived out in the middle of nowhere and some Big City douchebag stole my roof while I wasn't there, and that tempered my acquisition syndrome somewhat.
So the search continues, and I'm left with the lingering understanding that the creative process is never easy, nor should it be, no matter what form the end product takes. There ain't no autotune for this particular endeavor, and it has made me appreciate my normal creative process immensely. Don't get me wrong: if you work for a commercial music house, get your looptastic autotune on, by all means. But in the comfort of your own home studio, is "easy" the best path? Does the end result lack credence because it was easy to make? Or is the one that fights the hardest the most satisfying in the end?
---
## Discord3 Windows Updated to 1.1.0...
- Date: 2010-06-25
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/06/discord3-windows-updated-to-1-1-0/
I've just put the v1.1.0 Windows installer of Discord3 in to the AD store, and it is now in the account of all owners of D3. In this version:
**64-bit Version.** The installer now lets you install either or both 32- and 64-bit versions. It attempts to make a guess as to which one you'd want based upon your system, but you can override its naive plans if you so desire.
**Minor bug fixes.** A couple little this-and-that touch ups. Notably, we've taken a stab at the "bleep" bug that occurs occasionally when the Granular engine is at extreme settings. It definitely occurs less, but I have one report that it is still occurring. I'd like some more info; if you can get it to occur regularly, save an .FXP file of the settings and mail it to me.
Anyhow, this is, as you full well know, our first 64-bit Windows release. We've tested it as thoroughly as we're able, but please write us via the AD site's support section if you run in to _any_ issues.
The OS X 64-bit builds will be along presently. We're still puzzling that side of things out.
---
## In Praise Of Solitude...
- Date: 2010-06-22
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/06/in-praise-of-solitude/
Driving on the Y axis through Nevada is quite an experience. There are three possible North/South routes through that state, and all three are, for the majority of their routes, 2-lane highways for which the term "straight as an arrow" was coined. I often joke that on a road like that I could just bungee-cord the steering wheel to the brake pedal and take a nap.
On a drive like this, I usually don't listen to the stereo unless I need a little pick-me-up. I generally just cruise in silence, and it's good medicine. You can get in an extremely strange head-space driving in a perfectly straight line at high speeds for hours on end. Some of the odder AD products (like Replicant and our upcoming one) are the result of exactly this. And some of my weirder music, too.
I realize most people would go bat-shit crazy on the 9-or-so hour straight-line drive through Nevada, but I relish it for this very reason. What's the thing that gets you in your Special Place?
---
## Home Again...
- Date: 2010-06-21
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/06/home-again/
_\[Embedded media, no longer available.\]_
Pure win.
Anyhow, I'm home again. 3600-odd miles driven in the last 5 days, and I didn't even have to play a show. Saw some interesting shit in Nevada, ghost towns and such, but that's about the sum total of fun things to report. We didn't have time to do more than point out the window and say "hey, look, interesting shit."
So it's back to work today. I'm mostly caught up on e-mail, and I apologize for taking my time replying to some letters, as I had actual internet for a total of about 3 hours the last 5 days, and digital cell phone service for less than that. I don't think many people actually appreciate exactly how desolate most of the United States is, even in 2010. Coming back on a state highway in central Nevada, we went for over an hour at one point without seeing another living soul. The only sign that man had been in that area at all was the road. Makes for an interesting drive.
But anyhow, while I was gone, Adam successfully made x64 Windows builds of a couple AD things. More on that shortly, I'd imagine. T-shirts are being printed, and I'll have an arrival time soon. Other than that, I have nothing more to report at this juncture. Still decompressing. My SUV is filthy, too. Whee.
---
## Rollin' Rollin' Rollin'
- Date: 2010-06-15
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/06/rollin-rollin-rollin/
Okay, the Full Of Techno t-shirts are ordered. Once I put in the overage to allow for various problems, we came in at 6 under the minimum, so we're all good in that regard. It'll take a week or so for the printer to get the shirts I wanted, and then another week or so for printing, and then however long it takes them to get here (they're being printed on the East Coast, as I couldn't find a screen printer here that was worth a shit.) Then we'll be off to the races.
In other news, I'm leaving for Idaho tomorrow morning to deal with the excitement of having a reprobate mother. In a perfect world (and we all know this world is far from perfect) I'll be back on Sunday. In my experience, an internet connection (hell, cell service, even) is a bit tough to come by where I'm going, so my participation is going to be spotty at best for the next few days.
In the past, when I've bagged on Idaho, I usually get either a comment here or a couple e-mails about how great that state is and how I just don't know what I'm talking about, and furthermore what a prick I am. Let me mention, for the record, that anyone that is planning to write me to enlighten me on how awesome Idaho is (a) doesn't know that I spent a fair portion of my childhood and many months of adulthood there, and (b) is out of their motherfucking minds. That state is beautiful, no lie. It is also full of the most racist, stupid, vile redneck assholes to grace this continent. Thanks, but I visit your shit only begrudgingly, and leave as soon as I'm able. You're the DMV of states, basically.
Anyhow, ranting aside, I'll be in and out the next few days. Don't break anything.
---
## Some Fun Photos...
- Date: 2010-06-13
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/06/some-fun-photos/
I was going through our thousands of photos, looking for a particular image I took some years ago, and while I was at it, I pulled out some pictures that might be of interest to AI readers or SMG fans, and put 'em up in my Flickr account. The set is [here,](http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/sets/72157624142315969/) and I put descriptions where appropriate. One bonus funny moment included. But there's some fairly epic gear stuck away in a couple of those pictures.
---
## Good Times. Good Times...
- Date: 2010-06-11
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/06/good-times-good-times/
Been very busy this week. We've got a pair of plates whirling right now at AD; we're working on a new product (which I mentioned previously) and also getting the 64-bit porting system organized. Both are forging ahead at a punk rock clip. We're concentrating on the new product right now, but I have to go to Idaho on Wednesday to deal with a family crisis, and while I'm doing that, Adam is going to finish the 64-bit versions of Discord3.
When that and the next product are done, we're going to lay in to the product line with a double-bladed axe. We're combining several related products in to one, which I will talk about at the appropriate time, and updating the UIs and functionality of virtually everything else. It'll be an interesting fall at AD, and that's a promise.
In T-Shirt News, we are just over the half-way mark for pre-orders, so keep 'em coming. I'll do a final push starting tomorrow to get the numbers over the hump, but if you were planning on purchasing, and haven't done so, get up on that shit. And the first person that writes me after the pre-orders are done and says "ZOMG I CAN'T BELIEVE I CAN'T ORDER ANY MORE! WTF?" is getting beat about the head and shoulders with a large trout. I know it sounds odd, but it has happened _every_ time.
---
## AI Full Of Techno Shirt Now Available For Ordering...
- Date: 2010-06-07
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/06/ai-full-of-techno-shirt-now-available-for-ordering/
Pictured above is the AI Full Of Techno t-shirt. (Click 'er for bigger.) It will be printed on 100% cotton in a 4.3 ounce weight (normal "cheap" shirts are 6 ounce), three ink colors. The shirt is $20, or $22 if you're a 2X type. Shipping depends on quantity and locale. Paypal only.
I'm going to stop sales and make the t-shirt order on Monday, but I'll mention at this juncture that the minimum number, in order to keep this pricing model, is fairly high. So we need quite a few people to get up in this whip. I don't really have the money right now to cover any overs, so if you voted "yes" in the "I'll Buy A Full Of Techno T-Shirt" a few months back, now's the time to cowboy up.
Anyhow, the order page is here. Spread that link around and get your peeps on board so we can work it.
EDIT: Orders all done. A couple three weeks to make 'em, and they'll be shipping.
---
## Here's Something You Don't See Every Day...
- Date: 2010-06-06
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/06/heres-something-you-dont-see-every-day/
Now, I don't particularly care for the song itself, which is pretty thin. And she's obviously nervous as hell, being her first time on TV and all. But there are some interesting things about this performance that are worth noting. Chief among these is that this is an actual girl, that can actually sing and dance, performing an actual song, with an actual band that can actually play.
It's really sad that this is worth noting, since this was the norm not so very long ago. But when you've received a decade-long barrage of nasal-voiced scale princesses with backing tracks and indie rock shoe-gazes that look down on any aspect of virtuosity and performance in favor of some hazy concept of "independence," this is really quite a relief.
So, apparently Sean Combs has decided to save us from ourselves. Well, more power to him, I say.
---
## Updates? We Got Yer Updates...
- Date: 2010-06-03
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/06/updates-we-got-yer-updates/
I'm neck deep in the UI design for the next AD product, which is why I've been unusually silent these last couple days. It is another instrument, and I'm pleased to say that it is truly odd. As far as I'm aware, nobody has done anything like this. Well, maybe some graduate student did it for their masters thesis on Breaking Down The Barriers Between Artist And Audience, but as best I can tell, the concept has never appeared in plug-in form.
That's all we're willing to tell right now, unfortunately. This will be the strangest product we've made, and that's saying something, as we have some fairly strange products.
In other news, the Full Of Techno t-shirt will go up for pre-order on Monday or thereabouts. Looks like it's going to be the same price as the previous shirts, $20. That was tricky to pull off, as it has three colors where the others only had one. I'll put up the final artwork over the weekend, and we can go to town on it.
And finally, the new AI site (which has been idling for a couple reasons) is essentially done, so one day Real Soon Now, you'll visit and the site will look completely different. It'll still be orange and white, of course. There is also a full mobile site for smartphone users that makes things pretty easy to deal with in that context.
---
## Another Fine Beating...
- Date: 2010-05-31
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/05/another-fine-beating/
The third in BeatServ's popular Dark Downtempo series of sample sets is now available for purchase [up in here.](http://www.beatserv.com/index.php/products/dark-downtempo-3.html/) As the poet once said, "let it flow. Let yourself go. Slow and low, that is the tempo." Of the three, this is the best one, IMO. Which isn't to knock the other two at all, of course.
Also too, Sonic Couture has a very nice release right around the corner. I've got a pre-release copy here, and it's gonna go over well with the synthy-nerds. James said it would be out by this weekend, but I just checked their site and it's not on there yet, and I'm not sure whether I'm supposed to say what it is or not. It rhymes with SchmovaSchmord, though.
Finally, I think we have this t-shirt shit figured out. I'm going to make a couple tiny changes to the artwork and such, but we're going to be looking at $20 per plus shipping, I believe. I'll put 'em up for pre-order when everything is sorted. We're going to have a minimum order, though, so we'll need a fair portion of people that previously _said_ they were on board with this whole Full Of Techno shirt concept to actually _be_ on board (325 or so when we did the vote on whether to do it or not a few months back.)
---
## Discord3 Now Available...
- Date: 2010-05-29
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/05/discord3-now-available/
As the title says. Discord3 is now available for purchase in the AD store. [Hit it.](http://www.audiodamage.com/)
Note the following: as we discussed here a couple months ago, this release, on the Mac side, is Intel only. No PPC version. Also, the 64-bit versions aren't done yet. Gonna be a couple weeks on those. One piece of good news for the AU users is that this AU (and all others following it) has MIDI Learn just like the VSTs always have. So that's fun.
Anyhow, let me know if you've got any issues, complaints, praise, comments, whatever.
---
## Update-o-rama...
- Date: 2010-05-27
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/05/update-o-rama/
Some minor updates:
One last bug to squish in Discord3 then we're good to go. I don't want to jinx anything, but I'd be shocked if you didn't have it this weekend. I'm in the process of making the audio demos for the store page while Adam hunts down this last little bitch of a bug.
And also, I got a quote from the t-shirt dude that will won't work; still quibbling on a couple details, but we should be able to get that shit in motion shortly, as well.
---
## More Fuller Of Techno...
- Date: 2010-05-25
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/05/more-fuller-of-techno/
**THIS POST HAS BEEN EDITED:** All right. Pictured above is the final design for the "Full Of Techno" shirt. I'm going to price out screening and shirts this afternoon, and we should be able to start pre-orders shortly, in the usual manner. I'll edit this post with the details once I have them.
**EDIT:** [Here is](http://www.outletshirts.com/images/images2/_DT099_DARK_SMOKE.jpg) an image of the shirt I'm considering. It's 100% cotton, "pigment dyed" in the vernacular. I'm not going to go with American Apparel on these because, well, that company freaks me out a little bit, plus I don't care for their shirts as much as I used to.
---
## Yes, It's True...
- Date: 2010-05-24
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/05/yes-its-true/
I'm working on a "THIS BABY IS FULL OF TECHNO" t-shirt. I haven't, as yet, come up with something that pleases me (and will, in turn, please you.) But I'm working on it. My initial draft can be seen here but that's not really working for me. General criticism accepted at this juncture.
We'll do this one like we did the last three, where you pay, and in a couple weeks you get the shirt. This time I'm going to put a little more thought in to the pricing model than the last one so I don't have to, you know, spend any of my own money to send you guys shirts.
Also, too, I would be shocked (SHOCKED!) if D3 wasn't released this week. We're just chasing little things at this point; it is mostly done on all three platforms otherwise. We'll definitely be releasing only the 32-bit versions first. Then, once Adam has completed the required course of medication and psychotherapy that is needed every time he turns on his iMac, we'll churn out some 64-bit versions.
---
## Perfect...
- Date: 2010-05-22
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/05/perfect/
I have nothing to add to this, except to point out that in 1982 I had those exact same glasses. Unfortunately, I couldn't grow a 'stache back then like that soup catcher he's sporting.
---
## An Update Of Sorts...
- Date: 2010-05-21
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/05/an-update-of-sorts/
_\[insert usual apology for not entertaining you like the trained monkey I am\]_ but _\[insert usual litany of excuses\]_. We've been _\[hard at work doing stuff\]_ but have _\[run in to the usual pile of bullshit that is the AU kit\]_ and it has _\[taken the usual more time than we thought\]_.
In all seriousness, we've decided, in the interests of not going out and kidnapping the first Apple employees we find and forcing them to mine salt for a couple years, that we will forgo releasing anything in 64-bit on the Apple side of things for a little while. Shit is in some serious drama up in that bitch right now, with the massive bloated pile of failsauce that is Logic Audio leading the way, so we're gonna just let sleeping dogs lie for as long as we can. Hopefully Apple will decide it's going to put all of its audio resources in to GarageBandPro and deprecate Logic entirely, thus handily solving the problem.
This shouldn't keep us from releasing a 64-bit Win VST, but we're going to release our normal package first, and then do that.
I feel a rant coming on.
---
## Discord3 Video Sneak Peek...
- Date: 2010-05-17
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/05/discord3-video-sneak-peek/
Just uploaded a video preview of Discord3's highlights. I think I touched on all the major features; I'll do a full tutorial series once I have a 100% working OS X VST. The quality of Snaggit's video capture is fairly lacking; nothing to compare with Screenflow. But this should give you a good idea of what's going on with the three engines.
---
## Discord3 In The Home Stretch...
- Date: 2010-05-13
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/05/discord3-in-the-home-stretch/
We're getting, like, totally close to having a D3 for sale. The user interface (which was something of a bear on this one) is 95% done, and the DSP is 100% done. In the above image, you can see the control layout for the P1 and P2 algorithms. Click the image for a full-sized iteration. The circles in the center section animate based upon shift settings, and the animations change shape based upon the buffer and mod settings for the left and right. Utterly pointless except as a visual reference of the state of the plug-in, but it looks cool and doesn't cost any CPU, and that ought to be worth something.
The final algorithm complement has changed a bit. The two algos in D1.5 and D2 are actually a single algorithm with minor filtering changes. Since the filters in D3 are much more capable, we got rid of that mode. So P1 is the original Discord algorithm, modeled on the H910/H949 style shifting, which we call Vintage in this context. P2 is a different shifting algorithm entirely which we call Clean. It is sonically quite a bit different than P1; at settings within 8 semitones of the original pitch it is much more accurate than P1, but when you get out past an octave in either direction, it gets quite hollow and metallic, for extremely cool overtones and false harmonic generation.
We also added a buffer size control to P1 and P2, which enable fine tuning for specific instruments or some interesting sound design (read: FSU) possibilities. For more percussive material with short transients, you want a small buffer size, and for material with longer envelopes, a bigger window is more appropriate. The buffer size can be set in one sample increments from 32 samples to 2056 samples.
Once again, this will be a paid upgrade. US$10 for owners of any previous version of Discord (1.0, 1.5, 2), and the price of the effect is US$59.00. I'll put up some sound files later today, and as soon as I have a working OSX version I'll lay down the stink with a video.
---
## Quadromatic...
- Date: 2010-05-11
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/05/quadromatic/
Those of you that follow me on [Twitter](http://twitter.com/Chris_Randall) have noticed that I have, of late, been spamming my [Flickr account](http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/) with pictures of a decidedly analog nature. For some reason I got a wild hare (hair?) up my ass (in thinking about it, I'm pretty sure I'd prefer a wild hair in my ass over a wild hare, although neither seem terribly pleasant) this weekend to take actual pictures on actual film, in real live 35mm. The picture above is from a four-lensed Lomo Action Sampler, stuck out the window of my SUV as I was driving through our neighborhood.
Now, to be honest, while I take a lot of photos and have since the early 80s, it's been at least a decade, if not longer, since I've last loaded a film camera, as I was an early proponent of digital. Some interesting things I learned this weekend:
1\. Film cameras were, and are, a pain in the ass. You don't know what the fuck you're gonna end up with, and you actually have to plan. The Lomo cameras I shoot with aren't exactly models of modern technology, so I have to actually give some thought to aperture size, shutter speed, and ISO. On my Nikon DSLR I can just snap away, adjusting on the fly, and one of the 30-odd pictures I take of every subject is sure to look okay. Not so much here, which brings me to...
2\. Just pull your wallet out of your back pocket, open it up, take out your debit card, and hand it to the first homeless junkie you find. And then tell him your PIN. That's what this shit costs. Well, it's not that bad, but by my math it's about US$0.50 every time I press the shutter release. Which makes me want to spend some quality time exploring point #1.
3\. It ain't like a bicycle. I burned two full rolls before I remembered how the hell to shoot a fully analog camera.
My pleasant discovery, though: completely unlike digital cameras, where the photos seem kind of transient, when you take a roll of exposed film to the lab, and come back in an hour to pick up an envelope with a stack of photos in it, and you go sit in your car to see what you got, there's a certain... something... Completely undefinable. Don't get me wrong. I love my DSLR, and I'm currently snooping around the various camera stores for an upgrade path. But there's something to be said for pulling out the old shit and taking it out for a spin.
What does this have to do with music? Same thing. Put aside the new hotness for a weekend and pull out My First Four Track and write a damn song. It may be a huge pain in the ass, but it'll do two things: first, it'll make you appreciate the toil and hard work of your local plug-in makers (har har har), and second, there's never any harm in some new (old) perspective.
---
## The Typical Monday Bullshit...
- Date: 2010-05-10
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/05/the-typical-monday-bullshit/
In no particular order:
1\. The New York Times has revealed the [blindingly obvious.](http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/10/business/media/10audio.html?src=tptw) Their two key points: first, consumers will merrily trade quality for convenience, and second, the average listener wouldn't know good sound if it hit them in the head with an arm-length piece of two-by-four. To the first point I say "dear NYT: have you noticed all those Wal-Marts in the flyover states?" To the second, I say "fuckin' duh."
2\. Discord 3 is inching closer to completion. We've got a fully working Windows build that is lacking only the eye candy and the MIDI features. I expect we will be in full beta by the end of the week at the latest. Although, what I expect hasn't yet met what I fear, which is 64-bit Apple builds.
3\. I promise I won't mention the iPad once this week, unless something major happens. Or I gaze upon it lovingly too much, thus giving the Apple Mind Control Apparatus (AMCA) time to do its evil work.
---
## USB Audio From An iPad...
- Date: 2010-05-08
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/05/usb-audio-from-an-ipad/
This post is more for the benefit of people searching for this information than regular readers, who (I assume) already know this. I conducted some experiments with this a few days ago for an article I was writing for CM, and have since figured out some new things, so I thought I'd share them.
**Q: Can I use a USB audio interface with an iPad?**
A: Yup. There are some caveats, and they need to be paid attention to, but in general it Just Works.
**Q: Caveats? You're gonna drop Latin in to this shit?**
A: That's how I roll. Seriously, though, as far as my experimentation shows, the following information is true: first, the interface has to be class-compliant. That means that it needs to work in an OS X computer without a driver install. Second, it has to be USB1.0-compatible. No USB2.0-only interfaces. And finally, it has to either use less than 200ma of power or be externally powered.
**Q: Hold on, let me get my... what?**
A: A safe rule of thumb is that if it has mic pres (especially if it's able to provide phantom power) it's going to need a wall wart or something.
**Q: Okay. Got it. What else do I need?**
A: Pop over to the nearest Apple store and get yourself a Camera Connection Kit. This otherwise useless US$39.00 adaptor plugs in to the 30-pin docking port and gives you a USB port, ostensibly for hooking up cameras that have only on-board memory. As a camera connection kit, it's kind of stupid, because you can buy SD cards now that have as much storage as even a maxed-out iPad, so I'm unclear as to its stated purpose and the usefulness thereof. But as an audio adapter, it works fine.
**Q: Okay. Last question. Does every audio app just shit its sound out the interface when it is plugged in?**
A: Nope.
Long answer: there are several ways to give a program sound in Cocoa Touch. These are, on the whole, the same ways as in OS X proper. You can use OpenAL, but that's just a sample playback engine, really. There is also a system sound engine, or you can programically access the part of the OS concerned with playing back MP3s/AAC/whatever if you'd like. The final method, and the one that gives you bit-level access to the outputs, is to talk to CoreAudio, just like in OS X.
This final method is poorly documented and hideously complex, and even big companies fuck it up occasionally. But this is, as far as I can ascertain, the only method by which the USB outputs are utilized.
So, long story short: any App that uses CoreAudio for its playback, and does a good job of using it, automatically shunts its inputs (if it has 'em) and outputs to the USB device. Applications that use OpenAL (games for the most part, but some audio programs like the ridiculous-bordering-on-stupid Magic Piano, and many sample playback apps of that ilk) send the audio to the headphone jack or the onboard speakers only. Apps that use the system sound engine or access the iTunes library in some crafty way also can't access this method.
One exception to this rule is Korg's iElectribe. As I said, CoreAudio in Cocoa Touch is incredibly complicated and poorly documented, and even big companies mess it up. iElectribe is an example of that. iElectribe \_must\_ use CoreAudio; it wouldn't work any other way. However, when a USB audio device is plugged in, iElectribe crashes on start-up. This will no doubt bum some people out.
And last but not least: all that shit I said about the iPad above? It also applies to the iPhone. (And I assume the iPod Touch, although I've not verified this.) I will say, however, that I have OS4 in my iPhone, so I can't say for certain that it works with OS3.1. If someone has a CCK and an iPhone with OS3.1 and wants to verify this, that would be cool.
**EDIT:** I just tried it with my wife's iPhone, which is running 3.1, and it **DOES NOT WORK.** So if you were planning on going to get a Camera Connection Kit just to use audio from your iPhone or iPod Touch, you need to wait until OS4 is released for this to work. It works fine with OS4, though, essentially the same as with the iPad.
---
## Conditional Blues...
- Date: 2010-05-05
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/05/conditional-blues/
In my copious free time (all 8 minutes of it yesterday) I've got an interesting implementation of my RNN (Retarded Neural Network) rhythm sequencer cooking in Pd, with a piano and synth part played live. I shot some video of this heady event, but it was less than pleasing, because I don't own a Canon 5D Mk II, apparently. If I can come up with something that doesn't look like it was shot on a circa 2003 cell phone I'll put it up, with a full explanation.
(Related: Would it be totally offensive of me to do a Kickstarter campaign to buy an HD-capable DSLR? I think the answer to that is "yes.")
Suffice to say, that right there is an image of Nerdgasm in its purest form. Imagine, if you will, if Jack White made IDM, and you'll have a good idea of what I've got cooking here.
---
## Something Wicked This Way Comes...
- Date: 2010-05-02
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/05/something-wicked-this-way-comes/
After a conversation with Stretta and Chris Carter on Twitter about problems embedding Soundcloud players on a site that might be browsed by an iPad or iPhone, I thought it might be handy to post a little how-to on what you need to do to pull this off.
The easiest solution is to upload the file to both your server and Soundcloud, then use the HTML5 audio embed tag on the one on your server, and follow it with the Soundcloud embed code. After this paragraph I've done just that. If you're using Safari, Mobile Safari, or Chrome, you'll see the built-in HTML5 audio controls, then (if you're not on Mobile Safari) you'll see the Soundcloud player. This sounds simple, but there's a couple problems with it which we'll get to.
_\[Embedded media, no longer available.\]_
As you can see, in browsers that are both HTML5 and Flash-capable, you have two players, except in Firefox, which can't embed MP3s, so you've got a big fat pile of failsauce because you see both but only the Soundcloud one works. God only knows what's happening in Opera or IE6. In Mobile Safari, you've got a broken lego block where the Soundcloud player goes.
In short, this method sucks, so we won't be using it.
Now, shit's gonna get a little technical, but it's fairly simple if you have even a rudimentary grasp of HTML. The HTML5 audio tag looks like this:
` `
Now, the interesting thing we note, when looking at that, is that there's an open and a close tag. We can put code inside that, and the browser will use the HTML5 embed if it can, but if it can't, it'll execute whatever is inside the tags. If we put the Soundcloud player embed code between the audio tags, we get this:
Now, if you're on an HTML5 browser (besides Firefox) you see the audio embed off this server. If you're not, you get the Soundcloud player. This situation is slightly better, but it's still pretty weak, as Firefox just displays a dumb grey box with an X in it, because it can't play MP3s. Now, you'd say to yourself "self, I know OGG files are stupid, but why don't we take one for the team here and just put up an OGG, and put our Wave in Soundcloud, and we'll be good?"
Well, self, you've got a problem there, because you're back to square one. Safari can't play OGGs, and the whole purpose of this exercise is to have it play on everything. Throwing sanity to the wind, we double our MP3 file on our server with an OGG file, and we have both. If we alter the audio embed code to look like this:
` `
...it will go through the list and play the first one it can. In this manner, anything that can play an MP3 file will, else it'll go to the OGG file, and if it can't do either of those, it'll go to the Soundcloud player. So, no matter _what_ browser you're looking at this page in, you'll see some sort of player here that will poop audio, theoretically.
_(important: the OGG file has to go first in the above code, else Firefox will hang in retard-grey-box-mode, because it thinks it can play an MP3, which it can't.)_
So, this isn't awesome at all for two reasons: first, it doesn't play the Soundcloud player by default, and we want the metrics and the look of the Soundcloud player with the ability to play files on iPads. Secondly, we have to make a retarded fucking OGG file in addition to the semi-retarded MP3 we already had to make and the big fat WAV or AIFF which we uploaded to Soundcloud. But it'll play on pretty much anything, so that's something. (The 8 people that use Opera are probably going to be disappointed here, as Opera only understands WAV files in HTML5 audio embeds. Deep shuddering sigh. Don't you browser-making guys have a standards committee or some shit?)
So, in order to get around all this, one of two things needs to happen: either Firefox needs to support MP3s or Soundcloud needs an HTML5 player. I'm sure that one of those events (most likely the latter) will happen within a very short time period, so it won't be like this for very long. There are ways to default to the Flash player, with MP3 embeds as the fallback (the ideal in this situation) but those are going to get very technical very fast, and are outside the scope of this blog. For further reading, I suggest [this site](http://www.html5rocks.com/samples/audio/quick/) which shows one such method, or [here,](http://net.tutsplus.com/tutorials/html-css-techniques/quick-tip-the-html-5-audio-element/) where you can find some more in depth information on the HTML5 audio element.
If one of my dear readers who is savvy in this sort of nonsense can come up with a quick-and-dirty method of defaulting to the Soundclound player, with MP3 embed as the fallback, we'd all love to hear about it. (And a final programming note: that audio file is the first recording I made of the CP80B once I had it mostly tuned. Shitty playing, but hey, never had a lesson.)
---
## Yeah, Well, Deez Nutz Are Open Source Too...
- Date: 2010-04-29
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/04/yeah-well-deez-nutz-are-open-source-too/
On the one hand, okay, I get it. Cory Doctorow wins. Everything should be Open and furthermore Free, and we should all make our living from well-paid speaking engagements where we expound on our misguided beliefs about things we don't understand. Yup. I'm all for it.
On the other, sometimes open source software can be really fucking frustrating. Okay. Strike that. Pretty much all the time. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let me preempt the first thirty replies by saying "okay, yeah, MySQL and Apache are awesome. You win. Firefox is the shit. Group hug!" But you know what? While I may use Apache and MySQL every day, it's only by accident. I don't go out and say "gee, I wonder what my Apache server is up to" because I'm not a fucking web developer. I'm a musician.
Which brings me, in a roundabout way, to my point. PureData is pure awesome; it is probably the most robust open source project strictly for musicians, and it does about 80% of what Max/MSP does, for free. (Free as in "I could give a fuck what kind of free you're talking about.") But these guys that built it, smart as they are, are living in the wonderful land that exists between the audio driver and the user interface, and the extremities are completely ignored. If I was going to give a class on how to make a program as unfriendly as humanely possible, I'd use Pd as a shining example. If the second semester was on how to make sure that the back end functions as poorly as the front, I'd still use Pd. The only reason I know how to use the damn thing is because I already knew how to use Max, and even then...
One example: boot up Pd on a MacBook Pro, using the internal sound. Run something that makes noise. Now plug in headphones. Yeah, you're gonna have to go ahead and kill Pd and restart it.
I could come up with 20 such examples in as many seconds, but I won't belabor the point, and I'm busy rebooting because Pd killed the audio driver when I had the temerity to load a patch. I saw a guy at Ground Kontrol a couple months ago, typical dreadlocked, neck-bearded, forehead pierced latte-tard PDX native, and he had a pink (natch) t-shirt on that said "MY FREE SOFTWARE RUNS YOUR COMPANY." No, that's not exactly true, is it? My imagination and Adam's DSP chops run our company. Your free software makes running my company fucking frustrating because you half-ass your way through it, only working on what can hold your gnat-sized attention span for as long as it takes you to earn enough money to go to Burning Man. Pull up your pants.
**EDIT:** After reading through some of the comments, I think what I actually meant to say in that last sentence was "hey, you kids, get off my lawn!"
---
## Pure Paddy Goodness...
- Date: 2010-04-27
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/04/pure-paddy-goodness/
Can I get a witness? I've been saying since the iPad was first rumored that TouchOSC and its ilk are the "killer apps" for such a device, and tonight I was led in to the light. People, I'm gonna need an a-men for this bitch.
TouchOSC is, of course, what it is, and everyone knows what it is: essentially a JazzMutant Lemur clone for iStuff. And the Launchpad and APC-40 are, obviously, what they are: controllers for Ableton Live. Let's accept those as immutable facts.
Now we come to the tricky part: TouchOSC can conceivably control Ableton Live, but you've got a lot of hoops to jump through, and it'll never quite be as sexy as an ACP-40, really. Or will it? I took the above screenshot from my iPad running TouchOSC with something called LiveControl. This is a free package consisting of a Python script which interfaces with Live in the same way as a Launchpad or APC-40, a template for TouchOSC (iPhone or iPad), and a listener application that takes the place of Pd or OSCulator.
With this entire package running (it took a couple minutes to configure properly, but wasn't anything drastic) I've got a full clip launching panel **with clip names**, natch. I've also got full channel control, device control, a sequencer, and an X/Y pad. Now, to be clear, it's a little bit hinky in operation. Sometimes the names don't update immediately when you load a new song, and the sequencer in particular, while crafty, feels a touch jank-esque, but on the whole, this rig is the motherfucking bomb.
Or, to look at it another way: total cost is $509 and you not only get a full APC-40, but you can also check your email and look at porn, two things the APC-40 is singularly unsuited for. Launchpad: sold. It is totally obviated by this bad boy.
[LiveControl page.](http://livecontrol.q3f.org/livecontrol/)
[TouchOSC page.](http://hexler.net/software/touchosc)
Anyhow, I don't know how I missed this shit. It must have got lost in the deluge of iPad nonsense leading up to, and immediately following, the Launch. Thanks to DJ Twitch for hipping me to this scene.
---
## Witness The Awe-Inspiring Power Of Music!!!
- Date: 2010-04-26
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/04/witness-the-awe-inspiring-power-of-music/
I have a challenge for you today. Watch this video (you only have to get through the first chorus; I'm not that cruel) and then see if you can go the whole rest of the day without singing the refrain.
Better yet, every time you come in to contact with someone else during the course of the day, sing the refrain and see if the other person claps - clapsclaps. Unless they're of that age that seems to get their entire musical database from Guitar Hero, they'll pick it up, guaranteed. And then they will, in turn, spread it to others.
I'm left wondering if we had the ability to chart this, what it would look like. The few hundred people that read this on Monday morning go and get at least a couple other people humming this song all day. And then those people get a couple people each, and so on. I wonder how big a start it would take for me to be walking down the aisle of our local grocery store and hear someone else that isn't connected to me in any way, shape, or form singing it.
Music is a powerful thing.
Unrelated to the topic: am I the only one bugged by the fact that the drums in the intro are totally off by a quarter note? Or the fact that Darryl Hall isn't actually singing, so he's kickin' the straight-up 80s lip sync? Or that John Oates has the most awesome mustache in the history of mustaches? His mustache is so awesome, he could get away with wearing a pink sport coat. That's how awesome.
---
## Various Odds And Ends...
- Date: 2010-04-23
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/04/various-odds-and-ends/
As you can see, DronestationX, the iPad iteration of Dronestation, is coming along nicely. I decided to make the UI a PNG-free zone; it is entirely done with CoreGraphics drawing commands, even the logo. This proved to be a somewhat nonsensical decision on my part, but (a) it will result in an incredibly small binary, which makes me happy, and (b) it was a valuable learning experience. This will make porting difficult if I decide to do an Android or WinTablet version, of course, but making things easy on myself has never been one of my strong suits.
Anyhow, give me a week or two and it should be ready for app store submission. I've cropped part of that image, as the UI isn't finished yet. When I've got it totally done, you'll get the whole thing. It is orientation-agnostic, which is causing some annoyance but isn't a deal breaker.
Also too, I swapped out my Stereo Memory Man w/ Hazarai for an Eventide TimeFactor. No offense to ElectroHarmonix, as they're making some pretty cool shit these days, but this TimeFactor is an order of magnitude more better. I know that I've got an H8000 and all, and all these programs are in the new H8000 OS, but it's really not the same at all. The pedal is much more immediate, and it's much, much easier to tweak a preset while you're playing on this than on the H8000. I'll put up a full review next week, once I've spent some quality time with it, but for now, as @jamescigler pointed out on Twitter, any Digital Solution For Streamlining My Workflow is a good option.
And finally, it seems Goldbaby has a new product out. I \_just\_ whacked the download button, so I can't say WTF about it at all, but given Hugo's track record, I'd just go ahead and assume it's awesome. 'Tis [here.](http://www.goldbaby.co.nz/wadra.html)
---
## Back To Work Open Thread...
- Date: 2010-04-19
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/04/back-to-work-open-thread/
Adam is back from the exotic orient, so we're about to get back to slogging away at Discord 3. As usual, doing an update of this magnitude is almost more difficult than just making a new plug-in entire, especially when we're shoehorning in major engine changes. But that said, once Adam gets over his jetlag (which, historically, takes about 11 months) we've got a fairly short path to completion on this one.
Also too (God, I love that phrase), I'm only a couple mixes away from being done on the Micronaut EP; naturally, I'll have full information on that when it is completed.
And finally, I made fairly good progress on DronestationX over the weekend, so the three AI readers that have iPads will have something new to play with pretty shortly. I'm doing the UI entirely procedurally; it is a PNG-free zone (except for the little icon thing, which necessarily has to be a PNG, according to Apple Canon.) This is kind of interesting, but let me state for the record that giving things rounded corners increases the difficulty of making a procedural UI by an order of magnitude. I'll have a screenshot soon; my major goal with this was not to shoehorn a picture of an analog instrument on to the iPad, but rather to revel in the paradigm of the device. I'm writing this synth specifically for that paradigm, in order to take advantage of the form-factor, rather than trying to work around it.
(And that will streamline the fuck out of your workflow.)
Anyhow, this is an open thread. The subject, if I may be so bold, is blatant self-promotion. We haven't done this in a while. This is the opportunity to promote your music, or that of someone you respect that others might not know about. The only rule is that you can't just throw a link. Sell that shit!
---
## Things I Learned At NAB...
- Date: 2010-04-16
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/04/things-i-learned-at-nab/
In no particular order...
1\. The music industry may be all high and mighty and proud of itself for being "cool" and such, but the entire balls-to-backbone conglomeration of manufacturers, record labels, musicians, and retailers ain't a drop in the bucket to the TV and movie industries. I'll grant that AES is a pretty small show by show standards, but the entirety of AES would fit in Sony's NAB booth, with room left over.
2\. The little "edgy" companies trend to a certain type of person in their booths, with "edgy" haircuts, "edgy" clothes, and "edgy" tattoos. The big giant companies like Canon and Sony have professional polished attractive booth-folk who could easily hold down an anchor job on any medium-sized city's nightly news. Virtually everyone else in the entire entertainment industry is a bearded MAWG with a beer belly, as far as I can tell. If NAB was anything to judge by, Polo and the companies that make ass packs are in no danger of going out of business any time soon.
3\. There are approximately 23 \* 1030 ways to hold a camera off the ground.
4\. The ratio of companies that provide production music to companies that need production music appears to be about 1:1. The very essence of the concept of symbiosis, I think. Probably a good racket for a musician to be in, if you can stand to be so utterly and completely banal, and without an iota of pride.
5\. I'm a fairly savvy person when it comes to this sort of thing, but there were companies at this show with huge elaborate multi-million-dollar booths, and I'd have no fucking idea whatsoever what it is they did. All I know is that they want to streamline my workflow. I saw that phrase in various permutations a lot. I'm sure it's a nice concept and all, but I think asking someone from the broadcast industry for help in streamlining your workflow is like asking Gary Busey for tips on quitting blow. It's just not something they know anything about. I mean, there is **an entire sub-industry** dedicated completely to turning \[video codec A\] in to \[video codec B\]. The NAB organizers conveniently placed all this sub-industry's booths next to the booths full of guys that that are marketing new video codecs. I imagine they have a lot to talk about.
6\. I especially disliked the Panasonic 3D televisions, which gave me a more-or-less instant blinding headache. The BoothDude (although calling the Panasonic extravaganza a "booth" is a gross understatement) said this happens to about 1 in 20 people, for some reason they can't discern. I told him they should probably think about discerning it. The Sony 3D products looked fine to me, and their glasses caused much less attenuation. (The same glasses you got when you went and saw Avatar.) Sony had a 3D 50-foot jumbotron showing the Masters, and it was, quite simply, the most unbelievable video playback I've ever witnessed. Absolutely stunning.
Anyhow, it was an eye-opening experience, and I'm definitely going to allow more time next year so I can do more than just sprint by everything. Thanks to synthetic for talking me in to going and to TASCAM for the badge.
---
## Busy, Busy, Busy Open Thread...
- Date: 2010-04-13
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/04/busy-busy-busy-open-thread/
I'm swamped this week, so don't expect much in the way of pithy commentary for the early part of the week. For the last few days I've split the day evenly between mixing the Micronaut EP and working on DronestationX (the separate version of Dronestation for the iPad.) The former is nearing completion, and the latter is coming along nicely. I have the UI nearly done, and I should be able to just lay in the synth stuff once I have that, and submit it for approval.
Also too, I'm going to the NAB (National Association of Broadcasters) convention in Vegas tomorrow. You should get a nice update on Thursday with some hyper digital hyper expensive eye candy, at least as it relates to our world. Obviously, there aren't any Euro module makers there, or cute boutique synths and guitar pedals, but the heavies come out to play, and I plan to spend some quality time in the booths of Nagra, Eventide, Lexicon, et al. while pointedly avoiding the black hole of suck that is Avid Land.
That's it for now. I may have a screenshot of DronestationX later in the day; we'll see if I get it in a state where I'm happy with it. This is an open thread. First commenter picks the subject!
---
## The Mice Will Play...
- Date: 2010-04-09
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/04/the-mice-will-play/
I've got over half of the Micronaut e.p. (which is called _Resistor_, by the way) mixed and in the bag now. After reading all the comments and ideas in the previous thread, I've decided to do the following:
1\. Bandcamp full EP. I'm going to put this up for any amount, from $0.00 to whatever floats your boat. The Bandcamp release may have value-added content as well, but at the very least it will have everything that Bandcamp allows in the way of artwork and liner notes.
2\. Tunecore full spread. I'll also put the EP in Tunecore to all the services. Pricing will, of course, vary.
3\. Video. Two of the songs have videos, and these will go in my accounts in Vimeo and YouTube as added promotional materials.
4\. PR. I'm going to have press done by one of the services that does such things; naturally I'll post about that experience here. We've done this in the past with various Positron releases, to mixed results. If anyone has any insight in to the various services that do this, I'd love to hear about it.
So that's the current plan, anyhow. The Bandcamp release will be available as soon as I'm done, essentially, so a few days. I'll also put everything in Soundcloud as non-download, but I'll use the Bandcamp widget for playback here, for obvious reasons.
---
## While The Cat's Away...
- Date: 2010-04-07
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/04/while-the-cats-away/
Adam is on his mandatory yearly hajj to Japan, so Audio Damage dev is at a standstill until his return, for obvious reasons. In the meantime, I have lots to do.
One of those lots is assembling an EP of Micronaut material. In the past, I've put together these assemblages and put them in TuneCore or sold them via the Posi store. However, this time I'm considering making the leap in to Free territory. On the one hand, the gear I use to make music is expensive and difficult to maintain, and it would be nice to see a direct (rather than indirect, in the case of Audio Damage) payback for the acquisition of same. On the other hand, without steady touring and merch sales, there's very little income to be made from direct music sales at this level, given my ability to promote any release and its limited potential audience due to its quirky nature. Any income I realize from direct music sales these days falls within the noise of my normal income generation efforts, and is thus arguably not worth the trouble.
It would be a different case if I decided to do a proper Sister Machine Gun record. A couple of phone calls would secure the full financial backing necessary to realize such a thing, but (a) I don't have the time to properly exploit that occurance, and (b) I don't have the desire or creative impulse necessary to pull it off in the first place. That's outside the scope of this conversation in any event.
Anyhow, to return to the subject, another fact to consider is that the income from commercial licensing of Micronaut songs far outstrips the money generated from direct sales of same, by several orders of magnitude.
Taking all this in to consideration, I'm fairly convinced that I should just throw my old-school distaste of the concept of "free music" out the window and put the whole package up for download, cover art and all. What I'm wondering and opening up for comment are the following points:
1\. If you've done this, what were your goals other than the obvious "increase my reputation" type things, and did you realize them?
2\. What sort of PR would one do? All the normal shit that one would do with a normal release? I don't see why not, and I have a bully pulpit here to utilize, obviously, but I'm interested to hear about success in this realm other than the normal avenues, if such is to be had.
3\. Obviously, it would be wise to use Tunecore to submit to the streaming subscription services, but would it make sense to also put it in iTunes? If I was a customer and bought something on a whim in iTunes, only to find out it was freely available elsewhere, I'd be a little pissed off. Would I be pissed at the artist or at Apple? Hard to say.
4\. Extras are easy in a situation like this. Are "remix packs" or whatever worth the effort expended in making them? (This would more directly concern the AI audience, obviously.)
---
## The iPad Mini Review...
- Date: 2010-04-04
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/04/the-ipad-mini-review/
Since every blog that even has the remotest whiff of a technical bent will be wall-to-wall iPad for the next several days, I thought I'd go ahead and get my pontificating out of the way. Since I'm not suckling the teat of the technocrats by going on the Rachael Maddow Show and being all breathless and shit like Xeni Jardin, I don't get a freebie from Apple. (Man, that shit was embarrassing to watch. Aside from her scary hair and as-last-seen-on-Barbarella outfit, she went on and basically said the exact opposite of Cory Doctorow. Really fucking weird.)
So, anyhow, the UPS guy stumbled to my door at 9:30AM; I was the first of several hundred iPad deliveries he had to make that day, according to him, and he was less than amused by the whole thing. The packaging is typical Apple: 50% "oh, that's nice" and 50% "how the hell do I get this fucking thing open?" Sync it just like an iPhone or iPod Touch, and you're off to the races. It put all my app purchases from the iPhone right in there, and they all worked out of the chute, no problems at all.
**The Good:** This thing is so obviously the Future of casual computing it's not even funny. It has a nice heft to it, typical construction of Apple's higher-end gear. Same bezel size and overall coloration as my MacBook Pro. All the buttons feel nice and firm, a little tougher to the touch than the ones in the iPod Touch. As a computer (i.e. Mail, Safari, Contacts, all the usual jank) it feels much slower than my MacBook Pro, but faster than the average Netbook. Definitely faster than the iPhone or the iPod Touch. I think they might have juked the animation speeds on app opening and such a bit in order to make it seem faster, but it has the desired effect.
The keyboard is easy to type on, once you adjust your style to match its mechanical abilities. The on-board speaker, which is actually stereo, sounds not terrible. Somewhere between the iPhone's built-in and the MacBook Pro in terms of overall range and quality. It is what it is. The battery life is exceptional, but it's brand new, so like all Apple products, I don't expect that to last.
**The Bad:** Obviously, I'll have to spend some time with it to really come up with bad things, just like I'd have to spend some time with it to come up with truly good things. My initial impressions are thus: the screen gets greasy really easy. Gotta keep a microfiber cloth handy. It weighs about the same as a normal sized hardback book (think "Difference Engine") but since its weight is concentrated in the middle, and it has kind of sharp edges, it isn't incredibly comfortable to hold. We'll see how that works out.
**The Apps:** I haven't had time to check out more than a few music apps, and I just did a cursory examination of those. The Korg iElectribe is just as awesome as you think it is. It is basically an ER-1 (w/ Toobz), lock, stock, and barrel. This will be fun as fuck. No sync, so limited usefulness, but nonetheless. I also gave TouchOSC iPad a quick whirl; it works exactly as you'd expect, only bigger. I fooled with Bleep! a little bit, but I found the big one even less penetrable than the little one. I'd like to like that app, but it just doesn't do it for me.
So, once I have something more interesting to say than what everyone else is saying, or everyone else plans to say, I'll put it up, but this will be the limit of my iPad posting. My initial verdict is that this little cocksucker is perfect in every way. It's exactly as advertised, and just feels _right._ Many people have aped the Apple Party Line that the iPad is for content consumers, not content creators. While that is true, the same could be said for many of the things we, as musicians, co-opt in to our daily work environment. Hell, using computers to make pop music would have been laughable in 1980, yet here we are.
If anyone has any specific questions about it that only I can answer, I'll be happy to field them.
---
## You've Been (Beat) Served...
- Date: 2010-03-31
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/03/youve-been-beat-served/
Beatserv has a new package out that is, quite simply, t3h awesome. It's called [Clash,](http://www.beatserv.com/index.php/products/clash.html/) and is a set of heavily edited/produced live drum loops. Some very interesting stuff going on here, and only US$49.00. A strong "buy" recommendation from me, and I'm not saying that just because Wade is my boy.
Wade tells me he's got Dark Downtempo 3 in the oven, as well. Do not fear his beats. They come in peace.
---
## Dear M-Audio...
- Date: 2010-03-29
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/03/dear-m-audio/
Hey, Guys At M-Audio! It's me, Chris. I just wanted to thank you for living up (or down, rather) to my expectations. You see, I was facing an emergency situation where I needed a MIDI controller with aftertouch, and I couldn't wait for shipping from a proper store of a proper controller.
So, after traveling around the various music stores of Portland, Oregon, and discovering that virtually the only 49-key controller available was the M-Audio Axiom 49, I bit the bullet and got one. At Guitar Center even. (I figure in for a penny, in for a pound, right?)
Here's what I said to myself: "self, they sell a fucking gazillion of these things. They can't be _that_ bad, can they?" Well, as it turns out, they can.
I bought this piece of poop in January. Here it is March, and it has had a catastrophic failure. About two weeks ago, the display started flickering, and it would stop sending MIDI over USB \_or\_ the MIDI port. If I unplugged it, killed whatever host I was running, plugged it back in, and restarted the host, it would work again for like 10 minutes. Needless to say, this had a bit of an effect on my workflow, but it was something I could deal with.
Today, however, the display has gone blank.
"Rebooting" it has no effect whatsoever. This happens on either buss power or adapter power. It sends no information of any sort out any port. To be clear, this unit never left my office, and was hardly used at all. When it came from Portland to here, it was in its original packaging, the same box it was shipped to Guitar Center PDX in.
I'm sure it's something simple or whatever, but my point is thus: despite being a low-end peice of kit, it should still work for more than **3 FUCKING MONTHS.** The M-Audio Axiom49: To Be Avoided At All Costs.
---
## So Much For The Party...
- Date: 2010-03-27
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/03/so-much-for-the-party/
Whelp, my prediction of Awesomeness emanating forth from Musikmesse seems to have been somewhat optimistic. Other than the Octatrack and the Monotron, it's really mostly just the usual raft of jank, I'm sorry to report. But you already knew that.
So, back to work. Everything is chugging along 'round these parts. Discord 3 has its most grievous bug (one that held Adam back for several days) stomped in to oblivion through the judicious application of math and stuff, and much lauding and adoration resulted. The remaining silly things are mostly GUI-related, and thus relatively easy, if somewhat time-consuming, to deal with.
I also booked my room for [NAB](http://www.nabshow.com/2010/default.asp) today. Rely on me to bring you the most stunningly banal reports from the exhibition floor that you're likely to find in a music blog. Or, failing that, the most stunningly banal reports from the craps tables that you're likely to find in a music blog. Any of the AI Loyal attending? (Other than synthetic, who we already know about.) If so, I submit that drinks shall be consumed in the name of all things Analog. Or Industrial. Or something. That's obviously a long shot, as NAB ain't the golden jewel of the music gear convention go-round, but hey, you never know. If you're exhibiting, I just wanted to let you know that my praise can be purchased.
Also, too, you probably already know that Soniccouture just put up a freebie, the exquisitely odd RMI Rock-Si-Chord. Get it [here](http://www.soniccouture.com/en/products/p58-rmi-rocksichord/). As you all know, my love of all things electro-mechanical runs deep, and I'd love to get my paws on one of these bad boys. (My wife would love it not so much, akshully.) Until that blessed event occurs, this sample set will do nicely.
And finally, I'm sure that the Saga Of The Pool has been concerning you greatly. I'd just like to report that our pool has been completed, and (assuming I want to get my eyelids burnt off my face by fresh chlorine) swimmable. Just for posterity's sake: [before](http://twitpic.com/1amt4j/full), [during](http://twitpic.com/1amk86/full), and after. I hope that "before" picture didn't make you throw up in your mouth a little bit. You should have smelled seen it in person.
---
## Let's Get This Party Started!
- Date: 2010-03-24
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/03/lets-get-this-party-started/
The Musikmesse pictures are starting to roll in. It already looks like it's gonna be a good show, which makes it pretty much the opposite of Winter NAMM. A couple cool things you probably already know about:
1\. Korg Monotron. ([Short YouTube video.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-v0FT8lXGSo)) This will no doubt take Best-Of-Show in most people's minds. It's rare that one of the big manufacturers does something this... uh... cute? It should be savored. We'll all buy at least one, of that I have no doubt.
2\. Elektron Octatrack. ([Some pics at Gearjunkies.](http://www.gearjunkies.com/news_info.php?news_id=4910)) Nothing but these pics yet, but I think it's pretty obvious what it does. A throwback to the era of the Studio 440, MPC60, and SP1200. Want. **EDIT**: YouTube video [here.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzszHo0VMIo)
It looks like Roland brought their A game as well, with a couple new synths already. The GAIA doesn't look too bad, but I imagine it's the same VA engine that's in all their knobish synths now, just in a nice white box. We'll see what else the Big Three come up with.
---
## All Kinds Of Fun New Toys...
- Date: 2010-03-22
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/03/all-kinds-of-fun-new-toys/
Yep, just a whole heapin' pile of fun stuff came out this weekend. In no particular order:
**1\. Valhalla DSP releases ValhallaFreqEcho MkI**: Sean Costello, who comments here often (but don't let that dissuade you) and who wrote the 'verb algos in Eos and the freq shifter algo in BigSeq2, has released a version of his FreqEcho freebie with a GUI. [Go forth](http://www.valhalladsp.com/) and git some. Frequency shifter and analog-style delay. Two great tastes that taste great together.
**2\. DMG Audio releases EQuality**: Our good friend Dave Gamble, formerly of Sonalksis, has started his own company, DMG Audio, and the first product, EQuality, is now available. I bet, from the name, that you're guessing it's a bitcrusher/delay. Well, you'd be wrong. [Hit that shit](http://www.dmgaudio.com/) and check out the demo. A fantastic EQ that I highly recommend.
**3\. midipad**: Yeah, who would have guessed someone would do [this](http://www.midipad.de/midipad/midipad_welcome.html) before the iPad was even released? Gee, I dunno. Certainly not me. If you're still wondering why people like me think the iPad is the New Hotness, this app, and the many more like it that are about to be released, is the reason why.
Anyhow, back to work. Discord3 is coming along nicely; Adam is hooking everything back up, and we have some minor issues with the GUI that need to be worked out. I doubt it will be done before Adam makes his yearly hajj to Japan, but not long now. I should be able to do videos of the new features shortly, regardless. I'm also working on the iPad version of DroneStation simultaneously; I'll have a screenshot or two for you as soon as I've got something I'm happy with.
And finally, did I mention that the last 5 days it was 80F or more for the high temp here? (That's 27C or more, for you Communists that subscribe to the metric system.) This place fucking rules. Tack another 30F on to that, and I might start being truly happy. I'm a freak of nature, but I'm comfortable with that fact.
---
## Tiny DIY Digi-Synth That Doesn't Look Like It Sucks...
- Date: 2010-03-18
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/03/tiny-diy-digi-synth-that-doesnt-look-like-it-sucks/
I don't want to count my chickens before they've hatched or anything, but I have the distinct impression that I scooped both CDM and Matrixsynth on this item, unless my memory (which, I'll grant, is getting a bit sketchy in my advanced years) is totally out of whack.
This is the Shruti-1 by [Mutable Instruments](http://mutable-instruments.net/), a DIY kit that isn't for sale yet, but soon will be, according to the website. The digital oscillators, envelopes, MIDI I/O, and front panel are controlled by an AVR chip of the sort you'd find in an Arduino, and the filter and VCAs are honest-to-god analog in the form of a CEM3379.
The page is a bit sparse at the moment, but there are three sound samples up. Two of them in particular intrigue me to no end, as this little thing definitely seems to have an unique personality that appeals to me.
_\[Embedded media, no longer available.\]_
_\[Embedded media, no longer available.\]_
I really like that FM, and there are several different oscillator modes to choose from. This kit seems to be eminently hackable, and I predict, should he be able to bring it to market, it will do exceedingly well. That's a big "if" though, and as we all know, it's vapor until we have it in our sweaty hands. (Note that Adam found this; I missed it entirely, which is entirely unlike me.)
---
## And It Fits (Just)...
- Date: 2010-03-16
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/03/and-it-fits-just/
[](http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/4437452018/)
Believe it or not, I was able to get that CP80B in to my office. Had to take out a lot of shit, but it was shit I obviously needed in here less than a CP80B.
For the morbidly curious, I've tuned the center three octaves so far. The entire piano, aside from being fairly out of tune with itself, was a half step flat, so it's a pretty tedious process. I'm going to end up doing it twice, because being so flat, tuning up the outside is going to drag the middle down pretty drastically, and I don't know enough about piano tuning to actually preempt this event. Luckily, there are only two strings per note where a "real" piano would have three, so that's a bit of a time saver. It also makes it really easy to adjust the richness of the individual notes. Once all is said and done, I'm tuning one of the strings about two beats per second flat against the first, which should give a nice meaty chorusing.
Probably.
Anyhow, this bad boy didn't come with a power supply, so I had to whittle one; luckily, they can run off a simple wall wart, so it's not that hard a chore. It sounds fantastical good, though, and I'm pretty pleased to have it.
---
## Best Gear Score Evar...
- Date: 2010-03-12
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/03/best-gear-score-evar/
Last night my friend Mike Fisher and I went to an auction. The actual brick-and-mortar kind, with an auctioneer and guys yelling and rows of chairs. Most of the shit auctioned was exactly that (at one point the auctioneer called one lot a "rummage sale starter kit" which should give you an idea...) but one item, which I had to wait a couple hours for, was what brought me out to the ass end of nowhere, otherwise known as Apache Junction, Arizona.
For some reason, this auction house that trafficked mainly in broken tools and headless dolls had a Yamaha CP80B electric grand piano. I know, right? The case (which, in this instance also comprises the body of the piano) was pretty beat up. Tolex ripped in a couple spots, and very dirty, like it sat in someone's barn for a decade or so. However, inside, it was brand new.
If you've never gone, a real auction works just like an eBay one, except it happens much faster, and the people you're bidding against are standing right there next to you, which (if you're used to the Intardwebs) is a little odd.
Anyhow, after a seemingly endless parade of beer signs and cans of nails, our lot came up. He started the bidding at a thousand bucks. No bids. Dropped it to a hundred. No bids. Dropped it to $50. I bid.
And that was that.
So, 10 minutes later, we were on the way back to Phoenix with a CP80B in the back of my SUV, $50 lighter in the wallet. I've now got it set up in my garage, and other than a couple little issues as a result of sitting idle for so long, this thing is perfect. I'll put up a ton of pictures and samples once I get out of traction. (Mike helped me get it in the SUV, but I got it out and set it up on my own.)
---
## Sweet Baby Jesus But This Dude Can Fugue...
- Date: 2010-03-11
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/03/sweet-baby-jesus-but-this-dude-can-fugue/
This is from some old "Synths Are Frakkin' Awesome" video of the sort that crop up now and again. Dude's name is Don Muro, and he's got a Korg DS-8 and something I can't quite make out under it, and the whole rig is set up like a dual manual organ with foot pedals. He obviously puts the rig to the test with one of the harder fugues in the Bach cannon (see what I did there? Double pun!), The Gigue Fugue.
I'm a passable keyboard player, but seeing this sort of thing makes me feel like I just started to toddle about. (To preempt the obvious comments that are about to be typed, yeah, it's 80s-tastic. Yeah, we all looked like tards back then. Yeah, the synth sounds are weak. Deal with it.)
**EDIT:** Interestingly, the video was removed due to the fact that it said "Played in the style of Wendy Carlos" in the description. Serendip, LLC, which is the company that controls Carlos' copyrights, is extremely aggressive in sending out takedown notices to YouTube, eBay, et al, as a simple Google search of their name will show.
As I mentioned in the comments, while I certainly understand aggressively protecting your copyright, as that's your prerogative as a creator, this company (although I think "company" may be a loose term, as it appears to be either Carlos alone, or one dude that works for her) is completely ludicrous in some of its actions. It seems that any mention in the description of a video of her name is grounds for a takedown notice, which is simply silly at best, and at worst a complete and total misunderstanding of what copyright actually means.
In any event, that's why the video is gone, as far as I can tell. They never contacted me, and honestly, I'd just ignore them if they did, as I'm not the sort that is going to go running to the hills from a stupid nastygram that has no legal basis, but I'm just curious as to what end this serves. It seems to defy logic, as far as I can tell.
---
## Candy For Eyeballs...
- Date: 2010-03-08
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/03/candy-for-eyeballs/
Adam and I have been having an ongoing... well, "argument" is too strong a word. "Discussion" would be better, although it does get heated at times. The subject is eye candy in plug-ins, specifically things that are there just to make something look cool, but serve no purpose whatsoever with respect to the operation of the plug-in.
Being me, you can guess what side of the argument I'm on. As long as there isn't an unnecessary use of CPU cycles, I'm all for it. The current windmill I'm tilting away at is a real-time animated waveform display for Discord 3. As you all know, Discord is a pitch-shifter, so there's no earthly reason to have a waveform display in the UI. It would impart no information whatsoever that has anything to do with the plug-in.
Now, that fact in and of itself doesn't bother me, as I've frequently been known to make UI design decisions based upon aesthetics alone. (The 3/4 view of the original Dubstation would be a good example of such.) I'm of the considered opinion that if something looks interesting, it has a direct effect on the creativity pathways of the brain, and thus is a Good Thing.
Adam, being Adam, disagrees. Normally, I can just do what I want and he'll eventually come around, but this is an interesting case. Making an animated waveform display is a fairly complex process, and we'd have to devote a week or more of dev time to adding it. The main thing to consider is that once we've hacked the underlying framework in to shape, we'll have the waveform display for other plug-ins that might actually make use of such a thing, so it's not wasted development time really. It's just wasted on this particular plug-in that has no need for such a thing.
So, I put it to you, dear friends. Is a quixotic pursuit like this worth the dev time, overall? Do you find that you're more likely to go to a plug-in that has bells and whistles in the UI? Or do you just want the fucking thing to do its job and not do the Macarana every time you open its editor?
---
## The Usual... errrr... Thursday Bullshit...
- Date: 2010-03-04
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/03/the-usual-errrr-thursday-bullshit/
Been an exceedingly busy week here. As anyone that doesn't still live in their mom's basement knows, even a small unproblematic cross-city move entails many minor details. A large move, one involving a couple businesses and cats, over a couple thousand miles, exponentially increases the number of trips to the hardware store, grocery store, various home furnishing stores, etc. We also picked up a couple rooms we didn't have previously (dining room, guest bedroom) so we needed to get shit to put in them to make them fulfill their designated functions.
Anyhow, we're mostly almost entirely somewhat back to normal now, and Progress is being made on various Projects. Adam just purchased the 64-bit dev box that he needed, and Discord 3 has a UI, although it's still missing some key ingredients that would allow me to show it to you (mainly a big bit in the middle, but everything around the edges is done.)
Phoenix, aside from what appears to be a rather dismal local music scene, seems to be a pretty slick city, too. I don't want to say that the old saw "if you're bored, you're boring" applies, but I'm finding plenty of cool little shops and restaurants. They're a bit hard to see because they're always behind a Chili's or a Circle K, but they're here. I will say the following: if you like pawn shops or yard sales (and I very much do) then this city is made of pure motherfucking win. I have a feeling I'm going to be sending a lot of records up to PDX for Jeremy's shop.
(Brief commercial interlude: Jeremy, the other half of RT60, a band you've never heard but know a lot about, has a record store now. Go shop there. [Facebook page](http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/crossroadscollectibles?ref=sgm) or [Google maps link.](http://maps.google.com/maps?q=4680+SW+Watson+Ave+Beaverton,+OR,+97005&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=4680+SW+Watson+Ave,+Beaverton,+Washington,+Oregon+97005&gl=us&ei=59CPS_uxCI3asgPk0u2vCA&ved=0CAcQ8gEwAA&z=16) Needless to say, it is in PDX, so fat lot of good it'll do you elsewhere.)
Anyhow, that's where we're at. I'll have a D3 UI to show off by the end of the weekend, but otherwise, science marches on.
---
## Nerdcore...
- Date: 2010-02-28
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/02/nerdcore/
If, for some reason, you own both a gigantic modular synthesizer and a Frontier Design Tango (20-bit version), Adam has taken the time to document how to modify the Tango so you can use Expert Sleepers Silent Way or MOTU's Volta to drive the afore-mentioned gigantic modular synthesizer.
You can enjoy a video demonstration of the result [here](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxT72SE3RrU&feature=player_embedded), and the complete write-up is [here.](http://studionebula.com/blog/diy-synths/modified-tango)
Just for the record, this is the sort of thing Adam does for fun and relaxation, which should give you a general idea of the AD working environment. It's a good thing we don't share an office, else he'd push that modular over on me the 3,000th time I played Killing Joke's "Extremities..." album. And crush me.
---
## Almost Like Christmas...
- Date: 2010-02-26
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/02/almost-like-christmas/
[](http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/4390179798/sizes/l/)
I've got a lot more room here in the new joint than I did in our apartment in PDX, so I was able to drag some old boxes from storage back in to the light of day. Since they're all just marked "Studio (Fragile)" and obviously it's shit I didn't actually need at any point, I have no idea whatsoever what's in them, and opening them is like a combination of a somewhat dusty Christmas and a trip down an equally dusty memory lane.
The contents of one box are shown above. There are two rolls of exposed but undeveloped film, four mysteriously labeled DAT tapes, five cassette tapes, two of which are labeled with old SMG board roughs, four 5.25" floppies, three of which have Syntauri-related software on them, an original Gameboy, two Lomo cameras, boxed copies of the first AD product (Mayhem), iSynth, Pluggo, and Mode, a Windows XP full install, a copy of Cubasis AV, a battered SM58, and a Swiss Army watch.
And I have the temerity to call Adam a pack-rat. God only knows what's in these other boxes. Time to find out.
---
## On The Cusp...
- Date: 2010-01-26
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/01/on-the-cusp/
As one of the business's worst-kept secrets, virtually everyone knows that Apple will announce a tablet computer tomorrow. Virtually everyone also knows that there won't be too many surprises. It's going to be, for all intents and purposes, an iPod Touch with a 10.1" screen, despite all the wishing for Amazing Things. (And, for the record, I'm fully prepared to redact this post the minute the announcement is made, and monkeys ride unicorns right over the rainbow that is shooting out of Steve Jobs' ass.)
Why am I posting this? Well, in addition to Apple, virtually every major computer manufacturer is releasing a tablet in the next two quarters. Acer, Dell, HP, Asus, and a slew of OEMs all have keyboard-less tablets of some form planned, ranging in size from 7" to 12". This form factor is going to be the Next Big Thing for the next year or so. I, for one, am fairly pleased with this event as I believe it is a useful form factor, both for music and real life.
We don't get to witness many major sea changes in the computer business (which is, for all intents and purposes, the music business these days). The original Mac, Windows XP, OSX 10.3, the iPhone, and that's about it. All else are variations on a theme. (One could make the argument that this tablet is just a variation on the iPhone theme, and thus a continuation of that theme.) When these things occur, they change the way we think about computing, and thus the way we think about making music. Of course, a guitar and an amp and a fair amount of time alone in your bedroom to practice will still get you the furthest in this business, but we all know that.
Anyhow, we're going to see some exciting shit in the next year, as all the tech companies take advantage of this new form factor. I predict that Jazz Mutant needs to port their shit promptly or they're gonna go out of business. I also predict that we'll see the mid-size music software companies taking the most advantage of this new form factor. But what I _hope_ to see are some really intriguing new ways to make music on what is, for all intents and purposes, a new instrument that nobody knows how to play yet. I'm no Apple Fanboi. I generally like their computers and dislike their software. But in this one instance, I'm going to make an exception, because their ability to push the entire industry in a certain direction is going to lead to some exciting new shit for us as musicians.
**EDIT:** Matrix has an interesting bit about this very same subject on [his site.](http://matrixsynth.blogspot.com/2010/01/new-world-in-synthesis.html) There are polls and stuff. You can go there, then click to get back here, and thus enter a circular world of gear wankery.
---
## Movin' On Up... (FREE SHIT ALERT!)
- Date: 2010-01-23
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/01/movin-on-up-free-shit-alert/
[](http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/4298718826/)
The coming couple of weeks will be fairly hectic, so don't expect me to put any lengthy missives up here unless the mood seriously strikes. We're moving from PDX to PHX on Valentine's day, and as any of you that have moved even a small home rig know, moving a set-in-place studio isn't an easy task, never mind all the other shit one accumulates in normal existence.
Luckily, I never truly _un_\-packed from the last move, which was only a year ago. Plus, out of long habit and necessity, I have a fairly portable rig, so while it isn't quite as simple as slapping the covers on the racks and throwing them in the truck, it isn't that much more complex. Our home in Phoenix is a rental as well, where we'll be staying while we look at homes to purchase, so another temporary setup is in my immediate future.
Anyhow, a couple things are getting pitched, so if you want them and you're in the area, you're welcome to come and get them. The first is a Roland RD-250s digital piano. This is a fairly hefty beast, and would make a pretty good controller for someone (besides me.) Don't need it, don't want it, free to a good home, you carry it. It works fine.
Also headed out the door is a CME UF6 MIDI controller. This works fine but it is pretty beat up from use. Also, I don't have the wall wart any more, so you'll have to come up with one of those. (It uses a reverse-polarity 9V, so you can just do some surgery on any BOSS pedal adapter by cutting the wire and reversing the leads and you'll be good to go.)
Anyhow, both of those are free to the first person that can get over here and get 'em. I won't ship 'em so don't bother asking.
---
## Tattoo Updated to 1.0.3...
- Date: 2010-01-20
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/01/tattoo-updated-to-1-0-3/
We have updated both the Windows and OS X versions of Tattoo. In this update:
1\. Flamming when changing patterns, fixed.
2\. The reset note for MIDI Note Sync mode wasn't working correctly, now fixed.
3\. Digital distortion from the cymbal sound for some Logic users, fixed.
4\. General stability and CPU usage issues addressed.
This update is now available for download from your Audio Damage account, and is recommended for all Tattoo users.
---
## Get Off My Lawn!
- Date: 2010-01-19
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/01/get-off-my-lawn/
_NOTE: I wrote this bit for my column in Computer Music, but I just couldn't make my point in the space they allot me, and I didn't want to toss it, so I decided to put it up here for discussion instead._
I was trying like hell to come up with a better lead-in for this column than the incredibly prosaic "you kids today, you just don't know how easy you have it" but nothing's working, so I'll just out with it.
The "easy" I'm referring to is the re-mix, and its retarded foster child, the mash-up. Prior to the advent of the modern DAW, doing a remix was a big, big deal. A step-by-step process of a typical remix:
1\. Book time in a studio that has two 24-track machines so you can make a copy of your 2" tape. Keep in mind that a roll of tape cost around a hundred dollars. If the song was recorded on an SSL board, you also needed to make copies of the 8" floppies for the recall and automation. Make a photocopy of the track sheet and throw that in there. Wrap the whole thing in several layers of tin foil and Fed-Ex it to the remixer.
2\. The remixer then needs to book time in a studio. The first hour or so is spent biasing the deck to the tape. The next couple hours are spent making a facsimile of the original mix, and figuring out what the hell is on each track. (Since you only had 23 tracks to work with, it wasn't uncommon to have a couple different parts on any given track. The main instruments would have their own, but all the extra stuff would be somewhat jumbled.)
3\. Now the real fun begins. Chances are just about 100% that whatever sequencer you're using isn't going to chase the SMPTE on the tape, because SMPTE and the chasing thereof was a very fickle thing. There were numerous tricks and tools to deal with this one particular aspect, and all of them would be applied. Eventually, usually, you'd get it working, and your sequencer (which was almost always either an Atari ST or a hardware unit) would be chasing the SMPTE and more or less in time.
(At this point you've burned at a bare minimum four hours of studio time, for a few hundred dollars.)
4\. We'll leave out the middle part where the remixer does Things to make it a remix. Usually, it would be just that, a re-mix. If it was a "dance" mix, the drums would probably be replaced with other drums, but generally the main parts of the song would be left alone. Maybe some various other things would be added, but generally, you worked with what was already on the tape, and maybe just added a couple little things here and there.
5\. You'll notice I didn't say anything about tempo or pitch. On a tape, the two are immutably tied. You couldn't change one without changing the other. Time stretching, when it came around, was such an incredibly tedious process that it wasn't often used except to get a loop to sit in with a song.
6\. So, the remixer, in the interests of saving money (the more he spent on the studio time, the less he got to take home) would come in to the process with a fairly good idea of what he was going to do. If this involved lengthening the song, or changing the arrangement in any way, the process got truly silly. The method here would be to run the individual sections on to a master 1/2" (or 1/4" occasionally) tape, and get out the splicing block and razor blade. The word "edit" is not ill applied here.
7\. Once all these pieces were assembled, if it was post-91 or so, the 1/2" master would then be run to a DAT and sent to the label. The label would then play it for the original artist, who (usually) got to approve or disapprove it. If the latter, it was generally shelved, as there was too much money involved to actually do all that over.
And my point in all of this? It's thus: you kids today. You just don't know how easy you have it. The only thing better about the pre-DAW era is that mash-ups were completely impossible to make, so we never had to find out what the vocals of "Closer" sounded like over the music of "In Da Club." The world was a better place.
---
## To Infinity (And Beyond)...
- Date: 2010-01-17
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/01/to-infinity-and-beyond/
\[Insert Pithy Apology About Not Posting\]
I find it interesting that I feel obligated to post on a more-or-less daily basis, as if Analog Industries was a real job or something. When three days skate by without a post, especially during the Blog-gasm known as NAMM, people start to think something's up. Let me be the first to state that nothing could be further from the truth.
First up, Tattoo fixes. We got the two violent offenders out of the way fairly quickly, but there are still lots of little issues that were discovered in the first days that need to be addressed. We're going to have an all-platforms update in a couple days that will address the couple of small problems with the sequencer. We're also still working on the dumb-ass Logic cymbal problem. (This one is tough because we can't replicate it here.) I don't know if I've mentioned this lately, but _fucking_ Logic. We hates it, Precious.
I'll also take this opportunity to apologize for putting out a product that had such bad bugs in it. Normally, we'd expect one or two, and it's a pleasant surprise when it doesn't happen (which has occurred with a couple of products, but unfortunately not the majority) but Tattoo is so complex that no matter how much we tested, we obviously missed more than usual. We're getting them tamped down, though, and we'd like to thank all the early adopters for their patience.
Once we've got Tattoo running at high idle, we're going to do a round of updates on the whole product line (which should be a hoot, all twenty of 'em) and then on to other things. So, that's the foreseeable future for AD.
Speaking strictly for myself, my wife and I will be moving the second week in February. We just signed the lease on our new house (with pool, natch) in Phoenix, and the Big Move begins the 12th and continues until it is done. Expect to hear a lot about that.
As for NAMM, nothing really blew my socks off, just like last year. I think perhaps I've lost the ability to be easily impressed. Anything you see that blew you away?
---
## A Whole Slew Of Mini Reviews...
- Date: 2010-01-14
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/01/a-whole-slew-of-mini-reviews/
Just some quick off-the-cuff remarks about shit I've picked up recently. (Today, in fact.)
**Novation Launchpad:** I've only had this for a half an hour, so I can't really say "OMGWTF?" or anything like that. I will say that setup was easy as can be, and it Just Works. Having buttons to record and fire clips and scenes in Live makes a world of difference in the writing process. I imagine it'd be handy live, too, but obviously I haven't played any shows in the last hour, so I couldn't say.
**Native Instruments Massive Threat:** Picked this up this morning and went through all the patches. Despite the name, there are some surprisingly delicate sounds in this 200+ patch collection. I don't get why he put BPMs in the names of some of them; they're all host synced, so it's kind of silly. The wobble basses are quite wobbly. The first audio demo on the NI site is fucking hilarious, too. It's almost a parody of dubstep, it's so wobbly. I recommend a listen even if you're not in to that sort of thing. (I'm not.) Silly sounds that can instantly date your music aside, this is a very good sound set. The ones straight from NI are usually no joke, and this is definitely up to par. Strong "buy" recommendation at this point.
**Native Instruments The Finger:** This is a Reaktor patch they've made to work with Kore and Kore Player. If you don't have Reaktor (I don't) you can't actually edit the patches, which is kind of silly. If you never paid attention when it came out, it's essentially a set of FX patches for Kore/Kore Player that enable MIDI keyboard control of certain tempo effects. Kind of a slick idea, but I think it would benefit from being an actual VST/AU rather than a Kore patch. I'm not complaining, though. It's cool, and has given me some ideas for an AD product, which in and of itself is worth the price of admission.
**The Usual Official "Caveat Emptor":** I got The Finger and Massive Threat in an NFR trade. I'm the only blogger that seems to tell you guys this information, despite the fact that it is a law now, at least here in the US, but you always know where I stand, and I guess that's worth something.
**And finally...** Eos won an Editor's Pick award from [AudioNewsRoom.](http://audionewsroom.blogspot.com/2010/01/sonic-joy-awards-2009.html) Thanks to ANR for the props!
---
## OSX Tattoo updated to 1.0.1
- Date: 2010-01-13
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/01/osx-tattoo-updated-to-1-0-1/
Okay, the two biggest problems have now been stomped. We've revved the OSX side of Tattoo to 1.0.1 to match the Windows side. This fix is primarily meant for users of PPC (G4 and G5) Macs, and it fixes a problem those users were having with the AU not validating, and the VST causing crashes.
If you're an Intel Mac user and you aren't experiencing any issues, there is no need to install this update.
In related news, it appears that all our products work fine in Logic 9.1 via the 32-bit bridge. We therefore officially add this host to our supported hosts. We will port the Mac side of things to 64-bit at the same time we do the Windows side. We have no timeline for that, except to say that it is In The Not-Too-Distant Future. We will almost certainly cease support for PPC Macs when we rev the products, and only offer 32- and 64-bit Intel versions, but we need to have further discussions before we commit to that course of action.
I will say that while the better G5 machines can certainly hang with the lowest Intel machines, and are still viable platforms for music creation, we are a small company, and thus we have to triage, and it is increasingly obvious that 64-bit plug-ins are more important to the consumer base than PPC-based plug-ins.
---
## One Little, Two Little, Three Little Endians...
- Date: 2010-01-12
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/01/one-little-two-little-three-little-endians/
(The subject line of this post will be a complete mystery to non-Americans, I imagine. Or to those born in the politically correct era.)
Okay, we've got an OSX update on the way that will fix the crashing problems that PPC users have been experiencing. It should be along in short order, and I'll update this post and blather on in the usual places about it.
The Cymbal Issue, where Logic 9.0.2 users were experiencing a rezzed-out cymbalThing that was fucking up the whole output buss, is a Logic 9.0.2 bug, and is fixed by downloading and installing Logic 9.1. Go figure. Apple actually did us a solid for a change. Strike that.
Keep on keepin' on, otherwise. Hopefully, at some point Real Soon Now, we can return to our regularly scheduled programming. But for now, I have nothing to talk about but Tattoo-related injuries.
---
## Tattoo Windows Revved...
- Date: 2010-01-10
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/01/tattoo-windows-revved/
Okay, we have a fix for one of the issues. The Windows version of Tattoo has been updated to 1.0.1.0, and a new installer is available in your account in the AD store. This version fixes a drawing problem that many Windows XP users were experiencing in multiple hosts that was causing any number of issues, from weird lines and such to pausing the host to sluggish screen updates.
So, hit your account in the AD store, grab that bitch and give 'er a spin. Let us know if it doesn't fix your various problems. We're going to begin the OSX Whack-A-Mole Fiesta now.
**EDIT:** We've figured out the commonality among the people having install problems on OSX, and the cause. Searching for a possible solution; this will be the next rev, and should come before PM Tuesday.
---
## Tattoo Now Available...
- Date: 2010-01-08
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/01/tattoo-now-available/
I think the subject line says it all. [Go here.](http://www.audiodamage.com/)
---
## Oh, Those Were The Days...
- Date: 2010-01-07
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/01/oh-those-were-the-days/
Adium Chat Transcript, July 7th, 2009:
_**8:25:38 PM Chris Randall:** What do you think about "Tattoo" for a name?_
_**8:25:46 PM Adam Schabtach:** Oh, that's not bad._
_**8:25:56 PM Chris Randall:** You know how I like my double entendré._
_**8:26:20 PM Adam Schabtach:** Just as long as you don't put any photos of your own hide in the About box._
Little did we know that six months (!) later, we'd never want to hear a drum sound again for the rest of our days. But lo, and hark, Tattoo is done. Finished. Tested and working in all hosts. We just need a bit of time to get our shit together viz. the installers and manual and such, but it won't be long.
---
## Tattoo-torial 4: Something Random This Way Comes...
- Date: 2010-01-05
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2010/01/tattoo-torial-4-something-random-this-way-comes/
Here's a tutorial about how to use all the various randomization features in both the sequencer and the voices of Tattoo.
---
## Tattoo Multiple Outputs Demonstration...
- Date: 2009-12-31
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/12/tattoo-multiple-outputs-demonstration/
Here's a quick little screencast I did to show how to access the extra outputs in Live, group the tracks together, and apply some individual effects. I figure users of Cubase and Logic, the which are much more multi-output-savvy, shouldn't have any trouble, but it isn't so obvious in Live. The AU and VST work exactly alike in this regard.
---
## OOTO Monday Open Thread...
- Date: 2009-12-14
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/12/ooto-monday-open-thread/
We've got friends visiting from Phoenix, so I've been out Seeing the Sights around PDX all weekend. Today is the last day of same. Back to our normal schedule on the 'morrow, but for today this is an open thread.
The subject? Do you feel that the expectations for live performance have been lowered since the advent of the laptop and the loss of so much tour support money? I was watching a Lady Ga Ga live performance on YouTube the other day and I was like "this weak-ass shit is the hottest ticket going?" It isn't even in the same ballpark as Justin Timberlake, let alone the monster stage shows of the 80s and 90s as put on by Prince, Madonna, the Jacksons, et al. I feel that it is generally indicative of the industry as a whole, where it is perfectly acceptable to get up in front of a crowd, change some scenes in Live and maybe tweak a filter freq or delay send, and call it a show.
---
## DroneStation 1.1.0 Now Available...
- Date: 2009-12-13
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/12/dronestation-1-1-0-now-available/
The kind and wonderful folks at the Apple App Store Review Dungeon have finally approved the DroneStation 1.1.0 update.
**UPDATES:**
1\. Tilt controls filter cutoff, in user-selectable amount.
2\. New user interface. (Now with 100% more blobs.)
3\. Help screen added.
4\. Note name/frequency bug fixed.
5\. Now (should) work fine with iPhone OS 2.2.1 or greater. This means that (theoretically) people that had the "you can't use this on your Touch because you don't have a mic" bug should be able to buy and use the app now. If one of those people would grab it and let me know if that's actually the case, I'd be much appreciative.
6\. Added a 1/8th inch-wide dead space between the left-hand controls and the right-hand control, to lessen accidental triggering.
Anyhow, ['tis here](http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=337212878&mt=8) if you don't already own it. The upgrade is free and available in the usual manner (via in-device upgrade or iTunes upgrade) if you do already have it. Still $1.99.
---
## Thursday, Thursday...
- Date: 2009-12-10
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/12/thursday-thursday/
Various things going on here. The AU port of Tattoo is going relatively painlessly. It's only time-consuming because of all the sequencer functions in this plug-in, each one of which has to be written for the AU expressly, rather than copied from the VST. (Thirty-something in all.) I imagine Adam will have a working AU to show off tonight or tomorrow, then it's on to final beta-testing and clean-up.
The DroneStation update is "In Review" in the app store. If the last go-round is anything to judge by, it should be available this afternoon or tomorrow morning. (Or rejected in a similar time frame.) This is, of course, a free update to people who already bought it.
Those out of the way, I was working on a Tattoo demo in a complete song last night (which I'll put up today or tomorrow), and it occurred to me that I hadn't recorded a single sound, or used a single sample, in the creation of this song. It is 100% math, using FM8, Massive, and Tattoo, along with the usual selection of AD plug-ins. No particular reason to note this, except to say that it is interesting from an academic standpoint that CPU power has progressed so far so fast, and it can be readily seen in situations like this. 10 years ago, there's no fucking way I could run five softsynths the size of Massive or FM8, a sophisticated drum synth like Tattoo, and three or four plug-ins on each of 20 channels, and only be cracking like 30% of my computer's available horsepower.
And this computer isn't anything special, either. State of the art for 2-3 years ago, but nothing like an 8- or 16-core i7 that would be state-of-the-art right now. Maybe the future isn't so bad after all.
---
## Sonata This!
- Date: 2009-12-09
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/12/sonata-this/
Finish your Tuesday right with a nice chunk of Sonata XIV. I love to read the comments on John Cage videos on YouTube. The dude is still nearly inciting riots and he's been dead for 17 years. We should all be so lucky, as musicians, to make such a lasting impression. All kidding aside, the above is my favorite of the Sonatas & Preludes, and a truly excellent (and [ludicrously expensive](http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fgp%2Foffer-listing%2FB0000000RC%3Fie%3DUTF8%26tag%3Danalogindustr-20%26linkCode%3Dam1%26camp%3D213381%26adid%3D1X5ZXR27A8BD5WVGSHP2%26creative%3D390973%26creativeASIN%3DB0000000RC&tag=analogindustr-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=390957)) performance from Gerard Fremy.
(And yes, I know. Like good Scotch, John Cage is an acquired taste. But like good Scotch, it's a taste worth acquiring.)
---
## Stop. Hey. What's That Sound?
- Date: 2009-12-07
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/12/stop-hey-whats-that-sound/
My wife and I were having a discussion last night about the Eno/Branca thing (that we talked about in the comments of [this post,](https://analogindustries.com/2009/11/the-same-only-moreso/)) and she brought up an interesting point. She said the way to combat the pervasiveness of microtaste in the past was mixtapes. You made a tape for your prospective significant other, or your friend, or whatever, and that tape was a good indication of the fundamental nature of You.
Now, the person you gave it to might not like every song, but since they were theoretically compatible with you in some way, they'd like most of them, and in the process of liking most of them, you'd turn them on to something new, perhaps. But then there would be a demonstrable collection of two people that liked the same group of songs, which makes a microtaste (which is inherently singular in nature) in to a macrotaste, and a movement is born.
Anyhow, Elle was postulating that it would be interesting to have a scenario wherein you created a mixtape of some sort, sent it in some fashion to a central clearing house, and got one in return. Being older, we were dwelling on the concept of sending in a CD-R and getting one in return, as the transient nature of the internet doesn't lend itself to this sort of thing, in our opinion. Anyhow, you'd make a CD-R full of the songs that described you, and sent it off, and a couple weeks later, from some other utterly random person, you'd get a completely unrelated CD-R, full of songs that described them. In this fashion, you could get out of your normal self-created shell that the current state of the music industry creates.
This Global Mixtape is just the meme of an idea, and if there's a service or something already existing that does this sort of thing, I'd love to hear about it. Obviously, just _doing_ it as the idea stands now is impossible. There would be massive costs associated with the disparity in postage rates alone, never mind the time associated with actually physically doing the swap. However, I'd love to flesh this idea out in to something that could actually occur, so if anyone has any thoughts on the subject, lay 'em out.
---
## DroneStation 1.1...
- Date: 2009-12-04
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/12/dronestation-1-1/
I've just submitted Dronestation 1.1 to Apple for approval. I don't know how long updates take to be approved, but I imagine they're the same as initial submissions, so figure a couple weeks at worst, and a week at best.
Anyhow, as you can see, the UI is quite a bit different. I replaced the janky 80s-tastic aliased triangle drawing with some cool metaball shit. (I'm starting to get the hang of OpenGL | ES.) I also added a tilt sensor, which controls filter frequency in the amount you so desire. (An added control in the settings screen allows you to set how much tilt goes to freq, from none to like 3kHz or so.) The little arrowhead in the right-side bracket shows tilt position.
There is also a dead space between the notes and the LFO control, to make it easier to avoid hitting one when you're trying to do the other. And I fixed the frequency bug, which was causing the notes to be offset by 5 semitones. Finally, I added a help overlay on the main screen that shows nubs how to play it.
There is some internal moving about in order to more easily allow future updates, and in the following rev I'll add several of the things that were talked about in the last DroneStation thread, including 8 presets, a non-Southpaw mode that flips the controls, and probably a simple delay to make it more droney.
Anyhow, I expect this to be approved as there aren't any changes Apple would object to, so it's all up to them as to how long it will take.
---
## Hey, Look! A Video...
- Date: 2009-12-03
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/12/hey-look-a-video/
Well, that only took me all day which, given the content, turns to be a big fat waste of time on everybody's part. I did learn some things, though, and they are, in no particular order:
1\. Hardly anyone knows what the fuck they're talking about on the Internet. I know, right? The four people that _do_ know what they're talking about don't know anything about NLE rendering, so they're no help.
2\. Apple, who had got out of the doghouse for a while, are back to being on my Big List Of Shit. Why Final Cut Express, the which is based entirely on Quicktime, can't load a Quicktime Screen Recording... well... I don't even have the words. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.
I could go on, but this will start to sound petty and childish, and frankly, I'm in a pretty good mood this morning, and I don't want to ruin it. So there you go, an actual HD video of Tattoo drumming away. If you go to the YouTube site directly, you can watch it in HD, and almost read the knob labels.
---
## Major Progress...
- Date: 2009-12-02
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/12/major-progress/
The screengrab above is exactly what you think it is. Tattoo VST for OS X. The port to the OSX side of things has begun, and is (in output, at least) halfway done. We'll start the AU today, and frankly, this is the Great Unknown of this whole project, and is the last remaining hurdle. I'll keep you posted, but it won't be long, unless Very Bad Things happen.
In other news, I'm nearly finished with the first update to DroneStation. I gave it a much nicer UI (visually, at least), fixed a bug where the note names don't correspond to what's actually getting shit out the sound-hole, and gave it tilt-to-frequency. I've got to spruce up the logo and what-not a little bit, then I'll submit it to Apple. Once Tattoo is out and I can devote some actual time to the project, I'll add the non-Southpaw mode and presets, and probably a gesture recording/playback feature.
---
## Yup, Pretty Much...
- Date: 2009-12-01
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/12/yup-pretty-much/
[Here is](http://www.toomuchjoy.com/?p=1397) an interesting blog post from Too Much Joy, an "alternative" (read: college rock) band from the late 80s and early 90s that you might or might not be familiar with. They were on Warner Bros. for four of their albums, and he just got an interesting royalty statement. It's worth a read, as it gives a good insight in to how this whole business works.
I'm in a not-dissimilar position, with the caveat that TVT went out of business not too long ago. I'm unrecouped to the tune of around $400,000 or so, which is probably more than the Orchard paid in total for the entire Wax Trax! catalog. Now I owe (where "owe" equals something different than it does in normal English) the Orchard $400,000. Occasionally I get a royalty statement from them, where they cheerfully inform me of the comical sales figures they manage to gin up.
This is doubly humorous because those four albums they own each individually sold more than all the albums I've made since, and were supported with multi-hundred-date tours, massive ad buys, placements on major studio motion picture soundtracks, and reviews in every music magazine worth a shit, and plenty that aren't. Yet somehow they earn between 1/100th and 1/1000th of what our self-released SMG albums earn.
On the other hand, though, I own all my own publishing, so the Orchard has to actually pay me actual money twice a year, unlike many bands who make the ultimate stupid decision to sign their publishing to the label. The checks are so small that I sometimes forget to cash them, I'm embarrassed to admit, but they do come, which is something, I guess.
There's no real point to this post other than to perhaps provide an object lesson. I got to ride around in a bus for 6 years and play music every night, which fucking rules, so I'm not bitching in the slightest. I'm just pointing out how odd this business can be.
---
## The Same, Only Moreso...
- Date: 2009-11-29
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/11/the-same-only-moreso/
Okay, holidays over and family obligations fulfilled. It's time to get back to work. Glancing back over the last month or two of posts has shown that AI has turned in to the iPhone And Tattoo Show. Sorry 'bout that, but I necessarily post what I'm doing, and for the last couple months, that's all I've been doing.
This weekend, I've been working on an update to DroneStation to take in to account some of the comments from the previous thread on the subject, plus some other email I've received. The UI will be much improved, and I'm adding a couple features that will make it more playable. Question: tilt position to filter frequency? Easy enough to do. I guess I'll have to try it and see.
Viz. Tattoo, same story as last I posted. I believe we have everything whipped, and can probably move to the Mac side of things tomorrow. The VST should go fairly fast, but we might be in for a ride with the AU; that remains to be seen. I have to say that I've received far more "WHEN WHEN WHEN!!!???!" letters about this product than all our others combined. Believe me when I say that there's only one person that wants it to be done more than me, and that's Adam.
All that by way of saying that the next week or two will be interesting and exciting to me, but not so fun to read about here, I suppose. But 'tis the season, apparently.
---
## Yet Another Tattoo Example...
- Date: 2009-11-26
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/11/yet-another-tattoo-example/
Oh, you love it. Admit it. This is, by a country mile, the most complex product we've made, at least internally, and I have to spend a _lot_ of time beating on it, which is how you end up with all these audio examples in the first place. I've been doing essentially nothing else for the past couple weeks.
Anyhow, in this installment, I'm demonstrating how it sounds when used in the current practice of making old tracks more modern so they'll fit in a current DJ set. (For the record, I would have done Mr. Roboto, except psy-trance makes me want to kill myself.)
_\[Embedded media, no longer available.\]_
[Naej Yllib](http://soundcloud.com/chris-randall/naej-yllib) by [Chris Randall](http://soundcloud.com/chris-randall)
In this example, I've EQd the bottom and the top out of the original track (except for the intro bit, where I just compressed all the life out of it), jacked up the tempo to a somewhat more modern 130, then ran it through the H8000's "Dimension D" preset in order to widen the soundstage and give the added shit some room in the middle to do its thing.
I doubled the original bassline throughout (again, except for the intro and outro) with a sound that is Massive for the sub and a DSI Tetr4 for the mids. I also doubled some of the more obvious string parts in order to make them more present. The Tattoo pattern consists of the foot, hat, and a snare pattern with Snare9 and the clap, and occasionally Snare8 makes an appearance.
I recorded the summing buss with a slight clip, as is appropriate for this type of thing, and then squashed the life out of it with Sonalksis MaxLimit. I won't win DJ Of The Year awards for this or anything, but for a quick example it should give you a fairly good idea of how Tattoo will work in this context. The internal sounds have a lot of attack to them, so they can really cut through in a situation like this, and you can leave the original sounds, for the most part, to fill out the spectra.
Anyhow, happy Thanksgiving to all my American peeps. Going to stuff dead fowl in to my pie-hole now.
---
## Even More Tattoo...
- Date: 2009-11-20
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/11/even-more-tattoo/
Doing the final voice work today. Here's a clip with quite a bit going on:
_\[Embedded media, no longer available.\]_
The mid tom sound has every parameter randomized (noise level, click level, tone level, pitch EG amt, tuning, pan, and saturation). It's also being triggered by random notes, then sent to Dr. Device, which is set to the "Stereo Dubs (insert)" patch, kinetics on, and the grey knubbie driving filter freq and res.
The hi-hat, which has its decay time randomly sequenced, is getting 1/32 ghost notes via the random note generator, in addition to the 1/16th notes that are programmed in the sequencer, then sent out one of the mono outputs. The kick is unaltered in any way; it is just sent out another mono output.
---
## Start Your Friday Right...
- Date: 2009-11-20
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/11/start-your-friday-right/
Interesting that Charlie Rouse isn't on this one, which is a German TV appearance from '63. Maybe he was in the bathroom or something. Man, I love this track, though. So harmonically interesting, and no matter what bizarro collections of notes Monk was calling "chords" that week got hammered out, the root melody still manages to climb through and get stuck in your hindbrain. I wonder where I could get me one of those hats.
---
## Tattoo's MIDI Output...
- Date: 2009-11-14
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/11/tattoos-midi-output/
_\[Embedded media, no longer available.\]_
This is a short example of Tattoo driving my TX802 via MIDI. No sounds are coming from Tattoo; this is entirely TX, with no effects whatsoever other than a touch of compression. There's a bit of randomization on the Foot (Click Drum!) and the snare-ish high-hat-ish sound, but mostly it's just a simple two-bar pattern that plays twice.
We're very close to having the Windows side of things done and in to beta. We just have to touch up the sounds now, as everything else has been addressed. I'm currently not terribly happy with the cymbals, so we're going to tackle those on Monday, and hopefully we'll be moving to the Mac side no later than Wednesday.
---
## RT60 Live Shows Process #2...
- Date: 2009-11-11
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/11/rt60-live-shows-process-2/
After a weekend of experimentation with the rig I had pretty much decided on by the last post, I'm having serious misgivings. I'm finding that MainStage 2 is a bit of a resource hog; the same exact samples loaded in to Live's Sampler, with the same exact input channels open and the same exact plug-ins uses about 5-10% CPU in Live, where I'm regularly pegging the CPU in MainStage. Which, I'll grant, is no surprise, given the state of the entirety of the Logic 9 suite right now. Apple really screwed the pooch with this release, in my opinion.
(Which is largely based upon support emails from customers, given that I don't actually use Logic in any professional endeavor, other than my current experimentation with MainStage.)
The problem is thus: I don't get the graceful layout switching in Live that I get in MainStage, as I have to make a shitload of ridiculous dummy clips for preset and send level changes. It isn't designed to act as a mixer for a DAW, never mind in a live setting, and really is a long way from my first choice for such a context.
I could easily set something up in Cubase 4 or 5, and use the Arrange track and the automation lanes to make the necessary changes, but then I have that fucking Syncrosoft dongle hanging off the side of my computer, which is a recipe for disaster no matter how you look at it.
The other products I have licenses for that would theoretically work in this context are DP6, energyXT, Rax, Bidule, and Pd. I am not familiar enough with DP6 to pull it off with that DAW, and that's a fact. energyXT doesn't have the sophisticated MIDI implementation, being more designed with slinging loops around, Rax is a complete disaster area, and Bidule, well, it's Bidule. Pd is more trouble than it's worth in this area as well.
So. I'm not saying I've decided for certain because it'll be a bit of a mess both financially and mentally at this late stage, but I am pondering going 100% hardware. This is a complete pain for several reasons. They are, in no particular order:
1\. The TX802's output is very low, as is common with that breed. It needs a compressor and a fair slice of EQ to get it to hang out with the analog stuff. Easy in a DAW. A pain in the rack.
2\. I need a vocoder for three of the songs. Again, easy in a DAW (I just strapped EVOC on the MKS80 inputs, sent the mic to the sidechain, bussed the MKS to the secondary outputs, problem solved) but a pain in real life, as I don't actually own a hardware vocoder that is worth a shit.
3\. Piano sounds become a problem. As I mentioned in the last post, the P85 I'm using as a controller has shit internal sounds, and no outputs, so I have to take output from the headphone jack. Doublepluslame.
So, if I decide to go 100% hardware I need a rackmount 3U (or less) mixer that doesn't suck, has aux sends and a stereo return, and isn't expensive, a rackmount reverb that can at least hang with Eos and isn't expensive, a stereo compressor/gate scenario for the TX802, and I need to replace the P85 with something along the lines of a PC88. Too bad the K250 is so janky mechanically, as it'd be perfectly t3h awesome.
Sigh. Ain't nothin' easy in this world.
---
## The Usual Monday Bullshit...
- Date: 2009-11-09
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/11/the-usual-monday-bullshit/
This is a very heavy week for me. Lots of stuff going on around here, including visits from Midwesterners, the wife going to Vegas with the Girls for her birthday, the monthly hair and yearly dental appointments, and I'm sure things I haven't thought of. In no particular order...
1\. It looks like Adam has finally cracked the code on the Tattoo preset engine. This was, for some reason we can't quite put our finger on, the most difficult part of this plug-in. It took far longer than usual to figure this bit out, but it appears that it is now working. I'm going to begin my testing in a few minutes, and hopefully it doesn't break under my tender ministrations. After that, the voice do-over and then the Windows side of things will be done.
2\. Apple will almost certainly accept or reject DroneStation in the next couple days. I'll let you know as soon as either occurs, obviously. I have no reason to expect that they won't accept it, but one can never say with that company.
3\. If you didn't catch the news on the [AD RSS feed](http://feeds.feedburner.com/audiodamage) or at KvR, we've updated the OS X VST side of Rough Rider (free) to 1.0.0b. The only change is that the UI now appears properly in ProTools OSX when using the FXpansion wrapper. If you're not one of those sorts, you don't need the new one.
---
## RT60 Live Shows Process #1...
- Date: 2009-11-06
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/11/rt60-live-shows-process-1/
This is the first in what will be a lengthy series of process articles about taking the studio material of RT60 on to the stage. My live rig is already mostly assembled by this point (just waiting on the nano Kontrol), but I always start any stage plan with a diagram of what I think I need to accomplish everything, and I move the parts around until I end up with a logical rig. A somewhat truncated version of that diagram appears above.
To understand my reasoning for this collection, you'd really have to know the RT60 material, and considering the first time it will ever be heard outside our Circle Of Trust is at these shows, you'll have to take it on faith for now.
The heart of the rig is a MacBook Pro running Mainstage 2, which sits on a sliding shelf in the top space of the rack. I'll talk about how I've set things up there in the next post, but for now suffice to say that I've essentially built a mixer for the hardware synths and the couple plugs I'm using (which consist, in total, of one instance of ESX24 for piano parts, one instance of EVOC PS for vocoder duties, an instance of Eos, and an instance of Dr. Device.)
The audio chores for this setup are handled by a TASCAM US-1641, which I chose because of its robust drivers, and the fact that it just happens to have the correct amount of I/O for this particular context. I don't trust FW devices on stage, through long habit and experience, so it was a matter of going through all the available USB audio interfaces, seeing what the general feelings about them were on the forums, and comparing their I/O structure to what I needed to accomplish. The US-1641 ended up being the logical choice.
Under that is an Ibanez UE405 (built by, and occasionally seen branded as a Maxon) multi-FX unit. If you're not familiar with it, this is a fairly cool unit to tack on after an analog synth on stage, because it has a comp, 1 channel parametric EQ, analog delay, and analog stereo chorus, as well as an external loop. In this case, I'm running the Yamaha CS5 (The World's Most Expensive CS5) through it, and then straight in to the front panel of the US-1641. In the external loop is a Memory Man w/ Hazarai to provide some longer delays, as the analog delay in the unit has a maximum time of only about 600ms, which isn't that useful when most of your songs are 80bpm or slower.
Under the UE405 is a Yamaha TX802, which is essentially a rack-mount DX7II, for all intents and purposes. I use this for bell-like tones and beating sine wave stuff, because ( with all apologies to Native Instruments) FM7 just can't pull it off with enough meat. I really like all the early Yamaha FM synths, but the TX802 is the cream of the crop, features- and playability-wise.
And finally, under that is the Roland MKS-80, which I use for what it does best, pads. In the unlikely event you're not familiar, the MKS-80 is basically the end of the road as far as Roland analog synths go. In specs, it lives somewhere between a Jupiter 6 and a Jupiter 8, but it is somewhat more sophisticated than the latter in a couple respects. I'm working on a method where I have a touch screen monitor essentially set up as a cooler looking MPG-80 in order to tweak it live, but for now it's living in Pad Land.
For the keyboards themselves, I'm using the World's Most Expensive CS5 for drones and a couple leads, through the analog effects as mentioned above. This is above a Yamaha P85, which is an 88-key all-in-wonder. I don't actually use any audio out of the P85, which is a good thing because the only way to \_get\_ the audio out of it is to plug something in the headphone jack. This thing has the best graded action keybed ever made, in my opinion, but the other design decisions from Yamaha are so stupid as to almost beggar belief.
In any event, this is what I do most of my playing from. If I manage to find a mechanically sound Roland RD-1000 before we get in to serious rehearsal, I'll use that instead, but for now I'll use this because I'm used to it, and I won't have to fuck with all the velocity mappings I've made.
Last but not least, a Korg nano Kontrol rests on the P85, and provides me with the ability to touch levels up, change songs in MainStage, and mute and unmute channels. I could go a bit more complex and add some more synths to the mix, but really, I can pull off most all the sounds that I'll have to play with this relatively simple rig. It's a nice playable compromise between setting up with just a laptop and a controller, and showing up with a Rick Wakeman-sized pile of gear.
In the next couple weeks I'll go over my MainStage setup and go over what I'll be playing exactly, explain Jeremy's rig and his role in things, and have photos and video of everything once it is all in one room and running. Until then, questions? Comments? Criticisms?
---
## The Usual Monday Bullshit...
- Date: 2009-10-26
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/10/the-usual-monday-bullshit/
Some updates...
1\. All the Varese and Schaeffer shirts have shipped, so if you ordered one, it is on the way. PNW should arrive tomorrow, with the rest of the US in the next couple days, and UK orders should start arriving on Thursday, I would imagine.
2\. The new Audio Damage site is done, except for some testing and fixing of things that the testers find. We'll be putting it up tomorrow or Wednesday, depending on how things go.
3\. Tattoo is getting close to done on the Windows side. Everything has been built and is working now, including the MIDI note-stepper thing that was asked for, which actually turned out to be kind of nifty. You just whack C5 to step it forward, and D5 resets it to step 1. I imagine this will be useful for the tweaky types. The only thing that remains is to fine tune some graphics issues and tune up the synths themselves. Once that's done, we'll move on to the Mac side of things.
---
## And So It Begins...
- Date: 2009-10-25
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/10/and-so-it-begins/
I have to say that I'm somewhat bemused by the people that are writing us asking about 64-bit versions of our products. It's like a healthy portion of our customer base suddenly kited work from Hans Zimmer and must **(MUST)** run 10 sixteen-instrument instances of Kontakt 3.
One piece of advice: don't believe the hype. The audio differences between 32-bit and 64-bit DAWs and plugins are unmeasurable, never mind audible. Period. Full stop. If you think your shit is gonna be twice as good because you're running a longer word length, you've got another thing coming. The \_only\_ gain is with the amount of RAM the OS (and thus the DAW) can access, and this is only an issue currently if you're running massive orchestral libraries.
We had a similar situation occur when Steinberg announced VST3. All the sudden, people were writing telling us they wouldn't buy any more plug-ins unless they were VST3. Well, I hope those people are happy with the FabFilter line, because aside from about 60% of Cubase's internal plug-ins, that's all they're getting.
In short, there are some outlying developers that either have the inclination, the time, or some other reason to jump on every new bandwagon that comes down the pike, but the industry as a whole tends to follow the lowest-common-denominator "does it work and are people using it" approach.
---
## Hi, My Name Is...
- Date: 2009-10-23
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/10/hi-my-name-is/
Well, I went to submit Plankton to the app store today, and after jumping through all the certificate and provisioning hoops, and assembling all my screenshots, icons, and meta-data, and filling out the page-long form, I was informed (in what I felt was an unnecessarily terse manner, let's be honest here) that "Plankton" was already taken. I searched high and low for hours to find an app with a similar name. So my only thought is that someone of ill repute read my post of the other day then put a hold on the name.
In any event, Plankton, may he rest in peace, is no longer with us. However, **Plinkton** (thanks, Elle) is submitted and what-not, after a furious bout with Photoshop and Xcode.
I'll keep you informed of the process, which is interesting and completely alien to what I know about selling software.
Now, since some comments on Twitter and here seem to be confusing things, Plinkton is in no way an Audio Damage product. Adam had nothing whatsoever to do with this other than being generally forbearing viz. my flights of fancy in this regard. Plinkton is the product of my own fertile imagination, and contains no Audio Damage IP whatsoever.
Just wanted to be clear and open on that one fact. It is unavoidable that, since I designed this, and I do most of the design work on the AD stuff, that some similarities will unavoidably occur. But Audio Damage doesn't have an iPhone app coming out. This is just me. It's like saying Wings is like the Beatles. No, they're not.
Anyhow, I'll be sending out Varese shirts tomorrow, but on Saturday I'll make a video that shows Plinkton in action, and shows how to hook it up to a DAW via Pd and have it run hardware and drive (AD, natch) effects.
---
## Tattoo Test Track...
- Date: 2009-10-21
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/10/tattoo-test-track/
_\[Embedded media, no longer available.\]_
[Tattoo multiple output test...](http://soundcloud.com/chris-randall/tattoo-multiple-output-test) by [Chris Randall](http://soundcloud.com/chris-randall)
Here's a quick test I did of the multiple outputs of Tattoo. There are 11 in all; one stereo pair plus 10 mono outs. This test is running from the built-in sequencer, and also has a touch of the internal swing and has MIDI pattern switching. Most everything is working now, and _all_ the major hurdles have been overcome.
Still on the TODO pile: MIDI output, the built-in compressor, the internal clock, and a lot of voice touching up. Major headway, though.
---
## Visualize This...
- Date: 2009-10-11
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/10/visualize-this/
Normally, my eyes glaze over about 10 seconds in to the latest demonstration of some guy's attempt to break down the barriers between something and something else, but this one caught my attention for some reason. This fellow, [Christian Bannister,](http://www.subcycle.org/) (here in PDX, natch, although I don't know him) has made a really cool combination of visualization and instrument.
It's kind of hard to tell what's going on exactly, except that it both looks and sounds great. There's a half dozen videos on his site, plus a certain amount of explanation of what is happening.
(I kited this from Oliver Chesler, who posted it on his [Wire To The Ear](http://www.wiretotheear.com/2009/10/11/subcycle-labs-multi-touch-interaction/) blog.)
---
## And Now For Something We Hope You'll Really Like...
- Date: 2009-10-08
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/10/and-now-for-something-we-hope-youll-really-like/
_Click for full-sized._
With the caveat that the UI isn't 100% finalized, here you go. Have a gander at Tattoo, our first instrument. Some salient points:
1\. No samples. This is a drum synthesizer. Each voice is purpose-built, as well, rather than just having a general percussion synthesis voice.
2\. Every synthesis control has a sequencer attached to it.
3\. If you own Replicant, you can immediately see how the randomization/likelihood works for each channel/voice.
4\. The sequencer also outputs MIDI (in the VST only, of course) so you can use the randomization features in other drum synths or external hardware.
So, there you have it. We haven't decided on a price, and I have no idea whatsoever as to when it will be done. We've got the synthesis all in place, but not "tuned," and the sequencer is about 80% complete, but the hardest parts haven't been done yet.
---
## A Little Grease For Your Thursday...
- Date: 2009-10-08
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/10/a-little-grease-for-your-thursday/
A friend of mine took me to a taco joint in Tijuana once, and when I left the place I was a little sad because I knew that I would never again, in my entire existence on this mortal coil, have a taco as good as the ones I'd just eaten. This song is the rock equivalent of that experience. This is rock music stripped down to its absolute bare essence, with no production, no virtuosity, no lights, no dancers, and no histrionics. Gives one pause to think about all the ridiculous things that we lesser beings do to compensate for lack of shear unadulterated skill.
---
## Varèse T-Shirt Now Available For Ordering...
- Date: 2009-10-05
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/10/varese-t-shirt-now-available-for-ordering/
**NOTICE: PRE-ORDERS ARE DONE. YOU MISSED OUT. SORRY.**
If you hit the shop page you can now order the Varèse t-shirt. There are also, as I alluded to in a previous post, a few of the Pierre Schaeffer shirts from the last run available, although mostly in larger sizes. (I'm actually hoping for some "plus size" visitors as I got a little carried away with the ordering of extras last time, and ended up with four each of the 2X and 3X left over. Sigh.)
The order page will stay up until Friday noon, at which point I'll make the t-shirt screening order, at the same place as before (our esteemed colleagues Phantom Chicken). The shirts will ship when we get them, but if past performance is any indicator, I can make a fairly good guess and say they'll ship the 26th. We'll ship the Schaeffer ones at the same time as we ship the Varèse ones, so if you only order the Schaeffer shirt, it's gonna be a little while.
All other details are exactly the same as when we did the first Schaeffer batch, so you know the drill.
**Also, too:** Don't forget that this is the only way to get "This Baby Is Full Of Techno" stickers, unless you see me in person somewhere.
---
## Limitations...
- Date: 2009-09-25
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/09/limitations/
[](http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/3648340153/)
I know we've talked about this before, but it's always fun to harp on a subject near and dear to your heart. I've recently begun working on a new Micronaut EP, and I decided, since I was already set up for it as a result of the RT60 material (and also, I'll admit, due to a current fascination with the [Chosen Lords](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000EHRAXY?ie=UTF8&tag=analogindustr-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B000EHRAXY) album), to make it entirely hardware.
Notice I didn't say "analog." I'm not a complete masochist. And you can have my Lexicon 300 and Eventide H8000FW when you pry them from my cold, stiff fingers, and even then you risk a zombie attack.
Since I can't make a track without a heaping spoonful of AD plug-ins any more, and I'm recording in to a DAW (Live 8, for this project), realistically the only limitation is that I won't let myself use samples or soft-synths; all the originating sounds are generated outside the DAW. The track in the post prior to this one is a fairly good example of the palette involved: a couple monosynths for basses and "lead" sounds, and I've got the alphaSyntauri, TX802, and MKS80 for more sophisticated fare. Drums from various boxes, including the afore-mentioned synths.
Anyhow, as a return to the subject at hand, I've found that in my advancing years, with a few thousand songs under my belt, I'm not able to actually create anything at all unless I have a framework or paradigm in which to work. I have to say "for this one, I'm only going to use PureData" or "for this one, the lyrics will contain no proper nouns" or something of that ilk before I can even start. Just happening across a cool groove and building on it doesn't seem to do the trick any more, and my hard drive is littered with 1/3rd-finished tracks to prove that.
So, it comes as no surprise that I'm a big proponent of setting limitations for oneself. My question is thus: is that a proper method of working for someone just starting out? At what point is your personal palette and experience perhaps _too_ large that you need to purposefully limit it in order to keep yourself (and thus your audience) interested?
---
## 009909 Remixes...
- Date: 2009-09-23
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/09/009909-remixes/
_\[Embedded media, no longer available.\]_
[009909 And Re-Mixes](http://soundcloud.com/chris-randall/sets/009909-and-re-mixes) by [Chris Randall](http://soundcloud.com/chris-randall)
When I put up my 009909 track I did [last weekend,](https://web.archive.org/web/2009/http://www.analogindustries.com/blog/entry.jsp?msgid=1252877937259) I also put up enough pieces to recreate the song, and between then and now, nine re-mixes, re-edits, and re-organizations were sent to my dropbox on Soundcloud. In the player above is my original, plus the two that I thought best complemented it. They aren't necessarily the _best_ pair, production-wise or whatever, but they're the ones that I thought provided a nice counterpoint.
Interestingly, due to the submission nature of the Soundcloud dropbox, I'm not entirely sure who they're from, so you'll have to own up to it in the comments of this post. Also, to the others that submitted, if you want to change the permissions on your respective files on Soundcloud and link them in the comments for comment, be my guest.
---
## You Big Tease...
- Date: 2009-09-16
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/09/you-big-tease/
Gee, I wonder what this could possibly be.
---
## You Have Nothing To Fear From My Beats. They Come In Peace...
- Date: 2009-09-10
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/09/you-have-nothing-to-fear-from-my-beats-they-come-in-peace/
[](http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/3906439415/)
Big ups to Jeffrey @ Ground Kontrol for the loan of his 808 and 909. Having them both here, "side by each" in the vernacular, is fairly pleasant, and is something I could get used to. Unfortunately, I'm not rich.
---
## While We're On The Subject Of Samples...
- Date: 2009-09-04
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/09/while-were-on-the-subject-of-samples/
All kinds of fun stuff happening in Sample-Land the last couple weeks. Sonic Couture (replete with shiny new web-site) has [Skiddaw Stones,](http://www.soniccouture.com/en/products/p4-the-skiddaw-stones/) which I'm actually moving from my Mac to my music PC right this very minute, and will theoretically have a mini-review of over the weekend.
Also note that Sonic Couture is running a Buy-One-Get-One-Free promotion until September 9th. Enter the code **YJ5FLTYPSG** at checkout and you get to pick another product. And on top of that, if you buy anything at all, you get the Devilfish 303 sample set, the which is farking excellent.
Our good friend Hugo, DBA Goldbaby, has released his [Custom DMX](http://www.goldbaby.co.nz/customdmx.html) set, which I've also got but haven't tried yet. Yeah, you're beginning to sense a pattern here, I imagine. A mini-review of this will also be coming over the weekend, but I like his style. I'd like to see some recursive Goldbaby sets. 909->tape->DMX->tape->vinyl. Something like that.
I would be remiss if I didn't mention that Beatserve will have something new in the not-too-distant future, but first [The Atomica Project](http://www.theatomicaproject.com/) has to do a short tour, which starts tomorrow at Martyr's in Chicago. I strongly recommend you go see some quality chill-out music. Dates on the TAP page.
And finally, if anyone in Portlandia (or surrounding Cascadia) has a 909 and/or 808 they'd be willing to loan/rent me for a week, I'd hug them and squeeze them and pet them and call them "George." (Too oblique a reference?) Seriously, I'd be most grateful.
---
## Ableton Users Group PDX...
- Date: 2009-09-02
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/09/ableton-users-group-pdx/
Don't forget if you're in PDX the next Ableton Users Group meeting is Tuesday next, 9/8, at Airplay Cafe. 7pm for the kaffeeklatsch, I've been informed, and the actual festivities start at 8pm. I should just mention that the 8th is also the day my hair is professionally mussed, so I'll be looking very striking, and that's something you're not gonna want to miss.
---
## Samplin' Fool...
- Date: 2009-09-01
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/09/samplin-fool/
I'm doing a fairly monstrous sample set of this alphaSyntauri, and now that I'm in the thick of things with Kontakt (I'm doing it all in Kontakt 2 for compatibility's sake; it seem that many more people own 2 than 3) I'm at a crossroads.
As I implied in the previous thread, I don't just get little snippets when I'm sampling. I generally mine the entirety of any given sound, or at least enough so that whatever cycle the synth is doing with its envelopes and such can be replicated. Obviously, using a sampler like Kontakt allows a lot to be done after the fact, and my question is thus:
When you buy a sample set, do you want just the raw samples laid out as if you were at the real thing, or would you prefer instruments that perhaps extend the capabilities of a given sample set, yet utilize the features of the host sampler? Personally, I figure they're there to be used, and I wouldn't have thought anything of using the envelopes and filters in my dearly departed Emax II. How is Kontakt or ESX24 different?
---
## Waves Of Waves...
- Date: 2009-08-31
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/08/waves-of-waves/
No earth-shattering reason for posting this image, but I was sampling the alphaSyntauri today, and that thing can spit out some truly odd looking waveforms.
---
## The Usual Monday Bullshit...
- Date: 2009-08-31
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/08/the-usual-monday-bullshit/
In no particular order...
1\. This weekend was chock full of RT60 fun and games. We're closing in on having the first release, which is an EP, done. Two songs left to record and then I have to mix everything proper, and then mastering, and then we'll decide how to bare it to the world.
2\. Work proceeds apace on the next AD product. We had a fairly productive week last week and made some good inroads. I think we've invented everything that needs inventing for this particular product, and can now begin construction in earnest.
3\. I'm looking at video synthesis packages. At the risk of stepping on CreateDigitalMotion's toes, I assume many readers here have vast experience with the various environments like ArtMatic, Quartz, et al. What's your preferred package if you do this sort of thing? My initial inclination is to just do everything in Processing, but that isn't exactly a quick workflow, and I'm intrigued to hear of something of which I might not be aware that would be easier. Note that I'm not interested in using video of any sort; our graphics will be entirely procedural (read: synthesized).
---
## Go, Go, Snow Leopard...
- Date: 2009-08-28
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/08/go-go-snow-leopard/
After a morning's worth of testing, I think we can say with certainty that the entire Audio Damage product line works without issue in OS X 10.6.0. There may be minor problems here and there that I can't find, but my general impression is that everything is fine.
I can't, of course, speak to your audio hardware or your DAW. You'll have to find that out on your own. And if you've got a show this weekend with your laptop and you upgrade to 10.6 today, you richly deserve any trouble you may experience. When one is an audio professional, one approaches any and all upgrades with extreme trepidation.
---
## (Re)Organized...
- Date: 2009-08-26
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/08/re-organized/
[](http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/3860525240/)
My epic 2-day office reorganization is coming to a close. All that's left is to clean up the collateral damage. I think I'll be able to cut down on the clutter now, as I won't have to move 8 things every time I want to record something.
It's always a bit of a trial to move the PC side of the rig (the left hand rack) simply by virtue of the fact that the cabling is pretty complex. But a couple quick tests seem to indicate that everything is in order, and I think I came up with a better clocking scheme in the process.
---
## Yard Sale...
- Date: 2009-08-25
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/08/yard-sale/
[](http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/3526350092/)
My partner in RT60, Jeremy, would like to sell his OB8, pictured above. What follows is the description he wrote:
_Oberheim OB8 rev. 5 with factory MIDI. This unit is in fantastic shape, seeing as it spent the last 15 years in its anvil case. This synth was fully serviced a month ago, and works just as it should. It was also modified per Jurgen Haible's guide to eliminate the high pass filter on the master output so that it's sound is closer to the OBXa. This mod is completely reversible if you so desire. Included will be an Anvil flight case that could use a re-foaming._
He'd like to get $1500, but he's willing to entertain trades of a commensurate value. Drop me [a line](mailto:chris@positronrecords.com) and I'll forward it to him.
---
## You Will Now Witness The True Power Of... Err... wait...
- Date: 2009-08-25
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/08/you-will-now-witness-the-true-power-of-err-wait/
Longtime readers will know that I occasionally pine about having a complete working alphaSyntauri synthesizer system. I even managed to collect all the parts via about 2 years of eBay searching a half decade ago, but I was never able to actually make the rig work, and eventually I pitched the whole thing in a fit of frustration.
My good friend Mike Fisher to the rescue. He happened to have a complete system that actually worked. (Interestingly, he acquired it at the same time I was hunting for mine, through the expedient of buying a complete working system. Wish I had thought of that.) When we were in Phoenix last week, Mike happened to mention that this ridiculous thing was sucking up space in his studio better suited for, e.g., dirty socks and pizza crusts, and entrusted it to me since I'd actually use it.
(Note: I was using poetic license regarding the socks and pizza. Mike is very neat.)
Anyhow, I've got it all hooked up and working, and am madly synthesizing in an additive way. (Oh, yeah, it's additive. Didn't mention that.) It is hideously complex to program, and I'm missing some of the fun software; I've found .DSK files of same, but I'm not entirely sure how to turn those in to 5.25" floppies, so I'll have to spend some time working on that.
He also hooked me up with a Korg 770, which has to be one of the most ridiculous monosynths ever created. It can make some really cool sounds, but none of them are what you set out to create. I'm looking forward to spending some quality time with this little piglet. Which brings me to...
**Bare Walls**: I'm gonna take my office down to the paint tomorrow, as it is getting out of hand. I've got to let this K250 go because, as cool as it is, it's just too fucking big for here. So if you want to buy one at a monumentally cheap price, and you're in PDX or the surrounding area, feel free to drop me [a line.](mailto:chris@positronrecords.com) If you're even _thinking_ of writing me about this elephant and including the word "shipping" or anything related to it in your missive, don't bother. The only way this is leaving my house is if you come and get it.
Otherwise, a massive reorganization is in the offing. Not only is it fun to move the instruments around, but it can be very cleansing, artistically, don't you find?
---
## Back In the Saddle...
- Date: 2009-08-24
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/08/back-in-the-saddle/
Back at work after our Long March. We had a fantastic time, which is semi-surprising given the proximity to in-laws and such, but there you go. One thing I didn't expect: the hot dryness of Phoenix completely obliterated my near-omnipresent allergies. The three and a half days we spent there were the first time I haven't had a sinus headache and breathing problems since we moved to Oregon, what, four years ago? I'm sorry, Oregon, but it appears that I'm allergic to you.
Anyhow, you can expect a post later today that is actually related to our collective business in some way, shape, or form. I have a ton of work to catch up on, including syncing the code Adam's been working on while I was away on my machine so that I can work while _he_ is on vacation starting tomorrow. Once I'm all caught up on email and such, I have to strip my studio/office to the bare walls in order to reorganize so I can fit my new acquisitions from the trip in here. (More on those later.)
---
## Still At It...
- Date: 2009-08-20
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/08/still-at-it/
Still baking in Phoenix, but we're getting near to done. We'll be leaving tomorrow morning, back to Fort Irwin, then a quick (well, not so quick, but with a quick mindset) trip up I-5 and back in PDX on Sunday.
I've been doing absolutely nothing music related the last few days except some furtive poking at my current Pd patch, so I've really got nothing to talk about in that regard. In perusing my RSS feeds, it seems that nobody has done anything terribly interesting this week in any event, other than deciding that a webcam and some little cardboard boxes might be a good way to program drum beats. (Speaking as a musician and not someone easily enamored by all things blinky, I think I can safely espouse the view that it isn't, in fact, a very good way to program drum beats.)
One thing I'll mention, which isn't in any way related to the normal content of this blog, is that I forget how alive the low desert is. The Pacific Northwest in general, and the Willamette Valley in particular, is explosively fecund in the area of flora, but it suffers somewhat where fauna is concerned. Not so the low desert that surrounds Phoenix. My wife's parents live on the very outskirts of the metroplex, in an area that could be described as "country" if it weren't for the laughably large mansions and 6-lane boulevards that run through it. Sitting here this morning as the sun came up, a bobcat sauntered (actually _sauntered_) through the backyard. This place is just thick with birds and critters of every sort, much more so than the northwest forests.
I don't even mind the heat, truthfully. It's the dryness that gives me a workout. If we have to be hot anyhow, I'll take the sauna of a Chicago summer or New Orleans over this place any day of the week.
Anyhow, big thumbs up for iPhone tethering, hoping that I don't get a thousand dollar bill from AT&T next month, and I'll be back to work on Monday morning. Until then, talk amongst yourselves.
---
## Out Of The Office Open Thread...
- Date: 2009-08-16
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/08/out-of-the-office-open-thread/
We're leaving for Phoenix this morning, with stops in San Francisco and the lovely desert oasis of Ft. Irwin. I'll be in intermittently until our arrival, whereupon I will no doubt make some witty and endearing remarks about the dry heat.
So, have at it. Any conversation between here and there is your responsibility.
**EDIT:** In Phoenix, getting cooked.
---
## Algorithmism...
- Date: 2009-08-15
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/08/algorithmism/
Longtime readers will note that I've often said that spring reverbs can't be duplicated in software with existing technology. This subject came up in our most recent "What Should Audio Damage Make" thread. As a result of discussion that took place in that thread, Adam and Sean and I were having an e-mail go-round about spring reverbs. During the course of this, Adam pointed out to me that virtually anything can be expressed with a mathematical algorithm; the question is really whether we're smart enough to come up with one.
Now, this didn't change my opinion on spring reverbs in the slightest, and I've yet to hear an algorithmic spring worth a shit. But it did get me thinking about algorithms as they relate to music. I was pondering the fact that, given that I can synthesize a palette of sound broad enough to be the toolkit for a song using algorithms alone (where "palette" in this case can be used to mean both sounds and effects), and given that I'm able to sequence those sounds in to an interesting and meaningful pattern using more algorithms, one could take all this combined nonsense together, and theoretically create an algorithm that could, given a set of initial conditions, poop out an entire piece of music on its own that was fairly pleasant to listen to.
While this was an interesting hypothesis on my part (at least to me, anyhow) I thought that it could stand some experimentation. So I set out to create an entire Pd abstract where one could set a state, press "go," and sit back and listen to a nice piece of music. I've been at it for several days now, and I've got a drum beat and a bassline occurring. So I'm a long, long way from proving my hypothesis.
But, for what it's worth, I'm fairly certain it's possible. Autechre did this quite a bit in Confield and a couple other releases, but it was mostly sample firing and MIDI output. My attempt is entirely procedural, pure code. No samples or MIDI at all; it will be completely synthesized on the fly in Pd, and all the effects done in real-time.
Anyhow, all personal windmills aside, the real point of this post is to propose the following: modern song-writing environments, mainly Live and to a certain extent Garageband and the various looperific tools in the top-line DAWs, have created a situation where the song itself is an instrument. When you grab a pile of loops and put them in the clip view of Live and put them in meaningful groups and what-not, you are not so much using Live as an instrument as you're using fairly large chunks of sound as the instrument, and Live is merely a facilitator (in the same fashion that a guitar amp is the facilitator of the guitar.)
Of course, you can certainly synthesize and record within Live or whatever DAW. I'm referring _strictly_ to the practice of creating songs from samples. Am I horribly misguided in this theory?
---
## The Phonics, they are Poly...
- Date: 2009-08-14
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/08/the-phonics-they-are-poly/
[](http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/3821736532/)
Nice RT60 session this morning. We had the (temporary) loan of an Alesis Andromeda, and this is the first time I've ever spent any quality time with one. I'll be honest and say that I kind of looked at it as a completely over-the-top kind of synth, and never really bothered with it outside of a few minutes at Guitar Center a couple years ago.
I'll tell you what, though. This sumbitch is a fairly potent box. Actually being able to sit down and program it for a while, I was duly impressed. The presets aren't very good, as is usually the case with commercial analogs, in my experience. (The boardrooms of the music instrument industry would collectively shit their pants if they weren't allowed at least "Lucky Lead," with a side order of "Welcome Back...") I'll also allow that it is incredibly complex to program. Most polysynths of this caliber (the Prophet 5, Memorymoog, Jupiter 8, et al) are very much of the grab-a-knob variety, but it seems they stuck every possible feature in the Andromeda, and its front panel is rather overwhelming at first blush.
All that aside, it is extremely capable sonically, and records easily (unlike the Jupiter series, which can sometimes be a bear to get to sit in a mix.) I'm pondering selling all my analogs and just getting one of these in their stead.
---
## Control Freaks...
- Date: 2009-08-12
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/08/control-freaks/
I was going to put up a post about how utterly annoying I found that whole [humanthesizer](http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/11/humanthesizer-turns-15-bikini-models-into-a-live-dancing-synth/) thing that made the rounds yesterday. I was going to say that the only thing that made that video actually get posted by anyone was boobies, because it certainly wasn't the tried-and-true technology used, and it absolutely wasn't the bog-standard pop-house that passed for the resulting music. I just thought the whole thing was pretty foul.
But then I thought "hey, let the boys have their fun. What the fuck do I care?" I mean, it's not like women have any objection to objectification, right? (In a very literal sense here, I'll add.) And male musicians are generally a group well known for their respect of females, so there's no harm in just taking that to the next logical step.
But seriously, come on. At least _pretend_ you're classy.
---
## Best... Band... Ever...
- Date: 2009-08-11
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/08/best-band-ever/
Their Awesome Flagon is full to the brim with Victory. Words cannot express how frakkin' awesome this band is. The real money starts at two minutes. I dare you.
---
## Open Letter To New Blogger Dude...
- Date: 2009-08-10
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/08/open-letter-to-new-blogger-dude/
Dear New Blogger Dude:
Just because you purchased and summarily read a "How To Get Rich On The Internet Without Getting Your Dorito-Fattened Ass Off The Couch" PDF doesn't necessarily mean you're actually going to do the self-same. Let me tell you where you're going wrong:
1\. Writing people like me and saying "hey, let's do a link exchange" is pointless when you have nothing to actually link to. It's even more pointless when...
2\. Your page is just a Google ad farm. The internet is like a pond, see? There's some clear blue water in there comprising actual information. If you make a blog simply to farm ads, you're the scum. The pond scum, that is. The shit on top that obfuscates the clear blue water below. Why on earth would I actually send these readers to some dumb-ass ad farm?
3\. You're never going to see that $5000-a-month check from Google. Seriously. Get a job. The people that see that check are the people that have actual information on their sites, and even then, it's a rare thing.
So, new blogger dude, please don't write me. If you have to ask for links back to your site, or "trade" them as the patois goes, then your site is a big fat fucking waste of time for everybody.
---
## Hmmm...
- Date: 2009-08-09
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/08/hmmm/
While a 50-comment thread on how retarded YACHT is warms the cockles of my heart (and if there's one thing that makes me happy, it's warm cockles) it's time to move on. Stopped by the Koblo site today, as a result of several threads popping up on KvR that were intensely negative, and was greeted with [this little gem:](http://koblo.com/)
_Due to the financial plug being pulled on Koblo, development has stopped on this site and Koblo Studio. It's not surprising it happened in this economic climate and Koblo was bleeding money._
It actually _is_ surprising, as the only industry that does better in an economic downturn (aside from, you know, payday loan places) is the entertainment industry, and all the secondary and tertiary industries that are part of same. While there's no mistaking that our industry is in something of a pickle, the folks in the pickle barrel are the massive conglomerations of labels that got the whiz-bang idea to pool their resources in the late 90s, and while they were at it, completely ignore that new-fangled interwebs thing. It really has very little to do with Joe Shit And The Ragmen, a 5-piece band who have a weekly gig at Beer Goggles down the street, and are the cornerstone of the entertainment industry.
I dunno. Audio Damage doesn't take corporate paper, because we don't have production costs to speak of, having no boxed copies that won't be paid for nigh on six months down the road. If a company took paper, I can see how they might have trouble getting paper right about now, and how they might have trouble making hard copies. But in this end of the business, that really isn't much of an issue. So I'm intrigued to know if that's the actual story with Koblo.
Anyone have the inside scoop on this? Or do you work for a company that is _directly_ part of the music industry that is feeling the pinch?
---
## Various Things...
- Date: 2009-08-06
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/08/various-things/
In no particular order...
1\. Ableton Live Users Group PDX meeting was fun and informative. If you need proof, I actually had _two_ beers, which is one more than I normally would drink in a public scenario. I was about .01 blood alcohol level away from [krumping](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vTo2p3F_v8) on a cocktail table.
2\. What's that Smiths song? ["Bigmouth Strikes Again"](http://www.dummymag.com/features/2009/07/30/yacht-it-was-fucking-awesome-and-exhausting-and-it-ruined-my-life-/) or something like that? They're way more than a pop band, really.
3\. I guess it was only those two things for now. Pecking away at this new UI. I'm trying to decide if I should round the corners of the panels. [This learned article](http://www.uiandus.com/2009/07/27/theories/realizations-of-rounded-rectangles/) seems to suggest that I should. But perhaps this product should have sharp edges, and the visual cues should indicate such? I don't know.
---
## CM Eos Review...
- Date: 2009-08-04
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/08/cm-eos-review/
CM gave Eos a glowing review, and the entire text, with some new audio samples on the second page, is on the Music Radar site. [Go forth.](http://www.musicradar.com/gear/all/computers-software/plug-in-fx/eos-215397/review)
Interestingly, they prefer the plate to the hall. I'm curious as to how many people here agree with that assessment. When we were designing it, I was all about the Superhall algo. That's what we asked Sean to make, and what we spent the most time on. The plate wasn't an afterthought or anything; it got the same love and attention, but it was definitely not the raison d'étre for the plug-in in the first place. The goal was to make an Enoesque/Buddian reverb, since such a thing didn't really exist.
---
## Bowheemeth...
- Date: 2009-07-24
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/07/bowheemeth/
[](http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/3753545472/)
I managed to shoehorn the K250 in my office. I'm sure you're all happy to find that out. I couldn't get far enough away from it to actually take a proper photograph, so your fertile imaginations will have to fill in the blanks.
---
## Gee, Thanks Apple!
- Date: 2009-07-23
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/07/gee-thanks-apple/
New Logic Studio out today. I'm embarrassed to admit I knew nothing about it. At all. Of course, I don't make a habit of checking every day to see what new and exciting things are happening with those bong-smoking hippies in Cupertino, so there's that, and I apologize.
That said, it isn't in my ADC account. I don't know if it wasn't seeded to devs at all, or just wasn't seeded to _me_ (always a possibility) but I didn't hear a single peep about it until this morning. But the upshot is that I can't test our stuff with it until I have it, so I'll be busy sending off missives to the various people I've been in touch with to see if I can't get a copy for testing. Until then, we have no reason to expect that there's any issues with AD products and Logic 9. Anyone that could verify that before me will win my undying gratitude.
As far as features of the new one go, as you all know I left Logic years ago for other pastures, and use Cubase 5 and Live 8 for 99% of my production work these days (depending on what I'm trying to accomplish) so from a producer's standpoint, as opposed to a developer's, I have nothing to offer on the new one except that it seems that GarageBand and Logic are showing convergent evolution. Some of the audio editing features look kind of cool, but nothing really grabs me by the neck and shakes me about. The only really nifty thing seems to be the new Apogee floor controller, really.
**EDIT:** Someone that has a fair portion of our catalog, and has been beta-testing Logic 9, just wrote to say that he's had no issues whatsoever with AD stuff.
---
## We Now Will Accept Comments From The Gallery...
- Date: 2009-07-21
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/07/we-now-will-accept-comments-from-the-gallery/
Okay, it's been a long time since I've done this. While we're in our between-product-downtime, I'm going to open the floor to suggestions as to what Audio Damage should make next.
Obviously, we already have a fairly good idea of what we're going to be doing, but we haven't started yet, and that means we haven't actually committed yet. So there is a chance, however remote, that your idea could be better than our idea, and we'll do that next instead.
So, let's have it. The usual ground rules apply. For people that haven't been part of this before, posts like "A synth!!!111!ZOMG" are stupid and no one really cares, so don't bother. We don't do clones any more, so "you should make a clone of a Dingleberry 3000" is pointless. Tubes, spring reverbs, and tape emulation can't be done at the current state of DSP, at least not anywhere near something that could be considered worth a shit, and anyone that says otherwise is a balls-out liar or stone deaf, so don't bother mentioning tubes, tape, springs, or any combination thereof.
With that out of the way, bring that shit. What do you want to see us build?
---
## Yeah, well...
- Date: 2009-07-19
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/07/yeah-well/
For some ridiculous reason, I got in my head to buy a Kurzweil K250. Perhaps those dreams I have of replacing Paul Schaeffer on Letterman are finally coming to fruition. Anyhow, I've got one now. Sorry for the shit photo, but I didn't have my camera with me, so the worthless POS iPhone camera had to suffice.
In any event, it is ensconced at RT60 HQ, as it is too motherfucking PHATTTTT!!111! for my own little office/studio. (Look at how it utterly dwarfs the Jupiter 6, which is not a small synth.) It is actually fully upgraded with both ROM blocks, so I can score an entire episode of NYPD Blue without even having to crack a hard drive. Should the need arise, of course.
All kidding aside, the keyboard action in this bitch is second to none, period. A real hammer action with wooden keys. Forget about it. The internal sounds range from "oh, please" to really fucking hot, and I still don't think anyone has made a better sample of a grand piano. Now I need to find a Mac Plus (shouldn't be hard) and a copy of the librarian software so we can do things proper.
---
## Ronin Now Available....
- Date: 2009-07-17
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/07/ronin-now-available/
Okay, that was an exciting morning. I thought I found a bug in Ronin, but it turned out to be a bug in the driver for my audio hardware. Yikes.
Anyhow, Ronin is now available for purchase. Go [forth](http://www.audiodamage.com/effects/product.php?pid=AD005) and git you some. A quick note, though: I strongly suggest you read the manual for this one, or at least the parts with the blue headphone iconography. This plug-in can be put in an unstable configuration quite easily, and if you break your shit, don't say I didn't warn you.
---
## The Book Of Faces...
- Date: 2009-07-17
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/07/the-book-of-faces/
I finally bowed to peer pressure (well, family pressure, more to the point) and opened a Facebook account. My justification for not doing so, which has served me well since the service's inception, was as follows:
I (for all intents and purposes, and in a meta sense) make my living by generating content for the Internet. Facebook seemed to me to be designed for people that want to limit the content they generate to a select group of people they already know. I, on the other hand, have no desire to limit the viewership of the content I generate.
(And also, I could give a flying fuck about the people I went to high school with, the most of which are beer-drinking, wife-beating, NASCAR-watching, sheep-fucking Republicans. So there's that.)
Anyhow, I gave in and went ahead and signed up. Aside from the fact that my friend requests since I've done so are nearly uniformly people that have played in my band over the years, I'm still not entirely sure the service has any point, from an "I make my living making bytes" perspective.
So, I put the question to you, dear readers. How does one utilize the Book Of Faces from a performing musician's perspective? Other than telling your friends and acquaintances about shows and albums upcoming, is there a layer of networking of which I'm unaware?
---
## We Few, We Happy Few...
- Date: 2009-07-16
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/07/we-few-we-happy-few/
Seems everything is sorted and done with Ronin, and we're doing something we hardly ever (well, never, so far) do at AD, and that's a wide beta. If you were a previous owner of the original Ronin, the new one is now in your account in the AD store, and you can go rip that shit up.
Drop me [a line](mailto:info@audiodamage.com) soonest if you have any problems at all, but my testing shows that this one is the same destructive force that the other one was.
Which brings me to a funny side-story. It occurred to me today while I was testing that I had never seen what would happen if I activated all the routing points in the audio matrix and gave the plugin a little squirt of audio. Stupidly, I had the volume up on my speakers when I tried this. Once I had peeled Pablo off the ceiling and changed my underwear I remarked to Adam how it was interesting exactly how _loud_ the number 1.0 could be. Ronin has a hard limiter, of course, but even so...
Anyhow, assuming no problems crop up, this will go on sale before the end of the week, I imagine.
---
## Hail Hail Rock And... Errr....
- Date: 2009-07-15
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/07/hail-hail-rock-and-errr/
Oh, god, there's two of 'em. Now, Rick Wakeman is the single most pompous person in the music industry, and pomposity is a trait I can get behind. Also, he can play circles around me and everyone I've ever met, by at least an order of magnitude, so I have no place to talk.
Now that I've issued a peremptory mea culpa, let me just say this: the Messrs. Wakeman make the baby Jesus cry.
---
## The Usual Monday Bullshit...
- Date: 2009-07-13
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/07/the-usual-monday-bullshit/
Just a general update on the State Of Things 'round these parts. In no particular order:
1\. The AU port of Ronin is hideously problematic, as we feared. (This is the main reason we deprecated it in the first place.) However, it seems that the game of Whack-A-Mole that Adam has been playing for the last two weeks is drawing to a close. Only one major problem is outstanding, and provided no other problems pop in to being when it is fixed (which is what has been happening) I should have a working AU out to the testers here in a day or two. Then we have to roll the fixes from the AU in to the VSTs, and address a couple other little things. It's getting there, though.
2\. Somewhat concurrent (but not necessarily so) with the Ronin release, the AD site will get a complete facelift and a minor reorganization.
3\. Work proceeds apace on the RT60 stuff. We've upped the tempo a bit for the next couple songs, which is a bit of a relief after living in the 65-80 range for the entire lifespan of the band. I've also got one complete working example of the LED lighting, which I will probably demonstrate at the Live meetup I spoke about two posts ago. I'm very happy with the Arduino/Shiftbrite combination right now, and the lighting is actually controlled from Live, via Pd (which can talk directly to the Arduino.) I'll do a complete post about how I've pulled this off in the near future.
It occurs to me that a new visitor to this site would be completely flummoxed by the entirety of this post. "WTF is this dude talking about? AD? RT60? Ronin?"
---
## Emotional Release...
- Date: 2009-07-12
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/07/emotional-release/
I have to admit I'm a bit amused by the reaction to Roger Linn's announcement that the LinnDrum II has become more vaporous than it was before (as if that was possible.) One commenter on Create Digital Music said the following:
_i am so mad at these guys now i have been waithing for this for so long and cant wait no more.I am now thinking this machine will never see the light of day maybe I should just buy a 5000 roger is letting alot of people down_
(I'm just gonna throw a single big fat **_\[sic.\]_** after all of that.)
That is one of the worst examples, and I chuckle to think of what would happen if he had posted that statement here. If you guys had got him before I saw it, lord have mercy. But there are comments like that all over the Intardwebs this weekend.
Aside from the fact that he considers the the re-vaporizing of the product a personal affront, I find the whole thing comedic. As Stretta pointed out in a good [post](http://stretta.blogspot.com/2009/07/end-of-trade-shows.html) last week, there is immense pressure on hardware manufacturers to announce things whether or not they're done. Remember (two years ago, natch) when the BoomChik was initially announced? Every music blog posted all kinds of breathless speculation. Except, I'll note, this one. Because I don't make a habit of posting about imaginary things.
But there's a long history of imaginary products announced at NAMM that never saw the light of day, so there's nothing amazing about that. "Here's this thing I thought up! I haven't made any yet, but I have a very nice rendering!" Shit, if that's all it took... But more to the point, Roger didn't let anyone down, except perhaps emotionally, and who really gives a fuck about that? If he took coin for pre-orders, it'd be a different matter, but all he did was release a 3D rendering of a product that might be worth making at some point down the road. Then the economy tanked.
Better luck next time, I say.
---
## Up From The Depths...
- Date: 2009-07-01
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/07/up-from-the-depths/
As was guessed by several people when I recently touched upon this topic, we've trekked down in to the cobwebbed cellars of the Audio Damage IP Storage Bunker with the special low-illumination blue-beamed flashlights normally reserved for the spooky parts of X-Files and Law & Order: SVU episodes, and returned to the daylight with a dusty tome, on the leather-bound hand-tooled cover of which was written "Ronin: The Road To Madness."
The screenshot above (click for full size) shows the results of that quest. Like Lovecraft's Elder Gods, Ronin has returned from the blackest depths of the Cœlestial Æther to walk the Earth once more, sowing destruction in its wake. Changes? Many or not much. Depends on how you look at things, I suppose. Enumerated:
**New UI.** This is the most obvious change. I did an entirely new UI, and in doing so have hopefully made it much easier to figure out what the hell is going on. I've also inexplicably made it look like Mac OS 6. I can't explain that. It just ended up that way.
**AU.** Yes, there is an AudioUnits version. Ronin's undersides are now up to snuff with the rest of our product line, and this means full MIDI learn (VST) and AudioUnits.
**DSP.** Actually, this is worth mentioning inasmuch as it isn't changing at all. Period. The new Ronin will cross-load presets from the old Ronin, and instantiate in its place. Internally, it is as it ever was. Dare I use the word "vintage" to describe the sound engine? Yea and verily, I do so dare.
**The Price.** For the few (and I hope proud) that bought the original Ronin, this will be an entirely free upgrade. It will appear in your account in the AD store in place of the old one. For those brave souls willing to risk their sanity (and their tweeters), the new Ronin will be US$49.00, instead of its original price (which was, if you're curious, US$69.00.)
Now, before you Ronin nUbs get too excited, I should point out a couple things. If you're a more recent convert to Audio Damage, you might have a particular idea of the "sound" of our plug-ins. You might go so far as to say that we make things that are "rough around the edges," or "heavy-handed," or, if you're feeling salty, "Full Of Techno." Our more recent plug-ins are to Ronin as a new-born kitten is to a pit bull that has been beaten with a garden hose daily for a year straight. This plug-in is a dose of Heavy Duty.
For starters, you can route the output of any block to the input of any block, including itself. You also have full unhindered access to the feedback loop of the delays. The delays can do unity feedback, and they also have the same looping engine as Dubstation. (This plug-in is, in fact, the source of that looping engine.) As such, there is virtually no limit to how this plug-in can be routed. We normally build in limits to our plug-ins nowadays that inform how they'll be used, but in Ronin there are nonesuch, except that we're (reasonably) certain you won't set your speakers on fire.
So, final warning: it is pretty easy to get this plug-in in to an unstable configuration where it self-resonates/oscillates/gyrates/salivates. On the other hand, it's also really easy to make a simple tempo delay. But that's like using an Abrams Main Battle Tank to go pick up your Sunday paper and danish. If you're thinking to yourself "self, this has two tempo-synced delays and two filters, and panners and stuff! It's like 5 plug-ins in one! An audio toolbox!" Well... I'd reconsider that purchase if I were you.
But if you like looping, noise, feedback, or any combination thereof, filtered or not, this is your pony, right here. All you need to cover Merzbow's Greatest Hits is a little burst of noise to excite the delays and you're off to the races. I would submit that there isn't another plug-in out there that does what Ronin does. There's probably a good reason for that, now that I think on it...
Anyways, our status right now is that the Time is not quite Nigh. The Windows version is about 90% done (just missing the MIDI input, really), the Mac VST version is in more or less the same state, and the AU has been built but is missing presets. So it won't be very long. Next week at some point, I'd imagine.
---
## OOTO Open Thread...
- Date: 2009-06-28
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/06/ooto-open-thread/
It's time for my yearly pilgrimage to the High Desert of central Oregon, so I'm going to be out of the office from Sunday morning until Tuesday afternoon. In that light, what we have here is an Official Open Thread. The subject will tentatively be the following:
What do you do to recharge your songwriting batteries? These yearly trips for me out to the complete and utter desolation of the Oregon/Nevada border completely bleach my mind, and when I come back I'm Full Of Techno™ for months to come.
I do realize that everyone has different methods, and it's time to share. I won't be chiming in on this thread at all, as I'll be in a part of the state completely immune to the electromagnetic spectrum, so no cell phones, no internet, no Twitter, no Michael Jackson conspiracy theories. Just me and my Silvertone archtop and the sagebrush. So it's up to you guys to make it interesting. You know the drill. Type at you when I get back.
---
## And So It Goes...
- Date: 2009-06-26
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/06/and-so-it-goes/
My work on the next AD release is pretty much done, and now it's all up to Adam. This one should be fairly quick, though. The Windows side of things just needs a couple little issues ironed out, but it is otherwise done. He's actually working on Mac Stuff today, and those of you that follow our release schedules will note that means the End is in Sight.
Speaking for myself, I'm getting things ready for RT60 rehearsals. This involves deciding on a final gear complement for our live shows. We'll actually have quite a bit of Analog Shiny on stage for the gear whores out there. Speaking just for myself, I'll have my MKS80 and CS5 for certain, as those two synths plus piano will be able to replicate almost all of my actual "played" parts on what we've done so far. What I _do_ need, though, is a perfect working condition TX802 or TX81Z. If anyone has one they aren't using, I'd be more than happy to take it off your hands. Drop me [a line](mailto:chris@positronrecords.com) if you have such a thing. There's a ton of 81Z action on eBay and it would stand to reason at least one of those people reads this site.
(To address the obvious first comment in that regard, no, I won't use FM8 or a different FM synth. All props to NI, and I'm a proud and frequent user of FM8, but RT60 is a soft-synth-free zone. And we can argue the semantics of "soft synth" when describing a digital box later. You know what I mean.)
And finally, this Crumar Performer. It's got a couple things wrong with it, and I'm debating whether to go Whole Hog like I did with the CS5. Mechanically, it needs _all_ the sliders on the front panel replaced. Electronically, the resonance isn't working, but I think that's probably due to the slider. Cosmetically, the end cheeks need to be replaced. Still debating as to whether that's a good idea or not.
---
## Chains of Chains...
- Date: 2009-06-22
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/06/chains-of-chains/
[](http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/3648340153/)
One of the things that makes Jeremy a fun collaborator is his militant insistence on running virtually every sound through his seemingly bottomless arsenal of analog effects. If it can alter a sound and doesn't have AES/EBU I/O, he owns at least one example, if not a pair. Stereo, doncha know...
The only way in which he and I really differ in this regard is in the means with which we apply effects, not the quantity, although quantity has a quality all its own, of course. He likes to print his analog effects, while I'm more of a "let's insert an H8000 or Lexicon 300, or some of my ten million plug-ins while it's coming off the tape" kind of guy. (Point of order: RT60 instrumentation is 100% "real," and our recording medium is analog tape, but when we're mixing, we're alowed to use plug-ins and digital effects.) One of our early arguments was based around the fact that I'm not a fan of phasers, while he most definitely is. I won that one, only barely, and I think he still slips in the occasional pass with the SPH-323 when my attention is elsewhere. Fair enough. As long as we don't end up sounding like ELO, I can live with it.
But those differences aside, we do see eye to eye on this: every sound is more better with a heaping shovelful of effects on it. Obviously, my opinion in how those effects should be applied is heavily biased, as is his, but we agree that nothing should survive to the final mixdown unscathed by compression, modulation, delay, filtering, and reverb. We tracked a 303 for a song yesterday, and were quite pleased with ourselves when we decided to only compress it.
Me: "Man, it's really in your face when it's dry and loud like that."
Jeremy: "Oh, hell yeah!"
Me: "I think a little Dimension D might make it really pop..."
I think the only reason the 303 sounded so present was that everything else in the song was burbling away in a stew of analog delay and spring reverb.
Anyhow, my Secret Effects Weapon is, of course, the H8000. It isn't such a secret, really, but by virtue of the fact that Eventide has only made 600 or so of them, I'm one of only 600 or so people in the world to have one, which makes it the next best thing to secret in this day and age. But I'm of the over-arching opinion that, since electronic instruments are all essentially identical, the occasional circuit-bent Furby notwithstanding, effects make the sound. What's your Secret Effects Weapon? Do you leave everything chained all the time? Or do you "design" each sound individually? Is "too much effects" like "too much Chopin?" That is to say, a physical impossibility?
---
## O Purple, How Do I Love Thee?
- Date: 2009-06-20
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/06/o-purple-how-do-i-love-thee/
[Purple Audio](http://www.purpleaudio.com/) hooked a brother up with some custom-machined aluminum knobs for the World's Most Expensive CS5. Much thanks to Andrew + Ed, and now the little feller (the which definitely needs a name by now) has controls befitting its status. The only thing left is the pitch bend wheel, and this little piggy will be done.
---
## Pre-Visualization...
- Date: 2009-06-20
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/06/pre-visualization/
Back when I was thinking about maybe getting in to maybe possibly playing live one day, I used to fill reams of notebooks with pencil drawings of stage set-ups. I think I visualized how the stage would look long before I ever set foot on one. As my career progressed, I continued to do this, getting gradually more sophisticated. While I've never been one for extravagant staging, I've always had a good idea of what I'd like things to look like for whatever context we ended up doing that tour/show/whatever.
Flash forward to today. As in right now. My PC is tied up for the next several hours as it renders a 3DS Max file out in to a 30-second MOV of the RT60 staging, with music, moving lights, and the backing video playing. The only thing missing are little polygon flavored versions of Jeremy and I. (And really, I'm not any good at character modeling or animation, or I'd probably have done that too.)
I'd show it to you guys once it has rendered, but (a) it would spoil the surprise, now, wouldn't it? And (b) it's a pie-in-the-sky production idea that probably won't survive a meeting with my American Express card, nor the dives we'll likely end up in. But a boy can dream.
In any event, am I the only one that does this? Obviously the laptop jockeys don't really get to play in this particular party, as there's not much to grabbing a cocktail table and putting your MacBook Pro on it. But for those of you with bands, do you pre-visualize your stage show in some way? If not, why not?
---
## What He Twat...
- Date: 2009-05-26
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/05/what-he-twat/
As I spent a lazy afternoon munching on the soft pretzels my wife made today, I let my eyes glaze over as I stared at Twhirl, with its never-ending parade of "I am here, doin this" comments. (Guilty as charged.) Then this twat from William Gibson floated by and woke me up:
_Very creative people get atemporal early on. Are relatively unimpressed by the "now" factor, by latest things. Access the whole continuum._
I was, like, huh. While I was chewing on that, he followed it up with this:
_Less creative people believe in "originality" and "innovation", two basically misleading but culturally very powerful concepts._
I'm not entirely sure how to phrase what I'm thinking when I read those two statements, but the fundamental truth of them rings fairly loud to me. One of the things that bothers me about hanging out with musicians is the Gear Knowledge Ass Sniffing that goes on. Al Jourgenson's old engineer Critter was the fucking _worst_ for this. "OMG, I can't believe you don't know about the new Phattmatic Pro! You're still working with the original Phattmatic? Didn't you read the latest issue of Mix? It has like 12 extra nanowebbers!" That sort of shit. (Of course, all my conversations with Critter predated the inventions of "OMG" and "phatt" but I've put the statement in to modern vernacular for poetic effect.)
I'm guilty as charged in that, as well. I'll drop some science on a motherfucker if he shows his belly in any way. One opportunity I missed that I greatly regret is when the keyboard salesman at Apple Music was trying to sell me on a CS70 they had in there, and told me it had new tines. I uncharacteristically shook my head and just walked away, but that's exactly the sort of opportunity I normally relish. And you do too, admit it.
And that right there is the rub, isn't it? I think I've misread Mr. Gibson's point nicely, but you see where I'm going with this. Our quest for having (or at least knowing about) the absolute bleeding edge of our business at all times blinds us to the existence of a fairly gigantic wealth of software, hardware, and technique that is right behind us. While it is true that, if you're a professional, this is a competitive business, you also know, if you're professional, that very little "latest and greatest" can make up for technique and imagination.
I like to think that, while it's nice to sit down next to this $15K rack of high end convertors and effects every day, I'd be perfectly capable of making a song with just about anything. Whether that's true or not is up to others to judge, but sometimes it's good to reflect on the fact that a bigger modular or a better A/D/A convertor or a MIDI controller with more knobs or a guitar with more... uh... strings? won't take the place of knowledge, and knowledge in this age of marvels is free as the air.
---
## Memorial Day Bullshit...
- Date: 2009-05-25
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/05/memorial-day-bullshit/
For our foreign readers, today is a holiday in America. It is ostensibly the day when we're supposed to honor all the US soldiers that have died in various wars. Truthfully, though, it is generally understood to be the national password for **ROOOOOADDDD TRIIIIIIPP!!!!** Needless to say, it's one of the couple days of the year that you want to stay far, far away from any place that might have vehicles of any sort, due to the one-two punch of heavy traffic and drunk driving.
I know. America is a strange country. You don't have to tell me. I live here.
Anyhow, here's what's going on around here all week: today we'll hopefully finish the Windows side of Eos in its entirety and get it out to the testers. Major coding is done anyhow, and it's just hunting down all the little things (making sure presets work, making sure all the controls are wired up correctly, etc.) Assuming that's all true, we'll start the Mac port tomorrow and while Adam is doing that, I'll be writing presets.
On a non-AD tip, we still need a visual artist of some sort for RT60. Preferably someone that is fairly crafty. So if you could be loosely described as someone along those lines, and you live in Portlandia, don't hesitate to drop me a [line](mailto:chris@positronrecords.com). We're going to start getting the live show together fairly soon, for mid-summer shows. In that same realm, we also are in need of a rehearsal space, preferably one that isn't wedged in among 10 others. The only thing worse than screamo is screamo through a wall. So if you have a suggestion about that sort of thing, do tell.
---
## Wave Your Nerd Flag...
- Date: 2009-05-23
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/05/wave-your-nerd-flag/
[](http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/3557850658/sizes/l/in/photostream/)
Had a brief RT60 session this morning, but I don't have anything new to show you this time, as we only did some overdubs on an existing song using gear I already took pictures of. We did track some drums for a new song using a Pd patch I made. The sounds themselves are recordings of my The Source, as all sounds in RT60 songs are generated either with electromechanical means or via analog synthesis. (I know it's kind of a stupid limitation, but it makes things interesting.)
Anyhow, work proceeds apace, albeit somewhat slowly, as is appropriate for music that never exceeds 80bpm. If that. Song Two just needs one vocal overdub, then it can be mixed.
---
## Meet The New Logo...
- Date: 2009-05-22
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/05/meet-the-new-logo/
Mad props to the Men From [UNKL](http://www.unklbrand.com/) who made the new Audio Damage logo for us. I'll be merrily re-branding everything to match the new jammie while my lovely and talented wife re-builds the AD website to fit. It'll be a Process more than a Pageant, and will take a while. Eos will be the first product to carry the new badging, of course. I'll put up an updated screenshot tomorrow.
They also made us a more sophisticated iteration of Lil' Blue, our new 'bot, which can be seen below. So, out with old and busted, in with the new hotness. Also, we're now Official Members Of The Steinberg Circle Of Trust, and as a result, you can see all kinds of bullet points and market-speak in the [Steinberg Plug-in Zone](http://www.steinberg.net/en/products/pluginzone.html) about AD, and in some fairly lofty company, considering all but one of those businesses we share the page with probably have, like, mailrooms and stuff. If we actually had a Phase Two In Our Plan For World Domination, I'd say we were moving in to it. We don't, but that has kind of a poetic ring to it, so I might extrapolate that shit out in to an actual Plan, with Phases and stuff. I'm sure Adam will be bemused.
Anyhow, back to business. Eos is coming along nicely. Some bugs in the Windows version, which is otherwise pretty much done. These have to be hammered out before the Mac work can start, but we should be moving at our normal punk-rock clip now. You all know what that means.
---
## Ana-loggin' With Your Hosts, RT60...
- Date: 2009-05-20
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/05/ana-loggin-with-your-hosts-rt60/
[](http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/3549844624/sizes/l/in/set-72157617489308726/)
Ah, yes, the UP K2-X, the masterpiece of British analogue percussion engineering. "Super Analogue," even. Normally I only put photos in the [RT60 set](http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/sets/72157617489308726/) on my Flickr page of gear that actually made it on to a track, but in this instance I break with tradition. We wasted about an hour trying to get this thing to sound like, well, pretty much anything besides what it sounded like, which is an anaemic cricket. Alas, we admitted defeat and moved along.
Anyhow, we're closing in on completion for Song Two, and are thinking about Song Three. And you know what happens when Song Three is mixed, don't you? Chris starts begging for a label. We're not going to put RT60 out on Positron!, but are rather aiming for a label equipped to deal with this sort of thing. Obviously, suggestions are welcome, but since you have no idea what this sounds like (I imagine the synth nrrrrds have visions of Transfer Station Blue dancing in their heads; unfortunately, that is wrong) you don't have much to go on.
Suffice to say it is slow and synthy, and has vocals.
---
## Vo-Codin' With The Stars...
- Date: 2009-05-20
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/05/vo-codin-with-the-stars/
Okay, here's the deal. Some of the vocals (well, 100% so far, but a boy can dream) for RT60 have some vocoder action. In a studio scenario, I can bust out the H8000, and I don't think anyone will argue that the vocoder selection in that box is, well, let's just say it'll get the job done. But on stage, I won't have the H8000, because I'm not retarded.
So, what's a robust yet creamy vocoder that will stand up to the rigors of the live environment? I don't expect this to be the sort of band that has stage diving and beers getting thrown (ambient mosh pit = cuddle puddle!) but you never know. I've never used a vocoder on stage, so I'd love to hear from those of you that have, so that I may learn from your mistakes.
One of the issues is the dry vocal. Obviously, I'd like the non-vocoded vocal to be mixed with the vocoded one. I was watching [this demo](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHd_U00q3vo) of the Roland VP-550, and I notice that he's got the headset going to the vocoder (or pitch shifter, in that example) and then another mic for the dry. While this may look a bit retarded, it seems to get the job done. I could pull it off, I suppose.
Anyhow, I don't mind supplying the carrier from an external synth, so the vocoder can actually be a dedicated box. An early recommendation was the Boss SE-70, which has a very good 21 band algo, I'm given to understand. It doesn't have a built in mic pre, which makes me a little nervous, but I suppose it can be dealt with. That VP-550 is quite nice, but out of my price range for the now. I'm not too excited about vintage units, because they're generally not creamy enough. They don't have the band count of modern vocoders. I definitely don't want to run one on the computer, because (a) the CPU load is too high for live stuff, and (b) it's just kind of lame.
So, what are the obvious options I haven't already thought of? And the first person that says "microKorg" will get soundly thrashed with an XLR cable. No offense to Korg, who make some very nice products, but I'd sooner chew off my own arm than succumb to that piece of shit.
---
## Late Monday Bullshit...
- Date: 2009-05-18
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/05/late-monday-bullshit/
Sorry, but it's been a Day so far. Our interwebs were out for a fair chunk of the day, so I took it upon myself to track down the three (!!!) different Torx drivers I needed to open the iMac. Finally got the drive out, and stuck it in a Thermaltake BlacX, and now I have access to Data that I Needed. Whee.
Work on Eos proceeds apace. We're still mating the DSP to the UI at this juncture. Slow and steady wins the race in this regard, of course. Another tidbit of AD news: we're about to pay off Big-Giant, which means I can reveal our new logo in the next couple days. That'll be fun.
RT60 session tomorrow morning, wherein the UP will be utilized, and the pictures of that should be enlightening. Otherwise, work on that proceeds apace, as well. I'm going to begin shopping for management and legal next week, which should be both dismaying and hilarious simultaneously.
That's about it for this Monday's edition of Bullshit.
---
## Eos on piano...
- Date: 2009-05-16
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/05/eos-on-piano/
_\[Embedded media, no longer available.\]_
[Demonstration of Eos hall reverb algorithm on piano...](http://soundcloud.com/chris-randall/demonstration-of-eos-hall-reverb-algorithm-on-piano) by [Chris Randall](http://soundcloud.com/chris-randall)
Here's a demonstration of the Eos "Superhall" algorithm on piano. The piano samples are from the Kontakt factory library, the August Foerster "Full Convolution" set. The first little flourish is dry, no Eos, then I automate the send up to about 35%. (-13dB against the track, according to Cubase's internal logic.)
Eos is set on Superhall, with a fairly long decay of about 15 seconds, and most other controls are in the middle of their range. So this is a long-ish example of a middle-of-the-road Eos sound. You can download the AIFF if you'd like to give it a closer listen. Note that there are no other effects on this track, nor any compression or limiting of any sort. Kontakt, with a send to Eos, right out the stereo buss.
The piece itself is something I call "Lament On A Missing Girl In C Major." I think it's gonna be a hit.
---
## Eos Screenshot...
- Date: 2009-05-14
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/05/eos-screenshot/
Here's a first real look at Eos, the next Audio Damage product. Some highlights:
1\. As you can see, it has three distinct algorithms. Plate One is a summed input plate algo. This means it combines the left and right to proved the source input for the algorithm. It has a stereo output on a stereo track, though. Plate Two is a slightly different algorithm, with a stereo input. Superhall is a hall algorithm designed specifically for long dense modulated reverbs, like you'd find on a Harold Budd album. These algorithms were written by Sean Costello under contract to Audio Damage, and are very, very good. (And you'll note that I rarely qualify the word "good," let alone with two instances of "very.")
2\. The control structure we've gone with is quite a bit different than our normal methods. You can grab any of the digit displays to change the values; grabbing them towards the left gives you big changes, and grabbing them towards the right gives you small changes. This seemed much handier than having a text value entry (the which I dislike intensely) and gives you control that is just as fine. Also, all the graphical displays are X/Y controllers. The big oval on the top, the X is decay (RT60 in the vernacular) and the Y is size. The little sperm thing inside the oval displays the modulation rate and depth. The filter displays are similar, with X being the cutoff for the respective filter and Y being the multiplier.
This plug-in has a much different topology internally than ADverb (née Reverence) and has a correspondingly much different sound. It also has a ludicrously low CPU usage. As far as I'm able to measure, the DSP itself has no real usage to speak of, and most of the CPU is a result of instancing a VST or AU in the first place. It can easily be used live on a laptop, or multiple-instanced. This was our real goal: to provide a nice, long, lush reverb outside of the normal CPU-intensive processes, and in my opinion that was accomplished.
As to what it _sounds_ like, I'll append this post with some samples shortly.
---
## Marching Right Along...
- Date: 2009-05-12
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/05/marching-right-along/
[](http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/3526350092/)
Nice RT60 session this morning, wherein we took a song I've been working on all weekend and replaced all my soft-synth parts with "real" synths, which is always a pleasant experience. No offense to the softsynth makers out there, but there is really no comparison between a pad done in Massive or Twin2 and a pad done on an OB-8 recorded to tape, with analog effects. None whatsoever.
This current track (the second) only has a backbone to it, and already it has OB-8 pads, a kick drum made with a Jupiter 6 and a Moog The Rogue, DR-110 for the other drums, and a 303 bass (but not what you'd think.) We set ourselves what seemed at the time to be a rather lofty goal of not using a single sample on this album, where a sample is defined as a clip, loop, or sound recorded by someone else. There will be no softsynths and very few plug-ins.
In any event, the RT60 writing process is moving on schedule. We're neck deep in the middle of the second song, pondering the third, and a "sound" is starting to take shape. This is always the cool part of a new band, because you're never sure what you're gonna get until you have it. I don't have the vocabulary to describe that sound, as I'm not terribly familiar with this genre. I'll leave that up to people that know better to say who we're ripping off or whatever, because I've just never heard most of it.
While we're writing and recording (kind of the same thing in this type of music) we're also pondering how we're going to pull it off live, and much of the writing is done with that in mind. I'll talk more about that when the time comes, but suffice to say that RT60 shows most definitely will not consist of two guys hunched over laptops in front of projections. Speaking to that, I'm interested in talking with a visual artist in PDX or the surrounding environs that might be interested in being part of this project, and who has some skills in that regard.
Anyhow, we now return to our regularly scheduled programming. As is becoming the tradition on days like this, I've put pictures of everything we used this morning in the [RT60 set](http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/sets/72157617489308726/) on my Flickr page. The last three are today's additions.
---
## Pierre Shaeffer T-Shirt Ordering...
- Date: 2009-04-18
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/04/pierre-shaeffer-t-shirt-ordering/
**EDIT: SOLD OUT!**
You can now pre-order the Pierre Schaeffer t-shirt here. The pricing and shipping is all the same as the Delia shirt. We're going to do it a bit differently this time, though. We're going to allow pre-orders until Tuesday, then whatever is ordered by that point is all there is, period. This way, nobody will be left out in the cold vis-a-vis sizes and such.
If you'd like a little history about Pierre so you can sound informed when people ask who that dude on your shirt is, you could do worse than starting with the (rather bland) [Wikipedia article.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Schaeffer) If you read the entry on [musique concrete,](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musique_concr%C3%A8te) which is necessarily Schaeffer-centric, there are some descriptions of the interesting instruments he designed, one of which he's playing on the shirt artwork.
**EDIT: SOLD OUT!**
---
## Pierre Schaeffer Shirt Color, Round Two...
- Date: 2009-04-17
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/04/pierre-schaeffer-shirt-color-round-two/
My thinking with the previous round was that (a) the people that don't want an asphalt one far outweigh those that do, and (b) people that already have a Delia tee don't want the asphalt one, by and large. Thus, we'll have a second round of voting, brown versus asphalt. So, back to our nameless Silverlake hipster...
Whichever one wins, we'll start pre-orders tomorrow morning, and they'll run for four days.
(Poll removed because it's made of fail. Brown won.)
---
## Pierre Schaeffer
- Date: 2009-04-16
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/04/pierre-schaeffer/
Stefan got the artwork done for the Pierre Schaeffer t-shirt (click the image for a much larger version, and if you need to school on Pierre, [here](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Schaeffer) is a good place to start), and now we're trying to decide what color to make the shirts. We've narrowed it down to four, and here are the choices, modeled on an unnamed bearded Silverlake hipster who bears a striking resemblance to Billy from Six Feet Under:
Obviously, "asphalt" was what we did the Delia tees in. However, I did get two run in Navy: one for my wife, and one for Tara Busch, and the Navy takes the discharge ink really well. You can see Tara "unboxing" hers [here.](http://www.analogsuicide.com/latest/2009/4/4/the-delia-derbyshire-t-shirt-arrives-taras-unboxing-video.html) I would like to do a different color than the Delia ones, but I'm torn as to which to do. So, in the true democratic fashion, we'll have a poll.
(Poll removed because it's made of fail.)
Whichever one has the most votes is the one we'll do, unless it's really close, in which case, Stefan can decide, thus deflecting the righteous synth-nrrrd anger across an ocean.
We're going to do the ordering a bit differently this time, because a lot of people got left out in the cold with the last shirt. We're going to have open pre-ordering for four days, and whatever is ordered in that amount of time is what we'll get made.
---
## Owner Of A Lonely Waveform...
- Date: 2009-04-15
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/04/owner-of-a-lonely-waveform/
Some kind soul put up the entire factory sample set from the Fairlight IIx here in a VSE forum topic. Naturally, all the whiny little girls were like "wtf with the looping? ZOMG this shit is thin! Where are my soundfonts?" I guess they were expecting an 8-bit/35kHz sampler with 64K of RAM to sound... uh... "phat" or something?
Anyhow, yes, I know that the IIx is post-90215, so you don't need to point it out. And just to prove I don't hold a grudge, I'm busily turning all those WAV files in to Kontakt 3 patches, which I'll put up here. (There's a lot of them, so don't expect this any time in the next couple hours or anything.) I'm even leaving the IIx looping (most of these sounds are actually from the II, of course) intact as much as I can, which adds a certain something. Most modern soft-samplers will load Kontakt 3 files, so you should be in good shape no matter what you own.
As an aside, no offense to the fellow that made the samples, but now that I'm knee-deep in this shit, they're not terribly good. I wish I was in Chicago where I could get my paws on a IIx with this Mytek and capture some mojo in addition to the sound.
**EDIT:** Seems those samples were lifted from a commercial sample disk. Selling a commercial sample disk full of samples of samples from a sampler is a piece of fractal irony I don't want any part of, but be that as it may, I've removed the link.
---
## Endorse This...
- Date: 2009-04-12
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/04/endorse-this/
The subject of endorsements, while providing brief turns of comedy here on AI, is a bit sticky. Obviously, Audio Damage gets many requests for freebies (I'd say we average about 5 a week) and I put the funniest ones up here, as you well know. I ignore the ones from nobodies, and I write personal letters to the somebodies explaining why our answer is "no." I often have to research the nobodies to determine that they are, in fact, nobody, rather than somebody. This isn't easy as there are almost as many bands as there are music consumers, it seems.
There's also many artists who we unwillingly endorse, like [Josh Douchebag And The Double-Ended Buttplugs,](http://www.myspace.com/yacht) but we'll leave them out of the conversation for the now. Here's my question:
Is your buying decision, as a musician consumer, ever affected by the artists that endorse a particular product?
Speaking strictly for myself, the answer is "no," and this has informed Audio Damage's policies. Back when I was famous and stuff, I had many endorsements. The only one worth a shit was Korg (which, at the time, was also Vox, Premier, Marshall, and Parker -- everything a band needs, basically). Most of the other stuff we got for free we used simply because it was free, not because it got us some sort of signature sound. Perhaps that's a bit different when you're at the level where you've got Custom Shoppe products you helped design, but very few musicians are at that level, so the point is sort of moot.
In any event, I'm willing to admit I'm wrong if a sizable majority here say "I bought Plug-in X _specifically_ because Producer Y mentioned it in Interview Z." Now, you have to keep in mind that Producer Y is mentioning Plug-in X because he got it for free, not because he necessarily _wanted_ it. I did the same thing in interviews, a fact I'm not necessarily proud of, but needs must. If you've got search skillz, you can no doubt hunt up a Guitar Player interview where I sing the praises of the Parker Fly loud and long, or Keyboard interviews where I describe the Trinity as the best synthesizer ever made.
So, how 'bout it? Currently, if an Audio Damage product is mentioned in an interview, it's because the person using it bought it, which lends the comment a certain credence. If we changed our policy, that would no longer be the case.
---
## Ambience...
- Date: 2009-04-11
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/04/ambience/
[](http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/3429789059/)
Okay, let's talk about ambient music for a bit. I've had several conversations with Adam in this regard (and he would theoretically know, seeing as ambient is what he [makes](http://cdbaby.com/cd/schabtach)) but he hasn't actually answered my questions. I figure with the couple thousand regular readers here, at least a couple five of you make ambient music. Here's what I'm wondering:
1\. What actually comprises the genre of ambient? As far as I can tell, it is just as varied as any other electronic music sub-genre. Obviously shit like Music For Airports, which is apparently the Led Zeppelin IV of ambient music, is a gimme, but it seems to me that the definition is broad enough to say "this music is electronic and doesn't have drums. Therefor it is ambient." I have, however, heard plenty of music on the various ambient intardweb streams that has drums.
2\. Is ambient music made with, e.g., found sound just as ambient as tracks made with only synths? Is there some sort of hierarchy involved? With electronic music, the artists that use "real" instrumentation as opposed to soft-synthing their way along are at the top of the food pyramid, obviously. (This is demonstrable fact, so don't bother arguing with me.) Is the same the case with ambient artists?
3\. I went to see Unrecognizable Now last weekend, and the show was notable inasmuch as it markedly _did not_ consist of someone bent over a laptop with a pained expression. This is, as far as I'm aware, the only "ambient" performance I have attended, despite having watched thousands upon thousands of shows. Is a good ambient show marked by actual performance on actual instruments? Or does it not really matter?
No particular reason for these questions; it's just my insatiable curiosity.
---
## The Ridiculous Want...
- Date: 2009-04-08
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/04/the-ridiculous-want/
As I was driving back from Idaho, I was pondering a track I'm working on, and I was thinking "which synth should I use to make that AlphaSyntauri hollow pad sound..."
Try as I might, the AlphaSyntauri is probably the only synth I've really wanted but never managed to obtain. I actually had everything required at one point (up to and including a Decilionix sampler card, which actually worked fine) including two (!!!) AlphaSyntauri keyboards, two (!!!) sets of Mountain Computer cards, and all the software, including the educational stuff. _And_ all the manuals.
However, the Mountain Computer cards were fukd by way of that stupid paper connector strip that lets the two cards talk to each other. I tried hard-wiring one pair, to no avail, then gradually gave the other stuff away to other people over a couple-year timespan.
I've had a couple people offer to sell me a complete working AlphaSyntauri system, but the offers always came at inopportune times. Either I was broke, or I was deep in to some other aspect of synthesis, so I either wasn't able to or didn't want to take advantage of the opportunity.
The other thing I'd really like, and it kind of goes hand in hand if you get lucky with the version of Apple \]\[ you're using as the base station, is a Roland CMU-800R. Similar situation with the AlphaSyntauri, where I wasn't able to take advantage of the one opportunity I had. (Actually, I was a little bit resentful, because the person that offered to sell me the system, who is an AI reader, was the one that outbid me on the 'Bay for it. Never mind the fact that I was broke when the offer came.)
If I could somehow cobble together a system that was able to be a Decilionix sampler, an AlphaSyntauri, and a CMU-800R using the same Apple \]\[, I'd be just about as happy as a boy could be. But now I'm back to being broke, courtesy of the IRS's annual kneecapping, so it's just left to ponder. Oh, well.
What's your Moby Dick? (And I'm not talking about Moby's dick; let's just get that straight right away.) The mythic siren, who's song calls you on to the rocks every time?
---
## The Usual Monday Bullshit...
- Date: 2009-04-06
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/04/the-usual-monday-bullshit/
Because that's how we roll.
**Step 1:** Adam is in Japan for the next two weeks. You can read about his trials and tribulations of the "Stranger In A Strange Land" variety on [his blog.](http://studionebula.com/blog/) While he's in Japan, it's casual Friday here at Audio Damage for 16 days straight. I get to wear button down shirts and khakis instead of my normal formal suit. Which is nice, because that cummerbund can get damned uncomfortable while slouching in my office chair.
**Step 2:** The Next Product is about to have a user interface.
**Step 3:** I have to drive to Idaho (joy of joys) tomorrow. I'll be back Wednesday. I can't even Tweet in that Technological Wasteland. Every time I go there, it's like stepping back to 1985. Where the hell did I leave my Compuserve password?
I guess that's about it for the now. If anything interesting happens, you'll be the first to know.
---
## And yet more shirts...
- Date: 2009-04-04
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/04/and-yet-more-shirts/
Want an Audio Damage t-shirt? They're back in [the store.](http://www.audiodamage.com/merch/product.php?pid=ADTEEROCOCO)
---
## PulseModulator...
- Date: 2009-04-03
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/04/pulsemodulator/
If you want to go hit the freebies page in the [AD store,](http://www.audiodamage.com/) you can grab a copy of PulseModulator, the plug-in we made for Computer Music magazine's cover disk about three years ago.
It is a fairly odd plug-in, I'll be honest. It is a semi-model of [this pedal](http://filters.muziq.be/model/eh/pulsemodulator), an optical tremolo Electro-Harmonix put out in the 70s. Three LFOs drive a single VCA, resulting in some quite strange waveshapes. We gave it tempo sync because, well, why not?
Anyhow, a lot of people that don't have access to Computer Music magazine have been asking for this lately, so we decided to go ahead and just add it to the store as a freebie. We'll make a new CM exclusive shortly.
As an aside, this plug-in is what led to the original BigSeq, if you were curious. I made one using the same LFO structure but with a filter instead of a VCA, but I could never get it to work right. I then re-did the architecture to just have a gate sequencer, and then I got the filter bit working. I stuck 'em together and BigSeq was born. I did all this while Adam was doing the hard parts of Phase Two.
---
## Plug-Ins: ur doin it rong...
- Date: 2009-03-27
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/03/plug-ins-ur-doin-it-rong/
A notable press release came out a couple days ago from Prosoniq. They say they're discontinuing Windows development because of piracy. [Seriously.](http://www.prosoniq.com/news/win-disctd/) Bernard essentially says that because of their simple serial copy protection, their products are so frequently pirated on the Windows platform that it has become financially untenable to continue dev for that platform. If you were looking for the World's Greatest Example of the _post hoc ergo propter hoc_ fallacy, you could print that press release out and hold it up as a shining beacon of logical failure.
Now, I would be exhibiting a pretty healthy dose of temerity if I were to chastise the creator of the very first non-Steinberg commercial plug-in. But I would be remiss if I didn't point out that if you can't manage to sell shit, it is hardly ever the customer's fault. Having a nearly impenetrable purchasing process, an incredibly poorly managed website, and a product line that has no consistency in platform availability and updates probably has way more to do with a lack of Windows sales, if you'd like my opinion on the matter. And who wouldn't?
Speaking strictly for ourselves, it's kind of difficult to tell as we give each customer both platforms, and thus don't have specific platform purchase info. But if I go by installers downloaded, our Mac users (or I should say "our Mac customers") outnumber our Windows customers by around 2:1. Of course there is more piracy on the Windows side of things -- that goes without saying -- but my recent go-round with [Fucktwat Douchbag](http://www.teamyacht.com/) proves that Windows users are by no means alone in their tendency to want Free Shit™. In my experience, the per-capita stupidity on OS X is lower, but only just. It's that Mac users, by virtue of being able to afford the Mac Fanboi Tax, are also able to afford actually purchasing software. Apple's planned obsolescence also helps tamp down piracy by making it a generational thing. I could easily use the original 1.0.0 release of Orange Vocoder on my current Vista PC, but that original Mac release is about 5 deep on the Fail Meter and completely unusable on a current Intel Mac, in any way, shape or form.
(I suppose it's a good time to mention that 10 years is a long time in this business. Orange Vocoder as a product is still more or less the same, and that would account for stagnant sales more than any other factor, I believe.)
Anyhow, I honestly doubt Prosoniq is going to go out of business any time soon, as they get to suckle at the Yamaha Money Teat with frequency. But it's certainly an odd thing to just delete a platform and blame the consumer base rather than your own selves. It's easy to make and sell Windows plug-ins. Really, it is.
---
## Electromusik Porn...
- Date: 2009-03-20
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/03/electromusik-porn/
As per a request in the last thread on the subject of BS2, here's a nice video that [Stretta](http://stretta.blogspot.com/) made for MOTU to demonstrate their Volta plugin with a Buchla osc. Towards the end, he drops BS2 up in there. I'm not sure if he was doing it for musicality or as a cunning ploy to get me to post it here, but either way it worked.
---
## This is 7 Different Kinds Of Awesome...
- Date: 2009-03-04
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/03/this-is-7-different-kinds-of-awesome/
You've probably seen this by now, but if you haven't, go [here](http://thru-you.com/#/videos/1/) and stand in awe as someone takes the time to turn a whole massive pile of YouTard demo videos in to something that defies description.
Seriously. Go watch. Now.
---
## Quick BS2 test...
- Date: 2009-03-03
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/03/quick-bs2-test/
_\[Embedded media, no longer available.\]_
[BigSeq2 Self Osc Test](http://soundcloud.com/chris-randall/bigseq2-self-osc-test) by [Chris Randall](http://soundcloud.com/chris-randall)
I'm writing the presets for BigSeq2 today while Adam works on the AU, and here's one of them. This is preset #8 - Self Osc Acid. The drums are a separate loop and not running through BS2. The "synth" sound is coming from BS2 entirely, no input. I made it using the self-oscillating 4P LP filter, then through the Bits engine to turn it in to a square wave.
_\[Embedded media, no longer available.\]_
[BigSeq2 Gate Test](http://soundcloud.com/chris-randall/bigseq2-gate-test) by [Chris Randall](http://soundcloud.com/chris-randall)
Here's a test of the gating. You can hear the original for a measure, then I kick BS2 on. Fairly self-explanatory, I think.
---
## I'm sorry, but it has to be done...
- Date: 2009-03-03
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/03/im-sorry-but-it-has-to-be-done/
I feel a NEED for good musician jokes. Put up your best. I'll start with my two favorites:_
Q: What do you call a drummer that doesn't know any strippers?
A: Homeless.
Q: How are Kenny G and a Ginsu knife alike?
_
_A: They're both sharp as fuck all the time, and that's never gonna change._
Okay, your turn. And the ol' "drool on the SAT test" bullshit, well, we've all heard that. Let's get some new ones.
---
## The Usual Monday Nonsense...
- Date: 2009-03-02
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/03/the-usual-monday-nonsense/
Since it's becoming semi-traditional to make a Monday morning post wherein I say nothing of import, I'll go ahead and continue the semi-tradition and do so now.
1\. I'm about to make a build of BigSeq2 on Windows that I'll use to write presets with. What that means to you: the Windows version of BigSeq2 is done except for presets. Adam is working on the AU port. We're very close.
2\. The wife and I went to see Itzhak Perlman conduct the Oregon Symphony last night. He played the Soil Strad in Bach's Violin Concerto in A Minor, and I thought I was gonna choke the tone was so good. He then conducted the full symphony through Schubert's 3rd, which was outstanding, and Brahms 2nd, which inexplicably made me itch. I think Brahms was trying to impress other composers more than the audience, as I find that piece to be technically interesting but musically tedious.
(As an aside, I wonder if Itzhak says "fuuuuuuck" every time he gets a curtain call. That's gotta be a suck ass walk for him, and I use the word "walk" in a somewhat generous way. Dean Kaman needs to hook that motherfucker up.)
3\. We're **DONE** moving. This was the longest move ever in the history of long moves. Now, unpacking... shit.
4\. I just got an email this morning that asked... well, you kind of have to read it:
_I bought discord 2,,,and I was wondering if I could rename a preset called "devil stomp"..It has its number as 666 in the fx..,so..._
_and last thing....I Have installed your plugins into a folder called "anti-Audio Damage"....dont like the word called damage..so...is it okay?_
I'd think that guy was taking the piss, but for the fact that he's Norwegian, and the Norse are some of the most unfunny people on the planet. I'm pretty sure Garrison Keillor is the only Norwegian ever to get a laugh, which should give you an idea of Norse humor.
---
## Cat's Cradle...
- Date: 2009-02-27
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/02/cats-cradle/
The H8000 comes with a little utility to route all the inputs and outputs, and that image above is a screenshot of what I ended up with last night. The rub: I'm able to use the H8000FW as the Hub of my Digital Lifestyle. I will say that I can't squeeze quite as low a latency out of it as I can from the Lynx AES16, but that's to be expected, as FW isn't (in real life, at least) as fast as the PCI buss.
Still, a 21ms round trip is fine, and not noticeable, really. I got it to 10ms on the Lynx, and that isn't noticeable at all, and truthfully is well within the general noise of the universe. But I have to make a 11ms sacrifice in order to switch to the supremely convenient method I have going on now.
All that aside, another interesting thing happened yesterday. I've wanted a Lexicon 300 since they originally came up with the damn thing. I've used them in the Studio many times, and had somehow managed to convince myself that having one at home would Increase my Productivity and make my shit Better.
I went over to [Tidepool](http://www.tidepoolaudio.com/) yesterday to get an AES DSUB cable to hook my Mytek convertor to the H8000, and come to find out he had a Lexi 300 going for a reasonable price. I fawned over it, and he talked me in to taking it home to try out. (Truthfully, he didn't have to talk too hard.)
So, after getting it home, getting the above-mentioned routing nightmare behind me, and getting it in my rig, I settled down to a couple hours of comparison. Let me just say this: either the H8000FW wipes the floor with the Lexi 300 vis-a-vis reverbs, or the 300 doesn't sound as good as I remember it sounding. Well, the former is true either way, I guess.
Now, having said that, I would still very much like to have the 300. There's a certain grainy character to it that works really well for synth pads and vocals and other mid-rangy stuff, but it would be supremely irresponsible of me, financially speaking, to keep it. I already used my gear budget ('til, like, 2011) on this H8000FW, so I have to control the monkey on my back and take this fucker back to TidePool.
This, in a meandering fashion, brings us to our subject for today. What's the One That Got Away for you? Have you ever had a piece of gear in your possession that you dearly wanted to keep, but had to give back for personal or financial reasons?
---
## Samples-a-poppin'...
- Date: 2009-02-26
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/02/samples-a-poppin/
It may come as a shock to you completionists out there, but I'm _still_ moving. Hopefully, this nonsense will be over Saturday, and I can return to my previous lifestyle, which generated, like, income and stuff.
Until that heady day comes to pass, I'm exceedingly out of the loop. I mean that in a somewhat literal sense, as you'll soon be able to piece together, and we'll laugh and laugh. It seems that in the last several days there has been quite a bit of action on the sample-set front. ("within the sample set" was my first choice of phrasing there, but I thought it might be a little oblique.) It seems that two of our favorite sample providers have had Stuff that has Happened this week. I'd like to apologize in advance to the companies, the both of which are good friends of mine, for lumping them all together and providing almost no information you can't just make up yourself, but I'm so exhausted I can barely type, let alone poop out coherent sentences.
**Goldbaby Vinyl Drum Machines.** It seems Hugo has run out of tape, and has turned to a new medium. I'm all for it, and downloading now, but I dearly hope he doesn't turn to 1st gen MiniDisc next. ("FLAC Drum Machines!") That said, this has all the earmarks of being the coolest of the sets he's done. I say that without having listened to any of the samples yet, of course. Long story short, it seems he's made dub plates of various drum sounds, then sampled those in his normal unimpeachable style. Product page is [here.](http://goldbaby.co.nz/vinyldrummachine.html) US$29.00.
**Puremagnetik Bender.** This is, as the name implies, a sample set of circuit-bent Stuff. I could probably do without ever hearing a fucked up Speak 'n' Spell again ever in my entire whole life, but that aside, this is probably fairly usable. The download just finished on this. Product page is [here.](http://puremagnetik.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=158&Itemid=161) It's a micropak, and thus part of their subscription, which is well worth the money, in my opinion.
I have a sneaking suspicion that Soniccouture also did something interesting this week, or has something interesting coming, but in perusing my email and their site, I can find no mention of it. So, apologies to James et al if I for some reason missed something I should by all rights be talking about, but moving seems to lower my IQ significantly.
---
## Look Upon My Rack, Ye Mighty, And Despair...
- Date: 2009-02-25
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/02/look-upon-my-rack-ye-mighty-and-despair/
[](http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/3308521786/)
If Ozymandias made electronic music instead of, say, sandstone temples and war against the Hitittes and shit, this is what his rack would have looked like, I'd like to think. Except for the one final piece (a PCM91), I've pretty much reached the end of the road vis-a-vis my digital lifestyle, with the addition of that shiny new H8000FW.
I've only had it hooked up for a couple hours now, so I am in no way qualified or able to give even a minimal review. I will say, however, that the likelihood of me complaining about it in the foreseeable future is essentially nil. Initial experimentation seems to lead me to the conclusion that there are very few multi-FX boxes even in the same league as this, and none that I've owned or used.
It is, in short, God In A Box.
I'll admit in all candor that, despite having what could only be termed as "decades" of experience around professional equipment, this box is a bit above my pay grade, and it is a weird combination of elation and slight embarrassment that I'm feeling right now. But I'll wallow in the former and swallow the latter, as is my wont.
Now it's time to sell some tracks so I can somehow pay for this cocksucker.
---
## Rainy Days And Mondays and, like, sandwiches...
- Date: 2009-02-23
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/02/rainy-days-and-mondays-and-like-sandwiches/
That bitch has five fucking stars. Go figure. It looks like the Perma-Rain has started here in PDX. I fucking DIG this shit. Anyhow, a couple points to make to start the week:
1\. I was, as it turns out, hopelessly optimistic viz. my post last Monday about BS2 progress. We sent out a late alpha (what I thought was an early beta) and are just now stemming the tide on the litany of problems discovered. This is, by a country mile, the most complex plug we've released, and whack-a-mole with the bugs is in full force. However, at the risk of being a Pollyanna of the first order, I'll now provide an estimate of two and a half weeks to release. That sound you hear is Adam laughing hysterically.
2\. In that same vein, I'll probably put up the store page and a shit-ton of audio samples today. I'll [Twat](http://twitter.com/Chris_Randall) when I've done that.
3\. I know there are a fair amount of AI readers in PDX. I'd like to gauge the interest for a monthly AI get-together where we can sit around and bitch about YouTube fucktards and Chinese plastic MIDI controllers, and perhaps enjoy a nice single malt scotch.
---
## Everything Old Is New Again...
- Date: 2009-02-20
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/02/everything-old-is-new-again/
[](https://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/3296352056/)
Picked up my Airline from [12th Fret](http://the12thfret.com/) today. They did a hell of a job getting it up to modern standards, on time and under budget. New tuners, had the pots replaced, the bridge pinned, and various and sundry adjustments. Also, this might be interesting to some guitarists that read this blog: D'Addario now makes a set of 10s with a wound 3rd string especially for guitars like this. So I'm trying them out. Seem to be pretty nice, if a tiny bit lively for my taste.
The amp in the picture, if you're curious, is an absolutely fantastic Guild Thunder I Reverb I just grabbed from Olde Towne. They wanted a bit much for it, but it sounds absolutely fantastic. Interestingly, unlike most amps with reverbs, the tank is driven with a speaker, not capacitance-coupled, like Ampeg stuff or tranny coupled like Fender. This amp was made prior to Guild's purchase by Fender, and is _smoking_ hot. Love it.
Anyhow, I'm trying to decide whether I want to have 12th Fret shim the pickups, as the guitar's output is a bit low and the S:N is a bit high. It'll change the tone drastically, so I can't make up my mind whether to do it or not, as it sounds so good right now. But that's where we're living currently.
---
## Live From The Frozen Wasteland...
- Date: 2009-02-13
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/02/live-from-the-frozen-wasteland/
Still idling in this hotel room in Spokane. I'm going a bit stir crazy, I'll readily admit. For some stupid reason I didn't think to bring my Duet and a pair of decent headphones, so I can't work on music. The vast majority of work I do for Audio Damage is done on my PC, so I really can't do that either. I'm left with fooling with Processing or Quartz Composer (both quite unfulfilling on a MacBook), staring at the ceiling, or trolling the internet in search of trouble while these tinny speakers bang out [Cliqhop.](http://somafm.com/recent/?cliqhop)
Anyhow, I'm going to be selling my Eclipse shortly, due to the imminent arrival of an H8000FW. I can't say enough nice things about the Eclipse, as you full well know. (Or any Eventide box, for that matter. They are, and always have been, my most favoritest hardware effects makers.) I would actually kind of like to keep it, but an H8000 is four Eclipses and then some, and I don't need five Eclipses, despite what my greedy-ass lizard hind brain might be telling me. I'm looking to get $1300 plus true shipping. It'll come with a 1GB card, and is updated to the latest OS. I won't be able to actually send it until the H8000 arrives, so you have some time to think about it.
The fact that the H8000 takes four AES/EBU channels has gummed up my rig of two posts ago a bit. I have to ponder how to pull that all off if I want to use all four I/O on the H8000. I'm trying to avoid the obvious, which is another Lynx AES16 card. Gotta think about that for a while.
Also, thanks once again to everyone for your kind words vis-a-vis my mother's situation. As it turns out, it's not as bad as was originally thought, and as a couple people mentioned in the previous thread, it's 2009, and this sort of thing is, for want of a better word, routine. She's having [this](http://www.hrspatients.org/patients/treatments/cardiac_ablation.asp) done, if you're curious. I'm fairly squeamish, so I don't want to dwell on the whole process too much, but suffice to say that assuming the operation is a success, and there's no reason to think it won't be, she'll be able to go home tomorrow, and so will I.
Which brings me to my final issue. Is there someone in PDX that wants to make a couple hundred bucks helping me move my sofa and a couple other items I can't get myself on Monday or Tuesday? It would involve riding with me down to Mill City, getting the objects in question, and bringing them back to PDX. You should obviously not have back problems, and you should have a bit of common sense viz. the moving of large (albeit not that heavy) objects. Drop me [a line](mailto:chris@positronrecords.com) if you're interested.
---
## The Gift That Keeps On Giving...
- Date: 2009-02-12
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/02/the-gift-that-keeps-on-giving/
This week has just been awesome. And I don't mean "awesome" in the Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure sense of the word, but rather the dictionary sense.
**awesome** _|ˈôsəm|_
adjective
extremely impressive or daunting; inspiring great admiration, apprehension, or fear : _the awesome power of the atomic bomb._
I set aside two specific days this week (today was the second of those two) where my PC, which is the box I do the vast majority of my work for AD on, would be disassembled and thus unusable. We had to time the operation with a certain amount of finesse, as we're getting close to the finish line on BS2 and there's not a real big window I could pull this whole thing off.
So yesterday I disassembled and moved my PC and the rack that goes with it up to our new place in Portland, and got a long ways towards re-assembling it. I was going to finish the rebuilding tomorrow. Note the tense of that sentence, as it is fairly important to this whole story. I am not in either Mill City or Portland, but rather 350 miles to the east in Spokane, Washington. My mother got taken to the hospital Monday afternoon with fainting spells and chest pains. Turns out, she's gonna need to have heart surgery, so the hospital in Idaho sent her here to Sacred Heart in Spokane. Those of you that follow my Twitter feed know all about this, of course, and thanks for the well wishes.
Anyhow, here I sit. Lovely weather, too. Theoretically, the surgery will happen on Friday. I can't say one way or another when I'll be back in Portland, or Mill City to finish our move for that matter. My wife is safely ensconced in our new place, along with Pablo and Chica. The only thing she's missing is furniture, really.
---
## A Personal Favor...
- Date: 2009-02-04
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/02/a-personal-favor/
I don't expect the vast majority of my readers (the ones who _aren't_ in American touring industrial bands, which is, let's be honest, most all of you) to know who Gary Czaplewski is, so I'll give a little back-story. Gary is a promoter in Milwaukee that has bought shows from virtually every touring industrial band for the last dozen-odd years. He's one of the few Good Guys in this industry. He always gives bands what they ask for, does his best on the rider (or at least the reasonable parts), and sticks to a contract like glue. I will absolutely vouch for him; he is on my list of first-call promoters, as I can always rely on an early confirmation, usually for a date I wanted in the first place. Anyone who has tried to book a tour will know how important it is to have good promoters you can rely on, and Gary is absolutely one of those.
Anyhow, that's the general idea. Gary has hit a spot of fairly bad luck, as the house he lived in and supported his ailing mother burnt to the ground last week, taking virtually everything he owned with it. There was essentially nothing salvageable from the fire, so he and his mother are at square one.
Now, I know you don't know Gary in all likelihood, and probably will never need him to buy a show from you. But if you could spare a little bit, it would really make a difference. There are a _lot_ of readers of this blog, and to me that looks like a big slab of help just lying around waiting for something to do. Whether you know him or not, this guy is in our business, and he definitely doesn't deserve this. Please send a little good karma his way; you'll feel better, and he and his mom will actually _be_ better for it. [Here is a page](http://audiate.livejournal.com/8394.html) that has a Paypal donation link; if even half of the daily readers of AI give just a buck or two, that'll end up being a fairly big chunk of money, which will really help. Gary's Livejournal blog is [here,](http://romankaze.livejournal.com/) if you're interested in the fire and how he's dealing with it.
---
## Performance: ur doin it rong...
- Date: 2009-01-30
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/01/performance-ur-doin-it-rong/
Okay, so let me tell you about this show I went to last night. I won't say where it was or who was performing, as when I do that it tends to come back and bite me in the ass. But suffice to say that it was one of those nights where you look around and just say to yourself "well, this is a sad state of affairs right here."
The issue at hand is thus: when you combine the words "performance" and "art" in to "Performance Art," it apparently gives you license to have no skills, yet still receive admiration. I find this whole thing faintly ironic, inasmuch as all performance is necessarily art, and most art is performance. Yet when you call it "performance art," it opens up a whole new thing, where neither performance nor art actually occur, at least by anything I'm able to measure it by.
I'd like to think of myself as a fairly well-rounded individual, when it comes to the ability to perceive art. While it's true that I'm pretty jaded vis-a-vis the performance of live music, having sat through several thousand shows by virtue of my twin careers as a musician and lighting director/designer (the latter thankfully now no longer part of my skill set), I think I'm astute enough to know "good" when I see it, whether I like the music or not.
Last night, I cracked the local weekly arts-n-entertainment rag, and noticed there was a show that was described as "live electronic music with visuals." Now, I'd never heard of any of the acts, and I certainly didn't expect Juno Reactor or Underworld-scale shit, but I think with a description like that, most of us would conjure a mental image of a nightclub setting, with, well, visuals and live electronic music.
On the one hand, what it turned out to be did actually fit that description. On the other, when you hear the words "canned food," you don't necessarily automatically think of [this,](http://www.flickr.com/photos/leff/1117533/) do you? (Although you will now and forever more, and you can thank me for that.) The performance, taking the "art" aspect out of it, which took place in a fairly nice venue with a good PA and room to move, consisted of a person sitting at a table. Upon the table was placed a Phattboxx 2300. The person _sat there_ for roughly 45 minutes, poking out fair-to-middling grooves (and I use that word with its loosest possible connotations) without pause, while a bedsheet tied up behind the performer showed what I assume was a video of out-of-focus headlights going by.
The audience, god bless 'em, was at rapt attention the entire time, and responded at the end of the set with long and loud applause and cheering. This was the most intriguing thing to me. If this had been a proper dance club and a proper live PA, the performer would have been booed off the stage maybe 3 minutes in. I've seen it happen, and if you frequent this sort of event, I imagine you have too. The interesting thing here was the context, because it was part of an evening of "performance art." I won't go in to the absolutely over-the-top pompous pretentiousness of the other acts, but suffice to say that they were more along the lines of what I expected for "performance art."
At this juncture I could actually make a point, and if I did, it would be this: if you suck playing live, call what you do "performance art," and the standards for what you need to do to entertain the audience drop fantastically. That isn't really what I'm trying to say, though, so I'll skip on by that for the now.
What I'm really trying to say is this: sitting at a table staring at the readout on your grooveboxx, occasionally poking a button, is not performance. It is barely art. The audience, bless their little hearts, are paying money to be entertained. Your job, as an entertainer, is to do something they're not willing or able to do themselves. I do realize that we could easily veer off in to Jackson Pollock territory in the conversation that is about to ensue, but here's what it comes down to: just because you can get away with a show made of losercakes covered in failsauce doesn't mean you should. Push the envelope. At least knock over a mic stand or something. Living right on the edge of what can feasibly be delivered to the earholes of the people standing there staring at you is where the money shot is.
(A final note: if, for some reason, you're able to deduce the show I am talking about, please don't post the artist and venue. While it is, in fact, their fault, I don't see how this post would help their situation any and I don't necessarily bear them any ill will.)
---
## BigSeq2 Screenshot...
- Date: 2009-01-28
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/01/bigseq2-screenshot/
[](http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/3235497216/sizes/o/)
Here's a shot of BigSeq2 with the new UI. This is, I think, much better than the old one. Click for full-sized.
There is one major change to the architecture, as well. Previously, we had only one modulation target per effect. Essentially, you could only use the modulation sequencer of each effect for one parameter. Now, if you note, there is a small slider under each knob, where you can select positive or negative modulation against the current value. This creates a lot more possibilities, we think. The few of you that own Ronin will be familiar with this way of doing things. We also used this method for the LFO in Discord 2.
I'm fairly certain we've included virtually every feature that was requested in the previous threads on the subject, or at least the ones that weren't silly or impossible. The randomization is much more sophisticated on this one than on BS1, I'll say that much. You can individually randomize the gate or mod of each effect, and if you highlight the "reset" button below each sequencer, it will randomize per the value set with the "global reset" drop-down.
In effect, if you have "reset" on the mod sequencer for VCA active, and "global reset" is set to one measure, the sequencer will randomize every measure. You'll note the small buttons under each step in both the gate and mod sequencers. These are locks. If this is active for a step, no randomization will affect that step.
Moving on, the routing section on the bottom is where you select the effect you want to edit. You can also drag these bricks around to re-arrange the routing. So if you want to go bitcrush->filter->VCA, you're more than welcome to.
The final effects complement is VCA (which is the actual audio gating portion, and also panning), filter (the full complement from Dr. Device), distort (about what you'd expect), delay, frequency shifter, and bits.
Regarding the delay section specifically, it has three modes of operation: delay, chorus, and flange. Unlike the other effects, delay is always active, and the gate sequencer controls the send to the effect. It isn't actually \_in\_ the chain of effects. You control the spot where the sound is sent to the delay in the chain by moving the delay brick about.
We don't have an estimated finish time yet. There is still quite a bit to do. While the one I've screenshotted above actually works, to a certain extent, we've just put in the delay section, and haven't yet added the freq shifter. So it's still a ways away, unfortunately. We'll have a better idea of where we stand in a week or two.
This will be US$49, like all our top-line effects, and will replace BigSeq in the store. People that already own BigSeq will need to pay $10 to get this installer. It is, I don't really need to point out, waaaaaay beyond BigSeq 1 in terms of functionality and usefulness.
---
## Various Things...
- Date: 2009-01-27
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/01/various-things/
1 - BigSeq2 is forging ahead. I've completely re-designed the user interface from scratch, due to comments/criticism about the Rough Rider Pro interface, which was essentially the same as the original BS2 one. (Or the one for public consumption, anyhow. The current one is the 9th full interface I've done for BS2. I'll put up a post soon with all 9, so you can see the progression. It is highly comical.) Barring any unforeseen problems, and I'd say the likelihood of those is virtually certain given past performance on this plug, we're maybe 3 weeks away on that.
2 - My wife has been working on a re-design of AI, as I mentioned a while back, and that'll be going live not too long from now. But one of the coolest aspects is a version of the new site specifically designed for mobile devices (really specifically, for the iPhone and Touch, but it seems to work fine on other phones with browsers.) She got it mostly done last night, and it is very slick, I have to say. On your "big" computer, you'll get one version, and on your mobile, you can choose between the normal version or the mobile-specific one.
3 - Adam still has his Omega 8 for sale. Read about it [here.](http://studionebula.com/blog/2009/01/09/synths-and-drum-machine-for-sale) And also, inexplicably, an Apple Studio Display with Audio Damage pedigree.
4 - While I had to sell half my instruments to get it, I have to say that my new recording/summing rig is the fucking BOMB, and I don't even have the D-Box yet. I have enough left for a 2-buss comp; just trying to decide which one to get. Right now I'm wavering between the API 2500, the much-less-expensive Drawmer 1968(ME), and just waiting until I can afford the Thermionic Culture Phoenix ME, and grabbing a UAD2 in the meantime. (That'll be a long wait; that fucking thing is expensive.)
That's it for now. Back to work.
---
## A Little Spark...
- Date: 2009-01-25
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/01/a-little-spark/
Well, that was fun, but let's move along. Places to go, things to see, songs to write.
One thing I've noticed about myself specifically is that I can demonstrably ("repeatable," as we say when describing errors during the beta testing process) trigger my own creative juices by playing video games. It doesn't work with all games, and I can point to a year-long creative black hole courtesy of the fine folks at Blizzard Entertainment as proof of that. For me, a specific type of game, the platformer w/ puzzles, is what triggers it.
I can cite two specific examples, Abe's Oddysee and LittleBigPlanet. For some reason that I can't explain, the little neurons in charge of thinking up interesting melodies and lyrics are kicked in to gear after an hour or two with either game. It also happens sometimes with Gran Turismo, but more reliably with the other two.
Am I unique in this regard? I doubt it. Like most musicians that have been professional for a long time, I don't look at writing music as relaxation, but rather as a job, and I kind of have to force myself to do it. Luckily, I can just put in an hour playing LittleBigPlanet and I'm good to go for the rest of the day. I'm curious as to whether this phenomenon happens to anyone else. Or more specifically, what triggers your little Creations to do their thing?
---
## An Open Letter To Jona Bechtolt...
- Date: 2009-01-24
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/01/an-open-letter-to-jona-bechtolt/
Dear Jona:
While it was kind of you to write me personally expounding on your comments in the [previous post,](https://analogindustries.com/2009/01/five-years-what-a-surprise/) I'm afraid I take issue with some of the points you made. I've chosen to print my thoughts publicly, both for the theraputic value, and in the hopes that future generations will find some small value in this missive.
First things first. I will say up front that I do not accept your apology. I do appreciate the fact that you requested we send you a bill for the products you stole from us, but we won't be doing that either. I'll get to the "why" of that towards the end, so you have that to look forward to.
Anyhow, since this is an open letter, Jona, I have to provide the backstory for the people just joining us; I realize you already know all this stuff, but it's important for posterity. You, in your role as the leader of the group [Yacht](http://teamyacht.com/) gave an interview to [Waferbaby](http://waferbaby.com/setup/2009/01/09/yacht) in which you stated that you willfully and happily used cracked software, and specifically Audio Damage plug-ins, to aid in your musical endeavors. Since I raised a certain (and I believe justifiable) objection to that in the previous entry, you or Waferbaby edited that interview. Of course, Google cached the un-edited one, and I grabbed a PDF, which interested parties can read [here.](https://web.archive.org/web/2009/http://www.analogindustries.com/samples/YACHT_waferbaby.pdf)
So, now that everybody knows where things stand, we can get on with our discussion. I will set aside the obvious and annoying hypocrisy of the whole light and happy rainbows trip you're on, because I'm not interested in discussing the relative merits of the genre in which you choose to express your creativity. In that interview, you essentially gloat over the fact that most all of the software you use to make music is pirated. Leaving aside the ethics of that for a moment, let's address the wisdom or lack thereof about gloating in public about committing a crime. While it may be the charge of the Hippy Dippy Light Brigade that information wants to be free, etc., it usually isn't free. Just because it _feels_ free doesn't change the fact.
I realize that you're young, and perhaps a bit stunned by the fact that someone might take offense to your words or actions, but know this: if someone creates something, and chooses to hang a price tag on that thing, if you decide to take said thing without paying for it, you are _de facto_ a thief. There's really no grey area. People are welcome to talk (or even yell, wave their arms, and run in circles) about changing things, leveling the playing field, rolling around in the fields of egalitarian bliss, but bad luck, you live in the United States of America, which is a capitalist nation. As such, most people that create things choose to charge for them, given the option to do so.
Since a metaphor is usually called for at this point, I'll give it my best shot. I don't suppose you walk in to White Hen Pantry and steal candy bars, do you? It's really not that much harder to steal a candy bar than it is to steal a plug-in. What makes that candy bar more _real_ than a copy of Dubstation? The threat of immediate repercussions? If Dubstation was a real hardware unit instead of a group of ones and zeros arranged in a meaningful fashion, would you walk in to Guitar Center and slip it in to your pocket when nobody was looking? Interestingly, the penalty, should you be caught taking a candy bar, is far less than getting caught stealing software. That alone should give one pause. However, I'm far from naive, and I know just as well as you do that as long as someone doesn't, say, put a record of their actions in a public medium, they're not going to get caught taking the software.
Just so we're clear, Audio Damage, Inc. is not going to sue you, or file a complaint with the Multnomah County Sheriff's department. We would be well within our rights to do either or both, and most other software companies certainly _would_ do so. In actual fact, I believe you do have a couple summonses to look forward to from some of the other companies you mentioned in your thoughtless rambling. But that's not my concern.
My true desire is to show you that the group of ones and zeros you took from us, and others, are meaningful creations. Adam and I put months, and in some cases, years of work in to those plug-ins. They are very real to us, and selling them is how we put a roof over our heads and keep our heat on and our refrigerators full. Is Dubstation (or Kombinat, Reverence, and BigSeq, the other plug-ins you stole from us) helping you make music? That is actual real time that Adam and I spent coding, modelling, designing, porting, testing, and selling. I sat in the second bedroom of my rented house (which is, I'll mention, roughly 30 miles from yours) and worked on the design of Dubstation. Adam sat in the basement of his house in Boulder and turned my idea in to a VST and an AudioUnit. Following that line of logic to its obvious conclusion, Adam and I spent time making something, and put what we thought was an extremely reasonable price tag on our time, in the hopes that others would see our creation and think that our time was useful, and would help improve their own creations. While it is somewhat unsavory to insist on payment for our creation, we have to do so in order to enable the act of creation in and of itself.
If you choose to use what we make without compensating us for our time, we'll grant that there's very little we can do about it. (Unless, of course, you say in a public medium that you've done so. Which, I'll mention again, you most assuredly did.) However, know this: wrong is wrong. If you have to ask whether you're a bad person or not, that alone should be all the answer you need. We are willing to accept piracy as a fact of life in the business we're in. We've never done more than pay lip service to copy protection, and we've tried to put a value on the product of our creativity that makes that product easily attainable, to the point where piracy simply isn't worth the trouble.
In conclusion, I promised to tell you why we wouldn't be sending you a bill. On the one hand, I'm happy with the fact that you're beginning to grasp that your words and actions have meaning, and therefor value, which essentially puts you in the same boat as Adam and I. On the other hand, when you justify your actions with the old standby "well, everyone else is doin' it" then you mark yourself as a follower, not a leader. If you want to be a leader, your example has to be righteous, not petty.
So we won't send you a bill, but know this: you'll end up paying for our software one way or another. I imagine you'll want to book a show at a club where I'm friends with the owner, and you'll need that date to wheel part of a run. But that owner will know that you're not to be trusted, so he'll pass on the date. Or you'll want to license one of your tracks on an episode of television, but the music supervisor has a 15-year relationship with me, and he values that more than he needs your song. Or you'll finally get an interview with that magazine that will put you in front of the kind of people you need to be in front of, but come to find out Audio Damage spends $1500 a month advertising in that magazine, and that company needs our $1500 more than it needs to fill column inches with your pondering out loud whether you're a bad person or not.
I am sorry that the Google footprint of this site is roughly 1000 times that of your name alone, and thus this will be the first thing that comes up whenever anyone searches your name directly, but there's nothing I can do about that. I hope this has been a valuable lesson to you, and food for thought to others. Thanks for taking the time to expand on your original comments, and I look forward to your reply. Just so you're aware, if you reply to me privately, I will absolutely post that reply verbatim here, so you might as well just put it in the comments of this post.
---
## Five Years, What A Surprise...
- Date: 2009-01-23
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/01/five-years-what-a-surprise/
_My brain hurt like a warehouse, it had no room to spare
I had to cram so many things to store everything in there..._
\-David Bowie, "Five Years"
Last week was Audio Damage's fifth anniversary. In that time we've released 21 plugins (counting three different versions of Discord), dealt with the abject stupidity of Digidesign, the flighty schizophrenia of Apple, and the bovine stalwartness of Microsoft. We've made plugins for XP, Vista, OS9, OSX 10.2, 10.3, 10.4, 10.5, and soon 10.6. We've made VST2.3 and VST2.4 plugins with VSTGUI 2.3, 2.4, 3.0, and 3.5, along with RTAS for OS9 (briefly), AU for 10.2, AU for 10.3, and AU for 10.4 and onwards, in three distinctly different versions of Xcode, CodeWarrior, and two more-or-less the same versions of Visual Studio. Some time in the immediate future, we'll have to man up and make VST3 plugins, too.
To make those 21 products, I've personally made about 100 nearly complete user interfaces, and spent a sum total of what has to be many months, if not years, staring at Photoshop CS and 3D Studio Max. Adam has coded well over 200 individual DSP blocks, along with a couple dozen user interface objects and a complete parameter management system, among many other important things you don't see, but make plugins work. We've put up with documentation (or the lack thereof) that is truly awful, from companies that should know better. We've seen at least three plug-in formats that we know of either come and go, or never get out of the starting gates. I assume there are more that we don't know about.
We've thrown a few elbows in the industry, made a lot of friends, bought a bunch of ads, faced some fairly intense competition, bitched and moaned about inconsequential shit, and dealt with shit that isn't inconsequential at all. We've moved the corporation from one state to another and moved my actual ass to a different state entirely. We've put up with [rampant idiocy](http://waferbaby.com/setup/2009/01/09/yacht) from people that style themselves members of the creative community but are actually members of some kind of bullshit that doesn't have a name.
We've also met a metric shitload of extremely cool people, made what we think are some pretty good plug-ins, and had a lot of laughs. This business fucking rocks, no doubt about it, and you'd have a hard time getting me to go hunting for a new job. Adam and I would like to thank each and every person that has supported our little company through its birthing pains. The road is wide open from here, and here's to hoping for a 10 year anniversary post in 2014.
---
## Yard Sale...
- Date: 2009-01-21
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/01/yard-sale/
Okay, time for round two. Here's what's on the block:
**Apogee Rosetta 200 (192):** You know it. You love it. You want it. I have the box and all the materials, and never even sent in the registration card. Essentially flawless. $1100.
**DSI Mopho:** Every time I track with this, I end up replacing the track with something from one of my other analogs. That means to me that it is sucking up electricity that is better used elsewhere. This is essentially new. $325.
**Roland MKS-80:** I have a fellow in Finland that wants to buy this, but I don't know if I can stomach sending it there. If I can find a buyer in the US or Canada, I'd prefer that. It is a Rev 5. $1100.
**Elektron MonoMachine:** Essentially new. The safety plastic is still on the display, even. This is a Mk 1. Comes with rack ears (unopened.) $800.
**Akai MPD32:** I don't use this hardly at all, so out it goes. I thought it would be a better idea than it turned out to be for my workflow. I'm just more comfortable typing beats. Essentially new. $200.
Prices are firm. Buyer pays true shipping cost. Paypal only, unless you live in PDX or environs in which case we can meet up and swap real cashy money. I'll be willing to consider the following in trade for various pieces, plus or minus the appropriate amounts of cash: API 2500, 500-format pres (in pairs), Dangerous D-Box, Memorymoog w/ Lintronics mod, 909, Chandler TG1 or TG12413. [Drop me a line](mailto:chris@positronrecords.com) if something catches your fancy.
**ALSO....** Adam is selling some nice pieces concurrently. He's got an SE Omega 8, a LinnDrum LM-2, and another MonoMachine. His post on the subject is [here.](http://studionebula.com/blog/2009/01/09/synths-and-drum-machine-for-sale)
---
## Old 'n' Busted: Meet New Hotness...
- Date: 2009-01-20
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2009/01/old-n-busted-meet-new-hotness/
[](http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/3214167118/)
Well, my Rosetta is neither old, nor busted, but in my searching the Interwebs for solutions to various scenarios, I came across a Mytek 8x192 for sale, in PDX, natch. It was at a price too good to pass up, so I popped up to Portland and grabbed it as soon as O-Dog was done with his speechifying. I guess I don't need a Rosetta 800 any more, nor do I specifically need a Dangerous D-Box (integral summing buss, bitches!)
I can't report on whether this is better, worse, or the same as the Rosetta (I assume the first) as I haven't yet rigged it to my Lynx. Cabling issues abound. But suffice to say that I'm currently an extremely happy camper vis-a-vis my conversion. I imagine various thoughts will be forthcoming once I've gotten it integrated in to my system.
---
## 2008 Wrap Up...
- Date: 2008-12-31
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/12/2008-wrap-up/
All other blogs do a yearly wrap-up post, so I might as well. With that in mind, I give you the **Best AD info@ e-mail of 2008:**
_
Hallo!
I am going to buy your hole Plugins!!!
There are nothing comparable for this Price!!!
My only problem is,i don?t no about your vst3 support!!!!
Are you going to support it?Please,need fast response!!
I hope you will do it!!!
_
This is just wall-to-wall Win, on so many different levels. Conveniently, it came this morning, so it just made the cut. Needless to say, I told him our usual spiel on VST3, which is "we'll support it when we don't have any other choice," essentially.
And in other bests...
**Best Little Hardware Thingie Of 2008:** I think the [Mopho](http://www.analoguehaven.com/davesmithinstruments/mopho/) wins hands down in this category, really no question of that. A well-made piece of kit that sounds good for a reasonable price. How could that not be the Best Thing Ever?
**Best New Album I Bought In 2008:** This is a subjective category if ever there was one. I'm gonna go with "Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!" This is the only time that [Jim DeRogatis](http://www.suntimes.com/entertainment/1351594,cst-sho-dero28.article) and I will ever agree on anything, ever. That miserable fuck got one right for once.
**Best Live Music I Saw In 2008:** I think I'm gonna give it to the Oregon Symphony for their performance of Carmina Burana, which was off the fucking hook. I didn't see a lot of live music in '08 (unless you count on TV, which I don't) and almost all of it was symphonic. I had to miss the Tom Waits tour because of my damn family reunion; I have the NPR podcast of the Atlanta show, so I'll say the best live music I _heard_ in 2008 was that.
**Biggest Music Industry "FAIL" of 2008:** I think I'm gonna have to go ahead and go with VST3. Either that or Kanye's absolutely tragic Not-O-Tuned "performance" on SNL. (If you're a sucker for human tragedy and the like, you can absorb it [here.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNuOSwfB-NA&feature=related))
**Biggest Music Industry "WIN" of 2008:** Well, shit. I can't think of one off the top of my head. Can I say Bettye Lavette's performance of "Love Reign O'er Me" at the Kennedy Center Honors last night? Jesus, that was shit-hot. And everybody is like "who?" (That's a pun, just in case you weren't paying attention.) This is one of those moments when an unknown becomes a Known, and it's kind of cool to see. You can see the whole Who tribute [here.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJZiZqy61zs) Keep the sound down until Joss Stone gets off the stage. Seriously. It'll just make you mad.
I think that's about it for 2008. Did I miss anything?
---
## Sound Exchange: Made Of Fail...
- Date: 2008-12-30
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/12/sound-exchange-made-of-fail/
Within a couple days of each other in the last week, I got my 4th quarter ASCAP publisher's statement and my "Unit Of Arbitrary Time" artist statement from Sound Exchange. If you click on that picture, you can actually read the numbers. You will notice a large disparity. The ASCAP statement is 113 times the size of the Sound Exchange statement for the roughly equivalent unit of time.
I'm not necessarily pointing out the disparity in income from the two sources here, because my ASCAP checks are entirely from television, a more-or-less profitable medium, while Sound Exchange assfucks unprofitable start-ups, and businesses made of lose, so there's no real shock about that. My point is in the relative effort I expended to get those checks. When I joined ASCAP, about a week after my first album was released, the entire event largely consisted of walking in to the building across the street from Lincoln Center and saying "hey, I'd like to join up." I signed my name to a form that a members services person filled out for me, and that was that. The checks started up about a year later, and haven't stopped.
Now, with Sound Exchange, it was a somewhat different process, to put it mildly. First off, Sound Exchange doesn't collect performance royalties, which is what ASCAP, BMI et al collect. Performance royalties are split between the songwriter and the publisher of the song, are paid where music is performed (on television, in elevators, at Starbucks, etc.), and are there to ensure that the chump that _wrote_ the song can pay his rent. Sound Exchange is entirely a child of the RIAA, and in order to justify their existence, they made up an entirely new royalty category. Inexplicably, they collect royalties from Sirius/XM (who, I might add, already have to pay _MONSTER_ ASCAP and BMI licenses), all the interweb streaming services (ditto), that sort of thing.
The way the RIAA pulled this off was by lobbying Orin Hatch to slip this new royalty category in to the DMCA, long story short. They did it so that labels who felt they were losing money on digital transmissions (because, you know, RealAudio and Sirius are "CD Quality" and stuff) could get a little something on the back end. So entirely unlike ASCAP/BMI performance royalties, which go to the writer and his publisher, Sound Exchange royalties go to the label and the performer.
While it may not seem like such a bad deal if you're the label or performer, you obviously haven't filled out Sound Exchange's forms yet. To anyone with even a passing understanding of copyright, it was readily apparent to me from the day I started the week-long process of getting my lengthy catalog in their system that they were making it up as they went.
Now, up until Audio Damage came along, my income consisted almost entirely of royalty checks of one form or another. I'm a fairly intelligent person, I'd like to think, and I've taken the time to educate myself about what royalties I should be getting, why I get them, and how to finesse those sources of income. But Sound Exchange boggled me. I had to call them for clarification several times (and don't forget I had to do all this twice, as a label and as an artist; the above statement is the "artist" portion of the proceeds) and, as I said, I spent about a week dealing with their nonsense.
The statements they send don't actually contain any information at all. This latest one was 9 pages, and each page had the same entry, exactly as you see it in the picture: SISTER MACHINE GUN 16.47. This leads me to believe that the only performances they were able to notice were of my 90s band, even though my other two projects get equal or greater internet airplay. So there's that. I have no idea whatsoever what source this 16.47 came from, why it came, or how to make it better. I don't know what song it was for, or how to split it among the other performers. In short, the information is entirely useless, and as such isn't information at all. Since Sound Exchange sends these statements basically when they feel like it, I don't even know when the fuck this happened.
Now, I'm not the sort of person that looks a gift horse in the mouth, and as a content provider rather than a content consumer, I value all income streams that I can get my greedy little hands on. But Sound Exchange has got to be one of the dumbest rackets in the music industry, and is yet another way that the RIAA is steadily trying to turn the recording industry back in to the sharecropping of the 60s when they were happy. Leonard Chess would be proud.
---
## To Mix Or Not To Mix? That Is The Question...
- Date: 2008-12-28
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/12/to-mix-or-not-to-mix-that-is-the-question/
Long-time readers will note that I used to often put up pictures of people with sprawling rigs of high-end instruments, and then point out that they were mixing all this gear a cheap-ass Behringer or Mackie mixer, with a certain note of derision. Almost every time I'd put up one of these sorts of entries, I'd get a couple e-mails that said "well, okay, what should I use, then?"
To answer that, we have to put it in context. My snide comments are the result of a particular combination of really expensive (and theoretically quality) instruments and really shitty mixers. This bothers me to no end. I could (and have) put up many examples of people with keyboard rigs that run in to the tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of dollars, who are mixing it all with a $199 mixer. To say that this defies logic is to understate the matter entirely. Why would you spend $3000 a piece on a Prophet 5, Jupiter 8, MemoryMoog, whatever, for their "vintage warmth" and "better sound," then mix them through the absolute lowest quality op-amps, shittiest available mic pres, and EQ that isn't even worth the name? It really beggars understanding.
So, I'm not saying you need to go grab a Speck line mixer for your Alesis Ion and circuit bent Speak 'n' Spell. Your EuroRack will suffice. If that's what you can afford, it'll do the job, and for live purposes, if you're anything less than a theatre-sized band, it's fine. If you're playing theaters, you've obviously got your shit together, and you're probably not asking me for my opinions, as your own have credence.
Personally, I just have stereo inputs on my rig, and I record everything individually. I'm in no particular hurry, and I usually have a vision of what the song is gonna be before I even start recording. If you have the kind of cash that results in some of these monster rigs, you have the kind of cash that can result in an Apogee AD16x or an Aurora 16, and you've got eight stereo inputs to your DAW. (Or 16 mono ones, if that's how you roll.) I personally prefer to use mic pre/DIs on my keyboards, but that's how I roll.
The instrument Gods gave us patch bays for a reason, you know.
If you absolutely _must_ mix with a hardware mixer, there are many options that aren't Behringer. A simple rule-of-thumb applies here: if the word "Pro" appears in the literature or name of the product, it is To Be Avoided. Stuff that actually _is_ pro doesn't need the label, because it is obvious. Chandler, Aurora Audio, Speck, API, Midas, Allen & Heath, Crane Song, Manley, Neve, SPL, Toft, and several other companies all make line mixers in the $2500 to $8000 range (roughly the same as any given MemoryMoog) that don't suck, to put it mildly. Each one has a particular feature set, and I have no doubt whatsoever that there is one that fits your purposes exact.
This will bring up the inevitable "yeah, but Record X by Indy Rock Artist Y was mixed on a Eurotrash 9000 with the ClusterFuck Mk2 meter bridge! Good enough for them, good enough for me!!!" Sure, it was. It was also mastered by Bernie Grundman, because the label knew it had a hit song, and was willing to spend the money to fix it. Bernie spent several days at a thousand dollars an hour fighting through the haze to make that shit listenable. On top of that, garage rock is the single most resilient form of music, when it comes to recording. If you make that, you're reading the wrong site anyhow.
So, once again, I'll reiterate the obvious: there really aren't any good mixers that are under a thousand (or even two thousand) dollars. Mixers are, by their very nature, expensive, because there are a lot of controls. The better quality the controls, or the more features you want, the more it's gonna cost. There is no Magic $300 Solution that will suddenly make everything all better. My advice is to save your pennies for a Rosetta 800 or Aurora 8, at the very least, and mix in the box. This is the cheapest possible solution; until then, you're pretty much stuck with bullshit, plain and simple.
But then again, I am a total snob when it comes to this sort of thing. If you have to buy cheap mass-produced shit, buy Yamaha. Always a safe bet.
---
## Catharsis Time Again...
- Date: 2008-12-24
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/12/catharsis-time-again/
Okay, I think it's time for one of my semi-regular studio cleanings. This always hurts to do, but I know it is necessary, and past performance shows that when I do it, I write a lot of music that doesn't terribly suck (to me) right afterwards. I'm trying to determine what I'm going to get rid of at this point, within the context of the words "pretty much everything." Right now, I'm thinking of letting the MKS80, MD and MM (both Mk 1), my MoogerFooger collection (phaser, ring mod, osc, filter, controller, racks, and flip-up case), and Source w/ MIDI go, along with a metric fuckton of odds and ends, the which I will post once I've cataloged and priced them.
I'm also going to lose the computing contraptions I currently have and get a new Mac Pro, so I'll have to swap the Lynx AES16 for the PCIe version, and I'll be replacing the Rosetta 200 with an Aurora 8. The PreSonus Central Station will go to the dump, as it so richly deserves (I could not, in good conscience, accept money for this complete piece of shit, nor inflict it on anyone else...) and will be replaced with a Dangerous D-Box.
So, this is really an initial feeler. If there's anything of the above that you can't live without, feel free to [drop me a line](https://web.archive.org/web/2008/http://www.analogindustries.com/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#1e7d766c776d5e6e716d776a6c71706c7b7d716c7a6d307d7173) with an offer, or any questions you might have. You and I both know what that shit is worth, so don't bother lowballing me. I don't need the money, and I'm not in a bind. I just want to clean my musical clock. I will accept a good working condition 909 straight across, or a Linntronics-modded Memorymoog + the appropriate amount of my cash, as trade for the MKS80, or the equivalent combination of the other stuff. I will also accept an Aurora 8 in trade for the Rosetta 200, but I'm not sure why anyone would want to do that. Otherwise, I'm not interested in trades, unless you're in the PDX area and have a fucking pristine perfect Rhodes.
**EDIT:** Please stop writing me about the damn Central Station. It's broken, kaput, worthless. It was a piece of shit when it was new, and now it's a broken piece of shit. You don't want it.
**EDIT 2:** MD is sold.
**EDIT 3:** Some prices. I'd like $800 each for the MonoMachine and Source, a grand for the MKS80, $1100 for the Moogerfoogers + accessories, $1200 for the Rosetta 200. I'll put up a full post with complete descriptions and pictures and such next week, but that'll save you the trouble of writing and asking for the now.
---
## Happy Holidays...
- Date: 2008-12-23
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/12/happy-holidays/
Our electricity came back on (lo, and furthermore hark) but seeing how the power grid round these parts is made out of despair and broken dreams, I'd be shocked if we still have juice past noon tomorrow, what with Round Four of our Winter Of Discontent on deck. We plan to have a "retro" (read: candle-lit) Christmas here.
In that light, I thought it wise to put up my Christmas Post now, so I don't have to do it from my iPhone. YouTube took down Coltrane's smoking-hot '61 Village Vanguard performance of Greensleeves, so I settled on this Allison Crowe performance as a reasonable placebo. (If Coltrane is uncut China white, she's like a capful of Robotussin CF, but needs must when the Devil drives.) Have a happy Christmas/Kwanzaa/Hanukkah/Yule/secular gift exchange/animist sacrificial ritual/whatever-the-fuck , and hopefully we'll have rejoined civilization next week.
---
## The Effects Of Advertising...
- Date: 2008-12-15
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/12/the-effects-of-advertising/
Back when I was a youngster and, like, signed and stuff, one of the things that I had to pay attention to (and yet disliked extremely) was what the label was doing for advertising, both for the albums themselves and for the show. Generally, media buys in any given market could easily be correlated to attendance at shows. This was all, for the most part, pre-internet, of course. We started the first SMG page in 1994; it was, uncomfortably, www.nin.com/smg. We registered smg.org shortly thereafter. Whois sez Created On:12-May-1995 04:00:00 UTC.
(The story behind the nin.com thing is somewhat humorous; I won't, however, bore you with the details.)
But very few fans at that time even knew what the internet was, let alone used it for finding out anything about their favorite bands, so the endeavor didn't really bear fruit until my wife and I started a label, some 3 or 4 years later. So that's all kinda moot in this here story.
As a return to the original point, we could tell by the time the second opener was on if TVT had done a media buy in that market, or more to the point done the _right_ media buy, since (unlike almost anything else they touched) they were fairly reliable in that regard. We could also plainly see on Soundscan the markets where they had purchased whatever-the-fuck (endcaps, some sort of in-store promo, local paper ads, whatever) that were direct ads for the albums themselves.
Now, I assume that the vast majority of my dear readers that release music do so through a vanity imprint like myself. So where does that leave you with respect to advertising? Do you just take advantage of the free services available? Or do you do a sub-set of normal label operations, paying for a press release service, perhaps buying a few banner ads, etc.? Or do you just rely on your blog, the forums you post in, and your Circle Of Friends? What's the best way to promote yourself these days?
As an aside, my own experiences aren't too helpful here, since I was already [A Kind Of Famous](http://musicthing.blogspot.com/2006/02/owned-by-bill-leeb.html) before I got in to this whole self-promotion racket. My interest lies in perhaps exploring some ways a complete unknown might get things rolling.
---
## Okay, that's just plain silly...
- Date: 2008-12-11
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/12/okay-thats-just-plain-silly/
The pedal pictured above is a Pete Cornish TES Delay pedal. If you're not a guitar player of the decidedly Classic school of rock, that series of words and accompanying picture are probably essentially meaningless. So here's the story in a nutshell: Pete Cornish is this ?ber-Geek in the UK that makes pedal boards and the like for famous people with bottomless wallets. People like (and specifically, in fact) David Gilmour.
The going skinny is that ol' Dave needed to not use tape delays on stage, for reasons that would be readily obvious to anyone that has ever tried to use a tape delay on stage, so he asked Mr. Cornish to make a pedal that acted like a tape delay and didn't suck. Pete came up with this pedal (well, not the particular one in the picture, but the design.) Dave said "well, Pete, that's pretty fucking good" or something undoubtedly similar but somehow strikingly English, and used it forever afterwards.
All that by way of saying that the Pete Cornish TES is a very, very good delay pedal. Probably the best delay pedal ever made, and there aren't that many out there, maybe a couple dozen.
So, when you click the link that's coming up, you'll click it with the understanding that this is accepted to be the best example of this particular sub-class of effects. Before you click, think to yourself the most you'd pay for the best delay pedal ever made. [Check it.](http://cgi.ebay.com/Pete-Cornish-TES-Delay-DAVID-GILMOUR-BRAND-NEW_W0QQitemZ190272434502QQcmdZViewItemQQptZGuitar_Accessories?hash=item190272434502&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1234%7C66%3A4%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318%7C301%3A1%7C293%3A1%7C294%3A200)
Now that you've done that, and you're back, ready for the whopper? This is essentially a circuit-bent Boss DD-2. I shit you not. Have a nice day.
---
## How To Get Me To Post On Analog Industries About Your Product...
- Date: 2008-12-10
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/12/how-to-get-me-to-post-on-analog-industries-about-your-product/
The easy way is to make something I buy and like. That's worked for several companies. The second most easy way is to be a tard. Allow me to submit Exhibit A to the jury:
_
Chris -
_
_
I recently reached out to you about TuneUp for Mac as readers of \[\[blog name\]\] might be interested in hearing about what we?re doing here.
_
_
We?re releasing TuneUp?s #1 iTunes plug-in for Mac this Thursday (December 11th).
_
Yeah, you'll want to read that one closely. Anyhow, there you go, Brian. I have now pimped your [product](http://www.tuneupmedia.com/) for free. Enjoy.
**EDIT:** I should issue a mea culpa almost immediately. There is a third way, and that way is to send me something that you _think_ I might like, whether I can afford it or not, and hope for the best. This worked for [Purple.](http://www.purpleaudio.com/) I have a feeling that it would also work for SSL, but they haven't, as yet, taken the hint.
**EDIT 2 (Magis Mea Culpa):** Some higher-up at the company wrote and essentially said that Brian was, in fact, a tard, and they're actually very nice people. Note to all companies that make stuff that isn't gear or software for musicians that know what the fuck they're doing: please don't write me. Ever. About anything. Period.
---
## Sonically Charged...
- Date: 2008-11-10
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/11/sonically-charged/
Since every other music blog on the planet is reprinting Sonic Charge's press materials without even trying the synth (except [Peter](http://createdigitalmusic.com/2008/11/10/teaser-synplant-a-genetic-morphing-soft-synth-from-magnus-lidstrm/#more-4444)) I'll leave the free press to others and just do what I do well: bloviate.
I assume this isn't the only music industry blog you read, and thus I assume that you already know about [Synplant's](http://www.soniccharge.com/synplant) existence. What I find intriguing is that I am sadly in the minority as far as people that understood right away what it was. I'll grant two things that are almost certainly true: first, I suppose it isn't readily obvious outside of a context, and second, I make user interfaces for a living, for all intents and purposes, so it would theoretically stand to reason that I would be able to figure out an interface better than someone that didn't do that very thing. (Actually, that latter statement is demonstrably untrue, so we can let it slide for now.)
The reason I bring this up is that I was lately pondering a similar thing. Not what Magnus did exactly, but a different mousetrap to essentially catch the same mouse. And the response to his product makes me a little nervous. I mean, if a synth doesn't look like [this,](http://mac.softpedia.com/screenshots/1-734_1.png) is it doomed to failure? One could make the argument that after 1970, the Minimoog topology was the most logical way to lay out a synth, or maybe the most accepted. But that doesn't immediately obviate all other methods of programming, does it?
One could also make the argument that there are way more D-50s in the world than there are Minimoogs, but I counter with the following: nobody that didn't have an editor/librarian or hardware programmer has ever done more than touch up the factory sounds in a D-50. The JD-800 is, for all intents and purposes, a D-50 with a hardware programmer, and look how much fun that isn't.
Now, all that nonsense aside, I've spent a couple hours with the Synplant, and it really comes down to the same problem all products of this sort have. Ultimately, you can diddle around for hours, but you can't just think up a sound and program it. Anyone that spends two hours with a Minimoog can make a bass sound, a lead, a brass fart, pretty much anything the Mini is capable of, within a minute or two, which is the beauty of the box in the first place. But with this, I'll be god damned if I'm gonna say "I need a resonant bass register pad" and whip it up. There is a fair amount of luck involved in getting a sound that is usable, in my opinion, which is interesting, since the synth engine itself is perfectly capable of doing the sound I thought of.
So, it really comes down to the interface, as always. So tell me: could you tell what this did the second you saw it? Or did you think it was a device for making generative music like [Wire To The Ear](http://www.wiretotheear.com/) did? Or can you not tell what the fuck is going on at all? And maybe a sub-question: is it useful at all to have what is for all intents and purposes an unprogrammable synth with a sophisticated randomizer?
(And yes, I know individual sounds can be gussied up with the "DNA" thing, but that is just a pretty face on a big slab of D-50-style programming.)
---
## Newsdump...
- Date: 2008-10-21
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/10/newsdump/
I had to spend all day doing various non-music-related things. This unfortunately entailed me getting up at 4:45 in the blessed A.M., so now that I'm done I'm in no shape to post anything interesting. (I got in to the music industry primarily because it hardly ever involves getting up early.)
So, today is a wash, but for the coming week, development continues on BigSeq2. We're making good headway on the UI, which is by far the hardest part of this plug-in. I'll also be doing a couple screencasts this week. I'll do Rough Rider tomorrow (probably) and Kombinat (probably) later in the week.
And finally, I just got a notification that I'll _finally_ get my stimulus check. There was a problem with the IRS database that made them think that I didn't deserve one. I've spent the last several months sending letters and typing in forms for the 15 beaurocracies involved in fixing the problem. Apparently one of them took and I should get the check in the next couple days, according to them. Now the big decision is who, in this fine industry of ours, will be the lucky recipient of my economic stimulations.
---
## Plug-in Design, The Results...
- Date: 2008-10-19
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/10/plug-in-design-the-results/
Okay, I went through that entire thread and made notes and counted votes and what-not. Thanks everyone for taking the time to illustrate what your opinions are in this matter. It seems to me that the whole thing distills down to the following statement:
The majority of users want a simple interface, but the opportunity to get all tweaky would be nice.
If we gave a product an extended feature set with most parameters bared, but had a simple interface front and center, with the rest available via deeper panels, I think this would please most everyone. Obviously, it depends on the product, and believe it or not, getting the UI to cooperate with the DSP is generally the most time-consuming part of making any plug, unless it is incredibly simple (like, e.g., Rough Rider or FuzzPlus2, and even both of those needed controls that aren't available in VSTGUI and had to be invented.) The more parameters there are, and the more panels it has, the longer it takes to design and build, and the more it costs.
So, for stuff like Dubstation and the Liquid/Fluid/Vapor collection, shit like that, we'll probably not change a thing. Those are single-purpose plug-ins that have a particular sound we programmed in to them. But for the more sophisticated products (and I'm specifically thinking of Replicant as I write this) I don't see any particular issue with adding another panel where you can control all the filter freqs and envelopes and shit.
---
## Plug-In Design Open Thread...
- Date: 2008-10-16
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/10/plug-in-design-open-thread/
Over yonder (how is distance measured on the Intergoogles?) on KvR, Shamann started what has turned in to a semi-interesting [thread](http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=229230&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0) on the base nature of plug-in design. To save you the trouble of reading all eight pages if you, like, have a life and stuff, the commenters are divided in to two camps:
**1\. All Or Nothing, Beeyatch!!!** These sorts want every single possible parameter on a plug-in to have an attendant control on the UI, so that just in case they might want to touch a little something up, the option is there. Or, alternately, they want to spend a lot of time tweaking.
**2\. Keep It Simple, Stupid!!!** These sorts (and I'll freely admit I fall squarely in this camp) want immediacy and simplicity, because they're apparently busy working on their song arrangements or getting the right sounds. If they want a delay, they want to instance a delay, select the appropriate preset, and go back to work.
Now, there are certainly products for both schools of thought. U-He makes incredibly sophisticated designs with a lot of parameters, for people that like to take the time to fine-tune every little thing. We, on the other hand, generally make simpler products that kind of work within our worldview of How Things Should Sound, but don't really leave a lot outside of that, generally.
Audio Damage has released, for the last couple years, products that generally are designed specifically to please group #2, at group #1's expense. However, we have a couple things lined up (and I suppose BigSeq2 would come in to the conversation here) where there is enough complexity to where group #2 is going to suffer a bit, and group #1 will accordingly be happier.
Since there's no earthly reason for us to pay for marketing research when we've got you guys here, I'll pose the question. (and in deference to you, my loyal readers, I'll mention that I have a fairly good idea of what the answer is going to be already) Do you fall in group #1 or group #2? As always with comments here, you should provide a little color commentary. What plug-in best exemplifies the approach you favor? Do you occasionally cross the border and do things the other way? That sort of thing.
---
## R.I.P. Neal Hefti...
- Date: 2008-10-15
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/10/r-i-p-neal-hefti/
Mr. Hefti passed away in his California home at the ripe old age (for a musician, anyhow) of 85, of natural causes. We should all be so lucky, I would think. Anyhow, if I know you, and I'd like to think I do, you're going "who the fuck is Neal Hefti, and why should I care?" Well. He was Count Basie's arranger and writer for a time, but that music has largely lost its allure to the Short Attention Span Theatre that passes for the music buying public these days.
What he's really known for, perhaps unfortunately in light of his other work, is one of the single most enduring themes in the history of music for synchronization. He wrote the title music for the original Batman television show. Full obituary is [here.](http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/16/arts/music/16hefti.html?hp)
---
## A Few Of My Favorite Things...
- Date: 2008-10-13
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/10/a-few-of-my-favorite-things/
[](http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/2452784057/)
Compared to [some people,](http://www.flickr.com/groups/gear_porn/) I don't really have that much gear. I have, at points in my life, had as many as 18 keyboards (with keys, never mind rack mount units) and twenty-odd guitars. Now I'm down to seven guitars, a bass, six hardware synths, one drum machine, and two controller keyboards. Now that I've typed that out, it does seem like a lot, and perhaps I should thin the herd even more. Ironically, in my advanced age I can now afford more gear; I suppose I could conceivably buy a Buchla 200e or Oasys should the fancy strike me. (My wife might have some thoughts on that subject, though.)
But I seem to have entered a post-gear phase. What I'd really like to have is a real piano and a better storage system for the shit I already have. DSP-based synths are experiencing this convergent evolution thing where there are very few that are unique (the MonoMachine comes to mind), analog is what it always was, and, well, you only really need three guitars (an archtop electric, a solid-body electric, and an acoustic.) So I think I'm gonna thin the herd further before we move.
In that vein, I'm sitting here pondering what it is a multi-instrumentalist that makes electronic-based music actually _needs_ to enjoy the music-making experience. Here's the list I've come up with:
**1\. A good polyphonic analog.** I have my MKS-80, and provided it doesn't break, it is deep and competent. I would be sadface ftl if I had to swap that out, but I could deal with it.
**2\. A good monophonic analog.** Anyone that knows analogs knows that a monosynth and one voice of a polysynth aren't really the same thing at all. I currently have three mono analogs: The Source, the Mopho, and a CS-5 which is getting repaired by the fine folks at Synthwood. After having the Mopho for a while, I think it's safe to say that I can probably get rid of the Source and the CS-5. The Mopho may not have the mojo of the Source or the filtering of the CS-5, but it is a fuck of a lot more convenient, and it is under warranty.
**3\. Something for the digital sounds.** The MonoMachine is a weird, quirky, balky, noisy little bitch. And it gives me all the digital I need. Keeping that.
**4\. A drum machine.** One single drum machine. I have, in my past experiences, been guilty of having far too many drum machines. Take it from me: nobody needs more than one. I currently have and love a MachineDrum, but I would trade it in a heartbeat for a 909 in good working condition. Which should tell you everything you need to know about that.
I would like to have a Wurlitzer 200a, a Rhodes, a Yammie CP-70, a Steinway baby grand, a 57 Gretsch Duo Jet, a Hi-Watt half-stack, a 12-panel Serge modular, and a warehouse to keep it all in. But do I need any of that shit to make music? No, not at all. All I really need is a laptop.
There was no real point to this post except to put my thoughts on this subject out in the open for criticism. Am I losing my mind? Has the shiny lost its luster? What are the instruments that will be buried with you?
---
## BigSeq 2
- Date: 2008-10-10
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/10/bigseq-2/
Just a little update about this. We're well in to the from-scratch rewrite at this point. Adam has been working on the new controls we'll need, and I'm working on the UI itself. This is entirely new code; nothing from the original BigSeq will be in this plug-in.
Now, that said, it will maintain the entire functionality of the original BigSeq, and have most of the features asked for in the threads from earlier this year, as well as the various emails we've received over BigSeq's lifespan. A brief rundown:
1\. There will be six effects. Each effect will have its own gate sequencer and modulation sequencer. The mod sequencer will be able to affect any control in that effect other than "active," which is controlled by the gate sequencer. Each effect's sequencer is running on its own timebase, so you can have, say, 4 steps of 32nd notes on the VCA and 16 steps of quarter notes on the Filter, if you'd like.
2\. The order of the effects can be changed, so you can have all six in any way you'd like between the input and the output.
3\. We're still working on the exact complement of effects, but I can say that we're definitely including a delay, the filter will definitely be multi-mode, and the VCA will definitely have panning.
As far as release dates and whatever, I don't have any idea at this point. We've got a lot done, but there's a lot to do. The things we needed to invent for it are invented, so the hardest part is over. It will be a $10 upgrade for existing BigSeq owners, and will be $49 for new customers, I can say that much.
---
## New Bounte EP available...
- Date: 2008-10-10
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/10/new-bounte-ep-available/
Bounte's new EP, _Maximal,_ is now available for purchase in [shopPOSI.](http://www.positronrecords.com/) This EP features what is almost certainly the first commercial Grindhouse track, and is thus a historical artifact worth owning. Go grab one.
He has some thoughts about his process [here,](http://www.bounte.com/blog/index.jsp) if you'd like to discuss. Your login here at AI will also work on his site if you'd like to comment, as they are both posiNET.
---
## My New Best Friend...
- Date: 2008-10-10
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/10/my-new-best-friend/
As you no doubt know if you've been reading this site for more than, say, a week or so, you'll no doubt know that I do get a kick out of putting our more flamboyant requests for NFRs up here. This is one of the better ones we've received, for sure. The best? No. Definitely up there, though:
_Hello!
My name is XXXXXXXX.
Live in Moscow.
I the professional musician and the composer.
I very, very much like your product - Replicant, very high quality
and good work.
It is a miracle for my music.
I now do the musical project for the Europe, in a genre pop-music.
Producers speak that this project will be very successful.
I have an offer for you.
You to me it is free-of-charge Replicant, and I place the
information on your company, on CD with my projects, on my site
(it will work in the autumn), e.t.c.
Unfortunately, I cannot buy your products yet, ...while financial
difficulties,
and use cracked version I do not want.
I hope for understanding.
Excuse for my English.
I very look waiting forward to hearing.
Thanks.
_You have to give him points for poetry, right?
---
## Jammin' with Yo-Yo Ma...
- Date: 2008-10-08
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/10/jammin-with-yo-yo-ma/
Here's something you don't see every day. Indaba is running a contest whereby you make a counterpoint melody for a Yo-Yo Ma performance of Dona Nobis Pacem. [Contest details here.](http://www.indabamusic.com/contests/show/yo-yomacontest?utm_source=Indaba+Members&utm_campaign=dc0e9703d6-Yo_Yo_Ma_Launch_Blast10_7_2008&utm_medium=email) This is quite a departure from the normal Indaba offerings, which tend to mediocre modern blues.
Does anyone here actually use Indaba? Have you garnered results that aren't t3h suck?
---
## Fiscal Meltdown Open Thread...
- Date: 2008-10-07
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/10/fiscal-meltdown-open-thread/
[](http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/2128709109/)
As the U.S. economy comically tail-spins in to the ground (and in the process teaching you zany Europeans that why, yes, we do actually still have a fairly powerful effect on your way of life) it logically begs the question: how fucked are we?
Perhaps with some irony, this entire event has restored some life to the U.S. dollar, thus setting the voracious American consumer free to roam the world again. With further irony, (and proof that if there is a god, Bill Hicks is sitting next to him whispering in his ear) that ain't gonna happen because the American consumer is currently bent over the kitchen table, getting a broomstick rammed in to its collective ass by its own government and bankers. Sorry, Europeans. We do things big here.
Poorly thought-out metaphors aside, it is demonstrable fact that the music industry usually gets quite peppy in times of hardship, which bodes well for those of us in a position to take advantage of it. Music is the ultimate lubrication for both rebellion and escape, and if you have nothing to rebel against or escape from, you don't need any lube, plain and simple. But if your world is crashing around your shoulders, well, that's a different matter entirely. It is our job, as the creators of culture, to ease the collective passage through troubled days.
(I'm happier with that metaphor. While a tiny bit disturbing, it does illustrate the point nicely.)
So, my question is thus: do you find your prospects enhanced with the current turn of events? Or is your world crashing about your shoulders? We're here to help. Or take advantage of your misfortune. One or the other.
---
## AES (or CR's Big Day Out)...
- Date: 2008-10-05
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/10/aes-or-crs-big-day-out/
Well, my day at AES is now over. I'll state for the record that I don't have the foot skills necessary to stand around and talk to people all day. My dogs are barkin' right about now. That aside, I could easily make this entire post about my observations viz. that special sub-group of audio professionals that would populate a convention like this, but I don't really see how that would serve any purpose. Also, I had planned to take a bunch of pictures of Audio Engineers in their natural environs, but the Soundcraft guys thought I was an industrial spy, and set the Moscone Center security on me, so my photo-taking adventure was curtailed. (Thanks, Soundcraft. Your console sucks and you're a bunch of fucking cunts.)
That being the case, I'll just give some color commentary about the things I found interesting, and leave the actual product research to you.
[](http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/2913754158/)
This is Geoff Tanner. He is very English, very easy to talk to, and has forgotten more about making audio products than the vast majority of us will ever manage to shoehorn in to our tiny human-sized brains. I spent a very enjoyable time getting a demonstration of his new console, and I'm a better person for it. It's like getting communion from the Pope. Except I'm not Catholic so that metaphor is shaky at best. Several more pictures of the console on my [Flickr page](http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/).
[](http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/2913754152/)
This is the Blue Robbie mic pre. This isn't new or anything, but this is the first time I've seen one in real life. Let me just state for the record that I thought it was a little tiny thing. It is not. That knob is the size of a coffee cup. There is something terribly awesome about this thing. I had a Blue engineer hold my iPhone next to it for scale. This was, by far, the biggest surprise of the show.
[](http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/2912937529/)
This is the entire Purple product line in the Mercenary booth. I love the way Andrew does business, and I love their products. I want a whole Purple studio (but apologies to Andrew, I think I'd like Geoff's mixer). The boat on the lower left-hand side is full of Purple's new aux buss. It isn't a normal 500 rack, but rather has a special connector and a shitload of DB25 connectors on the back. Also note the graphic EQ. Unlike an API 560, which is sort of a special-effect cart, this is a proper graphic, and very, very cool. I want. And the comps. Mmmmm.
Other cool things I saw:
**innerTUBE Atomic Squeeze Box**: Very, very smooth compressor. The fellow that makes 'em gave me a whole demo, and I kind of chuckled at how his idea of "extreme" and mine differ ("it goes to 20:1!!!!!") but an extremely smooth box. Also, they have their own mic built in to the body of a Mag-Lite which is, aside from being on the eccentric side, an excellent sounding mic.
**Avedis Stuff**: Avedis makes some really nice shit. 'Nuff said about that.
**Bricasti Reverb**: Fucking forget it. There is no other hardware reverb worth talking about. IR reverb can suck a dick. Lexicon might as well throw in the towel. It's over. Bricasti won. Next. Also, they had their new remote there, and boy, howdy, that thing is t3h s3xy. Straight up.
**Lexicon PCM-96**: Speaking of Lexicon, I lol in their general direction. I wanted to like this box so bad. I almost had Adam talked in to buying a pair for "research," even. Dave Gamble of Sonalksis and I went over to demo it, and Dave was able to hard-crash Logic in about 8 seconds flat, without even actually trying to do so. I kind of felt bad for the engineer. Plus the booth was shoe-horned in with the whole Harmon dog 'n' pony show (yeah, fuck you, Soundcraft, you whiney little bitchfucks) and that colored my opinion to begin with. Enjoy the world of car stereos, guys. The PCM-96 is made out of fail.
Anyhow, that's the general lie of the land. If anyone has any specific questions I'll be happy to attempt an answer, with the caveat that once I took a spin around the show floor, I spent most of my time among the tweaky boutique manufacturers, so if you want to know about the latest set of headphones from AKG, you're gonna have to look elsewhere.
---
## The Big Drive Open Thread...
- Date: 2008-10-02
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/10/the-big-drive-open-thread/
Okay, the Nitro and I are heading to San Francisco tomorrow for AES. Assuming there are no [snowstorms,](https://analogindustries.com/2007/01/doh/) I'll be driving all day tomorrow, so no posting. I'll post some thoughts and pictures from AES when I get back to my hotel, and I'll update my Twitter feed throughout the day, so if you're intensely curious, watch that.
Anyhow, until that lofty event occurs, you're on your own. The subject of discussion this time is [this article.](http://blog.wired.com/music/2008/09/activision-labe.html) In a nutshell, if you don't feel like reading it, record labels (well, Bronfman anyhow) think that Activision should pay them more because of the success of Guitar Hero et al. Activision says "bah. If anything, you should pay _us_, bitches. Look at how many copies of Joan Jett's Greatest Hits you've sold because of us!" What we have here is a symbiotic relationship. I mean, if Guitar Hero just had random indie rock tracks (which are the kind of tracks you can get for free) then it wouldn't had sold as well as it has, and neither would back catalog move.
When it comes to music in movies, background music in games, commercials, department stores, etc. I'm firmly of the opinion that the licensee should pay through the nose, repeatedly and with vigor. Music helps move those products. **However,** a situation like Guitar Hero is a special case, where the success does in fact equal income for the label. But the author of the article correctly points out that if the labels have to pay to get songs in the game, they're going to just give the game authors a bunch of bullshit they want promo for, rather than what the game authors envisioned, which is apparently of the "I Love Rock 'n' Roll" variety.
Thoughts?
---
## Honky Mopho...
- Date: 2008-09-30
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/09/honky-mopho/
[](http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/2903403322/)
Got my Mopho today (thanks, [Shawn](http://www.analoghaven.com/)!!!) All I've done to this point is plug it up and take a step through roughly half the presets, but I have to say that aside from a couple UI quirks, this is an excellent box, and a really good value for your synth dollar. Quite frankly, I'd have a hard time recommending _anything_ that makes noise that costs under $500 over this, period.
Minor quibbles: the way the "Program" knob was, well, programmed leaves a bit to be desired. Once you've edited a program at all, you have to press a button to be able to change programs again. I assume this is to keep you from accidentally changing programs while you're programming it, but frankly, anyone that wants to program a sound \_from\_ the UI is in for a lot more ruthless experience than accidentally changing a sound will provide.
Also, some of the knobs which should have a bit of velocity to them (the filter freq and program chiefly) do not. You have to turn either knob like 30 times to get through its whole range of values, and this can get a bit tedious.
The presets, well, whatever. It seems like about half were made by Venetian Snares and the other half were made by someone who makes their living in a prog rock cover band. "Tom Sawyer?" Really? Did we have to go there? I haven't gone through all the banks of provided sounds yet, but I'll be utterly completely shocked if there isn't a patch named "Lucky Solo" or some such. I already found a "Tarkus" sequence. In the song the part is played by an L100, so this is double extra silly. Jesus, I can't believe I even typed that. Kill me now.
I can't speak to the editor or general usability, as I've only had it a couple hours. I'll get to those in good time. But I have a feeling that once I scrape out all these dumb "SYNC LEEEDZ" sounds, I'll be able to program some fairly cool shit in to this bitch. It seems pretty capable. But sound-wise, absolutely fantastic. Smooth as butter and bottom for days.
---
## Busy busy open thread...
- Date: 2008-09-30
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/09/busy-busy-open-thread/
My wife and I got season tickets to the Oregon Symphony and the first concert was on Sunday, Beethoven's 9th. I'm continually stunned by the chops that dude had. He's all like "okay, I've got one more in me, so I'm gonna lay down some stink for you guys..." The build-up that starts in the beginning of the third movement and continues more or less unabated until the end, the archetype of the never-ending trance snare roll, is fucking unbelievable. Just thinking that he did it all stone deaf makes it all that much more amazing.
Before the concert, we went and looked at some potential places for our eventual move to PDX. What with having my studio/office, my wife's office, and a frakkin' great boatload of product for the label, our needs are somewhat peculiar. I'd prefer to just outright buy something, but apparently Warren Buffet couldn't get a damn mortgage now, let alone my skinny white ass. But like any problem, I imagine if we throw enough money at it, it'll sort of solve itself. I _may_ be looking for an outside studio to house my gear, though, depending on what we end up with. (I'm sure that comment will engender all sorts of "hey, Chris, you're more than welcome to keep all your music shit at my house" emails.)
Anyhow, it was back to Real Work on Monday, as we begin the design process for our next product. This will necessarily be a truncated work week, as I have a dentist appointment Tuesday, and leave for NAMM on Friday morning. The subject of this open thread is our usual "hey, what would you like Audio Damage to make next" question we generally ask at this juncture.
---
## New Music...
- Date: 2008-09-27
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/09/new-music/
We haven't done this in a while, and on a personal note I have to refresh my iPod for my drive to San Francisco next week, so I'm on the prowl for music. What's the New Hotness on your playlists? Anything out there that nobody knows about but should? Do you have a release of your own you want to pimp? Now's the time.
---
## Rough Rider Now Available...
- Date: 2008-09-25
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/09/rough-rider-now-available/
As the title says, Rough Rider is now available for download. Go [grab one](http://www.audiodamage.com/) and enjoy.
---
## Rough Rider Update...
- Date: 2008-09-24
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/09/rough-rider-update/
I've added a Rough Rider page to the [AD store,](http://www.audiodamage.com/) so you can gaze longingly at a screenshot and some bullet points.
---
## New Soniccouture Loop Set...
- Date: 2008-09-23
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/09/new-soniccouture-loop-set/
Our good friends at Soniccouture have _finally_ put out another drum loop set (REX, Apple Loops, and WAV) of 63 construction kits called Tremors. I don't have the set yet, but if the audio samples are any indication, this new one is absolutely smashing. Seems to largely consist of an abstract ("abstrakt?") take on dubstep. The product page is [here](http://www.soniccouture.com/pages/tremors.php), but there is a special offer of £30 if you want the download version, good until September 30th, which is available [here.](http://www.soniccouture.com/pages/tremors-offer.php)
---
## Back To Work...
- Date: 2008-09-22
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/09/back-to-work/
Okay, today is the first official day of "back to work" after the release of Automaton and our subsequent mandatory decompression period. (MDP.) Rough Rider is on the agenda today. This should go fairly quick because it's a simple plugin, as such things go. I imagine the Windows VST side of things will be done today, and the ports should be fairly quick as well. I have to re-render the front panel (which is an all-night process) because I accidentally made the shadows of the knobs too big, and they animate poorly, so that will add some time. Otherwise, it's cooking.
---
## Repair...
- Date: 2008-09-21
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/09/repair/
I need someone that knows how to work on Yamaha analogs for some repair work, generally on the west coast, but preferably in PDX or San Francisco. Also, is anyone aware of a source for Yamaha CS-style knobs?
---
## Man 1, Nature 0...
- Date: 2008-09-20
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/09/man-1-nature-0/
[](http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/2874232512/)
Okay, I survived the Great Outdoors with nothing more than a back ache. Turns out that it is possible to live a full day without cell service. Who knew?
Anyhow, I'm back. Hopefully I'll manage to collect my wits enough to make a "real" post here shortly, but in the meantime, look at [this.](http://sneak-thief.com/nordrs7000.html) A Nord Micro Modular shoehorned inside a Yamaha RS7000. Interesting juxtaposition. I like gear "mashups" like this. What other gear marriages are documented on the intertubes?
---
## Man V. Nature Open Thread...
- Date: 2008-09-17
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/09/man-v-nature-open-thread/
I'm going camping tomorrow, so unlike my normal "out of the office" type things, where I'm still very much connected to the interwebs via a combination of iPhone and MacBook, I'm gonna be somewhere that doesn't even have cell service. Some sort of Conrad-inspired horrors will ensue, no doubt. I will be back Saturday.
So, this is a 3-day open thread. The subject I leave to the first person with enough literary muscle to get everybody talking about the same thing. Don't break anything while I'm gone.
---
## Piano Man...
- Date: 2008-09-15
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/09/piano-man/
I'm going to be recording some solo piano pieces for my next album, and since I don't actually have a piano, this will necessarily involve booking studio time. Given the choice between SF, PDX, L.A., and Seattle, where am I likely to get a good sound? Obviously, I'm not familiar with studios on the west coast, having spent all my "real" studio time in Chicago, NYC, and London.
I'm looking for a lively roomy sound, upright grand rather than concert grand (although the right concert grand would work fine). I would liken the sound I'm looking for to the solo piano pieces on Drukqs, lots of piano personality. I plan to record direct to 2-track 1/2". I see that Jackpot has an upright grand and 1/4". Anyone here record solo piano at Jackpot, and is there a reference recording of that piano somewhere? Or do you have another suggestion? I don't want to fly to Chicago or NYC just to do this one simple thing.
---
## Purveyors Of The Banal, Unite!!!
- Date: 2008-09-15
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/09/purveyors-of-the-banal-unite/
IK Multimedia, everyone's favorite Italian MOTR plug-in makers, in cahoots with Line 6 to ensure that guitar tone becomes as lame as possible, have issued a [rebuttal](http://www.musicradar.com/news/tech/why-you-shouldnt-use-free-software-a-commercial-developers-view-173755) of sorts to Music Radar's [Freeware Love-Fest.](http://www.musicradar.com/tuition/tech/the-top-10-reasons-to-use-free-music-software-160787) I have to say that, interestingly, I generally agree with both points of view.
Music Radar was absolutely correct in at least half of their article, although most of it was incredibly obvious and some of it was outright falsehood. I'll leave it to to you to decide which was what; I have my own opinions and for a change I'll keep them to myself. IK's "rebuttal," aside from being poorly written and sounding fairly shrill, was also mostly correct, at least in my experience.
Now, with that out of the way, I'll enumerate my thoughts on the subject, addressed to both Music Radar and IK, and just let 'em float about.
**1\. You Charge Too Fucking Much.** Sorry, IK, but you don't get to bitch about piracy and freebies when your prices enable/encourage both. Why is CSR US$319? How did you arrive at that figure? Your business model can't possibly hope to compete with, oh, let's say, Audio Damage's, because you're buying in to the traditional methods of marketing. Time for a new model.
**2\. Free != Free.** The path from NorthPole to Automaton is absolutely _littered_ with abandonware and broken projects. Search "VST" on SourceForge and look at how recently most of the FOSS projects have been updated. If you Switch from PC to Mac, and you rely on freeware plugs, you are most assuredly _fucked._ There is, as IK rightly pointed out, a real risk of having projects that won't load in 2 years, because the plugins in them no longer work with whatever iteration Redmond and Cupertino have foisted on you that week. There is a big difference between "free right now" and "always free."
**3\. The Man Behind The Curtain.** When you buy a plugin from Audio Damage, the main thing you're doing is supporting our research and development. That is, aside from advertising, essentially our sole cost. The money that we receive from sales pays our bills so that we can spend all day every day researching delay algorithms. This is looking at what we do from a groupthink mentality, but it is a fact. You're also spending a bit of money so that we can worry about VST and AudioUnit compatibility problems so you don't have to. A freeware developer does this sort of thing in his spare time, and that lends itself to the path of least resistance.
In short, as Peter Kirn [pointed out](http://createdigitalmusic.com/2008/09/15/ik-multimedia-rebuts-mag-on-free-software-why-they-missed-the-point/#more-4062), there are benefits and detriments to both courses of action, and a judicious mix is what's called for. IK came up with a fairly bad rebuttal, frankly (at least they didn't use the word "clearly," the earmark of a frothy interwebs reply), and I think they're just pissed because they spend so much money advertising in Future publications. But they do have a couple points to make.
---
## Various Things...
- Date: 2008-09-15
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/09/various-things/
First off, thanks to everyone for making this our best 24 hours ever in the history of Audio Damage. We're especially pleased/surprised since Automaton is an experimental plug-in, so this means you're willing to (a) take a chance on stuff you might not see using under normal circumstances, and (b) support our stranger endeavors. We realize these sorts of plugs aren't for everyone, so a group hug is in order. Our thank-you for this is, of course, Rough Rider, which will be baked as soon as Adam decompresses, and I take my camping trip I've been promising myself all summer.
In other news, the AI redesign is coming along nicely. My lovely and talented wife is porting the current site's JSP to a bit more happenin' and useful PHP, which is no simple task. I'll post more about this in the near future.
That's it for now; I'm wiped out from this weekend. Thankfully, Automaton mostly survived its first contact with the genpop, only one minor fix was necessary for the OSX side of things, and now we're cooking with steam again.
---
## Audio Damage Automaton Now Available...
- Date: 2008-09-13
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/09/audio-damage-automaton-now-available/
Hey, you wanna get yourself a copy of Automaton? I know [just the place.](http://www.audiodamage.com/effects/product.php?pid=AD020)
---
## Macintosh Flavor Poll...
- Date: 2008-09-12
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/09/macintosh-flavor-poll/
Okay, Xcode and OS X have progressed to the point where it is getting increasingly difficult, bordering on damn-nigh impossible, to build Universal Binary versions of our plug-ins. We're wondering how necessary it is to keep building PPC versions, frankly. If you have both PPC and Intel Macs, just check "Intel."
**EDIT:** Okay, with only 30 votes so far, it's obvious that we have to keep building PPC versions. Yay. Needless to say, we're having a bit of trouble with cross-compiling the PPC version of Automaton today, which is what engendered this post.
**EDIT 2:** Interestingly, the more votes we get, the more PPC usage declines. Assuming PC users aren't fucking with the results, 25% PPC to 75% Intel is about what I would have expected. A year ago, it was reversed. I'll wager that a year from this month, we'll be able to stop with the Universal Binary nonsense, if 10.6 doesn't deprecate it entirely.
---
## Automaton Update...
- Date: 2008-09-12
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/09/automaton-update/
Okay, the Windows version is out for final testing right now. The OS X versions are on their way as soon as they get out of the oven. The manual is mostly written. We're gonna power through the weekend if we have to, but I would be _shocked_ if you couldn't buy Automaton by Monday. Sorry it took so long, but there is a lot to this plugin.
---
## Automaton Overview Pt. 2 - Effects...
- Date: 2008-09-10
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/09/automaton-overview-pt-2-effects/
[Automaton Overview Pt. 2 - Effects...](http://vimeo.com/1702046?pg=embed&sec=1702046) from [Audio Damage](http://vimeo.com/audiodamage?pg=embed&sec=1702046) on [Vimeo](http://vimeo.com/?pg=embed&sec=1702046).
Here's part two of my three-part screencast about Automaton. In it, I have a quick Adderall-fueled portion for the attention-impaired segment of the viewing audience, and then I do an explanation of each of the four effects in Automaton. Part three will be forthcoming, and will consist entirely of workflow demonstrations. As always, you can download the MOV (75 megs) from the Vimeo page. For some reason, this 11 minute video is too long for YouTube (as opposed to the roughly 10,000,000 other videos on YouTube that are over 10 minutes long, including some I [put there myself](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_Ag_s3eV3k)) so it got flagged with a TOS violation. I made an edited version, which is [here.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6ki654FQqw)
---
## Gasp. Headset. Choke.
- Date: 2008-09-08
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/09/gasp-headset-choke/
Okay, it has become apparent to me that the contortions required to use a proper microphone when doing these screencasts are inhibiting my creativity. I have decided that I would be well served by purchasing a headset mic.
Now, the issue at hand is that I know little to nothing about Proper Headset Mics, so I'm hoping any FOH engineers (or, I guess, live television engineers) that have experience with this particular form-factor of audio shit would chime in and tell me what to look for. My initial reading of reviews and such suggests that the [Shure Beta 54](http://shure.com/ProAudio/Products/WiredMicrophones/us_pro_Beta54_content) is probably the right way to go. It seems to have a larger element than the 53, which would be More Better. Also, the 53 is designed to be as non-intrusive as possible, and I don't really care about non-intrusive as long as the fucking thing can hang off the front of my face.
It seems that many people that use these sorts of things for screencasts use the one that came with their Xbox or something, and they just sound fucking awful. I'd be hoping to avoid that. Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?
---
## Automaton Overview Pt. 1 - Sequencer...
- Date: 2008-09-07
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/09/automaton-overview-pt-1-sequencer/
[Automaton Overview Pt. 1 - Sequencer...](http://vimeo.com/1680737?pg=embed&sec=1680737) from [Audio Damage](http://vimeo.com/audiodamage?pg=embed&sec=1680737) on [Vimeo](http://vimeo.com/?pg=embed&sec=1680737).
Okay, here's the first of three screencasts about Automaton. The last couple minutes give a quick demo of the plugin in action. I also say the word "nifty" three times and "trippy" once. It's funny what you notice after the fact. Anyhow, full-rez MOV is available to download from the Vimeo page as always, 68 megs. YouTube "high resolution" iteration is [here.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rokVYptkW4&fmt=6)
We have friends from Arizona visiting tomorrow, so I'll do the other two on Monday.
---
## A Nice Little Weekend Project...
- Date: 2008-09-06
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/09/a-nice-little-weekend-project/
Here's a cool [instructable](http://www.instructables.com/id/Apocatastasis_feedback_return_for_cheap_digital_d/) about making a little feedback daughter-box-thing to give any guitar pedal a feedback knob. I should note that feedback can be interesting on most any effect; he really only mentions "cheap delay pedals," but try feedback on a compressor or filter for extra fun. Found on [GetLofi.](http://www.getlofi.com/)
---
## Why We Do The Things We Do...
- Date: 2008-09-05
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/09/why-we-do-the-things-we-do/
The fifty-odd comments in the previous post (as of this writing), coupled with the fifty more in the thread before that left me with the nagging feeling that there might be a fundamental lack of understanding about how Audio Damage does business. So I thought I'd lay out what is, for all intents and purposes, our "mission statement." This is, in effect, why we do the things we do.
**Our goal is to make creating music more interesting.** Not easier. Be sure you read that right. The path of least resistance in the creation of music leads to wedding bands, and we simply won't be party to that. That's the reason we do some things which may seem stupid/ignorant/downright mean. Sure, it would be easy to add a mix control on to Rough Rider. It would take us all of ten minutes (discounting re-doing the design, which would take several hours.) But it would change the effect drastically, and belittle its intended purpose. There are compressors out there with crudely hacked sidechain functionality and mix controls. If you think you need that stuff, go right ahead and get one of those. We're not even slightly suggesting that you shouldn't. Rough Rider isn't a compressor with a small "c." It's an Audio Damage Compressor, with a big C.
**I'm not just the hair club president. I'm also a client.** Another deciding factor in most of our designs is the fact that I've spent a _lot_ of time in the studio. I know from having to labor through somewhere between eighty and a hundred commercial releases (truthfully, I've completely lost count) that some things are dumb and other things are cool. This heavily informs all of our designs. One thing I've learned in exactly two decades of making music professionally is that the clean boxes that have everything are the ones used the least. We stick a ton of filters and saturation in our effects, we limit the ranges of the controls on purpose, and we leave out what may seem like obvious features, in order to ensure that each and every product we release is an individual instrument that has a _sound_ to it.
**Business as unusual.** One thing that we receive a lot of complaints about is our no demo policy. We often get letters that say "no demo, no purchase." That's fine, of course. One I got yesterday, the guy was actually _pissed_ at us, as far as I can tell. I don't think I could have read it any other way. I'd hasten to point out two things: (a) Audio Damage is quite successful, which leads us to believe that our way is just as good as any other way, and (b) we ain't the only frog in this pond. If you won't buy a plug-in without a demo, there are plenty of companies out there that would be more than happy to let you demo their software. We ain't one of them. Of course, they don't make Dubstation or Replicant, so there's that to consider, I guess. In any event, our business practices, including our rabid and somewhat irrational hatred of RTAS and DigiDesign, are balanced by the fact that we, alone of all commercial plug-in developers, offer a no-questions-asked money back guarantee, a _three month_ exchange policy, and perhaps the most liberal license control in the business. Let me put that another way so it makes sense: if you buy an Audio Damage product, you can turn around and sell that same product years later for almost the same money. Try that with a Waves license you bought at Guitar Center in 2004.
**And that would be that...** Ultimately, it comes down to this: we get some things wrong (Mayhem and Ronin), we get some things right (Replicant and Dubstation), and we hit some down the middle. We design effects the way we design them, we accept the kindnesses and criticisms, and hope to do better the next time. We don't make delays. We make Audio Damage Delays. We don't make glitch effects. We make Audio Damage Glitch Effects. We don't make plugins. We make Audio Damage Plug-ins. If we leave out the tempo sync, it's because we want to _know_ that's Liquid in the mix. If we don't put in a wet/dry mix, it's to help you think of new ways to do things. If we only put four filter topologies in there, it's because they're four good ones, instead of fifty mediocre ones. Our goal is not to help you make music. It's to help you make music _better._
And since nobody managed to put two and two together, even though I outright said it in [this thread,](https://analogindustries.com/2008/09/music-to-picture/) Rough Rider will be free.
---
## Coming Soon...
- Date: 2008-09-04
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/09/coming-soon/
Meet Rough Rider. Does about what you'd think. Costs a lot less than you'd think.
---
## Is there something I'm missing?
- Date: 2008-09-02
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/09/is-there-something-im-missing/
I'm continually stupified at the number of people that manage to do the following:
1\. Look at the front page of audiodamage.com where every short product description says something to the effect of "US$39.00 for AU and VST."
2\. Look at each and every product page, under the heading "Download includes all platforms listed below," where the iconography for Windows VST and OS X VST and AU are shown, right next to the text that explains what they mean.
3\. Make a purchase, and after doing so, log in to their account and click the link that says either "AU/VST OSX" or "VST WIN," open the resulting file, and install it.
4\. Write me and say "I've tried restarting ProTools several times, and the plugin I bought doesn't show up. What am I doing wrong?"
Oh, where to start. Let me just say this: it's a good thing leaded gas isn't available any more, because there'd be a lot of home studio users with fucked up catalytic convertors in their cars. That aside, is anyone in possession of an idea as to how I might dissuade ProTools users any further than I already do? (Noting [item #10](http://www.audiodamage.com/support/faq.php?id=1) in the first section of the AD FAQ and [item #7](http://www.audiodamage.com/support/faq.php?id=3) in the third section, which nobody apparently reads.) I'd rather not put a banner on the top of the front page that says "RTAS USERS TURN BACK NOW" or something, but quite frankly, I'm at a loss as to how to save these people from themselves.
And the first person that writes "well, you could just make RTAS products" obviously doesn't know how happy I am to ban people that don't pay attention.
---
## Music To Picture...
- Date: 2008-09-01
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/09/music-to-picture/
[micromov004 - Assemblage #1](http://vimeo.com/1641952?pg=embed&sec=1641952) from [Chris Randall](http://vimeo.com/user302832?pg=embed&sec=1641952) on [Vimeo](http://vimeo.com/?pg=embed&sec=1641952).
Original film is [here.](http://www.archive.org/details/JustImag1947) YouTube version is [here.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jhF0sTYeTk)
---
## Dr. Device Screencast...
- Date: 2008-08-26
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/08/dr-device-screencast/
[Dr. Device Overview...](http://www.vimeo.com/1603454?pg=embed&sec=1603454) from [Audio Damage](http://www.vimeo.com/audiodamage?pg=embed&sec=1603454) on [Vimeo](http://vimeo.com/?pg=embed&sec=1603454).
Yeah, you better get used to these bitches but quick, because I'll be pumping 'em out for the next couple weeks, until everything that needs to be covered has been.
I wanted to get the hardest ones out of the way first, so this one, which is Dr. Device obviously, takes care of that. Again, questions, comments, and criticism appreciated. The direct download of the MOV file (75 megs) can be scored in the lower right-hand side of the Vimeo page, and if you're a glutton for punishment, the YouTube hi-res iteration is [here.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHs7W6gasjA&fmt=6)
Ricochet is next, so if there's something specific you want to see in that one, now's the time to tell me.
---
## The Type Of Shit That Pisses Me Off...
- Date: 2008-08-24
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/08/the-type-of-shit-that-pisses-me-off/
Okay, so I'm merrily working along, I go to switch to headphones, and I hit the "MUTE" button on my Central Station, and it pops out and _hits me in the forehead._ So, being the sort to which Einstein was obviously referring in his definition of insanity, I stuck the button back in the hole, thinking it would work again. As you can see in the picture, that was a dumb idea.
On the one hand, no fault to Presonus. Shit breaks. On the other hand, these buttons are cheap as fuck. Which kind of goes against the statement that the Central Station was made with the "highest quality passive components including military grade 1% tolerance metal film resistors, multi-element potentiometers and ultra-durable connectors to deliver the highest sonic performance." I'm glad I'm not in the military, is all I'm sayin'.
I'm sure that if I dropped a line to Presonus, they'd get me sorted out in short order (this Central Station was, in fact, payment for services rendered to that company; I didn't actually _buy_ it); they are nice folks and generally on the ball about this sort of shit. But that brings to light a bigger issue, one I've touched upon in many different ways over the last couple years of writing this blog. You Get What You Pay For. I'm gonna shut the fuck up now and go read about [this.](http://www.dangerousmusic.com/dbox.html) Sure, it costs a lot more, but what if I had a commercial studio and the mute button on my monitor controller got stuck, or worse yet, popped out and got lodged in the eyeball of a client? Can't have that.
---
## Replicant Screencast...
- Date: 2008-08-22
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/08/replicant-screencast/
[Replicant Overview And Tips...](http://www.vimeo.com/1580372?pg=embed&sec=1580372) from [Audio Damage](http://www.vimeo.com/audiodamage?pg=embed&sec=1580372) on [Vimeo](http://vimeo.com/?pg=embed&sec=1580372).
Sometimes, things are just harder than they need to be, plain and simple. Such was the case with this. After fighting with Vimeo for a fair portion of the day (apparently, the above tutorial is actually a commercial) I gave up and uploaded it to straight Google Video. However, the Google version was horribly pixelated; the convertors they use when going that direction are just plain bad. So I thought "well, I'll just make an Audio Damage account at YouTube. Easy enough." That turned out to be a not-insignificant amount of trouble too, as YouTube couldn't manage to mail me a confirmation mail to our server.
Long story short, I got it done, uploaded, and discovered some sort of odd pixel ratio problem, which is interesting as I rendered the video in NTSC DV format. Well, live and learn, I guess. Every time I do anything with video, I'm amazed at how complicated the various forces concerned have managed to make it. Anyhow, [this link](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_Ag_s3eV3k&fmt=6) forces YouTube's "high quality" mode, in which you can almost sort of make out the words on the displays. It's still a little oblong, but that's life.
So, as this is the first one, I'm open to any and all suggestions as to format, content, and my ability (or lack thereof) to not say "ummmmm..."
**EDIT:** As you can plainly see, I was able to do the Vimeo dealy-bob after all. Still have the pixel ratio issue, so I guess that's somehow my fault. Anyhow, more better there. In stereo, and defaults to the same res that YouTube's "high resolution" is.
---
## Soniccouture Bowed Piano mini-review...
- Date: 2008-08-13
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/08/soniccouture-bowed-piano-mini-review/
I would have done this last week when I got the sample set, but between Automaton, house guests, and, you know, leisure activities, I didn't get it done in a timely fashion. My bad but hey, that's why you don't have to pay a subscription fee for this site.
Anyhow, what we have here is the [(Bowed) Piano](http://www.soniccouture.com/pages/bowed-piano.php) by Soniccouture. It is a fairly crafty set, and (like most Soniccouture sample sets) unique. You don't have to worry about accidentally doubling up on a particular sound with these guys. It is, as the name suggests, a 9' Baldwin grand, with individual strings bowed by a rosin-coated fishing line contraption (essentially a garrote, if you're a ninja/pirate). In typical Soniccouture fashion, the set is complete overkill, with round-robin samples of three different flavors: hard legato, soft legato, and staccato. Apparently the staccato sound is done with a horsehair/tongue depressor gee-gaw.
Of course, you can, and should, read all that stuff on the Soniccouture site to get the low-down on what is what. What you really want to know is whether it's good or not. Since I don't have all those other bowed piano sample sets to compare it to, it has to stand on its own merits.
For the two legato sets (switched via the mod wheel), pads are the comfort zone. It is an odd sound, but nice and pleasing, and organic as hell. The soft legato sits in a mix in the same way that violas or a cello played on a high register would, albeit with a far greater range. The hard legato is fairly bright and active, and frankly you'll have to essentially invent new music to use it with, as it is simply too lively for normal pad usage. I _really_ like how the bottom two octaves are essentially only second and third harmonics on the hard legato. The sound of this is hard to describe but extremely cool.
The staccato mode (accessed via whacking B6, versus C7 for legato) sounds like nothing so much as an oboe with a lot of lip, for want of any other descriptor. That isn't to say that it _actually_ sounds like an oboe at all, lip or no. It just reminds me of that more than any other sound.
The nice thing about this set (and the Hang Drum set, for that matter) is that these aren't instruments that you think of needing, as in "boy, you know what would really set this off? A bowed piano!" These sounds, and many of the other Soniccouture sets, work in the opposite direction. You get the set, install it, start fooling around, and ideas come. I think that's worth its weight in gold, and as inspirational material this sample set would be a bargain at five times the price. (Which is, by the way, fifty quid.) Audio samples and all the info at the Soniccouture site.
---
## Snerk.
- Date: 2008-07-22
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/07/snerk/
Jordan Rudess is [looking for a tech.](http://www.jordanrudess.com/jr/) My favorite part is this line:
_As this role requires you to be at Jordan's private residence, absolute discretion and confidentiality must be maintained by the successful applicant to maintain Jordan's privacy and the privacy of his family._
A good way to ensure privacy would be to ask your fans if any of them would like the job. And we all know how forward-thinking Dream Theater's fans are. I'm sure he'll get many excellent replies.
_Please no time wasters or overzealous fans, this is a serious opportunity to gain some great experience and work with one of the best musicians performing today in his own private studio._
No offense, Mr. Rudess, but if you're so shit-hot... well... I'll just let that thought dwindle off, because that's a road fraught with peril. But just for a moment, let's talk about grammar. The way that sentence is written, it sounds like he's one of the best home studio musicians performing today. That got a chuckle out of me. Jordan Rudess: King Of YouTube. But the one thing I _haven't_ seen is him using his Haken Continuum to trigger a V-Synth while playing the Super Mario Bros. theme. That would be the event horizon of wankery, and no mistake.
---
## Raymond Scott: On To Something...
- Date: 2008-06-30
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/06/raymond-scott-on-to-something/
As you're no doubt aware if you're in to such things, there is a Raymond Scott documentary in the works. Judging from the trailer (above) it looks like a fairly comprehensive and cool movie. Naturally, since the producers are making a documentary about a semi-obscure electronic music pioneer, for some bizarre reason they can't get the backing of a major studio, and cash is in short supply. They could use a [little help.](http://scottdoc.wordpress.com/support-the-film/) Just to prove we don't use _all_ the money you spend on our plugins for hookers and blow (well, I don't; I can't speak for Adam), Audio Damage has donated $500 towards the film.
Even if you can't spare $10 or whatever, you'd do yourself a great disservice by not reading the [Wikipedia article](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Scott) about Mr. Scott at the very least. This guy invented a lot of the techniques we use today, and on top of that, provided the soundtrack to our childhood. He deserves a bit of remembering.
---
## BEHOLD THE POWER OF BACON!!!
- Date: 2008-06-10
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/06/behold-the-power-of-bacon/
That photo is the reason Portland, Oregon is awesome, and whatever joint you live in is Shitsville. I can go buy a maple doughnut with bacon on it at [Voodoo](http://voodoodoughnut.com/) 24 hours a day, and you can't.
No musical context for this post; I just wanted to gloat.
**EDIT**: I'm done gloating. I've apparently gone in to some weird combination of diabetic shock and catastrophic heart failure. Perhaps I'm too old to eat things like this, and maybe your town isn't so bad after all.
---
## Rewiring complete...
- Date: 2008-06-07
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/06/rewiring-complete/
[](http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/2559550932/)
Got my office all re-wired today. Took me two days to strip it to the bare walls, clean everything, and put it all back together. Thank god I don't have more shit.
Well...
I actually have a ton more shit, but it's all out in the studio. I can't record guitars in the house, because my wife would kill herself then kill me. In the interests of marital bliss, all actual _noise_ takes place out in the studio. Also, I've ordered speaker stands because the speaker placement makes me want to stick a rusty spork right in my left eye, but they obviously aren't here yet.
This is a much better placement than my previous iteration, I'll say that much.
---
## Your First Time...
- Date: 2008-06-07
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/06/your-first-time/
I was just getting some chuckles from reading [this thread](http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=217737&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0) at KvR, wherein it is determined that the first third-party commercial VST plugin was Prosoniq's NorthPole. (Which, incidentally, is still [freely available](http://www.prosoniq.com/faq/northpole-where-faq/) but good luck using it on a modern Mac. The PC version still works fine, a fact I verified myself in Cubase 4 and Live 7 on a Vista machine.) NorthPole, along with the first of what would become many MDA plugins (RingMod), and two classics from Dave Brown (ProComp and ProDelay) were all released the day the VST SDK was released, 8/27/98.
An inherent appreciation for InterCaps aside, that was two months shy of ten years ago. On the one hand, when you compare these old plugins to what is currently available, there are light years of difference between them; one of the knobs on an AD product probably has more code in it than the entirety of NorthPole. On the other hand, you can see how these early products informed all future plugins. NorthPole may not be sophisticated, especially when you compare it to something like Dr. Device, which is a direct descendent, but damn if it doesn't sound pretty good, and it's not like you have to figure out how to use it or anything. (You do, however, need to go find that old BPM->Delay Time chart you haven't needed for about 6 years.)
The interesting thing to note here is that the ProSoniq folks didn't have any competition when they released this plug. They just thought "hey, wouldn't a filter/distortion/delay effect be cool to make?" They had to actually invent a market where none existed before, and in doing so, essentially created the baseline effect that all companies end up releasing. It seems like virtually all plug-in companies have a filter/distortion/delay combination plugin of some sort, and that combination is definitely the Happy Place for plug-ins that have no hardware equivalent.
I was a (militant) Logic user in 1998, and Logic didn't develop VST support until the following year. The first plugin I bought was D-Pole, another filter/distortion/delay that is still available to [purchase](http://www.analoguehaven.com/waldorf/edition/), and completely current as VST2.4/AU/UB. While this market is relatively young compared to, say, guitars, it still has its standards, and an accepted methodology for doing things, which I think is somewhat interesting to note. Now that Audio Damage has an entire line of effects, we're going to do some truly whacky shit, and maybe, if we're lucky and imaginative, we can come up with a new baseline (unlikely) or something groundbreaking (more likely) that will inspire the next ten years of development, and some guy in 2018 will be writing in whatever blogs have become about that Audio Damage effect he bought in 2008.
A boy can dream.
---
## Moogerific...
- Date: 2008-06-06
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/06/moogerific/
Okay, I've been studiously ignoring the news about the Moog guitar since it was first announced, but I don't think we can avoid it any more. My thoughts are twofold, with the caveat that I've only watched the video and looked at the pictures, and not actually played one:
1\. It looks like it was designed by a collector, not a player. The Ricky control "panel" thing coupled with the Ibanez body style is really disconcerting, bordering on downright ugly. And gold hardware? Really? Come on. Even the Line 6 guitars look better, and that's really saying something.
2\. The effect, which is, I gather, sort of Sustainer Plus, is kinda nifty, but it could easily develop in to that sort of sound where everyone knows what it is, and you can only use it once on an album. Take the effect out of the picture, and it's just a really expensive, and somewhat ugly, guitar.
I would really love to love it and want one, but with apologies to Moog Music, Inc., I don't think this thing is the bomb at all. Have at it.
---
## For Sale...
- Date: 2008-06-06
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/06/for-sale/
In addition to the two things still in Adam's Yard Sale post, I have a Brent Averil 312A mic pre for sale. You can read all about it [here.](http://www.brentaverill.com/products/index.asp?itemnum=2) It is the top one pictured, single channel with power supply. Obviously, you can plainly see what I paid for it. Selling for $800 cashy money. I'm actually quite fond of it; it is one of the better mic pres there are, in my opinion, and a bargain at twice the price. However, I'm switching to 500 form factor, and need to free up the rack space. (I'll be using the money to buy 500-sized 312A pres.) Shipping in the US is included. Anywhere else, you pay actual cost.
---
## Recharge...
- Date: 2008-06-05
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/06/recharge/
[](http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/2554356178/)
It was a fairly hectic couple of weeks 'round these parts, and I'm about to have another hectic week soon (my 40th birthday occurs simultaneously at a family reunion; I'm not sure which I'm less excited for, but the lack of excitement seems to go down exponentially, trending to dread, when you combine the two). These things, among many others, have conspired to lower my creative output to what could generously be called "nil." So I took the opportunity yesterday to go recharge my batteries.
For me personally this has, for the last couple years, involved going by myself out to the desert in Central Oregon and either taking pictures, looking for interesting rocks, or both. I don't know why this works for me, and I was surprised to discover that it did, entirely by accident a couple years ago.
So, not-so-bright-and-early yesterday, I took off for the sprawling BLM-managed Prineville District area and climbed some small mountain-type-things, found some nice picture jasper and moss agate, and generally admired the planet. (The picture above is on my way home. I live on the other side of those mountains.)
So, magically, I wake up today full of motivation and creativity. I'm sure there's a lengthy treatise somewhere on L-Dopa levels and self-adjustment thereof, but the simple fact of the matter is that if I take a day just for me, and that day doesn't involve making plugins or music, when I come back I feel much better, ready to work. Today and tomorrow, I'm taking my office/studio down to the bare walls, cleaning, and re-wiring. Whee.
How do you recharge your creative batteries?
---
## Audio Damage Kombinat updated to 1.0.1
- Date: 2008-06-04
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/06/audio-damage-kombinat-updated-to-1-0-1/
Kombinat has been updated to 1.0.1 on both OSX and Windows platforms to fix an issue with the compressor, which wasn't... uh... compressing. The new installers are available for download. If you're using Kombinat in a current project, plan accordingly, as this will change the sound of any preset or program which uses the compressor at all, and the change is drastic in some cases.
**EDIT:** This problem is like genital warts. It simply can't be tamed. The VST in the OSX of the installer is fixed, but the AU (our special friend) is not. New installer as soon as I can prod Adam to life. The Windows version is 100% fixed, though.
**EDIT AGAIN:** It's almost worth deleting this post and starting over, isn't it? Anyhow, a new OSX installer has been put up, and it's golden, I swear on the baby Jesus.
---
## Oops.
- Date: 2008-06-03
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/06/oops/
An apology is necessary, it seems. The version of Kombinat that went out the door (in the figurative sense), well, the compressor doesn't seem to be compressing. All it is do is gaining.
The problem has been found and fixed. Unfortunately, all the presets are in a shambles now, so those need to be touched up; we'll be doing that over the next several hours, and v1.0.1 will be swapped in the store. And just when we were congratulating ourselves on the smoothest release we've ever had, with nary a problem that wasn't a system-specific one (as in that person's computer is fucked up in some way).
Oh, well.
**EDIT:** Okay, I've got all the presets rebuilt; just waiting for Adam to get back so we can rebuild the installers. This will be somewhat comical as the compressor was something of a crowning achievement of this plugin. With it actually working, it will sound drastically different, especially on "live" drum loops. People that have already bought the plugin are in for something of a surprise.
---
## Monday, Monday...
- Date: 2008-06-03
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/06/monday-monday/
Sorry for the complete lack of postage, but I was in the mandatory post-release decompression over the weekend (which, for me, consists mostly of trawling the various forums and answering e-mail), and as far as I can tell, nothing worth conversing about occurred in the music industry since Saturday morning.
Work has started on the design of our next product, and I'm not gonna let out a single peep about it except to say that this is a **whopper** and will put all other plugins in its genre to shame, _including_ one of our own.
I also got some work done on my Blip synth; it is now making sound, and this sound is even kind of interesting. All I have to do now is finish the MIDI part of the operation and that'll be that. As it turns out, there will be no AD IP in it, so I'll be able to post the code for both of you that are interested in such things.
In any case, we'll be back to our normal vitriol and such on the 'morrow. Consider this an open thread. I can't for the life of me think of a topic, so that joy shall go to the person who first posts in this thread.
---
## Spring Cleaning...
- Date: 2008-05-31
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/05/spring-cleaning/
Adam asked me to post this for him. This stuff isn't mine; don't write me and ask me about it. Write [Adam](mailto:adam@studionebula.com) instead.
\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_
**Clavia Nord Modular G2 Engine** (rackmount G2), with original packaging (such as it is), manual, and nifty red-tipped USB cable. Excellent condition, hardly looks used. $650.
**Encore Electronics Expressionist MIDI/CV converter**, with manual and AC adapter. Looks nearly new. $450.
**TC Electronic PowerCore Element PCI**, with original box, packaging, manual. The CD is obviously out of date but you can obtain the current software from TC's website. $150. A helluva good reverb for the money.
**MIDIverb II** with original AC adapter, docs and quick-reference card. I'm not gonna pull your leg and tell you that this is a "vintage" reverb. $50 or offer me a guitar pedal of some sort.
_\[Editor's note: That's from an Apogee/SSL/Eventide studio, I think Adam should have pointed out. -CR\]_
I accept PayPal only, and I ship only to addresses within the United States. (Sorry, but I hate filling out customs forms.) Prices do not include shipping but I charge only the actual cost. I can ship by UPS or USPS, whichever you prefer.
---
## One Of Those Funny Little Things...
- Date: 2008-05-30
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/05/one-of-those-funny-little-things/
I'd sing Dylan's "The Times They Are A-Changin'" now if I wasn't busy sobbing in my morning caffeine-laced beverage. One of the features of Kombinat (and Dr. Device which birthed it) is the fact that the filter self-oscillates, like a "real" analog four-pole lowpass. Now, I'll grant that this isn't the most useful thing in the world, and was really just a way to show off a bit, because it is hard to do in software.
I had a feeling that this would cause a bit of consternation because so few software filters resonate on their own, so we inserted a special mention of this fact in the Kombinat manual:
_...this filter can self-oscillate at high resonance, resulting in a tone, with the pitch determined by the setting of the frequency knob. This is not common in software-based filters, and may surprise you the first time you hear it._
I thought this perhaps unnecessary and overcautious, but as it turns out, I was right. (And let me tell you, I'm never shocked by that occurance, nosiree!!!) I got an email last night from someone that bought Kombinat that thought the filter was broken because it was emitting a tone when the resonance was all the way up.
And yes, that thump you heard was the sound of my forehead banging on the corner of my desk.
This, in and of itself, is not that big a deal, but it brings to light a greater question: how much does the software we use inform our creative methods? I know that I've entirely got out of the habit of key gating and sidechain compressing as a result of using Cubendo for several years, and these were both effects I commonly used when in a "real" studio. I'm sure if I thought about it, I could come up with other examples. Is there something you're drastically missing as a result of the Big Switch from 2" tape to DAWs?
(And as an aside, if one of my dear readers speaks native German and fully comprehends why a filter that self-oscillates isn't a bad thing, could you [drop me a line](mailto:chris@audiodamage.com); there is a serious language barrier with this particular customer, and I'm having a hard time explaining to him why it isn't actually broken.)
**EDIT:** Never mind with the German stuff. My friend [Ned](http://www.stromkern.com/) hooked me up.
---
## AD Kombinat Now Available...
- Date: 2008-05-29
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/05/ad-kombinat-now-available/
Okay, refresh monkeys. Kombinat is now available for purchase. [Go git some.](http://www.audiodamage.com/effects/product.php?pid=AD019) US$49.00 to murder yr bitz.
---
## Woof, woof!!!
- Date: 2008-05-28
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/05/woof-woof/
[](http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/2531860686/)
Purple were kind enough to send me a couple Biz Mk mic pres to try out, and the UPS man just dropped 'em off. Haven't plugged 'em up yet, so I can't speak to them at all, except to say that they sure are purdy little things.
**EDIT:** Okay, played about for a bit. These are, in fact, the Biz. I'll have to do some recordings, but I'll say on an initial examination with vocals and bass, these sound fucking great. They do have a bit of color (and can, depending on the knob settings, have a lot of color) which I would describe as generally "American" in sound, and that's music to my ears, being an unrepentant API lover. However, these are able to do a much greater variety of tones than a typical API pre.
---
## The Raw Feed...
- Date: 2008-05-26
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/05/the-raw-feed/
I'm a fan of our space program here in the U.S.A., and it is one of the very few things that can excite patriotic fervor in me; I tend to look on nationalism as the fountain of all things stupid that aren't directly a result of religion in this world, but in this one little case I do give myself a little bit of leeway. Today, the Phoenix lander plopped its fat little ass down on Mars, and I got the itch to start farming the data for interesting tidbits.
I've referenced NASA many times in the various Micronaut releases. Starting with Io, I got in the habit of mining the various NASA pages for data which I would endeavor to use in interesting ways. Many of the sounds on the various Micronaut albums are telemetry from various NASA missions imported in to Sound Forge as RAW, then carved in to interesting things. NASA also has a pretty vast well of sound files, if you know [where to look,](http://www.nasa.gov/news/media/audioclips/index.html) and these can be used as source data for various things.
One nice feature of all the data that NASA puts out on a daily basis (and there is a metric fuckton of it, believe you me) is that it is all bought and paid for by the American public, and is thus public in its own right. You can use any of the raw data NASA puts up on its various sites without having to sweat copyright or get permission or any of that nonsense. (Some of the data is owned by universities, and some images are the result of private citizens or companies parsing the raw data in their own mechanisms, and these are copyrighted, so you do have to pay a bit of attention. The safe bet: if there's no copyright information on the page, it is free for all.)
In any case, the easiest thing to do if you're grabbing raw telemetry data is to open in the editor of your choice as RAW. Finding the raw data for a particular mission can be kind of tricky, but trust me, it's [all out there](http://www.igpp.ucla.edu/cache1/GOHIC_5001/DATA/) somewhere. That link is for some raw telemetry from the Galileo mission, for a blast from the past. The .PKT files are the raw packets. The vast majority of data from these deep space missions is imagery, but it will be in formats from 20-30 years ago, so it's not like opening a GIF or JPEG. Your mileage may vary.
So, that's my general methodology, and sometimes it can provide useful results, with a bit of trial and error. Is there any funny source that you like to farm for interesting sounds?
---
## Cake or death?
- Date: 2008-05-24
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/05/cake-or-death/
I read with amusement (bemusement?) the recent go-round over [on CDM](http://createdigitalmusic.com/2008/05/21/digidesign-talks-latest-windows-mac-releases-compatibility-drivers/) wherein Mr. Kirn aired some grievances from users regarding the state of Digidesign and M-Audio drivers viz. Leopard and Vista. The VP of Lollipop Land... errr... I mean "Head Of Customer Support And Services" of Digidesign and the General Manager of M-Audio both responded at length to missives that Mr. Kirn put up.
\*snort\*
The responses remind me of the old joke:
Child to sister: "You're stupid."
Parent: "That's not polite. Apologize to your sister right now!"
Child to sister: "I'm sorry that you're stupid."
Obviously I have an extremely biased opinion, and am eminently unqualified to make comments regarding that company's business practices, but naturally I won't let that stop me from shooting my mouth off. When you aggressively seek market share and it gets away from you, and people eventually complain about it getting away from you, blaming the results on the OS vendor (which, long story short, is exactly what occurred in both the responses) is a fairly silly thing to do.
I'm sure many long-time readers will say "yeah, but Chris, I seem to recall you bashing on Apple fairly frequently." 'Tis true, I've been known to maybe drop a hint that the Emperor was in his skivvies now and again, and that's doubly amusing in the music industry, where apparently the OS you choose to use defines your entire existence, and must be defended with your life. But that's just venting. When Apple throws us a loop, we cowboy up and fix whatever it is they broke, or we broke, or whatever. We certainly don't let 19 months go by. There isn't a piece of hardware made, by anybody ever, that has software so complicated that a multi-million-dollar corporation can't manage to make new firmware in 19 months, unless that corporation is lazy or just doesn't give a shit, or both. I'm sorry, but I call bullshit.
**Bullshit!**
That aside, they're in a fairly uncomfortable situation right now, and while that is bad for the consumers that are directly invested in the two companies, I think it is a good thing for the computer music industry as a whole, as it allows other smaller companies an opportunity to take advantage of the situation, should they see fit. This, in turn, benefits all of us by resulting in (theoretically) higher quality and (theoretically) lower prices. Capitalism in action.
I've been pondering how business in this day and age works, and it seems to me that small agile companies (I'll use Apogee as an example) are far better at serving the needs of their customers than big bloated piles of shitsauce (let's go ahead and use Digidesign for the shitsauce.) I'm sure that the guys at Apogee would love to have the resources of Digidesign, but the fact that they have a specialty market and don't really work outside that market much kind of keeps them small and agile. While the Apogee products carry a premium price, they are far longer-lived and higher quality than the products their competitors at Digi and M-Audio make, and are thus technically cheaper when you get down to it. To use one single product as an example, the Trak 2 was released in late 2000, just shy of eight years ago. It is still sold today, and if you bought one of the first Trak 2s (I have a close friend that did exactly that) you have a product that works almost exactly the same as it did in 2000, except better. If you bought an M-Audio inter... oh, wait... they were called MIDIman then, weren't they? Did they make audio inter... oh...
Okay, if you bought a Digide... oh, wait. You bought the Apogee convertor because the Digidesign one wasn't very good, didn't you? And you use ProTools why, again? Because it is stable? Well, that is demonstrably untrue. Because the DSP farm in an HD system takes the load off your CPU? Yeah, that eight-core Mac Pro really needs a lot of help. It can barely do anything. Because it sounds so god-damn good? Spare me. Bits are fucking bits whether they're shit out of Logic, ProTools, Cubase, or Sonar. Next thing you'll be telling me that it has a "wider soundstage and greater depth." Yeah, and I've got a nice wooden volume knob I want to sell you.
Long story short, while it fucking sucks for the people that are having a hard time with M-Audio and Digi shit (and I'll take this brief opportunity to get a tiny "I told you so" in, just because I can) in the long run you'll be better off. Either that company will have learned its lesson after getting slapped around by the clue fairy, or it won't, and will go out of business. Either way, the consumer is well served. What annoys me is that everyone is patting them on the back for actually coming out and "apologizing." We're in a sad, sad state of affairs when people are generally shocked that someone should own up to their mistakes.
---
## It's Aliiiiiiiiive!!!!
- Date: 2008-05-13
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/05/its-aliiiiiiiiive/
Kombinat lives. We spent the day fixing minor quibbles with the UI, and are just about done with that. All that remains is to "de-click" the knobs and add the presets, and the Windows version will be complete, and can go out for testing. I imagine this will occur tomorrow evening or Wednesday. We'll probably have the OS X VST shortly thereafter, and then the week-long battle to build the AU starts. It's still too soon to say for sure, but you _will_ have a Kombinat in your hands by the end of May.
And, I must say, this would be an excellent tool for the recreational DJ.
---
## Dear Mr. Reznor: Thanks for nothin'
- Date: 2008-05-07
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/05/dear-mr-reznor-thanks-for-nothin/
I gotta say I don't have a lot of love in my heart of hearts for NIN this particular minute. We (and by "we" I mean the group of people that work in the music industry that aren't insane or blinded by money) have been working hard these last few years to teach consumers, those fickle little creatures, that the cost of music isn't inherent to that little round piece of plastic it used to come on, but rather that it had an intrinsic value.
In one fell swoop on Monday, Mr. Reznor pooped all that hard work right out his ass by offering the latest crop of NIN recordings for free, no strings attached. On the one hand I say more power to him; it's great that he has a revenue stream based upon mechanical royalties from previous recordings and touring that can provide him and his dependents with the means to pay the rent. God bless.
On the other hand, it tells the consumer, who really isn't all that sharp when you get down to it, that we weren't that serious when we said "hey, those plastic disks aren't where the value is; rather, it rests in what's stamped in to them." The consumer isn't that swift on the uptake, I'll grant, but he has a good eye for bullshit when he sees it.
Now, I'm perfectly aware that all this is just pissing in the wind. Music itself may not have a desire to be free, but consumers sure do want it to be free. So this is really more of a vent than a question in and of itself. But let me posit the following, and I'll leave it alone:
I've heard the demo tape that Mr. Reznor sent to Wax Trax! before he got signed to TVT. Wax Trax! passed on it. TVT heard something (which oddly went against their normal habit of not hearing anything) and sent Mr. Reznor off to England to hang out with John Fryer, Adrian Sherwood, and Keith LeBlanc, and _then_ we get Pretty Hate Machine.
So, logically assuming that Mr. Reznor would not have his current fame without the success of Pretty Hate Machine, and logically assuming that he could not have afforded the services of the producers that worked on his first album without the financial backing of TVT, one is only left with the assumption that the free music world to which Mr. Reznor aspires precludes the creation of his catalog which supports this aspiration. I can't come to any other conclusion, frankly.
(And to those that would take issue with the preceding paragraph, I direct you to the Tackhead album "Tackhead Tape Time," wherein you will find the Adrian Sherwood/Keith LeBlanc track "Reality." Other than Gary Clail's robo-vocals, this is essentially "Down In It" instrumental, and pre-dates "Down In It" by three years. "Down In It" was, of course, the track that put NIN on the road to where they are now.)
---
## AI DAW Tracking Poll...
- Date: 2008-05-04
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/05/ai-daw-tracking-poll/
This poll will no doubt royally fuck all the RSS readers out there, so if you just see this text and no poll, please take a moment and come to the main site and whack one of the choices.
I have a good general idea of what the Audio Damage customer base uses, but I have to admit that I make certain assumptions about the overall AI readership. I'm curious as to how the two line up. There are a shit-ton of people that read this blog that never have created an account; that's fine, of course, but if you could just come out from lurking to vote on this one poll, I'd be oh-so-happy. You don't have to log in to vote; it isn't part of posiNET.
---
## PowerWhore X-H8
- Date: 2008-05-02
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/05/powerwhore-x-h8/
I'm going to give TC about two more weeks, then I'm going to have a brand new PowerCore X8 for sale on the cheap. The amount of time they're taking with Vista drivers is absolutely ludicrous. I have to be honest and say that I would have given them about the same amount of time as I gave Lynx originally, which was two months after the release of Vista. This has gone far beyond an understandable hiccup, and is simply irresponsible on their part.
Vista was released on Nov. 30th, 2006, if you were curious. That was 18 months ago. It was generally stable for professional use (as long as you didn't own any M-Audio products, and why on Earth would you if you were a professional? They make plastic Chinese crap...) by March of last year. That was 13 months ago. I fail to see how a company the size of TC Electronic couldn't manage to build and beta-test a working FW driver and set of plugins in that amount of time. It simply defies logic, unless your logic wanders along these lines: "well, Vista sukz, and XP rulez, so we're not gonna bother until X number of customers complain."
I've tested the unit extensively with my iMac, and I liked the included plugins enough to exhibit a far larger measure of patience than I would normally, once I got over my initial shock that it wasn't Vista compatible. I even made a tentative list of plug-ins that I was going to purchase, once I had it running with my main music computer. I figure the unit is worth it for VSS3 alone, quite frankly. That is a hell of a reverb.
But in all honesty, I have far better things to do with $1500 than have it literally sit in a hole in my production rack depreciating. If TC hasn't released Vista drivers by two Fridays hence (5/16) I'm going to offer this unit for sale for a ludicrously cheap price, and some lucky XP or OS X user can have the benefit of my costly mistake in trusting a company to be responsible.
(Note: I posted a similar comment in the [TC forums](http://forum.tcelectronic.com/viewtopic.php?pid=7886#p7886) because I'm not the sort to hide behind my blog.)
---
## Sometimes you eat the bear...
- Date: 2008-05-01
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/05/sometimes-you-eat-the-bear/
The events of last week have got me thinking in a something-less-than-sanguine manner about the nature of the music industry again. (If you've not been in school lately, I discovered my manager of 14 years was [robbing me blind](https://analogindustries.com/2008/04/sigh/), and had to take Xtreme Measures to sort things out in a hurry.) It seems to me that, in this business, there's two distinct classes.
The first class (what we'll call the Untouchables) is mostly made up of musicians, and to a lesser extent those that immediately surround them and answer only to them. These sorts include FOH and monitor engineers, recording engineers, stage techs, band LDs and the like. Essentially, people that make their living directly from the actual act of actually creating music, either live or in the studio.
The other class, the ones we'll call Brahmans for the purposes of this essay, includes virtually everyone else. These are the people that make money off of musicians and the creation of music, either live or in the studio, but have no creative output to speak of. Now, I'm no doubt going to generate a bit of guff here, but I'm going to lump producers in to this category as well. I mean, if George Martin hadn't found himself the Beatles, would he be remembered as The Man Who Brought The World Spike Milligan? Seriously? I won't deny the input that a producer has in to the creative process, as I am one myself, but the process needs to exist in the first place. Also in this category we put lawyers, managers, accountants, everyone that works at record labels, publishers, t-shirt companies, record stores, TuneCore, CD Baby, _et al._
Now, there are those various people, like me, who straddle the worlds of the Untouchables and the Brahmans. I'm a musician, but I also make money off musicians, as a producer, software developer, and publisher. It's worth noting that for people like me, it's fairly obvious what side of the business to be in if you're interested in, say, paying for groceries. I make more money in a year with Audio Damage than I did in ten years of fronting a moderately successful band. And I'll note that in that band I never signed away my publishing (which is the number one way you don't get paid as a signed musician, it must be said) and retained all rights except master use of my first four records, and _all_ rights of the next three.
Let's talk about Brahmans for a bit. These people are the sort of people that want to work in the music industry because it's cool but can't make music, for whatever reason. The guy at Guitar Center that works at the accessories counter is probably the best example of the most direct way to earn a living via the good offices of musicians, but if you broaden your field of vision, you'll see that guy is no different than the guy that owns a PA company, or the chick that proofreads the liner notes at the label, or the paralegal that does research for the entertainment attorney, or the dude that does the format conversions at TuneCore. All of these people make a living off a musician's creative output, usually at the **direct** expense of the musician, but sometimes in an indirect manner. (For an indirect example, you need look no further than the bartenders at your favorite venue.)
Now, many of these people are necessary, and I certainly won't be first in line to begrudge the format conversion dude at TuneCore, because he lets me spend my time playing video games (for, uhhhh... inspiration!) instead of figuring out how to submit songs to all these different services. I'm more than happy to give him his share of the twenty bucks or whatever it is I pay to TuneCore per year per album.
Nor would I say that it is easy to get by without a manager if you have even moderate success, unless you work in particular genres that don't require one. (I doubt [Robert Rich](http://robertrich.com/) has one, for instance, and he does fine, and plays theaters to nice crowds.) And a booking agent? God forbid you have to book a 3-month run for a genre band. I've done it, and let me say that I'd gladly give a large percentage of the income to someone else to make those phone calls. Routing sucks so hard, and if someone is good at it and likes to do it, then by all means, here's 15%.
And signing _any_ contract without proper legal advice is essentially the same as saying "well, this music thing is okay, but what I _really_ want to do is be a bartender." That's exactly what's gonna happen to you if you sign a recording contract or publishing agreement without a lawyer.
That paragraph brings me to my point, albeit in a roundabout way. When iTunes says "**WOW! 65% GOES DIRECTLY TO THE ARTIST!**" people tend to believe that. You and I know that's bullshit, and Harry Fox can suck my hairy (yet admittedly somewhat foxy) balls, quite frankly. More like .03%, when all is said and done. But what the public perceives as the music industry, which is _all_ musicians, plus George Martin, plus those shady folks that go around suing everybody for downloading, fails to take in to account the 95% of the iceberg that is underwater. Even the figures released by the RIAA alternately trumpeting their yearly success or bemoaning their yearly failures don't even begin to scratch the surface of this behemoth, which includes everything from companies that rent PAs and semis (Clair Bros.) to companies that silkscreen t-shirts (Contagious Graphics) to the folks that bring the Roach Coach to shed shows, to Miller Genuine Draft, to Monster Cable, to the guys that rent CNC time to make the metal parts of Monomes.
In short, this business is fucking ginormous, and it's easy to say "well, I'm a musician, and thus this entire industry is underneath me." Bad news, dude. You're at the bottom of this particular food chain. If you make music, let it be for the love of making music, and not because you want to make a living. Sometimes you eat the bear, but usually the bear eats you.
---
## Let's Not Talk About Square Waves Any More...
- Date: 2008-04-22
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/04/lets-not-talk-about-square-waves-any-more/
For some reason I thought that topic would be more interesting, but when you get right down to it, all square waves are, well, square. Point taken, and I'll assume my initial instinct was correct.
So, new topic, and in this I'd like to hear from the people that own BigSeq. With the advent of several products that kind of follow the same path, albeit with much more sophistication, it has become apparent to us that BigSeq desperately needs a BigSeq 2. While Adam is either (a) coding Kombinat, or (b) prancing about the exotic Orient, I've been working on a complete redesign of this venerable product.
Things we're going to include for certain:
**1\. New UI -** The user interface for BigSeq is problematic in my opinion. It would be nice to, for example, swipe your mouse across all the filter sliders, rather than having to adjust them one by one. I'm going to do a modern non-hardware interface for this, and try out a new style. It will have a lot of procedural (i.e. "drawn on the fly, instead of PNGs") stuff in it, and will be flat 2D instead of fakie-knobby. Rather than stacking all the sections (there will be several additions) we'll have one pane that shows whatever engine you're working on, and another pane that shows that engine's sequencer. In this manner, real estate isn't so cluttered.
**2\. Some additions to the randomization -** One of the things I do, when I use BigSeq, is set it so one or more of the random buttons get ticked every measure, resulting in a new pattern every four beats or whatever. We're gonna add this as an option on each possible randomization event, mainly to save me the trouble of automating it. You might find it handy too. There will also be a global randomizer, and some other randomization features.
**3\. Some more effects -** Rather than just the VCA/filter (w/ distortion) combo, we're going to break the distortion out in its own section and give it some more options. The filter will be replaced with the Dr. Device filter section, and we're also going to add a bitcrushing sequencer and a "stutter" section which will do pretty much what you think.
So, those are the things on the docket at this point. If you're a BigSeq owner, I'd like to hear any usability comments you might have, or maybe there's an additional effect I haven't thought of that might extend the usefulness. (Note that a global swing will be added, so no need to ask for that.) The extension of the product will naturally move it in to our $49 price bracket, but I'd rather not put everything and the kitchen sink in to it. Obviously, we're not going to add every suggestion, but I'm interested to hear if there's anything we haven't thought of that wouldn't be hard to add and would tip it over the edge.
---
## Let's Talk About Square Waves For A Bit...
- Date: 2008-04-21
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/04/lets-talk-about-square-waves-for-a-bit/
I'll have to admit that the sub-sub genre of synthesis largely devoted to mangling your ears via 555 oscillators has never really impressed me. I don't care for the circuit-bent sound too much, although I read [Get Lofi](http://www.getlofi.com/) along with all the other audio blogs I inflict upon myself on a daily basis. I generally find that trying to get something that is intrinsically a big pile of suck to sound interesting when there are so many things that actually do sound interesting is essentially wasted effort.
Now, that said, I do admire the fact that this whole square-wave generating sub-scene is a rather vibrant community. I've been tempted to buy a Bug Brand Weevil permutation for some time now, and I'm eyeballing his [new model](http://bugbrand.co.uk/pages/sounddevices.htm#audioweevil07) with a less-than-usually-jaundiced eye.
I know a lot of my dear readers are in to this particular sort of thing. What's the catch? What's the most desirable unit? What on earth do you do with it once you have it? Inquiring minds want to know.
---
## The Weekend...
- Date: 2008-04-21
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/04/the-weekend/
When you work at home, the weekend takes on kind of an abstract meaning. The only thing that makes it noteworthy, to me anyways, is that the stores in my town have shorter hours. Since my town has a grand total of four stores (grocery, pharmacy, hardware, convenience) this isn't really a big deal. Since I've been self-employed for a while now (I think about 20 years, on and off) I've never really got in the habit of having a defined weekend, in which to do weekend stuff. Even when I was working for The Man, it was largely in the entertainment industry, where the weekend is Monday and Tuesday.
Adam, however, is a creature of habit, and likes his weekend separate from work. So while I still answer support emails on Saturday and Sunday, no other Audio Damage work takes place on those days unless we have a release coming up or there's some sort of issue. In order to make this post make sense, I have to give a brief yet clear description of what exactly it is I do for this company, and then we'll move along.
When we design a new product, the initial starting point usually comes from me. I troll the various forums looking for "wouldn't it be great if..." posts, or download demos of other companies' products, and read all the reviews of plugins in the various magazines. I also, as you all know, occasionally ask here, and I keep a folder with all the emails people send us with "hey, you should make a..." shit in it. I also ask customers that are high up on the music industry food chain if there's anything they'd like to see. (Note that this last isn't because the kid in his bedroom is stupid and they're smart; it's because professionals generally have a high-stress work environment, and they can easily come up with ways to make that environment less stressful.)
Anyways, about twice a week I shoot an idea or two at Adam. Sometimes I'll make a simple mockup (here is the one I made for what ultimately became Kombinat) so Adam can see what the fuck it is I'm talking about. It wouldn't sound so hard, but imagine trying to describe something like Replicant when no such thing exists. Adam says "well, that's stupid" (at which point I either agree with him or try to change his mind) or "hmmmm," and then shoots back other things that fill the idea out (which is how Dr. Device, which started life as a simple stereo delay + filter, turned in to what it is.) I then incorporate whatever result of our ensuing conversation in to the design, and we start over.
I do all this concurrently while he is working on the code for whatever it is we're building at the time. When we finalize a product, I generally do all the artwork necessary, he then builds the thing sans UI, then I create all the UI elements that we're not drawing procedurally. We used to do the UIs first, but most of the recent products have had procedural bits that were part and parcel of the code (Replicant's "ring of death," or the XY pad in Dr. D, or the control grid in Ricochet) and these are perforce created by him. I'm actually whipping the Audio Damage horse towards the magic line where our entire UIs are done procedurally, but most recent (and foreseeable) products are a combination of the two methods.
So, if I can manage to keep from digressing for one whole paragraph, the entire point of this post was to say that, ironically, while I actually work far more with Audio Damage than any other business I've been involved with in my life, it is the most "normal" job I've ever had, where there is a distinct time period (about 11 am to 8 pm) five days a week where I actually am sitting there thinking of AD stuff, and doing AD things. So this whole weekend thing is actually kind of odd to me. To my wife, who works about 11 hours a day 7 days a week, it is an utterly alien concept.
But I'm starting to get the hang of it. This weekend, mostly because the absolutely ludicrous weather we had here kept me inside, I sat down and got deep, deep, deep in to the programming of the MD and MM. All this is an incredibly tedious and long-winded way of saying "sorry I didn't post anything for the last two days." I'm fairly certain I could have said that in less than seven paragraphs, but I'm not sure how.
---
## Please Hammer, Don't Hurt 'Em...
- Date: 2008-04-18
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/04/please-hammer-dont-hurt-em/
I always thought "Please Hammer, Don't Hurt 'Em" was the best album name ever conceived. There's literally no reason I would mention that fact in this post other than the mood struck me.
I gave my MD and MM a workout this afternoon. Except for the lil' Replicant chops on the MD part, this lil' ditty is 100% pure Elektron, soup to nuts. Obviously, I got a bit carried away with myself, and you're treated to a wonderful view of my elbow for some minutes. Boney, ain't it?
---
## Sigh.
- Date: 2008-04-17
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/04/sigh/
What was it the President said a couple years ago? "Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, won't get fooled again." Something like that. People that religiously read the comments of this site will no doubt recall that I briefly mentioned in a post a couple months ago that I caught my manager of 14 years skimming from the register. I thought I had taken all steps necessary to prevent this from happening in the future, but I just discovered this morning that he managed to overdraft the SMG checking account by a grand, via the judicious method of using the ATM card (which I had turned off) on a cruise ship. Apparently ship-to-shore banking transactions still use semaphores and flags or something.
In any event, the actual instance noted above is beside the point. I want you to learn from my pain, if you're just starting out. The lesson is thus: if you get to the point where you need a "team," (in professional terms: a lawyer, a personal manager, a business manager, and a booking agent) watch those motherfuckers like a hawk. Don't just say "he worries about the business so I don't have to." The music business is, first and foremost, a business, and the music is definitely a tertiary part of that operation.
You should pay close attention to what comes in, what goes out, where it goes, and why. It isn't easy for even a medium sized band, because you'd be amazed at how much money can run through a bank account of a touring band. (To put this in perspective, in 1996 SMG was burning about $75K a month while on tour, and maybe half that while in the studio, and SMG was by no means large, a theatre band at our height.) I didn't pay attention, and the combined percentage of my manager and lawyer, which should be 20% of my gross income was, in 2007, 63%. I didn't do all that work so they could go to titty bars and gamble.
As an aside, if you're in the Chicago metro area, and you're approached by Michael D. Ryan of 21st Century Management, you'd do well to briskly walk the other way.
---
## Atomica : Greyscale
- Date: 2008-04-17
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/04/atomica-greyscale/
If you like well-produced, moody downtempo, you're in luck. Positron! is pleased to announce the release of POSI022, [Greyscale,](http://shop.positronrecords.com/products/product.php?pid=posi022&aff=posi) by The Atomica Project. This is a digital-only release, VBR MP3 and FLAC for US$10.00, which is the price of a pack of gum in the UK, once you figure in VAT.
Atomica is Wade Alin doing most of the typing, but a fair percentage of the Positron Family, including myself and Bounte, make appearances. The Atomica Project website is [here,](http://www.theatomicaproject.com/) and as it is a posiNET site, your login and password from here at Analog Industries also works there. I should have mentioned this a couple days ago, but I am demonstrably retarded. (In all honesty, tax time got the better of me.)
---
## Some More Scriptorium Tidbits...
- Date: 2008-04-16
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/04/some-more-scriptorium-tidbits/
Okay, I've spent a little quality time with Scriptorium, Soniccouture's [new product](http://www.soniccouture.com/pages/scriptorium.php) which I mentioned a couple days ago. As promised, here's a more sophisticated set of comments. In no particular order:
**1\. Tutorial videos:** The package comes with four tutorial videos. A lot of people might say "poo, whatever" to these, but watch 'em. Soniccouture have forgotten more about Kontakt than you'll ever know, and chances are you (like me) never read the manual, and haven't the faintest idea of the massive power of the scripting engine. The "Shredder" one, in particular, is enlightening. I kind of passed this script by in my initial browse, to my detriment. This is probably the coolest script of the bunch, with one exception which I'll get to.
**2\. Manual:** There's a brief explanation as to how to use scripts, and more specifically _these_ scripts with Kontact 2/3. Then there's a thorough explanation of what each included script does. Unlike most piles of samples, the use of which is fairly obvious, I've found that you generally have to read the manual for any Soniccouture product, because they have a tendency to stick cool little bits in that you wouldn't otherwise be aware of. Doubly so for this, because some of the scripts are rather opaque on first examination. (This is due in no small part to the fact that the UI of each script is limited by what Kontakt can provide.)
**3\. Samples:** The included samples, meant to demonstrate the scripts, could actually have been called "Abstrakt Vol. 2" without irony. If you have the Abstrakt Vol. 1 set, you have a good idea of what you're gonna get here. A nice helping of largely usable synth stuff.
**4\. The Scripts:** In all candor, there are some things included that I can say for certain I'll never use. There is a script for just intonation which (like all JI stuff) gives me an instant headache, and makes me want to go out and punch children. By the same token, there are a couple scripts which, while workmanlike, are extremely useful for just thickening up things. Unison Z and Analog Oscillators in particular are very nice.
I haven't had a lot of time to devote specifically to this the last couple days, and I'm not in the business of writing reviews; you'll have to wait a bit for CM/FM/EM to get down to brass tacks on the sort of minutia you'd expect from a proper review, but I'll just say that, if you get this based upon my recommendation alone, **do not** pass by the two Mobile scripts, "Mobile" and "Mobile Drums." These take a little bit of setting up, but they are an unique take on algorithmic composition, with very little input required once you set up an initial state.
[Here is an MP3](https://web.archive.org/web/2008/http://www.analogindustries.com/samples/scriptorium_test.mp3) of a quick little test. The drums are done entirely with the Mobile Drums script. My input, from the sequencer, is one single whole note, and the script is doing the rest, driving the Macro Kit from Konkrete 2. The bass is the Blunted Upright Bass from Abstrakt Bass, with the Unison Z thickening script, and the spacey shit in the background is the "Controller Wobbler - Baobab" set from the included samples.
I won't go in depth as to how Mobile Drums (and Mobile itself, which is similar, but for comping, really) work, because I'm not quite sure I understand it correctly, and I'll just sound stupid if I'm wrong, but you basically set up a pattern for each of six sounds, and you can say whether that pattern will stay still, or drift in time. It can also randomize some features of each note; it is a fairly sophisticated script, and you can clearly hear how it moves things about to give instant interesting patterns where nothing at all existed before.
So, in short, if you're a Kontakt Power User, you'll be incredibly well-served by this set. If you had no idea whatsoever that Kontakt could do this sort of shit, this will extend your understanding of the program quite a bit. I'm continually amazed by (a) how deep that instrument is, and (b) how much more Soniccouture know about it than just about anybody.
---
## synthesizin'
- Date: 2008-04-16
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/04/synthesizin/
[](http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/2419469804/)
**ur doin it rong.**
Pablo has recently discovered the qualities of analog warmth. Although he didn't get the memo where the "fat" part was supposed to be _in_ the synth, not _on_ it.
---
## Audio Damage Ricochet updated to 1.0.2a on OSX...
- Date: 2008-04-15
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/04/audio-damage-ricochet-updated-to-1-0-2a-on-osx/
We've updated the OSX side of the Ricochet installer to 1.0.2a to fix a bug which prevented Ricochet from working correctly with the FXpansion wrapper in ProTools. If you don't have PT and the wrapper, you don't need this update. The AU version and the Windows side are unchanged.
---
## Open Thread and some other stuff...
- Date: 2008-04-15
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/04/open-thread-and-some-other-stuff/
[](http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisrandall/2415008255/)
I'll start with the other stuff first. I'm going to be looking to book a couple shows for June/July, so if you've got an event/night/whatever that is primarily IDM or experimental electronic music in Seattle, Portland, SF, or LA, or you want to fly my ass somewhere else, and you want to add a Micronaut Elektron Fiesta (fuck a laptop; I've got gear) to your bill, [drop me a line.](mailto:chris@positronrecords.com) By the same token, if you're aware of same but not directly involved in booking, go ahead and post in the comments, as the information will no doubt be useful to others.
As for the open thread topic, I've been pondering this for a few years now, and I think I'm maybe 10 months from deciding for sure, but "Don't You Worry 'Bout A Thing" is just starting to take the lead in my mind as Best Soul/Funk Side Ever Cut. It is edging out Bill Withers' "Use Me." But I could be persuaded that Bill could win. I think the production in the Stevie Wonder song is a little bit better. Maybe.
---
## Soniccouture Scriptorium mini-review...
- Date: 2008-04-13
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/04/soniccouture-scriptorium-mini-review/
Just installed my shiny new copy of [Scriptorium,](http://www.soniccouture.com/pages/scriptorium.php) the latest from our good friends Soniccouture. Scriptorium is actually more a collection of KSP scripts for Kontakt 2/3 rather than a big fat sample set, but there _are_ sounds in the package, 60 of 'em. I assume the main purpose is to show off the obvious uses for the individual scripts, but they're quite usable in their own right. I haven't had a chance to do anything but take a quick browse through the included instruments, so I can't really speak to the usefulness of the scripts yet.
Perhaps this mini-review is a bit premature, in that event. So, let's just consider this a notice that it exists, and once I get my head around what some of these little guys do, I'll report back. Just in a brief browse, though, there are some very cool drumming utilities, and the cellular automata patches are absolutely ludicrous. Scriptorium is £49.00, which unfortunately translates to US$99.00. This is the point in time where European companies are going to start paying the price for the declining dollar, I hate to say. Or American consumers, one or the other. But TANSTAAFL. In any event, on an initial examination, this appears to me to be well worth the money. I mean, hell, people paid twice that for that ridiculous Oberheim arpeggio thing, and this is hundreds of times more powerful.
---
## Ricochet in CM...
- Date: 2008-04-11
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/04/ricochet-in-cm/
I have to admit that I'm a little nervous sending products to CM these days; we've had a more-or-less unbroken string of good reviews from them, and eventually, the inevitable will occur.
That said, we can't complain about Computer Music #125 even a tiny bit. Ricochet received a 10/10 perfect score, and the Performance and Value tchotchkes. iZotope RX received the same score, one page later, so 'grats to them, and thanks to CM.
---
## Psychosynth, and 3D in general...
- Date: 2008-04-09
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/04/psychosynth-and-3d-in-general/
I noted with interest when Matrix put up a [little blurb](http://matrixsynth.blogspot.com/2008/04/psychosynth-011-reactable-inspired.html) about [Psychosynth](http://www.psychosynth.com/doku.php) the other day, which is an open-source no-table-or-Bjork-required clone of the Reactable stuff. Now, right from the outset let's get one thing clear: my patience for that whole "breaking down the barriers between the artist and his shit" routine is essentially nonexistent. My interest in these sorts of tools is limited to workflow questions entirely. Personally, I think the audio results of the Psychosynth specifically are underwhelming at minimum, and for the most part downright bad.
Now, with that massive caveat out of the way, here's why I bring this whole thing up. My job with Audio Damage, aside from providing pithy responses to emailed questions ("why doesn't Dubstation 1.5 work with Cubase VST in Windows 98?") is generally related to forest matters. As opposed to tree matters, which are most definitely Adam's department. So the general look of Audio Damage products, how they fit in to the world at large, and the personality they have are generally my responsibility, while Adam deals with the internal structures, the actual DSP, and turning my flights of fancy in to actual usable products. That's the general way things work around here, with notable exceptions.
So I'm always on the lookout for new ways to do things that will separate AD from the herd, and one of the things I keep coming back to are true 3D interfaces. I had a rather deep experimental phase going a couple years back, and I kept inflicting a little filter I made with a true 3D pure OpenGL interface on our testing crew. They were nonplussed by the whole thing. I believe one actually pondered whether I still had a firm grasp of my sanity. To be sure, there are several products out there, some well-known, that use OpenGL for drawing. (Expert Sleepers' [Minky Starshine](http://www.expert-sleepers.co.uk/minkystarshine.html) is one such, although it ain't the prettiest thing out there, and I'm fairly certain that Urs Heckmann uses OpenGL for some of his stuff, although it might just be a combo platter of CoreGraphics and GDI+; hard to tell. Plogue Bidule is done in pure OpenGL, for what it's worth.)
The reason for using OpenGL is to open up the Z plane; VSTGUI, which we use for everything right now, is firmly bound to X and Y, with nary a Z in sight. To be certain, it is perfectly capable of doing most everything we need to release fine products. But in my head (the afore-mentioned flights of fancy) I see user interfaces for products that evoke [Anymails](http://carohorn.de/anymails/img/1-anymails-big.jpg) and [Fidgt,](http://www.fidgt.com/visualize) and for that we need something a bit lower level and more fluid in its execution. I actually have one such product in my head that continues on a theme we started in the early days of AD, but I won't elaborate on that at this juncture.
Long story short, go watch the Psychosynth videos if you have a minute and think about how a true 3D interface could be used for other things. Personally, as I said, I don't find the Psychosynth stuff very interesting, but I _do_ see the logical extensions. For the record, Psychosynth was done with the OGRE 3D game engine and CEGUI. He has downloadables there, but only for Linux, naturally. But this discussion I'm envisioning isn't really about Psychosynth at all, but rather taking advantage of the platform in which we all work, the computer screen, and making things that are _completely_ new, rather than evoking some crusty piece of gear with my Mental Ray chops. How dangerous is this course of action?
---
## Choppy, Glitchy, Fuck Yeah!
- Date: 2008-04-06
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/04/choppy-glitchy-fuck-yeah/
As I mentioned in an earlier comment, I've been pondering a thread starter on glitch programming; nothing has really come to me that wouldn't take the form of a tutorial (which I don't find that interesting, at least to make) or a rant. So I'll just provide some materials and we can go off on whatever tangent is appropriate. Don't you wish I was your teacher at Full Sail? An education at that place might almost have been worth something.
In any case, what got me started on this whole thing was [this video](http://youtube.com/watch?v=LtxX0VEpMSI&feature=related) on GooTube, in which this Pix fellow demonstrates far better than I could type the CTRL-AL engine in the MachineDrum. I use this technique extensively, and while I kind of discovered it independently, I hadn't taken it to the lengths that he has. Also, I'm trying to work out a plugin concept (much to Adam's bemusement) based loosely on the technique exhibited in [this video,](http://youtube.com/watch?v=jcGB8BFrG04) which takes advantage of a quirky behavior in Live. It is fairly complicated to pull off, and can't be done in real time, but the result is kind of nice, which is why I've been pondering how to do it in a plugin.
In any case, Replicant aside, I tend to do most all of my glitchy programming by hand. This is time consuming, of course, but once you get the hang of whatever your DAW uses for dealing with small chunks of audio, it is fairly productive. Currently, assuming I'm using the MachineDrum for rhythm, I'll use the CTRL-AL "feature" to come up with something interesting, record the section, then go in and start chopping and moving about the audio file in Cubase to end up with what I want. Since I tend to record separate parts, I throw everything in a folder track when I'm done so it can be dealt with like an individual loop.
What's your favorite methodology for doing this sort of thing? Are there any crafty videos on YouTube that I haven't seen? Or are you just gonna say "I went to Full Sail, and look at me now, bitch! I'm the patchbay monkey in the finest studio in Pittsburgh!"
**EDIT:** I almost forgot the excellent videos from our good friends Sonniccouture that deal with using their KSP scripts with Kontakt. You can find them [here](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfegO0dOcmc) and [here.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rk2PQlV5ulE)
---
## Friday Open Threadage...
- Date: 2008-04-05
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/04/friday-open-threadage/
Okay, we've got Dubstation 1.5 VST done on both Mac and Windows; the AU is giving us a little bit of grief as usual, but that should be hammered out shortly. (AU users, feel free to go watch [this awesome video](http://youtube.com/watch?v=Yu_moia-oVI) while you're waiting.) I imagine that I'll be uploading the new installers to the server on Monday or Tuesday, if all goes well. Since we're essentially swapping one product for another, as far as the store is concerned, I can't just put up the Windows one; they both have to go up at the same time, so unfortunately you Windows people will have to tough it out. It'll give you a taste of the other side for a change. ;-)
No open thread topic in particular. What's on your mind?
**NOTE:** I _was_ gonna make the open-thread subject eight-channel ADA convertors, but I just found out I owe the IRS a five-digit number, so that's not gonna be happening this month. They can take that economic stimulus package and ram it up their collective asses.
---
## Helter Skelter... uh... right...
- Date: 2008-04-03
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/04/helter-skelter-uh-right/
This one is really for the non-US readers, as an example of how American politicians go insane after they lose a primary attempt. This fellow is Mike Gravel. He was a Democratic candidate for president, but he was soundly thrashed early in the primaries. He dropped out, and decided to run as a Libertarian. (For those that don't know, Libertarian is Latin for "Xenophobic Redneck.") This is a blatantly obvious attempt at making some sort of artificial meme, of course, but it's still silly enough to laugh at, especially for us.
---
## And now for something we hope you'll REALLY like...
- Date: 2008-04-02
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/04/and-now-for-something-we-hope-youll-really-like/
As I mentioned two posts ago, we're holding off on the release of Kombinat for a little while, in order to allow for the fact that Adam has to do a do-over on his aborted Japanese vacation of last year. We _could_ get it out before he leaves, but he wouldn't be around if there were issues, as I mentioned, and that's no good.
So, in the meantime, we're going to give you this bad boy, hopefully by the end of the week. Witness Dubstation 1.5. The main change is one long-asked-for feature, a "HI CUT" knob. How it works is thus: at full on, Dubstation will work just like the original, with the delay time setting the high-cut filter frequency. In this manner, you're able to bring in a touch (or a lot) of high frequencies just by rolling back the knob a bit.
Also, as should be obvious from the image above (whack that bitch for a full-sized iteration) the UI has received a fairly major upgrade, to bring it in line with our current product line and do away with the oft-heard complaint that the tilted view was annoying. (Now, you can complain that it is too dark, or the cartoon look was more conducive to creation, or something. Ho, ho, ho.) We're also doing away with the split personality nature of the delay time knob; it will now work just like it does in Dr. Device, with no hidden parameters or anything.
The downside for OSX customers is that we're deprecating 10.3.9 support. You will need 10.4.1 or better (preferably 10.4.9 or better) to use Dubstation 1.5. Obviously, your install of Dubstation 1.0.whatever will still work fine, as long as Apple doesn't decide something silly.
This will be a free update to existing Dubstation owners, and Dubstation's price will remain at US$39.00. Also, it will have a different ID and name, so you can use both. The parameter list has changed and VST projects that use the original one would have issues with the new one if we didn't do it like this. So existing customers need not worry in the slightest; your projects will be totally safe. We're just tidying up the Windows version; the OSX VST and AU should build straight away, and we don't foresee any issues there, so this should be available by the end of the week.
---
## Hmmmm....
- Date: 2008-04-01
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/04/hmmmm/
On the one hand, I find the recent decisions by Radiohead to be mostly cool, as you all no doubt know. The "pay what you want" model for "In Rainbows" obviously didn't hurt them in the slightest, and the "live" concert they did as a webcast and on Current was a stroke of genius. (It doesn't hurt that the album is really fucking good, either.)
I have to say that this Nude remix thing on iTunes is kind of foul, though. We'll set aside the inherent humor of a bunch of poor Garage-Band-driving saps trying to "remix" a song that is in 6/8 for the now (are there even any included AppleLoops in 6/8?), and focus on the fact that they're charging for the stems. Personally, I don't think this is cricket, but maybe I'm old-fashioned. Granted, it's only five bucks, but even so, in a situation that is fundamentally aimed at the amateur/hobbyist, this smacks of taking advantage of fans' largesse. I would expect it of Guns 'n' Roses or My Chemical Romance or some other stupid shit like that, but not Radiohead.
It is, in short, not cool. In that, it goes directly against what they've been trying to achieve in the last year and a half. Just my opinion. YMMV as always. Perhaps it is cool after all and I'm missing something.
---
## Various Things...
- Date: 2008-03-31
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/03/various-things/
As was noted in the previous thread, Grindhouse has moved outside our little circle. Case in point: [Radio Slave's](http://www.myspace.com/rekid) "Grindhouse Tool" (which, although it doesn't have enough 'verb on the foot, follows the tenets of the faith rather closely). This is obviously minimalist Grindhouse. I've been listening to the track for like five and a half minutes now and it doesn't appear to be anything but a drum beat and some verby sounds, which I personally think takes the concept a little far, but what the fuck do I know?
I can't find a link to the Dubfire remix that is causing all the hullabaloo, so please do provide it if you have knowledge.
In other news, we're probably going to postpone Kombinat's release a little bit, as I optimistically forgot Adam was going to Japan in two weeks. While we could probably release before he went, he wouldn't be here if something should go awry, and you _really_ don't want me poking around in the code trying to fix things. I can code in the same way that I can cook. It gets the job done but it isn't pretty and it doesn't taste too good.
What we _do_ have coming in the next couple few days will amuse some and amaze others, and make about six people really happy. More on that maybe later today.
Next, our new commissioned banner is running on KvR starting today. It gives me a case of the giggles every time I see it, but some people don't get it. You be the judge.
And finally, for some reason I got on an Old School (har har har) IDM kick. I actually had to re-buy several records that I had lost when a CD wallet got misplaced/stolen, and these included the Sgt. Pepper's of IDM, _Tri Repetae._ I haven't listened to this album in several years, and frankly I didn't like it that much when it came out. For some reason, it is really appealing to me now. I think, in my advanced age, I'm able to appreciate the subtlety of the album. Dunno. But IDM is a genre that moves rather slowly, so it doesn't sound dated at all, compared to other forms of purely electronic music. Or maybe they made it so advanced that it is actually _current_ now?
Who knows? Anyhow, I was going to post a thread-starter on IDM production techniques, but the exact wording hasn't come to me. Perhaps later today.
---
## Audio Damage Update : Kombinat...
- Date: 2008-03-29
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/03/audio-damage-update-kombinat-2/
I spent the whole day finishing the UI for Kombinat and chopping it in to little pieces for VSTGUI. Once I got that done, I decided to have a little fun and make the traditional glamour shot a little early. In the process, I got some fancy new lighting profiles in to 3DS Max, which gave me (and the image) some warm fuzzies.
Whack that image above, and you can see the full-sized PNG in all its... err... glamour. It is easily large enough to make out all the controls, and it should be fairly apparent what's going on. A brief rundown of the signal path follows:
**1\. Equalizer**: If you have Live, this will be immediately obvious. It is essentially exactly the same as the little 3-band "EQ Three" DJ EQ in that DAW, with the exception that you can gain the bands a bit more, for the purposes of overdriving the distortion engines. On the bottom of this section, you'll note the "MODE" switch. In "MULTI" mode, each band gets one distortion engine. In "SERIES" mode, you get the EQ, then all three engines in series. This obviously means massively huge signal destruction.
**2\. Distortion**: These are the three distortion engines, obviously. As you can see in the image, there are eight possible configurations for each engine. If you're one of the few people that bought our first product, the Mayhem suite (no longer available, obviously) you'll note that each engine contains Master Destrukto in its entirety. There is also a fairly cool ring mod, the distortion part of FuzzPlus, and a custom "gating" distortion block which follows the modern boutique pedal trend currently making the rounds. The number of knobs available changes depending on the type selected, from one (FUZZ) to three (RING). There is also a pass-through, called THRU, amusingly enough.
**3\. Output**: Here's where the magic happens. The "FILTER" section is the 4PLP self-resonating model from Dr. Device. No particular reason to include it in this unit except that everything is more fun with a fat-ass lowpass filter in it. Under that is the "COMPRESSION" knob, which loosely follows the compressor found in ReBirth in all its single-control glory. It basically goes from "off" to "more." The "INPUT" knob can overdrive the whole unit (coupled with the gain knobs in the EQ section, you get a total of 14db of gain over unity), and "OUTPUT" is obvious. The whole mess has a nice clipper.
So, there you have it. We still have about a week of work on the Windows version, then however long the OS X stupidity takes. (Anyone that is a frequent reader will know this is completely unpredictable.) Kombinat will be US$49.00. I'll start putting up samples next week, once we have everything tuned to taste.
---
## I, for one, welcome our new 23-secret-ingredient-wielding music business overlords...
- Date: 2008-03-29
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/03/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-23-secret-ingredient-wielding-music-business/
Of course, if we're incredibly lucky, it [won't actually work.](http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/prnewswire/NYW021A26032008-1.htm) But if history is any judge, we won't be lucky. At least we'll get a free can of soda out of the deal.
This is kind of like the polar opposite of NIN/Radiohead, in a weird sort of way.
---
## Tooth decay open thread...
- Date: 2008-03-27
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/03/tooth-decay-open-thread/
I spent a fair portion of the day at the dentist, and am in no mood to go traipsing about the Interwebs looking for something to amuse us all, having had my head drilled upon for quite some time.
As such, this is a topic-free open thread. What's on your mind? New music you like? Want to talk about some piece of gear I haven't mentioned? Anything goes. Anything that isn't completely and utterly retarded, anyways.
---
## Audio Damage Update : Kombinat...
- Date: 2008-03-26
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/03/audio-damage-update-kombinat/
We're just about done with major coding on Kombinat, our next product. Here's a little teaser. (Subject to drastic change, as always.) More in the coming days.
---
## Hammer Time...
- Date: 2008-03-25
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/03/hammer-time/
_\[Embedded media, no longer available.\]_
[Watch more DIY videos on 5min.com](http://www.5min.com/)
---
## Well, it looks cool, anyways...
- Date: 2008-03-24
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/03/well-it-looks-cool-anyways/
Got my PoCo X8 today. Got it all set up, shit installed, etc. Then I discovered something which I wasn't aware of (and TC by no means advertises): the Powercore software is not Vista-compatible. At all.
But that blue logo thing sure is nice.
This is, of course, 9/10 my fault, as I just assumed that a product like Powercore, from a company as large as TC, would be, like, ready to go and shit, especially since Vista has been out for, what, a year now? The 1/10th not my fault is that they should maybe mention this fact on their voluminous web presence. No matter. As $1499 rack blanks go, this is definitely one.
---
## Im on ur stage, fuckin' with ur songs...
- Date: 2008-03-23
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/03/im-on-ur-stage-fuckin-with-ur-songs/
I was just merrily uploading old video clips of SMG live shows to YouTube, and this particular one got me thinking. If you're not familiar with the catalog of Sister Machine Gun (and frankly, for the most part, I wouldn't expect you to be) this particular song, written in 1989, was fairly bog-standard "industrial" dance/rock for its time. Since I've had to play it what seems like 165,000 times live (in actuality probably only 1500 or so; we didn't do it on every tour because it is too hard on my throat) I have a tendency to change it up a bit.
In the above iteration, we eschewed the nu-beat (in the A Split Second sense of the term) origins in favor of a Chicago wrawk kind of sound, pretty much indicative of that entire show and the surrounding tour. I personally don't really have any problems doing that sort of thing, as unlike some artists, I can get bored fairly easy playing my own music. That's not really what this post is about, though.
At the end of the first verse, when the chorus is right about to kick, the band has to stop to wait for a measure for me to sing the intro to the chorus. For some hare-brained reason, I just didn't. Obviously, as you can plainly see in the video, the audience, the light guy, and the soundman were all expecting it. To the band's extreme merit, they were quite used to my ways and waited until I _actually_ sang it rather than going with the general flow, and for that I give them great credit, since we didn't plan to do anything like this.
In any case, to the actual point of this post: how much do you feel you should be allowed to fuck with your own released music on stage? As much as the audience will put up with? Or should you hew close to the origins in general. I suppose it depends on whether you have a resilient (read: long-established) audience, and whether you have resilient music in the first place. Obviously, you know my feelings on the matter: as long as the song is recognizable as such, everything else is fair game.
---
## Portishead Out On A Limb...
- Date: 2008-03-21
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/03/portishead-out-on-a-limb/
Now, I'm a fair-weather Portishead fan, I'll be honest. I, like many, like Glorybox but not much else. I have to say that they're smokin' a lot of weed in prep for their new album, if this little film is any indication. It is, in fact, reminding me of Joy Division, or maybe, well, I'll let you be the judge.
---
## PoCo...
- Date: 2008-03-19
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/03/poco/
Finally took the plunge and got a PowerCore X8 from AudioMidi. It should be here on Monday or so, and I'll offer up some pithy comments. For the PoCo owners out there, what are the must-have additional plugs? I have a $500 voucher to spend at the TC Store. I think I can live without X5, as it comes with X3, so we can go ahead and rule that out. And the Sonnox stuff is unfortunately out of the question, as there is no possible way I'm installing any PACE products on my computer. (Because that whacking big rack-mount dongle wasn't enough, apparently.) Anyone have VSS3, and if so, is it The Shit?
---
## Argh...
- Date: 2008-03-19
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/03/argh/
Adam's "inner geek" aside, sometimes computers make me want to go out and kill things. Is there a way to insert a DVD in to a Macintosh and select, say, Chapter 1, and select, say, "Save as FLV", press "Go," and come back in a couple minutes to an FLV file that will actually play? So far as I can tell, the answer is "no," but seeing how the Macintosh is the hub of my digital lifestyle, I know that not to be true.
And the first person that points me to either Wondershare or Aimersoft (which are, in fact, the same exact program with different skins, and I use the word "program" to describe a collection of code, rather than the more prosaic ideal, which means "something that, like, works and shit," and the word "skin" to describe a UI-shaped cock being crammed in my eye-holes) will be [Rickrolled.](http://youtube.com/watch?v=RSsJ19sy3JI)
---
## Maybe I'm old or something...
- Date: 2008-03-16
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/03/maybe-im-old-or-something/
...but how on Earth does someone walk out of Musikmesse with a god damn Minimoog [under their arm?](http://matrixsynth.blogspot.com/2008/03/moog-minimoog-voyager-os-stolen-from.html) I've heard tales from others in the industry that the "public day" of Musikmesse was the day all your shit was stolen, and having spent a lot of time in Frankfurt, I don't find this hard to believe on the surface. My general impression of that city is that it is basically Pittsburgh with an opiate addiction and a nice coat of paint.
What I don't understand is how this sort of thing happens year after year. I mean, why do exhibitors even show up on "public day?" In all honesty, if Audio Damage were exhibiting there (which we would have no reason whatsoever to do in the first place, of course) I would just fold up shop on the last private day and go home, because I'd like to return with all my laptops, thanks very much.
In any event, never mind that. What I find amusing is the fundamental stupidity of this person, who is obviously not a musician of any sort. I mean, anyone who knows synths (and would thus be interested in buying this) knows that there are only a couple Minimoog OS units in existence right now. I guess this gives proof to the theory that the vast majority of criminals are simply not very bright. If they were bright, they wouldn't have to be criminals.
---
## Open Thread...
- Date: 2008-03-13
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/03/open-thread/
I have to drive my wife to the airport in Portland today, and while I'm in PDX I'm gonna visit some music stores and what-not, so this'll be an open thread. The subject: what's your whacky desire for a plug-in? Anything goes. The weirder the better, IMO. What's not out there that you desperately need? What do you think could be done better? What's too fucking expensive? Bring it all.
---
## I'm Willing To Admit (sorta) That I Was Wrong (sorta)...
- Date: 2008-03-12
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/03/im-willing-to-admit-sorta-that-i-was-wrong-sorta/
Yes, it's true that I've said [nasty things](https://analogindustries.com/2006/12/happy-new-year/) about NI's Kore product line in the past, but having labored through the tutorial videos (the which are hosted by the single most uninspiring person in the music industry) and played with the free [Kore Player](http://www.native-instruments.com/index.php?id=koreplayer&L=1) that came available this week, I now kind of understand what Kore 2 is all about, and I even might maybe kind of want one a little bit.
It is, I think, fair to say that this bad boy isn't for everyone. It wasn't for me not five hours ago. (Note the extravagant use of the double negative there. English is such a versatile language. You can say just about anything.) But I've seen the light, I think. Maybe. As far as I can tell, this would be useful if you (a) owned a lot of NI products (which I do), and (b) didn't much like programming them (which I don't.) It is true that I'm an unrepentant preset tweaker, and I'll not apologize for it. I'm not sure about making the jump, though. Any NI Kore 2 users want to talk me off the ledge before I throw good money after bad?
---
## Open Letter to Digidesign:
- Date: 2008-03-10
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/03/open-letter-to-digidesign/
Dear Digidesign:
Could you stop being so lame? I know that's a tall order, but I also know it's possible. I can think of lots of largish (to me) audio software companies that _aren't_ lame. Ableton and Native Instruments come immediately to mind. I realize that you're only one cog in a much larger wheel, but even so, it has to be possible.
Why are you lame, Digidesign? It's hard to enumerate the specific reasons that have led to such a pervasive lameness, but in my general opinion, you haven't really done anything worth a shit since Turbosynth came out, frankly. It is true that your products are the de facto standard of the professional recording community, and kudos for that, but I think that's where the problem lies.
With the release of PT M-Powered, you have made available to a much larger userbase a product which is inherently unsuitable for people that aren't, well, smart. I know this because these people write me a lot. "Well, that's kind of odd," you say. You no doubt say this because we don't actually sell RTAS plugins. That would be a logical deduction on your part that while making a certain amount of sense, is demonstrably false. I will quote a sample letter, received not two days ago:
_I'm installing the 2 plug ins that i have just bought but when I go to find them on my hard drive they aren't there. Im installing them onto a MacBook OSX. Can you help? Could there be a problem with the plug in files?_
I'll give you one guess as to which host this customer was using. Now, one could say "this dude obviously has a larger issue, because everyone knows that PT doesn't host VST plugins without a wrapper." Well, as it turns out, not many PT M-Powered users know that. Because you never tell them. _Nowhere_ on your site does it say "hey, the vast majority of plugins don't work with our shit." In actual fact, it says there is a "\[h\]uge selection of compatible third-party plug-ins and software options." In your defense, there is a list of which plugins _do_ work with your shit, but that list doesn't include FXpansion's wrapper;. Any thoughts on that?
Don't even get me started on that wrapper, Digidesign. Seriously. Just don't.
So, here's one way you could be less lame: either start hosting AU/VST in your product, or make an effort to tell your customers that only RTAS products work with that shit.
kkthxbai.
Chris Randall
Audio Damage, Inc.
---
## FUUUUCK!!!!
- Date: 2008-03-10
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/03/fuuuuck/
I cracked the god-damn neck on my J-Bass. That sucks. Well, not the neck so much; really the headstock. Right from where the nut is on the low side to the center of the hole for the E tuner. This doesn't really affect much, but it makes the low E buzz.
We hates the buzz, Precious.
The question is thus: is this actually fixable? I mean, I know damn well I could slap a replacement neck in there from Warmoth or Stew-Mac or whatever, but that really isn't the same thing, is it? And this one plays so well largely because it's been played for 30-odd years. A new one would be teh sux0r.
---
## A Spirited Defense of an Utter Lack Of Skill...
- Date: 2008-03-09
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/03/a-spirited-defense-of-an-utter-lack-of-skill/
In my normal Sunday morning trawl of the NYT (which differs from my daily trawl of the NYT inasmuch as I generally don't read the op-ed shit on a weekday) I came across [this amusing piece.](http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/09/opinion/09mccallsmith.html) In it, the author describes his participation in the [Really Terrible Orchestra.](http://thereallyterribleorchestra.com/) While the concept is reasonably sound (paypal me $1 for that pun, please) I find their intrinsic realism about the whole thing quite refreshing. The founder is quoted, in Classical Music magazine, as saying "\[w\]e also discovered there’s a place in the market for a really bad amateur orchestra. After all who wants to go to a concert by a good amateur orchestra when you can hear a professional orchestra?"
This brings to mind an interesting point. If there's one thing I can't stand, even a tiny bit, it's the incredibly earnest bar band. Bar bands are, by their very nature, amateur, and the people that play in them are never very relaxed because they don't get on stage enough to treat it like the workmanlike entertainment job that it is. Thus, it's an uncomfortable experience for both performers and audience. Now, if a bar band was named "We Fucking Suck" or something, ("slaughtering the classic rock hits since 1995!") I'd have a whole different opinion of the matter, and could actually revel in the parts they got right.
Note to aspiring bar-band performers: take a page from the Really Terrible Orchestra's songbook, and plainly wallow in the inherent humor of your position. It'll make things much more pleasant, and you might even actually get somewhere with it. After all, look at Ween.
---
## Stylistic Schizophrenia Open Thread...
- Date: 2008-03-07
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/03/stylistic-schizophrenia-open-thread/
I'm going snowboarding today, largely because I can, so this is an open thread. The topic: as was mention often and vigorously in the previous thread (but one), I've made a reasonable career despite having the consistency of, well, nothing springs to mind. I've made single albums that had both big-band swing and 135 bpm 4-on-the-floor industrial stompers on them, and somehow managed to do it rather unironically, at least in my own head. When do you draw the line? Should you rein in your less reasonable creative impulses to suit your chosen genre? Or should you just let it all hang out, and fight the good fight, which is invariably a losing battle?
---
## The Corner Of No And Where...
- Date: 2008-03-06
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/03/the-corner-of-no-and-where/
And I just wanna say "Big Up!" to our Melanesian Massive. Who is that one person from New Caledonia?
---
## The Long(er) Tail...
- Date: 2008-03-06
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/03/the-long-er-tail/
darklordjames just turned me on to [this article,](http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2008/03/1000_true_fans.php) which has apparently been making the rounds of the creative community today. (And with good reason.) Obviously, I have some thoughts about this, but first things first, go read the entire article, because there will be a test later. Go ahead. I'll wait.
Now, setting aside for the moment that this article has been quickly adopted by the BoingBoing set (a member of which, as you all know, I most certainly am not), and it does trend a little Disney, the concept is absolutely sound. Between when I was dropped from TVT and when I finally gave up on SMG, I made most of my living in exactly the manner described in that article, and can state from personal experience that it rings true. Mr. Kelly has, in fact, hit the nail on the head for the most part.
There are caveats to his plan, which he fails to mention. BoingBoingers and their ilk will fall all over themselves setting up tip jars and having a group hug, but getting those thousand people to pony up whenever you poop out a track is no easy task. The SMG fan base, which numbered in the several hundred thousands at one time, has rendered down after a decade of abuse on my part to about 800 people I can count on to put up with most anything I do, and another 3000 or so that will turn up eventually. Of those 800 people, I know at least 200 by sight, and am on a first name basis with almost all of them once I'm reminded of who they are. Elle knows them all and then some; she's better with names and faces than I am. She can even remember specific things about many, like what size shirt they wear, where they live, what they said to her the last time they saw her, and things like that.
I'm left with the nagging suspicion that I squandered a lot of "true fans" as Mr. Kelly states it, by either my musical schizophrenia or my short temper, and of course there's a certain amount of regret there. This brings me to the caveats in a roundabout way:
**1: Master your craft.** You can't suck to begin with. The article semi-implies that you have a right to these thousand people. In actual fact, you need to move heaven and earth to not suck.
**2: Hold your tongue.** I swear to christ I've gotten to the point (particularly on my last tour) where I was gonna gouge out the eyes of the next person that came up to me and said "dude, the first time I heard you was..." I mean, seriously. That kind of shit can put a motherfucker over the edge. Being humble in person when you're really not is a true art form that has to be practiced. You have to continually remind yourself that you're being paid to entertain, and being a complete prick isn't very entertaining. That is a lesson learned the hard way. (Truthfully, it may not seem like it, but I'm quite affable in person. Ask anyone. Except this one dude in Albany who got on my bad side. Or Lubbock. Or...)
**3: Consistency counts.** Your fans don't actually want you to experiment, I've found out. Or, at least, they think they don't. I acquired a reputation for abrupt left turns, musically, within the rather confining genre that was Industrial in the 90s. This annoyed many people. I lost roughly 90% of my fan base by deciding for about six months that I'd really rather be in War than Sister Machine Gun. If you're gonna subvert the Long Tail, you can't really pull that shit. If I stuck to ripping off Roli Mossimann productions I'd still have a vibrant career. I would have probably hung myself, too, but there's art in that as well, and that sort of thing never hurts your back catalog.
Long story short, TANSTAAFL as always. The "1000 True Fans" model is absolutely viable, but comes with baggage. Take it from someone that has lived it for two decades. It's hard out here for a pimp.
---
## Some ponderings...
- Date: 2008-03-05
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/03/some-ponderings/
Can "pondering" be pluralized? Any grammar Nazis out there that want to correct me? Shit, I'm digressing before I've even started pondering.
Anyhow... The previous discussion came to mind because I have undertaken a rather extensive Spring Cleaning fiesta. I rented a U-Haul, and backed it up to my studio door, and basically threw away anything I haven't touched in more than, say, a year. This turned out to be quite a bit of shit, including a round dozen computers (which nicely documented the history of Apple), a whole fuckton of half-finished DIY projects of one form or another, and a bunch of other shit I didn't need.
I could have probably sold a fair portion of what I recycled on the 'bay, or just kept it, but that wasn't really the point. My thinking was that every time I go out to my studio to record, I end up dicking with something that hasn't anything to do with what I intended. On top of this, I could barely turn around in there for all the shit that was piled on top of other shit. I have a tendency to make sudden turns and stops when I see a sign pronouncing "Yard Sale," much to the dismay of my wife, and as a result, I've nickled and dimed myself in to a corner.
So, it was time to clear out. And that's that.
_But..._ I seem to all the sudden find myself looking gift horses in the mouth. Someone just offered me, essentially free, a particular incredibly rare piece of kit I've been looking for forever. Now, I _know_ that this thing will be fun for like 15 minutes, then it will sit there collecting dust. So I turned him down. Then I find something on eBay, with a BIN well within my target price, that I've also been looking for forever. Then, a store I buy a lot of gear at is having a monster sale. The list goes on.
Ultimately, my point is this: the gearlust, it can get away from you. Lord knows I have 10 times the shit I need to actually make the kinds of music I make. (In actual fact, for most of it, all I need is a computer, a single mic pre, and a convertor.) But I find myself eyeballing things I know I don't need, because if I only had that one other thing, it would all fall in to place. That's how a keyboardist ends up with 11 guitars.
Adam and I have an ongoing discussion that has lasted nigh on four years, wherein we have decided that there's people that collect gear, and people that use gear, and those people are generally not the same people. There ain't nothing wrong with that, but I am of the considered opinion that unless a particular form of music requires a particular piece of kit (e.g. 303 for acid house) then you can generally make do without all the fuss. This obviously goes entirely against the general drift of this website, but like I said, I've just been having some ponderings...
---
## Testing t3h Awesome...
- Date: 2008-03-04
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/03/testing-t3h-awesome/
[Here is an example](http://forums.audioholics.com/forums/showpost.php?s=97d4a3c39d247bf955a57b3953326a34&p=15412&postcount=28) of how the Bullshit Detector of your average musician gets defeated by gearlust. I'm as guilty as anyone, of course, and the test is not double-blind, scientific in the least, or verified. I have a gut feeling that it is absolutely true, though. In a nutshell, if you don't feel like reading it, a self-described "audiophile" (and we all get a case of the giggles when we hear that word) admits in public that he couldn't tell the difference between Monster M-1000 speaker cable and the same connection made with coat hanger wire.
This brings to mind the recent video that was [posted](http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5496004795361152922&q=Robert+Henke&total=42&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=2) of a Robert Henke lecture in Australia, wherein he goes in to some detail about how 64-bit summing busses in DAWs are simply a marketing ploy, and how it is essentially impossible for the human ear to tell the difference between 32-bit math and 64-bit math, at least as far as summing busses are concerned. (The video is well worth watching in any case, as it goes in to his process and how he designed and uses MonoDeck II. It's 1.5hrs long, though.)
He points out, in a somewhat different manner, the same thing I've been saying for years: the song will out. People tend to obsess on the medium or the means of delivery these days, at the expense of the music itself. Anyone that thinks you can't have a hit song using Acid and a Presonus Firebox, mixed on Behringer monitors, needs to go have a conversation with Soulja Boy real quick-like. I'll be the absolute first person to admit that I'm a gear snob of the first order, but I know enough about the math of audio to be absolutely certain of one fact: my nice shit doesn't help me write better songs.
What it _does_ do is remove the gear itself from any question. I know that if my song sounds like shit, it's definitely not because of my convertors, monitors, cabling, whatever. It's my mix or the song itself. I have no illusions whatsoever of that fact.
---
## Oops... (Duende PCIe)
- Date: 2008-03-03
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/03/oops-duende-pcie/
Looks like someone jumped the gun on the [Duende PCIe announcement.](http://www.jrrshop.com/-p-7295.html) They even had the tact (or distinct lack thereof) to put up the letter SSL sent to them instead of coming up with their own copy. "Since that time, Duende with the help of you our valued reseller has sold over 3000 units." Bogus.
In any case, I'm sure this will make a lot of people happy.
---
## Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!
- Date: 2008-03-02
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/03/dig-lazarus-dig/
My rather eccentric music taste makes me kind of easy to pin down, I think. Witness: there are exactly four artists that currently release records that I actually get a little excited about. Those four artists are Underworld, Tom Waits, Einstürzende Neubauten, and today's topic, Nick Cave (w/ or w/o the Bad Seeds.)
With all of these artists, there's some releases I like and some I don't. I suppose Underworld is the most consistent; I can't, offhand, think of any record I like less than any other. More about particular songs, and really only Bruce Lee when you get down to it. There are plenty of Tom Waits records I can't stand at all, and Neubauten, well, I don't listen to much prior to Tabula Rasa any more, probably because I'm getting old. I really enjoy their last few albums, though, and the newest has been getting heavy play lately.
Same with Nick Cave. I'm not one of those slobbering types that thinks he's Bela Legosi Incarnate or any of that bullshit. For the albums I do own, there are only three or four tracks I actually can stand on each, with the exception of Grinderman, which I like all the way through, and Murder Ballads, which I like except when a chick starts singing. With this in mind, I look forward to Tuesday's release of Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! From the video, and the fact that the entire album is on Myspace [(here...)](http://www.myspace.com/nickcaveandthebadseeds) it seems that the rather abstracted approach to writing/recording explored on the Grinderman album has been extrapolated in to the whole Bad Seeds lineup quite nicely. His albums take a little while to grow on me, but I give him a chance, which is more than I can say for about 99.999999999% of the new music I hear these days.
---
## iDunno...
- Date: 2008-03-01
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/03/idunno/
There seems to be some sort (or several sorts) of electronic music making device [here,](http://217.72.188.122/~varia11091/owlweb/Owl_home.htm) but color me retarded if I can't figure it out. Someone here must be able to explain this. I have the distinct feeling this is one of those "breaking down the barriers between nature and music" kind of projects, the ones that earn people masters degrees in small "edgy" art colleges, but I can't be certain.
What I _can_ say is that the makers of the iLog site have a distinct and palpable sense of ironic humor, and that I can appreciate, whether any barriers are getting broken or not.
---
## I made me one of them-there records...
- Date: 2008-02-29
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/02/i-made-me-one-of-them-there-records/
My fifth album as Micronaut, Callisto, is now available for purchase in [shopPOSI.](http://shop.positronrecords.com/products/product.php?pid=posi023)Download only, as you recall we gave up pressing CDs for Lent. The download comes in the form of either an "alt-preset-standard" VBR MP3 or FLAC, your choice.
As an aside, long-time readers will remember that this album was entirely recorded (but not yet mixed), lost in a tragic hard drive accident, and re-recorded. Frankly, this is for the better, because all I had were memories of the first iteration, and the stuff I could remember was generally better than the stuff I couldn't, it would stand to reason. While this sort of nonsense is incredibly annoying at the time (I actually sat on the couch saying "fuuuuuuuck" for about three days) it is really quite cathartic. I wouldn't necessarily recommend wiping a hard drive as a solution for a creative impasse, but it is worth considering, I guess.
In any event, if you feel the need to support this site, and you aren't merrily buying everything that Audio Damage makes, you could do worse than to grab an album. Not only do you support my filthy, filthy habits, but you get something out of the deal.
---
## soniccouture Balinese Gamelan sample set mini-review...
- Date: 2008-02-29
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/02/soniccouture-balinese-gamelan-sample-set-mini-review/
Let me state from the outset that this is a really nice package. Normally, when you get a multiple-hundreds-of-dollars sample set, the company producing it takes the whole "well, you're paying for the samples, not the box" concept to an extreme. Soniccouture have a bit of class, however, and this 3 DVD set ships in a metal box, as it should. With an incredibly nice manual that is actually worth reading. Go figure.
Let me also state from the outset that I'm a Soniccouture groupie. Not to the point of fucking everyone in the band, but I go to all the shows, and get there early so I can be in front, if you know what I mean. I have everything they've made, and their products comprise roughly half of my latest album, in some form or another. So, it's not like this mini-review is gonna be bad or anything.
Now, with those two facts stated, I should mention that I hadn't devoted more than two brain cells to gamelan in the last, oh, two decades or so. At least, not to the point where I thought "hey, this song could use some mad dinging right about... here!" What I _didn't_ know (which will come as a surprise to all of you, because I'm fairly certain I know everything ever) is that "gamelan" isn't an instrument as such. Rather, it's like saying "barbershop quartet" or "jazz combo." A gamelan ensemble comprises 10 distinct instruments, from shukka-shukka cymbal thingies, to little and big drums, a whole heap of xylophone-kinda-things, and what have you. I had no idea.
This sample set, in true soniccouture fashion (which we'll remember from the [hang drum episode](https://analogindustries.com/2007/09/soniccouture-hang-drum-mini-review/)) is exhaustive in the inclusion of pretty much every possible ding, whack, and bang from the whole kit and kaboodle. All samples are 96K 24bit stereo, and there are multiple velocity layers (up to 20 where appropriate) of each note. In _addition_, there are round-robin stacks for stuff that gets whacked or dinged a lot, so you don't get the normal "machine gun" repetition common to sampled material. Nice feature, that; the hang drum had the same thing, and I found it fairly slick in execution.
I had a lot of time to kill while copying the three (3!) DVDs to my hard drive, so I went through the manual, which is more or less a tutorial about what each instrument does, the range it is capable of playing, and what role it takes in a gamelan ensemble. The manual could be considered a mini-primer on the structure of gamelan music, and it even includes some simple charts.
Once the 22 (!) gigs of samples and such was copied, I opened Cubase, instanced Kontakt 3, and began to ding. About four hours later, my wife tapped me on the shoulder, wondering if I could please stop dinging. Once you get the feel for the layout of the various instruments (and I'll be the first to say it's odd in the beginning, because the instruments of the gamelan don't necessarily map to our equal-tempered scale with the greatest of ease), it is quite logical, and the Kontakt instruments and KSP scripts included are, in the usual soniccouture fashion, top-of-the-line. They are, in my opinion, the best thing going when it comes to utilizing the features of Kontakt to the maximum, and the gamelan set is no exception to their normal representation in this regard.
So, in summation, the packaging? Stellar. The manual? A must-read. The samples? Indescribably perfect. The Kontakt instruments? Top notch. In short, this is a fantastic package. Brutal honesty time, though: it is not cheap; you're not going to get something like this, with the time they spent on it, and the volume they can expect to sell it at, for a pittance, and that's a fact. This is a specialty item, for a specialty audience, and it has a specialty price. Now, that said, I've heard (and bought, natch) sample sets that cost far more that weren't even close to as good as this. This is the sort of thing that makes buying Kontakt worthwhile.
If you do soundtrack/scoring, or if you make ambient or "ethnic" music, you'll be incredibly well-served by this set, for certain. It is US$499, and is available in the sharp limited edition tin (as pictured above) [direct from soniccouture.](http://www.soniccouture-gamelan.com/purchase.php) Go forth and rock the samples, at least.
---
## Lil' Dipper...
- Date: 2008-02-27
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/02/lil-dipper/
Judging from the comments in the last post, this is obviously something that like eight people find interesting, so I just thought I'd throw my mock-up up so you can see what the hell I'm up to.
In spinning around in my office chair, pondering what it was exactly that I needed in a MIDI drum pad trigger thing, I thought it would be redundant to have more than eight actual pads, considering the amount of post-production I do and the actual method I generally use to program drums. In order to use materials on hand (i.e. an Arduino) I knocked that down to six, since an Arduino has six analog inputs, thus obviating any need to do any shift register bullshit just to get an extra two sounds.
I also thought that it would be nice to have a couple buttons for momentary CC. These could be used for any number of things, depending on need, but they'd be handy to have. Since an Arduino has a whole shitload of digital I/O, I could actually have far more buttons, but frankly I couldn't see the need. Three is fine. (I _might_ go to four, but I doubt it.)
So I threw together a quick mockup in 3DS Max, since visualization is 9/10 of creation, and that's how I visualize. That mockup is pictured above. I'm still not 100% sure how I'm going to do the pads, but my thought is thus: using a 1.25" forstener bit, I'll punch divots in the appropriate spots. In this will go a 1.125" rubber grommet. On top of that, a 1.125" zinc or tin disc. The piezo pickup will be epoxied to the underside of this. On top of that, I'll put a 1.25" (or _slightly_ smaller) disc of rubber. In this manner, I'll have a nice surface for tapping, and still maintain good isolation between the pads. Some experimentation will be in order there. I see many methods on the Interwebs, and I've tried a few of them in the past, but nothing for pads this small.
Since the actual unit is a solid block of walnut, it should be dense enough to minimize crosstalk. Again, we'll see about that. I can always program the Arduino specifically for my tapping range in order to get the crosstalk out, so that should be fine.
Today I roughed out the wood, and hollowed out the underside which will hold the electronics. Since this is specific to my needs, I don't need to have it transmit on every MIDI channel under the sun; hence, I'm able to get away with just a MIDI out and a power port when all is said and done.
Fun little project, anyways, while I work up the courage to buy the rest of the shit I'll need for the Jagro.
---
## Fluid Update and other stuff...
- Date: 2008-02-26
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/02/fluid-update-and-other-stuff/
Just a quick note that Fluid has been updated to 1.1 on both PC and Mac to fix the "filter issue" that many people complained about. I wanted a low-cut on the chorus because it sounded a bit muddy to my ears, and it was accidentally strapped on the whole output instead of just the wet. The filter has been moved to its correct place, and only affects the wet signal now.
Note that this does change the sound of the effect somewhat when it is used in anything but a 100% wet situation, so plan accordingly if you are gonna do the update.
In other news, we didn't have Interwebs (or electricity, for that matter) for a while, which would explain my lack of communication the last little bit. I took the opportunity to work on my Jagro body some more, and start work on my drum controller. About that, I was gonna get one of the many Pad 16 type things, and was just left with a nagging suspicion that I could do better myself.
So I ordered up a bag full of piezo buzzer elements and got to designing. I think I have something that will work for me. It will be somewhat left-hand centric, but should be fairly slick when it is done. I'll put the design up tonight or some such.
---
## P-Pop goes the weasel, the weasel...
- Date: 2008-02-24
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/02/p-pop-goes-the-weasel-the-weasel/
_\[Embedded media, no longer available.\]_
Outstanding ping-pong ball + wine glass robotic orchestra. Via [Makezine.](http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2008/02/absolut_machines_amazing_1.html) Go see it in person at 186 Orchard st. in NYC. Don't know if they've programmed any 3rd Bass in it, but that's the logical progression...
---
## Interstitial is the new warehouse...
- Date: 2008-02-24
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/02/interstitial-is-the-new-warehouse/
My vote for quote of the century (so far; the century is only 8% over, so there's hope yet): _"Did you know you can rent a generator for $52 and set up and play ANYWHERE until the cops come?"_
That, in any of itself, is a very good point. [Check it.](http://teenageteardrops.abstractdynamics.org/archives/009882.html) Personally, I find any band that decides to saddle itself with the "experimental/powerpop" tag to be tedious in the extreme, and No Age is no exception to that, not my cup of tea at all, but I'm not qualified to say whether they're good or not. I do admire their pluck, though; a frightful pain in the arse to haul all that gear down and set it up when you know you're gonna get harassed at the very least, probably get a ticket, and maybe spend the night in county booking.
I will say that the "anything for art" ideal has taken a beating in this day and age; it's nice to see the kids getting outside for a change.
---
## Oddities of The Modern Age...
- Date: 2008-02-23
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/02/oddities-of-the-modern-age/
I'm working on the cover art for the upcoming Micronaut album today, and it got me thinking about how incredibly strange this business has become in the last three years. I mean, here I am, making a 300dpi front image for an album that will never exist on this temporal plane in a manufactured form. I was waiting for a render to complete in 3DS Max, and I was like "why the hell am I doing this at print resolution instead of screen resolution?"
I suppose it makes a certain amount of sense to do it at print rez, in case I, like, go on tour and, like, wanna sell CDs or something wacky like that. Then at least I have it and don't have to do it over. But it just gave me a fit of the giggles. Why do albums even _have_ cover art any more, when there's no cover? The image is simply a picture you get with your iTunes download that you can look at and say "hey, this is the image that goes with these songs." It is definitely an odd situation.
I am reminded of the River Run Project from Underworld, where each "song" (which was actually a single MP3 of four to five songs interleaved) came with a folder jam-packed with images. I'm still to this day not clear as to what the images were for, exactly, but they were kind of cool.
But I digress. My hypothetical question for the day is thus: how does one deal with the traditional accompaniments to an album, cover art and liner notes, in this day and age? My solution for Callisto is to put the liner notes on the appropriate page in the Positron store, and the "cover art" will be available in the store, and will come down with your iTunes purchase should you go that route. But this isn't the only way, or remotely the best way. Thoughts?
---
## A Couple Thoughts On Feature Requests...
- Date: 2008-02-21
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/02/a-couple-thoughts-on-feature-requests/
There's this [thread](http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=206719) over on KvR which got kinda silly yesterday. We have (or "had," rather) one customer who is ("was") somewhat incensed that we didn't add a particular feature to Ricochet, and despite the fact that I promptly refunded him, decided to air that grief on KvR. That's fine, of course, as it's what KvR is for, essentially. But my defense of Audio Damage and our policies maybe got a little more spirited than he expected. What can I say? I type faster than I think.
In any event, it got me pondering the nature of this business a bit last night. I was thinking that Audio Damage is in kind of an odd place, as while we're sort of largish, as far as the non-big-company plugin sources go, we're still small enough that the company has a very personal face. Or to put it another way, we have the sales and product line of a bigger company (like Ohm or PSP or whatever) but we generally _act_ like the guys that make a lot of freeware plugs, inasmuch as you can talk directly to the person that makes the damn things.
(Does that make any sense? I didn't think so.)
But on to the larger point, which is regarding feature requests. As I stated in the KvR thread, we take feature requests seriously, but we don't usually add anything to a plugin unless a lot of people ask for it. There is a lot of reasoning behind this, but the simple fact is that changing the available parameters in any given plugin is a _big_ deal. Some features that are requested (such as adding a control to the LPF in Dubstation) will actually change how the plugin sounds, and this is a Bad Thing, generally, as it will affect how a mix sounds if the plugin is used in that mix.
But the root of the issue is, I think, thus: you can write the guy that just put up a free VST and announced it on KvR, and say "hey, I tried your plugin and Knob A should control Parameter B in This Fashion" and he'll probably make that change for you if it seems logical to him. (I'd use a more gender-neutral terminology if plugin development wasn't such a sausage fest, but I'm not aware of any female plugin developers at this time.) So, since you can do that, you might assume that anyone that is easily available (e.g. us) will do the same thing, and be nonplussed when that turns out to not be the case.
We have a group of people we rely on, including at least one person from every demographic we're aware of in this industry, from the well-reasoned hobbyist on up to professionals that regularly chart in their genres, other plugin developers, and first-call engineers. This group of people get the plugins as soon as they enter beta (and in some cases they get early screenshots) and their opinions on features are regularly implemented long before the plugin ever sees the light of day. Using this method, we're fairly confident that when each plugin is released, it has a feature set that is appropriate to its abilities, and the controls that are present and the ranges under which they operate are as useful as we can make them.
Of course, this won't change anything if the customer has severe ADD or whatever (as was the case in this particular instance, I think), but I hope that it sheds a little light on how we do things.
---
## If you were ever curious, the difference between "cool" and "fool" is...
- Date: 2008-02-20
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/02/if-you-were-ever-curious-the-difference-between-cool-and-fool-is/
Maaaaan, I dunno about Antares any more. When they put out that [Kantos](http://www.kvraudio.com/get/248.html) plug, I was like "okaaay... you guys need to stop running the UIs through committee." I mean, nice idea and all, but damn.
They just released Voice Thing (pictured above) and even gave it its own [website.](http://www.antaresvox.com/voicething.html) Truthfully, it has never occurred to me to give our products individual websites. I would like to think that's because the idea is silly, but who knows? But let's talk about the UI for this one for a minute.
While I'm certainly the first person that's gonna appreciate [cartoon graphics](http://www.audiodamage.com/downloads/product.php?pid=ADF001) in a plug-in (in fact, I think I'm the first UI designer to actually use cel shading, to the best of my knowledge), I draw the line, you know? I suppose you need to try everything out, but this one makes me throw up in my mouth a little bit. I don't even really care what it does. I just want to run fast in the other direction.
---
## May I Hate On AudioUnits Some More?
- Date: 2008-02-16
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/02/may-i-hate-on-audiounits-some-more/
This whole thing with Apple development is actually getting fairly confusing, to where we're no longer entirely sure what the fuck is going on. It's patently obvious that Apple _never_ knew what the fuck was going on, so I don't feel so bad. What a stupid fucking format.
Anyways, come to find out, Ricochet wasn't responding properly to sample rate changes in Logic and DP, and crashed those two hosts at anything but 44.1. We've figured the problem out, and uploaded a fix, so Ricochet is Fully Operational in all Apple hosts, best as we can tell. If you've purchased Ricochet, and written me with Logic/DP problems, they're almost certainly fixed, so go download the installer from your account and there you go.
Fucking Apple.
---
## The 10 Commandments Of Grindhouse...
- Date: 2008-02-09
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/02/the-10-commandments-of-grindhouse/
So, there are at least seven distinct forms of house music that I can discern. Unfortunately, none of them does what I want right now, so I've taken it upon myself to invent a new sub-genre, which we will call Grindhouse. The problem with making your own genre is that it isn't actually a genre until more than one artist does it. As long as it's just one person or group, it is only "quirky" or "eccentric," or the worst of all, "unclassifiable."
Like any sub-genre, our new style needs a set of rules, so a particular song or artist can be classified as such. In that light, I propose the following Ten Commandments Of Grindhouse, a paradigm set for our new genre. I intend this genre to be entirely open source, so the Commandments may be altered as a result of discussion, here or elsewhere. But we have to start somewhere, right? In that light, here's what I submit:
**1: Thou Shalt Have A Monster Foot.** Of course, the root of all house music is a 909 kick in a four-on-the-floor pattern. Grindhouse, since it is a sub-set of house, will have the same. However, our foot will be large. It should dominate the track entirely. In that light, the foot should have a healthy dose of plate reverb. But it needs to start life as a 909-flavored kick; that really goes without saying.
**2: Thou Shalt Eschew Chord Progressions.** Pick a fucking note and hammer that shit in to the ground. Chord progressions are for trance, and we hates trance.
**3: Thou Shalt Lovingly Embrace Distortion.** Grindhouse should be HARD. Think of it as powernoise with a more defined beat and, like, music and stuff. The square wave is your friend.
**4: Thou Shalt Beat An MC About The Head And Shoulders With A Blunt Object.** We are of the opinion that two things are true: a DJ knows how to spin records and the crowd knows how to dance. We don't need some meth-addled MC Cul-De-Sac up on the stage shouting at people, and asking for rewinds, and all that bullshit.
**5: Thou Shalt Move At A Punk-Rock Clip.** Grindhouse, because it is an aggressive form of house, shall be on the speedy side. Your happy place is between 140 and 150. You dip below 138 at your peril.
**6: Thou Shalt Smash Thy VCR.** Movie samples are so 1989. They shall be avoided like the plague that they are.
**7: Thou Shalt Place Thy Bass In The Driver Seat.** In Grindhouse, our bassline and our melody are the same motherfucking thing. Stack for attack.
**8: Thou Shalt Glitch Thy Percussion.** If it isn't a foot, it gets all fucked up. Get your favorite beat mangler and put it on every track.
**9: Thou Shalt Restrain Thyself From 16-measure Snare Rolls.** Grindhouse has sudden transitions. If someone wants gradual dynamics so they know when to spin their glowsticks and raise their arms, might we point them towards Ibeza?
**10: Thou Shalt Break It Down.** The breakdowns in Grindhouse, an essentially pad-free environment, shall be rhythmic in nature, with the glitchy beats.
There we have it. I'm essentially describing a punkier, glitchier form of house that is hard as hell. The next step is for the Analog Industries community to discuss and fine-tune our ruleset, and then make and release a comp. Obviously, a little audio example would help, so here 'tis, an intro and a couple go-rounds of a main section. In it, the major points above are described, I think. Discuss.
**EDIT:** I've made changes to the MP3 to take in to account the incredibly helpful suggestions offered forth. [Here 'tis.](https://web.archive.org/web/2008/http://www.analogindustries.com/samples/finkle_rough.mp3) I made the lead/bass more grindish, less ravish, and the offending 909 hat has been bit-reduced in to submission.
Note that, despite evidence to the contrary, I wasn't saying "hey, here's a grandiose idea that will change the face of electronic music." Rather, it was an attempt at ironic humor. I guess I should have put the sarcasm tags around the whole post. My thinking was that most electronic music genres spring from thin air, via someone coming up with an interesting idea that is somewhat outside a genre, and about 500 other producers trying to cash in on the sound. I thought it would be funny to create a ready-made genre, with malice aforethought. Perhaps I should have said that in the beginning of the post, as exactly two responders have got the joke. I have to say that, for most of you, subtlety is not your strong suit.
---
## Poll...
- Date: 2008-02-05
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/02/poll/
Question of the day:
**Is FLAC...**
(a) Just stupid by itself?
(b) An example of how people that don't understand audio should stay away from making programs for converting formats?
(c) An example of how FOSS software almost always blows?
(d) All of the above?
I'll take what's behind door number four, Monty. I'm preparing to spend the day in format conversion hell, because of a stupid-ass console program that makes a redundant format that, for some bizarre reason, about 10 extremely vocal consumers prefer. In that light, FLAC and AU are disturbingly similar. I will do this, of course, but don't expect me to be happy about it. (In that light, FLAC and AU are _exactly_ alike.)
---
## Audio Damage Update...
- Date: 2008-02-05
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/02/audio-damage-update/
Aside from the fact that we rarely say the word "Apple" around these parts without prefacing it with "Fucking..." things are moving ahead. We lost a couple days due to a disagreement between Xcode, the PPC version of OSX, and VSTGUI3.5, but otherwise everything is moving ahead on Ricochet. All five (5!!!) versions have now been built and are working. Adam is chasing down a couple little bugs that I found while writing presets, then it's out to the full group of testers for, well, testing.
So, barring any more unforeseen problems, Ricochet will be released I don't know when. But some time in 2008, I think. Maybe a week and a half? Maybe a month and a half? Not sure enough at this point to make any real predictions.
Obviously, I'm back from my Hell Weekend Of Driving A Box Truck Through A Blizzard For 70 Odd Hours, and as soon as I recover my wits, we'll be back to a normal posting schedule.
---
## t3h awesome...
- Date: 2008-02-04
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/02/t3h-awesome/
---
## Wicked?
- Date: 2008-02-02
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/02/wicked/
It's really too bad Europe isn't around any more, because this dude would fuckin' **OWN** in that band. The description for the video says "Playing wicked fucking solo on the keyboard totally origional ... fucking fast." \[sic\] He forgot to mention "tedious, sonically uninteresting, and never mind the ubiquitous grace notes."
Thank all the music gods that this sort of thing has gone away. At least for keyboard players. Anyways, I'm gonna be out of town for the next three days, as I have to help my mom move across a couple-three states. I may be able to post again before Tuesday, but don't count on it. In the event, this is an open thread, and the topic: is there still room for virtuosity (not counting the above, of course) in modern music? Many forms of music, including almost all electronic music genres, require little actual playing skill in order to make a perfectly viable product, and with editing and quantizing, you can get away without knowing how to actually play in virtually any form of music these days. Has skill in anything but editing/programming seen its last days?
---
## ¿Que?
- Date: 2008-01-31
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/01/que/
I just got this in my email in-box:
_We are happy for informing you free of charge that our scope has been activated the presence online of the FreeWav plan to the address http://freewav.altervista.org is that one to promote the MuSiCA, offering of the samplings audio formed wav. For ulterior information: infofreewav@virgilio.it_
I don't have the faintest fucking idea, but I think that perhaps all my base are belong to them or something. This is the sort of email you get when Eric Barbour is mad at you for something he thinks you might have said about him. But I'm fairly certain that there's nothing about Metasonix in that letter.
---
## Sorry. Yeah. Whatever...
- Date: 2008-01-31
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/01/sorry-yeah-whatever/
We've been having a bit of a snow... what? Event? here for a few days now. I'm sure everyone that lives in the upper Midwest of America is like "oh, cry me a river, nancy-boy" but I spent 25 years in Boston, NYC, and Chicago, and the main reason I moved here was to get away from that bullshit and in to a nice rainy mono-season, one of which I'm quite fond.
Anyways, we've gotten a couple feet of snow or whatever, and our power keeps going out. I suppose it could be worse. The town of Detroit (Oregon, not Michigan), which is 19 miles up the road from us, has gotten 150". That's a lot no matter how you look at it.
Long story short, until this weather event cools down (pun intended), I can't even keep my computers on for more than a few minutes at a time, let alone devote the surfing necessary to bring something incredibly prosaic yet somehow touching to this page like I normally do each and every god damned day of my life, in my ultimate quest to make your day better, as if that was important to me.
I don't even own a fucking snow shovel. I live in the Willamette Valley, for christsake.
So, until this is sorted out by the KOIN News 6 Weather Alert Team, you're on your own. This is an open thread. Don't break anything.
---
## Things A Producer Never Wants To Hear From A Band...
- Date: 2008-01-29
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/01/things-a-producer-never-wants-to-hear-from-a-band/
I was busy sifting through some old material today, to put up on The Tubes, and something caught my ear on a track that Martin Atkins remixed for me, and it got me giggling, and thinking of all the bullshit things I've had to put up with while producing other bands. Some of these comments would be not-out-of-place in a Society Of Creative Recording Anachronism meeting, as I'm a bit ol' skool, but keeping that in mind, just off the top of my head:
1\. "Hey, could we get that reverse reverb effect on the vocals in this one part?" Bands that were used to recording on ADAT, when suddenly presented with a 2" machine, magically recalled everything they ever read about Rodger Bain, and had to have at least one Stupid Tape Trick. This is usually the first that came to mind. No problem, except you have most of a mix up by the time this idea comes out, and you need spool the whole roll twice (because, naturally, it was on the first song of the three that would fit on a roll of 2" at 30 ips.) Then SMPTE comes blaring out the foot channel, and, well, whee....
2\. "Hey, let's do a reverse guitar solo on this." Okay, forget Rodger Bain. Now we're getting in to Chas Chandler country. (Or was that Eddie Kramer? I forget.) Anyways, Stupid Tape Trick #2, see above. Nowadays it's easier, if you can get it through the dumb-ass guitarist's head that they have to start big, end small.
3\. "Hey, can I double this vocal track?" It's far easier to get a thick vocal sound from a bad singer with an H3000 than it is to get an Eminem double from 'em that is anything approaching usable. This is the sort of thing that makes the studio manager's eyes light up. (And the engineer, if he's hourly.) I think John Lennon should be heartily thanked by every studio owner in the world, since his ability to double his own vocals is singlehandedly responsible for more wasted studio time than probably any other factor.
4\. "Hey, I think this track needs some percussion." _Sigh._ Nobody but percussionists can actually play percussion worth a shit. See #3. If you own a studio, and you want to increase your hourly billing, just leave some maracas and a tambo lying about the control room.
5\. The various "I know everything about my instrument" comments, which we'll lump in to one category, else I'll go on all fuckin' day. "I replaced the heads less than 10 shows ago!" "These strings are broken in now!" "Can someone hit an E?" "Does anyone have a pick/pair of sticks/tuner?" Etc. ad nauseum.
6\. I'm not sure how to word this one in a simple catch-all phrase, but my personal biggest pet peeve is The Part That Can't Change. This is invariably the foot, but it could be just about anything. I'm a fairly heavy-handed producer, and I could give a shit about any part at the expense of the song; very few musicians feel that way about individual parts, so this is usually the biggest struggle I'll have. Back when I was producing shit industrial bands, after we spent three days turning their Master Tracks Pro Atari ST files driving their Zoom Samplemaster or whatever in to something that everyone else in the world could deal with, the arguments about the kick drum parts would start. "You know, you don't really _need_ to put a foot on _every_ 16th note, dude...." And away we go.
---
## New at NAMM...
- Date: 2008-01-27
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/01/new-at-namm/
Down in the basement, with the Chinese USB-Powered Melodica makers and the singing toilet seat, we find this wonderful new iteration of the analog low-pass filter. Completely passive in operation, it also doubles as a speaker cozy. The company's motto: "Im on ur Adamz, mufflin' ur high-end."
---
## Uh oh, here we go again...
- Date: 2008-01-26
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/01/uh-oh-here-we-go-again/
I know I swore off modulars like two years ago, as a big fat waste of time and money, but there's some really interesting stuff coming out for Eurorack format lately, and I have to admit that it has piqued my interest.
In particular, I've been eyeballing the Livewire shit. The Chaos Computer (yeah, I realize it isn't released yet, you literal fucks...) obviously has my attention, because it's just the sort of thing I like, but most of the Livewire line seems to live somewhere between cool and sexy. I've been pondering getting a 6U Doepfer rack and making a system expressly for play-by-itself type shit. Does any of my fair readers (excluding, you know, all the people I banned for posting retarded comments in the last thread) own some Livewire shit, and can you speak to its general build quality and robustness?
---
## Variations On A Theme...
- Date: 2008-01-24
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/01/variations-on-a-theme/
There's an article that has been making the rounds written by Simon Napier-Bell, the manager of quite a few name artists, including the Yardbirds, Wham!, Japan, Ultravox, and Asia. It appeared in The Observer [last weekend](http://observer.guardian.co.uk/omm/story/0,,2241544,00.html) and has caused quite a splash among the Various People that Know.
Interestingly, the article doesn't say anything that anyone who has had a recording contract with a proper label doesn't know, but it puts the entire experience in this sort of meta-framework which is interesting. Even to those of us that Know. It does make me pine for the 70s a bit, though. Read and discuss...
---
## BLOG WARS!!!!! ZOMGBBQ!
- Date: 2008-01-23
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/01/blog-wars-zomgbbq/
[I Eat Beats](http://www.vimeo.com/625464/l:embed_625464) from [Kyle McDonald](http://www.vimeo.com/kylemcdonald/l:embed_625464) on [Vimeo](http://vimeo.com/l:embed_625464).
Peter Kirn got all up in our grill with a bubblegum sequencer over on [CDM.](http://createdigitalmusic.com/2008/01/23/sequencing-beats-with-bubble-gum/) Well, Peter. I'll see your bubblegum sequencer, and raise you one done with Skittles. If candy-based sequencers were "Shane," this one would be Jack Palance. I think making electronic music with little balls of sugar is a curiously unexplored area that merits more consideration. Somewhere in here, we'll find the next John Cage.
---
## Ricochet Progress...
- Date: 2008-01-23
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/01/ricochet-progress/
It's just about up to the fat lady at this point, because we're moving right along. As you can see in the above picture, the OS X VST is 99% done. People that are paying attention will note that the above screenshot shows the thus-far-unseen mod screen, and the value pop-ups we're using now. Those little flags will come up whenever you "grab" a knob, and show the true value, which is kinda handy, and an oft-requested feature.
Anyways, there are a couple bugs that are common to both the Windows and OS X versions that need to be addressed, and presets need to be added, then it's just the AU version (which might be a bit hairy on this one), the manual, and testing.
So, definitely not before the end of January, but early February is looking pretty good at this point. As soon as Ricochet is released, we're going to do maintenance releases on a couple of our other plugs (notably Replicant, which has an automation bug we've just discovered), and then it's movin' on.
---
## Wait, there might be something here...
- Date: 2008-01-21
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/01/wait-there-might-be-something-here/
I was just flipping through Brandon Daniel's traditional [NAMM photo set](http://fdiskc.com/syn/) (Brandon likes frames, so you're gonna have to do your own browsing...) and I came across the above, for the Rozzbox One V2. Kind of a bulky name, but I suppose it is descriptive. Judging from the context of the photos, I think it was at the Big City Music booth, and thus was Fucking overshadowed by Mr. Barbour's ridiculous amp. (As ordered by NIN and Timbaland, so you _know_ it's good now.)
I may have read about this before. Hell, I might have even posted about it. But it seems there's one in America now, which makes it more real. The [L.L. Electronics site](http://www.rozzbox.de/) is in German, so I can't figure out what the fuck is going on there, but this is the sort of thing that tickles me. It's not on the Big City site, and it's not on the Analogue Haven site, so who knows?
Thankfully, going through Brandon's photos signals the end of my interest in Winter NAMM, and we can move along to Messe. On the whole, it seemed to just be a bigger Summer NAMM, at least from my objective. I wonder how the Super Mario Bros. theme sounds on [this silly thing.](http://www.fdiskc.com/syn/namm/2008/.slide_z12stringbass.jpg) Played through a Fucking Fucker. It'd be awesome.
---
## VST3 Whee...
- Date: 2008-01-20
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/01/vst3-whee/
I realize that I run the risk of becoming incredibly tedious about this whole VST3 thing, so I'll post this one bit and leave it alone for now. Pictured above is what happens when I cold-build the supplied sample code (the ubiquitous and omnipresent AGain project, which is the Hello, World of VST, and has been in the SDK since there was an SDK) and attempt to instance it in Cubase 4.
This is amusing on several fronts. They are, in no particular order:
1: The \_exact\_ same thing happens on OS X. This means that either C4.1 is busted for hosting non-Steinberg VST3s, the API for VST3 is busted, or the AGain project itself is busted.
2: The AGain build verifies 100% in the little application Steinberg provides to test VST3 plugins.
3: Without a working starting project (e.g. AGain), a developer is absolutely unable to build anything. Period. If you don't have a working starting point, you don't know if a problem you're having with your product is due to the host, the API of the SDK, or the plugin itself.
So, well, that's fun. I'm wondering if it's the version of VSTGUI they included that is causing this trouble. I'm also wondering if I care enough to figure it out. Steinberg is really swinging for the fences with this bitch, I'll say that much. Never a dull moment in the plugin development world.
---
## VST3... tastes just like chicken...
- Date: 2008-01-19
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/01/vst3-tastes-just-like-chicken/
Okay, I've just got done reading through the new SDK, reading the entire monster thread on the subject at KvR, and attempting (and failing) to build Steinberg's example code. (This is no surprise, because it is usually fucked beyond all recognition. Comforting, in a way.)
Let me state the following for the record, since if you're not a developer it may not be obvious: **You, The User, gain NOTHING from VST3.** This should be clear from the outset. The marketing points in the Steinberg press release are referencing shit that is included, almost entirely, in VST2.4. There is _nothing_ in the VST3 kit that makes anything better, faster, stronger, lower CPU, lower latency, more likely to get you laid, anything. **Don't believe the hype.**
Take some time to get comfortable with that concept. Go ahead. I'll wait.
It is clear, to me at least, that this entire Switch rests firmly on what Ableton does. If they decide to support VST3 next week, and VST3 only (and there's no reason, historically, to suppose that they won't), then we'll figure this shit out in short order. If they don't, then Steinberg can go fuck themselves sideways, basically. Move along. Nothing to see here.
Of course, it isn't as cut-n-dried as that, but that's the basic feeling in the industry, at least among the people I communicate with. That said, and taking in to account my initial issues with the kit, it doesn't look to be _that_ complicated of a process to port our shit to VST3. Not any more complicated than porting it to AU, anyways. So if we _must_ do it, then it can be done. But as far as I can tell, there's no pressing need. None of our products will see any gain from moving to VST3, as we tend to design with a lowest-common-denominator feature set, as far as communicating with the host goes, so that we can build both AUs and VSTs from the same code base.
For what it's worth, through all the changes on the OS X platform in the last 3 years, we've had to do nothing on Windows. I suppose you don't get a free ride anywhere these days. I truly feel sorry for someone just getting in to VST development this week, though. They're in for a bumpy learning experience.
---
## NAMM-tastic News...
- Date: 2008-01-18
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/01/namm-tastic-news/
Obviously, I'm not at NAMM (what were the odds?) so I'm in the same boat most of you are, sitting back and reading the seemingly unending stream of press releases like all the other plebs. Quite frankly, this is for the better, as my temperament would probably get me in trouble were I actually to attend. So I have to live vicariously through [Dave Gamble,](http://sonalksisdev.blogspot.com/) basically.
That aside, here's the obligatory post of Things I Find Interesting So Far in all the press releases. With one exception, I haven't actually beheld any of these products in real life, so my bullshit detector is working at a low threshold. We'll see how that works out. Anyways, I'll say ahead of time that I don't find the LinnDrum II, the MiniMoog OS, or the Virus Snow interesting, really. I have great respect for two out of the three companies, but nothing _new_ here, really. Just old stuff re-packaged for a different price point.
**[Moog MP-201 Multi-Pedal](http://www.moogmusic.com/detail.php?main_product_id=21107)**: At first pale, you're like, "oh, an expression pedal. Whatever." Or at least I was. Then I started to think about it, and realized how slick it was. This is the Controller Pedal Of The Gods, able to do most anything. Assuming (and this is a bit of an assumption on my part) that the buttons and pedal can be assigned to any ol' MIDI CC, this will fit in to my foot-pedaling world so perfectly I can't really believe it. I'll certainly be getting one as soon as they're available.
**[Sonalksis Mastering Suite](http://www.kvraudio.com/news/8542.html)**: These will be fairly slick. They haven't put anything up on their website yet, but it was "announced" at NAMM. Four plugins, and to my ears much better at software limiting than other stuff I've heard. Dave did a hell of a job with these. And no motherfucking iLok bullshit.
**[Line 6 ToneCore DSP Development Kit](http://digitalprosound.digitalmedianet.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=282240&afterinter=true)**: (Note that the link goes to Digital Pro Sound's iteration of the press release. That site is the worst ad farm on the planet. They make Sonic State look like, well, me, in comparison.) I know this was announced last year, but it looks like it is finally gonna be released in a couple months. This is a little module that fits in Line 6's ToneCore dock that has a chunk of blank DSP and some RAM and some knobs, so you can program your own guitar effects. I think that, for guitarists, it is a pointless product, but for those of you that get your giggles turning Furbies in to Overlords Of Sonic Death, this is about the best thing since diagonal cutters. Time will tell, but I think we'll see some interesting things come from this.
I've been keeping my eyes open, but nothing else has really caught my fancy. New 3.5 OS for Eclipse makes me happy, but I can't remember my damn username and password for the Eventide site. (And they _FINALLY_ discovered HTML 1.1, it seems.) Anything I missed here that is on the down-low cool?
---
## Note to bloggers: It's spelled "fuck," no asterisk..
- Date: 2008-01-16
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/01/note-to-bloggers-its-spelled-fuck-no-asterisk/
We're about to see a metric fuckton of asterisks in today's RSS reader, because Eric Barbour decided to call his latest product, a guitar amp of all things, "Fucking Fucker." I'll be honest: if I knew it would get that much press, I'd have lobbied for naming Ricochet "Fucking Delay" or something.
Why someone isn't offended when they see "f\*ck" or "\*uck" or "Fu\*k" or (for the more linguistically adventurous) "fuc\*" but is offended when they see "fuck" is completely and utterly beyond me. The word, at least in America, is so entirely ubiquitous and without any real meaning that it is really just a verbal tic, like "uh" or "like." When this blog first started getting a lot of traffic, I would get an email every other day or so from people that were, like, "love the blog but do you have to swear so much?" As if I gave a fuck or something.
Luckily, that has petered out.
What I find interesting is thus: Eric found out with one product that he could (a) get away with this naming scheme, and (b) it would provide a certain amount of press. This is all aside from what the box actually did. While I sort of envy him this discovery, if Marshall had released any of those products, everyone would be all like "are you fucking kidding me? This shit is broken." With or without asterisks.
---
## Hits You In The Chest Like an 808 Boooom...
- Date: 2008-01-15
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/01/hits-you-in-the-chest-like-an-808-boooom/
I decided recently, for varying reasons (but mostly a massive desire to Just Know), that I wanted to learn everything there was about how the 606, 808, and 909 make their sounds. I have my Ideal x0x Drum Kit, which is a set I've painstakingly assembled, consisting of a 909 foot, 808 snare, 606 hats, and a mix of percussion from the three machines, some layered. I'm very happy with this kit and I use it a lot, but being me, I just can't leave well enough alone, and I figured if I knew the "why" of these sounds, I could theoretically use the concepts in making my own set, with its own mojo, not borrowed mojo.
Rambling aside, here's what I've learned: most anyone that has written on the subject of dissecting the various x0x sounds doesn't have the faintest fucking idea of what they're talking about. If I find four different learned articles on how to synthesize a 909 foot, there are four different topologies. If I build all four, I discover that at least three, if not all four, are complete fabrications, resulting in an unusable piece of shit sound that seems more like the farting of a large dog. This is the same for any of the key sounds. When you get to the "Cymbals" section of any of these various sources, they're all like "oh, those are hard. Here's how we faked it," with uniformly tragic results.
The first place I looked was the (I thought) excellent guide from Waldorf on synthesizing drums (it is [here,](http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:nJjlkiI_NkUJ:www.waldorfmusic.de/assets/files/products/attack/docs/attackdrumsounds.pdf+Waldorf+PDF+roland+drum+sounds&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us&client=safari) but don't bother, seriously.) This guide is essentially worthless. They literally made shit up, because it sounded right. There is are a couple dozen articles from Sound On Sound in their "Synth Secrets" series, but those are, I've found, hit or miss. There are actually two separate articles in that series about the 909 foot, with wildly diverging topologies described. They could easily be talking about different drum machines entirely.
And heaven fucking forbid I read any forum post on the subject. Christ on crutches.
The long and short of it is this: does ANYBODY have any fucking idea whatsoever as to how to actually make these sounds? I've gotten close, real close. I'm fairly good at synthesizing percussion in general with both analog synths and boxes-n-wires softsynths, but I just can't seem to get the Mojo working, you know?
(And to save you the trouble of typing as if I'm some kind of dumb-ass ape, I'm not _actually_ asking "how do I synthesize a 909 foot?" This is more of a meta rant. What I want to know is where the Magic Smoke is hidden on the schematic.)
---
## The Big Bo, now in a convenient bite size...
- Date: 2008-01-14
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/01/the-big-bo-now-in-a-convenient-bite-size/
Amid the din of ridiculous product offerings we'll see this week, there's one sexy, albeit somewhat over-the-top, offering from the king of all umlauts, Bösendorfer. Gearjunkies drops [this press release](http://www.gearjunkies.com/news_info.php?news_id=2556) announcing the CEUSmaster, a baby stage Imperial using a non-looped sample set from the Vienna Symphonic Library.
Sure, you can get the same deal with a lappy and a Roland controller, but really, why would you want to? Since there literally ain't no better piano, it would stand to reason that their digital offering would be of the same standard. I know one thing is for certain: just like the real deal, I won't be able to afford this.
---
## Anti-Production...
- Date: 2008-01-12
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/01/anti-production/
One thing I don't care for, in the current (well, last five to seven years, anyway) trends of popular music is the incredible amount of production. While my tastes in music generally run to under-produced music to begin with -- Tom Waits, Neubauten, Grinderman, Cop Shoot Cop, that sort of thing -- I still listen to most of the Top 40, just to keep up with the Jonses.
What I've noticed, specifically in rock and R&B but in some other genres as well, is a desire by the producer (or, gasp, the band) to fill every possible moment in the song with the entire frequency spectrum of sound, and at least half of those sounds have some sort of plug-in trickery applied to them. Now, being largely in the business of making plug-in trickery possible, it's probably a bad idea to complain about that too much; it sounds like those "how to stop smoking" ads from Phillip Morris. But even so...
What got me on this line of thinking was that "Ladies And Gentlemen" track from Saliva that is used in the PS3 ad currently playing at every time out in every NBA game. That song is so totally overproduced as to almost be comical. There is literally no possible way a good rock band could play that live, let alone Saliva. It is just as programmed as any song by Autechre or Aphex Twin. (If you're not familiar, and for some reason curiosity gets the better of discretion, you can stream it [here.](http://notquilty420.imeem.com/music/5ioZUQm-/saliva_ladies_and_gentlemen/)) Another example that just pops to mind is Timbaland's "Give it to Me." I think it would be amusing to watch Nelly Furtado fuck the dropped beats up live; they wouldn't even make it to the first chorus. There is no way that song could be performed as you hear it, either, unless our current crop of pop vocalists learned polyrhythms overnight.
For my next Chris Randall record, which I'm starting this week, I'm going to go the other way entirely. I'm going to see exactly how much production I can do away with. We'll see how that works out, of course, and it may turn out to not work at all, but quite frankly, I'm of the opinion that you gotta start somewhere, and I'm willing to put my money where my mouth is.
In any event, no particular reason for this rant, except that I call 'em like I see 'em, and this is something I've been thinking about. Thoughts? Where do you draw the line when production "tricks" are now part and parcel of pop music?
---
## AD Ricochet Update...
- Date: 2008-01-09
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/01/ad-ricochet-update/
Ricochet is now at the point where it is pretty much fully usable, so I've made a [Ricochet page](http://www.audiodamage.com/effects/product.php?pid=AD018) in the AD store, with a screenshot and a couple of simple sound files that show in a minor way some of the special effects that it is uniquely capable of.
As I said the other day, we're just tidying up at this point. Then comes presets and the port to zany Mac land, and we'll be good to go. This is the most sophisticated product we've done since Ronin, with many new pieces of code (mostly in the UI area, but a new filter topology, plus the multi-tap delay itself) so we'll spend a bit more time testing than we normally would. But that said, it won't be long now.
---
## MIDI Feets...
- Date: 2008-01-09
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/01/midi-feets/
I need to get a MIDI foot controller, mostly for driving Live. It seems like my options are limited to the Yamaha MFC10 (pictured above) at $279.00, the Roland FC300 for $295, and the Behringer FCB1010 (which is essentially "inspired by" the Roland piece) for $149. Obviously, the last is out of the question, so it's either the Roland or Yamaha boxes...
Except...
Voodoo Labs makes a box call the [Ground Control Pro](http://www.voodoolab.com/gcontrolpro.htm) which looks like it might do the trick. It's a little more expensive than the others, at $399 or thereabouts, but it seems to be of a quality that I would normally think is "not bad," as opposed to the plastic-o-rama of the others. I can use expression (or volume) pedals of my choice, rather than built-in ones. It seems to be a fairly nice choice, despite the expense. You gets what you pays for.
The only other realistic option is to build one myself, using an Arduino or Doepfer Control or something. This is obviously low on my list of favorite things to do, but it is a possibility.
What's the easiest way to control Live from a floorboard? Anyone have experience with the above boxes? What should I be looking out for?
---
## Unhappy Tuesdays...
- Date: 2008-01-08
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/01/unhappy-tuesdays/
We're having a bit of an issue on the home front; I find it tedious when people bring their personal lives in to ostensibly "professional" media, so I won't fall in to the same trap, but suffice to say any post I make runs the risk of being incredibly maudlin. So I won't.
To a certain extent, anyways.
I find that when Bad Things happen, I'm able to write lyrics easier. Even if the lyrical content isn't necessarily based directly on the Bad Thing, it just gets your head in a certain space where emoting becomes simpler. I suppose this is because you're already emotional, and need to express that. So this is an open thread: what kicks your inspiration in to gear when writing music? Do you _need_ to use personal experiences, or can you just poop something out on any old subject?
---
## The Sound Of Inevitability...
- Date: 2008-01-05
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/01/the-sound-of-inevitability/
Or is that "The Inevitability of Sound?" Hard to say. Some of you may have already guessed this from various posts and comments I've made on this site, but we're going to take our label straight digital only now. CDs are basically ridiculous wastes of oil that could be better used in the gas tank of my SUV, so we're just gonna not make them any more.
Of course, it is far more complex than that, and we spent the better part of a year coming to grips with the fact that music no longer strictly requires a media platform to be a commercial product. Audio Damage has always worked that way, and it works quite well. We see no reason whatsoever that Positron can't work the same way.
The store (I would say "the digital half of the store" before today) will give the customer an uncompressed download of their purchase in addition to the alt-preset-standard LAME encoding that we already offer. I'm still trying to settle on a format, but BLEEP does FLAC, and I admire BLEEP, so I'll probably do FLAC too. What a silly format.
In any event, the first order of business is to get all these CDs out of our storage room so we have room for uncompressed audio files. Anything that still remains in hard media is on sale at [shopPOSI](http://shop.positronrecords.com/) and will remain so until stock is zero. We're working on the mechanics of the store change (essentially removing the ability to sell CDs at all, and adding a second format to the purchase) and that will take a bit of time.
This marks my complete change to a hard media hater of the first order. I'll now complain incessantly about people who missed the Clue Fairy, and it should be all sorts of hilarity.
---
## Equivocating...
- Date: 2008-01-04
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/01/equivocating/
Sorry for the lack of posting yesterday. I went to Mt. Bachelor to get my snowboard on, and when I got back I was too sore to care about matters audio. And Pablo thought I might be tasty. But I'm bigger than him so that wasn't too big a deal.
In any event, NAMM is upon us. I will not, of course, be attending, because it has become a point of pride now. Plus this blog isn't really about **NEW SHIT!!!** but more editorial in nature, and I can just as easily do that in the comfort of my own home as with driving to Anaheim and spending 3 days in the World's Largest Guitar Center Shred Fest. Can you even imagine me in the same _state_ as the World's Fastest Drummer competition, let alone the same room?
Luckily, Audio Damage's business model means I don't have to give a flying fuck (and/or a rolling donut) about Sweatwater and Musician's Enemy, and I don't have to try and talk their buyers in to taking X units. If it did, I would probably quit. Or kill myself. Not necessarily in that order. If there's one thing I hate about this business, it's the behind-the-scenes name-dropping motherfuckers. Like buyers for major retailers, for instance. Or booking agents. Or record label legal departments. That sort of thing.
All that aside, a quick AD update. We're approaching DSP freeze land for Ricochet. The multi-tap delay code is working like a charm; we're tuning filters and such now, which will define the _sound_ of the plug-in, and making some decisions viz. usability. (This is harder than it sounds, because I'm fairly brutal about simplicity, while Adam likes a lot of options. We meet in the middle.) We're just about to the point where I can put up some audio samples; that being the case, I will probably make a product page in the not-too-distant future. I still can't say with any sort of accuracy as to when it will be done and for sale, but the vast majority of the Hard Part is done.
---
## Pedals...
- Date: 2008-01-02
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/01/pedals/
It's all about tone, baby. That one on the left is Full Of Techno, too.
---
## Euphonix control surface...
- Date: 2008-01-02
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/01/euphonix-control-surface/
The MC Control (and its lil' halfling brother the MC Mix) are in the Sweatwater store now [for preorder.](http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/MCcontrol/) $1499 gets you four faders, a jog and transport, and a very nice touch-screen display. More faders in banks of eight for $999. Nuendo and Cubase 4 come with EuCon, but I can't speak for other DAWs, so it's debatable whether you can actually work this if you're a Pro Tool or whatever.
Complaints? Sure. I'm left handed. Euphonix hates me, and always has. Mac only until some time Real Soon Now, which in Euphonix-speak could easily mean "never." But if you're in the market for a control surface, and you can fit this in to your workflow, get it instead of some dumb-ass Mackie bullshit. It's only $500 more, but easily $5000 better. And then, when you sell shit on eBay, you can put "from Euphonix studio..." in the description.
---
## Radioheads...
- Date: 2008-01-01
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/01/radioheads/
I have to be honest and say that I've not been a huge fan of Radiohead, and there was a period (well, all right, let's go ahead and say from OK Computer to Hail To The Thief) where I actively disliked them. But their recent album, both the release model and the album itself, have changed my opinion.
Plenty has been said about the release model, so I won't bother to equivocate on it here, except to say that you really have to be already famous for something like that to matter. I read the David Byrne "[interview](http://www.wired.com/entertainment/music/magazine/16-01/ff_yorke)" with Thom Yorke in December's Wired, and Mr. Yorke essentially said the same thing. Lots of people give their album away, but the vast majority of those albums couldn't realistically be monetized in any meaningful fashion anyways, whereas the Radiohead album, because it's them, has significant intrinsic value.
In any case, we watched their studiocast last night on Current, and I was fairly impressed that they can get all of the feel and maybe 90% of the production quality in a live context. I have seen them live twice before, but I was in my hater phase, and was essentially bored to tears at the time. But with an objective eye, I have to say that what they're doing now puts them in the same meta-artist category as Underworld in my book. That is to say, the live show, their visual representation, the albums, and their web presence all are part and parcel of the package and essentially inseparable from each other. My wife pointed out that they've moved beyond the major label "Pre-made Pop Package" in to some other realm.
(I find it interesting to note at this juncture that both Radiohead and Underworld are on the same imprint here in the US.)
In any event, it does give one hope, although it takes a lot more ingenuity to pull off something like this than to just write a not-bad song and get signed. Thoughts?
---
## Things I Want For The New Year...
- Date: 2008-01-01
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/01/things-i-want-for-the-new-year/
**#1: A Mac web browser that doesn't fucking suck -** This doesn't seem to be terribly complicated. But apparently it is. And the first person that says "hey, use Opera" can consider themselves banned from ever making pithy comments on this site ever again. In the Suck Wars, Firefox sucked more than Safari for the last two months, but if my Force Quit habits are any measure, Safari is again getting the edge in that department, reclaiming its rightful crown as the suckiest of all web browsers.
**EDIT:** Since it obviously wasn't, errr, obvious, the above is irony. Please don't email me or post saying "hey, why don't you try Browser Assophonic 2000?" Despite all evidence to the contrary, I do not, in actual fact, give a fuck, flying or otherwise.
**#2: Solid-state hard drives -** We're so very close. It's like when you know the next Star Wars movie is coming out, but you just can't wait. That is, unless you're all growed up between when the good ones came out and the shit ones. Then you come to the startling realization that George Lucas makes movies for children, and you ain't one. That doesn't apply to solid-state hard drives, of course. But they're so close. Audio Professionals the world over will sing with great hosannas and stuff when the solid-state SATA drive becomes something that people without trust funds can afford.
**#3: No more motherfucking Wii controller MIDI bullshit -** Seriously. Stop. It's not cool. Use your time for something productive, like working on the OSX side of the Mozilla project.
**#4: PACE out of business -** If only wishing made it so. But they're like genital warts: the gift that keeps on giving, and the only way to get rid of 'em is to shoot a laser at your dick. Or something.
**#5: No more Super Mario Bros. themes on YouTube -** That shark done been jumped. Move along. Nothing to see here. ESPECIALLY if you play a bass with more than 4 strings. You need therapy. My idea of hell: accidentally coming across a video of Diamond Dave playing the Super Mario Bros. theme on a Roland JD800 with a Wii controller. Life will have ceased to have any hope whatsoever at that point.
**EDIT: (I just thought of another one)
#6: AudioUnits to go away. Far away. And don't ever come back -** Okay, Apple, you had your fun. But they are, in fact, pointless. We know it. You know it. Get over that shit and put VST capability in Logic so we can spend our time developing instead of supporting four (yes, that's four) different builds for each OSX release. Of course, I'm aware that this is just pissing in the wind, but I had to get it out there.
---
## Back In The Saddle...
- Date: 2007-12-30
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/12/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. I came home to find my MachineDrum arrived safe and sound after its brain transplant in Sweden, and have nothing but nice things to say about Elektron service, as usual.
So our Open Thread topic is service horror stories and happy endings. What's your worst service experience? Your best?
---
## It Came From The Depths Of The Chinese Music Industry...
- Date: 2007-12-28
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/12/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.](http://www.use-audio.com/plugiator.htm) This is essentially a little tabletop semi-NOAH, if you're familiar with that box. Or, in English, it runs a couple four Creamware SCOPE plugins, as the complete disintegration of that product line merrily continues. I think I'll take a pass on this one, thanks very much.
I am one of those people that couldn't ever understand the various Creamware platforms _before_ they came unspun, never mind now. I mean, is it a sound card? Is it a DAW? Is it plugins? Can I use these plugins with a real sound card and my normal DAW? What the fuck is going on here?
In other news, we left Phoenix this morning, and now we're in L.A. Hanging with my sister tomorrow, then home on Saturday, and a return to our regular adventures.
---
## Ugh... AudioUnits Give Me Headaches...
- Date: 2007-12-25
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/12/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 install Numerology 2, whereupon I discover that the only AU synth I have on this laptop is Massive. Why I installed it I can't remember, but it is kind of a drag because, well, it is rather massive. (I don't normally use this or any laptop for anything approaching music, and since music is work for me, when I'm on vacation I don't make any; thus I don't need a whole passel of software on this machine.)
I thought to myself "hey, self, why don't we just go grab a freebie drum synth of some sort and we'll have a little fun with Numerology or whatever." This turns out to be essentially impossible. My choices are (a) nothing, (b) downloading and installing Kontakt 3 on this machine and then finding some samples, or (c) something tedious, I'm sure, like creating a drum synth in Bidule or something equally ridiculous.
So, AU users. WTF? Is there not a single free AU drum machine out there, worth a shit or otherwise? Being largely a Windows VST user, I can, of course, find stacks and stacks of free plugins for most any task. About 98.4% of them are utter crap, because you get what you pay for, usually, but they're there if I need them. Apparently the same is not true in the hippy, trippy land of AU.
Oh, Happy Holidays to the Americans now, too.
---
## Date Line Merry Christmas...
- Date: 2007-12-24
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/12/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 the subject (we weren't, of course) why don't you go have Pete Townsend [paint your musical portrait.](http://www.lifehouse-method.com/project.html) That should be good for hours of fun. Note: it is a fairly involved process, needs a significant amount of input from you, and it has a soul-searing EULA that you need to sign to access the meat. The license to your portraits belongs to them (this makes a certain amount of sense, because their software created it, I suppose) and if you play these portraits for anyone else, you essentially violate the license. (Section 2.3 of the EULA, if you're curious.)
Personally, I find that to be a bit silly, but there you go. It is an interesting application of generative music, but sounds pretty machine-made when you get down to it. So my question basically thus: why don't people that make generative music software ever put timing drift in to the output?
**Oh, And...** It's not my habit to advertise for other folks, but these guys are cool, and I have and use all their products. Soniccouture is having a [sale](http://www.soniccouture.com/pages/products.php) that ends at midnight GMT tonight (so about 7.5 hours left). I recommend you get the Electronica Collection. Tons of useful stuff in there.
---
## Creative Comments...
- Date: 2007-12-22
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/12/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](http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2704,2234809,00.asp)) which you might find interesting if you're in to the whole CopyLeft scene. What the article doesn't hit upon is something I opined extensively on in the interview itself. Matt had asked me if I felt that using Creative Commons licenses helped our promotional efforts in general. (My comments in the article are a sub-set of my overall rant.) In thinking about it a couple months after the fact, I think that trying to use a Sampling Plus license (or whatever) as a promotional vehicle is just plain silly. The only people that care are about 80 bloggers and internet radio station operators that live on the outskirts of San Francisco.
(Unfortunately, one of those people is Cory Doctorow, and he just won't shut the fuck up. It makes the rest of us, people that are _actually_ creative instead of just pretending to be so we can get speaking fees, look bad. "Hey, look, my latest terrible novel has been machine-translated in to Farsi backwards, and every third word was replaced with an icon that represents Mickey Mouse. Aren't I charming?")
Anyways, I'm not sure what my point is here, but I'm fairly certain I have one. We're in Phoenix now, and oddly enough, it's colder here than our mountain home in Oregon. Go figure.
---
## The Office? I'm Out Of It!
- Date: 2007-12-19
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/12/the-office-im-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 sister, finally home after fighting Insurgents in the Green Zone of NATO HQ in Brussels for the last couple years. It's the Army Life for me, sure.
Once we arrive in Phoenix (two days hence) I will almost certainly be posting as normal, but I can't guarantee that. Also, if you write the AD Info email, I may take a little longer to get back than usual. So, in the event that you're literally hanging on every word that issues forth from this locale, you might be in for a bit of a wait. Off to pack now.
---
## Pack it up...
- Date: 2007-12-18
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/12/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, pwns hard on the bayan. Bach never sounded so reedy. Or fugue-ey. Or something.
(Thanks to Jeff Laity, who should probably be working and not surfing the InterTubes.)
---
## 10 Minutes Of Fun...
- Date: 2007-12-18
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/12/10-minutes-of-fun/
[Here is a fun little toy](http://www.imitationpickles.org/ludum/2007/12/13/sfxr-sound-effects-for-all/) 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 and some basic controls, expressly for making Pac Man and Discs Of Tron type sounds. At that, it is singularly able.
I was able to fill a folder with usable bleeps, bloinks, and blips in about 10 minutes, just by hitting "RANDOMIZE" and "SAVE SOUND" repeatedly. Now to recreate the entire side one of Tarkus in 8-bit. Why hasn't anyone done that yet?
---
## I, for one, welcome our new hockey puck shaped music overlords...
- Date: 2007-12-18
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/12/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-hockey-puck-shaped-music-overlords/
Weirdly coincidental, today we find out about the [Chimera bC16](http://www.chimera-synthesis.com/index.html), which is a lil' analog synth, and the [TechnoMage Life 2](http://matrixsynth.blogspot.com/2007/12/technomage-life-2.html). Although, for what it's worth, the L2 is more of a half-a-sphere than a puck, but anything for a good blog title, right?
The bC16, which you all undoubtedly know all about by now, is a tiny patchable analog synth. I'll probably buy one, because I'm silly like that. Life 2 is more [Life 1](http://www.technomage.co.uk/), with, like, labels and stuff. Life 2 and bC16 are essentially the same thing, near as I can make out. I'll probably buy both, because I'm not only silly, but also exceedingly unwilling to learn from past mistakes. That much is apparent.
Obviously, I kited all the links from [MatrixSynth,](http://matrixsynth.blogspot.com/) because he has way more patience for hunting this shit down than I do. He'll put up pictures, too. I'm more of the "thousand words" type.
---
## Suspended pickup blues...
- Date: 2007-12-16
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/12/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 something like you'd see in [this auction](http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-Straten-Club-40-Project-Archtop-Guitar-w-pickup_W0QQitemZ290191336048QQihZ019QQcategoryZ2385QQcmdZViewItem) attached to it.
In looking around, it seems that there aren't a lot of options in the low-clearance department for suspended pickups. What's the skinniest little bitch out there worth a shit? Surely someone here has done this, or something similar. I don't want to put a Fishman or other vibration transducer type pickup in, because the sound isn't at all appropriate to what I do. I want a floating humbucker, basically.
**EDIT:** [This place](http://www.archtop.com/ac_access.html#anchor46187191) seems to be the joint. That Armstrong 2-D might be just the ticket. A little more than I wanted to spend (it is, in fact, three times the cost of the guitar)... I'd still rather go with a vintage solution, should one present itself.
---
## Stuff I Want For Christmas, And I'll Even Pay For It!
- Date: 2007-12-16
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/12/stuff-i-want-for-christmas-and-ill-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 ludicrously, Santa.
**Roland MKS70**: It would look so very nice in the rack above my MKS80. Yes, it would.
I think that about does it for me, Santa. Hook a brother up.
---
## And The Winner Is...
- Date: 2007-12-15
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/12/and-the-winner-is/
[](https://analogindustries.com/images/blog/tap.jpg)
**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 "Tapdance" and "Tapper." (We thought, if the latter, we could put an easter egg where you could play Tapper. But then we realized that was dumb.) Adam's favorite among the "Tap" submissions was Tapioca. But I vetoed that because, well, it's a little bit gay.
Among the many non-tap submissions, 312 in all (most people submitted more than one, and one person submitted 37), my personal favorites were Cloud Puncher and Babyfoot, because they made me chuckle, despite having nothing whatsoever to do with anything. Cloud Puncher may very well become a catch-all term in Audio Damage company vernacular, like "rrrrrfucrkrrrd.r", "y0ya!", and "wr0k", the result of contextual mistypings that Just Work. Or wr0k, as the case may be. If you're a regular customer of Audio Damage, you'll note that these occasionally turn up in preset names.
Anyway, I don't know the name of the person that submitted Ricochet, who goes by the moniker "Sink," but it is pertinent to what the product does, fits in the general naming scheme of Audio Damage products, and rolls off the tongue in a pleasant way. Thus, we are pleased to report that Sink will receive a copy of Ricochet, one other AD plug of his choosing, and an AD t-shirt.
And a general update on Ricochet. Work continues on a timely schedule. We had to figure out a way to get around VSTGUI's odd and balky handling of fonts by inventing a new way to use a font for text purposes. Adam handled this in fine style, and the GUI (by far the most difficult part of this entire exercise) is essentially done. DSP coding starts in earnest now. We're still looking at a late January release currently, but that could easily change.
**EDIT:** Oops. Due to a spelling error, I didn't catch that Gibbon had submitted "Ricochet" as well. So we have dual winners, Sink and Gibbon. Both get the same prize, of course.
---
## See? Keytar can be kool!!!
- Date: 2007-12-13
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/12/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 keytar in the only way it is possible to look cool doing so. A quick YouTube search later and here we go. Fuck, but this band was tight.
---
## Check Dis Out!
- Date: 2007-12-13
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/12/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 requests, operating a record label and all, but they usually come to my wife, or to my @positronrecords.com address. So to get one in the info@ad mailbox caused some sort of Eddie in the Space-Time Continuum for me, especially since I just woke up.
What was extra confusing was that it was a request for a song we don't appear to own or control the copyright for (as if that was even possible in this day and age, har, har, har...) called "Check Dis Out" by an artist named Kid Massive. I spent several minutes basically stuttering and spinning around in my chair before I figured out what was going on.
It appears this Kid Massive (the name of whom brings to mind a big giant baby more than anything else, and who has a minimal web presence [here](http://www.kidmassive.com/)) wasn't happy with his Soundslike Records imprint, and started a new "recording label and DJ tour" company called "Audio Damage Records." (It also appears occasionally as "Audiodamage Records.") This seems to be something that happened, like, last week.
He's only got one release, "Check Dis Out," which is a not-bad traditional house track (check dit [here](http://www.emusic.com/label/Audio-Damage-Records-Broad-Street-Digital-MP3-Download/163236.html)), although a little old-school (and not the good kind of "House Your Body" old school, but rather that tragic c. 98 low-point-of-house-music old school). He has a residency at several clubs around the UK which he does as an "Audio Damage Records Presents..." kind of thing. I assume "Check Dis Out" gets lots of play. Dude, do you have any Marshall Jefferson to go with that? (As an aside, I just remembered that Marshall produced Ten City's excellent "That's The Way Love Is," as made re-famous by Poi Dog Pondering. Now, \_that\_ is a house music anthem.)
As if that weren't enough for just about anybody (thank all the Interweb Gods for Google) there is actually MORE THAN ONE Audio Damage Records. Oh, yes. There's [these fellows](http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=124210030) from Leicester/ Liverpool/ London (which we all know actually means "Leicester." It's like saying "Naperville/Oak Park/Chicago" when you actually mean just plain ol' Naperville.) These guys "will be releasing futuristic dance floor sounds with a focus on originality and HIGH production standards." I don't know when they plan to do that, because the tracks on their Myspace page are basically distorted gabber-fests consisting largely of samples of other peoples' music.
I know that labels like this come and go with the wind, so I'm not terribly concerned about this, and if European DJ pools masquerading as distributors want to send me money to P&D some middle-of-the-road house track, I'm all for it. Just make sure the contract is for Euros and not dollars, as those greenbacks ain't worth fuck all these days. Any other Audio Damage companies trading off our good name out there? Just so you know, this page is gonna come up first in all Google searches for your label, so you better put out some original shit if you want a link that doesn't come with a snarky comment.
---
## Finalizing Open Thread...
- Date: 2007-12-11
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/12/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 out to be mastered. The issue at hand is that I _can't_ afford Bernie Grundman like I could in the past (when Wax Trax! was footing the bill), and the mastering houses I _can_ afford generally don't do any better a job than I can do myself.
So, that being the case, I'd really just be paying for a second opinion. And as you all know, I have plenty of opinions to go around, so that's kind of pointless.
In mastering my own records, I find that I'm best served by loading everything in to CD Architect, moving everything about until I'm happy with the transitions and flow, then setting it aside for a week or so. I then go back and do the EQing and compression necessary, then set it aside again for a week. If, when I finally come back to finish it, nothing jumps out at me, it's off to the pressing plant.
This will be an L3-free album, as I'm seriously against square-waving my music. I don't get a lot of club play, no radio play to speak of, and the TV shows that use my stuff are gonna squish the fuck out of it on their own, so I usually leave that to them.
So, that's my method. What's yours? I know that this is a black art to a lot of people, and the Direct-To-MP3 rendering that is common in the non-commercial music creation world precludes any sort of actual mastering. Obviously, great benefits can be gained with even simple mastering, but you can also fuck your music up beyond recognition or usefulness pretty quickly. Tips and hints time.
---
## Grime?
- Date: 2007-12-09
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/12/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 output through Replicant and a big-ass plate reverb set to 80% wet.
That said, I am virtually certain that there are readers here who not only know about Grime, but make it (the music, not the kibble.) And you can illuminate us all on what the deal is. Who's the big artist? Why are they good? What are the bullet points?
(It's hard keeping track of all these electronic genres, I'll grant, but at least I try.)
**EDIT:** I think that I was talking about dubstep. But maybe not.
---
## Audio Damage
- Date: 2007-12-07
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/12/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 question isn't a delay. Heck, it isn't even a plugin. But it's still audio software, so we're gonna shy away from using it.
Unfortunately, everything we've come up with since just sounds tragic as hell. We really had our hearts set on "WireTap," and now we can't think of anything to replace it with. So it's time to bring in some fresh thinking.
So, here's the deal: [drop me a line](mailto:chris@audiodamage.com) with the subject "Name the plugin" and your ideas. The winner will be chosen on December 14th, and will receive the above delay, plus one other Audio Damage plug-in of their choice, and an Audio Damage t-shirt.
Please don't fill up the comments of this post with name ideas; if you've got one, mail it to me. We can, however, talk about the plug-in, and what it will do. Click on the image above for the full-size screenshot. It should be fairly obvious if you're acquainted with how a multi-tap delay works. There are five taps, which can be placed on a grid which has 16 time divisions. The entire grid comprises a unit of time which can be anywhere from 1/4th measure to 2 measures, set with the "GRID SIZE" knob, and the "PRE-DELAY TIME" knob sets how long between the dry event and when the grid "plays."
There is a second screen (accessed with the "MOD" switch on the lower left) which has a simple mod routing to each tap, and if you right click on an individual tap, it brings up the little pop-up window you see, which has settings unique to that tap. Our design goal was to make a multi-tap delay that didn't have 600 knobs on the face (like [this](http://www.pspaudioware.com/indexen.html?url=http://www.pspaudioware.com/plugins/608md.html;)) or take forever to figure out and program, and be so over-laden with features it's almost impenetrable. (Like [this.](http://www.apple.com/logicstudio/effects/#delay)) Rather, we wanted it to be simple and direct, so that it could be used quickly (like in a live situation, for instance) and easily (so you're not wasting time programming a delay, while your idea simmers in the studio.)
The general design is there, but we've just finished the GUI programming, and are starting on the DSP. That being the case, we are still able to make changes (unlike when I normally throw up a teaser here) so if you've got some stellar idea you'd like to see manifest, we're willing to hear you out. This will be $49.00, and I don't have even a rough idea of a release date at this point, but definitely not before next year, as the holidays are upon us.
---
## Santa? I is one.
- Date: 2007-12-05
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/12/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 compunction about letting the gift-giver know that. I imagine that most people for whom the term "musician" is all-encompassing fall in to the same category. So, with that in mind, I provide a gift list, so you can just send a link to the people in your life that can't figure out what the hell it is you do and say "these are the things I would like to have. Pick one." All different price points are represented.
Since we're in a "full disclosure" state of mind 'round these parts, I'll mention again that I take no advertising money for this site, or any other site that is part of the extended family of posiNET. If something is mentioned here, and I got a freebie, I'll say so. Those ads to the right of this post are either for companies I own or have a stake in, or in the case of Analogue Haven, just cool dudes that I like and want to support.
So, without further ado, **Five Christmas Gifts Under $500 For The Musician In Your Life, In No Particular Order...**
**[#1: Eventide Time Factor - $399](http://www.analoguehaven.com/eventide/timefactor/)**
The Time Factor is a delay pedel that contains several delay algorithms from the Eventide Harmonizer family. Don't let the pedal form factor fool you, though. This little baby is _full_ of techno. It would make any guitar player, keyboard player, or "engineer/producer" type happy. Even if they already have one. Trust me on this.
**[#2: Korg KP3 Kaoss Pad - $399](http://www.analoguehaven.com/korg/kaosspad/)**
Everyone wants one of these. If they already have one, they want another one. If they say they don't want one, they're lying or haven't played with one. It has terrible effects that can't be edited, a MIDI spec that is utterly ridiculous, and the stupidest I/O imaginable. Oh, did I mention it hisses like a pissed-off wombat? But it is built like a tank, does some things that nothing else does, and is great fun to play with. Don't get the little tiny ones. They're a waste of time. This is the one to get.
**[#3: Roger Linn Designs Adrenalinn III - $375](http://www.analoguehaven.com/rogerlinndesign/adrenalinniii/)**
This one might not be the best choice if your giftee doesn't play guitar. But if he/she does, you could certainly do worse. Amp simulator, multi-fx, and a not-terrible drum machine all in one handy box. With a headphone jack. (I think that might be key for some significant others.)
**[#4: Waldorf Edition plug-in suite - $75](http://www.analoguehaven.com/waldorf/edition/)**
This is the best $75 you could possibly spend on plugins, without mentioning Audio Damage. (Which I won't do, because that goes without saying.) For less than a hundo you get the fantastic D-Pole filter/delay/munger, the Attack percussion synth, and the PPG Wave synth plugins. All three are fantastic, and there is really no way the computer-based musician in your life won't be fine with this incredibly useful package. I mean, the D-Pole alone is worth the money. (I have a soft spot for it, because it's the first plugin I ever purchased.) These plugins are OSX and Windows, VST and AU, which means most anyone can use them. (And by most anyone, I mean anyone that isn't a Pro Tooler.)
**[#5: Nanoloop 2.2 for Gameboy Advance and later - approx. $100](https://ssl.kundenserver.de/s27119512.einsundeinsshop.de/sess/utn15475729a3e1bb4/shopdata/index.shopscript)**
For those not in the _loop_ (oh, I'm on fire today) this is a cartridge that turns a Gameboy Advance, Micro, DS, or DS Lite in to a synthesizer/drum machine. You may have to throw one of those in, too, but even then, you're looking at a gift under $200 that will make any musician of any stripe, young or old, gifted or ham-fisted, happy.
**Fin.**
Now, here's the game we're gonna play, as far as comments to this thread go. If you're gonna link something, it has to be under $500, not made by any of the Verboten companies (Roland, Avid and its childrens, Behringer, et al...), and have appeal across a broad spectrum. It's not as easy as one might think. And I don't know if a pissed-off wombat hisses. I just made that up, and the alliteration worked. Do wombats even get pissed off?
---
## Deez Nutz and other subjects of import...
- Date: 2007-12-05
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/12/deez-nutz-and-other-subjects-of-import/
As expected, Adam's PACE missive garnered quite the response. (Don't even [get me started.](http://www.slapdelay.com/)) I was fairly amused by the comments on CDM, in particular those from Matthew Davidson, who spent several posts essentially berating Adam for having the temerity to have an opinion on this subject. He said, and I quote directly, "\[i\]f a developer calls for a boycott of products that use PACE, yes I feel that is irresponsible. You don’t see a conflict of interest here?"
Adam rightly pointed out two facts: first, Matthew is also a developer (responsible for the GUIs of several MOTU products that I know about, and lord knows what besides) and thus by his own standards should sit down and shut the fuck up, and secondly, it is perfectly acceptable for one company to berate another, within the limits of legality in this country.
Is it irresponsible for me to repeatedly ask you, my dear readers, to not use Digidesign products, using "facts" based entirely on my own personal bias? Or to publicly share Adam's belief that PACE is stupid, useless, and harmful? As long as we're all out in the open about who we work for and why we're stating an opinion, it's up to the reader/consumer to decide. Caveat emptor and all that.
If Adam posted in forums under a different name, \_that\_ would be irresponsible, I fully agree. But in his missive, he mentions his ownership stake in Audio Damage quite clearly. One could, if one had an axe to grind, say "hey, Audio Damage doesn't use PACE, and some of their direct competition does. There may be something going on here," but if Adam mentioned that fact outright, which I believe he takes pains to do, then it's fucking moot.
In any event, I suppose there's nothing to be gained from attacking Matthew personally simply because I don't agree with him. So I won't bother. But I feel that he should have been clear from the get-go that he also has a horse in this race. It does change things a bit, doesn't it?
Irresponsible? Let me introduce you to Deez Nutz.
---
## Stormy Weather Open Thread...
- Date: 2007-12-03
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/12/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 cranking. So, obviously, it's amazing that I can post at all, let alone something of world-shaking import.
Luckily, Adam [already did,](http://studionebula.com/blog/) thus saving me the trouble. Needless to say, I agree with his closing statement wholeheartedly, and have followed suit. It's a bit of a drag, because URS makes some stuff that really makes mixing easier. I can easily think of a dozen not-inexpensive pieces of software I would have purchased, and in turn said nice things about (or not, as the case warranted; I call 'em like I see 'em, especially when I pay for 'em...) here on this incredibly high-traffic audio site, were it not that they were protected by PACE/iLok.
In any event, I'm going to go back to hiding under my bed, hoping the 50-meter-tall Black Walnut in our front yard doesn't fall and crush my studio.
---
## Generator...
- Date: 2007-12-01
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/12/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 fooling about with Processing. During the latter phase of operations, I discovered that while it is fairly good at flipping pixels, it ain't so hot when it comes to sound. (Most Java applications that deal with sound are s-s-s-s-s-stuttery, in my experience, so this comes as no surprise.)
But I was mainly fooling with algorithmic composition, as usual, and I was curious as to what else is out there these days that is Worth A Shit. I still use M and UpBeat because, well, they work for me. And I can generally write my own code in this regard which gives fair to middling results (and thus puts it in the same class as most algorithmic composition software.) What's the Good Stuff, though? What do you use? Why? Turn me on to something I don't know about that isn't Max or CSound. (The former because I don't care for it, and the latter because, well, I have a life.)
---
## Just a flesh wound...
- Date: 2007-11-29
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/11/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 my lil' MD will be on a big ol' jet airliner this evening, headed back to the motherland for some TLC.
We hates DSP errors, Precious...
---
## Unnerving...
- Date: 2007-11-29
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/11/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 fits squarely in this category. I mean, he puts out a pretty steady stream of material, and has for several decades now (!!!), but it's just one of those things. I mean, I like Pink Floyd as much as the next guy, and like every other musician on the planet, I know ever single note of Dark Side and WYWH, but I don't set my watch by 'em or anything, you know?
Anyways, yes, there is a point in here eventually. I was flipping through the channels tonight, and I happened upon Rave playing the concert film of the 2006 David Gilmour (and friends, natch) Live At The Royal Albert Hall thingie, and I'm like "oh, this is cool," or whatever. So I'm watching along, and the set is this bizarre fusion of DG shit and Pink Floyd (both the w/ Rog and w/o iterations) songs, with various folks coming up and it's okay and all. I mean, all other things aside, David Gilmour is a fucking excellent guitarist, no mistake.
So it's chugging along, and then in the middle of a bunch of whatever, David Bowie walks out on stage and they bust in to Arnold Layne. While I grant that Rick Wright is the only person on stage that actually performed that song in its original state, so it was more of a cover than anything else, it was (a) shocking, and (b) really fucking cool.
I know that most of the British readers of this site will probably have known about this, because there was a single made of this performance which apparently reached #19 on the UK charts last fall. (I assume #18 was some British indie rock band, and #20 was probably the worst electro-pap imaginable, because the British are like that.)
Okay, so I guess there wasn't actually a point, after all. But I'm a big Bowie fan, and he pwnd the fuck out of that tune, I'm just saying. And whaddya know, here it is on [the tube.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K499HpGF46E) Who woulda thought it?
---
## Ouch.
- Date: 2007-11-28
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/11/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 my fucking hip or something.
I got a new favorite band out of the deal, though. Fucking [Skeleton Key](http://www.skeletonkey.org/) is teh awesome. I'm listening to the records I picked up at the merch booth last night, and they aren't quite as direct (or, uh, unrestrained?) as the live show, but they're very much a Lower East Side art-o-thon in the vein of Cop Shoot Cop or Carbon or that sort of thing, music that is near and dear to my heart. I'm given to understand the lead singer lives in Tribeca, though, which kind of takes the wind out of my sails in that regard. But then again, I live in Mill City, Oregon (pop. 1054) so what the fuck do I know? Paul Barker was, like, "really?" while looking at my as if I suddenly grew a third arm right in the middle of my forehead.
In any case, they were good, and before doors it looked like a who's-who of 90s Industrial in the club. A little bit creepy. I think the last time that many of us were in one place was in front of the roach coach when Tool was second stage at Lollapalooza, playing Tinley Park. I wouldn't want to make a habit of that.
---
## Tuesday Open Thread...
- Date: 2007-11-27
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/11/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, it's riddled with errors. It's fairly sad. A sample sentence:
_The 60-plus lights Cruickshank used at Central Park are mostly Robe 700s, joined by Molefay, ACL, and Par Can strobes."_
The thing with that sentence is that you'd have to have a reasonably deep knowledge of concert lighting to see the errors. That's fine, of course. Obviously the writer isn't a concert LD. But there's the rub: the information is _for_ concert LDs, who are the only ones that would find it interesting at all. Thus, it would perhaps behoove the writer to not just Make Shit Up that would necessarily cause a concert LD to ROFL.
The phrase "par can" is capitalized throughout the article; I assume that these fancy "Par Can strobes" are all the rage with the touring electronic-based progressive whatever bands. This isn't really a big deal, but a pretty fair portion of the article, maybe 30% of the four pages, are given over to talk of lighting and video, and I'd say that roughly 30% of that information is correct. He talks about the 20-by-2-inch tubes that cover the stage for a while. Fun, when you change that "inch" to "feet," as prominently displayed in the 2-page picture right above the paragraph they're mentioned in.
This is the reason I find American music magazines (with the obvious exception of TapeOp) to be stupid in general. It seems that the entire point of the magazine is to provide a convenient mechanism by which to fling Sweetwater, M-Audio, and Korg advertisements at the reader. The writing is, it seems, something of an afterthought any more. I'm not bothered by the actual errors. The thing that bothers me is that if I can catch this many errors (I count 23 factual errors in the video and lighting sections of the article) in the talk of shit I know about, how many errors are there in the shit I don't know about, and can I actually trust them as an information source?
Anyways, rant over. I'm going to Portland this evening to catch Chemlab and USSA. By virtue of the two long-ass tours I did with them, I've probably seen Chemlab perform more than any other band, I'd say roughly 125 times. So that'll be a trip down memory lane. In the unlikely event you're at the show and can manage to find me, come and say "hi" and buy me a mojito. But just one. I have to drive home.
Oh, and, the open thread topic (and this should be a hot one...): we're coming up on the release of a couple albums at the ol' Positron HQ, and we're discussing the interesting fact that the only real reason to press CDs any more is for licensing houses. There's really no question at this point that hard media as a delivery mechanism will go away. What's the time frame? How long before a label doesn't even have to consider CD pressing at all?
---
## The Doctor was a big hit...
- Date: 2007-11-24
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/11/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 self-confidence. So it's really not that much of an issue.
That said, this is our first 10/10 review, and we received all three of the possible CM award thingies for a given product, so that was kind of exciting. Thanks to CM for that, and, like, yeah.
---
## Processing...
- Date: 2007-11-20
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/11/processing/
At the risk of getting in to Mr. Kirn's territory, I've been fooling about a bit with [Processing](http://www.processing.org/) lately, to mixed results. While I have a habit of normally avoiding the coffee cup like the blight that it is, the ease of programming in Processing really makes up for the fact that the result is a .JAR.
In any event, I also purchased an [Arduino](http://www.arduino.cc/) board, even, thinking that I would perhaps do something of Great Import with the two. Unfortunately, it seems that (unlike, say, 3DS Max) you can't just dive right in and make Cool Shit. So be it. But if you were curious as to how I'm spending my copious free time, well, there you go.
So, any of my fair readers doing anything interesting with an Arduino or Processing (or Wiring, for that matter, I guess...)? I can't really come up with any uniquely musical uses, but as music and visuals go together like Fred and Ginger, there is a certain tie-in.
---
## My MonoMachine review...
- Date: 2007-11-19
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/11/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 want to go that route. (Personally, I'd skip 'em, like I have been for the past decade.) Since that is the case, and most of these reviews go in to great detail on the various features of the MonoMachine, I'll just jot down a few quick impressions and we can move along. In no particular order:
1\. If there's an opposite to "phatt," when using that tragic term to define some hazy sort of audio quality, then the MonoMachine is it. Can I propose "thynn" as a viable alternative? This box is not "phatt," if that means "warm, analog-sounding juicy goodness." It is _very_ digital sounding. This is most definitely not a bad thing. But if you were gonna buy this to be your main Bass Box, you're gonna be making some thin-ass music down the road.
2\. So, assuming you're hip to the little bleeps, boops, and bloinks that the MM is good at, the provided engines are quite capable, and I really appreciate the fact that they can make a pretty good synth voice in five different flavors with just 8 parameters to control it. I haven't found a use (nor will I, most likely) for the voice thing, which I find somewhat silly. But the others are nice. Superwave is coolest, I think, but I'm warming to the FM.
3\. It has the same filter as the MachineDrum. I had a hard time warming to this filter topology in the MD, and I'm having the same hard time here. The "BASE" knob, which sort of controls the center frequency, isn't logarithmic, but rather linear. This means that the Good Part is a very narrow band of about 2/5th of the knob's total travel. I like the general idea of their filter, but the execution leaves something to be desired. Quite frankly, I would prefer a normal MMF. But, that said, the filter is part and parcel to the MM's unique sound, and is appropriate to the application at hand, other than the point I mentioned with the scaling, which is a silly oversight IMO, as these guys are on their DSP game otherwise.
I've been an Elektron customer since there was an Elektron. I bought one of the very first SIDstations, and with this latest acquisition I've now owned every product they've made. I'm quite comfortable with the way they do things, and once you realize that they don't really follow industry norms for the way their kit works, and you get in to their vibe a bit, you're gonna be well-served by all their products. If you want something that sounds like a MiniMoog or a 909, you're shit outta luck. The MM and MD sound like, well, an MM and an MD. I'm fairly happy with the purchase, but it will take a while to fit it in to what I do, just like the MD (which sat unused for maybe 6 months before I really got in to it.)
---
## Let's Try This Again, Shall We?
- Date: 2007-11-18
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/11/lets-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 something I had written in the normal method a month or so ago, and re-formatted it to the MM + MD combo. The above is a brief film (two cameras, natch) of me trying out different arrangement ideas and such with that particular song. It will, of course, be on the upcoming _Callisto_ release, albeit in a much more "produced" form.
Anyways, I'm feeling better about things now, and we'll return to our regularly scheduled vitriol and diatribe for the time being. I probably won't do this again until next weekend, because it is a bit of a pain in the arse. Not so much the doing of it, but rather coming up with 3 minutes of film where I don't tragically fuck up.
---
## Yout00bin'
- Date: 2007-11-17
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/11/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 YouTube channel of [my very own.](http://youtube.com/Cranda11) (It seems, however, that I "have no friends." That's just terrible.)
In any event, by way of testing this new-fangled interwebs thing, I made and uploaded a quick video of my spankin' new MonoMachine, along with its elder sibling the MachineDrum. There's a bit of The Source in there because, well, if you have one, it pretty much makes its way in to everything, I've found. No particular reason or musical merit (noting, of course, that I had the MonoMachine for all of half an hour before I did this, and I think the The Source is out of tune, to boot) for this particular chore, other than to join the daily Fucktard Parade that is YouTube, I suppose. ph3@r m4 m4d v1d30 ski11z.
---
## New Shit! (Open Thread)
- Date: 2007-11-16
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/11/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 other things I've forgotten. I will, of course, be spending the majority of the day playing with this new shit. So don't expect much out of me.
In that light, this is an open thread. What do you have that's the new hotness? What do you hope Santa will bring you?
---
## Cage match!!!
- Date: 2007-11-14
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/11/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 Cage.
1\. Nick Cage's real name is Nick Coppola. But he didn't want to trade on Uncle Francis' good name, which is pretty cool. John Cage's real name is John Cage, which is pretty cool in and of itself. Push.
2\. John Cage is most famous for "composing" 4'33", which is four minutes and thirty-three seconds of silence. Nick Cage would probably be well-served by shutting the fuck up now and again. Point to John Cage.
3\. John Cage collected mushrooms. Nick Cage collects Elvis memorabilia. Push.
4\. John Cage's middle name is "Milton." Nick Cage's middle name is "Kim." Point to John Cage.
5\. John Cage is well known for introducing the idea of adding chaotic elements to music. Nick Cage is fucking nuts. Point to Nick Cage.
6\. Nick Cage made his film debut in "Fast Times at Ridgemont High." John Cage did not. Point to John Cage.
It's clear that in the match of the Cages, John Cage is the obvious winner. Wikipedia states that Nick Cage took his _nom de plume_ as a result of being a fan of either John Cage or the Marvel Comics hero Luke Cage. Knowing what I know about Nick Cage, I'd assume the latter. He did name his son Kal-El, after all.
---
## Doesn't that just figure?
- Date: 2007-11-13
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/11/doesnt-that-just-figure/
Elektron [announced](http://www.elektron.se/) 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. The bad news? Not 16 hours ago we ordered two of the original SFX60. Got some phone calls to make, I think. The interesting bit is that I was plainly warned, and decided to ignore the warning. That'll teach me to be patient.
---
## BLA clock? Seems that way...
- Date: 2007-11-12
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/11/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 clarity." These these are the same code-phrases used by makers of $3000 wooden volume knobs and RCA cables woven by 12-year old virgins from the small intestines of baby harp seals. These code phrases mean, in essence, "I've made an incredibly over-priced and over-engineered replacement for something you already own, and no, sorry, it won't make any difference whatsoever, but you have to justify this purchase to your spouse somehow..."
Now, that said, BLA is in the business, largely, of making shitty gear not-so-shitty by the judicious replacement of op-amps and clocks. It would stand to reason that they know a thing or two about the concept. It's also worth noting that this isn't carved from a solid chunk of fossil ivory; neither does it cost mid-four-figures. It is, in fact, quite inexpensive. It is roughly a third the cost of a Big Ben, yet purports to do as good or better a job. It's far less than 1/3 as pretty, it must be said.
They even offer an Audio Damage-esque guarantee. Now, that's something I can get behind. Not, of course, to the point of actually purchasing it, as I like my soundstage to be narrow, thank you very much. And to significantly improve on Apogee, I'd need to talk to Mr. Prism or Mr. Weiss. But at least they put their money where their mouth is, which is rare enough in this industry. [Go forth.](http://www.blacklionaudio.com/microclock.html)
---
## *sigh*
- Date: 2007-11-10
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/11/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](http://www.record-producer.com/learn.cfm?a=4242) at Record-Producer.com (the most ill-named site on the Intertubes) proves that he doesn't belong. For the last time, it's not _really_ illegal to download music. It's illegal to give away music you don't control the copyright for. No one has been sued, ever, for downloading music. They're sued for **UPDLOADING,** you stupid fuck. Go manage a Wendy's or something and leave the music business to the grown folks.
---
## Bleck...
- Date: 2007-11-10
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/11/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 of Alesis/Edirol/Behrinshit/whatever 8-channel mixers will fit this bill, but being me, that simply isn't suitable. I don't necessarily mind if it _sounds_ bad, as long as it has a certain je ne sais quoi, which the current crop utterly lack.
Obviously, the Altec mixers are the epitome of cool, but unfortunately, they're utterly lacking in features I need. In trolling the 'bay, I find stuff like [this](http://cgi.ebay.com/Sony-MX-P61VU-Professional-Audio-Mixer-12-Channels_W0QQitemZ250184434777QQihZ015QQcategoryZ23785QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem) (no line inputs, but otherwise suitable), [this](http://cgi.ebay.com/Studer-962-Console-w-extras-EXCELLENT_W0QQitemZ120180839708QQihZ002QQcategoryZ23785QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem) (perfect, but overpriced because of the name), or something of that ilk.
Actually, you know what would be perfect for the application I have in mind? A Yammie O1V. Or maybe (just maybe) a DMP7. Does the DMP7 have mic pres w/ phantom, or is it just line level?
---
## Mental shootout...
- Date: 2007-11-08
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/11/mental-shootout/
Okay, it's time for a studio upgrade. The options are [PCM96](http://www.lexiconpro.com/AES_Events.aspx), [PoCo X8](http://www.tcelectronic.com/powercorex8.asp), or [Duende](http://www.solid-state-logic.com/music/duende_home.html). 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 for not immediately jumping on the PCM96 Love Train is that it doesn't appear the VST plugin part (the fun part) is available for Windows, nor will it be. The PoCo, well, it's a PoCo. Which is why I'm leaning Duende. I've wanted to score one for a while now, and I think now that they're a couple revs deep in the software, the time might be right.
---
## Licensing Open Thread...
- Date: 2007-11-07
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/11/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 thread. I've mentioned before, and I'll do so again, that the vast majority of the income I receive directly from making music comes not from CD and download sales, but rather from licensing songs to television shows and video games. Licensing, for better or worse, is a far easier way to make money in the music business than selling records, at least in this day and age.
Anyways, this reader has a particular issue, where the music director of an ad agency has contacted him saying they'd like to license a particular song, and rather than provide him with a dollar amount, they have asked him to name a price. If you're not an established artist, this can be a fairly sticky situation to be in. You don't want to scare off the MD, and thus lose both the income and the promo, by naming too high a price. Neither do you want to lowball yourself.
Personally, I'm of the opinion that the licensee should provide you with a figure from the outset. I think it is fairly bad form for them to come to you and ask you to come up with a figure, especially since the money for music licensing was set aside in the original budget (and probably got chewed away at to pay for the catering or car services anyways) and they have a set dollar amount to work with.
In a situation like this, when they ask "how much do you want for Song X," I would just reply with "what's your budget?" and leave it at that. It's worth mentioning that I'll usually not turn down a licensing opportunity, no matter what the money involved, as long as I'm not morally opposed to the project, especially with television, as the ASCAP checks are my bread and butter. In this particular corner of the Business, relationships are _everything,_ and we have found through long experience that the more relationships you have, the better your chances of getting your material licensed.
So while you're stewing on that, here's another question to ponder: the normal practice would be to charge more for a song with a proven track record (e.g. chart position, previous licensing, etc.) but in this day and age, when most MDs can find music for free with a little legwork, there's a real danger of pricing yourself right out of your own market. That's just my opinion, and I haven't, as yet, actually found myself in a position where I had to negotiate a dollar figure.
So, anyways, those are my brief thoughts on the subject. This is a licensing open thread. Have at it.
---
## Really?
- Date: 2007-11-07
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/11/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.](http://www.musicgearreview.com/article-display/2419.html)
There's one thing I'd like to say to all the right-handed people out there: Go Fuck Yourselves. Believe it or not, we're not cripples. We are, in fact, a more advanced model. Deal with it. (And the first person that posts "I would have been left-handed, but _They_ made me change" can go fuck yourself twice as hard, after you've been banned.)
---
## Strings 'n' Things...
- Date: 2007-11-06
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/11/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 an interesting thought half-way through the final piece, Rach #2.
The thing about Rachmaninoff in general, and the 2nd Symphony in particular, that I never really noticed until now, is that it is a relatively young piece as classical standards go, only a hundred years old. That being the case, there is melodic similarity between his symphonies and what we in 2007 would consider, what, epic film music? Very "Gone With The Wind," anyways. Whereas, you take your Beethoven or Mozart or what-have-you, and while there is obvious parentage (especially in the latter case) of much Western music, you kind of have to be deep in to the math of it to really recognize it. But ol' Rach, well, there's film and [records](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8ytY57u8_4) of him. He's actually quite contemporary when you get down to it.
No real reason for this; just thinking out loud.
---
## Get yerself a t-shirt...
- Date: 2007-11-04
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/11/get-yerself-a-t-shirt/
The Rococo T-Shirt is now available for sale in the [AD Store.](http://www.audiodamage.com/) We currently have all sizes available. US$20.00 plus shipping.
---
## I heart non-English speakers...
- Date: 2007-11-03
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/11/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 too happy about the fact that our store needs that to occur before a reg code is issued. Obviously, there's a language barrier, so I don't harbor any grudges, and I strongly doubt he'll ever read this, so I don't have any qualms about printing the resulting letter in its entirety:
_Are you STUPID or FRAUD COMPANY? GET MY MONEY BACK ASAP! Why do you ignore me. I do not need your rubbish plugin. I will accuse you if you refund my money ASAP. Fuck You!_
I try to be fairly quick with all service and store problem emails; his original letter (which was just a forwarded Paypal receipt, nothing else) came to the address that all the receipts go to, not the normal info@ address where most correspondence takes place. As the subject line was just the normal Paypal subject, I didn't know it was a cry for help, and missed it. As a result, we have the gem above.
No hard feelings, of course, and technically speaking, the whole thing is my fault, for which I apologized. But this is a shining example of the cross-cultural appeal of our product line.
---
## Leopard, spots, yeah, whee...
- Date: 2007-11-02
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/11/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 in Outlook and KDE for years.
I haven't done more than a cursory examination on the masses of audio software installed in my iMac, so I have nothing to add to the conversation there, but everything _seems_ to be okay. I'll edit this post with a full report as I do my testing.
**EDIT:**
Well, I haven't done a complete and total torture test in all the hosts I have (which is Logic 7, Logic 8, Live 5, Live 6, Cubase SX3, Cubase 4, Plogue Bidule, Tracktion 2, Tracktion 3, DP 5, and all the stupid little ones like GarageBand and Metro and that kind of asshole shit), but in a pretty thorough examination in Live 6, everything seems to work. That picture shows our entire product line on a single channel in Live, with the "About This Mac" window open on top. And boy, it sounds _great,_ too. I think I'll name this song "Motherfuckin' Swamp Thing, Bitch!" Or maybe I'll exit without saving. It's a toss-up.
But everything seems to be fine, at least on the Audio Damage front. Take that as you will.
---
## A Terribly Unscientific Poll...
- Date: 2007-10-31
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/10/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 as consumers go. There's the "hardware look" guys who want every plug-in to look like an 1176 exact, and the "Starship Enterprise" guys who think that anything that appears on a computer screen should look like Hello Kitty's toilet paper, except with animation.
That would, of course, be a gross generalization, but before we wade in to it, let me say this much: the user interface informs the use of the device, no matter what it is. Especially when you get in to the territory of stuff that doesn't exist in hardware. The UI and the DSP code are symbiotic, and one is essentially pointless without the other. This might not seem obvious at first pale (a well-coded 1176 clone will work just as well with the generic slider interface as with the photo-realistic rendering) but it is a fact. The UI sells the plug-in, more than anything else, and the sales provide a comfort zone in which R&D can occur, and the R&D births better DSP code.
In any event, I personally am comfortable with any UI, whether it have fake knobs or space-age OpenGL 3D sliders, as long as it is logically laid out. Nothing against the designers in question, but in my opinion [this](http://www.admiralquality.com/spimages/Poly-Ana110preview.html) and [this](http://www.antarestech.com/images/filter_UI.jpg) are both glaring examples of how trying to be all things to all people results in a UI of such ridiculous complexity as to actually hinder someone's workflow. The one-knob-one-function design ethos gets terribly overbearing when you consider that most people step through the presets until they find one they like, and maybe touch up the filter frequency a bit afterwards.
Obviously, each effect needs certain controls to be useful, and I won't argue that point at all, but our last release (Vapor) could easily have had 20 controls or more, if we made each possible data point in the algorithms accessible to the user. But it really wouldn't change what is useful about the plug-in, or how it will be used and in what context. It would certainly _look_ more impressive, but ultimately, well, you know...
I am rambling a bit due to the excellent medication my dentist gave me today, but what I'm trying to learn is this: in a plug-in that has a certain complexity level which requires a couple dozen controls, do you prefer the immediately obvious, but somewhat overbearing and anachronistic hardware look, or the not-obvious-at-first-glance, but somewhat more apropos-to-the-context "Starship Enterprise" vibe? If you're gonna answer, try to explain your reasoning and put it in some sort of context, rather than just posting "hardware" or "Hello Kitty." I already know how the percentages will split.
---
## It's been too long...
- Date: 2007-10-30
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/10/its-been-too-long/
Because you know you want it. In fact, you _need_ it. Man up and take that shit.
---
## Open Thread...
- Date: 2007-10-28
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/10/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 I'm spending Sunday discovering that absolutely nothing of note happened in the music industry on Friday or Saturday.
So, open thread today, and hopefully someone on YouTube will do something musically stupid that we can all laugh about Monday morning. Subject for today, swing and "groove" in dance music, and the utter lack thereof in the vast majority of it. If you're wondering why your progressive house track, which is essentially the same as that other fellow's, isn't selling as well as his, you need look no further than the swing slider in your DAW. And maybe scoot that first foot a little bit to the right as well. Presto. Hit. Make sure to give me points on the mechanicals.
---
## MIDIjack and some AD stuff...
- Date: 2007-10-25
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/10/midijack-and-some-ad-stuff/
Just got the [Synhouse](http://www.synhouse.com/) 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 for our next product, which will most assuredly _not_ be of the "small and cheap" form factor of the last three. This one will be one of our full-sized full function products, and take a bit of time. As soon as we've hashed out the details (a month or so?) I'll start teasing. Also, T-shirts will go on sale in the AD store on Monday, since the initial rush for Vapor is more or less over, and we're back to our normal daily sales.
**UPDATE**: I finished installing the MIDIjack in the The Source. The scaling is a touch off, but that can be adjusted, and otherwise it works flawlessly, taking in to account the oddity of the The Source to begin with, of course. Here's a split-beaver shot of the The Source, before the install:
Here's what the MIDIjack looks like after it has been attached:
As I surmised, I was able to use the existing (and otherwise utterly useless) "Cassette Interface" DIN plug. It was as simple as de-soldering and capping off the existing five wires, and attaching the two from the MIDIjack. Easy. Here's a pic:
All in all, it took me about an hour, but I dilly-dallied. Someone with a little more in the way of electronics chops could do it quicker, I'm sure. It was kind of a drag to have to drill holes in the face of the The Source for the MIDIjack, but as the manual hinted, there really isn't anywhere else it could go, and you need access to the button.
I still have a few Micronaut songs to finish for the upcoming album, and it'll be fun to go through and replace and add with this little guy; I look forward to it.
---
## And in the same vein...
- Date: 2007-10-24
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/10/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 VST3 SDK, so you're stuck with the next-to-useless C4 compressors and stuff. But it is there, and that's something.
The new routing scheme is fairly crafty, though. Makes it much easier to print external inserts and shit, something I do quite often. The way they've rigged it, you can't make a feedback loop, which will no doubt bumb Adam out to no end. I think there might be a way, but I haven't fully investigated it yet.
The update also fixed a couple problems I was having with repeatable crashes and audio skippage. So that's nice. All in all, a good update. No complaints.
---
## Oh, man. I seem to have stepped in shit...
- Date: 2007-10-23
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/10/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 official: Logic 8 is fucking tragic.
I won't even bother to enumerate the issues our customers are having, because each one is different, and there are a _lot_. In my own testing, which is as extensive as testing can be without actually using the DAW professionally, which I refuse to do, Logic will run for almost 10 minutes without a crash, three times in four. I was doing a search on the Intertubes this morning trying to see if someone else had come up with a solution for this stupid multi-threading error, and must have found a couple hundred different posts that read like this:
_Hi, everybody! I'm having this weird problem with Logic 8 where XXX happens when I do YYY. Does anyone know anything at all about this?_
Sigh.
Okay, we're running a serious risk of getting off on a frothing rant here, so suffice to say that I had warm fuzzies for L8 for like six minutes, and now I'm back on a strict diet of Haterade. I'd hate to be the support staff at NI this month.
---
## Paul Raven, RIP...
- Date: 2007-10-22
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/10/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 to grace this mortal coil, (Tommy Victor is on my "punch the fuck out of on sight" list) I just can't hold it against him because otherwise, he was t3h awesome.
Fair travels, Raven.
---
## Moogerific...
- Date: 2007-10-21
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/10/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 must be a reason I keep coming back to these. In any event, now the decision is whether to MIDI-fy it, thus increasing its value to myself and other normal people and decreasing its value to collectors (I think "collectors" is Latin for dumbtard, but I'd have to double check that...) or deal with the nominal PITA of trying to MIDI->CV/S-Trig the lil' fucker.
I think I'll probably go the MIDIjack route, as that is one less thing that needs a wall wart. Conveniently, the cassette interface on the back is a 5-pin DIN, so I don't even have to drill a hole in it. I forgot how good these little guys sounded, though.
---
## Hmmmm... (Euphonix Whee!)
- Date: 2007-10-20
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/10/hmmmm-euphonix-whee/
Anyone know what Euphonix have up [their sleeves](http://euphonix.com/artist/)? 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 therefore good. Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?
---
## ROFLMAO ZOMGBBQWTF? IDK!
- Date: 2007-10-19
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/10/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](http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-MC-505-Roland-Analog-Synth-Effects-Groove-Box_W0QQitemZ330177982838QQihZ014QQcategoryZ41415QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem) up. In case you don't feel like clicking, I'll just quote the auction title to you, and you can laugh and laugh...
**Vintage MC-505 Roland Analog Synth Effects Groove Box**
The description is what got me thinking, though: _This GrooveBox is in MINT Conditon. This is an all in one techno music production studio!_ This baby really is full of techno.
---
## Desktop-format Analog Mono-synths...
- Date: 2007-10-18
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/10/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 FutureRetro Revolution or an Analog Solutions SEMblance. The Technosaurus Microcon II would be PERFECT for my needs, but they seem to have gone out of business (or in to hibernation) and Big City, the only American distributor, has no Technosaurus products at all listed in their store. I think I prefer the SEMblance to the Revolution, but with the dollar in the shit-can, it's a little more pricy than it is really worth here in the states, I think. If I could find someone to sell me one for five bills, I'd be happy, but for $800? I'm thinking "no." I suppose an x0xb0x would be suitable, except I have to build the little cocksucker, and that doesn't sound like much fun at all.
For vintage, there's the Taurus II. Easy to fit a Synhouse MIDIjack in one of those (it is, after all, just a Rogue with no keyboard). This would actually be absolutely perfect for my needs, I think. Or a real SEM, although I might as well just save the money and get the AS one, since a real one goes for a grand. Maybe an ARP Lil' Brother? Not sure.
Thoughts appreciated. I'm not opposed to just a small analog mono (CS10/15, Prodigy, Rogue, Pro One, etc.), as I've been pining for for quite a while now. The DS Evolver is obviously out of the question. I couldn't sell that thing fast enough. I'm sure there's a bunch I forgot, though. Anyone that even brings up one of the current "groove" boxes will be unceremoniously banned. There's a fine line between "funny" and "stupid waste of everybody's time." Don't cross it.
---
## Audio Damage releases Vapor...
- Date: 2007-10-17
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/10/audio-damage-releases-vapor/
That title never fails to crack me up. Anywho, if you want some Vapor, [here's](http://www.audiodamage.com/effects/product.php?pid=AD017) 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 programming.
---
## Another freebie from SSL...
- Date: 2007-10-16
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/10/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 little thump in our foot. Times, they are a-changin'. But on the bright side, "In The Air Tonight" toms are only a knob-twist away.
SSL has now gone one step further, providing you with a plugin that is just as inscrutable as compression (why this is a complicated subject is beyond me) but has the added benefit of not actually doing anything to your track, beyond showing you how shitty your final mix really is. It's easy. Just put it on the 2-buss after L3, and marvel at all the +0 dbfs peaks in your square wave... err... signal that you didn't see on the L3 meter.
So, go [get it here](http://www.solid-state-logic.com/music/X-ISM.html?utm_source=front_page&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=X-ISM), and pull that fader back. VST only, and free as in free.
---
## Hazarai? WTF?
- Date: 2007-10-14
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/10/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 be sorely disappointed. This pedal and that one are delays, and they're both made by EH, and that's where the similarity ends. This is most decidedly digital, not BBD analog like the older Memory Men. It does have some fairly slick features (I like the diffusion on the "ECHO" settings, from a touch of 'verb to full on schmeer) and it sounds quite good. All in all, this is a lot of bang for your delay dollar, and I have no complaints. I paid $214 at Old Town for it.
---
## Here we go again...
- Date: 2007-10-14
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/10/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](http://shop.positronrecords.com/products/product.php?pid=posi020&aff=posi) material. When I wrote that particular record (and as I write the follow-up; I can't call it "sophomore," because at the current count, it will be, I think, the 76th record I've worked on, so "sophomore" sounds rather sophomoronic) I wrote it with playing it live in mind, unusual for me. However, circumstances have dictated that performing live at all just hasn't really seemed like something that was fun to do for the last couple years. (The sixty-five date [Domination Tour](http://www.dominationtour.com/) may have something to do with that.)
But for some reason, the person that did the asking, a good friend of ours from way back, managed to talk me in to at least thinking of doing a couple low-key dates. His original idea was just me and a git-fiddle, but I'm not terribly comfortable doing that; I can pull it off fine, but it isn't very fun for me. After listening to that record again, for the first time in many months, I feel fairly confident I can pull it off with a three-piece, where I alternate piano and guitar. So, in order to do this, I need to scare up a bass player and drummer in the PDX or Salem areas that want to give this a shot.
So, this is an open call, I suppose. If you play bass or drums, you're in PDX or Salem (or environs), and you understand what the fuck I'm trying to pull off here (e.g. Tom Waits/Nick Cave/Grinderman/proto-Firewater, etc.) then drop me [a line](). Don't make me resort to Craigslist. Because things could get ugly then.
---
## Heh...
- Date: 2007-10-11
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/10/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 this guy will find this eventually, as he seems to be just the sort of fellow that googles his own name on a daily basis, but confusing me with a person that gives a fuck about that sort of shit is an exercise in futility:
_Hi-_
_I came across your site and wanted to know if you would like to send me a bunch of effects for an endorsement on your page. I also can put a link to your site on my MySpace page as well as my website. Take a look at my MySpace at www.myspace.com/jasonnevins and my website at www.jasonnevins.com and let me know what you think._
_Thanks-
Jason_
An open letter to Jason Nevins:
Trust me when I say that you don't _really_ want me to let you know what I think.
Sincerely,
Chris Randall
Audio Damage, Inc.
---
## Audio Damage update...
- Date: 2007-10-10
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/10/audio-damage-update-2/
The Audio Damage store now has a [Vapor page](http://www.audiodamage.com/effects/product.php?pid=AD017) 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 version is _done_ and out for testing; all it needs are presets, really. Should have an OS X VST tomorrow, and an AU shortly after that, if the AU Gods are kind and benevolent this week. As with the other two, this one will be US$29.00, which is like 0.12 Euro or something, and maybe 85 yen.
(Just guessing there, as I don't have a currency converter handy.)
I imagine that you can add Vapor to your collection some time next week, provided all testing goes as we'd expect.
---
## Oh, you pretty thing...
- Date: 2007-10-09
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/10/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](http://www.lexiconpro.com/AES_Events.aspx) has a couple PDFs to drool on, if you're a glutton for punishment. Essentially, it's a PCM91 with some extra mod shit from the '81 thrown in, as far as I can tell, in a sexy new box. (Plus the "return of the Concert Hall algorithm" that no one missed.) It seems that they can still manage to put out high-end stuff while they're merrily diluting their brand with USB-to-Xbox adapters or whatever the fuck they're putting out for the low end these days.
In any event, I've known something was in the works for a long time; it's nice to finally see it, and I think I can say with certainty that I'll be purchasing one. If I don't get a '91 first. No price announced, but I wager it'll be the same as the '91, $2K or so. One sorta-nifty feature is that it seems you can use it as a plugin if you have it connected via FW. I like that sort of shit, even though I have AES connections coming out my arse.
---
## Formats-R-Us...
- Date: 2007-10-08
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/10/formats-r-us/
I was reading about the new [LIQUID4PRE](http://aes.harmony-central.com/123AES/Content/Focusrite/PR/LIQUID4PRE.html) 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 Yet Another Digital Audio Format out there that I knew nothing about. And I was just getting my head around MADI.
This is the first product I've heard of (but obviously far from the first) to come with something called "EtherSound," which, as the name implies, 64 channels of High Falutin' Digital Audio over a CAT5 cable, with a purported 6-sample latency. Obviously, that six samples is only the EtherSound to EtherSound communication. A/D and D/A convertors generally take a little time to do their thing, so you can go ahead and add whatever that is to the final number (the Apogee Rosetta, for example, takes 4ms for a round-trip...) plus whatever you're using to turn EtherSound in to Shit That Shows Up In Your DAW is probably gonna add a couple MS, so don't let that 1.25ms latency figure go to your head.
Anywho, while this is nifty and all, it's like Blu-Ray v. HD-DVD. I don't want to buy anything 'til I know that everything can talk to everything else. But my purpose here is merely to inform, albeit with a lot of local color, so to that end, here's the [EtherSound](http://www.ethersound.com/technology/overview.php) page, and I'll go get a root canal tomorrow rather than actually read technical papers on digital audio transmission. But the general idea is: CAT5 cable, 64 channels bi-directional. Whee. Now Monster can come out with a $300 EtherSound-Ready cable. Science marches on.
---
## A Little More Vapor...
- Date: 2007-10-05
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/10/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. [Here's another sample](https://web.archive.org/web/2007/http://www.analogindustries.com/samples/Vapor_3.mp3) so you can see where we're heading. Another little MKS80 loop. This time, one measure of dry, then two measures of Vapor, two measures of More Vapor, two measures of Even More Vapor, and then one final measure of Maybe Too Much Vapor.
For only having five knobs and one button, Vapor is capable of a fairly broad range of modulation sounds. There seems to be a particular range where it is most happy, and if you get outside that, depending on the source material, it can get pretty crazy. The final measure in the above example doesn't even scratch the surface of how weird it can get. For that, you should listen to [this.](https://web.archive.org/web/2007/http://www.analogindustries.com/samples/Vapor_4.mp3) Drum loop, two measures dry, then every two measures switching to new weirdness from Vapor. This thing can do some strange shit, and is somewhat material-dependent. It seems to exponentially add to the high end, so if there's not a lot there to begin with, you get the nice smooth shimmer. If there is, you can get in to silliness pretty quickly. Good fun.
---
## Hmmmm....
- Date: 2007-10-04
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/10/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](http://www.bounte.com/) along with me. If you live in Seattle, PDX, or San Francisco, is there a regular monthly or weekly event where live experimental (but not _too_ experimental, you know?) electronic music is the name of the game? Go ahead and post the info here instead of writing me, as I'm sure others will find it useful.
I also wouldn't be opposed to developing a dynamic database of this sort of information, to enable others to have access to booking info. But that would involve me begging my wife to make yet another MySQL database, so that remains to be seen. But as far as I know there is no current source of this sort of info on the internet that is freely available.
---
## Rococco...
- Date: 2007-10-04
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/10/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 wife is going to L.A. on business for several days, so no shipping 'til she gets back. So, like, the 14th or so.
I will say this: they came out better than I expected them to. If you don't like this style of graphics, well, tough titties. It's not like they make any sound or anything.
---
## Three of 'em...
- Date: 2007-10-03
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/10/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 now) so you can get a little taste of Vapor.
As to what Vapor is, that probably requires a bit of explanation. What I need is a word that can describe the effect, since it's sort of a New Thing. Mentally, I use "psychosomatic frongulator," but obviously that sort of nonsense won't Increase Shareholder Value. It needs to be a word like "chorus" or something, a simple word that says what it does.
And what _does_ it do? It has delay modulation, like a chorus, but it has diffusors, like a reverb. More or less. This is a semi-unstable network, and at extreme settings can make Intergalactic Robot Noises; it can also give a nice sheen to most any sound at more temperate settings, or knock the corners off pretty much anything. I'll put up some sound samples later today, but we're still touching up the code a bit, so these might not be 100% indicative of the finished product.
All that aside, this is really our first attempt at building something New, as most all of our products have been either clones of existing hardware or the logical continuation of well-liked effects. Coming up with new effects in 2007, when most common effects are half a century old or more, isn't the easiest thing in the world, so we look forward to your feedback and criticism viz. Vapor.
**EDIT:** Okay, here's a couple audio samples I bashed out quick-like:
**[Drums](https://web.archive.org/web/2007/http://www.analogindustries.com/samples/Vapor_1.mp3) :** Here's a simple mono drum loop. Dry, then I automate the "MIX" knob of Vapor up to 100% over 2 measures. This gives you a good idea of what the diffusors do. Very little mod in this one. If you don't use any mod, Vapor gets very metallic, so I've been tending to goose it a bit just to get the ringing out. However, we're going to leave the ability to ring in, in case it's something that may be useful.
**[Synth](https://web.archive.org/web/2007/http://www.analogindustries.com/samples/Vapor_2.mp3) :** Here's a simple pad-ish kind of thing from my MKS80 (Oh, how I love you, MKS80!) It starts out dry as a bone. Then I automate mix up to full, then rate from about .07Hz up to just under 1Hz, then I automate depth from about 10% up to 100%. You can plainly hear the top-end crystaline stuff that is added to the signal, and also the nice body the pad gets as mod is applied. Vapor has a tendency to accentuate the very top-end of the signal; this means that stuff like pads can become clear in a mix without having to add a ton of mod to them, or taking up too much of the soundstage with something like a big chorus.
Anyways, you get the general idea. This effect is meant to be quite subtle, as a way to give background synth, strings, or guitar some life, but as you can plainly hear on the drum sample, it can easily be used as a special effect. I'll put up some more samples once we get the DSP really dimed in.
---
## It Came From The Depths Of eBay...
- Date: 2007-10-03
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/10/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,](http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-Altec-Mixer-Compressor-Amp-Reverb-Rack-Sys_W0QQitemZ220155849625QQihZ012QQcategoryZ67807QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem) but don't expect to learn anything more about it than you'll get just looking at the picture. _Maybe_ those two 1591 comps would get you a couple grand back, to the right person, but the rest of it?
I especially like the juxtaposition of the pink Emco rack with all the Institutional Green Altec stuff. That's a great combo.
---
## Audio Damage update...
- Date: 2007-10-02
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/10/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 put up a glamor shot and a brief explanation of what it does, probably tomorrow or something. This UI isn't any more sophisticated than the other two, really, but there's one little addition that uses a material that takes some time to render, so instead of 30 seconds a frame, it's more like 7 minutes. So a lot of sitting around listening to music today.
Adam, meanwhile, is working on the DSP for Vapor. It's pretty much where we want it to be, sound-wise, though. Liquid was a through-zero flanger, and Fluid was a more-or-less standard chorus, so it's easy to explain what they're about. Vapor, however, is something of our own design, with hardly any touchstones that most people will be immediately familiar with. This poses a bit of a marketing problem, but not drastically so. I mean, with Fluid we can say "it's a chorus," and you kind of have an idea of what it's gonna do. With Vapor, that's gonna be a bit more problematic. Once I put up samples and such, I'm sure regular readers/customers will have some insight in to the issue, and I don't expect it to be too difficult. I look at it as a challenge rather than a setback, anyways.
In other news, the T-shirts will be here in the office on Thursday. We'll send out all the freebies to friends and peers on Friday, and probably put them up for sale on Monday. They will be $20 plus shipping (yet to be determined), as I believe I mentioned previously.
---
## Time for a bib...
- Date: 2007-10-02
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/10/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 side of my face, but I think in reality to Take Me To A Higher Plane Of Understanding. Or something like that. Needless to say I spent most of the day drooling on myself, and if I _did_ post, it would look something like this:
_I like kittens. They're fuzzy. And rainbows. And corn dogs. Blue!_
So luckily I managed to abstain. From the posting, not the Vicodin. I'm currently listening to the track I was working on for the majority of yesterday, and it really isn't very good. Despite what all the kids are saying, drugs usually don't help you write better music. I have quite a bit of experience in this matter, so I can speak with a bit of authority here. What they do is enable you to stand (and perhaps even enjoy) music that is, in fact, not very good.
Of course, there are certain things to consider. First, when you're _creating_ music and using a little substance action to help that process along, they do allow you to get over the tedium of the process and get deep in to the "why" of it. Ministry was (is?) a good example of this. When I started recording my first record for Wax Trax!, they were working on the hi-hat part for Scarecrow in the same studio. When I finished recording my first album for Wax Trax!, they were _still_ working on the hi-hat part for Scarecrow. Listening to the track now, I don't think that the hi-hat is terribly special, at least not special enough to warrant three weeks of lock-out.
Second, most drugs (at least the ones that don't make you incredibly paranoid) allow you to get by your normal reticence to do anything that would be unacceptable to your customers, at least in your own mind. Yes, "Strawberry Fields" is the obvious example of this, and that song has been used as the justification for more excessive drug use than probably any other. But there's one key point to consider. The four guys (five if you count Sir George) that wrote that track were exceptional musicians and songwriters to begin with.
So, whatever. I'm the last person to give any advice in this matter, and I could literally give no fuck whatsoever with what you do with your time. But when I think of all the gear I could have bought, and all the shit songs I've written and released... Ugh.
---
## Soniccouture Hang Drum mini-review...
- Date: 2007-09-30
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/09/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 made of brass. YouTube has tons of [grainy videos](http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=hang+drum&search=Search) of people using hang drums. Aside from apparently being a fairly expedient way to earn money while sitting on a street corner in Amsterdam, the hang drum is a complex and sophisticated instrument, with a broad sonic palette, yet is basically quite simple to play.
Like a harmonica, hang drums come tuned for specific keys; they have a bass (base?) note made by whacking the central nub, and 7 or 8 harmonics, depending on the model. Watch one of the YouTube videos and you'll quickly get the idea. Since it is essentially impossible to buy one, a sample set like this is pretty much the only way you're gonna get the sound of the hang drum in to your music, unless you want to get out the brazing torch and go to work on your wife's cooking gear.
Soniccouture's library comes in two flavors, the Hang Mk1 (the 8-dimple variety), and the newer Hang Mk2, with 7 dimples. I'm loath to go in to great detail about what's provided, as we'll be here all day, and that's not really the purpose of this website. Suffice to say that if it's possible to make a particular sound with a hang drum, Soniccouture sampled it, at multiple velocity layers, and three samples of each. Literally every single possible sound has a round-robin layer, so you don't get the typical "I'm whackin' this key over and over again" vibe. At all. This is definitely the most sophisticated sample set I own, of any instrument.
Where Soniccouture really shines, as usual, is in the Kontakt skripts. The way they've set the initial patch up, you can literally make your settings (root key, note speed, and how much randomization you're in the mood for) and mash down a bunch of keys on your keyboard, and you have Cool Shit. It is so easy to get something interesting out of this, I'm a little worried that someone like me may be completely obviated. They'll come out with a "Chris Randall Programs Your Shit" script, and I'll be done for.
Anywho, there are several samples on the Soniccouture site, and you can read all about it [here.](http://www.soniccouture.com/pages/hang.php) I made a little ditty just fooling around with the automagic script stuff, which you can hear [here.](https://web.archive.org/web/2007/http://www.analogindustries.com/samples/hanging.mp3) The drums are from Konkrete V2, and the bass is from Abstrakt Bass, so it's an all-Soniccouture demo. Effects used are Replicant, Reverence, and Dubstation, and Sonalksis TKB3 (my lil' one-knob buddy) on the drums and hang and SV-315 on the 2-buss.
---
## Logic 8 First Impressions...
- Date: 2007-09-12
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/09/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 intrinsically the same program; they've just put everything in one frame, instead of the usual (and quite annoying, I think) Mac Method of having floating windows and toolsets. This is fine for Photoshop, but it doesn't fucking fly in a DAW.
The Environment is most definitely _not_ gone, so don't believe the hype, although personally, I think it's kind of a silly thing, one of those deals where you buy a car because you want to learn how to be a mechanic. But for all you people with too much time on your hands, rest assured it is in there, at least in this build. Don't know 'bout the dongle issue, as it immediately sensed and attached itself to my XS Key the second it started.
In any event, obviously I can't go in to any sort of detail, according to the NDA (I probably overstepped my bounds by putting up that tiny little screenshot) but rest assured that Steinberg and Ableton have a job on their hands. Logic 7 was a complete joke, but Apple seems to have a dog in this fight now.
**EDIT:** Obviously, I didn't overstep my bounds because you can buy it today. That's silly.
---
## One of those days...
- Date: 2007-08-31
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/08/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 of software and gear I own is either crashing or making some kind of hissing noise, nothing will stay in tune, and it's so hot here that I keep sweating, irritating the scrape on my forehead. I bet Moby never has days like this.
To top it all off, I'm supposed to be on vacation. When you work at home, the word takes on a new meaning, of course. I was supposed to not be working on music or Audio Damage stuff, but I can't help it. _Real_ vacation starts on the 6th, when the missus and I are heading down to L.A. for a few days. We're going to see Underworld, among other things. So if there's anything interesting happening in San Francisco on the 6th, or L.A. on the 7th, 8th, or 10th (obviously the 9th is taken up) this is the thread to pimp it. No hippy shit, though.
---
## Time Waster Maximus...
- Date: 2007-08-30
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/08/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 necessarily looking for a time-waster at the office. But if I did, say, work as an insurance adjuster or some nonsense like that, and had to sit in a cubicle farm all day, I'd be _extremely_ pleased to come across [this.](http://lab.andre-michelle.com/fl-909)
In a nutshell, it's a 909 done entirely in Flash. And, surprisingly, it's not bad. Source code is provided, and if you go to the [front page,](http://lab.andre-michelle.com/) you'll see there are a bunch of other fun little musical toys, including a 303 and a couple other synths (although none are as good as this one), plus some fun visual stuff.
---
## How To Not Win Friends, Part 1
- Date: 2007-08-30
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/08/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. But today, I got one that takes the cake. I copied and pasted this directly from the e-mail; all emphasis, spelling errors, and grammatical tragedies are the author's:
_
This is Erin Lee the Marketing/Advertising Director at HM Magazine. HM is the leading Christian Hard Music Magazine and we are doing our annual Gear Special Feature. THIS IS DEFINITALY YOUR DEMOGRAPHIC and I was wondering if you would be interested in advertising with us.
_
Oh, dear sweet baby Jeebus. Where do I start? If it's the "leading Christian Hard Music Magazine," does that mean there are more than one? I could really go to town on this, but I'll leave it to you. Needless to say, making fun of Christians isn't really very exciting; they're so miffy that it really takes the fun out of it. I'm sure this post will engender several emails, the content of which will be "I'm Christian, and I find your latest post offensive, and could you please stop?"
I'm so fucking sick of Christians. I swear to christ. They make Diamond Dave look like good company. (And to our European readers, yes, all Americans are insane. I'll back up any statement you'd like to make in that regard.)
---
## Still hoping, dreaming, praying...
- Date: 2007-08-29
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/08/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 refused. Unless that reasonable offer involves a ridiculous lowball or someone saying "hey, I've got a CS1X that I'll trade you!"
(And in no way do I mean to offend Mr. Smith with my comments. I just don't like it. It's a fine little synth.)
I'm also still looking for a Hohner Pianet T or N. In a perfect world, someone would write and say "hey, I'd like to trade my Hohner Pianet T for your Evolver, and I live in Portland" but I know as well as anyone that this world is far from perfect.
**EDIT:** This lil' bitch is SOLD. Thanks to the buyer...
---
## The Zen Of Nodes...
- Date: 2007-08-29
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/08/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](http://www.alfred.com/alfredweb/front/Main.aspx?pageid=15&catid=41) but I couldn't be bothered to hunt the actual product page down. Suffice to say that I think an instructional DVD to get metal singers to stop singing metal would be a better thing, but that's just me.
---
## Soniccouture mini-review...
- Date: 2007-08-11
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/08/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 reviews. And those I have, in spades.
In any event, I've got a pretty sizable chunk of the [Soniccouture](http://www.soniccouture.com/) catalog now, including both Konkrete packages, the Synthi AKS package, Abstrakt: Bass, and Abstrakt Breaks 2. As I mentioned in a previous post, the Abstrakt Breaks collection didn't really move me, but now that I've had it for a couple days, I've actually found quite a bit to be pillaged by mixing and matching the various pieces; some relatively freaky beats have ensued, which may prove useful down the line. (Note that I got the REX format pack; I can't speak to the other formats.)
I also purchased Konkrete 2, and in the interests of full disclosure, the Soniccouture guys did an NFR trade with Audio Damage for the other Konkrete pack, the bass, and the synthi pack. Just so you know where I stand.
So, I'll put some brief thoughts about each of the products I have, and whether you find the information useful or not is entirely up to you.
**Konkrete 1 and 2**: I'll lump these together, because they're fairly similar. They contain 24 and 25 drum kits respectively, for 49 total, and each kit has 61 mapped keys; most all of the kits have a complete complement of samples. There isn't an assload of the same snare at different pitches, for instance. So there are a \_lot\_ of sounds in these kits. Each kit kind of has a general theme to it, but even in that theme there is a lot of variation. If you're looking for an x0x kit, you came to the wrong place; likewise, you're gonna be out of luck for Wrawk Drumz. Almost all of the kits can be used to good effect in D&B; all of them would work in an IDM context. A fair number of them could be used for house. They aren't terribly trancey, though, and in my mind that's a good thing. The less tools there are to make trance, hopefully, the less trance there will be. There's also a crafty little Kontakt script included. (Why don't NI call it a "skript?") More about that later.
**Abstrakt: Bass**: This is a pretty slick collection, and the best of the four packages that I have, IMO. It is broken up in to three parts which took me all morning to download. (Buy the DVD.) The first section is programmed patches that use a lot of Kontakt built-in effects and what-not. The second section is the largest, and contains more-or-less straight-from-the-synth bass patches, and the third section has actual basses (the kind with strings.) Bass sounds are bass sounds, and there's only so much wiggle room you have. But that said, the person that made this library knows how to program synths to get modern, useful sounds out of them. As I was stepping through the programs, I could imagine almost every sound being useful in some context. The electro-acoustic section is fairly cool; each sample has three "layers:" a DI layer, a close mic layer, and a room mic layer, and you can blend them with the included script in a simple manner. Very good collection, and well worth the money.
**Synthi AKS:** I'm not certain about this one. I don't have enough experience with the real thing to know if this is a comprehensive set or not. I don't really care for the loops, which are a bit too heavy-handed to sit in a mix. The one-shots are kind of cool, and the leads are very cutting. I had it in my head a Synthi AKS would be good at little bleeps and blurbles, but there isn't hardly any of that in this collection. To be fair, there is a Synthi kit in the Konkrete 2 collection that more matches my idea of what a Synthi is all about, and really, how many different beeps and bloops are there?
**In conclusion...** As far as quality goes, never mind content, and by this I mean well-looped samples, good layouts, and thoughtful programming, these collections are all top-notch, best-of-breed. I didn't try out the other formats; I only used REX and Kontakt, so your mileage may vary. The Konkrete collections each have this nice little script called Glitch Machine, which acts as a highly programmable retrigger thing, which can be controlled by MIDI CC. It makes it quite easy to stick in little 1/128 and 1/64 rolls, so that ought to make some people happy.
[Here's an MP3](https://web.archive.org/web/2007/http://www.analogindustries.com/samples/function_rough.mp3) of a brief clip of a track I'm currently working on that is entirely comprised of stuff from the above-mentioned products. The drums are the Rig Kit from Konkrete 2, the bass is KORG-SUB from Abstrakt: Bass, and the lead sound is EMS 06 - DECAYED from the Synthi AKS set. The little sounds in the beginning are also from a Konkrete 2 kit, but I rendered them, and I can't for the life of me remember which kit it was. I fucked with 'em pretty heavily in any case, so it's a moot point.
So there you have it. All of them get "buy" recommendations from me, but Abstrakt: Bass is the best of the bunch. Comments? Questions?
---
## Hey?!! What?
- Date: 2007-08-07
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/08/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 plugged in a USB2.0 slot or it causes spikes. What the fuck?)
In any event, what I rapidly discovered is that I have no sounds. I'm used to my large (around 25GB) sample library that I've made over the last 10-odd years being handy. As it no longer exists, I keep finding myself annoyed that I don't have a sound I'm looking for. So I need to go get some sounds.
So, what's your favorite bread-n-butter loop and sample site? Or loop CDs that don't fucking blow. I don't mind paying for shit, and I'll even pay a lot, but what I don't want is having to sift through tons of shit. Obviously, I have BFD and Guru, so most of my stock drum needs are taken care of. And the first person that mentions Freesound is getting their IP banned. That site is a nice concept, but a useless tragedy in execution.
---
## Dealing with hecklers...
- Date: 2007-08-04
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/08/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 overall I could usually take 'em down in the between-song banter. I have some stock takedowns, but I generally just go with the flow. As you may imagine from reading this site, I'm pretty quick with the mediocre wit.
In any event, the _best_ artist I've ever seen on stage consistently dealing with hecklers is Billy Bragg. I think, by this point, people heckle him just to get him to do his thing between songs. On the tour he did with Wilco doing the Woodie Guthrie stuff, people heckled him between every song, and I couldn't really figure out why someone would pay $45 to see a headliner then talk so much shit, until it occurred to me that dealing with hecklers was kind of his stock in trade, and as entertaining as the show itself. Greg Dulli (Afghan Whigs, Twilight Singers) is another one I've seen who's pretty good with that sort of thing.
In any event, I just watched the [Kevin Smith pwnage](http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2o9ox_kevin-smith-pwns-smart-ass-at-comic_fun) from ComicCon the other day, and have to say that this is more how I'd deal with a heckler than how Billy Bragg would. My thought was always that, well, I have the last laugh for two reasons. (1) I have the microphone, and (2) you paid to see me. So while you might not be entertained, I'm still leaving with your money. That always made me feel better.
How do you deal with hecklers? What's your favorite takedown?
---
## Speaking of fun...
- Date: 2007-08-04
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/08/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 computer. I had to call Microsoft to move my Vista Business license from Old 'n' Busted to New Hotness. I was dreading this, but it actually turned out to be surprisingly painless, and took all of 2 minutes. Word to the wise: you can't move a Vista Home install, but you \_can\_ move a Vista Business install. Something to consider once you make the leap.
Next was 3DS Max, which is my main tool for making UIs for the Audio Damage stuff. We decided to spring for a little upgrade in the process, and now instead of Max 7 I'm using Max 9. So expect the AD plugin UIs to be 2 better than they were. (The upgrade also came with full copies of Combustion and Cleaner, lo and furthermore hark, so if I actually manage to find the time to make a video tutorial, it'll have really nice title graphics.)
Now, it's on to Cubase 4, Live, energyXT, and Bidule, and then I'll start putting in plugins. One nice thing about this recent destruction is that I'm finally able to completely purge my system of all... uh... "unofficial" versions. Since I don't have any old projects to load any more (hardy har har) I don't actually need any plugins in particular. So it's a nice opportunity to get things 100% official.
In going through my various NFR trades and plugs I've actually purchased, I think I'm going to thin the herd a bit anyways. I think I'll start with just our products and the Sonalksis line (which I've been getting a lot of use out of lately; I'm becoming quite fond of their TBK3 comp.) Then I'll add stuff as I need it until I have a full suite of working tools. It's a strange, yet oddly cathartic, place to be for me right now.
---
## Just Shoot Me, pt. 33054
- Date: 2007-07-07
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/07/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 short, it turns out my **brand** new C: drive, a 320GB Western Digital with a build date of 26-Oct-2006, has mechanically failed. Go, Western Digital!
No big deal, it happens. I keep all my data on my RAID drives, so it's really just the OS and a couple apps that shouldn't share drives with audio. I figure I'll go get a new drive on Monday, re-install Vista and Cubase, and there you go...
In the mean-time, I figured I'd just run off my XP drive. Booted in to XP, that old warhorse, and everything is fine, except I never installed Cubase 4 on that drive, so I decide to do that. My first sign of trouble came when the Syncrosoft installer crashed during installation. "Okay, I'll go get the latest version from the Syncrosoft site. No problem." It installed, but crashes when it starts. Cubase, of course, doesn't operate at all without the Syncrosoft license manager running. Never mind that, but the 4.0.2 updater and the 4.0.3 hotfix won't run at all on my machine.
This is, of course, a sign that something is ill Under The Hood. It's just incredibly frustrating. Just for fun, I ran a couple other MSI installers, which worked fine. Other dongle programs I have (Hello, Logic 5!) also work fine. It's just some Syncrosoft stupidity that I can't figure out. But I'm trying to imagine a scenario where this would be fun for someone that didn't know as much about computers as I do.
In any case, rant over. My Shit List for the day is as follows, in order:
1\. Western Digital. WTF, cocksuckers?
2\. Syncrosoft. We haaaaates them, Precious.
3\. Steinberg. Come on, guys. Do you really think that Syncrosoft stops any pirating whatsoever? It's like punishing people that actually pay for your software for the actions of those that don't.
---
## Open Thread: Compression Discussion...
- Date: 2007-07-06
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/07/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 effect you learn about later rather than sooner, and more's the shame, as compression is as much a part of any recording of reasonable quality as is EQ, 'verb, and delay. If you have good recording techniques, you can even take EQ and 'verb out of that equation.
So, open thread topic: what's your favorite **NATIVE** compressor and why? Personally, I use the Waves SSL pack and the URS products; I've been hearing good things about the Waves API pack, but for the money you could damned near buy a 2500, which would be, IMO, a better purchase. One of these days I'll buy me a Duende, I suppose, but until then I'm in native land, so that's where we'll keep our discussion.
---
## Happy Birfday, 'Murica...
- Date: 2007-07-04
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/07/happy-birfday-murica/
---
## Cigar Box Git-Fiddles...
- Date: 2007-07-03
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/07/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](http://stewartmacdonald.com/) and [E.M.I.](http://www.windworld.com/) to get a little more sophisticated. I've noticed that most of the CBGs available on the interwebs, either on eBay or privately, have toothpick frets or something similar (if they have frets at all.) I actually got a big roll of fret wire to give mine real frets.
While it hasn't reached the point where I'm gonna put Sperzels on 'em or anything, I do have hopes of making a fairly useful instrument when all is said and done. Right now my main concern is pickups. I can use a piezo in its various configurations, but I was entertaining the idea of hand-winding pickups or some such. Is anyone aware of a four-string pickup that is narrow enough for this application? It'd be nice if it was floating, like the ones made for archtop jazz guitars, but that'd be a stretch, I'll grant.
---
## Jumpin' The Gun...
- Date: 2007-07-03
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/07/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 today, and I had to whack up some samples. So if you head over to the [appropriate page](http://www.audiodamage.com/effects/product.php?pid=AD014) and scroll down, you'll note that Dr. D now has some audio samples. I just whipped these out in order to take advantage of the unplanned publicity in a timely fashion, so they're not gonna, like, make you readdress your music-making paradigms or anything, but... well... you get the idea.
**EDIT:** Okay, I replaced all the samples (except for the "theremin" one) with stuff that was a little more better, I think, and added a couple with synthie stuff. With this effect, it's hard not to think that it's obvious what a filter and a two-tap delay can do with a bunch of mod. Comments, and if there's anything in particular you'd like to hear through it, please let me know in this thread.
---
## Ouch...
- Date: 2007-07-01
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/07/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 all about the Sweatstick [here.](http://www.rayedgar.com/sweatstick.html)
For more cacophony... errr... I mean alternative MIDI controller fun, check the dueling Zendrums [here](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dR2RzNjpbYk&mode=related&search=), and the always-popular MIDIgun [here.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBo-LGyljsw)
---
## Whew...
- Date: 2007-06-29
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/06/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 without interruption.
I'll mail the AD mailing list tonight, but we're still in an idle mode and we want to ramp up the traffic slowly, rather than having every single AD customer hit the site at the same time. Which would explain this post. If you're an AD customer, go check out the [new site](http://www.audiodamage.com/) and let us know what you think. Note that the first time you log in, the store will ask you to update your personal information; this is just to compensate for any errors we might have made porting the customer data from the old site to the new one, and to make sure everything is current.
There are several new features, most of which you'll find in your customer account. The license control is far more sophisticated; you can transfer licenses without any intervention from us, and you can get both the OS X and Windows versions without having to ask. There is also a FAQ now (which will no doubt prove to be funny reading to any long-time AD customer or AI reader), and in general the site is just better looking and more appropriate to selling software than our last turnkey one.
Note that we're taking a suggestion from the "happy, happy, group hug" thread of a couple days ago and making an RSS feed for updates; Elle is working on that now, and it should be added to the store in the not-too-distant future.
So big thanks to Elle for writing this beast, and let me know if you have any issues, comments, or suggestions.
---
## Electro-Mechanical DIY...
- Date: 2007-06-27
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/06/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](http://inersouster.blogspot.com/) as a source of inspiration and ideas, along with my normal and perfectly healthy obsession with All Things [Neubauten.](http://www.neubauten.org/en-photos-instr.html) After successfully making the Bogdon Box Bass, I've realized that there really isn't a lot to these sorts of things. What's your favorite electro-mechanical (as opposed to synthie type stuff we normally cover here) DIY instrumentation? Have you built something odd? Discuss.
---
## An Informal Poll...
- Date: 2007-06-26
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/06/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 basically asking me to back up her premise, which was more or less as follows:
_A person has a small business. They start a blog to drive traffic to that business. The resulting traffic doesn't make the business do any better._
I think the entire point of the article was to say "see, blogs are worthless from a business perspective." What she wanted me to do was either agree with her, or refute her Fact with other Facts. I couldn't do either; I know for a fact that \_some\_ of our sales at Audio Damage are as a direct result of this blog, but the only reason I know that is because people have posted it here or emailed and mentioned it as an aside.
But the whole event got my curiosity piqued. I mean, the entire point of this blog isn't to drive traffic to Audio Damage; I'm not entirely sure \_what\_ the point is, but it isn't that. It is, if anything, a side effect. But here's our topic for the day: in your buying habits, SPECIFICALLY as it relates to music products, do you find the information from the four main gear blogs (AI, MatrixSynth, CDM, and MusicThing) informs your buying decisions in general? And specifically with AI, do you find that you're more (or less) likely to buy an Audio Damage product as a result of my not-infrequent mentions of same here?
---
## Here's what I don't understand...
- Date: 2007-06-24
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/06/heres-what-i-dont-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 I'm curious about: Ardour, much beloved in the Linux audio circle and the recipient (from my lofty vantage point at least) of a more-or-less unending stream of kudos, is roughly equivalent in both operation and appearance to ProTools 2. Even with the MIDI, natch. Whereas EnergyXT is a far more advanced creature, both better looking and much more feature-laden, and assuming the Linux version and the Windows version are more or less the same, eminently usable. Why is it that I didn't know EnergyXT was available for Linux until I went to download the damned thing last week?
This is what I don't get about the Linux community. I mean, I'm not trying to be an asshole here, but if a DAW came out in 2007 for PC or Mac with Ardour's capabilities (or rather, the utter lack thereof) it wouldn't even make it out of the starting gate. I don't mean to offend, but what the fuck is it with you people? Is the fact that something is \_FREE\_ so important? I hate to say it, but I believe that to be the case. Ardour is free (as in b33r) while EnergyXT costs a _whopping_ $75.
---
## A Team Project...
- Date: 2007-06-22
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/06/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 library of this sort of thing myself, but I'd like to add to it.
So here's what I'd like to do: if you have an odd piece of gear that produces a nice hum, hiss, crackle, or whatever that is handy as sub-conscious spectrum filler, and want to add it to the collective, drop me a line via the contact link above. I would like 44.1 16-bit source, either WAV or AIFF, at least 4 seconds of it (at least enough to find zero crossings and make a loop that doesn't sound loopish; you'll have to be the judge as it will be source-dependent.) If you can just send me a link to a file via YouSendIt or something so I can download at my leisure, that would make me happy. Otherwise, go ahead and just email me the file itself.
Also, please provide me with information about what the source material is, and how you'd like to be credited. I'll cull out the crap, make nice loopables of the remainder, and put it all together in a ZIP and host it here.
---
## Dr. Device Update (among other things)...
- Date: 2007-06-22
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/06/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 by "we" I mean Adam, and by "T3H 3VIL" I mean AudioUnits, of course.) So, assuming Adam's iMac survives getting punched, thrown, and screamed at, we'll theoretically be entering the full beta stage at some point that could easily be called "Real Soon Now."
In other news, you'll note that I put up a little missive on Wednesday to the effect that we were switching over the AD site, then I took it down. Well, there was some other stuff that needed to be addressed that we weren't aware of. We'll be making another attempt early next week. Also, this site here is gonna get a facelift in the next couple days, so keep an eye out for that.
---
## Do sharks make a noise?
- Date: 2007-06-22
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/06/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 all the time, especially if I'm working all digitally, with only softsynths and samples to construct a tune. I'll run a track that is just an unloaded mic pre with the gain cranked up for some background hiss throughout the song, since I'm one of those people (rarer these days) that started on tape, and thinks digital "just doesn't sound right" all by its lonesome.
(Actually, a lot of people that don't know any better agree with me, and you can tell by the prevalence of the words "phat" and "analog," usually misapplied in conjunction.)
In any event, I like to just put little things here and there in the background of most of my songs. I don't do it every time, but I'm a big fan of incidental noise, and if there aren't enough incidents that happen naturally in any given track, I've been known to fake it.
To eventually get to the point, Adam has mentioned BT's baby enough times to where I think it is actually something he actively thinks about on a semi-regular basis. It seems that BT's recent album has baby noises on it. Now, I'll boycott any album that has baby noises on it on general principle, of course, but when you're using the quacks and mouth-farts of an infant as audio filler, are you, in actual fact, wearing a leather jacket while on water-skis?
I guess it's really not that important. Either you can stand BT's baby or you can't, and that's about all there is to that. But here's the topic for the day: is taking the time to add, e.g., a track of hiss or little incidental noises to an otherwise sterile electronic song worth the effort, or rather a sign of latent Asburger's Syndrome? If you, like me, feel it is worth it, what's your favorite trick?
---
## Thank you sir! May I please have another?!?
- Date: 2007-06-20
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/06/thank-you-sir-may-i-please-have-another/
If you're the crafty sort, you can look at [this page](http://www.apple.com/macosx/leopard/technology/64bit.html) 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 "why?" The key cause for worry is in this paragraph:
_In addition to the POSIX and math libraries supported in Tiger, Leopard enables developers to build complete 64-bit applications using the Cocoa, Quartz, OpenGL, and X11 GUI frameworks._
Guess what's not mentioned there? Carbon. That's the library that virtually all developers of audio software on the Apple platform use. You may not be intimately familiar with it, but suffice to say that Live, Cubase, Nuendo, ProTools, and even their own Logic are all written against the Carbon library. No 64-bit Carbon means no 64-bit audio apps, until all those developers port their various products to Apple's ridiculous Cocoa library and everyone learns Objective C.
Now, it's not as bad as all that. 32-bit Carbon will certainly be present in Leopard. (If it wasn't, roughly 95% of the apps written for OSX wouldn't work with Leopard.) But I wouldn't hold my breath for the _next_ iteration of OS X having any 32-bit capabilities at all. It's not something you need to really worry about right this minute, as a user, but I'll state right here and now that if Carbon ceases to exist at all, it will effectively wipe out indie development for audio on the Macintosh.
So, if you're thinking of Switching, you might want to think again, and if your PPC Mac is on its last legs, you may seriously want to consider going to PC. The audio industry is starting to get really bored with Apple's hijinks.
---
## Various Chandler Stuff In The Pipes.
- Date: 2007-06-19
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/06/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,](http://www.chandlerlimited.com/index.php) but there's nothing there about these.
**Chandler Germanius Maximus:** Also coming from Chandler is the new germanium-series channel strip. This is more my speed, as I don't particularly think the 500-series stuff is too good a deal, from a strictly cost-per-channel viewpoint. This bad boy is a Germ pre, a Germ comp, and a Germ EQ, all in one tasty blue-n-yellow rack space. Again, no info on the Chandler site, but Wade put up a teaser and such on Gearslutz, which you can read [here.](http://www.gearslutz.com/board/new-product-alert/122686-germanius-maximus-preview-chandler.html) Word to the wise: the vast majority of that thread is about the name of the box. How this affects the actual unit is utterly beyond me. What's even funnier are some of the suggestions. One fellow who doesn't like "Germanius Maximus" suggested that Wade consider "Germanium Winkler" as a reasonable substitute via a 3-paragraph post. Seriously. I shit you not.
Anywho, it'll be $3500 or thereabouts, but you get a lot of kit for the money. One of these and an SSL E Channel, and you're made in the shade for whatever might come down the pike. Unless you're in to that whole stereo thing, in which case you need two. Personally, I think that's just a fad.
---
## Postulatin' on a hypothesis...
- Date: 2007-06-17
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/06/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 recording. And let's assume you already have monitors, microphones and cables. Just the console (if necessary), deck, pres (if necessary), comps, etc.
**T3H VERDICT:** Yes, of course it is. You have to get a little lucky with your gear finds, but you shouldn't have any real trouble putting together a console and deck for $2K that will record music fine. That is, assuming your songs don't suck in the first place. If they do, that can't be helped.
It is worth noting that I arrived at this conclusion on my own. If you read this thread, the \_actual\_ verdict is apparently the old maxim "opinions are like assholes, etc."
---
## Xtreme DIY ftw...
- Date: 2007-06-17
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/06/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. Eight (as in "the number after seven") 6582 SID chips for four stereo (as in "mono times two") channels of audio, a nice FPE panel, and the same number of LEDs as any random sign in Times Square.
The posting on the MIDIbox site is [here](http://www.midibox.org/forum/index.php?topic=9175.0), wherein you will find many more pictures, and some construction details from the maker, one Wilba. There is more technical info than you could possibly need (unless you were building one) [here](http://www.midibox.org/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=wilba_mb_6582), and god bless if you've got something like this in the oven. For those of idle curiosity, Wilba says he spent just shy of US$700 making this unit. I've spent much more money on way shittier pieces of hardware (hello, Soundcraft, I'm talking about you!) but even so, this one is over my head. All that said, kind of a shame that it probably sounds like eight SID chips.
---
## Advice? Listen to the Cap'n...
- Date: 2007-06-15
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/06/advice-listen-to-the-capn/
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](http://fatman.com/index.shtml). Whether or not Captain Beefheart actually wrote/said this, every word is true. Can also be applied to keytars and drumtars, I guess. One thing I know for certain: that dude in Dream Theatre who's name mercifully escapes me never read this.
**Captain Beefheart's Ten Commandments For Guitarists:**
1\. LISTEN TO THE BIRDS...That's where all the music comes from. Birds know everything about how it should sound and where that sound should come from. And watch hummingbirds. They fly really fast, but a lot of times they aren't going anywhere.
2\. YOUR GUITAR IS NOT REALLY A GUITAR...Your guitar is a divining rod. Use it to find spirits in the other world and bring them over. A guitar is also a fishing rod. If you're good, you'll land a big one.
3\. PRACTICE IN FRONT OF A BUSH...Wait until the moon is out, then go outside, eat a multi-grained bread and play your guitar to a bush. If the bush doesn't shake, eat another piece of bread.
4\. WALK WITH THE DEVIL...Old delta blues players referred to amplifiers as the "devil box." And they were right. You have to be an equal opportunity employer in terms of who you're bringing over from the other side. Electricity attracts demons and devils. Other instruments attract other spirits. An acoustic guitar attracts Casper. A mandolin attracts Wendy. But an electric guitar attracts Beelzebub.
5\. IF YOU'RE GUILTY OF THINKING, YOU'RE OUT...If your brain is part of the process, you're missing it. You should play like a drowning man, struggling to reach shore. If you can trap that feeling, then you have something that is fur bearing.
6\. NEVER POINT YOUR GUITAR AT ANYONE...Your instrument has more power than lightning. Just hit a big chord, then run outside to hear it. But make sure you are not standing in an open field.
7\. ALWAYS CARRY YOUR CHURCH KEY...You must carry your key and use it when called upon. That's your part of the bargain. Like One String Sam. He was a Detroit street musician in the fifties who played a homemade instrument. His song "I Need A Hundred Dollars" is warm pie. Another church key holder is Hubert Sumlin, Howlin' Wolf's guitar player. He just stands there like the Statue of Liberty making you want to look up her dress to see how he's doing it.
8\. DON'T WIPE THE SWEAT OFF YOUR INSTRUMENT...You need that stink on there. Then you have to get that stink onto your music.
9\. KEEP YOUR GUITAR IN A DARK PLACE...When you're not playing your guitar, cover it and keep it in a dark place. If you don't play your guitar for more than a day, be sure to put a saucer of water in with it.
10\. YOU GOTTA HAVE A HOOD FOR YOUR ENGINE...Wear a hat when you play and keep that hat on. A hat is a pressure cooker. If you have a roof on your house the hot air can't escape. Even a lima bean has to have a wet paper towel around it to make it grow.
---
## Someone get this kid a Muddy Waters record, please!
- Date: 2007-06-14
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/06/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!)
---
## Ah, the beach in the summer, just me and my keytar...
- Date: 2007-06-14
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/06/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](http://www.theatomicaproject.com/) sent me a link to [Key Orchestra.](http://www.atlantic-artists.com/keyorchestra/) I don't feel bad about hating on them, because they're signed to a management sweat shop, and thus guilty of the most unpardonable of sins in my eyes.
(I'll grant that they're only the recipients of that saddest of sloppy seconds, a development deal, as far as I can tell, but still, there's no fucking excuse. But then, I guess someone has to stamp the license plates, right?)
But if you need some quick chuckles, have a gander at the pics on the sub-site, and marvel at the number of knobs and faders on that [mouse](http://www.atlantic-artists.com/keyorchestra/photo/0013.jpg) as they burn through their demo deal money using the same ProTools everyone else has.
---
## Unintentional Vintage Humor...
- Date: 2007-06-13
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/06/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 last week, and couldn't pass it up for $3.99 or whatever it was. It just showed up in the mail, and the last two sentences on the cover copy started me on a fit of giggles that is still going strong, nigh on ten minutes later.
But wait, there's more! It comes with a MacDrums wrist sweat band, to keep your mousing hand dry while you type in the tom-n-double-kick intro to "Hot For Teacher." I think more software should come with clothing accessories; it's an overlooked area, to be sure. Ableton underwear, Cubase t-shirts. I suppose ProTools would come with kneepads.
**UPDATE:** Apparently, my stable of old Macs is too modern for this program; if that image above doesn't bring back fond memories, perhaps the paperclip I needed to un-bend to get the disk out of the drive will. I can't begin to put my disappointment in to words. Wouldn't work in the PB100. Wouldn't work in the PB165C. Wouldn't work in the IIci. I guess I need to scare up a 512K or something. Great. That should be easy.
---
## Cult Of Gear!!!
- Date: 2007-06-13
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/06/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, MachineDrum, MPC60, et al) elicit a slavish devotion from their users that far outweighs their actual usefulness? I have my own theories on this, but they're strictly objective, as I'm not effected by it in the least. I tend to obsess about things \_before\_ I have them, but I never have any problem turning over gear after the fact.
---
## Evolution Redux...
- Date: 2007-06-11
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/06/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 just doesn't fit in to my workflow very well. I'm moody as hell when it comes to gear, and my equipment has a fairly high turnover rate (except for the über high-end stuff, which I tend to keep forever) so it should come as no surprise to those of you that know me.
So, anyone want an Evolver Desktop? Essentially like-new condition; it has sat on my desk for the last 4 months. I'm looking to trade for something interesting; an analog mono synth of some sort. Bonus points if it's rackmount and has MIDI, but neither feature is that important. Drop me an email via the "Contact" link above if you've got something you'd like to trade.
---
## The Nature Of Things...
- Date: 2007-06-08
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/06/the-nature-of-things/
I'm sitting here listening to Aleksi Virta's excellent jazzy-house-dub-lounge-you-name-it [album](http://www.mono211.com/content/releases/mtkmp123.html) "..Meets Torsti At The Space Lounge" and I'm wondering about the nature of things in the music business these days. I mean, this is a fine record, and any label worth its salt could sell it, and it certainly would be easy to license (my main area of expertise), so I'm wondering about the wisdom of just giving it away.
I'm sure Aleksi will chime in with his thoughts in this matter; by no means construe this as criticism. I'm genuinely curious as to what would make someone put their album up for free, as opposed to one of the many pay services. I can come up with a few reasons on my own, and here they are:
**1\. Information wants to be free! Make it so!** I personally don't agree with this, as I feel it devalues your initial output; the customer doesn't place any intrinsic value on the product, and thus your later output is similarly devalued. I don't know if this is true or not, and I can provide no empirical evidence to suggest it, but this is my gut feeling.
**2\. We'll make it up in the back end!** This is demonstrably false, of course. A catch-22, if ever I saw one. You can't actually sell your product because it has no intrinsic value to it. You will begin selling your product once it has intrinsic value. It can't have any intrinsic value until such is assigned to it by you, the author. Ergo...
**3\. We're going to build a fan base first, then rock the shit out of 'em!** Hmmm. Dunno 'bout that one.
**4\. I make music as a hobby, and have no interest in charging money for it. I just want people to hear and comment on what I've made.** Now, this is a true calling, and while I don't subscribe to that view myself, I understand it.
Personally, I think a lot of musicians put their first releases out there for free these days, in the same way that I would give a demo tape to anyone in 1988. However, the difference is that, with that tape, there was a physical face-to-face transaction taking place, and I could imply value where there was none. Aleksi had no way of knowing that I would listen to his MP3s today, and he couldn't qualify or quantify what I was going to hear, and he almost certainly didn't want it to turn in to some meta-discussion about the nature of business in music, but there you go. Thoughts?
---
## Chicago Shows...
- Date: 2007-06-08
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/06/chicago-shows/
If you're in Chicago, please make an effort to attend the [Bounte](http://www.bounte.com/) 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 more expensive, and the women aren't as loose, but my good friends [The Most Dangerous Race](http://www.myspace.com/themostdangerousrace) are playing there the next night, June 15th. Go to that show as well, and Matt Walker will prove to you that he is one of the best rock drummers in the world, with pedigree, natch.
---
## I'm busy, I swear. No, really...
- Date: 2007-06-07
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/06/im-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 almost a year now? Yeah, that's the one.) And by "we" I mean my lovely and talented wife.
We're also getting close to having a beta version of Dr. Device. And by "we" I mean Adam.
So what is it I do all day, anyways? You know, I couldn't rightly say. But I know I do a lot of it, whatever it is. This is an open thread. Get it off your chest. You're among friends.
---
## ZOMG CHORDS!
- Date: 2007-06-06
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/06/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 "there".) Since I am an entirely self-taught musician, and can hold my own on any instrument you don't have to blow in to, I have a fairly well-traveled road for teaching myself how to do something that has served me well for three decades.
In the modern digital age, it takes a bit of a new spin, as I can actually dissect things and get to the "why" of them, rather than just puzzling out sheet music, an intensely boring thing. So, what I do is pick a song (say, for instance, "One For My Baby"), go find a General MIDI file of it that doesn't completely suck (harder than it sounds), load it up in to Logic (which is better for these sorts of things than Cubase, IMO), and proceed to figure out the parts. Then I put my own spin on them, and essentially learn the entire song by rote.
On the plus side, even though I've learned the song by rote, and am thus no more than a trained monkey, all the elements of that song, including some truly massive chords, work their way in to my musical vernacular, and reappear or not as appropriate. One big minus is that I have a hard time transposing a song on the fly; I know three different inversions of an Am7 chord, but I couldn't play any of them a half step down if my life depended on it. Nor could I add or subtract notes just because I thought the chord needed a little sauce or whatever. Nor can I immediately come up with transitional chords (which is annoying.) If they weren't in the MIDI file, I generally don't know them.
Jesus, this story is getting long; you are no doubt wondering if there's a point anywhere in the foreseeable future. Well, sure. I was listening to some old Ron Carter today, with some extremely soulful gospel piano work courtesy of Gene Harris, and I decided to learn gospel chords. I know that there's something added or subtracted from a typical chord progression to make it a gospel chord progression. However, I don't know what that \_something\_ is. In my search on the tubes of the Interwebs, I discovered a rather unsettling fact: the people that take the time to write about gospel piano on the internet are not Ray Charles. Neither are they Aretha Franklin. They are essentially Pee Wee Herman. [To wit.](http://www.evangelisticpiano.com/lessons.php) It's like if Sonic State were run by the Lollipop Guild. I think the entire gospel piano industry is run by that fucktard that has been putting perfect pitch ads in Keyboard magazine for the last 30 years. (Bonus points if someone scans the picture of him with his high school muse that appeared in the mid 80s issues; I think that picture speaks volumes.)
So the question of the day, if I could stop digressing, is two-fold:
1\. How do _you_ teach yourself to play specific songs if you can't sight read? (Laptop jockeys, I love you like brothers and sisters, but this one isn't for you...)
2\. Is there a good readable source of information on the internet about why gospel chord progressions sound different than the same progression played by a jazz or blues player? Is it specific inversions, or a consistently added note?
---
## Spring... uh... cleaning?
- Date: 2007-06-03
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/06/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 long-suffering wife would vastly prefer that I go somewhere far away. So, needs must, as they say...
In any event, in order to make the space air-tight (and thus less subject to the whims of environment) I need to \_clean\_ it first. Since I took out all the gear I need to work in something of a hurry, and I've just been using the building as a staging area for snowboarding, skateboarding, biking, and home improvement since, it is something of a disaster. So I spent the better part of today moving shit around.
The problem with that is that I keep finding fun things I forgot I had, stuff I bought at a yard sale or something, threw on the Pile, and promptly erased from the higher regions of my brain. This picture shows roughly 1% of what I'm dealing with. Everything in the photo with the exception of the little Vox amp, the guitar pedals, and the AudioMedia II card inside that IIci was purchased at a yard sale or thrift store. I've had no end of amusement today plugging various things in, fucking with TurboSynth, and generally getting nothing done.
(And before you ask, yes, I am \_exactly\_ the sort of person that would just happen to have a Mac II video -> VGA adapter just lying about in case I want to use an LCD monitor with an old Mac. I mean, you never know when that sort of thing would come in handy, right?)
But that's about the most ghetto picture I can put together of what could theoretically be described as studio equipment. I suppose I could find some old Marantz speakers to fill out the picture; what I really should have done was stack all my Realistic effects units on top of the Sears guitar amps. What's your most ghetto stuff? Photos if you've got 'em.
---
## Around The Interwebs...
- Date: 2007-06-02
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/06/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 groups that he just put up. Go visit [Here.](http://www.stefangoodchild.com/)
Next up, Sebatron have released two new products that will most likely rock my world. Nitrous is a FET comp, and Proxima is a single channel of the Cygnus class A pre, paired with a slightly less feature-laden version of the Nitrous FET comp. They are $890 each (really? _Really_ really?) and I'm glad that Sebatron finally got in to solid state gear, as this whole t00b thing is mercifully dying out. Read about 'em [here.](http://www.sebatron.com/) I'm having a hard time coming up with a scenario in which either of these (or the Cygnus for that matter) \_aren't\_ a great deal.
And finally, check out [this podcast,](http://seasonthree.creotradio.net/?p=39) which is about as much Optigon as any single person could reasonably be expected to stand. Our friend [Inverse Room](http://www.inverseroom.com/) has a piece, and there's some other stuff, all Optigon-centric. Optical disk lovers, unite!
Anything out there that is odd/fun/stupid/cool that you've not seen posted before? Do share...
---
## Dr. Device update and a little sound...
- Date: 2007-05-31
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/05/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 Dubstation) wasn't yet in the plugin. It is now, and everything is more or less working as we'd like. [Here](https://web.archive.org/web/2007/http://www.analogindustries.com/samples/dr_d_filtertest.mp3) is an MP3 of the final working Dr. Device signal chain.
What you're hearing is thus:
2 Measures of MachineDrum by itself. (Any tertiary effects are coming out of the MachineDrum.)
4 Measures of same pattern through Dr. Device 4 pole lowpass filter, being modulated by the Kinetics.
4 Measures with the delay active. Left side is dotted 8ths, right side is 2x that. Mild regen.
So that should give you a fairly good idea of the general signal path of Dr. D. I'll put up something in a couple hours with all the filter modes demonstrated. First I have to work on full page ads for CM and FM.
**EDIT:** Here's [another](https://web.archive.org/web/2007/http://www.analogindustries.com/samples/dr_d_filtertest2.mp3) quick test of things. Same dry drum loop (more or less), followed by four different two-bar tastes of Dr. Device effects. Right now we're working on usability issues, and in order to do that, we have to learn how to use the plug-in. Hence, we spend the whole day fucking with it, then Adam and I discuss what needs to change, why, and how. Then we do it again. And again. And so on.
---
## Monk + Coltrane = My Brain Melting...
- Date: 2007-05-29
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/05/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 angular piano playing is so good to me that I almost can't stand it. That descending run that starts out "Ruby, My Dear" just primes the pump, and it's basically all over when he plays the ascending chord progression in to the second half of the first chorus. So basically I'm just done for about 19 seconds in to that track. And John Coltrane, I mean, fuck. "My Favorite Things" is probably my single most favorite piece of music. I know it's clich?, but fuck it. That shit's good. That's how it became popular, right?
Anyways, I've been putting off buying this album because I was afraid my brain would melt when I listened to it. The CD is a couple years old, of a recently unearthed tape in the Library Of Congress. The shows which it documents are, like, Fuuuuuuuck. Have a close look at the poster above, and see what $2.00 could have got you in to in 1957.
But anyways, all I have to say is this: dear Baby Jesus, this record is fucking good.
---
## This never gets boring...
- Date: 2007-05-29
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/05/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.
---
## It's that time again...
- Date: 2007-05-28
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/05/its-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 producer's desk, one that is expandable as needs must.
I'm thinking of either the Middle Atlantic system or the Raxxess system. They are essentially the same thing, but the Middle Atlantic ones seem to be LAN shit that has been a little bit reformated for music needs, while the Raxxess system is purpose built. Does any of my fair readers have experience with either of these desk systems? If so, what are the pros and cons of either one?
---
## More MachineDrum thoughts...
- Date: 2007-05-26
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/05/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 purchase decision, or reinforcing it, is entirely up to you. In no particular order:
1\. The synthesis methods are quite comprehensive. If I can think of a percussion sound, there seems to be a block in the MD dedicated to producing it. For the most part, they sound quite good, if a bit artificial. That last may not make sense, but I've been using the same 909 sample set I made myself for almost a decade, and I'm just used to the way it sounds; these made-on-the-fly sounds just sound a little made-on-the-fly.
2\. I'm having a hard time coming up with a foot that will sit in the mix really well; I've noticed in a lot of the tracks I listened to where I knew the MD was doing the drumming that the foot didn't really sit, and I'm experiencing that here. Since that's the single most important part of electronic music, it needs to be perfect. I'll work some more on that; there's almost certainly a reason for it, and where there's a reason there's a solution.
3\. I've settled on a methodology for working with a DAW. I make the pattern(s) in the MachineDrum, then use the Mute Tracks function to mute all but one, and record them individually in to the DAW, so everything is separated out. This seems to work the best for my normal methods. I couldn't see myself actually arranging a song in the MachineDrum. That'd just be lame.
So I guess that's about it for now. The preset kits are kind of lame, but it's easy to touch 'em up or make your own new ones. The preset patterns are essentially useless, but if you buy a $1300 boutique drum machine expecting to use the presets, you might as well save yourself $1250 and pick up a couple disks of Acid Loopz from Sony.
---
## MachineDrum...
- Date: 2007-05-25
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/05/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 difficult to think of ways to use a drum machine that aren't annoying. Like, there's no way I'd have the patience to assemble a song in the MD. No way.
2\. I'm not sure what the hell everyone is going on about "it sounds all IDM and shit." Not really. It sounds like a drum machine. It actually sounds like several different drum machines. I was able to get fairly stonking prog house beats out of it in short order, without using any outboard. (MachineDrum right in to Rosetta.) I was also able to get some pretty convincing Flip Mode shit going quite easily. I will happily admit that if one wanted to do IDM type things, this would be pretty good at it.
3\. As a drum synth, it is fairly sophisticated. I can't, off the top of my head, think of another drum machine that is as easy to program as this one, at least as far as the synthesis portion goes.
I'll put up a more sophisticated review on Sunday, I suppose. But initial impressions are much the same as they were when I got a run-through at Analogue Haven last year. This is an excellent drum machine if you like that sort of thing; in fact, I think it may be the best drum machine ever made. It does have a little crispy critter edge to it, but just remember: 9 out of 10 hip hop producers have never even seen a real 808. They all use the MPC sample set. So relax.
---
## On the bright side, it isn't named iSession, at least...
- Date: 2007-05-25
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/05/on-the-bright-side-it-isnt-named-isession-at-least/
A few days ago [eSession.com](http://beta.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 play myself quite frequently. I'll give it a shot when I start my next CR record. I'd make a page for myself, but they don't have a "dilettante" category so I might be out of luck.
Thoughts? Why does the only bazouki player on the site not have any audio samples? Is the fact that you programmed drums on a Kip Winger album something you want to put on your resume? Etc.
---
## It's all in the time----ing...
- Date: 2007-05-17
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/05/its-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 project with no recordings playing back (and thus no disk access) my MIDI timing is rock-solid sampleframe accurate. This is MIDI either being played back from the sequencer or being passed through to an external device. (I'll grant that the latter is hard to test, and I'm more or less just going on feel.)
2\. The more tracks I add to the project, the worse the timing gets, and by the time I'm up to my normal track count for an instrumental (which is 30 to 50 stereo tracks) the MIDI timing is so bad as to be essentially useless. [Here](https://web.archive.org/web/2007/http://www.analogindustries.com/samples/timing_fuckered.mp3) is an example. What you're hearing is 32nd notes fired every 16th from the DAW to an MKS80, and recording the result. The only way I can get it that good is to open my buffer all the way; I normally run it at 64, but with it set that low, maybe 5 of those notes will trigger, and in the wrong spot, natch. That's at the AES16's highest buffer setting, 1024.
So that's what's happening. The rig is Cubase 4 on Vista Business, on an Athlon64 machine. The audio is streaming off a half-TB RAID 0 array, and the MIDI interface is a MOTU MIDI Express 128. I have tried all the usual methods of getting Cubase to comply; you can rest assured on that account. I've been using PCs for music for over a decade, and Cubase almost that long. I know how to run and tune this rig; this is why this particular issue is giving me some trouble, as it falls outside my experience.
In any event, it is obviously related to the disk streaming. The more audio that is getting played back from the DAW, the worse the timing. Anyone run in to this before? If so, what's the fix?
---
## Neü Music Open Thread...
- Date: 2007-05-15
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/05/neu-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 NBA playoffs I keep seeing this Marines commercial (apologies to our non-US readers) and the music is really not bad, a far cry from the normal "Band Of Brothers" airs they normally use. [Here 'tis.](http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZiVP9aOfOQM&mode=related&search=) Anyone know who composed the music for this? Probably a house job, but I'm curious.
---
## Dr. Device screenshot and info...
- Date: 2007-05-11
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/05/dr-device-screenshot-and-info/
[](https://analogindustries.com/images/blog/dr_d.png)Since it was pointed out that it was difficult to make out the UI of Dr. Device in [the little movie](https://web.archive.org/web/2007/http://www.analogindustries.com/samples/dr_d_teaser/dr_d_teaser.html) I posted yesterday, here's a proper screenshot. (Click 'er for bigger.) If I've done my half of the job correctly, it should be fairly obvious as to what Dr. Device is all about. The left side is a multi-mode filter, and the right is basically a stereo tapped version of Dubstation. Signal flow is Filter -> Delay.
Full MIDI control, as with all our products. The light grey control is pre-wired to respond to the MIDI messages from a Kaoss pad, but otherwise everything can be assigned in the method common to all our products. (And, of course, Logic users are SOL, because Apple still hasn't seen fit to allow MIDI to insert effects.)
In any event, we'll be happy to field any questions or comments concerning Dr. Device in this here thread.
---
## Strange Juxstapositions...
- Date: 2007-05-07
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/05/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 back in the day.
---
## SEA-TAC...
- Date: 2007-05-03
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/05/sea-tac/
I'm going to Seattle on Sunday, as a good friend of mine (and erstwhile Positron Recording [Artist](http://www.positronrecords.com/artists/artist.php?aid=impossible_recording_machine)) is playing drums for Morrissey on his current tour, and the wife and I are going up to have dinner and chat about his [current project](http://www.themostdangerousrace.com/), among other things. We'll be there a couple days, and I was wondering if anything interesting was happening in the Seattle environs on Sunday or Monday. Obviously, we'll be at the Morrissey show on Sunday night, but if there's anything happening during the day that is worth checking out, I'd love to hear about it.
Also, to those readers intimately familiar with the city, where is _the_ music store? You know the one I'm talking about. The one that sells new boutique stuff and has quality, serviced used gear? The "real" store.
---
## Vintage?
- Date: 2007-04-29
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/04/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 "vintage" is sort of like "fuck" inasmuch as it is a word entirely empty of meaning without context, and even then, it is suspect.
For instance, look at [this auction](http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-Lexicon-LXP1-Stereo-Digital-Reverb-Unit_W0QQitemZ160110621572QQihZ006QQcategoryZ23792QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem) on the 'bay. Maybe I'm crazy, but when I use the term in a music gear context, I use it kind of like one refers to better wines. An '01 Laffitte is vintage, while an '01 Gallo is turpentine. I mean, there's nothing wrong with an LXP1, really, but it is to effects as Gallo is to wine; it'll get you drunk, but you'd really rather be drinking something better.
In that light, I submit that there is no hard, fast "vintage event horizon," a specific date, and if a piece of gear is manufactured before that date, it is vintage. Vintage is rather a descriptor, and means the same as "desirable," I think. Or "has a certain something" or "peer reviewed and approved." And that's the difference between something vintage and something that's just plain old.
---
## Power Trips...
- Date: 2007-04-26
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/04/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](https://analogindustries.com/2007/03/audio-damage-update/) a couple months back got me looking at [Camtasia](http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia.asp) for producing this sort of thing. I fear a bit of confusion viz. audio, but otherwise this looks like a handy tool.
I've downloaded the 30-day trial, and I'm going to give it a try by attempting to make a featurette about Dr. Device. We'll see how that works. But my question is thus: what would the Audio Damage customer like to see in tutorials? If I was going to have only one for each product, should it be a short general overview? Or a workout of a particular feature? Or a half-hour complete overview?
In considering your answer, perhaps maybe a link to a video tutorial you like, versus one you don't would be handy. Compare and contrast, etc.
---
## Dubstation Update...
- Date: 2007-04-23
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/04/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. There was a problem with RAM allocation that made long delay times at higher sampling rates work oddly. This has been fixed, and Dubstation now works (and sounds) exactly the same at any sampling rate.
2\. Automation bugs with AudioUnits fixed. Users of Logic and Digital Performer were experiencing some troubles with automation. This has all been addressed, and AU automation should be fully operational now.
3\. On OSX machines, some users would experience trouble with the installation, where the installer wouldn't put the plugins in the correct location. This has been fixed.
So, if you own yourself a Dubstation, log in to your account at the Audio Damage store, view the pertinent transaction, and re-download the installer. Existing projects shouldn't be affected by this update.
---
## WTF?
- Date: 2007-04-22
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/04/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 do with command, or how excess relates to either of those words. Whoever wrote that little blurb has a far different idea of how the English language works than I do. In any event, yes, it is basically a fitted out DJ/VJ coffin slapped in one of those mock baby grand cabinets that are made for people that want to play a digital piano on stage but don't want to look like they're playing a digital piano on stage. Whether this is dumber than that concept is open to interpretation, but you're welcome to [be the judge](http://www.babygrandmaster.com/) for yourself.
---
## 1-800-FUKTARD
- Date: 2007-04-21
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/04/1-800-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](http://cto.com/music_bands.cfm?TID=44&ID=106). Diamond Dave is the Fucktard Event Horizon, of course, as one can't be a bigger fucktard, but there's a huge swath of the entertainment industry that exists in that purgatory between "getting by" and "over the edge."
Weren't we just talking about Genesis? That's just creepy. I'm never going to look at a soprano sax as a potential lead instrument ever again after seeing that. What is it about soprano sax players and perms? Does playing the instrument with any proficiency (and I use that term loosely) also inform your hair style? And can't a soprano sax play in tune? Is it that hard?
In any case, more power to 'em for making a living making music. Somebody has to do it, I guess. Alex Byrd is to blame for bringing this to my attention.
---
## Hmmmm...
- Date: 2007-04-20
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/04/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 configuration) plain as day. There was no tag on it or anything, so I had to do that most painful of things and talk to the salesman. Now, normally I'd rather get my eye teeth pulled then talk to a music store salesman, but needs must when the devil drives.
My normal bias towards that most subhuman of all species was nicely confirmed by his condescending statement that it was "totally mint, and all the tines have been replaced," so we could move along to other things, namely the price. It's on consignment, so there's no wiggle room, and the seller wants $1200. Now, for what it's worth, it has all the accessories and seems, from an external inspection, to be in more or less perfect condition. It also comes with a complete set of road cases.
So, who here has purchased a CP70? Is $1200 a reasonable price? How much of a pain in the ass are these beasts? I'd _really_ love to have one, even just to make my own sample set, but I want to know if I'm being taken for a ride or not. Comments?
As an aside, I also found a store that isn't really a music store, but they have a ton of cool old gear (and a lot of crap, too.) But they have a Wurli 145 (I'd say in about 6/10 condition), two (!!!) L100s, a B3, an M100, and a stack of Leslies I don't even know enough to write about, but there were over a dozen. Also a couple spinet pianos (and yes, I know the difference between a spinet and an upright grand), a player piano, a pump organ, and a metric fuckton of old Italian guitar shit. If anyone needs, I'll be happy to provide the pertinent info.
---
## Boulevard Of Broken Dreams #4
- Date: 2007-04-18
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/04/boulevard-of-broken-dreams-4/
[](https://analogindustries.com/images/blog/Plexus.png)
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 doing a synth, and here was my idea for one. Totally modular (with the exception that audio routing and CV routing had to, by necessity, be separate patchbays) it would be a fairly typical representation of a small modular synth. Now, this would certainly be a good product; the main problem with it is two-fold. (A) The synth market is flooded, and (b) it is pretty plain once you get past the semi-interesting UI.
So, we decided (more or less permanently, as it turned out) for better or worse to just avoid the synth market at the time and expand on some of the better ideas in our Mayhem package, namely the TimeFnk delay. So we took the better ideas from Plexus and combined them with the general execution of TimeFnk, and this is what we came up with:
[](https://analogindustries.com/images/blog/timefnkII.png)
Now, if you take a close look at that UI, you'll note that it mirrors a product you might already own pretty much exactly. That is the first UI for Ronin. In retrospect it is a far better UI, but there were reasons for not using it. They are:
1\. This UI was built with the concept of using PNGs for the knobs and such in mind. Using PNGs instead of BMPs for the knob filmstrips and elements was a relatively new thing at the time. It worked on OSX machines, but Windows machines, which had no built-in method for reading PNGs, exhibited many issues. (This also engendered the redesign of Discord between v1 and v1.5.) So once we discovered that PNGs were a serious problem, we had a relatively short time to come up with a solution.
2\. When we were working on this, it was a current fad on a couple of the pertinent forums to complain mightily and loud about "hardware look" user interfaces. I actually took this quite seriously. I know better now, of course, but when you're just starting a company, you only have that sort of feedback to go on. So we thought "well, we better avoid hardware UIs; we don't want to piss anybody off."
So, TimeFnk II got its name changed to Ronin, and got the current Ronin UI, for better or worse. Due to its obvious complexity, Ronin isn't one of our better sellers. But Ronin begat Dubstation, which our best-selling effect, so we're not complaining.
But this brings up an interesting point about user interfaces. Ronin and Dubstation are essentially the same code inside. With Ronin, you have access to every single possible parameter in the plugin, and you can route the audio and control signals however you want. With Dubstation, we've basically removed the patchbay, the LFOs, and roughly 2/3 of the controls. Dubstation has sold ten times the number of Ronin. You can easily see how this has informed our design process.
---
## Classmate no longer vapor, it seems...
- Date: 2007-04-17
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/04/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](http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20060927PR207.html) is a little article that followed the announcement, that talks a bit about what the Classmate is. But that's like "whatever." [Here](http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/biz/archives/2007/04/17/2003357074) is the money shot from today. Long story short, Asus will roll out a range of Classmate-based 'puters in Q3 '07 that are priced from $199 to $549 (MSRP), have embedded Windows, 7" LCD, and a 1G to 40G flash drive.
Assuming it has a USB port (why wouldn't it?) this would probably be a perfect computer for all kinds of tasks, from being a dedicated MIDI sequencer to being a soft-synth for live performance, to getting integrated in to a modular system. I can come up with 20 ideas off the top of my head, so I'm sure there are dozens more, since the top of my head is full of other stuff.
---
## Boulevard Of Broken Dreams #3
- Date: 2007-04-17
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/04/boulevard-of-broken-dreams-3/
[](https://analogindustries.com/images/blog/PEV.png)
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. This is, again, only a mock-up; you can tell from the darkness of the rendering that I hadn't even really worked on the lighting yet before I stopped.
Why didn't we do this? That's a good question, and I don't really have a concise answer. Mainly, the costs associated with obtaining several different cartridge EQs to clone, plus the time cloning them, plus the fact that there is one company (URS) that _really_ excels at this sort of thing and we didn't think we could do it better, plus the results, due to the time and expense, wouldn't fit in our normal pricing model.
So, the above image (click for the full size) is as far as we got; that's the UI for the Neumann PEV clone, which was the only cartridge I had at the time the idea was floated. So it's more of a proof-of-concept than an actual "okay we're gonna do this," then stoppage.
---
## Boulevard Of Broken Dreams #2
- Date: 2007-04-16
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/04/boulevard-of-broken-dreams-2/
[](https://analogindustries.com/images/blog/deviant.png)
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 supposed to do (I think; it's been a while:)
1\. The "MIX" section would give you three square waves from the input signal at the root, +1 octave, and -1 octave, plus the dry signal.
2\. This would then get ring-modded against an internal osc, the frequency of which could be controlled from an LFO or env off the input amplitude.
3\. This whole mess would then go to an LPF, which could also be controlled from input amp or LFO.
While it seems like it might be cool, initial coding showed that it was, in fact, a Soup Sandwich in the making. So it didn't get beyond initial Windows VST prototypes before both Adam and I were like "wow, that's a mess." Sometimes you just have to try something to know how it sounds. Nowadays we prototype in one of the many boxes-n-wires programs suited to such endeavors (mainly Plogue Bidule) before it even gets to where I'll mock up a UI, so I don't do many things like this any more, where function follows form.
I think the UI would have been vastly improved with a little tube you could see in a window. But my favorite feature is the text right under the "Deviant" logo. You can tell we didn't know what to call it, and when that's the case, you know you're in trouble.
---
## Boulevard Of Broken Dreams #1
- Date: 2007-04-16
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/04/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 website) it occurred to me that a section with all the print reviews and such would be a good idea, since most other companies have such a thing. I also thought it would be amusing to put in a section that had all the plug-ins that we \_DIDN'T\_ make.
Just for the record, there are a \_lot\_ of these. My role in the company, aside from the ranting and such you see here and around the net, is mainly in designing the effects. When we're doing something that doesn't really exist in real life (unlike, say, 914 or Phase Two) a lot of thought goes in to what it will do, how it will do it, and what the best user interface might be for those two things. Our process, now that things have shaken out in to a normal job, goes something like this:
1\. Either I or Adam gets a wacky idea for a plug-in. (Usually this falls to me, being the wackier of the two; however, Adam can get freaky with it when necessary.)
2\. After some discussions about what we can already do, what we'll need to invent, and how things will work together, I mock up a UI.
3\. We then move things about for a while, add and remove features, and get it to where it seems to be usable.
4\. Adam starts coding.
Now, that's our current system. Back in the day, it worked a little differently. We tried out several different working styles, and had many ideas for plug-ins. I have, I learned after a sojourn through my graphics folders, made a **LOT** of mock-ups. Some of these have even made it all the way to step 4 before they died, or morphed in to other products somewhere along the way. (Such is the case with TimeFnk II, which became Ronin eventually.) Obviously, for reasons that should be fairly understandable, I can't put up the UIs for all the products that didn't become products, because some of them might still become products. Or something.
However, there are quite a few that were either spectacularly stupid ideas, or turned out to be impossible to make, or just didn't seem like fun. Over the next few days, I'll put some of these UIs up and we can laugh and laugh. First up...
[](https://analogindustries.com/images/blog/mr_bits.png)
Audio Damage came in to being when Adam and I met in a previous company, called Creative Synth Development, which existed mainly as a farm team for Cycling '74, and was responsible for the MODE package they still sell. While designing for CSD, we all had it in our heads that effects products should follow the Pluggo model; that is to say, rather than one plugin that does all kinds of shit, we'd have 20 plugins that all do one little thing. In that light, I felt it necessary to come up with ideas for all kinds of little boopers and beepers. Here is, I think, the best example of that misguided design process, Mr. Bits. (Click the image for the full-sized UI, and yes, that is \_exactly\_ what the UI would be.)
Ironically, of all the couple hundred UIs I've done, this one is still my favorite. Aside from the obvious fiction of putting 80-column text in an otherwise 40-column context (yeah, I'm fucking old like a motherfucker) it is everything a simple little plug should be. Clean, concise, and obvious. And when you think about it, it has the same number or more controls than several of our otherwise successful products. So what's the problem? It's fucking stupid, that's what. The only way this could be a for-sale product is if it was in a package, and packages are stupid. We learned that with our first product, and we'll never make that mistake again. Not only that, but it is based upon one of the singularly unspectacular products of all time, the Decilionix sampler for the Apple II. (Yeah, there's a reason you've never heard of it.) It is a rare product that can turn a failure of such epic proportions around.
So, in to the posterity file with Mr. Bits, unfortunately.
---
## Am I retarded?
- Date: 2007-04-15
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/04/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 VST days of Logic 5, in order to facilitate this sort of thing, you would put the MIDI-aware effect as the input on an instrument track, and send audio from the appropriate audio track to its sidechain input.
I was thinking that **CAN'T POSSIBLY** still be the case, what with the Magic Of AudioUnits and Thinking Differently and all that type of stuff. Can it? Is there _still_ no way to send MIDI to an insert in Logic? Or am I, in actual fact, retarded?
---
## Federal Compressor...
- Date: 2007-04-12
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/04/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 one's family.
However, in this case I'll make an exception, as one of these beauties rarely comes up for auction. This is a Federal AM-864/U compressor/limiter, totally gone through by Inward Connections, and useful knobs added to the front. This baby is full of techno, to be certain, and I think the price is right. If I didn't have to cough up a $12,000 check to the IRS this week ("the horror, the horror...") this would be coming home to daddy for sure.
Caveat emptor: I don't know this dude, don't know anything about him. I'm not vouching for the auction. But [here 'tis](http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290101645838&indexURL=1&photoDisplayType=2#ebayphotohosting) if you have no fear of Alien Overlords or vindictive spouses.
---
## And a PC tip, just to even the scales a bit...
- Date: 2007-04-11
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/04/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 following, because this is an actual letter sent to the support address at Audio Damage:
_I'm using Sonar 6 PE as a host. If I insert Replicant as an effect insert into an audio track (containing a drum loop) I don't hear any effect at all. Am I missing something obvious ?_
Now, for what it's worth, I _sort of_ knew the answer, and have for a long time. Way back in the old days, when real men edited audio by splicing magnetic tape, Sonar was a DirectX host and DirectX was a viable platform for plugins. Cakewalk provided a wrapper with the host (but not of it, natch) that would wrap all your VSTs as DirectX plugs so you could use them in Sonar. A nice side-effect would be that you could use them in all your other DirectX hosts like CD Architect and Sound Forge and Acid (I sense a theme here.) In order for a VST to receive host tempo information (which Replicant needs because it's, like, a tempo effect), you'd have to import it as a DirectX Instrument.
Why Cakewalk didn't just automatically say "all VST effects might or might not need tempo information, sort of like Schrodinger's cat might or might not be dead, and we don't know, so let's not add a layer of complexity for the user, and just go ahead and assume they're all gonna need it" is utterly beyond me. (I'm going to need a life preserver to save me from that metaphor.) But they didn't, so that's what you had to do.
[](https://analogindustries.com/images/blog/sonarpluginsasdxi.l.jpg)
But that was back in the bad old days, when you had to use 8" floppies and MIDI hadn't been invented yet. Nowadays, Sonar (and its offspring Project 5) are true VST hosts so this isn't a... oh, wait...
Actually, you \_still\_ have to let the VST->DirectX wrapper that Cakewalk uses for all its host products know that a plugin might need tempo information. I find this disconcerting when pretty much every plugin released has some sort of tempo-based gee-gaw. But since the "import as a DXi" thing didn't make any sense at all, they renamed that checkbox, then added another one, just in case you weren't confused enough. Here, provided by the above customer after we figured out what the hell it was really called, is a screenshot of the appropriate checkbox:
Anyways, people that use Cakewalk hosts: you're welcome to keep writing me, and I'll be happy (as always) to keep answering the same way, but in the event you do a Google search \_before\_ you write me, there are enough keywords in this blog post to virtually ensure that it will come up as the first hit for the search "Replicant doesn't do anything in Sonar" so here's your answer. Configure that little bitch as a tempo-based effect, and you'll be good to go.
(Thanks to Mike Callon for the second screenshot, and I should point out I blatantly stole the first one from [this](http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/mar04/articles/sonarnotes.htm?print=yes#Top) article on the SOS site. Parenthetically speaking, anyways.)
---
## Okay...
- Date: 2007-04-10
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/04/okay/
I don't generally make music recommendations on this site, unless I'm asking you to support it by buying a [Positron](http://www.positronrecords.com/) release (which, you'll note, I rarely do.) The reasoning here is that music is a subjective thing, and something that I like will doubtless not be interesting at all to the majority of you. (Obvious ringers being things that you should listen to despite any matters of taste, like Otis Redding, Yo-Yo Ma, Nina Simone, that sort of thing...)
However, I'm gonna break that rule this once. Someone on my [CR.net](http://www.chrisrandall.net/) site mentioned in the newsgroup [this YouTube video](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnrTQngkjLE) of British soul/jazz/something singer Alice Russell covering White Stripes' 7 Nation Army. I was like "WTF?" when I saw it, and hit up iTunes for her album called "My Favorite Letters." Apparently, it's her second, but I can't find a first.
In any event, it's a hell of a record, with some really crafty production by tm Juke. Leans to modern indie R&B, with some jazz/hip hop/something elements. The label website is so useless I won't even bother linking to it (why is it that indie labels usually have such shit sites?) but you can grab/preview the album through your favorite download service.
---
## Time Waster Supreme...
- Date: 2007-04-09
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/04/time-waster-supreme/
If you _really_ have nothing at all to do with your time, [here's](http://www.opentopia.com/showcam.php?camid=1197) 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 "NO, FUCKNUT! I said put it on the SMALL FADER! You're never gonna be anything more than a patchbay monkey if you don't pay attention! Go get me some coffee!"
Or at least, that's what I think he said. I was watching for a few minutes, and I saw a Night At The Beach. It's nice to see the curse of the SSL is still alive and kicking in this PT age. Analog Industries Cred Check: free Audio Damage plugin to the first person that can give me screenshots of both "A Night At The Beach" and "A Day In The Jungle." Thanks to Stacy Feron for the link.
---
## Ian lays down the slap...
- Date: 2007-04-07
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/04/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 ways towards explaining why I can make the above statement. It might be handy to read the [backstory](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/21/AR2007012101192.html) to provide some context for his comments. Having played the Black Cat and the 9:30 many, many times, I do have a certain feeling for the city and what he's talking about.
---
## Best Wurli Model?
- Date: 2007-04-07
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/04/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 electro-mechanical instruments inasmuch as it is relatively easily and accurately modeled. What is your favorite Wurli modeling VSTi? I'd be okay with a sample set as well, as long as it was Halion, or came with a player.
---
## Fun With AU Validation Tool...
- Date: 2007-04-06
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/04/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 protection files, and thus won't work.
[](https://analogindustries.com/images/blog/disk_utility.png)
The fix is quite easy, for those new to OSX or just not familiar with it. Open Applications/Utilities/Disc Utility, highlight your main drive in the left hand panel, then hit the button labeled "Repair disk permissions." After a minute or two of grinding, you're good to go. Or so it would seem.
Logic, unlike the other large AU hosts Live and Digital Performer, caches AudioUnit effects. The reasoning behind this is not entirely clear to us. However, the result is. When you add a new AudioUnit, Logic tests it with AU Validator, and if it passes, it imports the AU to its own folders and uses that version rather than the one in your Library/Audio/Plugins/Components folder. It will continue to use that version until it sees one in the Components folder that has a higher version number than the one it has cached. So if you installed Dubstation 1.0.0, then re-installed it, nothing would change in Logic. But if you installed 1.0.1, Logic would flush its cache, test the new one, and either use it, or fail Dubstation altogether if it didn't pass. For what it's worth, it doesn't make any sense to us, either.
Long story short, as a result of this caching "feature" of Logic, sometimes when you repair permissions, a plugin _still_ won't work, because it has the same version number; even if you re-install it, it won't have any effect, because Logic didn't flush its cache because the version number was the same. There is a simple solution to this issue, though.
[](https://analogindustries.com/images/blog/logic_grab.png)Open Logic Pro->Preferences->Start Logic AU Manager. This, despite the name, is basically a UI front-end for the terminal program AU Validation Tool. When you do this, Logic has to quit, so make sure your project is saved, blah, blah, blah. When you've clicked through, you're rewarded with this stuff:
[](https://analogindustries.com/images/blog/au_val.png)
Now, note the "RESCAN" buttons on the right. When a plugin isn't working in Logic, it will be greyed out here. After you do your "Repair disk permissions" operation, this will still be greyed out. Whack that "RESCAN" button for the plugin that isn't working, and a terminal window pops up with the AU Validation Tool results. Chances are, the plugin will now work, and will no longer be greyed out. As soon as you quit Logic AU Manager, Logic will re-start, and you're good to go. If this isn't the case, copy the text from that window and include it in your "what the fuck?" email to the plugin manufacturer, because they can tell a lot about your system, versions, and what is going wrong from that text.
And one more thing. You'll note that I said that Logic AU Manager was a front-end for the terminal program AU Validation Tool. You can run the AU Validation Tool by itself, without even starting Logic. This may be handy if you're a developer (in which case you probably already know this) or you're troubleshooting a plugin, or whatever.
To do all this, open up a terminal window. There are many commands you can use to view and test your AudioUnit plugins with the command line; I'll give you a couple of the most useful ones. Just type these in a terminal window as they appear, and they'll drive AU Validation Tool without any fuss nor muss:
**auval -a** This lists your AudioUnits, and shows some information about them. You'll need to know the four-letter/digit tags associated, so you'll need to use this. You can see in the image above that there are three four-character tags associated with each effect. Looking at Reverence, you'll note that it says "aufx ADRe AuDa" before the company and plugin name. "aufx" is the type of plugin. "ADRe" is the four-character ID code we register with Apple for the plugin, and "AuDa" is our company code.
**auval -h** This brings up the help file; spend some time with this, as there are a \_lot\_ of command line options with AUval; it is quite a handy tool.
**auval -v TYPE SUBT MANU** In this case, substitute "TYPE SUBT MANU" for the 12-character code you got with the -a command above, and AU Valitation Tool will run the validation for that plugin. So, to run the validation for Reverence, I would type:
_auval -v aufx ADRe AuDa_
The Validation Tool would then perform the full validation, just as if it was initiated from Logic AU Manager. This is especially handy for developers, but useful to all users if you're not sure why a plugin isn't working.
Anyways, that's the gist of it. There are many, many more options with AU Validation Tool, and any power user would benefit from spending some time fooling with it.
---
## The Story With The Store...
- Date: 2007-04-06
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/04/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 point where one could say it was nearing completion, which is exciting/nightmarish. Our current store uses the freely available OS Commerce back end, with some modifications. Our new store is custom from the ground up, and is expressly written to deal with how a company like Audio Damage moves product. Here are some of the features:
1\. New license engine. The OSC store didn't really have a reg code thing in it, so our current mechanism for delivering and dealing with reg codes is something of a hack. The new license engine is far more sophisticated. One of the interesting features is that a customer can complete an entire license transfer without any intervention from us. So no more jumping through hoops to transfer your AD license to someone else; you just click the "transfer this license" link, enter in the new person's username, and blammo, it's done. A lot of other license control for us specifically that the user doesn't see, to make it easier to deal with NFRs, refunds, etc. as well. It is a fairly involved system, but perfectly suited to Audio Damage's needs.
2\. The customer will get both platforms in his/her locker automagically. With the way the OSC store was set up, in order to give a customer who purchased the OSX version the Windows version, I had to do it manually. Now, both versions will be in your locker.
3\. Large FAQ. We finally got around to writing a FAQ. It is in three sections (before, during, and after purchase, basically), is an amusing read in its own right, and deals with all of the common questions we get in the AD Mailbox. This will make life easier for our Asian customers and early-rising Europeans, as I tend to only answer inquiries when I'm, like, awake and stuff.
Now that I've written all that out, it doesn't seem that impressive, but as I said, this store is written from the bare walls, so it has been a lengthy process, needless to say. Maybe another month or so before it is actually live, which we will announce with much banner waving and fanfare, of course.
---
## TC Nova delay...
- Date: 2007-04-04
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/04/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,](http://www.tcelectronic.com/NovaDelay) it has features cribbed from what is, in my oh-so-humble opinion, the best digital delay unit of all time, the 2290. (I would still like to have one of these, and as soon as I see one that isn't prohibitively expensive, it's coming home with me.)
This, like at least one of the other new TC pedals, is obviously direct competition for the Eventide Timeworks pedal. I have to admit that it gave me some food for thought, even though I've already decided to purchase a Timeworks as soon as they are available. No MIDI, unlike the Timeworks, and that's a bit of a drag, but it has a crafty method for beat-syncing delays which some people (people who, unlike me, haven't memorized bpm to ms charts; in other words, people with a life) may find quite useful.
Don't know what it costs yet, but judging from the feature set, and the price of its companions, I believe it will come in under the Timeworks by a significant margin. I have to say that my heart still belongs to Eventide, who can do no wrong in my book. It's a good time to be a fan of delays, though, I'll say that much.
---
## Prism Orpheus v. Apogee Rosetta 800 = Fatality...
- Date: 2007-04-03
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/04/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 something we can't get along with.
Product details [here](http://www.prismsound.com/music_recording/products_subs/orpheus/orpheus_home.php), but in a nutshell, it's an 8 I/O FW interface with four mic pres and some nice monitoring features. This is basically a much higher end iteration of the Apogee Ensemble feature set, only not OSX-centric. Of course, for the price (?2500 is the going rumor) you could buy two Ensembles, so there's that. But for a single rack space 8 I/O with four mic pres, FW, and ADAT I/O, this is going to be as good as you're gonna get. Costs about the same as a Rosetta 800 if you bought four mic pres to go with it, so the price is in line.
From the provided materials, and assuming it has the same quality as all other Prism converters, this might be the way to go for the top-flight home studio. (Or a small commercial room, post room, or jingle factory.) My way of thinking is thus: life is far too short to spend any time worrying whether your audio I/O is up to snuff. You might as well just start at the top of the market, which is de facto snuff.
**EDIT:** Actually, in thinking about it, this unit does have some problems. Like: S/PDIF? Yuck. I don't care about the lack of S/MUX ADAT, but the sort of person that would buy this unit (e.g. me) has top-end kit already, and S/PDIF is not in that equation. If I was Prism, I'd get rid of the entire existing digital section, and make it a card that could be either DSUB AES or ADAT S/MUX (since people rarely need both.) But I'm not Prism, so it's just left to ponder.
---
## EMI Hops On Clue Bus, Yet Gets Off At Wrong Stop...
- Date: 2007-04-03
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/04/emi-hops-on-clue-bus-yet-gets-off-at-wrong-stop/
You've no doubt heard [this](http://apnews.excite.com/article/20070402/D8O8J5G80.html) 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 play in all media players and not just iTunes, to the tune (pun intended) of an extra thirty cents. Aren't they magnanimous?
Now, just to be on the record about this, I don't care what the majors do with their catalogs. They can make their customers have to reach down the throat of a rabid coyote to try and grab a song wrapped in rusty razor wire, then sue that customer for cruelty to animals for all I give a fuck. The way I look at it, the consumer is usually quite willing to be fucked, as long as he/she is lubed up good and squishy first. No, what I take issue with are these two choice quotes. First, from EMI's CEO, Eric Nicoli:
_"Consumers tell us overwhelmingly that they would be prepared to pay a higher price for digital music that they could use on any player. It is key to unlocking and energizing the digital music business."_
Really. Actually, Eric (if I might be so informal,) the key to unlocking and energizing the digital music business is coming to the drastic realization that the MEDIUM is NOT the MESSAGE. The digital music business IS the music business, retard. Your business would be energized if you stopped spending so much money on Coldplay and started developing artists again. And that leads us to this choice nugget from our good friend Mr. Jobs:
_"Doing the right thing for the customer going forward is to tear down the walls that impede interoperability."_
Hey, I've got an idea: make Logic use the same fucking plugin format as everyone else, you fucking turtleneck-wearing burnout.
Okay, rant done. Discuss.
---
## Oops...
- Date: 2007-04-01
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/04/oops/
(Via [Get Lofi](http://www.getlofi.com/))
---
## Vacating...
- Date: 2007-03-29
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/03/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 discussion.
---
## This Amon Tobin record...
- Date: 2007-03-27
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/03/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, eclectic tastes aside, I'm usually a latecomer to the "latest and greatest" electronic acts, simply not having enough time in the day to sift through all the dreck to find the diamonds.)
Whether you like the whole slice-n-dice thing or not, this record _sounds_ fantastic. He mixed in Cubase, but summed with an Apogee DA16/Chandler Mini Mixer rig, through a Manley Massive Passive. The difference in sound quality between this record and another of its ilk done totally ITB (I'll use Forss' excellent "Soulhack" as example) is quite vast. The analog processing really knocks the edges off the inherently digital nature of this sort of music. Anyone that doesn't think there's any difference between mixing ITB and using a system like this is quite simply deaf, plain and simple.
In any event, this is a fucking phenomenal mix job for an electronic album; very pleasant and non-fatiguing to listen to. Two thumbs up.
---
## Messe Rumors...
- Date: 2007-03-26
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/03/messe-rumors/
MusikMesse starts tomorrow, the great grandpa of all music-related trade shows. Any rumors of New Hotness you know about? [Apple Insider](http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=2603) thinks that a new iteration of Logic is coming out tomorrow. According to them, Apple's briefing with retailers should be taking place right about now, so I imagine we'll have leaks here in a couple hours.
Other than that, anything exciting coming that anyone wants to share juicy tidbits about?
---
## Acid Screamer...
- Date: 2007-03-24
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/03/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 fellow](http://www.analoguerenaissance.com/TS303/1) has made a distortion box specifically for shredding the 303. The sound samples tell the story. Pertinent to your work? Hard to say; I'll let you be the judge of that. Thanks to Wim for the heads-up.
---
## M-Audio fucking sucks...
- Date: 2007-03-22
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/03/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 beta for a year, and actually released for two months. Time to hop on the driver bus, bitches.
Who has a MIDI interface that works in Vista with Cubase 4? Tell me about it, and I will buy it today.
---
## Replication...
- Date: 2007-03-22
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/03/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 follows:
1\. Clicking when the audio engine switches from the "live" feed to the "loop" feed and back when in duck mode. This was caused by the audio engine switching streams at something other than zero crossings. A very quick fade (on the order of a millisecond or two) on the in and out of the "live" feed solved this problem. **FIXED.**
2\. Clicking in the looping engine itself, caused by loops that are cut at something other than zero crossing points. Apparent in mix mode, but obvious in duck and send. This was solved by recording a very quick fade at the beginning and ending of loops as they are recorded. (There was already one on the beginning; we just put one on the end.) **FIXED.**
3\. Clicking when audio first enters a filter, and that filter is anything but wide open. This occurs in all three modes. We haven't figured out why this is happening yet. **FIXED,** sort of. We got the filter popping fixed, but Replicant Whack-A-Mole means that we created a new problem with this. Whee.
4\. Clicking when the following conditions occur: loop length is set to anything larger than 1/16, and a retrigger occurs mid-loop. Say you have triggers on steps one and three, and the loop length is set to 1/4 note. Obviously, step three is only 1/8th note, or half of the desired loop length. So the loop will only play half-way before getting retriggered. Thus it isn't able to play the fade-out that was recorded to fix the clicks in instance #2, noted above. This one is the biggest bear of all, and we're not sure how to address it, as in order to play a crossfade, the plugin would have to know that a random trigger is going to occur on a given step. In normal programming, this click can easily be avoided. But when you're using heavy randomization of the loop length, and the sequencer mode is set to "retrigger," you get a lot of these.
So, here's what we're going to do: we're going to release an update shortly that has the first and second instances (which are currently unavoidable) fixed, but not the third and fourth (which are more or less avoidable, except in certain circumstances.) We'll continue working on this exclusively, and release another update when we have fixed the third and fourth instances.
As I mentioned on KvR, we designed this plugin with drum slicing in mind, and it didn't really occur to us that it would see such heavy use on other material. We didn't rush the release of this product; we don't rush any of our products. We release them when we feel they do what we want them to; Replicant is perfectly capable of slicing straight-time drum loops _ad nauseum_, and you'll never hear a click that will be more apparent than the program material. Using it on sustained material is certainly feasible in its current state, but you have to remember that it is, as I've mentioned previously, like drying your cat in the microwave. It \_can\_ do it, but it isn't very good at it. The final revision will basically have the entire looping engine re-written to allow it to excel at slicing sustained material, so the cat will dry un-harmed.
---
## Dumpster Diving...
- Date: 2007-03-21
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/03/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](http://www.pronobozo.com/) sent me a picture of this honker which came to his possession in just such a manner. What that white thing on top is anyone's guess. Perhaps pronobozo will enlighten us. Clickies for much, much bigger.
So, what's your best garage sale find? I haven't had a spectacular one, truthfully. I did buy a 303 off of a fucktard in one of our opening bands for $150, then the very next day took it to Rogue Music and sold it to them for $1000 cash. (They no doubt sold it to some Japanese uber-analog otaku for twice that the following day.) But I don't think that really counts because I didn't actually keep the gear. If I had bought the 303 for $150 and kept it, it would probably qualify.
---
## What a beauty...
- Date: 2007-03-20
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/03/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 consider it. Historical significance, looks, and a big fat bottle of Mojo to go with it. Anyways, many pictures and some information [here.](http://www.synthtech.com/moog/moogsale.htm) Hey, Paul, if you don't get the offer you're looking for, I have plenty of room to store that thing for you...
---
## 10.4.9
- Date: 2007-03-17
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/03/10-4-9/
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 a simple answer. It doesn't need to devolve in to a Mac v. PC or Intel v. PPC or OSX v. OS9 debacle. Quite frankly, I could give a fuck, and will be liberal with my kill button.
---
## HCGP...
- Date: 2007-03-15
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/03/hcgp/
While we're on the subject of Virb, visit Ethan Callender's [page](http://www.virb.com/dissolver) there, and look at the pictures. He has Oberheim stuff and a rack-mount CR78. Pretties!
---
## Phillip Glass, meet Nora...
- Date: 2007-03-12
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/03/phillip-glass-meet-nora/
_\[Embedded media, no longer available.\]_
---
## Audio Damage update...
- Date: 2007-03-10
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/03/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 fact, I think he'd be happier if I didn't put up anything at all until it's actually on sale, truth be told) and it's usually a good thing, as the controls go through several revisions before we actually decide on what a given plug is going to do, unless it is a slavish clone like Phase Two or 914.
In any case, Dr. Device is working well enough that I'm now comfortable telling you what it _is,_ exactly. It will be a multi-mode filter and a stereo delay, that handiest of combinations. There are several things that will set Dr. Device apart from the dozens of similar products out there. In no particular order:
1\. We've spent quite a bit of time on the filters, which are tuned for musical usefulness rather than any particular model. So our 4 pole lowpass flavor is something that makes me particularly happy; I can't say "hey, it's just like the filter in the Prodigy," because it's not. It is a custom design which has features that I like in a filter. There are seven filter models in all that comprise what we feel are the general filter toolbox of an electronic musician.
2\. The delay section is, for all intents and purposes, a two-tap true stereo Dubstation, and that's something that will make a lot of people happy. It also has a clean mode, which we have laughingly referred to as "digi" mode (ironic inasmuch as all plugins are inherently digital, of course), where the filters that are part and parcel to the Dubstation feedback sound are removed.
3\. All normal controls can be addressed by an X/Y pad. However, that's like saying "Diamond Dave is prone to rambling." It's an incredible understatement. This X/Y pad, which I'll talk about in a future installment, is a thing of beauty, and goes far beyond simple "click and drag" adjustment. The negative (for me) is that the Power Of The Pad won't be immediately obvious from a screenshot, so I can see a video demo in my future, and that's gonna be a pain in the ass.
All that said, we're not that close to an alpha state (there aren't even any knobs on the UI at this juncture) and the plugin is barely usable at this point, so I can't even really give you an audio demo, and definitely not a prospective release date. Adam is going on vacation at the end of the month, and by default I will be as well (Oregon Shakespeare Festival, here I come!) and we're hoping to be in beta by that time, but at the rate things are going... well, we'll see.
---
## Play that funky music, white boy...
- Date: 2007-03-07
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/03/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](http://www.slowearth.com/) just gave me a heads-up to this fellow. Personally, I find the actual music to be a bit on the weak side, but as a drummer, this dude is sick.
---
## Open Thread...
- Date: 2007-03-06
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/03/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 I've just been lying about all weekend.
3\. We're mostly caught up in developing Dr. Device; mainly this involves building filter models at this point. I think we've got a fairly musical selection of filters going here now; some touching up to do but we're almost there. The main breakthrough was coming up with a 4PLP ("Moog" filter) that self-oscillated, and who's self-oscillation didn't sound like a swarm of West Nile Virus-carrying mosquitoes. Adam managed to turn my vague comments (e.g. "this filter would be my friend if it didn't buzz so fucking much") in to a pretty damned good LPF, I think.
In any case, Open Thread. What's on your mind?
---
## Steampunk Guitar...
- Date: 2007-03-02
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/03/steampunk-guitar/
I don't recall seeing this on [MusicThing,](http://musicthing.blogspot.com/) 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,"](http://steampunkworkshop.com/steampunk-strat.shtml) and I don't know what I was expecting, but this isn't it. Basically, he made a pickguard with a nice design on it out of acid resist circuit board material. Now, that said, this is kind of a nifty solution if you want to make a custom pickguard. Check out the rest of his site for some other crafty things.
Note that site is getting hammered by Make:Blog because of the keyboard mod thing, so the tubes are a little bit clogged over there. Slow as hell, long story short.
---
## Good sweet baby jesus...
- Date: 2007-03-02
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/03/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 pap one tiny bit. And I don't care for Rufus Wainwright the other tiny bit. However, I have two questions:
1\. Who was the bass player at that gig? I assume it's the same one on the album.
2\. What the fuck was up with his tone? It was a large helping of pwncakes covered in awesome sauce. It was completely off the hook, the best live bass sound I've ever heard. The sound on the Jools Holland show is uniformly spectacular to begin with, but this bass sound just grabbed me by the ears and jammed its knee in to my face. Holy shit.
Now, caveat: I've listened to the album version, and it isn't near as huge. Anyone know who that guy is and how he gets that shit? Must... have... now...
---
## Some more C4 impressions...
- Date: 2007-03-01
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/03/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 really, they're DirectX, so who the fuck cares?
2\. The new synths pretty much suck ass. Note to Steinberg: go buy a copy of Logic, look at all the included synths, and rip them off. Seriously. The new synths actually suck \_more\_ than the old synths, IMO. I think someone from Native Instruments consulted on the note priority of the polyphonic ones, because it's just as odd as their stuff. Maybe I'm in the minority, but when I play a four-note chord, I kind of have a hard-on for all four notes playing. Or at least the same three playing consistently.
3\. Stability and CPU usage in general is down quite a bit. There are notable exceptions; the amp simulator plugin rocks my CPU to the tune of 30% or more. That's a little bit unnecessary, I think. But in general, it feels firmer.
4\. I feel like they reworked the audio engine a bit. I can't honestly give any empirical evidence in this regard, but it sounds \_tighter\_ to me, and the summing is a little bit less murky. I A/B'd the same project in Nuendo 3 and Cubase 4, and the summed result definitely sounded a bit clearer and tighter in C4. This is purely subjective, of course.
5\. I like the preset browser for the VST3 plugs. I also like the new export window, and most of the other bells and whistles that comprise the majority of the upgrade. I still haven't tried the Studio Manager thingy, so I can't speak to that.
In general, I feel that C4 is a step in the right direction. No major problems to report, and it seems happy in Vista.
---
## Famicon fuckin' wrawks!
- Date: 2007-02-27
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/02/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, and do a really nice job of it. Whether the Famicon console beats Ikea tabletops for figuring and tone is open to conversation, but there's no inherent tone that can make it through a Line 6 Pod anyways, so it's really academic at this point. [Go forth](http://homepage3.nifty.com/mitsumatsu/guitar/005FC/005FC_1.htm) and ponder.
---
## Cubase 4 Initial Impressions...
- Date: 2007-02-26
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/02/cubase-4-initial-impressions/
[](https://analogindustries.com/images/blog/cubase4.png)
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 otherwise all seems to be in order. The two major problems I was having with Nuendo in Vista (the entire graphics system not updating for 10 seconds about every 40 seconds chief among these) seem to be solved, and some minor annoyances as well. All in all Cubase 4.0.1 seems to be happy with Vista.
I'll put up some more thorough thoughts after I've spent a little time with the new features. I haven't tried out the synths, and I haven't looked at the studio manager, and these are the only major differences between Nuendo 3 and Cubase 4, as far as I'm concerned. If anyone has any specific questions, I'd be happy to attempt an answer.
---
## Affordable Solutions For Better Living...
- Date: 2007-02-24
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/02/affordable-solutions-for-better-living/
Zachary Guitars. Ikea blank table tops. A match made in Heaven. Or something. Details are [here,](http://www.zacharyguitars.com/120300pics.htm) 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 the text is written this thing blows [Blackie](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackie) out of the water, it certainly seems like a reasonable DIY solution. One I hadn't thought of, that's for sure.
---
## Open Thread...
- Date: 2007-02-23
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/02/open-thread-2/
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, which will fix my MIDI issues (hopefully) and I don't want to start anything new until I've dealt with that.
So, our open thread topic for this week. One of the most common letters I get goes something like this:
_"Hey, Chris: I know you get a lot of songs in TV shows and video games, and that's what I want to do. Can you hook a brother up?"_
This is the one area in which I'm generally unwilling to help people out, and I would think the reasons are obvious. My wife and I have spent almost a decade building our list of consistent placement contacts, and it is probably the single most valuable thing we own. Sharing it is quite simply out of the question. I know several other people that do what I do in some fashion, be it for a production music house, scoring, or placement of existing songs (the latter is what we do) and they're all like us, inasmuch as there's no fucking way they're gonna drop names.
Is this a bad thing? Hard to say. This is a competitive business, and there are always more people out there willing to poop out music than people that have a place for it. What I do know is that reading shit like [this](http://www.record-producer.com/learn.cfm?a=3785) is a big fat waste of time.
---
## And next on the agenda...
- Date: 2007-02-22
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/02/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 that can accurately scratch that fast. At least, not in Mill City, Oregon. There's a 32-bar solo section and some transitional stuff. Drop me [a line](mailto:chris@positronrecords.com) if you have the requisite skillz and wouldn't mind helping out. Credit only, but I'd owe you one, and surely that's worth something.
---
## Bah....
- Date: 2007-02-21
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/02/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 and vice-versa.
What a fucking day.
Things like this are the reason that musicians become alcoholics and drug addicts, I swear to christ. Personally, I just scream "SHIT!" and punch the wall repeatedly. Same net effect, really.
---
## Cubendo...
- Date: 2007-02-21
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/02/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 available that Vista can recognize as such for my MIDI interface (M-Audio MIDIsport 2x2) so I'm stuck using the MIDI ports on my Novation Remote. However, recording MIDI that comes in through the Novation is odd; note-offs aren't making it through the clutter and the time stamping is fucked.
So, that's probably minor. The next bit is not. Nuendo can't export audio. By that, I mean that export->audio file doesn't work. You get the file/format browser, then when you select "okay," no matter what format, it just goes back to normal operation without rendering anything. I haven't been able to find any information on this particular issue, so I just nutted up and bought Cubase 4. Yes, I'm the sort of person that buys a new car when the old one gets a flat tire, apparently.
Long story short, you'll get a Crandall-flavored review of Cubase 4 in a few days.
**MEA CULPA:** I'm a retard. There was one checkbox which is usually ticked which wasn't. Nuendo renders fine in Vista. So ignore basically everything I just wrote. However, Cubase 4 is still ordered.
---
## All Apologies...
- Date: 2007-02-20
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/02/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.
---
## Audio Damage update...
- Date: 2007-02-15
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/02/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 to write some custom controls to take in to account some wacky ideas I had, but that is now done, and we're just moving in to normal development.
---
## Open Thread...
- Date: 2007-02-15
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/02/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 could interchangeably be my favorite band ever, depending on mood and context. The one thing all of the artists have in common is the fact that they have deep catalogs; otherwise, they couldn't be more dissimilar. My list, for posterity, and in no particular order: Agent Orange, Killing Joke, Prince, Pink Floyd, Public Enemy, The Police, Tom Waits, Underworld, Otis Redding, Neubauten, and I think that's about it right now.
Quite frankly, I think I'm about over Pink Floyd. I've listened to them too much. That happened to the Beatles as well, and they're no longer my Favorite Band Ever either. And for the record, I CAN NOT STAND Synchronicity . I'm not one of those Johnny-Come-Lately Police fans that gets a hard-on from a Synclavier arpeggio.
---
## Things To Buy Real Soon Now...
- Date: 2007-02-13
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/02/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:
[](http://www.analoguehaven.com/moog/mf107/)
**Moog MF107 Freq Box.** I don't know why this thing appeals to me so much, but I literally can not wait until it comes out. It occurred to me that with this, the ring mod, the LPF, and the phaser, I'm actually dangerously close to having a modular synth again, something I swore off semi-permanently last year. Well, as long as I don't buy a MIDI-CV converter, I'm still safe, right?
[](http://www.analoguehaven.com/eventide/timefactor/)
**Eventide TimeFactor.** I already have an Eclipse so this is somewhat superfluous, as there is literally nothing in this box that the Eclipse can't/doesn't do. However, it's an Eventide delay in pedal form, and it will finish off my Analog Effect nicely, and I even have the perfect spot for it, and it's such a pretty blue...
[](http://www.analoguehaven.com/waldorf/blofeld/)
**Waldorf Blofeld.** Essentially a Microwave Micro Q in a desktop form-factor, with some extra shit, right? In any case, I like desktop units because I can just keep 'em all on a shelf and pull the one I need out, and they all occupy the same footprint.
So, those are the next additions to my lil' studio that you'll be hearing about as they become available. What's on your List?
---
## Vista Fiesta, Rnd. 2...
- Date: 2007-02-12
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/02/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 didn't recognize right off the bat were the Lynx AES/16 (which I knew would happen) and my SATA RAID. In the former case, I installed the WinXP driver, which appears at a cursory examination to be working, and in the later, I was able to get beta Vista drivers from the manufacturer's website, which work fine.
I installed my existing versions of Photoshop and Nuendo, and they appear to be fine. Then I spent an hour or so on the initial stages of tuning it. This is where I've made some nice discoveries. There are many features that can be controlled out of the box in Vista that required, say, TweakUI or something similar in XP. Almost everything I would normally tune has a control panel in Vista. It may be five or ten clicks deep, but it's there. The layout of things is also a bit more logical. I haven't had to hit Google yet to find something.
Once I turned all the Aero bullshit off, I'll make the initial note that Vista appears to run a bit more, uh, what? Firmly? Quickly? Dunno. But I do like the general lay of the land at this point. I'll continue tuning tonight, and take the initial foray in to getting the audio fine-tuned (I'm a bit nervous about that, as it doesn't feel right) but I'll run a qualified "it's all good" banner up the flagpole at this juncture.
**Caveat emptor:** I'm a very old hand with PCs, having used them since there was "PC." I've been building my own for 20 years. And I'm a software developer. So don't think because it's easy for me, it'll be easy for you. And I would **strongly** suggest you follow the old axiom that if it ain't broke, it don't need to be fixed. There is _nothing_ in Vista that would make an audio PC better that I can see. The only reason I installed it is because I had to, and I would strongly caution any audio user that uses Windows against doing the same. But if you have to, it's doable, if your system is in good shape to begin with.
**EDIT:** Got all my plugins installed and everything tuned, and all seems right with the world. Dev environment next, but it seems to be swell. Things are a bit faster overall; I think they did some work on the snappiness of windows and such. Nuendo loaded cold in about 45 seconds in XP; it takes about 30 seconds in Vista on the same computer. Nothing doesn't work that I can tell.
---
## Fucktard Of The Week...
- Date: 2007-02-10
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/02/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](http://www.record-producer.com/learn.cfm?a=3765), a word to the wise: if you've never worked in the actual music industry in London, NYC, or L.A., (and I don't mean a weekend laptop gig at the Dragonfly, but actual session work) this is going to be outside your realm of experience, and thus uninteresting. If you have, you'll know immediately that this Urban Myth Of The Music Industry is just a steaming pile of bullshit. But it'll be good for a belly laugh.
---
## Vista Fiesta...
- Date: 2007-02-08
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/02/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 broke..." school of thought as regards to PC upgrading.) I can't realistically install it until Lynx releases Vista-compatible ASIO drivers, but I can admire the packaging which, while somewhat byzantine, is quite slick.
Anyways, expect a complete and thorough bitch session once I get this shit shoehorned in to my computer.
---
## Some interesting free plugs...
- Date: 2007-02-08
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/02/some-interesting-free-plugs/
A whole mess of free Windows VST plugs from a new kid on the block called [Antress.](http://antress.myweb.hinet.net/) The GUIs of the "Vintage Edition" are quite slick; note that the guy that made these almost certainly made the plugs without the real units there, but rather programmed them based upon reading about them. These sound absolutely nothing like their real counterparts, so don't think you're getting a free LA2A plug that actually emulates an LA2A or anything. You're getting a plug that _looks_ like an LA2A, but is basically a distortion unit that sort of compresses.
I get the impression they're coded in something other than C++, or something other than VSTGUI, or both, as there is a long pause before they're instanced, like the plug is loading a library of some sort. I didn't feel like checking dependencies, so that's just my gut instinct.
Anyways, all that said, they're certainly okay for freebies, and do have some interesting potential for experimentation, I suppose. The only real keeper of the bunch is the "Modern Analoger" plug, which is some sort of tube/tape/phat simulator. It does a nice number on a drum buss, and if you're feeling adventurous, you could maybe lay it across a 2-buss if you were gentle with it. They're all free, but this one is maybe a bit free-er than the rest.
**EDIT**: Never mind. These are done in Synthmaker, and he stole the UIs from UA. So don't bother.
---
## Retards Keep Mailing Me. Please Stop.
- Date: 2007-02-07
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/02/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 also get a lot of "hot tips" from guerrilla marketing companies (ones that obviously aren't very good), Google Farm pages, and the like. This morning I was blessed with this:
_Hello
I've found something on the internet that could be a good material for a blog post in your Music Blog. Take a look at "Top 10 Techy Sunglasses with Mp3 Players"_
_Have a great day_
_Best regards, Micle Mihai Cristian._
I left the link out, because I can't be bothered, quite frankly. So I actually replied to this one, something I don't normally do:
_Why on earth do you think I or my readers would find that interesting?_
_Chris Randall
Positron Records, Inc._
A few minutes later, I get this back:
_Because is related to sound and music, and I'm sure they love everything related to this.Don't you ?_
Wouldn't it be nice if it was as simple as saying "you're a retard. Don't ever write me again?" (Which is exactly what I did.)
Another company that keeps writing me is an Indian software chop-shop that makes extremely dumbed-down versions of popular audio software (e.g. Soundforge, Cinescore, and the like.) They're as transparent as can be. They wrote me a month or two ago, offering NFR copies in exchange for a review on this site. I wrote back and said "listen, you _really_ don't want me to review your software. Seriously. Take a better look at AI." They're like "okay, but do you want NFR copies anyways?" I didn't answer that, then a week later I get exactly the same letter as their original communication.
So, this can be considered an open letter to all the fucking morons out there that read a "get rich on the internet" book: stop writing me. Seriously. I don't have anything nice to say about you, and never will. I'm not going to put a link up to your site unless you make high-end audio gear or did something phenomenally stupid. So go away.
---
## And The Hits Just Keep On Coming...
- Date: 2007-02-07
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/02/and-the-hits-just-keep-on-coming/
Dianne Feinstein [has Hollywood's cock in her throat](http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/004587.php), 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 anything but Indie music. Since that's its bread and butter any damned ways, this won't have a huge effect on our world, IMO. But it's amusing to watch these retards flopping around _still_ after 10 years of this.
---
## Need some thoughts on music?
- Date: 2007-02-07
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/02/need-some-thoughts-on-music/
Here's some: [blah, blah, blah.](http://www.apple.com/hotnews/thoughtsonmusic/)
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 line I've not seen in some time. This guy could sell sand to a Bedouin, I swear to christ.
As someone that sells music digitally (and software, for that matter) I'm of the firm opinion that is better to do without abusive DRM, and rely on the good graces of people and try to earn their respect, rather than assuming every single customer is a criminal from the word "go." Apple paints a pretty picture over this whole process, and to be fair, the only way they could get the catalog they have (which is by no means comprehensive, I'll add) was to do what they did, but nevertheless, my own personal fiscal success proves to me (and me alone; I don't expect it to prove anything to anyone else) that there are other ways. Mr. Jobs does nicely to put this burden on the consumer at the end of his open letter.
Now, all that said, I'm not one of the BoingBoing faithful (In fact, I would dearly love to spend ten minutes alone in a room with Cory Doctorow, beating him over the head with the ASCAP charter) and I'm not going to run around waving an "Information Must Be Free" banner. I follow the Gibson ethos: the street finds its own uses for things. Ultimately, it's up to the artist how he best wants to present his art to the world, and it's up to the consumer whether he wants to deal with whatever the artist decides to burden said art with. The marketplace has a magical ability to smooth such things out over time.
---
## Wanted: MC
- Date: 2007-02-05
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/02/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 timing and rhythmic sense.
2\. The ability to record your tracks at home or a local studio and send them to me as WAV or AIFF files. Unless you live in or near Mill City, Oregon, this'll have to be a long distance relationship so rudimentary studio chops and a broadband connection are necessary.
3\. A complete and utter lack of prima donna bullshit. I will be \_heavily\_ editing your performance, so if you're one of those "turn up my mic" types, don't even bother.
If all those things are agreeable, hit the contact link above and drop me a line. Conversations about compensation are fine, but if that's your first question, you and I don't have a lot to talk about.
---
## Give me your money.
- Date: 2007-02-03
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/02/give-me-your-money/
Okay, my new album is now available for purchase in [shopPOSI](http://shop.positronrecords.com/products/product.php?pid=posi020&aff=pablo). 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 version instantly, whether you want it or not. Same goes for [Bounte : One](http://shop.positronrecords.com/products/product.php?pid=posi021&aff=pablo), which is also available today, and will also ship on the 20th.
Sorry I didn't post anything else interesting today, but I was glued to Photoshop all damned day working on the UI for our next product. Something a little different this time; as far as I can tell, there isn't another plug out there that will do what this one does. Should be entertaining. I'll post more when we've finalized the design.
---
## Evolution...
- Date: 2007-02-01
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/02/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 a better value-for-money in the music industry than the tabletop Evolver, and that's a fact.
First nice thing I'll note, since I haven't really seen it mentioned in the reviews I read, is the construction quality. It is incredibly rare to be able to buy an electronic music instrument that was actually made in the USA any more, but quite frankly, I've seen other boxes in this price range that were far less capable that were made out of extruded plastic and sheet aluminum, so I fail to see where the cost-cutting comes in to play. This thing is _heavy_ and is made out of thick steel. High quality pots and a nice big display. I have no complaints whatsoever about the build quality. The panel is dense, and maybe a bit tricky to read in a live situation, but that's the only thing I could fault about the package itself.
Sound-wise, it is fantastic. The addition of the DCOs and the delay really make it sound contemporary, as opposed to other modern analogs, most of which I am not impressed with. There are some very crafty presets that make use of the feedback path of the on-board delays, and I thought of about 20 songs while I was sifting through the included sounds. In short, that's what a new synth is supposed to do. They don't all do it, that's for sure.
So, I'll have to spend a little time with it to be able to offer actual opinions about signal flow and programmability and such, but for now, it'll set me up just right. I'm fairly happy I bought this. Go [buy one](http://www.analoguehaven.com/davesmithinstruments/evolverdesktop/) now. Seriously. You'll thank me later.
---
## Multiple-Award-Winning...
- Date: 2007-02-01
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/02/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 one." Yay.
---
## Inverse Room Makes Me Happy...
- Date: 2007-02-01
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/02/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.](http://www.inverseroom.com/)
---
## RSS fixed...
- Date: 2007-02-01
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/02/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 me. Elle has given it a thorough going-over, and it even looks good in IE7, I'm given to understand.
Personally, I don't care for RSS. (Yes, I'd like a 10th of the information, and could you please give it to me in a nearly unreadable form? And take out all the pictures while you're at it? Thanks!) But for those of you that use that sort of thing, well, there you go. Feel free to let me know if there's any more problems with it, but be forewarned that I'll care as much as I've cared about every other letter that anyone has sent me regarding the RSS feed. Which is to say "you lost me at hello..."
---
## Some New Electronica...
- Date: 2007-01-31
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/01/some-new-electronica/
If you're in the market for some new electronica, check out our new artist [Bounte.](http://www.bounte.com/) His first album, "One," will be available in a week or so, simultaneously with mine. You can preview the entire album on LastFM [here.](http://www.last.fm/music/Bounte/One) Stylistically, it's hard to pin this one down. It has elements from several distinctly different genres, including IDM, a bit of house, big beat, and even (gasp, choke, the only time you'll see this word here...) prog. But in a cool ELP way, and not a gay-as-assless-chaps Dream Theatre way.
---
## Moving Day...
- Date: 2007-01-31
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/01/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 site](http://www.chrisrandall.net/) is now open for business. To quote [Jamie Zawinski,](http://jwz.livejournal.com/) "Dear industrial music: it's time we broke up. It's been over for years."
My new album is at the pressing plant as we speak; pre-orders and digital sales will be available in the next couple days. (We generally don't allow pre-orders until we have a ship date from the plant.) If you're at all curious as to what I've been up to in my studio over the past two years, the entire album is available for streaming on [LastFM,](http://www.last.fm/music/Chris+Randall/The+Devil+His+Due?autostart) so go have a listen if you've got nothing else to do. I'm all nervous now that it's out in the wild. I was supremely confident last week, but this week I'm concerned. Go figure. Let me just say that it's some nerve-wracking shit to try and pull a massive genre change off when you're an established artist.
One final note: the CR site is on posiNET, as is this one, so your login and password here will log you in there, if you feel like posting something pithy in the newsgroup.
---
## X-Treme DVD...
- Date: 2007-01-31
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/01/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, because they're usually PAL. Does any multi-media junky here have a DVD player that does both PAL and NTSC, and is it worth a shit? (And by "multimedia junky," I mean "bizarre Dutch man-boy bondage fetish junky," of course. I know how you guys are.)
**_Caveat:_** it has to shit NTSC out its output holes; I don't care 'bout PAL, because my TV doesn't understand it. Which is what got me in to this mess in the first place.
---
## Yard Sale!!!
- Date: 2007-01-28
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/01/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 home studio/office. I have the original box, manual, and packing material unless noted otherwise. Everything is in nearly-new condition unless noted otherwise.
**Clavia Nord Modular, first version (not the G2), rackmount
$500**
The original manual is somewhat out of date because Clavia updated the OS several times after I bought the unit. You can download a PDF of the current manual, the current editor, and great mounds of patches from Clavia's website. This comes with two bonuses, upon request: 1) a not-very-good book from Wizoo about programming it; 2) a pair of rack ears I fabricated from aluminum angle stock which position the unit somewhat more efficiently that the stock ears. The stock ears are included, of course. This item will have to ship double-boxed because the original packing is that nasty bagged-foam stuff that breaks down after one use.
**Electrix WarpFactory vocoder
$175**
A rather unusual vocoder based on IVL's pitch-tracking technology rather than the standard filter-bank topology of analog vocoders or the FFT approach used by nearly all software vocoders. (IVL was Electrix's parent company. I talked to one of the Electrix engineers at the NAMM show at which these units made their debut.) The faces of the knobs are oddly textured and show minor signs of wear that nobody would mention unless they were as obsessive as I am. This item will have to ship double-boxed because the original box is kind of flimsy.
**Korg AM8000R multi-effects processor
$200**
A somewhat obscure but very good-sounding effects unit, it has two independent processing sections plus a dedicated delay/reverb section. You can patch 'em together in different ways. The effects cover all of the usual stuff (delay, chorus, filtering, flanging, etc.) and some unusual things like a rather detailed Leslie simulator and a vowel filter. The rack ears probably have minor scratches from rack-mounting.
**Doepfer Drehbank, first version
$200**
The ultimate MIDI knobby box: 64 assignable knobs. This one was one of the first in the U.S., I think, and is NOT the same as the currently shipping version. The differences I'm aware of are: 1) it's a different color--sort of a DX7-ish brown; 2) it doesn't have the eight CV inputs which I believe were an added option at the time; 3) it doesn't have the same bank-switching buttons and LEDs It has a single pushbutton and one LED. Last time I checked it did work with the editor software available at Doepfer's website. In the interest of honesty I will mention that it sends spurious control-change messages even when you're not touching the knobs. A few of the knob values fluctuate back and forth by a single increment. I asked about this and Dieter Doepfer himself told me that they were aware of the problem but had no intention of fixing it. Slowing down the update rate of the knobs is supposed to reduce the problem. I have only the German manual--I bought this thing so early that they hadn't yet translated it--but there is an English PDF on Doepfer's site. The unit did not come with its own packaging; it was wrapped in bubble wrap, as I recall, so I won't be sending it in a box that says "Doepfer Drehbank" okay? It also did not come with a wall wart. It needs a 9V DC supply; I'll try to scrounge one up but tell me if you have one of your own and I'll knock $10 off the price.
**MXR phase 100, original (pre-LED) version, block lettering
$175**
Three disclaimers on this one: 1) I'm not the original owner of this unit--I got it second-hand, at least; 2) it has scratches and other signs of age and wear but seems to be completely functional; 3) I'm not a friggin' vintage guitar-pedal fetishist so I don't know everything there is to know about it but I'm happy to answer questions about it and provide a photo illustrating its condition if desired. The price is based on Chris's best guess.
**Zvex Lo-Fi Loop Junky
$275**
The idiosyncratic guitar-oriented looper pedal. This is a "scratch-n-dent" unit but as far as I can tell the only defect is a scratch about 1/2" long on the end with the input jack. Aside from that it's like-new; I used it very little, and not with my feet.
Terms:
\-I accept PayPal only. It's just simpler for all concerned. You pay me before I ship the item.
\-I can usually ship on the next business day. I can ship via UPS or USPS, your choice. You pay the actual cost of shipping which I will determine and provide for your approval.
\-I will ship only to United States addresses. Sorry, but I hate filling out customs forms and dealing with the uncertainty of overseas shipments.
\-FWIW, my eBay ID is studionebula if you want to look up my feedback. I take my online transactions very seriously as I recognize they require trust on the part of both parties.
Contact me via [private message](https://web.archive.org/web/2007/http://www.analogindustries.com/members/privmsg/?toid=1123623352827) here and I'll give you my email address for further communication.
---
## Hmmmm...
- Date: 2007-01-28
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/01/hmmmm/
[Bounte](http://www.bounte.com/index.jsp) 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](http://puredyne.goto10.org/) Linux distro, largely based upon Peter Kirn's repeated schilling, but also because I'm something of a masochist, apparently.
The main thing I learned is that there's something to be said for spending a bit of money. While it's fun to get all this jank for free and all, quite frankly, there isn't enough time in the day. I probably spent two hours trying to figure out how to make it so the mouse pointer didn't go across the entire screen when I moved my finger, say, a centimeter. (For what it's worth, I wasn't actually able to figure this out. I just gave up.) Then another hour spent trying to figure out where the example patches for PD are stored. I was finally able to get sound to come out of the computer, but by that time, I simply didn't care any more.
No offense to the FLOSS banner-wavers, but Jesus Christ, by the end of the process, I was willing to press "accept" on any damned EULA you put in front of me just to have a help file that said something besides "todo: write help file." Now, all that said, this is a fairly comprehensive package, and it's non-invasive. You just download the ISO, drag one of the folders to your hard drive, boot from the CD, and you're golden. No partitioning nightmares or configuration hell. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it's true. After 15 years, Linux is _almost_ to the point where you can, like, do something. But not really.
---
## Indie promoters...
- Date: 2007-01-27
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/01/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.
---
## Just when you thought it was safe to get back in the water...
- Date: 2007-01-25
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/01/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 eye:
_METALIEN iAXE629-MA USB GUITAR plugs straight into your PC or Mac computer without the need for any other hardware. The package includes "Guitar Combos BEHRINGER Edition" modeling software from Native Instruments, which turns your computer into a guitar amp._
Now, I can certainly understand the need to make a dollar or two. That makes perfect sense to me. Especially if you're broke. But there's this little thing called "pride," and quite frankly, I'm wondering how bad Native Instruments needs to make money at this point. I mean, really, now. Come on, guys.
---
## Open Thread...
- Date: 2007-01-22
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/01/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 haven't heard of yet? Parameters:
1\. No fucking trance.
2\. Good production is a must. While I'm not a fan of BT's normal output (no offense; I just don't care for it) I \_do\_ like "Madskillz - Mic Chekka." I really admire the time he put in to the production of that track. Stuff like that.
3\. I guess it's just those two.
---
## NAMM: Oxford Native...
- Date: 2007-01-19
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/01/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 replaced. Their music division continually inflicts terrible shit on an unsuspecting (and somewhat stupid) public, and is one of the leading lights of the "let's sue our customers" method of business. They're also the ones that thought it was a cool idea to deliver a payload of spyware when you tried to import your CD, and in the process broke a lot of people's computers.
Now, do the sins of the fathers pass on to their children? Dunno. I've mastered dozens of records using CD Architect, and still use it. Vegas is a fantastic cheap NLE for video. And the Oxford plugs are some of the highest quality plugins you could ask for. And now they're native. UB AU ships immediately, with VST around the corner. Expensive as shit. Quite frankly, I don't think I'll be buying them, but this is large-format-console quality EQ and dynamics, for sure, as both the EQ and compressor are lifted directly from the excellent OXF-R3 console. Info at [KvR.](http://www.kvraudio.com/news/6620.html)
---
## NAMM: Whoa....
- Date: 2007-01-19
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/01/namm-whoa/
Now we're talkin' my language. Eventide pedals. I don't even need to say more. I'll let their [site](http://eventidestompboxes.com/) do the hard work. $499 MSRP each.
---
## Some NAMM Stuff Any Damned Ways...
- Date: 2007-01-17
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/01/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 shown in the Analogue Haven booth. 'Tis a MIDI-controllable pair of SpeakJet voice synths in one box. I was remarking to Adam that if Audio Damage made hardware instead of software, this is the sort of thing we would make. Web page is [here,](http://www.shelaq.de/flame/start.htm) but only in German. Price TBA, but if I had to make an educated guess, I'd say between $400 and $600.
---
## Doh.
- Date: 2007-01-16
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/01/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](http://www.mailtribune.com/update/update.html#snowrestrictions) is a good reason to close I-5. After sitting unmoving on the highway breathing truck exhaust for two hours, we gave up and turned around.
So, instead of my NAMM report on Thursday, you'll get my Snowboarding Report.
---
## Gettin' Ready For NAMM...
- Date: 2007-01-15
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/01/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 that. So I won't be posting as such until Thursday. On trips like this, I generally post much more frequently on my SMG blog, which you can find [here,](http://www.sistermachinegun.com/blog.jsp) if you're at all interested in the less music-related aspect of our road trips, which can be quite comical at times.
I'm only going to be at the show one day, because I get the distinct impression that if I voluntarily spend more time than that at what is, for all intents and purposes, Memorial Day Guitar Center on amphetamines, I will most likely start mowing motherfuckers down, given my temperment to begin with. Now, that said, if there's anything in particular you guys want me to examine, now's the time to tell me. It should be fairly obvious as to the things I'm interested in, as they're all made by a reasonably small group of companies (Apogee, Eventide, Lexicon, Moog, et al) so if you want an in-depth review of some dumb-ass keytar or something, you need to go find another blogger.
So, with that out of the way, if you're going to be at the show, drop me a line with your booth number so I can come by and say "hi". I'll be getting email on all my accounts (both AD and Posi) on my fancy new SuperFone, so if you come by some information even day of that needs verification or some shit like that, don't hesitate to let me know about it.
---
## New Moogerfooger announced...
- Date: 2007-01-13
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/01/new-moogerfooger-announced/
Yay. A new Moogerfooger to add to [my collection!](https://analogindustries.com/2006/09/chock-full-of-moogy-goodness/) 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 number. I'm having a difficult time working up the nuts to buy the delay, something I don't really need. However, this bad boy will fit right in my system without any sort of trouble at all.
I assume the audio in [this YouTube video](http://youtube.com/watch?v=CSefAVUI5aw) is the sound of a drum loop running through the FreqBox.
---
## Accessorize...
- Date: 2007-01-11
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/01/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, and (b) you're lucky to find a MIDI cable at all in Fayetteville, North Carolina, never mind one that isn't HOSA.
So, after 12 years of touring, comprising a couple thousand shows, I have stacks and stacks of cables of all flavors, and most of them are HOSA. I plugged up a MIDI cable the other day, and it didn't work, and I was like "fuck it. I'm buying some nice MIDI cables." So today the UPS man left a box from Analog Haven on my porch, and in it were some [Mogami MIDI cables.](http://www.analoguehaven.com/cables/) These little bitches are \_nice\_, and that's about all I have to say on the matter. HOSA and Mogami both make MIDI cables the same way that Seiko and Breitling both make watches. They both tell time, but the Seiko is essentially disposable, while the Breitling is an heirloom.
---
## Oh, please, no...
- Date: 2007-01-08
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/01/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](http://rhodespiano.com/) up and everything, and since it's on the interwebs, you know it's true.
I have to say that the technical data on the preview page isn't exactly inspiring. I can't for the life of me figure out why a simple mechanical instrument would need a USB port and an LCD screen, so it makes me think that they may have tried to improve on an already good thing. The words "state of the art" appear twice in three bullet points, and since the original Rhodes was created in 1946, I'm wondering how much "state of the art" technology should really be applied.
However, I don't think it's a ROMpler. If it is, I swear to christ I'm gonna start fashioning a shiv.
Any other rumors we should all be aware of? I do know a certain effects maker is supposed to debut a new flagship, but other than that, I haven't heard about anything that would really qualify as "interesting."
---
## Replicant Progress Update...
- Date: 2007-01-04
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2007/01/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 Replicant either late today or early tomorrow. I'll mail the AD mailing list when it goes available, and note it here, of course.
---
## Happy New Year...
- Date: 2006-12-31
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/12/happy-new-year/
Here's my year-end round-up, in the event my opinions on such things have any creedence:
**BEST NEW PRODUCT: Moog Lil' Phatty.** If nothing else, this product is the best of 2006 simply because it put the final nail in the "ph == f" coffin. But that said, there's nothing about it not to like. Size, form factor, UI, sound, price, style all phan-phucking-tastic. There's no particular reason I haven't bought one yet. I will at some point.
**STUPIDEST NEW PRODUCT: Native Instruments Kore.** This is the absolute pinnacle of the phrase "solution in desparate search of a problem." I haven't played with one, because I can't be bothered to figure out what the fuck it does or why it exists.
**COOLEST PERSON IN THE MUSIC INDUSTRY: My wife.** She puts up with my bullshit, lets me spend ridiculous amounts of money on gear, runs a record label, makes web sites, mostly ignores the nearly constant kick drum thump eminating from my surroundings, regularly uses the name "Cunty McFuckstain" to describe people she doesn't like, and still manages to find time to bake a loaf of bread every three days. How the fuck did I get so lucky?
**BIGGEST FUCKING TOOL IN THE MUSIC INDUSTRY: K-Fed.** My first instinct would be to call it a tie between Diamond Dave 103 and that fucktard that runs Recordproducer.com. But really, both of those asscocks really pale in comparision to K-Fed. While I rarely bring him up here, he really is the biggest fucking tool in the music industry. There's no question.
So, that's my best and worst of 2006. What's yours?
---
## Mobile Fun...
- Date: 2006-12-28
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/12/mobile-fun/
Elle made me this simplified blog entry page so I could do live blogging from my phone. I'm just testing it out.
---
## Blues Lyrics...
- Date: 2006-12-27
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/12/blues-lyrics/
Are there any blues-format lyrics that haven't been already written like 71,255 times? I've got this song that has been kicking my ass for like 6 months. It's fully produced and done, but it doesn't have any vocals, because I haven't been able to think of something that isn't derivative of, like, every song ever.
This is especially annoying because it's the very last song for this album, and as soon as I get the vocals recorded, I can move my studio in to the house. (It's cold out here!) Fuck! Shit! Fuck!
**UPDATE:** Hey, look! The world's most useless [web page!](http://www.guitar9.com/columnist3.html) I knew I'd find it eventually.
---
## Total Kaoss...
- Date: 2006-12-26
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/12/total-kaoss/
It was requested that I provide a review of the Korg Kaoss Pad 3 I just received. Since there are about 300 proper reviews on the Interwebs that go in to some detail about the various aspects of the machine, I'll limit this to subjective opinions based upon a few days of use. So, in no particular order...
**1\. I/O:** The I/O on this machine is a joke. Just stereo RCA on the back, and a quarter-inch jack on the front that is ostensibly a "mic" input with a trim knob. This may be fine for a weekend warrior/DJ/whatever, but for a professional user, it's annoying in the extreme. Why on earth would I even own unbalanced RCA to balanced XLR or TRS cables? I wouldn't, because they're stupid. At least put 1/4" on there, so we can use normal TRS cables in a pinch, rather than building some adaptor contraption. Or SPDIF? Christ. This is, by far, the most annoying aspect of the machine, and was very nearly a deal breaker for me.
**2\. Delay Modulation:** This is another fairly annoying "feature". There is a delay that is always on, who's volume is controlled by the large slider on the left of the unit. The purpose of this delay is to ease the transition between "on" and "off" so you can play the effect or whatever. Not a bad idea in theory. However, the delay in question has some ridiculous modulation on it that kicks in after about the third repeat that sounds like a warped record. This is gay. Many of the real delay patches (all but two, actually) also have silly modulation in the tail, for what purpose I don't know. Whoever thought that was a good idea needs to have their head examined. Since you can't edit any of the patches, you can't take it out.
**3\. Aliasing:** most all of the clean patches have digital aliasing noise. When there is any modulation at all, there is also zipper noise. This isn't so obvious when you're rockin', but if your stock in trade is nice clean, sparse music, you're gonna hear it for sure. It sounds very "digital" as a result. Don't come here if you're looking for any sort of "analog" sound (the word "phat" comes to mind, even though it's not a word) because there ain't none.
**4\. The User Interface:** now we get in to something I actually like. The interface is incredibly well-laid-out. You're only two button presses from \_anything\_, which is nice for a live context. Since they used an LED display instead of an LCD, it isn't always obvious what the patches are about, so there's a bit of a learning curve. The X/Y pad actually displays the full patch names, but it takes a while for the whole thing to go by.
**5\. MIDI:** The MIDI features are comprehensive, both sending and receiving. You can play the sampler/looper engine via MIDI, which is nice, or record X/Y pad moves in your sequencer. All fine.
**6\. Sampling/Looping:** The implimentation of the sampling engine is kind of odd. I'm having a hard time getting loops to record without modulation in them, which is weird. Also, the A/D or D/A really sounds like ass on a platter, so what goes in and what comes out have no resemblance to one another. The most annoying feature is that if you play a bit of a loop, when you restart that loop, it starts at where you stopped it, not at the beginning. I'm sure there's some thought behind that, but I can't for the life of me see the reasoning.
In conclusion, for a $400 multi-effect, this is probably the worst deal on the planet. If you're looking at this to add to your effect arsenal, I might direct you to about 67 other devices that cost less and do more. For a live performance device, especially if you do some of the harder electronic styles, this unit is the _business._ I almost want to book a Micronaut show just to use it on stage. (Almost, but not really at all, actually.) As I said, these are subjective opinions. My love/hate thing I have going with this box is in its infancy.
---
## R. I. P. James Brown
- Date: 2006-12-25
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/12/r-i-p-james-brown/
---
## Happy Holidays...
- Date: 2006-12-24
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/12/happy-holidays/
---
## Question...
- Date: 2006-12-22
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/12/question/
What's a cheap-ass A/D - D/A converter with AES besides the M-Audio Flying Cow? Never mind my aversion to all things Digi, the Flying Cow has been discontinued. I could probably find one somewhere, but I'd rather just order something that's new and, like, supported.
I know we had this conversation before, but I have a Kaoss Pad 3 showing up tomorrow, and Korg, for some bizarre reason, seems to lack the intrinsic understanding that it's, like, 2006 or something and it's easy to throw a pair of SPDIF jacks on any random piece of gear. This thing has RCA jacks. (Really?) So I need to get a converter just for it, because my system isn't hacked together with some whack-ass DJ mixer. I'm not going to bother using an Apogee for something that is just going to do another conversion process with A/D/A of a \_much\_ lower spec, so I just want to throw a cheap-ass converter on there.
I \_suppose\_ I could live with SPDIF->RCA->SPDIF (in for a penny, in for a pound, right?) just to use the damned thing. But I'd prefer AES, so I don't have to go through the drama of converting the native AES of my system with some silly adaptor. Oh, wait... That's what I'll be doing no matter what.
---
## Industry Kudos, Take Two...
- Date: 2006-12-21
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/12/industry-kudos-take-two/
The issue with the announcements just showed up in the mail, so I guess we don't have to keep mum any more. We're pleased to announce that Discord 2 won a 2007 Editor's Choice award from Electronic Musician Magazine. 'Tis the season for these sorts of things, I guess. It's worth mentioning that we've never advertised in either Remix or EM, and I sent review copies of the plugins only grudgingly.
It's also worth noting that the runner-up in the category that Discord 2 won in is Cycling '74's "M" aleatoric software. This is funny on three different levels:
1\. "M" is one of my favoritest pieces of software ever, so it's kind of unnerving.
2\. Both Adam and I worked for Cycling '74. (This is, in a roundabout way, how we met.)
3\. "M" was originally released like 17-odd years ago, and is intrinsically the same as when it first came out.
In any case, thanks to EM for dropping the glassie in our laps. I'll be at the awards reception at NAMM, and if given a microphone, will no doubt extemporize at length vis-a-vis my opinion of our little industry. That should be amusing.
---
## Replicant Progress Update...
- Date: 2006-12-20
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/12/replicant-progress-update/
Okay, Elle has made the [Replicant page](http://www.audiodamage.com/product_info.php?cPath=1&products_id=21) on the AD site live, so you can have a gander at the proper screenshot and feature list and such. I whipped out some quick demos, but I will probably replace these in the near future.
Steve Hamman put up a nice little demo on [his blog,](http://sighup.intelligentmachinery.net/blog.php) as well, if you missed the mention in the comments of a previous post. It's probably a better example of what Replicant can do. (What Replican do? Something like that.) Anywho, the AU version is out for testing, although none of the AU testers has written me back, so I'm nervous that we've created a monster or something. It works for me, for what it's worth. I'm writing presets today and tomorrow, while Adam works on the manual. In short, it's getting close. I absolutely guarantee that, unless Something Bad Happens, it'll be out before the New Year. (How's that for a caveat?)
---
## Rock that Wacom...
- Date: 2006-12-18
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/12/rock-that-wacom/
There's a very fine line between the following two phrases:
1\. "Man, he's cool, in an ironically hip way"
2\. "I think there's something wrong with his Max patch or something."
You're more than welcome to be the judge, as I'm not the judgemental sort. (No, not in the least.) Bleen sent me this for your sniping pleasure.
**EDIT:** I just realized, as I'm catching up on my blog reading that I've not been doing the last couple weeks, that MusicThing posted this several days ago. Move along, nothing to see, folks, step lively now. Mind the gap.
---
## New Lil' Phatty...
- Date: 2006-12-17
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/12/new-lil-phatty/
This is probably not news to most of you, but it is news to me, having been out of touch for the last several days. Here's the "Stage Edition" of the Lil' Phatty. [Gearjunkies](http://www.gearjunkies.com/news_info.php?news_id=1663) has the story. I'll be buying one of these, for certain.
---
## Force Majeure
- Date: 2006-12-16
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/12/force-majeure/
For those of you not in the know, we had a bit of a storm here in the Pacific Northwest on Thursday night. The only reason it wasn't a hurricane is that we don't have hurricanes in the Pacific Northwest. However, the net effect was the same. We've got trees down everywhere, and haven't had electricity since Thursday around 4:00pm.
What a hoot.
In any case, don't expect anything from me in the near future. I had to drive 40 miles to check my email and post this, and the drive itself was problematic due to trees on the highway. If you write the Audio Damage info line, don't expect an answer immediately.
---
## Hard-Core Gear Porn, AH Edition...
- Date: 2006-12-14
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/12/hard-core-gear-porn-ah-edition/
As I mentioned, I stopped by Analogue Haven last week on our vacation, and took a bunch of pictures while I was there. Here's some highlights:
This is the main room; all the keyboards are live, so you can diddle away to your heart's content (much to the dismay of my wife.) I spent some time with the Lil' Phatty, and found it good-sounding, well laid-out, and generally up to the standard of current Moog products. The music in the store was playing from the Korg Radias, via some crafty programming. A nice touch, as it wasn't the usual demo suckitude. The Radias was running through the newest Kaoss Pad, and that's a nice piece of work, too. I didn't play with the Radias at all, because I find synths like that to be especially annoying. But the in-store music sounded nice.
There was a MacBeth M5 on display. These things are gigantic. Like "huge as fuck" gigantic. It reminds me of the control panel from some mid-40s hydroelectric project or something. To use the phrase "built like a tank" would be giving too much credit to tanks. Tanks would be better served by being built like an M5, I think. Only people in the UK make things like this any more, and that's a shame.
They have a whole wall of guitar pedals, all ready and waiting to be fooled with. All boutique, for the most part, and just tasty as hell. I drooled over this wall for some time, and fondled the Moog delay pedal I'll be buying as soon as I'm not broke.
The money shot for all you Euro-Rack fans. They're tiny and white. I don't care for this format, and I've kicked my modular habit for good anyways, but if you're one of the Faithful, here's your picture.
The modular room had a bunch of other stuff in it, in addition to the M5 and the Eurorackstravaganza. Here are the Metasonics ass reamers and what-not, and to the right, you can plainly see that AH now carries Blacet products, along with the MOTM Frac-Rack series. I didn't play with the MOTM stuff, as time was pressing, but the build quality seems to be up to Paul's normal standards.
I took a picture of the large MOTM form-factore Modcan system they have, but it didn't turn out, unfortunately. That stuff looks nice as hell, though. There's another room that has all the Studio Electronics stuff, as well as the MonoMachine and MachineDrum, the Adam stuff, and the high-end kit they carry. That room was my home for the next hour as I got the MachineDrum and Schrittmaker demos. But I didn't think to snap a photo, sorry to say.
In any case, there you go. It's a great store, and well worth the visit. Thanks to Antonio for taking the time to lead me about, and thanks to my wife for putting up with the stop.
---
## How 'bout that?
- Date: 2006-12-14
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/12/how-bout-that/
I rolled in from our long-assed drive yesterday to discover that our [914 Fixed Filter Bank](http://www.audiodamage.com/product_info.php?cPath=1&products_id=14) plugin has won a 2007 Remix Technology Award for "Best Software Value" from Remix Magazine. (Remix, if you're not familiar, is Mix with more turntables and less Ikons. Literally.) This is cool, of course, and we can place the provided icon next to our stacks of little pictures from Computer Music and Future Music.
We have other industry kudos of a similar flavor that I can't talk about, since the dissemination of information is embargoed until NAMM. But on the whole, Audio Damage is rolling right along. While I was on vacation, Adam got the AU version of Replicant in a working state, so we should be entering our serious test mode in short order. I might have a release date for you here soon.
---
## Still AFk...
- Date: 2006-12-10
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/12/still-afk/
Just a quick update. We're in Tucson right now; our trip is halfway over. It's back to Phoenix and the 'rents for the next couple days. I had planned to be home on Tuesday night, but it's looking more like Wednesday some time.
We stopped at Analogue Haven (the store, not the website) Pomona on Friday, and that was actually quite a blast. If you're in the L.A. area for any reason, and you haven't been out to the store, it's really worth a trip. As far as I know, there is no other store, at least in this country, that has so much synthy goodness on display to fool with as much as you want.
I spent some quality time with the MachineDrum, a device about which I'd only read to this point. I can say without qualification that the MachineDrum is the Shit. It does have a particular sound to it that may remind one of the SP1200. But as long as you don't mind that particular sound, I couldn't find anything bad to say about it, other than its price, which is lofty.
The other piece I got an extended demo on is the Manikin Electronics sequencer, the Schrittmaker. I think this is one of those things where, if you don't ever see it or play with it, it's hard to justify buying. And I still don't know if I could be coaxed in to paying $1.7K for one. But that said, as sequencers of this type go, they've nailed it on the head, and then some. I couldn't actually provide you with a review or anything, as what I was shown would be difficult to write about, at least for me. But let me just state that for certain types of music, and for someone that liked to take the time to program things, it could be an incredible tool. I can't say for certain that I make that kind of music, and I'm not particularly fond of programming, so it'd be a difficult purchase to justify.
But I sure as fuck do want one now.
Anyways, I snapped a bunch of pictures, which I will put up when I get home. It's a nice store, and well worth the visit. Anyways, I probably won't have interwebs again until I get home (my wife's parents still use a modem, and I don't even go there), so if you have any questions about AH or whatever, don't expect _me_ to answer them in the next 3-odd days.
---
## AFK
- Date: 2006-12-06
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/12/afk/
I'll be out of the office from this evening until Tuesday next. It's highly unlikely I'll be posting in the interim, as we'll be doing a bit of travelling. L.A. on Thursday, Phoenix on Friday, Tucson on Saturday, back to Phoenix on Sunday, then home on Tuesday. Vacation is just like tour, except that we don't have to fight with promoters about the merch percentage every afternoon.
In any case, don't break anything while I'm gone. Be nice to your sister, and don't let her drink anything under the kitchen sink. Oh, and if I catch you having a party in this house, you'll be grounded until your 21st birthday, mister. Don't think I won't do it!
---
## Well, I guess it's a nice enough change from phallic...
- Date: 2006-12-05
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/12/well-i-guess-its-a-nice-enough-change-from-phallic/
This is apparently an electric guitar made out of a mannequin. I have nothing more to add to that statement, as it'll only get in the way of whatever your vivid imagination may provide. More pictures [here.](http://amycrehore.blogspot.com/2006/12/teenar-girl-guitar.html)
---
## Ouch...
- Date: 2006-12-02
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/12/ouch/
Ever wonder what it would sound like if Mannheim Steamroller ran over Nelson Riddle while Dream Theatre was driving? Now you know. This player chose to remain wisely anonymous, because if he didn't, people would be showing up to his house to pimp-slap him.
On a slightly unrelated note, I'm trying to imagine the universe where this would be considered a reasonable contribution to our shared culture. Wherever it is, I \_never\_ want to visit.
---
## Memo To Copy Writers Everywhere...
- Date: 2006-11-30
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/11/memo-to-copy-writers-everywhere/
Okay, just so everyone, but specifically the editors of Keyboard magazine and the various companies that release loop CDs, knows, it's no longer cool to substitute "ph" for "f." It hasn't been for some time now. It really wasn't that cool when it _was_ cool, which was a span of about two weeks in 1996. Surely there's another superlative you can come up with that actually has, like, meaning and stuff?
[Example 1.](http://www.smartloops.com/company/releases/2006_nov30.htm) Seriously, guys. Just stop now. If someone held a gun to my head, I'd have a hard time coming up with a statement less burdened by meaning than the following: _Phat to Phreaky is the ultimate collection of urban beats, breakdowns and fills, and comes straight from the beatboxes, drum machines and samples that you hear on today’s hottest songs._
[Example 2.](http://createdigitalmusic.com/2006/11/05/phat-101-ohmforces-forces-explain-plug-in-effects-tricks-in-free-videos/) I'm sorry, Peter, but Phat 101? Come on. I know you work for Keyboard, but does that have to inform the curriculum that I actually read?
[Example 3.](http://www.izotope.com/products/audio/phatmatik/) Okay, guys. I'm a big fan of you and your products, but this is an intervention. It's for your own good.
I could go on and on (and on) with this, but can't we just stop the madness? From now on, every time it gets used and I see it, I'm calling a motherfucker out.
---
## Replicant Progress Update...
- Date: 2006-11-30
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/11/replicant-progress-update/
[](https://analogindustries.com/images/blog/BigDelay.png)
The [last time](https://analogindustries.com/2006/11/teaser-pt-3/) I put up a Replicant progress report, there were several people in the comments section that had good ideas for additions to the plugin. So, I'm pleased to announce that we have added a few new features, and are now very close to putting the lid on the Windows version.
The above screenshot, which you can see in full size by clickage, is from today's build, and you can see the additional controls. I'll go through the new ones, so you know what's going on. First up, on the lower left, you'll see a two-position switch and a knob. These control the direction of the loop. In "CONSTANT" mode, the entire playback (but the first, of course) is reversed, and the DIR RAND knob controls how likely that is to occur. In "SCATTER" mode, the DIR RAND knob controls how likely any individual loop will be reversed. It makes more sense when you hear it, I'm sure.
Now, the other two additions are on the far right of the UI. You'll note a RANDOMIZE section, with two switches. The first is "RAND," which randomizes the entire UI. Personally, I don't care for this sort of thing, as I find it of limited usefulness. However, several people asked for it, so we added it, since it wasn't that much trouble. Under that, you'll see a "HOLD" switch. Someone (I forget who) postulated that it would be nice to be able to keep a random state if you liked what it was doing. This "HOLD" switch does exactly that. If you activate it, all the random events that occur in that measure will also occur, with the exact same values, for subsequent measures, for as long as the switch is on. As soon as it is released, the random number generators re-seed per measure, as before.
So, I hope these extra features were worth the bit more time it took. The only things we have left to do are get the displays running at the top, and "optimize" the code. (Whatever the fuck that means. Adam explains it as writing the math better, but the math looks the same to me either way, so I think he just fills it full of Magic Smoke or something.)
After that, we'll get working on the OSX versions, and presto-whammo. I still am not confident we'll have this done before Christmas, but it's now in the "sooner rather than later" file.
---
## Pigs Fly, Hell Freezes Over, et al.
- Date: 2006-11-29
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/11/pigs-fly-hell-freezes-over-et-al/
Persuant to our [earlier conversation](https://analogindustries.com/2006/10/oh-really-now/) on the subject, it seems that Russia has agreed to [shut down](http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/11/28/russia-agrees-to-us-request-to-shut-down-allofmp3com/) AllOfMP3.com. God only knows how long this will take to occur, or _if_ it will actually occur. Maybe Putin will poison the owner or something, thus making an end-run around the courts. You never know...
In other news, it seems that the PC version of SSL's Duende dsp sidecar is now released. This makes me so happy I could just shit. Unfortunately, I can't buy it just now, as the holidays are upon us, and I have a _large_ family who just can't seem to get hip to the whole "hey, if I don't buy you a gift you don't have to buy me one" idea. What I'm thinking is setting up a fundable donation page, so you can all buy me a Duende for Christmas, in return for entertaining you all year long, in $2.00 increments. Ho, ho, ho.
---
## NAMMbla...
- Date: 2006-11-28
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/11/nammbla/
So we have a bit of a connundrum. I'll be attending NAMM this year, and I wanted to be wearing an Audio Damage badge instead of another company's, just as a point of pride. So, we go to join AD up with NAMM, and hit a brick wall of sorts.
See, it seems the National Association of Music Merchants is technically only open to retailers and the companies that sell to them. Since Audio Damage doesn't sell boxed copies to retail or a distributor (because, quite frankly, for a 1 meg plugin it's just a stupid waste of plastic and paper, sort of like a CD longbox, and it's, like, 2006 and stuff) we don't qualify for NAMM membership.
I spoke at length with the person nominally in charge of such things, and was told we could have a Provisional Membership, where we could join now, get the badges I want, and in six months they would check back in on us to see whether we were selling to retail or not. I assume this is to provide new companies with a way to hock their wares at the show.
Since I am, at heart, an honest person, I pointed out that (a) it was 2006, and there was no need for a company like ours to go to retail at all, and (b) it was unlikely that Bob's Country Banjo Shoppe was going to want or know what to do with our products, so we'd just be stuck with the mass-market retailers like Musician's Friend and Guitar Center, which we didn't have any interest in working with in the first place.
This was something of a surprise to the lady I was speaking with, I think. She just couldn't get her head around the idea that a company would be happy with selling _less_ product if it meant not dealing with the Wal-Mart and Target of the music industry, respectively. Apparently, in this business, principle and making money are mutually exclusive.
In any case, fuck all that shit. I don't have the time or energy to try and get the board members of NAMM to understand that yes, we are Music Merchants, and no, we don't need a retail store to sell our shit. So I guess I have to go begging for a badge. Whee.
---
## Man, I'm sick of this shit...
- Date: 2006-11-26
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/11/man-im-sick-of-this-shit/
Sorry for the lapse in posting, but this was a four-day holiday weekend in the U.S., which mainly means an excuse to sit and play WoW for hours on end. However, it's back to the grindstone now.
Which brings me to the subject at hand. At least once a day, if not several times, I get something like this in my email (truthfully, it usually gets caught by my spam filter, so I have to look for it in Junk...):
_Hi ,_
_We've visited your web site and felt wondered with you good contents. We'd be very appreciated if you'd consider to reciprocate a link with [www.1musiczone.com](http://www.1musiczone.com/)_
_Please let us know if you've already instated the link to our site so that we'll do the same. Or if you'd like to see your link from our site first, please send us your link details: Title, Url, Description. Such as: etc. etc. etc. blah, blah, blah..._
While the engrish on 1musiczone.com is entertaining for a minute, and while they very well may be "Nunber One Of Music Zone" \[sic\], why the fuck do they exist? Obviously, it's one of the many front-ends for Google Ads, but are these sites still able to generate enough money to make their creation worthwhile? I would think that most anyone would know them for what they are almost immediately: an essentially content-free link factory that is ultimately a waste of time, for both advertisers and users.
Google, control your fucking brand already. In some ways, you're the best thing to happen to the internet. In other glaringly obvious ways, you're like that relative that always shows up at the holidays and embarasses the rest of your family.
---
## Bundle? No problem...
- Date: 2006-11-23
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/11/bundle-no-problem/
Cakewalk is selling Audio Damage plugins for the holidays, and you can (for the nonce) pick up a bundle of Reverence, Dubstation, and Phase Two for $109. The bundle is Windows only, sorry to say. (This is a promotion mainly for Sonar customers, but anyone can partake.)
The Audio Damage store page on the Cakewalk site is [here.](http://www.cakewalk.com/Products/AudioDamage/default.asp) So if you're a little tight for the holidays, but still want to grab a big slice of the AD sound, this might be the way to go.
---
## And We're Off To The Races...
- Date: 2006-11-22
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/11/and-were-off-to-the-races/
I know I keep mentioning my next album, in fits and starts, like "as I continue the interminable process of writing my next album..." and other pithy comments along that same vein. Well, for what it's worth, it's almost done. As my lovely and talented wife gets the website for the new project in order, she put up a [MySpace page](http://www.myspace.com/chrisrandallmusic), which contains three songs from the new record.
So, assuming you were curious as to what I've been up to for the last 18-odd months, well, that's it. The album will be out in January.
---
## New Tom Waits album(s) out today.
- Date: 2006-11-22
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/11/new-tom-waits-album-s-out-today/
_\[Embedded media, no longer available.\]_
Don't forget the Tom Waits "Orphans" boxed set is out today. An excellent Christmas gift for the person in your life that has good taste in music. $39 at Amazon.
---
## Novation ReMOTE ZeRO SL Initial Impressions...
- Date: 2006-11-20
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/11/novation-remote-zero-sl-initial-impressions/
We got our Remote Zero SLs today, and I thought I'd throw up some random thoughts about the installation and usage. To wit:
**INSTALLATION:** One thing I've noticed in my years is that high-end gear Just Works. The cheaper a unit is, the more hoops you have to jump through to get it to do what it is supposed to do. For instance, my Lynx AES16/Apogee Rosetta combo just worked out of the box. I installed the driver, and that was that. The combination was over $2500. This RemoteSL was, what, $299? Inversely proportional indeed. It took me about three hours, a download, two installs, and two reboots to get the transport buttons to do anything in Nuendo. The high end Nuendo controllers (like the ID and the Euphonix) just plug in and go, but this was a real dog-n-pony show. In its defense, Adam told me that it worked fine with Live without installing anything, but I didn't try that, so I can't vouch for it.
**QUALITY:** It's a big hunk of plastic. The endless encoder knobs and buttons feel firm, can't complain about that. The 60mm faders are essentially useless, except maybe in a live situation. There's these stupid little plastic leaning things that you have to screw on the bottom to get it to lean at a viewable angle. My unit came with neither the screws nor a USB cable, so I had to use my imagination. No external power supply is included. If you just want to control a piece of hardware, you're gonna have to either buy a wall wart or fill it with batteries. In use with a computer, it is buss-powered. The transport buttons are pretty whack; no tactile features whatsoever, so you have to look at them. I'm so used to my keyboard setup for Nuendo that I don't think I'll get much use out of the transport buttons, anyways.
**IN USE:** Since none of the buttons are labeled, you kind of have to figure out what goes where. However, once I read through the manual and puzzled around, I got the hang of it. The Automap feature is pretty spiffy. You just start up Nuendo, and presto, it's a Nuendo controller. It does all the normal hardware control shit you'd expect. The one thing it \_doesn't\_ do in Nuendo (and I assume Cubase) is allow you to control insert and send effects. You can control the sends per channel, but that's it. To do anything deep in the channel controls requires such a ludicrous amount of button pressing it's not worth the effort. So, in short, for high level control, it's pretty slick. For deep mixing, it is so much more complicated to use this than to just mouse around that it is literally not worth the effort.
Controlling VSTi parameters is really nice, in a weird sort of way, especially if the box knows about the VSTi (like V-Station, for instance.) You can get some pretty hefty control going there. That's where this unit really shines, I think. For a simple mixing surface, you're better off spending the money for Mackie Control or one of the more sophisticated offerings.
I can see this unit being really quite good for controlling, say, Live, in a live setting. But for home studio use as a mixing surface, I'd say skip it. It's a jack of all trades, master of none kind of affair.
**EDIT:** Okay, I just set up a Nuendo project for old-school house music group mute arranging, and had a fucking blast. That's what this unit is for. If you play live, using some variation on group mute arranging, you're gonna be in heaven with this box. It makes me want to book a Micronaut show. For this alone, it is well worth the money. But as I said, as a mixing surface, it leaves a \_lot\_ to be desired.
---
## Direct Injection...
- Date: 2006-11-19
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/11/direct-injection/
Since this can obviously become a point of contention, I'll nip it in the bud. Normally, I don't use a dedicated D.I. box in my own studio. I tend to either mic an amp, or use the front panel line input of my Brent Averil 312. (Usually only for bass, and even then only about half the time.)
But, on stage I bring my own D.I.s (this is a good habit everyone should have...) and I also have a pretty thorough experience with D.I.s in general. So, barring using the front panel input of a thousand or more dollar mic pre, here are my three choices for D.I. boxes, low, medium, and high-end:
**GOOD:** [Countryman Type 85.](http://www.zzounds.com/prodsearch?form=prodsearch&cat=3818&cat2=2990) $159 a throw. This is the standard the world over for stage D.I.; if you're a musician that needs to D.I. an instrument when you play live, and you're not rolling in cash, you should own one (or more) of these. Personally, I have 8. You literally can't go wrong with a Countryman. Another nice bonus is that if you show up to the gig with your own D.I.s, and they're these, the soundman (assuming he isn't a complete asstard) will automatically assume you know what you're doing, whether you do or not. (Note: sometimes the soundman will try to steal these from you when he's wrapping the stage. Make sure yours are well-marked, and you grab them literally before you do \_anything\_ else. The single most commonly stolen item in the music industry is the Type 85. How do you think I got 8 of 'em?)
**BETTER:** [D.W. Fearn Passive Direct Box](http://www.mercenary.com/dwfearpasdir.html) $300. Unless you have techs that will guard your shit, you generally don't want to be taking anything more expensive than that Countryman on stage, unless it's bolted in your rack. Thus, this isn't that good an idea for that particular course of action, as it's tiny and easily stolen. But if you need a good D.I. in your studio, you could do worse than this box. The thing is that in order to really see any benefit over the Type 85, you need a good mic pre to grab the info from this fucker, and if you have a good mic pre, it probably has an instrument input, which kind of obviates something like this. So it's in a hazy grey area. But I've used it, and it doesn't suck, not one bit. Handy if you have racked console pres, and they don't have instrument inputs.
**BETTERER:** [Avalon U5.](http://www.mercenary.com/u5moninanddi.html) $575. Now we're getting in to heavy duty territory. The thing about the U5 isn't that it'll make your shit sound better than it already does. (In fact, its clarity will bring to light maybe some things you didn't want to hear, like fret buzz, hiss in your analog synth, and the like.) Rather, the U5 is the most eminently controllable D.I. made. It can grab pretty much any signal coming down a 1/4" cable and turn it in to something an Apogee can swallow whole. The best feature is that it has a power-soak input, so you can plug the speaker output from a guitar or bass head directly in to it. This is quite handy in today's home studio. I won't say it sounds great, as it doesn't sound at all. One of the most color-free devices made. If you're looking for an all-around studio D.I. that will absolutely be able to do whatever you ask of it without altering the input in the slightest, this is the box for you. Well worth the money.
**BEST:** [Tab-Funkenwerk V71.](http://www.mercenary.com/tadiprv7.html) $750. This is a D.I. made using the topology of everyone's favorite tube mic pre, the Telefunken V72. Absolutely the best thing going for bass D.I. If you want something that will fatten up the input, and give it some nice overtones, this is the box for you. Stellar for vintage analog synths, as well. Now, a caveat: if I was you, and I was looking at this box, I would just save a little more money and buy the TAB-Funkewerk V78 mic pre and a Countryman. Same net effect, but the V78 is a mic pre, and thus more useful in general.
As far as I'm concerned, the above are all one needs to know about D.I. boxes. What's stated is my opinion only, based on my personal experience.
---
## Little bit o' Replicant...
- Date: 2006-11-18
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/11/little-bit-o-replicant/
We're just finishing up the major coding on Replicant, and now moving in to the usability phase, where we tune all the parameters to useful ranges and such. During the course of development, I make a project that I use throughout to check the audio. Every time Adam sends me a new build, I plop it in my VST folder and proceed to give it a workout. This is also the time where we start to think about presets and such. Once a plugin is more or less working, I start to use it in my projects, so I'll know \_how\_ to use it when I write the presets.
In any case, I thought you guys would get a kick out of hearing the testing track I have going this time around. [Here](https://web.archive.org/web/2006/http://www.analogindustries.com/samples/repli_test.mp3) is a 8-measure loop of the output of Nuendo. Replicant is, in this instance, on the snare that appears on the 2 of every measure. In the first four bars, it is operating forward, and in the second four bars, it is in reverse mode. (There will be two separate reverse functions, with randomization, in case you were curious. More about that later.)
In any event, I should mention that there is no automation whatsoever in this track, other than the reverse switch. There is \_so\_ much randomization in this plug, with dedicated controls for each random feature, that it can really run the gamut, from a simple looper to complete haywire aleatoric craziness. Whether you'll find that useful in your music is up to you. But at any rate, that's a (tiny) taste of some random delay action.
**EDIT:** Okay, per request, here are two examples of the Amen break getting chopped by Replicant. I know that using this break is long past irony, and getting in to extreme redundancy, but the benefit is, of course, that everyone knows the break well, so you thus have a good idea of what's happening.
[Example 2.](https://web.archive.org/web/2006/http://www.analogindustries.com/samples/repli_test2.mp3) In this example, "IGNORE" is on, so Replicant finishes whatever it starts before it will receive a new trigger. I've set it to be about 75% likely to trigger on beats 1, 5, 9, and 13. I've also set the LPF sweep to its most extreme (no resonance, though.)
[Example 3.](https://web.archive.org/web/2006/http://www.analogindustries.com/samples/repli_test3.mp3) In this one, I've set Seq Mode to "RETRIG" and the "RANDOM BEATS" slider to about 40%, so any given beat is about 40% likely to trigger the loop engine, and any time a retrigger is received, the loop engine starts anew. I've turned the filter sweep and "DECAY" features off.
---
## Question...
- Date: 2006-11-17
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/11/question/
Okay, I've started to get tired of making fun of people on this blog. Not that I have any moral qualms about it, mind you, in case you were confusing me with someone that gave a flying fuck about other people's feelings. It's just that there's so much out there to make fun of (there are at least ten keytard videos uploaded to YouTube every day) that it has gotten old.
So, my question is thus: since the content of AI over the past few months has been almost exclusively given over to making fun of people, what should I switch to? I tend to like the discussions we have viz. process the best, so I'm leaning in that direction. I would put more reviews up, but I'll only review stuff I've purchased; people offer me shit for review all the time (mostly software) and I have a hard time coming up with something that would be a bigger waste of my time than trying to write interesting things about something I wouldn't buy.
So, let's hear it. What do you want to read and discuss the most on AI?
---
## Yoiks...
- Date: 2006-11-16
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/11/yoiks/
Sometimes these things just write themselves, with no input whatsoever from me. Case in point. [Jodi](http://www.cream.org/) is the root of this particular evil.
---
## Incoming...
- Date: 2006-11-15
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/11/incoming/
We just ordered a pair of [these](http://www.analoguehaven.com/novation/remotezerosl/) from AH. I couldn't provide you with a real line of reasoning, other than various testing concerns. But the net result being that I'll be offering up a review shortly, if you were curious.
---
## 909 + 303 = 1212. I guess.
- Date: 2006-11-14
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/11/909-303-1212-i-guess/
I've been keeping an eye on this new company [D16 Audio Group](http://www.d16.pl/index.php?menu=14) for a bit now, both from a professional standpoint (in my role as VP of Audio Damage) and as an interested bystander.
They released a 303 emulator called Phoscyon a couple months back, and someone tipped me to it via the AI tip line (I forget who, so sorry for not giving you props). The thing that caught my eye was the UI, obviously done in 3DS Max (which is my own chosen medium of UI design; I can see it a mile away.) In any case, we were like "well, they're certainly on the right track."
Today, they announced Drumazon (glamor shot pictured above), which is a 909 emulator. The one thing I'll say about these guys is that they don't do anything by half measures. Both of these plugs seem to be incredibly thorough representations of their respective inspirations. I haven't nutted up and bought either of them, nor downloaded the demos (available for the 303), but I've listened to the audio demos, and they seem to have gotten quite close to the mark with both.
Anyways, if you make the crazy electronic dance music all the kids love today, you probably want to take a gander at these two. $117 for the 303 and $163 for the 909. VSTi only, but both Win and UB OSX.
---
## Bleh...
- Date: 2006-11-13
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/11/bleh/
We're having stupendously bad weather here in the Pacific Northwest for the last week. We lost power yesterday evening, and it has only just come back on.
Let me state for the record that being a musician in this day and age _requires_ electricity. I can play guitar okay, and I have a really nice Ibanez acoustic, but that gets boring quickly.
---
## And from the
- Date: 2006-11-10
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/11/and-from-the/
Digidesign continues to annoy the rest of the world with their introduction of the [MBox 2 Mini.](http://digidesign.com/index.cfm?langid=100&navid=114&itemid=4962) I'm so happy I could just shit. Now, on top of the shitty original MBox, and the MBox 2, both of which have the World's Worst Audio Drivers, we're graced with one that is cheap, so everyone can enjoy t3h suck.
The press material provides the quote of the day, though: _"Transporting the Mbox 2 Mini is no longer effortless due to its ultra compact size."_ Yeah, read that twice.
(EDIT: They fixed the text. Now, it is once again effortless. I wonder if they had to rev the unit to make it effortless again.)
---
## Teaser... Pt. 3
- Date: 2006-11-08
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/11/teaser-pt-3/
[](https://analogindustries.com/images/blog/replicant.png)
I'm in an incredibly good mood right now, due to the American elections. (It's 1 am here in Oregon, and we're still waiting on Montana, but as you no doubt know by now, it's looking like Democrats have taken both houses of congress.) As a result of my good mood, I give you the full UI of the next Audio Damage product. (Click the image for the full-size.)
Meet Replicant. It should be fairly obvious as to what it does, especially to those of you familiar with Live's built in Beat Repeat. I really like Beat Repeat, but I have a couple problems with it. (A) It's Live only, and I have no intention of switching to Live for my music creation, because it is singularly unsuited to my methodology, and (b) Beat Repeat is fucking annoying to program. I don't mean that as a slight to the Ableton guys, who had an excellent idea with their plug. It just doesn't make sense in that all-important non-Germanic way. How is ours different? Well, it has a much more comprehensive timing mechanism, resonant filters, pan position, bit reduction, and more sophisticated randomization features.
We're still quite a ways from having this done, so don't get too excited. Also, as you can clearly see from the screen shot, there are some UI elements missing. (This screenshot is actually from an earlier state of the plugin's dev process, where the knobs were dummies.) We plan to add a couple controls at this point as well, for more control over how the filters work, but I believe you can get a pretty good idea of it at this point. Pricing and release date to be determined, but you can expect it to be in line with all our other products, price-wise, and you can _maybe_ expect to find it in your Christmas stockings.
---
## Teaser 2...
- Date: 2006-10-31
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/10/teaser-2/
This should give you a bit more to go on. There are four sections in the plugin, and you can see all of the "Motion" section in this one. We're still coding this, as we did it my way (doing the GUI first) rather than Adam's way (doing the DSP first) this time, so this is subject to change.
---
## Alta Moda Unicomp...
- Date: 2006-10-29
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/10/alta-moda-unicomp/
You never know what you're gonna hit upon travelling about the Internets. Case in point, here's a really nice looking compressor I was thus far unaware of (a fact I didn't think was possible, but there you go.) This is the Unicomp, from Australian manufacturers [Alta Moda.](http://www.altamodaaudio.com/unicomp.html)
It's a dual mono topology, and has some pretty slick features, like the ability to switch between feedback and feed forward, a "warmth" knob to add 2nd-order harmonic distortion, and a "blend" knob, which works (if I'm reading the material right) sort of like a mix, which is something you don't normally see on a comp, but is hugely handy if you're using compressor effects on a drum buss, to perfect (I'm just throwing this out as an example) your "In The Air Tonight" drum sound.
In any case, I don't know the price, but the unit is ostensibly available from [TransAudio,](http://www.transaudiogroup.com/) although it's not listed on their site, so I don't know that for certain.
---
## Teaser...
- Date: 2006-10-25
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/10/teaser/
We don't have anything more to say at this point, but here's a little taste of what's coming down the AD Railgun Of Development...
---
## Kaada Has A Blog...
- Date: 2006-10-23
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/10/kaada-has-a-blog/
If you like the shit I like (and that would stand to reason if you've read this blog more than once...) you'll probably get a kick out of [Kaada.](http://www.kaada.no/) He makes a sort of odd Tom-Waits-ish kind of melodramatic soundscape music, using many instruments and effects he created himself out of other stuff. (Like the Ghia, pictured above, which probably started life as a delay pedal.) In any case, he has a blog now, with pictures and descriptions galore, which you can find [here.](http://wrongroom.blogspot.com/) Thanks to Max Cooper for the heads-up.
---
## Here's something you don't see every day...
- Date: 2006-10-23
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/10/heres-something-you-dont-see-every-day/
Most of you have probably been reading this site long enough to know that some pretty strange shit gets me going. Case in point, this image of a complete Roland CMU-800 system (picture courtesy of David Skinner's [set](http://users.bentonrea.com/~sasquatch/pnw-synth/MVC-002F.JPG) from the recent Pacific Northwest Synthesizer Gathering) gives me that old familiar "Must... Have... Now..." knot in my stomach, even though I know for a fact that it sounds like ass, is barely usable under the best of circumstances, and is generally a complete pain in the balls. Add the CMU-810 for the complete ass whompin'. The AlphaSyntauri and DK Synergy do the same thing to me. Maybe it's something about classic audio gear attached to vintage computers or something. Two great tastes that taste great together?
In any case, who's system is this? I thought I knew both of the people on the planet that actually own one of these systems in working order, but this is apparently a third one. (Also, it's worth noting that MatrixSynth also has a post and pictures from this event [here,](http://matrixsynth.blogspot.com/2006/10/pnw-synth-meeting-2006-images-and.html) if you need more. They are, of course, essentially the same as the first group.)
---
## On The Hunt...
- Date: 2006-10-21
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/10/on-the-hunt/
Dear Lazyweb:
There was a big studio in NYC auctioning some "bottom of the closet" shit in the late 80s (89, I think) and I went, and one of the things they had was this drum machine thing. The tag said "used by Thomas Dolby" but I don't have any proof of that. It was orange, and looked vaguely like a PET computer or TRS80 was a parent. That is to say it was an all-in-one computer lookin' thing. Where the keyboard should be were a couple dozen keys, and the rest of the keyboard (where the rest of the keys should be) was filled in with a plastic fascia.
Any idea as to what this was? If my memory serves me, it was called the Drum-Puter or something similar. One of my dear readers must have run across this beast, or possibly owns one. I don't know why, but it has been scratching my brain lately, and curiosity has over-ridden.
---
## If you're in/near Chicago...
- Date: 2006-10-21
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/10/if-youre-in-near-chicago/
Tomorrow night (Sunday, Oct. 22) Wade Alin's band Atomica will be playing at the Darkroom. All the information you could ever desire about this show without actually attending is available at the [Atomica site.](http://www.theatomicaproject.com/index.jsp) Also there will be the new kid on the Positron block, [Bounte.](http://www.bounte.com/index.jsp)
If you're not hip to the scene and all, Atomica is a trip-hop/downtempo band, and Bounte does melodic electronica. Full MP3s are available on the audio pages of the pertinent websites. Also note that both sites are on posiNET, so if you're a member here at Analog Industries, you're also a member at both of those sites. Just log in using your same info, and you can post up a storm, as well as access the private message system (which is global to all the posiNET sites.)
---
## A Brief Audio Damage Update...
- Date: 2006-10-20
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/10/a-brief-audio-damage-update/
I know I've been silent on this particular subject for a couple weeks, but we're in the midst of product dev, and I don't like to talk about something until it is fully working, at least on the Windows side. So I won't be. This one is pretty special, though. It's a new take on our main forte, and should be pretty popular, especially with our customers that do more complex forms of electronic and dance music.
In other news I can't talk about, something else happened that is rather big news, at least in the industry, but I can't say anything until January. So forget I said anything at all, and just spend a couple minutes today being happy for Audio Damage, and leave it at that.
---
## Keytard Day, Pt. 2...
- Date: 2006-10-20
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/10/keytard-day-pt-2/
Yeah. And it's the same fucking guy. I didn't think it was possible. I guess I could have just called it "Jeffrey Abbot Day" and left it at that. Will someone \_please\_ teach this guy about quantization? If ever there was a need for it, it's here...
---
## Keytard Day, Pt. 1...
- Date: 2006-10-20
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/10/keytard-day-pt-1/
The world's whitest "solo," played on the world's second whitest instrument. I hear polyrhythms are the next big thing.
---
## Oh, really, now...
- Date: 2006-10-19
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/10/oh-really-now/
I just made the mistake of reading [this.](http://www.retrothing.com/2006/10/why_allofmp3com.html#more) My first thought was "hey, why don't you sit down while the grown folks talk?" The problems with his argument are the typical shit, I suppose, from people that have little or no understanding of copyright law. But since I'm fairly certain he reads this site, allow me to rebut:
1\. Apple doesn't charge different rates in different countries because they feel like it. Each nationality has different statuatory royalty rates for both mechanical and artist royalties, and the recording industry groups in each nationality negotiate a standard rate with Apple that is largely based upon those rates.
2\. This: "Allofmp3.com has already proven that people will pay for unprotected downloads, as long as they're easy to obtain and affordable." This is, in fact, the same thing that has been proven by the guys that sell knockoff Movados out of briefcases in NYC. I hate to put it in these terms, but if you buy music from allofMP3.com, you are literally supporting the coke habit of some Russian mobster's mistress, and nothing more. allofMP3.com is a criminal enterprise, run by the mafia. Speaking as someone who is well represented on that site, I'd like to say the following: I have no problems with someone getting my music from Limewire. In fact, I encourage it. However, I have a \_HUGE\_ problem with some Russian gangster paying for his blue light special with my hard work.
3\. "The third critical advantage of Allofmp3.com is that they are truly international." Actually, they're not international at all. They are, in fact, not even national. Unless you'd say that a chop shop is international because they take apart Mercedes \_and\_ Cadillacs. AllofMP3.com is a criminal enterprise, and as such, isn't beholden to any standards whatsoever, except those set by the criminals themselves.
In short, stick to vintage video games, a subject with which you have at least a passing understanding.
**EDIT**: James has put up a mea culpa of sorts, stating that his intention wasn't to hold up a crime syndicate as a model of modern business procedure. Fair enough. However, I think that it's worth mentioning something about one specific point he makes: technically speaking, when you purchase a CD, the only thing you own is the plastic, not the music on it. It's a common misunderstanding, and basically pointless to rebut, but it's like any EULA: caveat emptor.
---
## Okay...
- Date: 2006-10-19
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/10/okay/
[Borat Movie-film Music!](http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=1303680728)
_\[Embedded media, no longer available.\]_
[Add to My Profile](http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.addToProfileConfirm&videoid=1303680728&title=Borat%20Movie-film%20Music!) | [More Videos](http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.home)
I wouldn't normally put something like this up, because there's a fine line between cool and commercial pap trying to be cool, and this is firmly implanted in the latter camp. However, there is a brief shot of our favorite keytarist, which is always worth seeing. I think I might make today "Official Analog Industries Keytar Respect Day" seeing how I feel after I actually wake up. (Thanks to Jaysen for the linkage.)
---
## Submit this...
- Date: 2006-10-17
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/10/submit-this/
We normally use CD Baby's digital submission thingie to get all the Positron product in the digital stores, but for the most recent Micronaut release, we're going to give [Tunecore](http://www.tunecore.com/) a shot, I think. While the net cost is not significantly cheaper (in fact, I believe it could be more expensive over the long run if an album doesn't sell very well) it looks like a more logical method.
The main benefit is thus: when you submit to iTunes through CD Baby, your album can't be browsed to via the genre browsing in that store. But with Tunecore, it can be. For a relatively well-known artist (e.g. Sister Machine Gun) that's not such a big deal, but for an unknown, it basically makes the difference between selling a record and not selling a record.
The other deciding factor is that it can take up to three months for a CD Baby digital submission to get in to iTunes, while Tunecore submissions take a week or two. It's basically impossible to get a CD Baby-submitted iTunes release to line up with its hard-copy counterpart, but that's not such a trick with Tunecore.
So, we're gonna give it a shot. I'll report back when we know if it makes a difference or not, but I'd be interested to hear if anyone else has Tunecore experiences they'd like to share.
---
## Tales from the depths of customer support, Rd. 2 (Fight!)
- Date: 2006-10-15
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/10/tales-from-the-depths-of-customer-support-rd-2-fight/
Okay, I know I said in the last go-round that I wouldn't actually put e-mails up from customers, but this is too odd/good to pass up. Plus, judging from the tenor, it's incredibly unlikely the customer in question reads this blog. Anyways, the wife and I went up to Portland today, and when I got back, sitting in the queue was this:
_Witch one of your items
Is good for changing your Voice and also djing because I like to sound crazy on a track I want my voice to sound very crazy I did find the right software yet
Can you please call me on my cell #XXX-XXX-XXXX
Ps the best for my voice to change it thank you very much
_Now, this was amusing enough in and of itself. My first impulse was to hit the "Delete" key, since I knew where this was going, but that's just not right. So, instead, I thought a little feeler would be safe. I replied:
_You want to look at Discord 2. It can do crazy voice effects._
So, about ten minutes later, I get the following:
_How can I get it and can it work with pro tool
And what crazy voice effect it has
_Okay. Ummmm. Where do I go with that? I thought it best to nip this right in the bud, because I'm a helpful person (as many of you know that have written the AD or AI contact lines with obtuse/obscure questions, and been rewarded with a 4K missive on some topic or another) but, well, you have to draw the line. So I send back:
_I'm sorry, but our products don't work with ProTools._
Now, I know that isn't strictly true, but the other half of the company thought it would be mean to sick him on Angus and FXpansion, and, well, you know. Anyways, a couple minutes later, I'm blessed with the following:
_Can I use them on a pc
And how do I use it_
Dear Sweet Baby Jesus, give me strength. I'm afraid to reply to that one, and it is 8:00pm on Saturday, after all. Where would you go with that?
---
## MKS80 In The Hizzle...
- Date: 2006-10-12
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/10/mks80-in-the-hizzle/
Man, I forgot how nice these things sounded. Got my MKS80 from Analogue Haven today; minor mixup with the manual and power cord (I got the shit from a D-10. As if...) So I temporarily hard-wired the power, because the MKS uses that stupid Roland two-hole jobbie instead of an IEC cable.
That done, got it racked and rocking. I grabbed the device panel for Nuendo from [this guy](http://www.cykong.com/CubaseSX/SXpanels.htm#Roland%20MKS-80%20+%20MPG-80) and we're off to the races. All in all, a good purchase. Another thing I forgot was that it has balanced outs, like all pro gear should. An added bonus, so no nonsense required; plugged that bitch straight in to the Rosetta, and presto. I'm just happy as a fly on shit to finally have one of these. Now I just need a rack-mounted analog monosynth and I'm back up to full operating capacity from my cathartic "sell all my fucking gear" phase I went through earlier this year.
---
## Hard-Core Gear Porn...
- Date: 2006-10-12
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/10/hard-core-gear-porn/
Jeffrey Lee rightly pointed out that I haven't done a HCGP post in a while, and in all modesty submitted his humble studio for consideration. Not so humble, as it turns out. Located in Toronto (my second-favorite city in North America), Jeffrey's studio has everything a growing boy needs. A little shy in the pro audio department for my tastes, but to say he has a fairly comprehensive synth collection would be to understate the matter somewhat. One of the bigger Modcan B systems around, for sure (I think it's bigger than Analogue Haven's display system, truth be told), and the current Holy Of Holies, the MacBeth M5, along with many of the other usual suspects.
He gets extra credit from me for not having a Behringer or Mackie mixer; personally, I think the collection warrants a much higher quality console, mic pres, comps, etc., but you already knew I was going to say that, so I won't pine. Note that the picture above is the left-hand photo in a four-image panorama; you can find the rest, as well as a brief explanation of the studio, in [this post](http://www.em411.com/blog/1016/0/my_new_happy_place.html) on Jeffrey's EM411 blog.
---
## Opinions...
- Date: 2006-10-11
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/10/opinions/
Okay, A/D with a cheapness. I need balanced analog input, AES output. Obviously the M-Audio Flying Cow will fit the bill, but just thinking about buying something where even a penny will end up with the shareholders of Avid gives me the cold sweats; I can't bring myself to do it. Anyone have another option they'd like to expound?
---
## Nice AES Roundup...
- Date: 2006-10-09
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/10/nice-aes-roundup/
The Retrosynth blog has a [nice post](http://blog.retrosynth.net/) on the various things at AES we would have found interesting, had we attended. This post is almost exactly the same as I would have posted had I gone, with the exception that there isn't a single "fuck" in the whole thing.
---
## OOTO...
- Date: 2006-10-07
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/10/ooto/
I'll be away from my keyboard until Monday, as we're going to Seattle for the weekend; got a photo shoot for my upcoming album, plus seeing friends. At the tone, please leave a message, and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.
BEEEEEP.
---
## Yeah, I remember back when I wanted to play guitar, too...
- Date: 2006-10-06
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/10/yeah-i-remember-back-when-i-wanted-to-play-guitar-too/
---
## It's not unusual...
- Date: 2006-10-04
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/10/its-not-unusual/
And people say guitars are phallic. I mean, really now. This is yet another fine example of the "solution in search of a problem" concept. Thrill to the [video.](http://www.themusicpole.com/look.html) Let's go ahead and remove any possibility of expression from the performance, and just whack out monophones at a constant 127 velocity. Let the notes do your talkin', motherfucker!
---
## I swear to Christ...
- Date: 2006-10-04
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/10/i-swear-to-christ/
I don't know if you watch Deadwood on HBO (and I'm fairly certain most of the foreign readers of this site will say "nope" to that) but the second to last episode of last season, there was occasion for one of the main characters to complain about a customer, and one of the other main characters says the following:
"Commerce. Every fucking hump above ground is your enemy."
Now, I'm not going to vent here about any Audio Damage customer in particular, except to say that I've just had a two-week long brawl with stupidity that boggles the imagination. Someone purchased a plugin, thinking that it does one thing, and in fairness, it does sort of do that one thing, but not really, you know? So he complains mightily, and I resist the urge to point out that if he wasn't so fucking stupid, he'd know what he was buying in the first place and not have these problems.
A metaphor wouldn't be out of place here. I'd liken it to purchasing a new car, because you need to keep your beer cold. A car \_will\_ keep your beer cold, to a certain extent, but it isn't very fucking good at it. It is, on the other hand, good for driving. You see where I'm going with that?
(That entire concept springs from the fact that my new car has a little refrigerator sort of thing in the glove compartment, but it only works when you're blasting the AC.) In any case, after an exchange of a dozen odd emails on this subject, the substance of which I won't bore you with here, I finally say "okay, fuck it." I offer a refund. Then comes another long go-round because the customer can't remember how he purchased the product, and can't manage to give me any information that I could possibly use to determine the fact on my own. Today, I got to the bottom of it, when I discovered that the customer in fact purchased the plugin almost exactly one year ago.
Like I said, I swear to Christ.
I mean, we're so liberal in our return policy it's almost ludicrous. But that's neither here nor there. At what point do you say "okay, enough. You're taking advantage of us?"
---
## RSS Feed Fixed?
- Date: 2006-10-03
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/10/rss-feed-fixed/
We were having some problems with the RSS feed the last few days (apparently, it isn't happy about ampersands or YouTube videos) but theoretically it is fixed. Let me know if this isn't the case.
---
## No Jarre Required...
- Date: 2006-10-03
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/10/no-jarre-required/
It's funny because just today Adam and I were having a discussion about alternative controllers and the construction thereof, and he said (and I paraphrase) that while alternative controllers were nice and all, the music that results is usually pretty whack. I mentioned Jarre's laser harp as _quod erat demonstrandum_ (an observation for which I will no doubt be pilloried by AI readers who like that sort of mind-numbingly tedious dreck) and then, lo and furthermore hark, I stumble upon [this.](http://www.blueink.com/lasers/index.htm)
When I see phrases like "\[t\]he use of light instead of a physical string plays with our perception of space and matter" I automatically think "oh, god, here we go again." I seem to be one of the few people that believe that perceiving space and matter is hard enough normally, without grad students fucking with it all the time. But this particular iteration of the oft-recurring laser harp and its ilk is actually semi-nifty. If you look at it as a sonic sculpture or installation, rather than the world's most ridiculous musical instrument, it kind of seems like something that wouldn't be a bad time.
---
## New Cwejman Modules...
- Date: 2006-10-02
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/10/new-cwejman-modules/
I don't know if you noticed, but there's a whole arseload of new Cwejman modules in Eurorack format up at [Analogue Haven.](http://www.analoguehaven.com/cwejman/modules/) This is shaping up to be a pretty slick system. I know I've sworn off modulars for the nonce, but this is becoming pretty tempting.
There are even some modules that fit in to the pro audio world. Check out the AP-1, which is a mic pre, env follower, and compressor module, absolutely _perfect_ for running vocals and other instruments in to your modular. (Why someone didn't do this before is utterly beyond me.) Also, the AI-2, which gives your modular balanced inputs and outputs (handy as hell, that) and the VC-FC, which is a forward compressor with voltage control of every parameter. As someone who makes heavy use of compression as an effect, this would be right up my alley.
---
## Hey, go buy a record...
- Date: 2006-09-30
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/09/hey-go-buy-a-record/
Since Diamond Dave is planning to have my Creative Commons license revoked (!?!) I better release everything now! In that light, my latest as Micronaut is now available at [shopPOSI.](http://shop.positronrecords.com/products/product.php?pid=moto005) Pick up a copy, and you'll be enabling my snobby gear habit. Digital only release, $6.00 a throw.
Note that if you want an audio demonstration of Audio Damage products, there's no better way than to pick this album up. Other than the Eclipse and the usual Waves limiting products, every effect on this album came out of our shop.
---
## As if I didn't have enough shit...
- Date: 2006-09-30
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/09/as-if-i-didnt-have-enough-shit/
Those of you that are quick like little bunnies might have noted that there was an MKS-80 for sale on Analogue Haven's used page for a minute today. I say "was" because I bought that bitch. I've been wanting one of these for nigh on 20 years, and I finally knuckled down and got one. Now I need to scare up an MPG-80, I guess. I can live without it, of course, but it'd be nice to have. (Oh, it's a Rev 5, for those of you curious about such things.)
---
## Sorry...
- Date: 2006-09-29
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/09/sorry/
...for the silence, but we're working on a release for the [label](http://www.positronrecords.com/) right now. Back to the normal vitriol and player-hating shortly.
---
## Chock Full Of Moogy Goodness...
- Date: 2006-09-27
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/09/chock-full-of-moogy-goodness/
As you can clearly see, my Analog Effect is 6/7ths done. There's just an MF-104Z-shaped hole in the upper right, and I'll get that bad boy as soon as I have some fiscal ducks to put in a row. I got the second panel from Analogue Haven today.
As you can see, I wired the Effect with a George L's pedalboard wiring kit from [Pedal Geeks.](http://www.pedalgeek.com/cgi-bin/new_shop.cgi?config=&uid=DL9iCQAA1159383380&uzc=&command=link--gl) This is a $60 kit and comes with 10 really nice brass jacks, 10' of excellent coax, and 10 little rubber thingies that go over the end of the jacks. It may sound kind of expensive, but when you consider that I needed five cables of differrent lengths, and any cable worth a shit costs at least $13 (I normally use Monster patch cables) then it was actually right in line with normal pricing, with the added benefit that everything is the right length, so there's no extra loops of cable. If you have to wire up several things that aren't going to change with 1/4" TS cable, I strongly recommend it.
Anywho, as soon as I get the delay, this bad boy will be done. A single suitcase containing everything I need to completely ruin a Rhodes' tone. I'm not too hip to that Dyna-Comp; I'm going to make a modded Orange Squeezer to go in its place eventually.
---
## WTB 606...
- Date: 2006-09-25
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/09/wtb-606/
Okay, I'm looking for a pair of TR-606s. If you have one to sell, drop me [a line](mailto:chris@positronrecords.com) and let me know about it, or if you know of one not on the 'bay. Cosmetic issues aren't important, but they need to be in full working order.
---
## OASYS okay...
- Date: 2006-09-25
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/09/oasys-okay/
All right. I'll admit that I had my doubts about the OASYS synth. I'll still stand by my feeling that it costs about 2.5x as much as it should, if it was to enjoy any measure of success (I'm sure I'll be taken to task by the various Korg employees that read and comment on this site for that, as there are some expensive parts in it.) But that said, I just got done watching \_all\_ the KARMA videos [here](http://www.karma-lab.com/vp/klvp.html?playID=23) and am left with the feeling that I would really be much better off if I had an OASYS.
I know that is just gearlust talking, but I don't think that anyone, love it or hate it, would say that the OASYS isn't the single most powerful hardware synth available today. That makes it an object of lust, despite its price tag. I mean, I'd like an Aston Martin DB7 too. But I just bought a Dodge Caliber, because while I have DB7 tastes, I have a Caliber budget.
---
## Solutions to writer's block?
- Date: 2006-09-24
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/09/solutions-to-writers-block/
What do you guys do when you have writer's block? I'm in the depths of one of the worst phases I've ever had. (Although it's only two weeks old, so it's not that bad, relative to some people I know.) I know that everyone has a different method for getting out of it. What's yours?
---
## Freebie from FXpansion...
- Date: 2006-09-22
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/09/freebie-from-fxpansion/
Check this out. A free monosynth from our good friends at FXpansion. Marketspeak: "Orca is an experimental monosynth built to showcase some new technology that FXpansion has been developing. Based on detailed and accurate models of analogue synthesizer circuits and components, Orca excels at deep, squelchy basses and thick unison leads."
In real life: I haven't tried it yet, but it looks fly, and they're trying to get some feedback on a new synthesis method (which is almost certainly some _old_ synthesis method.) It's sort of creepy looking, like an alien vagina or something, the Rubber Johnny of user interfaces. Registered FXpansion members only; you just have to create an account, then you can get the synth. Grab it [here.](http://www.fxpansion.com/index.php?page=12&tab=60)
**UPDATE:** I've just spent a few minutes with it. It has a distinctly ARP-ish sound; it actually sounds really good for software. Not much you can program (amp filter env, freq and res, and some detune shit) but incredibly usable sounds. Definitely give it a try, unless you're an Intel Live user; Intel Live doesn't load VST2.3 plugs, which this is.
---
## NAMM & AES Rumors!
- Date: 2006-09-21
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/09/namm-and-aes-rumors/
Heh. Made you look. Seriously, though, I was flirting with the idea of going to AES, since it's such a short drive and all, but I think I've changed my mind. I'll definitely be at NAMM, though. I've heard some juicy shit, but nothing I can repeat, unfortunately. At least, until I see someone else repeat it, then I'll be a repeatin' motherfucker.
In any case, has anyone heard any tidbits of good stuff? And I don't mean a PRS with dildo inlays or a Relics version of the first post-CBS strat. I mean good stuff...
---
## It's a hit, bitches!
- Date: 2006-09-20
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/09/its-a-hit-bitches/
LOOKING FOR A RECORD DEAL. DIAMONDDAVE103
EMAIL ME diamonddave103@hotmail
A&R ARE WELCOME.
Man, I wish I could make this shit up. (Ethan Callander is the one with all the free time on his hands...)
---
## And in the blue corner...
- Date: 2006-09-18
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/09/and-in-the-blue-corner/
Analog Industries Painful Virtuosity Day continues. Although, it's worth noting that the siren song of Mario trumps all other considerations. Blame Cody Gratner for the fact that you'll be humming this the rest of the day.
---
## Hey, look at me...
- Date: 2006-09-18
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/09/hey-look-at-me/
Joey Trainwreck and the Meth Addicts live. Their contract reads "We will play tonight for the sum of $0.05 per note."
---
## Is it just me...
- Date: 2006-09-15
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/09/is-it-just-me/
...or do all the new Native Instruments plugs look like they were made in Reaktor? Obviously, it's wise for a company to have a common look/feel amongst its products, something we've been struggling at with the AD line since the beginning.
There are two schools of thought to plug-in UI design. I, of course, am of the firm opinion that if there's a real-world analog for a particular plug-in, the plug-in should look exactly like the real-world device. This solves two problems. First, a customer can tell what a product does just by looking at a screenshot. Even with a small screenshot of Reverence, it's pretty obvious as to what it's all about, and we don't have to spend much time explaining it. Second, the customer already knows how to use the product as soon as he installs it, and the only reason he'd have to consult the manual would be for a technical explanation of a feature, or to learn how to use any "secret" things we've added.
When something looks like FM7, you know what it is, what it does, what it sounds like, and how to use it from the git-go. When something looks like FM8, given the screenshot above, at the \_very\_ least you have to read a couple paragraphs of liturature to even figure out what it is in the first place, never mind whether it's something you need or not. The only thing you can really tell for certain is that it's a synth, and it probably uses FM.
These are just my opinions. Your mileage, as always, may vary. I already know that there is a fairly even split between people that prefer modern UIs versus those that prefer the hardware look. I wouldn't turn down some thoughts on the matter, if you feel like typing them out.
---
## Rave?
- Date: 2006-09-14
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/09/rave/
This is really skirting the perview of Analog Industries, but it's vaguely music-related. Last weekend, my wife and I got a 42" HD plasma TV. Obviously, there's no point in having an HD TV if you don't have HD content, so we upgraded our Dish Network system to the HD package, and that happened today.
"Please, oh, please let him have a point," you're saying. Well, yeah. There's this channel as part of the Voom HD lineup that's called "Rave." It's all concerts, all the time, in HD and Dubbly. I've only had it for like 10 hours now, so it's hard to get a handle on what they're all about, exactly. I'll say the following, though:
1\. HD is not very kind to people that aren't, say, Halle Berry. The camera may add ten pounds, but in HD it also adds about 20 years and a nasty case of smallpox. I caught a bit of Cheap Trick, and Rick Neilsen, whom I've met several times, and looks fine in person, looks in HD like he's just walked off a George Romero set, in full zombie makeup. It's harsh.
2\. The Pretenders still kind of rock. I liked them better back when they were too fucking Precious (fuck off!), rather than just Special, but that's just me. Unlike a lot of bands that still make a living off old songs, they are incredibly non-pompous. Something to be said for that.
3\. Paul Rogers can sing. No one will deny that. But Paul Rogers singing for Queen in place of Freddie Mercury is just strange. I sat through that whole thing, because I kept thinking the next song would be pretty fly. I thought that all the way to the end. Those guys should probably stop.
Never mind all that bullshit classic rock, though. There's a two-hour Ryuichi Sakamoto concert on at 2am. I'm gonna PVR that shit, so if you're wondering what I'm doing tomorrow, well, you know how at least 2 hours of it will be spent.
---
## Diamond Dave's Treatise On CD Marketing...
- Date: 2006-09-13
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/09/diamond-daves-treatise-on-cd-marketing/
I know I said I was done with this fucktard, but it's just too fun. "Not a problem."
---
## And speaking of played...
- Date: 2006-09-11
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/09/and-speaking-of-played/
I know this band is sooooo last week and all, but you gotta hand it to 'em for this performance. I mean, if there's a Cool Event Horizon, beyond which you can't get any cooler, they reached it. (Via [Der Matrix](http://matrixsynth.blogspot.com/2006/09/2006-mtv-movie-awards-gnarls-barkley.html).)
---
## Well, it ain't cheap or anything...
- Date: 2006-09-11
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/09/well-it-aint-cheap-or-anything/
Some day, when the fairy godmother turns me in to a real boy, I'll have my dream rig. And in pride of place will be a dozen or so of these motherfuckers, just announced by API. Essentially two 550B eqs in a single rack space, with some extra features. These are best explained by API directly:
_The 5500 will be at AES and will ship in quantity shortly thereafter. We will have pricing details at the show as well. The cost will be more than just 2 550B's because as you may have noticed, the 5500 is actually 3 EQ's in one - the range switch lets you reduce the steps in the boost/cut to become a 550D or a 550M. We'll try to keep the pricing less than 3 times the cost of one EQ, however._
By my math, that comes to roughly $3600 a throw. That's a lot of money, when you consider you can buy a pair of 550B carts and have enough left over for a lunchbox, plus a cart of your choice from another company. That said, you know that looks are more important to me than sound, and this looks really fucking nice. There's some marketspeak [here,](http://www.zioshow.com/view.php?id=8645&area=1) but it won't tell you anything beyond what's above.
---
## Moogers...
- Date: 2006-09-08
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/09/moogers/
How's that for six spaces of tasty analog? You're looking at my electric piano live effects station, half-way completed. Still a ways to go, but I'm fairly pleased with the results thus far. I was a little hesitant about the phaser, but now that I have it, I'm impressed with its range of tones. It doesn't have as much juice as a Bi-Phase, the only other 6/12 phaser I'm intimately familiar with, but it has a much broader pallette. The LFO goes up to 250Hz, which is well in to audible (and thus ring-mod-ish) territory.
Has anyone but me noticed the difference in build quality between the older Big Briar pedals and the newer Moog ones? The LPF and Phaser (both Big Briar, as you can see) seem to be made of much sterner stock than the ring mod. The pots are firmer, and they just feel more solid. Of course, all three are built like tanks, but the Big Briar models seem to be more tankish.
In any case, now I have to get a CP251 and the rack tray for same. A couple little things go in the empty spot on that tray, and we're 2/3rds done. I still need to pick up an A/D/A for the whole fiesta, but that's easy enough.
**UPDATE:** Amos from Moog sez on [MatrixSynth](http://matrixsynth.blogspot.com/2006/09/moog-vs-big-briar-moogerfoogers.html) the following:
_The part number and supplier are the same on the new Moog 'foogers as the Big Briar ones... lifespan of the pots is the same, but the turning resistance and smooth, damped feel have totally changed over the last couple of years. Moog have been in a fight with CTS for the last year over this issue, with CTS insisting they are delivering the same pots as before. Clearly they are not... hopefully this will be remedied soon. Note that newer Moogerfoogers such as the MuRF and Bass MuRF have the solid, smooth-turning pots you would expect._
Good enough explanation for me. I mean, it's not like the pots are bad or anything; it's just that the older ones feel better.
---
## Odd question...
- Date: 2006-09-08
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/09/odd-question/
Dear Lazyweb: Name me a 3U (or less) true analog synth that is like 8.5cm deep or less. I have an odd-sized space to fill. I think that the Evenfall Mini Modular would work in this context; problem is they're rare as hens teeth. Something of which more than six were made would be nice.
(And since everyone is on an accuracy kick lately, as if this site was actual journalism, by "six" I mean "a few." You guys can be literal as fuck sometimes. There's no doubt in my mind that without this mea culpa, the first post would be "Uh, Chris, there were exactly 42 Evenfall Mini Modulars made!")
---
## Fucktard Of The Year Candidate...
- Date: 2006-09-08
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/09/fucktard-of-the-year-candidate/
God damn, I just want to slap the shit out of this bitch. I don't think anyone (even his wife) would argue that this dude is a fucking idiot. (Blame [aKido.](http://www.akido.biz/) I'm just the messenger.)
---
## 'Nuff Said...
- Date: 2006-09-07
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/09/nuff-said/
Okay, we've decided what we're going to do for the next AD product. I'm not going to say what it is until we have a working proof-of-concept, but suffice to say it was mentioned in the previous topic of conversation, and is a real, existing, current piece of hardware. We've contacted the manufacturer, and they were agreeable to our terms, so the ball is rolling.
So, to work. We should have something to look at next week.
---
## Okay...
- Date: 2006-09-05
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/09/okay/
We're starting to think about the next Audio Damage product, and as always, we're interested in what the masses want. Got a particular piece of hardware you'd like to see in a plugin format? Is there some whacky idea you've had that needs to be a plug? Let us know in the comments.
It is worth noting that a filter was asked for in the last Reverence thread, and we had some discussion about this. Both Adam and I are under the impression that there are a lot of fucking filters out there, and the world wouldn't necessarily be a better place with another one in it. I've been pondering doing an MS20 filter, something which hasn't been done in software to the point where it's worth using, but that'd be a tricky little bitch. So, comments to that end are appreciated as well.
---
## Labor Day...
- Date: 2006-09-05
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/09/labor-day/
For those of you not in the U.S., yesterday was a holiday called "Labor Day." Its purpose is not dissimilar to the May Day holiday that Communist countries celebrated, back when Communism was cool. That is, it's a day for the American Worker or whatever. What it \_really\_ has become is the last day rednecks can take their boats out before they have to get their 6 stupid-ass kids back in school. There must have been so many boats on the lake by our house that you could walk from one side to the other without getting your feet wet. This in a state with no shortage of water. I can't imagine what the Columbia River was like.
In any case, that's a long-winded way of explaining why I haven't posted in a couple days. I actually look on Labor Day as a day to labor, and got a lot of work done on my upcoming album. Which I will continue to do today.
---
## Oddball request...
- Date: 2006-09-03
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/09/oddball-request/
Dear Lazyweb:
Does any of my fair readers have the Jacky Terrasson album "Lover Man"? I desperately need the track "Love For Sale," and none of the download services carry this record because it was a limited release kind of thing.
Drop me [a line](mailto:chris@positronrecords.com) if you can help a brother out here.
---
## Whew (#4)
- Date: 2006-09-02
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/09/whew-4/
You \_know\_ your weekend's gonna be all right after you watch this shit. The sound is kind of asserific, with a vicious slapback, but who the fuck cares? From the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1980, this footage makes me wonder how the hell I ever played live without snyncronized-dancing backup singers. And a horn section. And, like, some sort of singing skill. Basically, what I'm getting at is "why bother?" It's done been preached. We'll finish this series off tomorrow with a real whopper.
---
## Okay. Moog problem solved for now...
- Date: 2006-09-01
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/09/okay-moog-problem-solved-for-now/
I'm really left with the nagging feeling that I should have got the analog delay, but I just sent someone a money order for the phaser pedal. The MURF just seems too fucking esoteric for my needs. This Analog Alteration Station in its entirety will be largely for my main instrument, which is the electric piano. Ergo, a phaser makes a certain amount of sense, where the MURF does not.
In any case, I still need to aquire a few things before the project is unveiled. What I'm looking for, if you're selling: a CP251, a Flying Cow (the 20-bit one is fine), and one of those flip-up 12-space SKB cases.
I also have one pedal that is now superfluous, a Russian-made Small Stone. If you have a need for this, drop me a line.
---
## Fucktard Of The Week (or not?)
- Date: 2006-08-31
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/08/fucktard-of-the-week-or-not/
Of course, we all do this. That goes without question. But we don't film it and inflict it on others. So, he's just a fucktard for filming it and uploading it, not actually doing it, I guess. (Of course, most of us try to play with some semblance of timing, which bears mentioning. Quantization was invented for people like this.)
**UPDATE:** The verdict: not a fucktard, according to the readers of Analog Industries, who are well versed in such matters.
---
## Whew (#3)
- Date: 2006-08-31
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/08/whew-3/
Okay, it isn't the Carnegie Hall concert, which is one of the most outstanding pieces of live concert you're ever gonna find (check the 8 minute version of Use Me he opens the show with), but Rev. Bill preaches it like a motherfucker in this footage from 1972. There are two songs in the clip. The first one is worth watching, for certain, but the bills start getting paid at 3:55. One of my all-time favorite singers, and IMO the most under-rated singer and band of all time. Those guys could hold a vamp like nobody's business. Color me crazy, but is that Joe Walsh on electric? Not sure about that, but it sure as fuck looks like him.
([Here](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZwKUxjVxB8) is an iteration of "Ain't No Sunshine" if you're still feelin' it.)
---
## Whew! (#2)
- Date: 2006-08-30
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/08/whew-2/
Forget about it. Otis Redding's performance at the Monterey Pop Festival is hands down one of the great all time stage shows ever. The video above has the ass-end of "Shake," which opened the set. Then it goes in to the subject of today's post, "I've Been Loving You Too Long." He got up in front of those hippies and just dropped some science.
I really admire Otis for this one performance, because usually musicians put in an uncomfortable situation (like him playing before a basically all-white audience, which was unusual for soul singers at the time) generally don't give their all. He just got up and **owned** the stage. Seriously.
---
## Hmmm...
- Date: 2006-08-30
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/08/hmmm/
Okay, I'm working on Analog Rack V2, which will replace my (now gone) Blacet modular in stage performances for knob twiddling and stuff. I decided to build it around Moogerfoogers, because they have nice big knobs. I'm using one of those SKB flip-up 12-space things that all the Serge folks use, because it is convenient for my purposes. [(Like so.)](http://www.mijnalbum.nl/Foto-V7SBULPX.jpg)
I've only just started building, and I've reached an impasse of sorts. I've got the Moogerfooger LPF of course, and I got the ring mod. The rack unit that Moog sells (and which I just received today from Analogue Haven) holds three of the little fuckers. The question is: which one do I get for the third slot? The choices are MURF, phaser, and analog delay. That should be an easy choice, except the delay costs twice as much as the other two, and live I'll almost certainly be using Dubstation for all my delay needs. So, I'm really thinking either MURF or the phaser.
Any particular reason I should get the phaser instead of the MURF? I can't think of one off the top of my head, but there's a lot of people reading this blog that own one or both of these pedals, and who might have some insight in to why one is more appropo than the other.
To satisfy the obvious curiosity, the other things the rack will have are fuzz, distortion, compressor (all handmade by me), a CP251, a small mixer/router, and AES->analog->AES. I \_may\_ add a MIDI->CV convertor so I can give the pedals some presets, but I haven't decided for sure about that yet.
---
## Whew! (#1)
- Date: 2006-08-29
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/08/whew-1/
All this week, I'll be throwing video that has SMPTE. Ho, ho, ho. Seriously though, all this week, I'll be putting up classic soul performances that make your arm hairs stand up. First up is Aretha Franklin's stunning performance of "Dr. Feelgood" at her 68 Premier televised concert. This is one of those performances that absolutely defines the word "soul." Aretha may be all god-bless-this and jesus-loves-me-that nowadays, but she was a dirty, dirty little girl back in the day. And no fuckin' around at the piano, either. Dig those mighty gospel runs.
---
## And from the
- Date: 2006-08-28
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/08/and-from-the/
Meet the Pikasso guitar. Apparently, this was originally commissioned by Paid-By-The-Note ambassador Pat Matheny, not Rick Nielson as one might think at first glance. There are 42 strings. One would assume that once you got done tuning it, you wouldn't feel like playing any more. I'm sure it sounds quite nice and all, as Linda Manzer is no slouch viz. making guitars, but the way I look at it, if Django only needed 6 strings, well, you get my drift. Product page is [here.](http://www.manzer.com/more.tmpl?cmd=search&db=lmodels.db&var2=lmodels.db&var3=Custom%20Design&wfskudata=2931-15)
---
## Would you like extra stink with that?
- Date: 2006-08-26
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/08/would-you-like-extra-stink-with-that/
Watch what happens when a ringer (e.g. Sly And The Family Stone) enters a talent contest (e.g. the 1968 Ohio State Fair.) Basically, they win. I've worked production at things like this dozens of times, but I've never seen a Sly-quality band win. Usually, it's a 12-year-old that has memorized "Moonlight Sonata."
---
## Killer Adam Deal...
- Date: 2006-08-24
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/08/killer-adam-deal/
If you pop over to the Analogue Haven [used page](http://www.analoguehaven.com/used/) you'll note that they have a demo pair of Adam A7s for $850. This is an absolutely killer deal on a killer pair of speakers. If someone doesn't jump on that, I will, even though I already have a pair.
---
## Success tastes just like chicken...
- Date: 2006-08-23
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/08/success-tastes-just-like-chicken/
The Reverence Steam Roller keeps on chuggin' on, sucking up roughly 115% of my life. You'd think it was a limited edition or something. Now, if you get the impression I'm being a little cavalier with the whole event, nothing could be further from the truth. A very special thank you to all the folks that have helped to push AD over the edge. We're most definitely players now.
A couple of quick notes, then back to the sweatshop. First off, if you missed it in the comments of the last posting, CDM has an excellent review of Reverence up [here,](http://createdigitalmusic.com/2006/08/23/review-reverence-digital-plate-reverb/#more-1585) with some before/after sound samples. Thanks to Peter for that. (I'm not loudmouthed! I just type that way. I'm actually rather soft-spoken. Except when I'm yelling.)
Next, I just received issue 104 of Computer Music in the ol' mail box this morning, and it contains (along with our shiney new black-as-midnight Reverence ad) a fantastic review of Discord 2, wherein we receive the little CM award doohickies for "Performance" and "Value For Money," and the plug is given a 9/10. So, a big thank-you to Computer Music for that.
In the same light, Electronic Musician's current issue has Discord 2 listed as the "Download Of The Month," with a full page review, and there are some demo sounds on their Web Clips thing of both D2 and Ronin, which you can find [here.](http://emusician.com/web_clips/web_clips_sep_06/)
I'm sure there's a bunch of shit I'm forgetting, but that's the general run of things currently. On a different tack, is any of my fair readers a clarinet player? I need clarinet on a track. You need to be able to improvise on a general theme, and have the ability to record it at home yourself. (Like, I send you an audio clip, you play your part over that, and send me back the audio file which I can drop in my DAW.) Drop me a line via the contact button above if you're interested. I wouldn't be adverse to some other instrument that was in the clarinet tonal range, but ethnic stuff has to be able to play in the Western key of Dm.
**UPDATE**: I think I'm good on the whole clarinet thing. Thanks to everyone that wrote.
---
## Dear sweet baby jebus...
- Date: 2006-08-22
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/08/dear-sweet-baby-jebus/
And from the "careful what you wish for" category, [Reverence](http://www.audiodamage.com/product_info.php?cPath=1&products_id=20) is a smash hit, I guess. Yesterday was (by far) the biggest sales day ever for Audio Damage, and Reverence has sold more in one day than some of our other plugins have sold, period. It is a happy time.
On the flip side, I'm totally swamped with NFR requests and "I bought the wrong version" and such like that. It's really quite amazing how many people want free shit from a company that barely makes ends meet.
As an aside, our original t-shirt company \_finally\_ got back to me with a quote for the high quality shirts, and it is quite a bit lower than the first company, so it looks like we're going to be able to get the shirts we wanted in the first place, and still have 'em for $20 like the last batch. All's well that ends well. I'm a little too busy to deal with that just now; I'll get it rolling next week.
In any case, back to the flip-flop factory. While I'm busy, hey, look, Jack White's house is [for sale,](http://www.1731seminole.com/) if you're really looking for that White Stripes vibe. Nice place, I'll say that much. I don't even mind the red. (Thanks to fmasseti.)
---
## MIDI Violin, but not what you think...
- Date: 2006-08-21
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/08/midi-violin-but-not-what-you-think/
When you first hear the words "MIDI violin," you think of a violin that transmits MIDI, right? This bad boy is the other way around. It _receives_ MIDI. Now, this is a violin I would find useful. Product page is [here.](http://www.qrsmusic.com/pianomation/violin.htm) $17,500 and it's yours.
---
## Audio Damage Reverence Now Available...
- Date: 2006-08-21
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/08/audio-damage-reverence-now-available/
Go [get some...](http://www.audiodamage.com/product_info.php?cPath=1&products_id=20)
---
## A T-Shirt Conundrum...
- Date: 2006-08-18
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/08/a-t-shirt-conundrum/
Okay, so while Adam is finishing up Reverence, I've been working on a new t-shirt design, as we get a lot of requests for t-shirts since we ran out. I wanted to do something that was as high-quality as a t-shirt could be, and based my design accordingly. I got a bit of sticker shock in the ol' email this morning; my price quote worked out to where we'd have to sell the shirts for $30 each, where our last ones were only $20.
Now, that does sound like a bit of coin, but consider that these would be as high-quality as a t-shirt can be, American Apparel tees with 6 spot colors done in chino-base ink. If you've fingered an art tee in one of the many "urban vinyl" toy stores cropping up in cooler cities around the world, you'll know what I'm talking about, and the prices are commensurate with those sorts of t-shirts.
So, my question is thus: are you, our loyal customers, willing to pay $30 for a high-quality AD t-shirt? I can knock down the design quite a bit, and get the same shirts I've printed thousands and thousands of over the years, and charge $20 for them, and everyone would be happy, but in this case I kind of wanted to go the extra mile. Well, the extra mile is expensive, it seems. Obviously, we have to pay for these up front, so I don't want to do so unless you guys are interested in the best-of-the-best kind of thing; if you'd be happy with the typical t-shirt (and don't get me wrong here, because our normal shirts are incredibly high quality) then I'll just do another run of our last shirt and call it a day.
---
## YA Reverence Update...
- Date: 2006-08-18
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/08/ya-reverence-update/
Okay, we're pretty much done with Reverence. We're waiting to hear from a couple more testers, and putting the finishing touches on the manual and press release, and we'll be good to go. Barring the discovery of any problems (unlikely at this point) we'll go on sale Monday morning.
I'm gonna put up a couple more sound samples here in a bit, with drums, since so many people requested them. I'm a little hesitant about this, because the Lexicon plate sound on drums is such a fucking cliche. But people want to hear it, so I'll hook it up. I'll update this post when I've got 'em done.
---
## The Monster Dub...
- Date: 2006-08-18
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/08/the-monster-dub/
I can't tell if [Rozzer](http://www.rozzer.net/wp/?p=27) and [n-Fuze](http://www.myspace.com/djnfuze) are taking the piss out of the current slew of "watch me make a beat on an MPC" videos, or trying to get in on the action, but this is by far the the best of the bunch, both musically and visually, and worth a watch. Since this video also describes how I spend my day (_sans_ MPC, of course; can't stand those boxes) I find it interesting from a process perspective. It's always cool to watch someone that knows their shit work.
---
## Heh...
- Date: 2006-08-18
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/08/heh/
The reason Diamond Dave is funnier than this is that Diamond Dave is real, which is a shame because without Diamond Dave in our hearts, this would be pretty funny. Thanks to [Matrix](http://matrixsynth.blogspot.com/) for the time-waster.
---
## More Reverence updates...
- Date: 2006-08-16
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/08/more-reverence-updates/
All righty. I've made the product page for Reverence live on the Audio Damage site. You will find therein a pair of audio demos, a screenshot, and some market-speak about the plugin (which won't contain anything you don't already know if you read this site.) [Here 'tis.](http://www.audiodamage.com/product_info.php?cPath=1&products_id=20)
---
## Wear that shit out...
- Date: 2006-08-16
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/08/wear-that-shit-out/
Okay, let me get this out of the way straight off: I didn't make these. I have no fiscal interest whatsoever in the sale of these shirts. That said, you know you want to sport the fuck out of this bad boy. It's the beginnings of a movement, and here's your opportunity to get in on the ground floor. [Go forth.](http://www.cafepress.com/stretta.70383728) It's trademarked, dude!
**UPDATE:** Diamond Dave strikes again! Cafe Press, subserviant little bitches that they are, removed the page, no doubt because they were threatened with legal action for heaping shame and misfortune on the innocent government of Belize.
---
## Reverence Update...
- Date: 2006-08-15
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/08/reverence-update/
[](https://analogindustries.com/images/blog/rev_au.png)
Pictured above is the AU version of Reverence. (Click that bitch for the full-sized.) Adam sent me the alpha this morning, and all seems right, except for a silly drawing bug we need to chase down. The VST versions are more or less done, so it's really just tidying up at this point, making installers, writing the manual, etc. I finished writing the presets about 20 minutes ago, and those need to be baked in, of course. But otherwise, we're getting close.
I don't want to run any potential release date up the flagpole at this juncture (since I jinxed myself several times when we were making Discord 2) but there's no doubt in my mind right now that the end of August will see Reverence for sale. We're going to put up the store page tonight or tomorrow, with some samples and the typical bullet points, et al. I'll drop a note when that's ready.
---
## Why I Don't Like The Theremin: A Simple Example...
- Date: 2006-08-14
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/08/why-i-dont-like-the-theremin-a-simple-example/
I have this theory about guys that wear kilts. (Not Scottish Gentry, of course. I mean the kind of guys who's 'day' job is as a bouncer at a goth club.) The reason I find them so fucking annoying is not the fact that they wear kilts. I mean, who gives a rat's ass what you wear? It's the fact that they talk about it incescently. As in "dude! I can't wait until casual Friday! I'm gonna wear my kilt!" Their entire life revolves around the various opportunities one might have for wearing a kilt, and it seems it's all they care about.
I find theremins to be strikingly similar. There isn't much in the audio world more annoying than the caterwauling of a poor theremin player. (Well, Diamond Dave is more annoying, but not by much.) It's not so much that I hate theremins as an instrument. I just hate the fact that people that aren't very good with that instrument seem to take a special kind of pride in inflicting it on others.
With this entry, I try to see what that feels like, by inflicting the world's most annoying song, performed on the world's most annoying instrument, by someone that I'm sure is annoying in real life. It's like an annoying trifecta. Enjoy.
---
## And now for something we hope you'll _really_ like...
- Date: 2006-08-14
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/08/and-now-for-something-we-hope-youll-really-like/
Someone just sent me a pretty funny MP3, a re-tasking of the (in)famous Diamond Dave phone message of last week. Give it a listen [here.](https://web.archive.org/web/2006/http://www.analogindustries.com/samples/dddr.mp3) Apparently, the author of this track is afraid of Belizian Cyber-Ninjas or something, and chose to remain anonymous. Well, who can blame him? You need a pretty robust in-box to deal with DD's missives.
---
## An exciting career opportunity...
- Date: 2006-08-14
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/08/an-exciting-career-opportunity/
---
## If you've got nothing to do tonight...
- Date: 2006-08-12
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/08/if-youve-got-nothing-to-do-tonight/
...and you're in London, I strongly suggest you go check out [Teledubgnosis](http://www.saucerx.com/teledubgnosis/) + [N.I.C.](http://www.nicprod.org/), who are playing at [Luminaire,](http://www.theluminaire.co.uk/main.php?section=events&month=August) on Kilburn High Road. Some truly rightous dub from those guys. They're also at the Windmill in Brixton on Thursday. Teledubgnosis use [Dubstation](http://www.audiodamage.com/product_info.php?cPath=1&products_id=9) on, like, every track of every song. It's dubtastic.
---
## It's all about the sustain, really...
- Date: 2006-08-12
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/08/its-all-about-the-sustain-really/
And in the "Paid Per Note" catagory... I don't have any snide remarks for this, since the kit is good and the music is, while not my cup of tea, actual music. So do with it what you will. Thanks to casiotone for t3h LNk.
---
## Dear God, what hath I wrought?
- Date: 2006-08-12
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/08/dear-god-what-hath-i-wrought/
I know I said I was bored with this whole Diamond Dave thing in the last post, but seriously, what the fuck else is there to do on a Friday afternoon? I just got a nice pair of missives in my inbox. First this:
_guess what im all most at your house.
this joke is on you.
and we I see you had to tell the police about your jokes.
the laugh is on you hwhehehwhw
im not laughing. see you in about 3 hours its a red eyed flight. cant wait to see you.
i know everything about you.
hhhhaaahhhahhaaa not laughing
_
Then this:
_ps on the internet there has been folks even killed.
its a shame.that's a bloody shame.
look it up if you don't believe me.
hhhhaaahhha im no game.
you might have.
this I can laugh hhhhohhaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh
_So, I guess if I don't post tomorrow, you might want to go to the [Statesman-Journal](http://www.statesmanjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/frontpage) site, hit the police blotter, and see if there's something like "Local Man Inexplicably Attacked By Belizian Cyber-Ninjas!" or that ilk. Dave is no game, after all. I mean, fuck. Three hours from Belize City to Mill City? That's, like, really fucking fast. I dig that about him. He really _is_ full of techno!
Quite frankly, it's kind of a let-down that he's sending this bullshit. I really would like to be there when he tried to explain to Barney Fife and his little buddies (I live in an extremely small town) what the purpose of his visit was. They'd be, like, "okay. Where's the meth lab?"
---
## Distro...
- Date: 2006-08-11
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/08/distro/
Okay, this is gonna come out of left field, but I haven't had to do this in a while. It seems that [our label](http://www.positronrecords.com/) has outgrown its current distributor, so I'm in the market for a new one. The last time we went shopping for a distro deal was in 1997, and the music industry was a much different beast.
So, anyone have any good/bad stories about distributors, and thoughts one what a good one would be for our catalog? While the majority of the Posi catalog is, of course, SMG stuff, SMG has ceased to exist, and our current and upcoming crop of releases is all downtempo, melodic electronica, dub, and Nick Cave/Tom Waits style modern... uh... whatever that is. Blues? Something. Thoughts? (And no one-stops, please. We already have a one-stop deal, and that works about as good as you'd think.)
---
## Diamond Dave, The Gift That Keeps On Giving...
- Date: 2006-08-11
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/08/diamond-dave-the-gift-that-keeps-on-giving/
So, if you read the comments of the last post, you know that Adam Jay got another [voicemail](http://www.boldrecording.com/adamjay/DiamondDave_VoiceMail_2.mp3), wherein the entire country of Belize has been disgraced, and is a "very serious matter." That's funny enough. But naturally, there's more.
I took my wife to the dentist this morning, and when I got back, I was rewarded with five "internets" from Dave. Here they are, in folio form, since I dig the whole "stream of consciousness" thing:
_IM CALLING LAWERS_
_NOT AFTER Gearslutz
IM AFTER ADAMJAY
he is messing up your web page
_
_look folks just need to lay off me. I don't know anyone in here. they don't know me. yes im mad my lawyer got the info. I want is peace just keep diamond studio off you web. I think there playing word games if Adam keeps up I will be forced to protect my company. just like you would in yours. im not breaking any laws just trying to keep my good hard working name.. let just keep a clean word or chat. I want peace. message from my lawyers PLEASE TAKE ALL MESSAGE OFF OF DIAMOND STUDIO LTD. IF NOT WE WILL CONTACT MSN NETWORKS TO WORK SOMETHING OUT. WEB PAGES CAN DO HARM TO OTHERS IN ANGER OR DAMAGES TO OTHER COMPANIES WE WANT PEACE WITH THIS COMPANY AND ITS NOT YOU WERE AFTER YOUR COMPANY BUT THOSE WHO TREAT HARM IN DIAMOND STUDIO LTD.WE HAVE RIGHTS JUST LIKE YOU._
_http://www.analogindustries.com/
IS GOING TO MSN_
_ok now I just heard my voice message on yaw page
funny but true
listen to it and see if im joking
adamjay is going to be in big trouble_
Dave, since you're obviously reading this, let me help you out a little bit here: if you post something in the de facto public domain (e.g. YouTube) you give implied consent for it to be "shared." In case you're not aware, your idiotic representation of yourself in said public arenas was what engendered this whole thing in the first place.
"To make a long story short" there's an easy solution to all of this: stop being such a fucking idiot. I know that sounds harder than it is, but just put down the webcam. Seriously. You're only hurting yourself. I'm trying to help, here.
Some other quick tips: my "internets" have nothing whatsoever to do with MSN; I'm not sure where you got that idea. And the "Prime Minister Of Belize City?" Last I checked, Belize City had a mayor, so I'm not entirely sure you're barking up the right tree there. I think you might be confusing "prime minister" with "coke dealer." Just a thought.
**UPDATE:** Shit. I didn't notice the six other messages that were in my spam filter. Apparently, I have two hours. Until what, I'm not sure. If this site is replaced with an MSN domain parking notice at 1:13pm PST, I guess we'll know.
**UPDATE 2** Okay, I'm starting to get bored with this. It's fun to poke someone who can't take a joke, but you can make fun of a retard all you want, and at the end of the day, he's still a retard. This just came in:
_now you have crossed the line now your messing with me but I got bigger plain for a bully. its called well open your door see who calling you. maybe its ohhhhhh the law. stop messing with me last chance bully._
Ironically, I'm usually the one sticking up for the little guy, trying to keep 'em from falling prey to parasites like this. So, there you have it. I've gone too far.
---
## Diamond Dave is, in actual fact, The Real Thing...
- Date: 2006-08-11
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/08/diamond-dave-is-in-actual-fact-the-real-thing/
So there was a thread on Gearslutz that kind of went concurrently with the Diamond Dave shit we were rockin' here earlier. It was in good fun. In actual fact, it was a bit kinder than our conversation here, because to the best of my recollection, they didn't call Diamond Dave a fucktard, like, 25 times.
The creator (and main motivator) of the Gearslutz thread was our good friend [Adam Jay,](http://www.boldrecording.com/) who has graced these very pages several times with his excellent kit. Long story short, Diamond Dave got wind of the thread, and wrote Jules (the operator of Gearslutz) with all kinds of drama. Jules, not being very fond of drama, just removed the thread, which is expedient, but not much fun. However, I'm my own ISP, and could give two shits, and love drama to boot.
Diamond Dave made what some would construe as a mistake by calling Mr. Jay. When greeted by voice mail, he left a **10 minute** message, wherein he told Mr. Jay that while he could wear a shirt that says "I'm A Pirate," that didn't mean he was one. Also, his father is an Airborn Ranger (retired), his mother is FBI (retired), his brother isn't happy, he might sue Gearslutz, and he is the Real Thing, among many other excellent tidbits.
The only possible thing that could make this better would be if Adam found a way to make a recording of his voice mail so he could share this with us, right? Oh, wait. [he did.](http://www.boldrecording.com/adamjay/DiamondDave_VoiceMail.mp3) Enjoy.
---
## Monolake Deathstar
- Date: 2006-08-10
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/08/monolake-deathstar/
Apologies if you're already hip to this, but I just found out about it, which makes it almost like it's new. This is Robert Henke's new MIDI contoller. It will be for controlling Live and Max/MSP when Robert is performing as Monolake. [A whole slew of pics](http://monolake.de/monodeck2images.html) on his site, and some info [here](http://www.monolake.de/monodeck2.html). Suffice to say, it is pretty much the end-all-be-all of Ableton Live controllers. Dig the RGB LEDs. While I'm not a Live user, I could become one if I had one of these bad boys as a steering wheel. Fuggeddaboudit.
---
## Done and done...
- Date: 2006-08-08
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/08/done-and-done/
Okay, we're finished with the guitar overdubs, and I'm sending Miguel packing back to Chicago tomorrow, so we'll be returning to our regularly scheduled programming/fucktards/HCGP/etc. here in a short while. Sorry for the interruptus maximus over the last three weeks, but it is summer, after all. You guys should really have, like, a life and stuff.
---
## Wheezebox...
- Date: 2006-08-07
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/08/wheezebox/
Witness the awe-inspiring musical powerhouse that is the Magnus Electric Chord Organ. It has two sounds: "wheeze" and "slightly louder wheeze." They're fantastic. Can't get 'em anywhere else. Hard to record, though, you know? You pick up the sound of the motor.
---
## Fucktard Of The Week... (c. 1985)
- Date: 2006-08-06
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/08/fucktard-of-the-week-c-1985/
Meet the Johnson Five, featuring five different ways to suck. Thanks to Gerald Stevens for inflicting this on us all.
---
## Why I Love This State...
- Date: 2006-08-06
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/08/why-i-love-this-state/
Take a close look at the [last line.](http://eugene.craigslist.org/msg/189233904.html)
---
## A little story 'bout Reverence...
- Date: 2006-08-05
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/08/a-little-story-bout-reverence/
[](https://analogindustries.com/images/blog/rev_ss.png)
You might recall a few weeks back when I asked for a front panel photo of a Lexicon 200. Much speculation ensued, both here and at KvR, about the nature of such a request, and what it might mean. Of course, it's now known that most of you were right, and the next Audio Damage product is indeed "inspired by" the Lexicon 200. It is called Reverence, and a screenshot is above. Click the image for a full-sized one.
It isn't an exact clone of a Lexicon 200, or any Lexicon 'verb, for that matter. It is a modern (and thus more usable) rendition, for the 99.9999% of us that don't earn our bread and butter doing Scritti Politti mixes. It has that same thickness of the early Lexicon plate simulations, without the brittle overhead or the noise. Obviously, it runs at modern sampling rates instead of the 11kHz neck of the woods that the original ran at, so it has significantly more headroom. That said, I think Lexi 200 owners will be happy with the result.
It will be US$39.00. We're just finishing up the Windows version, and will start the OSX versions this week. I am hesitant to give an actual release date, but ads for it start running at the end of the month, so it would be wise for us to have it out in August. We're not going to rush it out, though, so there's a chance we'll slip a bit. Unlikely, but I'm obligated to mention it. We'll be happy to field any questions or comments in this thread.
---
## Rubber Johnny...
- Date: 2006-08-03
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/08/rubber-johnny/
I never get bored of this. You've probably seen it, of course, but it's a good time waster. Aphex Fuckin' Twin and Chris Cunningham.
---
## Adam A7 = The Business...
- Date: 2006-08-03
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/08/adam-a7-the-business/
Got my Adams from [Analogue Haven](http://www.analoghaven.com/) today. Run (don't walk) to the nearest computer and order yourself a set. These little guys are The Shit, in no uncertain terms. **Well** worth the money. There is no question in my mind any more that these are the best deal going for sub (barely) $1K powered monitors. Bass? Tons, round and full as fuck. Sub users: meet the real world. High end? Nice. Not crispy like I expected; quite smooth. There's a little three band tone control thingy on the back where you can add some sizzle if you need to.
They aren't really rough to listen to; I can't see ear fatigue being a real problem with these guys. You can really hear your 'verbs and compressors working, which is quite important in a mix. In short, I'm in LOVE with them, and I've only had them for four hours. I'm going to be doing some mixing next week, so we'll see how they hold up, but I imagine "admirably" is the word I'll be looking for. Seriously. Buy some. I'm not kidding.
---
## Stuff and gear and stuff...
- Date: 2006-08-02
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/08/stuff-and-gear-and-stuff/
It was inquired as to what gear was being used for the guitar overdubbing sessions. "All kinds of shit" would be the easy answer, but pictures can express a thousand words, so here's a 2K explanation.
---
## 'Sup?
- Date: 2006-08-01
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/08/sup/
Okay, my guitar player Miguel is here for a week to do overdubs; I'll be more or less incommunicado for the duration, so don't expect a lot of posting here until, say, the 8th. A few here and there, but not my normal daily shit.
---
## I've been diggin'...
- Date: 2006-07-31
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/07/ive-been-diggin/
...in no particular order...
**Mose Allison.** I saw him a couple times during his residency at Fat Tuesday's in NYC. It took a little while for his voice to grow on me, but now I can't get enough of that shit. "If You're Goin' To The City" has got to be one of the all-time great jump blues tracks.
**Gibson Special Alloy Humbucker Guitar Strings**. These strings don't suck. They actually sound pretty damned good. They don't break. I've been endorsed by Ernie Ball for years (yeah, if you look on the back of the green package, you'll see my name somewhere in that list) but I've given up on them. Their quality has gone way downhill, and now that I'm not touring any more, I don't need to buy 700 packs of strings a year, and I can spend a little more. I'm sure there's better strings than the Gibsons out there, but I tried 'em on a whim, and find them servicable.
**Nuendo.** Nothing changes. I have to have pretty much every Windows and OSX DAW installed, and no matter how much I deal with the others, I still love Nuendo. I don't know how those people that say one DAW sounds better than another come to that conclusion, but as far as workflow goes, Nuendo wins hands down, for me anyways.
**Preset #257 on the Eventide Eclipse.** Named "EMT Plate," it bears little resemblance to its namesake, but is an excellent thick reverb. It is currently my main reverb, but is soon to be replaced in that regard. (Ho, ho, ho...)
**Plogue Bidule**. The more I play with this bad boy, the more I like it. As far as bricks-n-wires environments go, it'll get the job done, and doesn't suck as much as most of the others.
That's it for now. I think the world needs more stream-of-consciousness blogging, and I've just done my part.
---
## 99 Cent Condensor Mic? Sure, why not?
- Date: 2006-07-30
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/07/99-cent-condensor-mic-sure-why-not/
I could see buying, like, 50 of these and placing them all over my house. Mic: 99 cents. Cable loom: $4500. Anyways, [Go forth.](http://www.karmaaudio.com/) I'm sure they're fantastic.
---
## Why I Hate Musician's Friend, Take 152...
- Date: 2006-07-30
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/07/why-i-hate-musicians-friend-take-152/
So, my Adam A7s departed Analogue Haven yesterday, and it occurred to me that I need TRS->XLRM cables. Everyone knows that Mogami cables are the cables you get when you need cables. (People that know better still insist on buying Hosa and Radio Shack cables. Those people obviously don't give a fuck about their signal, and only want their cables to last for like a year. They're demonstrably insane.)
So, like I was saying, I need these cables, and in a moment of weakness, I ordered them from Musician's Friend. (People that buy anything from Musician's Friend fall in to the same catagory as those that buy Hosa cables, so I'm in the same boat as you, FWIW.) I don't know why I did it, other than that they were the first ones to come up in my Google search. So I make the order, and don't think much of it. Today, I get this email:
_We've sent this email to confirm shipment on the items listed below for order number I6207089XXXX. With most packages, you can track the progress enroute based on your Tracking Number(s):_
_38766337178XXXX_
_If the tracking number above appears in one of the United Parcel Service (UPS) formats, click this link and paste in your tracking number: http://wwwapps.ups.com/etracking/tracking.cgi_
_UPS formats are: 1Z### ### ## #### ### # or T### #### ###_
_If your tracking number appears in the FedEx format, click this link and paste in your tracking number: http://www.fedex.com The FedEx format is 12 to 15 numerals in a row, with no separators. Be sure to delete the leading zeros when entering your number on the FedEx website!_
_Tracking information will not be posted to UPS or FedEx tracking systems for approximately 24 hours._
_If the number above begins in 9, your package was sent via the United States Postal Service. If no number appears, your order was shipped USPS First Class Mail. Currently, USPS does not offer a package tracking system._
Why is it that every other business on the internet can just give you a "click this link to track" mail, while Musician's Friend forces you to do long division in your head? First, you have to figure out what the fuck format it is, then you have to... yeah... whatever. And that last sentence is my favorite. While technically true, it is, in fact, patently misleading, as Delivery Confirmation actually provides 9/10th of the service that a normal tracking number does. Of course, they can always pass that 45 cents on to the customer, so what's the big deal?
On top of that, the number is meaningless for over 24 hours. Every other company on the web manages to at least get the data to the shipping company, even if they don't actually send the package out the door. But Musician's Friend can't actually manage that complicated process. So, once you figure out what fucking service it's for, you're rewarded with something on the order of "No information for the following shipments has been received by our system yet" for at least a day.
So, my question is thus: what's the god-damned point? Why can't Musician's Friend pull off what every boutique store on the planet manages? I know. They're spending all that money they could be paying to people that think on paper catalogs that I get and throw away three at a time, every four weeks. Hey, I've got an idea: why don't you guys apply some of your ad budget to actually retaining customers? Then maybe I'd spend more than $70 a year at your store. Actually, no I won't. Never mind. Keep on doing what you're doing.
---
## Fucktard(s) Of The Week...
- Date: 2006-07-29
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/07/fucktard-s-of-the-week/
_\[Embedded media, no longer available.\]_
MC Cul De Sac And The Suburban Rebel Three!
Seriously, I know these guys, and they really are choads in real life, too. (And extra seriously, if you're using an Intel Mac to look at this site, and it says you need Flash 9 to watch that movie, don't fucking bother. It's not worth the effort.)
---
## Avantone Group Buy Update 2...
- Date: 2006-07-28
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/07/avantone-group-buy-update-2/
Okay, we've got a couple dozen takers so far; all is good. I'm going to close this up on Wednesday, and here's how it will work. Those of you who have committed will Paypal me $169 per set you want, with your address in the Paypal thingie; I'll send a check for the total to Avant, and in a couple days you'll have your speakers. Avantone has every set needed for this group buy set aside already, and the speakers will ship as soon as they receive payment.
Now, I've received quite a few emails with various questions regarding these little guys; I've answered everyone privately, but I figured I'd put a compendium up here, in the hopes that I might save people (and myself) some trouble. So, in no particular order:
**Q: What kind of amp should I use?** This is the most common question. Pretty much any amp will do the trick; of course, the better the amp, the better the results, as with all things. However, there is no particular High Quality Shit Amp that fills the same roll as the Avantones (and their Auratone and Pyramid cousins). As I mentioned in the previous thread, the most obvious solution is a Crown D45, D60, or D75. You can find these on eBay for quite cheap, and the D45 can still be purchased new (albeit at roughly twice the cost of the speakers, so diminishing returns are the order of the day.) These little guys purportedly handle 200W peaks without drama, so use that to inform your decision.
**Q: Can I use these as my main monitors?** Sure, if you make music that only has a snare drum, vocals, and saxophone. Because those are about the only instruments these speakers reproduce accurately. These are most definitely secondary speakers, used to check phase alignment, midrange instrument balances, and how your mix will sound on computer speakers, iPod earbuds, and most importantly, from a television set.
**Q: I already have shitty Mackie/Behringer/M-Audio monitors? Why do I need another pair of speakers that don't accurately reproduce sound?** This is actually an excellent question. I'm of the considered opinion that speakers like this are actually _more_ useful if you have fair to middling monitors, as those generally have artificial bass that makes your mids sound less than they are, and makes a good balance all but impossible. If you have an expensive and accurate set of monitors, chances are you bought them because you know what the hell you're doing. In that case, you know what the Avantones are good for, and I don't need to explain it.
**Q: How big are they?** I'm not in my studio at the moment, but I'd guestimate they are roughly 6" on a side. They're quite small, and will live happily on top of most any nearfield.
**Q: Why don't you start an online music store that sells cool, useful, cheap shit?** Please. I have better things to do with my time.
My wife's parents have been visiting from Phoenix all week, which will hopefuly explain why I've been a bit slow to answer and post. However, they're leaving tomorrow, and this Group Buy will get my undivided attention at that juncture. That, and Audio Damage's next fly-ass product, which is very nearly in the chute.
---
## Avantone Group Buy...
- Date: 2006-07-25
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/07/avantone-group-buy/
Okay, there seems to be enough interest in a group buy for me to persue this a bit more. I spoke to Sue at Avant, and she told me that we can't do the group buy for less than the normal dealer price of $169.00. That would piss off their dealers. However, Avant would pay shipping, so the true cost would be $169.00 per pair. She said I could do a maximum of 50 pairs. They would ship as soon as I got the money to Avant, so this will go a lot faster than the mic order. (On a side note, several people have written to say they've received their mics. So, yours are coming if you're about to write me and say "where are my mics!?!")
Anyways, unlike the Chinese Mic Debacle, there would be no minimum. The only caveat is that this will be open to United States folks only; no international orders at all. Sorry about that; Avant's rules, not mine. You can, should you desire, order more than one pair. The maximum is 50 pairs, though.
Information on the speakers is [here.](http://www.avantelectronics.com/AVANTONE_mixcubes.htm) I don't think we'll use Fundable for this, as they really gummed up the works last time with their quasi-shitty interface and problem-prone experience. If you want to get in on this, [drop me an email]() (don't change the subject) and let me know how many pairs you want and your shipping address, and I'll get a List together. Don't send me any money yet, though. And please e-mail me even if you've already emailed, private messaged, or posted in the previous thread.
**UPDATE:** email bounce fixed. Sorry 'bout that.
---
## Avantone Mini-Review...
- Date: 2006-07-25
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/07/avantone-mini-review/
Okay, I should note at this juncture that I just discovered (and dispatched) a moth in my studio that was the size of a well-fed hummingbird. Now, that's not big for a bird, but for a moth, well, it's like fucking Mothra-sized. There is some mutant shit flying around these mountains, I'll tell you what. Anyways, I'm a little freaked out by this whole event, so whether that comes through in the following passages is up to you to decide. Caveat Emptor.
Anyways, I got home from Travels With The In-Laws (wherein sights are seen, wine is consumed, mountain roads are driven, et al) to find a nice big, heavy box on my stoop courtesy of UPS. And what do I find in this box buy a brand spankin' new pair of Avantone speakers. These created quite a buzz at Summer NAMM just past, and I was lucky enough to score one of the very first pairs on these shores, courtesy of my friends at Avant Electronics (yes, the same folks who bailed us out during the Great Chinese Microphone Caper.)
For those of you not in the know, the Avantone is a remake/update of the classic Auratone 5C speakers, found in most every studio the world over. The Auratone 5C, which \_still\_ commands $300 to $500 a pair used, is the world standard in shit speakers. From the late 70s to, well, today, you'd be hard pressed to walk in to a professional recording studio and not see at least one, if not a pair, of Auratones sitting next to the NS10Ms on the meter bridge of the SSL/API/Neve console.
"Now, Chris, that doesn't make any fucking sense," you say, with just cause. "Why would someone want shit monitors?" Well, Auratones (and the Avantone remake) are designed to answer two questions:
1: How will my mix sound on television, in a car or on a boombox (or, by extension, those shit iPod earbuds or the speakers in a laptop)?
2: How are my guitars and vocals balanced, and is the snare too loud?
The good ol' 5C does this (and only this) in admirable fashion, which is why most every studio has 'em, in addition to whatever they use for nearfields these days, even though they're not made any more.
Enter Avant. They designed and built a modern replacement for the Auratone 5C that clocks in at $169 the pair, and sounds, to my ears anyway, exactly the same. They are finished in a really nice cream-colored... uh... I don't know what it is. Substance? They're solid blocks of something or other. The picture doesn't do 'em justice. They aren't that panelling shit that Auratones were. Anyways, I plugged these little guys up, using what I think are exceptionally nice binding posts...
...and was instantly rewarded with that classic Auratone mid-range knock. These things hit the mark, and are absolute must-haves if you, like me, compose mainly for television. Now, will the Avantones be good as your only nearfield monitors? ABSOLUTELY NOT. But if you want to act like a real engineer and check your mix on more than one set of speakers before you send it to the pressing plant, something like this is a really good idea. I'm not trying to be an Avant Pimp or anything, and no one is ever excited about getting speakers that are singularly unpleasant to listen to, but these are one of the few products you can use and get a quantifiable improvement in the end result of your mix.
So, a STRONGLY recommended from me. Avant has mentioned to me that a group buy is a possibility, with strict limits, since they have experience with the AI userbase and our crazy group buy thing already. Is there any interest in such a thing 'round these parts? Since there's no unknown, it wouldn't be the complete pain-in-the-arse/cluster-fuck that the microphone thing turned out to be. Thoughts?
---
## Hard-Core Gear Porn Monday...
- Date: 2006-07-24
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/07/hard-core-gear-porn-monday/
My in-laws are visiting all week, so I'll be traipsing all over the Pacific Northwest seeing the sights. As such, don't expect much postage this week. However, here's a sexy little number that showed up in my mailbox this morning. Tons of nice kit here, and Tom will no doubt be happy to see both a Fairlight and a Synclavier. [Play Industries](http://www.play-industries.com/studio_one.html) is the joint. Go forth.
---
## Rentals in Portland?
- Date: 2006-07-22
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/07/rentals-in-portland/
Dear Lazyweb:
I need to rent a good recording amp for August 1st to the 8th. I'm thinking a Gibson GA-20 or a '66 Champ or something in that neck of the woods. Obviously, given my locale, the rental needs to take place in the Portland/Salem, OR neck of the woods.
Any help? Or suggestions on other courses of action? I don't really want to buy another guitar amp, as I have all the guitar shit a keyboard player needs, but I do need something a little more highbrow than what I gots for this session I have coming up. Hook a brother up.
---
## Discovering Electronic Music...
- Date: 2006-07-20
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/07/discovering-electronic-music/
[MatrixSynth](http://matrixsynth.blogspot.com/) has probably already posted this, but if he did, I missed it. This is the fantastic Bernard Wilets film from 1983, Discovering Electronic Music. It is so fantasical awesome as to defy description. Break out the Klang. It is, of course, quite long. Above is part one. Part two is [here,](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaYuj38I3Xg&search=discovering%20electronic) and part three can be found [here.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEnge9e90_A&mode=related&search=modular%20synth) Special thanks to [jdfan](http://www.burnlikenero.com/) for bringing it to my attention.
---
## Corbaccio At The Keys...
- Date: 2006-07-20
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/07/corbaccio-at-the-keys/
I've never been a big fan of the Marx Brothers, and as such, I didn't realize what most of you probably already know: Chico Marx could give a fucking clinic on piano playing. Like, take you out back and learn you a thing or two style.
---
## Crumar Performer, Round Two (Fight!)
- Date: 2006-07-19
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/07/crumar-performer-round-two-fight/
Okay, so I got this Performer in the hizzle. It is actually in surprisingly good shape; only a couple minor problems, which I can certainly deal with for the price I paid!
The resonance slider on the Brass section is dead, for starters. I haven't opened it up to see if it's a loose connection or the pot is actually completely out of commision, but I assume the latter, and will need to replace it. The slider toggle for the Brass volume is broken off, so that'll need to be replaced. And all but 5 of the slider caps are missing.
So, anybody have a dead Performer and want to sell me the resonance and Brass volume sliders, plus ten slider handles? Otherwise, I'll just buy 15 new ones, if I can find a current production model that fits.
Otherwise, it's in great shape. Someone sharpied out the "AR" in "CRUMAR" on the top, resulting in a "CRUM PERFORMER" but I don't really care about that. In sound, it is significantly different than the Omni 2. You can really hear the divide-down working on the lower notes, where it's not so obvious on the Omni and RS09. As string synths go, it's one of them. I wouldn't pay a shitload for one, but it has a definite Joy Division vibe to it which I really like, and is appropriate to what I'm currently up to, musically. So I have no complaints.
(And let me just add that [Phase Two](http://www.audiodamage.com/product_info.php?cPath=1&products_id=12) fucking owns this cocksucker. It's like they were made for each other.)
---
## New At Analogue Haven...
- Date: 2006-07-18
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/07/new-at-analogue-haven/
It has become my lot in life to tirelessly pimp both Analogue Haven and Effector 13. Today, I have the opportunity to do both in one fell swoop. The Effector 13 Synth Mangler pedal, which initially brought that company to my attention [a couple months ago](https://analogindustries.com/2006/05/synth-mangler/) is now available at [Analogue Haven](http://www.analoguehaven.com/effector13/synthmangler/) for purchase, for the reasonable price of $295. What is it? A pair of E13 Soda Meiser pedals, in their "Truly Beautiful" configuration, with a joystick to crossfade between them. I have a Soda Meiser, and it is the single most destructive pedal I've ever even come across, let alone owned.
So, this gets a "highly recommended" from me. Effector 13 destructive power and Analogue Haven service. What more could a boy ask for? And you have to be impressed about the fact that I've finally managed to make a post about AH where I spelled the name of the company correctly throughout.
---
## Diamond Dave: The Gift That Keeps On Giving...
- Date: 2006-07-18
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/07/diamond-dave-the-gift-that-keeps-on-giving/
I don't really have anything to say about these that Diamond Dave hasn't already said. "This baby is loaded with techno." (Thanks to Mr. McAnally, Diamond Dave's new best friend.)
---
## A little synth poem...
- Date: 2006-07-17
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/07/a-little-synth-poem/
**Ode to Synthesizers**
By Josh Langberg
Oscillators that stay in tune.
Filter sweeps will make girls swoon.
Black ebony, white ivory,
49, 61 and 88 key.
All made up of circuit boards,
if polyphonic you can play chords.
Special chips make you temperature stable,
unless of course, you have a wave-table.
Multiple envelopes contour the sound,
while distortion effects bring forth the hellhound.
Frequency modulation is the control,
that combines oscillator sounds, it can shake the soul.
With a keyboard or rack-mountable,
using a TRS or XLR cable.
Voltage controlled amplifier,
How you titillate my desire.
One can never have too many LFO’s,
they’ll sound like the engine of a UFO.
Blipps and bleeps, multimode filters squelching,
most are made in Tokyo, not Beijing.
Sample and hold, you turn my world to chaos,
random voltages you are the embodiment of Eros.
Waldorf, Quasimidi, Ensoniq, and Polyfusion,
you bring me out of dissolution.
Oberheim, Arp, E-MU, and Access,
give me the need to continually practice.
Moog, Roland, Korg, and Sequential,
you make the most of my potential.
---
## Crumar Performer
- Date: 2006-07-17
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/07/crumar-performer/
I scored a Crumar Performer off Craigslist for almost a yard sale price. How 'bout that? I'm gonna go pick it up tomorrow. I have a soft spot in my heart for string synths. I've owned an ARP Omni 2 and a Roland RS09 at various times. Never had a Performer, but I've heard good things. We'll see 'bout that.
But anyways, I religiously look through the Craigslist postings in my area for things like this, but this is the first time it's actually paid off. I'm quite pleased.
---
## Hard-Core Gear Porn Sunday...
- Date: 2006-07-17
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/07/hard-core-gear-porn-sunday/
Haven't done one of these in a while. Eric Frampton put up a bunch of pictures of his home studio [here,](http://www.ericframpton.com/gear.html) and I thought it'd be a fun Monday Morning diversion for those of you chained to cubicles. Go have a gander. Eric has some nice shit.
---
## Hot Vintage Fucktard Action...
- Date: 2006-07-15
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/07/hot-vintage-fucktard-action/
And from the "hey, where'd my career go?" file. Word on the street is that Billy Squire sued the director for ruining his career. Yeah, sure. Like you didn't have anything to do with it. Right.
---
## Okay, I lied... (NAMM pics, anyone?)`
- Date: 2006-07-15
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/07/okay-i-lied-namm-pics-anyone/
Max Cooper has put up masses of photos from NAMM in [this thread](http://www.gearslutz.com/board/showthread.php?t=77924) on Gearslutz. Pictured above is [Esteban Jordan,](http://www.estebanjordan.com/) the world's greatest accordian player. Or, at least what you'd tell him to his face, because he'll plain fuck you up otherwise. Otherwise, it's the typical Summer NAMM crop of ugly-ass guitars and stompboxes. Yawn.
---
## Off Today...
- Date: 2006-07-14
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/07/off-today/
No posts today or tomorrow. I have relatives visiting. In the meantime, I suggest going [here.](http://www.allmedia.com.au/bananana/)
---
## I'll probably regret this one...
- Date: 2006-07-12
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/07/ill-probably-regret-this-one/
Dear Lazyweb:
I need one more multi-FX box. I'm extremely happy with my shiney new Eventide Eclipse (and at the risk of being both repetitive and boring, if you have the means, give [Shawn](http://www.analoghaven.com/) a ring and get one your own bad self) and I'd like another multi-FX box to compliment it. Two caveats: maximum of $1100, and it _must_ have AES/EBU I/O. I'm not fooling with any bullshit converters or impedance matching adapters. My shit is 100% AES in and out of my computer, and that doesn't change.
So, what's the most versatile and suck-free multi-FX unit, taking those two factors in to account? I've seen a couple PCM-81s going for that or less. Quite frankly, I wouldn't turn down a PCM-91, even though it's 'verb only, because I seem to be bouncing through the Eclipse while building a song, and finishing with a nice 'verb; might as well eliminate the middle-man. What I'd really like is a single-engined M5000, I think (as long as it had the digi card) but I'd be lucky to find one in that configuration for the price. So, the floor is open. Convince me.
---
## Shine on, you crazy diamond...
- Date: 2006-07-11
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/07/shine-on-you-crazy-diamond/
[Syd Barrett passed away.](http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060711/ap_on_en_mu/obit_barrett;_ylt=Av8vg8yyxJVdpIvNlxZZl9is0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3b2NibDltBHNlYwM3MTY-) (Thanks to [Ben Goldacre](http://www.badscience.net/) for the link to the video, which came several days ago, but takes on a special irony today.)
---
## Are you fucking kidding me?
- Date: 2006-07-11
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/07/are-you-fucking-kidding-me/
Take everything you ever knew about fucktards in the music industry and just throw it out the window. This guy trumps all. The bit that cracks me up is the "up to $900,000" music tour. (Music tour?) When [SMG](http://www.sistermachinegun.com/) was at its height, c. 96/97, our burn rate on the road was about $300K a month. And that was ten years ago. And we sure as FUCK didn't have any "five star" accomodations. Mostly we slept on the bus. This cat is fucking offensive. But on the bright side, he does have Internet Downloading Capabilities. Maybe he'll see this and challenge me to some mano a mano fisticuffs or something. (Thanks, bringmeup, for ruining my night.)
**BUT WAIT:** Check it. This fucknut has a real live website. [Dear sweet baby jesus.](http://diamondstudio.spaces.msn.com/) I couldn't help but hit the photo gallery of Diamond Dave's big budget million dollar private-jet havin' studio. Remember that guy that had the "pro studio built around an i30"? That guy had pretty nice kit compared to Dave. Now, I'm not gonna begrudge someone their project studio, and in this business, perception is 9/10 of the package, but still and all, you gotta draw the line between fudging a bit and out-and-out bullshit.
_**We are currently looking for partners, investors there is no risk factor. company is honest and truthful.**_
Yeah? How 'bout I give ol' Butch a call and see how he liked his Diamond Dave experience?
---
## Analog Haven + A7 = happy Chris...
- Date: 2006-07-10
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/07/analog-haven-a7-happy-chris/
Analog Haven, our favorite gear store, will have Adam A7 powered monitors in stock shortly (Friday? Monday? Not long.) In that shipment will be my pair, of course. I strongly suggest you run (don't walk) to the [A7 page](http://www.analoguehaven.com/adam/a7/) at Analog Haven and pre-order your set. Now, it's worth mentioning that the price for Adam speakers is fixed (think: Apple computers) so since you're going to buy a pair anyways, and you have to pay more or less the same no matter where you buy them, buy them from Analog Haven, because it's worth supporting a good store that sells shit we like versus a sprawling mega-store like Sweatwater or ZZounds that doesn't give two shits about you and your business.
Anyways, they're a grand for the pair, and hands down the best deal in powered monitors there is right now. I'll take pains to point out that I'm in no way affiliated with Analog Haven; they're just my favorite gear store.
---
## Piano Shed...
- Date: 2006-07-10
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/07/piano-shed/
Sometimes, in piano recitals, the performer feels the need to drop some science. I personally prefer players that are more concerned with emoting than playing perfectly (think Glenn Gould in his most pilled-out versus Horowitz, if such a comparision was possible), but now and again it's kind of cool to see someone give a clinic. I wouldn't want the CD or anything, but when he launched in to that first flurry, I was like "fuuuuck...."
---
## Speaking of miserable people...
- Date: 2006-07-09
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/07/speaking-of-miserable-people/
The above pictured is a beautiful example of the Buchla Music Easel, a rare bird if ever there was one. Normally, you'd be able to visit that Easel, which resided at the [Music Technology Labs](http://www.evergreen.edu/media/musictech/pics.htm) of Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA. I say "normally" because some enterprising yet misguided soul stole it.
Now, stealing something like this is a bit like stealing the Mona Lisa. The pool of people that are going to pay the $20K it is worth is very small, and taking it to a pawn shop will probably only get you $5.00. This particular Easel is missing the lid, and almost certainly has Evergreen embossing somewhere on its case. If you come across this unit, or someone tries to sell it to you, please contact Evergreen, or myself, and help it get home to where it belongs.
---
## And from the "cool but useless" file...
- Date: 2006-07-09
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/07/and-from-the-cool-but-useless-file/
Here's something for the Laptop Battle folks. $72.00 will get you a t-shirt with a working spectrograph on it. Good for the fashion-forward lead singer, too, so the soundman can see where the feedback is. [Buy it here.](http://www.bimbambanana.com/index.php?p=&side=visProd?_id=289)
---
## Another Fucktard Three-Way...
- Date: 2006-07-07
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/07/another-fucktard-three-way/
_\[Embedded media, no longer available.\]_
---
## Can I get a Viscount-off?
- Date: 2006-07-07
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/07/can-i-get-a-viscount-off/
Our good friend dm just wrote to inform me that he purchased the pictured Viscount Imperial off the 'bay for a buck fifty. That is one bad mother... (shut your mouth!) He's taking a collection for bell bottoms and a furry hat. Paypal to me directly. (Click the image for the full-sized glory shot.)
---
## Chandler Germanium EQ on the horizon...
- Date: 2006-07-07
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/07/chandler-germanium-eq-on-the-horizon/
Chandler has another Germanium product on the way in the near future, the Germanium EQ. [Here](http://www.gearslutz.com/board/attachment.php?attachmentid=21855&stc=1&d=1152286974) is the info sheet on the product. I'm one ASCAP check away from picking up the Germ pre; these will obviously make a happy couple. No price yet, but you should go knock around the [Chandler site](http://chandlerlimited.com/) anyways. (Click that image above to see it really big, like.)
---
## Wanted...
- Date: 2006-07-06
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/07/wanted/
Dear Lazyweb:
Do you, fair reader, have a Lexicon 200? I need a high-resolution image of the front panel of a 200, flat-on. It doesn't have to be 3000 pixels wide or anything, but I can't find a good large image on the Interwebs, and I seemed to have misplaced my 200. Oh, wait. I don't have one.
As a reward, I will grant an NFR license of the next Audio Damage product to the person that provides me with the largest image.
**UPDATE:** We have a winner. Ed Anderson snapped me a photo of his which turned out to be just what I needed. Thanks, Ed, and everyone else who went a-hunting for me.
---
## SSL Love-Fest Continues...
- Date: 2006-07-06
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/07/ssl-love-fest-continues/
Don't you just want to hug those guys? I may up and move to Oxford if they keep on like this, just to be close. It seems they bought [Sydec,](http://www.sydec.be/) those whacky Belgian DSP farmers. The press release is the typical marketeer speak "blah, blah, Sydec brings a thorough knowledge of the PC platform to the table, blah, blah, we're all on the same page, let's run it up the flagpole" bullshit, but the gist of it is thus: SSL now owns a company that makes audio PCs.
I see a replacement for the Death Star in my not-too-distant future.
---
## These kids make a good-lookin' pedal...
- Date: 2006-07-05
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/07/these-kids-make-a-good-lookin-pedal/
Pictured is the Hot Hand Phaser/Flanger, from [Source Audio.](http://www.sourceaudio.net/) If you recall, they released a Wah effect in this form factor last year; you wear a little ring on your pickin' hand, and your hand motion controls the effect. Kind of quasi-cool, in a weird sort of way. Anyways, this is the phaser/flanger, kicking the same vibe. It sure does have a purty mouth.
---
## Fan-fucking-tastic...
- Date: 2006-07-05
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/07/fan-fucking-tastic/
_\[Embedded media, no longer available.\]_
---
## WTB: Analog Monosynth...
- Date: 2006-07-04
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/07/wtb-analog-monosynth/
I'm looking for a monosynth in the sub-$500 neck of the woods. I'm thinking along the lines of a Prodigy, CS-15, SH-7, OB-1, MS-10, etc. You know what I mean. If you've got something like this, don't live in Outer Mongolia, and accept paypal, drop me [a line.](mailto:chris@positronrecords.com) The weirder it is, the more I'll like it, but it _must_ have a keyboard.
Note: please don't fill the comments section with eBay links. I don't buy anything off eBay, ever. I'm boycotting them until they figure out a way to vet their customer base and stop all this bullshit scamming.
---
## Tesla t00ns are t3h r0k...
- Date: 2006-07-04
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/07/tesla-t00ns-are-t3h-r0k/
Thanks, [Shawn!](http://www.analoghaven.com/)
---
## Synthesis Technology getting out of kit biz...
- Date: 2006-07-03
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/07/synthesis-technology-getting-out-of-kit-biz/
Paul Schreiber has just announced that, as of 1/1/07, MOTM modules will no longer be available in kit form, as he is moving the entire production to SMT processes, and only crazy people like [Adam](http://www.studionebula.com/) will build SMT kits. You can read the lengthy article [here.](http://www.synthtech.com/motm_plan.html) Quite frankly, I had a feeling he was going to do something like this as soon as he announced that the Frac versions of his modules would be SMT. Can't keep 'em down on the farm, etc...
In any case, there is going to be a big 15% off sale, so if you're in to the MOTM format, now's the time to stock up.
---
## A solution in search of a problem...
- Date: 2006-07-03
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/07/a-solution-in-search-of-a-problem/
You might remember the Optimus keyboard (yeah, the one with a little OLED screen in each key) making the rounds a few months ago. Well, Art.Lebedev has actually brought a similar product to market, even though the Optimus is still a few months off. The [Optimus Mini 3](http://www.artlebedev.com/portfolio/optimus-mini/) is a baby version of the Optimus, with three screen/keys instead of 101.
I can actually think of several musical uses for this, truth be told. Well, onel, anyways: a wired remote for Nuendo. It'd be handy to have a stop/play/record remote. It isn't that expensive; you can pre-order it for $120 or so, and it is available in black or silver.
---
## Fucktard(s) of the week (Special Wanking Edition)
- Date: 2006-07-02
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/07/fucktard-s-of-the-week-special-wanking-edition/
If someone tried to pull this shit out on a session I was working on, I'd say "okay, dude, you're not getting paid per note." The absolute worst form of musical masturbation, now with makeup and pleather.
---
## The Halfway House...
- Date: 2006-07-01
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/07/the-halfway-house/
So, I got everything I needed to rack up this V376 cartridge I bought, then I discovered that the Par-Metal rack chassis I ordered is, uh, too good for the job? Something. The aluminum top and bottom plates are so thick that the V376 (which is a tad bit wider than normal TAB modules) wouldn't fit.
So, my only recourse is to go to a 2U rack, and maybe throw some other jank in the rack (EQ, comp, whatever) to fill it out. Or sell it. Or something. Until that heady day when I make up my mind occurs, I threw it in a lunchbox. Literally. I was casting about for a temporary enclosure, and came upon this little steel lunchbox I bought to keep Stuff in (because one particular facet of my nascent obsessive-compulsive disorder is that I can't walk by a display of small storage solutions without buying at least one.) It was the perfect size, so I got out the ol' rotary hardware editor (otherwise known as a Dremel) and knocked some V376-shaped holes in it.
As you can see, there is quite a bit of infrastructure for a single cartridge, at least if you want to have all the normal features of a mic pre. On the left (bolted to the lid of the lunchbox) is the JLM AC/DC power supply. On the upper right, you see the JLM Go-Between, which provides pad, phantom, and phase phlip duties. On the lower right is the JLM D.I. module, which piggybacks on to the Go-Between via that little ribbon cable (no more coax!). That power supply will easily do four Telefunken/TAB/Siemens/Neumann/Whatever modules, and as many as eight if they're not heavy draw units (like the compressors.) So, this is kind of semi-lame, but until I figure out what the fuck I'm gonna do with this bad boy, it'll work.
---
## A Good Deal...
- Date: 2006-06-30
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/06/a-good-deal/
An aquaintance of mine is selling a Vintech [Dual 72](http://www.vintech-audio.com/dual72_info.html) for the ludicrously low price of $899. I don't need to tell you that this is a really good deal for this box. I'd buy it myself, but I've reached my gear quota for right now. Drop me a line if you are interested in this, and I'll put you in touch with the seller.
---
## Using a Rosetta w/ a MOTU box...
- Date: 2006-06-29
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/06/using-a-rosetta-w-a-motu-box/
I got this question in my email this morning from a Bill:
_I just ordered a rosetta 800 and was curious as to how to hook it up to the MOTU. For now, I just want to use as a front-end (not using with the firwire card). Are there configurations that capitalize on the conversion that are better than others? How exactly do I hook it all up? Do I input my external pres directly into the rosetta, or do I just connect them to the MOTU as always and let the rosetta via optical and wordclock do the rest? Also, I use the Mackie Big Knob for monitoring .. how do I monitor the rosetta DA? Does it still come out of the MOTU main outs or would go out from the rosetta directly into the Big Knob?_
I replied, but the mail bounced, and I thought the answer might interest other people, so in the interests of posterity, here 'tis:
It's pretty easy. You hook the Rosetta to the MOTU via the optical cables (in and out.) I strongly suggest clocking the MOTU from the Rosetta, rather than the other way around, as the clock in the Rosetta is much better than the one in the MOTU. You \_can\_ clock the MOTU from the ADAT input, but it is generally accepted that the better way to go is with the Wordclock input.
So get yourself a BNC cable, as well, as you'll need that for the wordclock. Just run the WC out of the Rosetta to the WC in of the MOTU, and set the MOTU control panel to clock off the Rosetta. Set the Rosetta to whatever sample rate you normally work at, and you're disco.
As for the other bit, that's really a matter of taste. As soon as I hooked up my Rosetta, I sold my MOTU and used the money to buy a Lynx AES16 card. The MOTU is a nice box, and I made several albums with mine that I'm happy with, but it just isn't in the same league as the Rosetta, and I could see that I wasn't going to use it. Also, with the Lynx AES16, you're going to be able to get down to 1ms or less of latency; the lowest I **ever** got my 896 to run without error was about 6ms. I have the Eventide Eclipse hooked to the AES16 as a send effect, and since there isn't any A/D/A conversion, it is even lower latency, 0.45ms according to the "External Effect" doohicky in Nuendo, which is basically instantaneous, as far as we humans are concerned.
But, if that isn't in the cards, I'd hook all your pres to the Rosetta to take advantage of its far better A/D convertors, and monitor from the output of the Rosetta, and just use the MOTU as a Lightpipe to Firewire convertor, basically. To do this, you'd set the stereo output of your DAW to be Lightpipe 1/2. Of course, you need a DB25->XLR cable to get the outputs of the Rosetta, but otherwise you're good.
I really frown on the Mackie Big Knob, and it is definitely going to be the weak link in your chain at this point. It uses op-amps in the signal chain, and colors the sound. At the VERY LEAST, switch to a Presonus Central Station, which just has relays inside, and has no op amps in the signal chain for the mains. The Big Knob will kind of take away the benefits you're getting from having a Rosetta in the first place.
---
## Audio Damage Pulse Modulator Now Available (sort of...)
- Date: 2006-06-28
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/06/audio-damage-pulse-modulator-now-available-sort-of/
The new issue of Computer Music, #102, is on newstands now, and as I've [previously reported,](https://analogindustries.com/2006/06/audio-damage-pulse-modulator/) contains a free full-featured Audio Damage effect, called Pulse Modulator. This plug is a triple-LFO tremolo/distortion effect, based on the ultra-rare Electro Harmonix pedal of the same name.
The plugin is for Universal Binary AU/VST on OSX, and VST on Windows, and has all the usual Audio Damage bells and whistles (MIDI learn, tempo sync, etc.).
Most Borders stores carry Computer Music, but you might have to wait a couple weeks, as they run quite a bit late on their copies. Alternately, you can order a copy straight from [Futurenet.](http://www.myfavouritemagazines.co.uk/store/displayitem.asp?sid=424&id=8993&custid=06@06@200682172@22250665&setext=magazine) Issue 102 isn't in their store yet, but it will be in a couple days. The cost is ten quid shipped, which ain't too bad, considering we'd normally charge $39 for a plug like this. Plus you get all the other Computer Music goodness.
---
## No More Wire Hangers!
- Date: 2006-06-28
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/06/no-more-wire-hangers/
Paul Schreiber, owner of [Synthtech,](http://www.synthtech.com/) dropped this info on pertinent mailing lists last night:
_The EU's import ban on leaded solder begins July 1st. If you are interested in DIY/repair/kit building, I \*strongly suggest\* buying at least:_
_2 spools of Kester '245 No-Clean' solder, part # 24-6337-8800 (for repair and wiring front panel parts) 1 spool of Kester '331 Organic' solder, part # 24-6337-5401 (you use this on pc boards, then wash off the flux which is really vinegar)._
This entire lead ban has caused quite a bit of consternation among companies that sell kits. It has put a couple European manufacturers out of business, and cost a \_lot\_ of money for others to become compliant. I ultimately unsubscribed from at least one mailing list because of a more or less relentless bitchfest viz. the RoHS lead ban. (Because, as we all know, there's only ONE way to DIY a synth, god dammit!)
In any case, like the man said, the RoHS ban goes in to effect on July 1st, so if you live in Europe, get your repair stuff in order now, else you might shortly be up Shit Creek sans paddle.
---
## Stevie Wonder on Sesame Street...
- Date: 2006-06-27
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/06/stevie-wonder-on-sesame-street/
The trumpet player looks like my 9th grade English teacher. That's creepy. Otherwise, fly as it gets. I'd go so far as to say _super_ fly. The vamp at the end is awesome. What a great performance. What I really like is how the drummer starts about 15 bpm slow, and Stevie draaaaaaaaaaaggggs him up to the right tempo before the first verse. Nice.
On a side note, that bass player is working _hard._ Holy fucking shit.
---
## More info on the Buzz 500-series compressor...
- Date: 2006-06-27
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/06/more-info-on-the-buzz-500-series-compressor/
Tim Farrant from [Buzz Audio](http://www.buzzaudio.com/) dropped the following info about the new Essence compressor:
_We have the pricing for the 500 Series ESSENCE compressor worked out - it will street for US$875._
_The ESSENCE has a Lundhal 1540 transformer input passively coupled to the OPTO gain reduction element, followed by a high speed Class A make up amplifier and into a Lundahl 1517 output transformer._
_The sidechain design is very similar to our SOC1.1 Stereo Compressor, and offers the same Differential Drive topology. The attack time with this circuit is generally less than 1 millisecond when selected._
_Units should begin shipping in September, due to availability of the Lundahl transformers._
The only downside to these guys is that they're double-wide, but when you think about it, hardly anyone (besides [Adam Jay](https://analogindustries.com/2006/03/500-series-module-porn/)) has a full rack of 500 modules. Every picture I see with a rack has a couple empty holes. So, this kills two birds: you get a compressor, and one of those holes you're never gonna fill gets filled. It's win/win.
---
## SSL Duende first user review...
- Date: 2006-06-25
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/06/ssl-duende-first-user-review/
Continuing my [Duende](http://www.solid-state-logic.com/music/duende_home.html) fetish, here's the [first review](http://www.gearslutz.com/board/showthread.php?t=75575) I've seen. People that had ordered them started receiving the first units this week, so we'll see some more of these. (I should just make a reusable Duende icon now, because I'm going to be talking about this a lot.)
It's interesting to note that this guy has two PoCo PCI, a UAD-1, _and_ a FW PoCo in his system already, and didn't have any problems adding a Duende. A lot of people were worried about that. It is a Mac, obviously, so that may color your opinion on that particular subject. I plan to run the Duende and a PoCo FW on the same Windows box; we'll see how that goes.
That all said, the review reads about like I thought it would. I'm looking forward to September when the PC software becomes available.
---
## Time, with real tube warmth...
- Date: 2006-06-24
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/06/time-with-real-tube-warmth/
I always thought nixie clocks were cool, but this guy takes it to a whole new level. Eric Barbour of [Metasonix](http://www.metasonix.com/) fame dropped this bad boy on me. Check it: the _electronics_ of the clock are also tube-based, not just the display. Yeah, I wish I was a member of the idle rich, too. Jesus christ. Anyways, [more nixie goodness,](http://www.jogis-roehrenbude.de/Leserbriefe/Bruegmann-Digital-Roehren-Clock/Digital-Roehrenuhr.htm) along with tons of pictures of the project. In German, natch.
---
## Branding a dot com...
- Date: 2006-06-24
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/06/branding-a-dot-com/
Okay, so we've been out of Audio Damage t-shirts in Real People sizes for quite a while. Some tiny German dude just bought the last two out of the store, both smalls. I've received enough email requests to make it worthwhile to get new Audio Damage shirts made, so I'm in the process of getting that together. I'm going to change the design a bit to match our current ad campaign, but they'll still be 6-color print expensive-ass shirts.
We're obviously not in the business of selling t-shirts for any kind of profit. We have the mechanism to sell them, as the record label my wife owns/runs has to ship mail order every day; thus, it's not a big deal to send out a t-shirt or two here and there. But we don't want to turn Audio Damage in to a soft goods company that also sells plugins.
Now, that said, it's nice to have various items in the store, and I'm casting about for other items which might look good. Anyone that has bought soft goods from [the Posi store](http://shop.positronrecords.com/) knows that we don't scrimp on quality or anything, and we're only interested in top-of-the-line stuff. (The first Audio Damage t-shirt is actually a bit _too_ heavy duty, IMO.)
Anyways, I'm wondering if anyone might have an opinion on what might be a cool item to carry in the store in addition to the t-shirts. I thought a laptop bag might be appropriate. I liked the ones that Ableton have; we obviously can't afford to do anything \_that\_ custom, but we could certainly sport something like [this.](http://www.slappa.com/site/metro.html) Another product from that same company that caught my interest was [this,](http://www.slappa.com/site/bulkhead2.html) which I thought might be good for doing a gig, as you could stick your laptop, and have the other bulkhead for a little mixer, audio interface, headphones, whatever.
We would, of course, add a nice big AD Bot embroidery to the front of anything like that. Any thoughts on other things I should consider? Is there a better bag out there? Some other piece of kit that would be cool branded with the AD bot?
---
## Is it just me?
- Date: 2006-06-23
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/06/is-it-just-me/
Or has Harmony Central gone completely down the tubes in the last couple months? The first couple weeks after their Big Sale to Musician's Friend were fine, but now it seems their editorial policy has changed somewhat. Having a look at the "stories" on the front page today, it seems like a fucking marketing meeting for an industry group of music stores that sell marching band instruments.
When I first heard about the sale to Musician's Friend (a company which I think would be better named "Musician's slightly retarded neighbor") I figured HC would rapidly go downhill. It turns out I was mistaken. It certainly went downhill, but it wasn't rapid. _"\[O\]ver time you'll see the website grow into a more vibrant, fun, and informative online resource,"_ said the press release mid-April. I guess that "over time" means "about two and a half months" in marketing-speak, and "vibrant, fun, and informative" means "shit you don't care about."
It isn't so obvious unless you religiously read HC. The front page has always just been a press-release reprinting service, but at least it was press releases you found interesting. Now it's the sort of press releases that I've always busted Sonic State's balls for, the sort that a company puts out for the 'what's going on in the industry' section of Mix. In short, boring pointless industry-speak that has nothing to do with the working musician.
Congratulations, Musician's Friend. You did a good job.
**UPDATE:** Hey, HC, if someone from your company was reading this and going "hey, I don't know what the fuck Chris is talking about," I was talking about shit like [this.](http://news.harmony-central.com/Newp/2006/Pyramind-Institute-Graduation-Ceremony.html) Are you fucking kidding me? Some training mill turns out 14 new patchbay monkeys, and that's news? Come the fuck on.
---
## SSL Mix Buss...
- Date: 2006-06-22
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/06/ssl-mix-buss/
SSL has started a new community site, called [Mix Buss,](http://www.mixbuss.com/) which may or may not be cool when all is said and done, but is cool right now. Some of the articles are lifted straight from S.O.S., so I suppose it stands to reason that there is some connection there. But, that said, all info is good info, unless it comes from RecordProducer.com.
---
## A Lemon? No problem...
- Date: 2006-06-21
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/06/a-lemon-no-problem/
Here's the code, should you need it:
_if (life == lemons)
{
lemonade = lemons + elbow\_grease;
}
_This Wurlitzer 112 I bought from [Mike Fisher](http://www.amishrakefight.com/), while fun for a minute, is basically useless. Since I got it in November, my rather aggressive playing style has resulted in me replacing 7 tines (at $40 a throw) and gluing those little felt pads back on at least two dozen times, never mind retubing the amp and tuning the fucking thing (a process that took the better part of a week.)
My opinion on this instrument is that, while good looking and of historical significance, it is basically unplayable, and useless on stage, which is where I need it. This is not necessarily true of _all_ Wurli 112s, but it is definitely true for _this_ one. I don't really want to sell it, because I'm not going to get what I put in to it (over $700 at this point; I could have got a 200A for that if I was patient) and I don't really want to inflict this albatross on anyone else. So, thinking cap time...
The goal is not necessarily to have a good recording instrument, since the 112 is singularly unsuited for that. Rather, the goal is to have an electric piano I can play on stage that doesn't weigh a metric fucktonne, and stays in tune, and doesn't buzz. So, I decided to take the keybed and sound-bar-tine-contraption out of the 112, replace it with a MIDI controller, and run a laptop with either a really good Wurli sample set or one of the various soft-Wurlis out there. After several days of experimentation, I found that running Logic's EVP88, with some extensive programming, directly in to the amp of the 112 produced a sound almost identical to that of the 112 coming out of the same speaker, with the added benefit that I can run guitar pedals in the signal chain.
Here's an image of the build "sticker" on the soundbar tine contraption. November 2nd, 1955. That's nice. I took out the entire keybed, and now I need to scare up a MIDI controller that can give itself to the cause. I'm thinking one of those white Roland jobbies would be the best. It definitely needs to be one with absolutely **no** bells and whistles. (And by bells and whistles I mean knobs and sliders.) The nice thing about this whole operation is that there is a _lot_ of room inside the case, so I can put all the appropriate power, the audio and MIDI interface (a Presonus Firebox in this case), and the power supply for the laptop, which will sit on top of the unit. I can run the FW and power cables through one of the sound holes in the top, and the only cable will be the power. All the jacks and such on the side of the Wurli will still work, and in order to use guitar pedals, I'll just take the "Recording" output, and go back in to the amp input. If I don't have the pedals plugged in, sound will come out the speaker like normal.
This is gonna be nifty. Now to find a controller. The caveat here is that the original Wurli keybed has 62 keys, but all modern MIDI controllers have 61. So either a fake key at one end, or a little bit of overhang that will need to be covered with some carpentry. No matter.
---
## Soft-Core Gear Porn Tuesday...
- Date: 2006-06-20
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/06/soft-core-gear-porn-tuesday/
Our good friend Jeff Laity sent me some pictures of his new DIY Composer Station, in order to inspire jealousy, no doubt. There are more [here.](http://www.jefflaity.com/gallery/desk) It's a pretty nice affair, although I have to take issue with his LCDs not matching. That's just not acceptable!
---
## Some fun modular video...
- Date: 2006-06-20
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/06/some-fun-modular-video/
The above is Mike Brown of Livewire Electronics burning in the custom E.A.R. modular he and Peter Grenader designed for Alessandro Cortini of N.I.N. There are several other videos [here,](http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=3A78B41E7337E43D) and a page about the synth [here.](http://www.ear-group.net/nin.html) Having seen NIN a few times, I'll give it about four shows before it is battered in to splinters during the Roundup. Well, it was nice for a minute, anyways.
**UPDATE:** After speaking to Alessandro and Mike, it turns out I was a bit optimistic. It only made it through 2 shows before it got shut down by Trent via the judicious application of water.
---
## Annoy your cube-mates for twenty quid...
- Date: 2006-06-19
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/06/annoy-your-cube-mates-for-twenty-quid/
Pertinant market-speak: _Since the dawn of time we humans have loved the beat of drums. Now we may not have managed to evolve much since the sun came up on time, but drums sure have, and now anyone can lay into a drum kit and thrash out the solo to 'In the Air Tonight.'_
That doesn't make any sense at all. But that said, this is a circuit-bender's wet dream. [Go buy one.](http://iwantoneofthose.com/search.do?productCode=FINKIT) It'll be the Next Big Thing for faggily synthi-pop wannabe industrial bands. No, really it will.
---
## Fucktard of the week!!! ("I'm a kind of famous" edition)
- Date: 2006-06-18
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/06/fucktard-of-the-week-im-a-kind-of-famous-edition/
Speaking as a "kind of famous" person, you just have to know when to say when. This might make it in to Fucktard Of The Year contention. (Thanks, TD!)
---
## In Praise Of Plogue...
- Date: 2006-06-16
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/06/in-praise-of-plogue/
So, now that Discord 2 is out, Adam is on a forced leave (because D2 made him a little crazy, and he's started talking to the Bat People) and I'm spending some quality time with new software I've aquired in the last couple months. First up is Plogue Bidule, one of the many boxes-n-wires environments currently available. (You can read all about it [here](http://www.plogue.com/) if you're not in the know.)
Obviously, having worked for C'74 for a while, I have a good working knowledge (and summary hatred) of Max/MSP. In looking at the self-playing patch pictured above, I'm wondering at the size (and CPU usage) of the Max patch necessary to pull that off. It took me about 20 minutes to make that in Bidule; if I wanted to do something similar in Max, I would have had to set aside the weekend.
So, Plogue Bidule gets two initial thumbs up from me. I'll see how I feel once I spend some more time with it, and attempt some esoteric shit, but for quickly setting up sophisticated synth patches, it is quite good. Suffice to say that, for the money, it is a far better deal. It'll get you 95% of Max/MSP's features for 1/10th the cost. That's money in the bank right there.
---
## Fucktard or genius? You be the judge...
- Date: 2006-06-16
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/06/fucktard-or-genius-you-be-the-judge/
_\[Embedded media, no longer available.\]_
---
## Discord 2 Now Available...
- Date: 2006-06-15
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/06/discord-2-now-available/
As the title says, Discord 2 is [in the store,](http://www.audiodamage.com/product_info.php?cPath=1&products_id=18) and available for purchase. US$49.00 for the full meal deal, $10.00 for previous owners of Discord 1.0 and 1.5. Go get it.
---
## pwnd...
- Date: 2006-06-15
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/06/pwnd/
_\[Embedded media, no longer available.\]_
Via [onetonnemusic](http://www.onetonnemusic.com/blog/). He's better at ukelele than I'll ever be at anything. That stings a little bit.
---
## Incoming...
- Date: 2006-06-14
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/06/incoming/
Sorry it's been sparse the last couple days, but I had my problem tooth, of which I've waxed poetic the last couple months, removed from my head yesterday. On top of that, we're very close to a release for Discord 2 (thank all the gods) and that is chewing a lot of my time up.
Other stuff going on: I've received all the parts from [JLM Audio](http://www.jlmaudio.com/kits.htm) that I need to rack my soon-to-arrive Telefunken V376 mic pre. I ordered the power supply, Go-Between, and DI kit from JLM on Thursday, and they arrived on Monday. From fucking Australia. Do you believe that? I didn't. The kits are very nice, but I'm having some trouble putting the power supply together. The pads are _extremely_ close together, and they take solder really well, so I've had some trouble accidentally bridging shit and what not. I fully expect this power supply to blow up the first time I plug it in.
I've ordered a mini toroid power transformer from Digi-Key, and all the Neutrik connectors from Mouser, and an absolutely beautiful clear anodized (read: aluminum-colored) rack from Par-Metal. If all shipping quotes are to be believed, I should have everything needed to put this bitch in my rack in about 8 to 10 days. Provided I don't blow the fucking thing up, all should be good. I'm trying to decide which EQ to put with it. I'm leaning right now towards an NTP 182-150, but I might be interested in a TAB W395A. If I could find an EMT 260 filter/limiter, I might throw that in instead.
In any case, back to work. Discord 2 is done; we're just assembling the installers and writing the manual, and doing final testing at this point. Expect it in a couple days.
**UPDATE:** The power supply didn't blow up when I plugged it in. In fact, it actually works perfectly. Go figure.
---
## Music Thing Throws Down The Gauntlet...
- Date: 2006-06-12
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/06/music-thing-throws-down-the-gauntlet/
Apparently, Tom [wants me](http://musicthing.blogspot.com/2006/06/music-thing-office.html) to bring the pain. I've got three words for him, and they all begin with vowels: Apogee, Eventide, Averill.
Next!
---
## A Little Too Perfect?
- Date: 2006-06-12
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/06/a-little-too-perfect/
My wife and I took a break from computers yesterday in search of a source of vitamin D _besides_ the glow of LCD monitors and drove to the Oregon coast for the day. When we go on road trips of any length, we tune our XM radio to Fred (XM44), which is the one station we can both (mostly) agree on. If you're not an XM user, Fred is a station that plays "the history of alternative music." While you are pretty much guaranteed a heavy dose of shitty 80s synth pop, they also play a lot of shit we really like, including a generous slice of deep cuts which you'll not normally hear anywhere. (When was the last time you heard the Eno version of "Third Uncle," followed by Thomas Dolby's cover of the Dan Hicks classic "I Scare Myself" on the radio? I'm gonna guess "never" is the answer to that.)
Anyways, during the course of one power play of late 70s post-punk, we got to talking about why we like some of this music now (e.g. Joy Division) when we didn't particularly care for it when we were younger and it was new. After some discussion, we agreed that we like the fact that it is so raw. The timing drifts, and the recording methods are a long, long ways from state of the art, even for the time, never mind today.
So, my question is thus: is today's music too perfect to be pleasant? Is the relentless use of audio quantization and AutoTune not only removing the need for playing skill, but actually making music unlistenable? I never liked the Who; I generally avoid classic rock like the plague that it is, having toured far too much to like any rock from the 70s any more. But now, when I hear something like "Who Are You" it's such a fucking relief, especially when placed against the ProTooled Perfection of what passes for rock in today's market.
---
## Discord 2 News v0.9
- Date: 2006-06-10
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/06/discord-2-news-v0-9/
Okay, I'm merrily making presets today. In the meantime, Lisa has updated the [Audio Damage](http://www.audiodamage.com/) site, so that there is actually a Discord 2 product page now. I've put up some quick 'n' dirty example MP3s that I whipped out during my preset-writing extravaganza. Go have a look.
---
## Stupid Shit I Get In The Mail...
- Date: 2006-06-10
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/06/stupid-shit-i-get-in-the-mail/
And it came to me, for some odd reason. (The word I'm searching for is "natch.") I've never owned/purchased/wanted a Mackie product, yet I get this just now:
_Every day, millions of unfortunate souls are subjected to the devastating effects of bad sound. But here at Mackie, we've decided to do something about it. This year, we're proudly sponsoring the Coalition to End Bad Sound. And we're giving you the tools you need to end bad sound in your own neighborhood._
It goes on to talk about rebates or some other blather. I could think of many ways to "end bad sound," (assuming my definition and Mackie's are the same) but buying Mackie loudspeakers is really fucking low on that list. Seriously.
---
## Hard-Core Gear Porn Friday!!!
- Date: 2006-06-10
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/06/hard-core-gear-porn-friday-2/
Yeah, I know it's late. But I'm fucking busy, so deal. [Here you go.](http://www.joerg-erren.de/sites/studio.html) This is a guy named Jörg, who has a lot of shit. Some of it is really nice. Some is made by Behringer. Not earth-shatteringly (is that even a word?) amazing, but a good general round-up of synths. I wouldn't go 'round complaining, you know?
---
## Discord 2 News...
- Date: 2006-06-09
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/06/discord-2-news/
Christ almighty. To say this one fought us every single step of the way would be to understate the matter mightily. Early on, we decided on a feature set that stretched our current library. As it turns out, it was, in the immortal words of Madness, One Step Beyond. We literally spent 3 weeks dicking with this text edit feature, the entire purpose of which was to please a single customer (and you know who you are!) However, all's well that ends well.
The image above is of the 100% completed AU version of Discord 2. We now have to rebuild the VST versions to take in to account the changes we made while making the AU. Then it's just presets, testing, and manual. I wouldn't be out of line if I said you'll probably be able to buy this within the next 7 to 10 days.
A quick recap: Discord 2 will be $49.00. Upgrades for owners of Discord 1.0 and Discord 1.5 will be $10.00. AU/VST for UB OSX and VST for Windows.
**UPDATE:** The Windows VST is now built and done. I just have to finish the preset bank, and then we'll bake those in, and presto, done.
---
## Well-rounded Serge Panel for sale...
- Date: 2006-06-08
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/06/well-rounded-serge-panel-for-sale/
A regular on the AI Buddy List, James Maier (you probably know him better as [Carbon111](http://www.carbon111.com/)) is selling his Serge panel. It is an excellent starter panel, with the following modules: ADP, PRNV, PCO, RING, EQ, AMX, UAP, 2RVG, QUAN, SPRC. He says he's accepting offers, so pop over to his page and contact him if you're in to this bad boy. It is basically brand new. He is a stand-up guy, with an unimpeachable rep.
---
## AU on Windows? Not as far-fetched as you might think...
- Date: 2006-06-07
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/06/au-on-windows-not-as-far-fetched-as-you-might-think/
Anyone that develops audio products for OSX knew long before the Intel Macs were announced that something was cooking, due to the many hints in the various SDKs that dealt with Intel chipsets directly. We mostly assumed that Apple would announce a version of OSX for x86 machines. Technically speaking, that's exactly what they did.
As a developer, something like the following (which is in the AU SDK) can really give you the heebie-jeebies:
_**if (WantsRenderThreadID())
{
#if TARGET\_OS\_MAC
mRenderThreadID = pthread\_self();
#elif TARGET\_OS\_WIN32
mRenderThreadID = GetCurrentThreadId();
#endif
}
**_The thing to note is the _#elif TARGET\_OS\_WIN32_ line. Why would there even be a mention of Windows in the AU SDK? There's no reason for it unless someone at Apple is working on exactly that. Food for thought, anyways. What this really gives creedance to is [Adam's theory](http://studionebula.com/blog/2006/05/24/sure-i-need-my-shoes-to-talk-to-my-ipod/) that Apple will ultimately release a customized version of Windows and call it a day.
---
## Audio Damage Pulse Modulator...
- Date: 2006-06-06
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/06/audio-damage-pulse-modulator/
Here is an image of Audio Damage Pulse Modulator, the plugin that will be available free in the next issue of Computer Music. I wasn't going to spring the screenshot until the issue was out, but I just got issue #101 of CM, and there's a screenshot of it on the last page, so there's no point in hiding it now.
As you can see, there are three LFOs; each one can be synced to host (at various musically useful divisions) or free-run from 2Hz on up to audio rate. The "PULSE DEPTH" knobs determine how hard each LFO hits the VCA. The "PULSE SHAPE" knob sweeps from square through forward ramp, reverse ramp, to sine wave at the clockwise position. Using these 7 controls, you can get some really odd moving tremelo patterns.
After the VCA bit, the entire signal goes through the BOOST section, which is our FuzzPlus distortion model. We originally modelled the distortion from the EH pedal this was inspired by, but that distortion sucked, and wasn't too musical for use with drums, synths, whatever. So we swapped it out with ours. This differs from the EH pedal in one key issue. The EH pedal has two outputs: one for the tremelo section and one for the boost section, and the two don't have anything to do with each other. We think this was a stupid design flaw, and have corrected it by changing the routing so the tremelo runs through the boost.
This will be on the cover DVD of CM #102, full and uncrippled in any way. The DVD will include VST Windows, VST OSX, and AU OSX, and the OSX versions are Universal Binary. The VST versions have our standard MIDI learn feature common to all our recent products.
We have another product in the works which will come out around the same time. It is called Pulse Filter, and is basically the same engine, with a monster LPF in place of the BOOST section. Price is TBD.
---
## Back To German Cartridge Land...
- Date: 2006-06-06
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/06/back-to-german-cartridge-land/
Okay, I'm a sucker. I'll admit it. I needed one more mic pre, and I wanted a discrete TAB or Siemens cart more than just about anything. So I've been nosing around the nether (meaning: non-eBay) regions of the Interwebs lately, looking for the right cartridge for the right price. Lo, and furthermore hark, I found what I was looking for. A fellow I'm buying a Neumann V475-2C module from (for my stupid awesome summing buss project, doncha know...) informed me that he had a TAB V376 cart he wouldn't mind parting with.
So, one Paypal transaction later, and the very V376 pictured above is on its way to me. Just gotta scare up a 1U rack and a rotary hardware editor, and buy a power supply, DI, and go-between from [JLM](http://www.jlmaudio.com/), and I'm disco. I know I previously got rid of all my German carts, but as it turns out, I just can't get enough of that crazy TFK tone.
---
## A Short Rant...
- Date: 2006-06-06
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/06/a-short-rant/
Is Java so much better than C++ that people are willing to require users to get a fucking 118mb download of the Sun Java Runtime to run their precious aleatoric simulation? And then make those same users put up with that miserable fucking relentless "Update me" thing?
That was a rhetorical question, of course. The answer is "no." I'm now adding compiled Java programs to my Big List Of Shit That Will Never Go On My Computer, along with anything made by PACE and Synthedit-based VST plugins. Fuck that whack-ass shit. Get over it and learn to code like a fucking adult.
And while we're on the subject, I saw Damian Marley on the Henry Rollins show on Saturday. I thought the track he did was pretty good. So I hopped on the IFC [website,](http://www.ifc.com/) and listened to the second track (bands that play on the Rollins show always have two tracks; one on the TV show, and one on the web) and I liked that one all right too. So I popped on to iTunes and whacked the "Buy This Album" button. A bit of downloading later and Damian Marley's "Welcome To Jamrock" is on my hard-drive. Which brings me to my next rant.
To wit: I just paid $10 for an hour-long square wave. Seriously, this fucking album is so squished, every kick and snare is distorted. It is past nasty and in to comedy. It's not a bad album at all, but I get all tired out listening to it. After three songs, I feel like I just ran around the block a couple times. Come on guys. They're only called "dynamics" when you actually have them. Really fucking loud doesn't equal really fucking good.
---
## The Hardest of hard-core gear porn...
- Date: 2006-06-05
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/06/the-hardest-of-hard-core-gear-porn/
Okay, I don't know what the fuck is going on here. The above image is from the [ekadek world of sounds](http://www.ekadek.com/) and old-school machinery. There are entirely too few pictures and sound samples on this site, but this guy is a man after my own heart, I can tell that much.
---
## Fucktard Of The Week!
- Date: 2006-06-04
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/06/fucktard-of-the-week/
This is a multi-part fucktard fiesta. Since this is on Ebaum's World, chances are that lots of you have seen it already. But it's new to me, and thus qualifies. I'll grant that "eighties" implies a certain fucktard event horizon, and you have to \_really\_ be a fucking choad to get above the noise.
[This guy](http://www.ebaumsworld.com/videos/homeboy.html) not only manages that lofty feat, but he does it in style. It has that certain Top Gun quasi-gay porn quality, never mind the fact that his flow is fierce. And just because it's Sunday and you obviously have nothing to do (if you went to Church, you probably wouldn't be reading this web site, right) there's a [part two,](http://www.ebaumsworld.com/videos/average-homeboy.html) which, believe it or not, is actually _more Top Gun gay_ than the first.
Thanks (I think) to Magnus Olafsson for inflicting this on us.
---
## Hard-Core Gear Porn Friday!!!
- Date: 2006-06-02
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/06/hard-core-gear-porn-friday/
Yet another HCGPF from our [favorite thread](http://vintagesynth.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2288&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=1605) on Vintage Synth Explorer's forums. This nice little setup belongs to one Spookyman, of Jura, Switzerland. It obviously isn't as over-the-top as our normal entries, but he's got some fun shit I thought worth noting. In the picture above, obviously the blue Rhodes is the first thing to catch your eye. I don't know if that's actual blue tolex, or if it was painted (almost certainly the latter) but I like the looks of it. Good ol' Jupiter 6 and a Korg CX-3 round things out. I don't know what that Sisme Space Master amp thing is, but I want one.
Spookyman is very much a traditionalist with his synth collection. This leads me to believe that he is a keyboard _player,_ as opposed to a keyboard collector. Everything he owns that I can see in the pictures is very playable. The odd bit is that, of the five pictures provided, except for little spoilers here and there, you'd not be able to peg the date of the pictures.
Right after Spookyman's pictures in the Thread That Never Ends are a couple from a guy (girl?) called elsongs that are also worth a gander.
As you've no doubt noticed, I've stopped running Google ads on this page. If you're curious, there is a reason behind that. If I didn't ask for clicks, I would do, on average, $2 to $3 a day. On HCGPF when I _did_ ask for clicks, I'd get $40 to $100. So the three or four fridays together would add up to a couple hundred bucks a month, which is more than enough to pay for the box this site sits on, and leave some money left over for [Rocket Chocolate](http://www.rocketchocolate.com/secure/index.php) and a pack of Hebrew Nationals. However, pretty much every time I'd ask for clicks, Google would write me saying that asking for clicks is a violation of their TOS. I didn't really give a fuck about their TOS, and told 'em so, and they turned off my ads to punish me. So I said "fine, go fuck yourselves."
So, now I will run paid advertisements and affiliate programs on the right side. Here's the deal, though. I don't particularly care for companies that rely on advertising for their bread and butter, but say "we're not responsible for the content of these ads." I think that, if you take payment, you're responsible. So the ads that appear on the right side will **only** be for products I use and support. If a company (and you better be boutique; otherwise don't bother writing) wants to advertise on this site, you need to send me the product you want to advertise, and if I like it, I'll run your ad, and the product will be your payment. If I don't like it, I'll send it back, and that'll be that. So then you, the readers, know that I'm not going to run any bullshit ads that are for stuff I don't stand behind.
Whether that's a wise course of action or not remains to be seen, but I've had it with this whole "monetize your site" thing, and I've really had it with Musician's Friend and Sweetwater ads for Behringer shit mixers and Edirol monitors.
---
## Free Audio Damage plug...
- Date: 2006-06-01
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/06/free-audio-damage-plug/
I've just received word that the free Audio Damage plug I talked about in an earlier post will be available on the cover DVD of Computer Music issue #102. It is called Pulse Modulator, and is based upon the above EH pedal, which you can read about [here.](http://filters.muziq.be/model/eh/pulsemodulator?PHPSESSID=3e187d2cf9b85569ae789760) I'll put up screenshots and a blurb or two once the plug is actually released, but here's the usual stuff: it will be included in the CM Studio in perpetuity, so any issue of CM you pick up from #102 onwards will have it. It will be available for AU/VST OSX and VST Win, and the OSX version is Universal Binary, of course. Issue #102 of CM will be on sale June 28th. It is not limited in any way, and is not a "demo" or hobbled, but is a full-featured Audio Damage product, just like our commercial plugs.
We will have a similar plug, with the same layout but a much different sound, available for purchase probably around the same time; I'll inform as to the particulars when they are pertinant.
So, don't say we never gave you nothin', right?
---
## New URS Channel Strip...
- Date: 2006-05-31
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/05/new-urs-channel-strip/
Have a gander at this sexy little plug. 'Tis the [URS Strip,](http://www.ursplugins.com/ursStrip.html) a compressor/EQ combo platter for your DAW. It looks like the compressor is a slightly dumbed-down version of their 1975 compressor, while the EQ is a combo platter design. Whatever. I'll take two please, in Native formats. WinVST and OSX VST/AU coming soon. Available now for the various whack-ass PT formats. Native is $199. Can't complain.
I _can_ complain about the bullshit fiesta that is iLok. Sorry, URS, but that's a deal-breaker for me. Can't you guys come up with something that doesn't treat your paying customers like criminals? I mean, your non-paying customers aren't gonna pay either fucking way, so what's the point?
---
## Killer deal on a Rosetta...
- Date: 2006-05-31
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/05/killer-deal-on-a-rosetta/
I don't normally post this sort of thing, but this is too good to pass up, and unfortunately, I have to pass it up. [This post on Gearslutz](http://www.gearslutz.com/board/showthread.php?t=72520) has a dude with a good rep selling a 96K Rosetta 800 for $2300 **shipped** anywhere in the US and Canada (except for the extremities of both countries.) This is a motherfucker of a deal. I would get it myself if I didn't have like 10 other things in line ahead of it that I need a lot worse.
So, I strongly suggest someone jump on this. If you're one of those crazy sorts that records/mixes at 192, (a) you have too much free time, and (b) Apogee can turn it in to a 192 for a paltry sum. Someone buy this fucking thing, please! (The image is of the actual unit.)
(Also note that you have to be a registered Gearslutz member to see the classifieds.)
---
## Altiverb Windows (emphasis on the doze)
- Date: 2006-05-30
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/05/altiverb-windows-emphasis-on-the-doze/
I'm sure I'm not alone in not caring about this. I'm of the considered opinion that there are two kinds of reverb: the kind that comes out of high-end hardware, and the shitty kind. Altiverb falls in to the latter catagory, of course. As far as I'm concerned, anyways. But lots of people seem to be excited about this, so [here you go.](http://www.audioease.com/Pages/Altiverb/AltiverbMain.html) No demo for PCs yet, but I'm kind of anti-demo, anyways, so that doesn't bother me. (I mean, would you buy a car if you got to take it home and drive it for a month, but it only went 35 MPH and the horn beeped every 45 seconds? I didn't think so.)
If you're not in the know (there have to be at least 6 of you out there that aren't) Altiverb is the original IR 'verb. Whether it is the best or not is open to interpretation. It is certainly one of them.
---
## Synth Mangler!
- Date: 2006-05-29
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/05/synth-mangler/
Oh, this looks like good fun, and I even like the color. What it is: if I'm reading the material right, basically you have two heavy-duty fuzz boxes, and the joystick lets you cross-fade between them. [http://www.effector13.com/pedals/synthmangler/index.html>Here's the site.](https://web.archive.org/web/2006/http://www.analogindustries.com/%3Cbr) Don't break anything.
---
## Christ, I Have A Headache (The Strange Saga Of The Chinese Ribbon Mic Group Buy)
- Date: 2006-05-29
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/05/christ-i-have-a-headache-the-strange-saga-of-the-chinese-ribbon-mic-gr/
Okay, let me state for the record that Alctronics has joined the ranks of Prong, the South Dakota Police, and TVT Records on my Official Shit List. After the Fundable group collection closed (over $10,000 in just about 36 hours) and I got everyone mostly sorted with all the errors that came along with Fundable's good idea/bad execution methods, I set about actually ording the microphones. Now, it is important to note here that before I even brought up the subject of a group buy, I got a pro-forma invoice, including shipping to Portland.
So, with all the money collected, I dropped a line to our friend Henry at Alctronics and said, in a nutshell, "okay, I've got the cash. Let's rock this shit." Henry replied with this little missive:
_
First of all, we are very highly appreciated that you can put our microphone
into your market, also we would try our best to support you at any time,
just like our another big customer in USA, it it our hope you can sell our microphone
by your brand or other normal sells way, but we do not accept that you collect orders
use this international way, it will hurt greatly our another customer and our company,
hope you understand our situation.
Please delete the message immediately from the internet, if not, we have to
cosider to stop our microphone to you, sorry for it.
_
I assumed he was talking about the group buy blog posts, so I removed all of them, then wrote him back and said "okay, I've taken down the posts. Can I buy some mics now?" I'll admit I was getting a bit nervous at this point. A few minutes later, he comes back with:
_
Just like I mentioned
in my last email, we do not really accept that you collect the order by this
international way, since it will hurt our our customer's benefit, such as
Nady, Apex and Rode etc, we have to take care of our regular customer firstly.
We are very sorry if it cause you any inconvenience, but I sincerely hope you
can understand our situation. If you have interest in our other microphone,
surely I will try my best to support you at any time.
_
Now, obviously, that doesn't make any fucking sense, but if there's one thing I've learned in my 20 years in the music industry, it's that you roll with the punches and move on. So I immediately set about examining the options. I had a large quantity of money, and wanted to exchange it for a large quantity of microphones. That seems like a relatively easy process, but doing it over memorial day weekend, when I've suddenly become the most hated person in pro audio proved to be something of a challenge. My blood pressure, which is normally a very healthy set of numbers, spiked in to the "burst those little capillaries in your eyes" levels.
To make a long and stressful story considerably shorter, [Avant Electronics,](http://www.avantelectronics.com/CR-14.htm) the company who's (much better) version of the HRM-14 started this whole ball rolling, very generously stepped up to the plate and offered to save my bacon by providing the Group Buy members with their much more expensive version of the mic for the same price. I can't begin to express my relief at this turn of events; if I had to refund everyone their orders, I would have been out the Fundable and Paypal fees (over a grand and a half) from my own pocket. This would have, in a word, sucked.
So, all's well that ends well. The Group Buy participants will now receive a much better version of the mic, in nice baked red instead of whack-ass bling bling gold, with a better shockmount and a five year warranty. This whole project has gone from something that was spinning completely out of control to something that actually worked out to be better than all the participants initially expected. So, a very special thank you to Ken, Sue, and Glen at Avant for putting up with my highly stressed communications and going way out of their way to help out a group of people that weren't even aware they had a problem.
---
## Fucktard Fiesta Weekend Continues...
- Date: 2006-05-28
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/05/fucktard-fiesta-weekend-continues/
Fuckin' yikes. I don't know what's up with this dude, and I don't want to know. Suffice to say he has Issues, serious ones that need to be Resolved. But then again, this is from the 80s. Every morning, I wake up and thank the Music Gods that I was born in 1968, and thus am too fucking young to have been anything in the 80s but an innocent bystander.
Although, one could make the argument that being a teenager in the 80s has informed my later tastes. Just for the record, I like Bauhaus. Let's get that out of the way. But I want to punch this guy right in his pussy.
---
## Resophonic...
- Date: 2006-05-28
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/05/resophonic/
My lovely and thoughtful wife got me an early birthday present, when she saw me bitching about electric resonators. From the depths of the Chinese Musical Equipment Manufacturing Cabal comes the Hohner Electric Resonator. At a CH under $300, this is actually quite a bit of guitar for the money. It sounds great, if you like the resonator sound (which I do.) It's no [National Resolectric](http://www.nationalguitars.com/resolectric.html#resolectric), of course, but it's no slouch, either. Surprisingly good for a Chinese guitar.
The trick to resonator is playing it, I've just discovered. Electric resonators are, for all intents and purposes, acoustic guitars with pickups, so you have those big ol' squeeky phosphors on there, chewing away at your fingers. On top of that, I'm left-handed but play righty, so my fingerpicking style is, ummmm, not so stylish. But it is fun to have one of these. When I get $1600 that isn't earmarked for, like, rent and stuff, I'm gonna pick up one of the National electrics.
---
## A Regular Fucktard Fiesta!!!
- Date: 2006-05-26
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/05/a-regular-fucktard-fiesta/
_\[Embedded media, no longer available.\]_
Man, I wish I made this up, but unfortunately, this is actually true. From the letter that came with this gem of a link:
_
I'm a vocalist in the Houston area ready to break out into
the big time. I have a game plan I believe will take me to
the top of Billboard...and allow me to be a frequent visitor
over the next decade. I'm looking for a record company that
would like to take this ride with me. I've included the link to my music video on Google.
_
I don't even know where to start with this, so I just won't. If you were ever curious as to what it was like to own a record label, suffice to say that about 80% of your correspondance is twice as sad, and half as funny, as this.
Well, anyways, you just broke in to the big time, all right. You're about to join the ranks of Star Wars Kid and I Kiss You. Enjoy.
---
## Hard Core Gear Porn... Saturday?
- Date: 2006-05-26
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/05/hard-core-gear-porn-saturday/
Hey, all... HCGPF is coming tomorrow. I'm neck deep in Chinese Microphone Drama, and I don't want to drop everything and spend two hours searching Google Images. So, it'll come when this Group Buy deal is good and cookin'. Sorry.
Oh, by the by, we're not doing Google Clicks any more, because those guys are dickheads. You don't need to click that Red banner to the right unless you're gonna buy something from them. It is an affiliate program, not a pay-per-click thing.
---
## Final Final Group Buy Update...
- Date: 2006-05-26
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/05/final-final-group-buy-update/
Okay, we've now got our limit, so all is good on that front. Time to move to Square Two. I'll keep everyone posted.
Now, those of you that accidentally ordered two when you only meant to order one, please [write me now](mailto:chris@positronrecords.com) because I don't know who got sorted out and who didn't. The interface for the "Group Leader" is basically nonexistant, in case you guys thought I had some double-secret super Control Panel by which I could make the world turn on its axis. Ho, ho, were that only true!
---
## New Toy Alert!!!
- Date: 2006-05-25
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/05/new-toy-alert/
I know you guys just \_love\_ it when I get new shit, and I, being me, love to inflict the fact on anyone that will listen. In that light, today's visit from the UPS man brought me an Eventide Eclipse, courtesy of the fine folks at [Analog Haven.](http://www.analoguehaven.com/eventide/eclipse/) (I'm of the considered opinion that I should have gotten it for free, for all the promo I do for that store. Shawn, unfortunately, did not agree. Why he wouldn't want to just give me a $2K effects unit is utterly beyond me.)
In any case, this box is for shizzle, my nizzles. Worth every single penny, and a couple more besides. Hooked up to AES/EBU I/O on my Lynx card, it magically becomes a low-latency insert and send effect in Nuendo. I use this feature a lot (Or, rather, I did before I sold all my gear to buy new shit) and think that external hardware as inserts with PDC is the best feature of Nuendo (and Cubase). Anyways, the net result is that I have a $2000 hardware-based plugin with 0.45 seconds of latency.
There are a lot of factory programs to go through before I even scratch the surface of programming this monster. I've made it through about half, then came to a rest on #257, "EMT Plate." A perfect verb for the track I was working on at the time. This box is Eventide through and through. Just because it's their cheapest unit doesn't mean they scrimped at all. I'll be honest and say I don't care for all the guitar shit in it. I think that the guitar effects are a little too far in to Fuzak Jazzion land for my tastes, but to each his own. All Eventide products are mainly about the pitch shifting, and things that can be accomplished with same. In that regard, this box is the business.
Strong "buy" recommendation from me with only 8 hours of experience. I'll post some more thoughts after I've attempted to program it.
---
## Excellent pics from AES Paris...
- Date: 2006-05-22
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/05/excellent-pics-from-aes-paris/
There are lots of good pictures of drool-worth gear in [this thread](http://www.gearslutz.com/board/showthread.php?t=71583) at Gearslutz of new shit from the Paris AES, which is just wrapping up now. Above is the full Portico line in the vertical form-factor. Highlights are the Lawo console (wow), the Elysia mastering comp (wow^2), the ADT rack (nice adonized knobs), and the new cheapie Neve line. Pictures are courtesy of [Lindell.](http://www.bohussound.com/)
I'm not sure how I feel about the lower-cost Neve stuff. On the one hand, you can say "hey, my studio has Neve outboard, bitches!" On the other, Neve/AMS is rapidly going the way of Focusrite, and there's a high potentiallity for a common motherfucker to bitch out at this juncture. (e.g. the Green series.) I'm sure all the 88xx stuff is nice enough, but WTF with the 9001? That's just lame. (It's also worth noting that "lower-cost" in Neve terms is relative. It is still quite expensive shit.)
---
## Fucktard of the week...
- Date: 2006-05-22
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/05/fucktard-of-the-week-2/
Just throw your hands in the mother-fuckin' air, and wave the motherfuckers like you just don't care. That's right. MC Cul-De-Sac is gonna spit mad rhymes. [Word.](http://www.myspace.com/skinnenbonesmc)
---
## Dude, you just got owned by a 12-year old...
- Date: 2006-05-21
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/05/dude-you-just-got-owned-by-a-12-year-old/
_\[Embedded media, no longer available.\]_
---
## YA New Toy!
- Date: 2006-05-20
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/05/ya-new-toy/
Got yet another New Toy on the way. I ordered an Eventide Eclipse from [Analog Haven](http://www.analoghaven/) yesterday. Well, two of them, actually. One for Adam and one for myself. I've always loved the H3000 series, and the Eclipse is a logical extension of that unit. I'll have a full report when I get it and use it for a while, but suffice to say, it is an Eventide Harmonizer product, so it will be fly, simple as that. Those guys don't really fuck around.
---
## Hard-Core Gear Porn Friday!!!
- Date: 2006-05-19
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/05/hard-core-gear-porn-friday-3/
Another studio one this week. I've been obsessing over outboard the last two weeks, as my posts here no doubt show. One of the objects of my fancy is the Purple MC77, the excellent modern clone of the 1176. Purple Audio is actually an offshoot of Coral Sound. Another offshoot of Coral Sound is [Exile,](http://www.coralsound.com/CoralFrameset.html) a strictly-analog studio in LIC. (Strong Island, represent! Or, maybe not, actually. Whack the "Exile" link on their c. 1997 frame-a-thon.) This studio is really nice. I could see myself tracking there. (But not mixing, I don't think. I'm more of a K2/Brittania Row kind of guy when it comes to mixing in Real Studios.) Their [gear list](http://www.coralsound.com/exilegear.html) reads like a Who's Who of good vintage shit. Check the rack pictures, then get back to me.
Unfortunately, there are no pictures of the synths in the studio, but their collection is impressive, including an OCTave Cat, a Voyetra 8, two EML 101s and a 400/401, and a 12 (!!!) panel Serge. They also have a Hohner clav, a B3, and two (!!!!) Wurli 200s. I'm glad there aren't any pictures, because the outboard alone made me a little crazy, what with the Eventide Collection, an EMT 140 **and** 250 (now, that's just ostentatious.) Never you mind that
Neve A4345 just sitting there looking pretty.
In short, Exile is the bomb-diggity, as far as analog recording goes. Perhaps someone from there will read this, and send us some pics of the synth and guitar amp collections? That'd be just peachy.
---
## The Big Sell Off (final round!)
- Date: 2006-05-19
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/05/the-big-sell-off-final-round/
Okay, I got my Lynx cables today, so the MOTU 896 is officially outta here. Typical rack wear; otherwise it is in top form, and I am the original owner. $600 **$500**, or I will trade for the following items:
Telefunken/Siemens/ANT/Filtek/Nuemann cartridges
Silvertone electric archtop or a nice vintage electric resonator/dobro
Vintage rack gear of most any stripe but especially mic pres, filters/eqs, and compressors
Analog synths
Obviously, the value of whatever you're offering to trade should be commensurate. Save the lowball shit for some other sucker.
Also available: a Parker Nightfly Deluxe, black w/ white pickguard. A couple nicks on the headstock, and the little plastic toggle thingie that goes on the pickup selector is missing. (This is the same as the Fender piece, and thus is available at any Guitar Center.) The volume pot could use cleaning. Otherwise, good to go. Includes the hard case. Make me an offer on this one, or will trade for any of the stuff listed above.
Korg Toneworks 104ds. It distorts. Like, a lot. Not my cup of tea. $25.
As always, Paypal only, buyer pays true shipping cost. [Drop me a line](mailto:chris@positronrecords.com) if any of the above interest you.
---
## Four Measures Of Fury May Final...
- Date: 2006-05-17
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/05/four-measures-of-fury-may-final/
Okay, sorry this took so long, but I've been busy as fuck the last couple weeks. The interesting thing about this one, which didn't have a break as a starting point, is that the submissions are far more musical than previous months. I think that in the future we'll stick to this methodology.
[Here's the MP3,](https://web.archive.org/web/2006/http://www.analogindustries.com/samples/FMOF_0506.mp3) and here's the Big List:
1\. Original Loop
2\. Jonathan Newell
3\. [Shamann](http://www.sighup.ca/)
4\. [Angstrom](http://www.timeshard.com/)
5\. Navs Abbany
6\. Ronin
7\. [j. schnable](http://www.chromedecay.org/)
8\. Cain Torst
9\. BringMeUp
10\. meto
11\. [Puffer](http://www.puffermedia.com/)
12\. Rafi Esterson
13\. Tacos Pescados
14\. sdfdf asds
15\. Chad
16\. jt
17\. [X. Cerveau](http://www.xcerveau.org/)
18\. [Bounte](http://www.bounte.com/)
19\. [Chris Randall](http://www.sistermachinegun.com/)
Enjoy.
---
## New Toys!
- Date: 2006-05-15
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/05/new-toys/
I scored a Lynx AES16 card over the weekend. A really cool guy on Gearslutz was selling a new-in-box one for a significant discount, which I couldn't pass up. So I stopped by his house/studio on the way to visit my Grandmother for Mother's Day, and we traded cash for card. I've ordered the proper cables, but I don't have 'em yet. As soon as they arrive, my MOTU 896 is for sale. I'd like to get $600 for it, so if there is anyone out there that wants to take the next step up from, say, an Mbox or something, now is your chance.
Speaking of Mboxen, the person that wanted to buy mine backed out, so it is available again. I originally had it for $150, but I'd take $125 for it, or I would trade for something interesting, like an [electric resonator guitar](http://www.music123.com/Jay-Turser-Guitars-JT-Resonator-Acoustic-Guitar-i122683.music) or a cool old mic or pedal or something.
Speaking of tasty new toys, you may not have seen in the comments of an earlier thread that I cancelled my Chandler Germanium order with Mercenary. I didn't particularly care for their lack of communication regarding the order taking so long. So I ordered a [312A](http://www.brentaverill.com/312a/) from Brent Averill, and it just arrived this morning. Customer service: 5 blinking gold stars. Product quality: 10 neon orange gold stars. This is a fantastic mic pre, and they really did right by me. I can't find the superlatives, except to say that if you're on the fence about purchasing a Brent Averill product, hop on over. They couldn't be nicer, and you get what you pay for and then some. As soon as I build up enough scratch I'm going to get the 1272, as well.
**EDIT:** I've just been fooling with this Lynx card, and I've got it running at 1.45 ms of latency on a jam-packed project with no skips. How fucking nice is that. I love pro gear.
---
## I couldn't make this shit up...
- Date: 2006-05-15
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/05/i-couldnt-make-this-shit-up/
A guy with a tuba that shoots flames performing a cover of Brittney Spears' "Oops, I Did It Again."
Really.
---
## Fucktard Of The Week...
- Date: 2006-05-15
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/05/fucktard-of-the-week/
I would think that _either_ playing a sousaphone or riding a unicycle would be enough. There's really no reason to combine the two that I can come up with.
(That's what MusicThing gets for trying to out-fucktard me!)
---
## A plea for help!
- Date: 2006-05-13
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/05/a-plea-for-help/
Okay, there are, on a daily basis, approximately 3300 unique visitors to this site. It would stand to reason that _one_ of you is an upright bass player in the Willamette Valley. Seriously. I have paid session work for you. Of course, you'll have to schlepp your big-ass bass out to the corner of No and Where, but it'll be fun. I have a never-ending supply of Hebrew Nationals and Newcastle Brown Ale, and about 20 songs that need bass playing on. Hook a brother up. Drop me [a line](mailto:chris@positronrecords.com) if you have an upright bass, know at least one Tom Waits song by heart, and live within a hundred miles of the cultural black hole of Salem, OR.
UPDATE: hot dog semantics aside, I think I found somebody.
---
## FMOF Last Call...
- Date: 2006-05-13
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/05/fmof-last-call/
3.5 hours 'til Midnight and I start building this month's FMOF. Hook it up! Either [email me your file](mailto:chris@positronrecords.com) or post a link in the comments of this thread.
**EDIT:** Okay, I'm wiped out. I'll assemble these tomorrow afternoon, as I have some errands to run in the morning.
**EDIT 2:** Sorry, but I was too fucking busy today to get this together. Tomorrow is Mother's Day, and since I'm a card-carrying momma's boy, the day will be spent doing something besides music. So Monday's the big day.
---
## Hard-Core Gear Porn Friday!!!
- Date: 2006-05-12
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/05/hard-core-gear-porn-friday-2/
[](https://analogindustries.com/images/blog/cs_2.jpg)
Okay, I've been shitting out synth-based HCGPF episodes for like two months straight, so it's time for a little something for the pro audio guys, which comprise roughly 9/10th of the AI readership, but for some reason hardly ever complain. (The moral? Synth collectors, of which I am one, are a bunch of whiney little bitches. Trust me. I would know.)
In any case, this is a tough HCGPF for me to assemble, because the subject of my tender minstrations this week doesn't appear to have a web page, as far as I can tell. Bucharest, Romania's favorite son Christian Sugar maintains a reasonably steady presence on most of the audio forums I read, but if he has a site, I can't find it. I'm sure AdamJay or someone will immediately inform me that I'm stupid and/or blind, and the website is at http://www.myleftnut.com or something. But until that occurs, we're just left with pictures. But hey, they're worth a thousand words a piece. So here's a few grand for you to chew on in the meantime. (Click each picture for the full-sized.)
Pictured up top is an example of Chris' fantastic DIY work, in the form of his Mixbuss project. All of his DIY work is notable for its colorful panels. e.g.:
[](https://analogindustries.com/images/blog/cs_1.jpg)
I have no idea what the hell all that orange shit is. The only things I know for certain are (a) he made it all, and (b) that's a pretty nice chunk of Waldorf in that rack.
[](https://analogindustries.com/images/blog/cs_3.jpg)
The yellow boxes are transient processors, along the lines of SPL's popular box. [Here's a fun thread](http://www.prodigy-pro.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=47341) over at Prodigy-Pro where Chris explains how he makes his racks. That isn't contact paper and magic markers, okay? [This thread](http://www.prodigy-pro.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=13831&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0) has more info on the Mixbuss thingamajig and the transient modellers. Here's a close-up of some of the red/orange ones:
[](https://analogindustries.com/images/blog/c_4.jpg)
And, on a less pictographic tack, don't forget it's Friday! Jump around! Jump around! Jump up, jump up and get down! Everybody jump! Jump! Jump! Jump!
---
## Chandler, Joy of man's desiring...
- Date: 2006-05-11
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/05/chandler-joy-of-mans-desiring/
Oh... my... god... Pictured above is the one and only prototype of a future Chandler product, the Abby Road desk. More info and better pix in [this thread](http://www.gearslutz.com/board/showthread.php?t=69971) on Gearslutz. If you were looking for a hardware definition of the word "sexy," I think this would fit the bill nicely. Rest assured it will be incredibly expensive.
---
## Bits 'n' Pieces...
- Date: 2006-05-11
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/05/bits-n-pieces/
I got Computer Music #100 in the mail this morning. Holy fucking shit, but we got pwn3d in this issue. There is a short interview with me, about 5 other blatant mentions of Audio Damage plugins, plus the debut of our Dick Cheney Hunter Safety orange ad. (Check issue #101 for the debut of our shocking blue ad.) It should be noted that the interview is actually with both Adam and I, but I guess our rather bulky use of this weird Hodiernal present-plural tense we invented just for the occasion didn't sit well with the editors, because they took out all the "we" references and changed them to "I" and the interview turned in to "Five Questions With Chris Randall," even though Adam actually answered two of them.
Also, I believe #102 (maybe #101, possibly #103) will have a special CM-only Audio Damage plugin. As soon as I learn which issue it will be in, I'll inform you. But this will be the only place to get it.
And finally, don't forget that your [FMOF](https://analogindustries.com/2006/05/four-measures-of-fury-may/) loop is due Friday at midnight PST (GMT-9). Post links here or [mail](mailto:chris@positronrecords.com) me a Zip.
---
## DIY Tube Amp? Pt. 2
- Date: 2006-05-10
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/05/diy-tube-amp-pt-2/
Got a nice shiny new Jensen Special Design 12" speaker from [Tube Depot](http://www.tubedepot.com/) from the FedEx man today, and loaded it up in to the cabinet I built on Sunday. This thing sounds fucking fantastic. Here's a shot of the back:
All I have to do now is make a soffit for the speaker, then display some adaptability viz. the grill cloth and tolex. I'm gonna hit a couple thrift shops this weekend and see what I can come up with. I'd like to do a burgundy faux tolex and red grill cloth, but it'll really depend on what I find.
As far as the sound goes, just imagine the guitar tone on "Hoist That Rag" from Tom Waits' recent [Real Gone](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?link_code=ur2&tag=analogindustr-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&path=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fgp%2Fproduct%2FB0002SDKG6%2Fsr%3D1-30%2Fqid%3D1147304858%2Fref%3Dsr_1_30%3F%255Fencoding%3DUTF8) album. It isn't extremely loud (nothing like an AC15 or similar), but it breaks up at a nice handy volume. Once I finish building the cabinet, I'll put up some samples.
---
## Korg PS-3100 walkthrough...
- Date: 2006-05-10
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/05/korg-ps-3100-walkthrough/
Of course, it really depends on exactly how interested you are in the Korg PS-3100. The soundtrack makes me want to kill myself, but if you can hang on for a couple minutes, you can then watch someone diddle on a PS-3100 for quite some time. Part 2 is [here.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoOlZeD2S2M)
---
## New ribbon mic from Peluso
- Date: 2006-05-09
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/05/new-ribbon-mic-from-peluso/
I've been seeing generally good things about Peluso microphones. They make a more or less complete range of mid-priced studio mics, and they've just added a ribbon to the family, the R14. $694 gets you a mic that apparently [compares favorably](http://gearslutz.com/board/showthread.php?t=68824) to both an AEA R84 and a Royer 121, even though both of those mics are more expensive. Anyways, go [have a look.](http://www.pelusomicrophonelab.com/R14.html)
---
## Ursa Major Space Station?
- Date: 2006-05-08
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/05/ursa-major-space-station/
Anyone have one of these they're looking to unload? I'm looking for the original SST-282, not the TDM plug or the new digital SST-206. (Although, truth be told, we probably wouldn't turn down the new one if the price was right.) If you have one, or know of one for sale, drop me a line and tell me all about it. I know about the one currently listed in the Gearslutz classifieds. I've written that guy several times and he hasn't written me back.
---
## New 500-series modules from Buzz Audio...
- Date: 2006-05-08
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/05/new-500-series-modules-from-buzz-audio/
[](https://analogindustries.com/images/blog/elixiressence.jpg)
New Zealand's [Buzz Audio](http://www.buzzaudio.com/) has some nice stuff in the pipeline. Click the image for a larger pic. The Elixer mic pre fits in API-sized slots, and is a class A/Lundahl design based on their excellent MA-2.2 mic pre. $695 a throw, which puts it right in line with almost every other 500-sized mic pre. (I don't believe there are any other 500-sized pres with a transformerless input stage, so this is definitely a new flavor for that form factor.)
On the right is the Essence compressor, one of the very few non-API compressors in this form factor. It is, as you can plainly see, 2U wide, which kind of blows considering the price-per-slot of 500 racks. Not much info about this one yet, but the price is probably going to be in the $800 to $850 range.
---
## Someone else's odds and ends...
- Date: 2006-05-08
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/05/someone-elses-odds-and-ends/
This blog is rapidly turning in to Craigslist. I promise to endeavor to make that not be the case any more. But while I'm endeavoring, my friend Carl is [selling some stuff you might want.](http://outside.net/blow/item/10016/) He's a good kid but he has that backwards hairdo that's all the rage with the indie rock hipsters these days. If you can get over that, drop him a line and take some of this stuff off his hands so he can buy a Jesus & Mary Chain boxed set.
---
## Odds and ends...
- Date: 2006-05-07
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/05/odds-and-ends/
Okay, I'm in the midst of my spring cleaning, and I have some odd things that may be of interest to one or more of you. If something looks good to you, [hit me up.](mailto:chris@positronrecords.com) Buyer pays shipping, Paypal only, as always.
1\. HP 200CD oscillator. You want to talk about bottom? Holy shit. There are samples of this on the "samples" page, but the real thing is tubey and has a big fucking knob. It is heavy as hell; I wouldn't suggest shipping this over-seas. I paid $40 for it. Make me an offer I can't refuse.
2\. Bell & Howell Model 10D oscilloscope. This is a good starter scope. Not a lot of bells and whistles (or Howells, for that matter) but it works as advertised. Fun for viewing your LFO and MiniWave waveforms, which is what I used it for. It is largish, but light. Offers.
3\. Speak 'n' Math. Someone started a bend on this, but never actually did anything. (I have a pretty good idea why: there are three normally closed momentary buttons in the front. Something tells me the prospective bender bought the wrong kind of buttons at Ratshack and gave up.) It works fine, if you're in to the whole Speak thing, and is ready for bending. $15 and it is yours.
4\. iOpener, unmodded. I got this with the intent of making a little BeOS box for running MIDI software, and using it as an external sequencer. However, I never got around to doing the mod necessary for it to run BeOS. I may get around to it yet, but it may serve someone who has a bit more free time better. If you don't know what this is, I suggest avoiding it; it is a more advanced project. Offers.
---
## DIY tube amp?
- Date: 2006-05-07
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/05/diy-tube-amp/
Is anyone aware of a simple single-tube amp project out in the interwebs? I'm interested in trying my hand at building a simple tube amp, and I have some excellent NOS GE 6L6 tubes that'd be perfect for the project. Plus I want to know what it feels like to get hit with a 480V shock.
---
## Four Measures Of Fury - May
- Date: 2006-05-06
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/05/four-measures-of-fury-may/
Yup, it's that time again! [Here's your loop.](https://web.archive.org/web/2006/http://www.analogindustries.com/samples/FMOF_0506.wav) The key is Cm, and the tempo is 90 bpm. This one is a little more challenging, and a little less funky, as a couple people requested last month. It's a tiny piece of a song I'm working on currently.
If you're not in the know, we do FMOF the first Saturday of every month. You download the loop, and edit/chop/slice/dice/whatever it to your heart's content. The resulting file _must_ be the same tempo and key, but otherwise, you're free to have your way with it. You may use _only_ the provided source material. No extra samples or synthesis. You can, of course, resynthesize pieces of the included loop.
Export the results of your labours and zip it up and [e-mail it to me](mailto:chris@positronrecords.com), or post a link to it in one of the FMOF threads throughout the week. At midnight next Friday, I'll assemble all the loops in chronological order, and post the resulting track.
---
## Ahhh, spring...
- Date: 2006-05-06
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/05/ahhh-spring/
When a young boy's fancy turns to thoughts of high-interest retail credit cards. Or not. I got the following in my mailbox from my good friend Fred Foster at Sweetwater this morning:
_
I wanted to pass along some **pretty unique** information. Our special Musician's All Access Card "No Interest, No Payments If Paid By January 2007" financing offer has been extended through May 14th, 2006. It's a great deal if you're looking for some new gear! Please give me a call if there's anything I can help you with! By the way, if you don't have a Musician's All Access Card, you can apply for one online at www.sweetwater.com/allaccess. Whether or not you're interested in this specific offer, I'd love to speak with you about any gear questions you might have._
Well, that's really nice of you, Fred. Thanks for informing me of that special deal you basically always have. Nothing like taking advantage of the fact that musicians are always broke, is there? Well, needless to say, I had to respond to this. Thus:
_
Hey, Fred:
There are no degrees of uniqueness. Unique means "one of a kind" and thus is a binary state. Something is either unique or it isn't. It can't be "pretty unique" or "very unique" or "really unique." Something to think about while you're peddling your high-APR credit card.
_
Take it from someone who once had a credit card debt that was five figures: buying things on credit is a Really Bad Idea. If you can't afford it, you don't need it.
---
## Hard-Core Gear Porn Friday...
- Date: 2006-05-05
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/05/hard-core-gear-porn-friday/
I recall making a comment some months ago that I didn't trust nice clean studios, because it looks like nothing gets done there. By that yardstick, [Dana Countryman](http://www.danacountryman.com/) is one of the busiest guys in the music industry. Take a brief jaunt through [his studio,](http://www.danacountryman.com/studio/studio.html) home of a fairly large (not Scot Solida large, but large) .Com synth and an Ondioline, as well as a lot of what Phillip K. Dick would call "kibble."
Also, we have a special bonus Gear Porn today. Adamjay finally sent me a picture of [his rack.](http://www.boldrecording.com/adamjay/RACK.jpg) Adamjay runs a mobil recording service. Adam, you can mobile that 500 rack right to my studio. And the Phoenix mic pres. And...
Bonus round two: Suit & Tie Guy found a \_really\_ old Moog modular in a local college's recital room. [Check this shit out.](http://www.suitandtieguy.com/sights/050406_bu_moog/) Fucking perfboard. Seriously.
---
## Well, you know my name is Simon...
- Date: 2006-05-04
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/05/well-you-know-my-name-is-simon/
No, really. A British TV show from 1978. Roland 700. Space Echo. Prophet 5. Bonus Wasp. Rod Argent. Fucking awesome. Courtesy of Mike Trobridge.
---
## Opinions are like assholes...
- Date: 2006-05-04
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/05/opinions-are-like-assholes/
Okay, I need to be a Decider. With the release of the new API A2D, and the probable price reduction of the Neve 1073DPD, I can see the writing on the wall. It's time to get rid of my MOTU 896 and get an all-AES solution. (The 896 only has one AES I/O, which I'm using for the Rosetta 200. I'm going to shortly need more.)
The card I keep coming back to is the [Lynx Studio AES16](http://www.lynxstudio.com/aes16.html), which is $625 from Mercenary. Is there any reason I should not be looking at this card? Is there another solution with at least 8 AES I/O that is worth a shit? I like the fact that it has 16 I/O, and you can add a lightpipe daughter card if you're feeling sparky. I also like the fact that there are two separate headers, so I can use one header for 8 channels of XLR AES, and the other header for a DB25 cable if I get an Aurora 8 or Rosetta 800 or something.
I'm open to ideas, though. My budget for this operation is no more than $1.3K, as that's the current total of my cash on hand, plus the perceived value of the 896. (Note that if you're interested in purchasing the 896, I'm accepting offers. However, I can't actually let it go until I get my Germanium.)
**UPDATE:** In searching, it seems the only other PCI card with 16 AES I/O is the [Hammerfall DSP AES-32](http://www.rme-audio.com/english/madi/hdspaes32.htm). This costs $125 more than the Lynx, and doesn't come with breakout cables. (The Lynx card is $675 with one set of cables.) So total cost is at least $850, which makes it $175 more than the Lynx. Now, I had a Hammerfall 9652 for years, and thought it was an excellent card. So, my question is thus: is the fact that I know and am comfortable with the RME brand, plus the MIDI I/O built in, worth the extra $175?
---
## The Big Sell Off (round four!)
- Date: 2006-05-03
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/05/the-big-sell-off-round-four/
Okay, here's the next go-round. Something for everyone! As with the others, Paypal only, buyer pays true shipping cost.
1\. DigiDesign MBox - Is what it is, does what it does. I don't have the original box any more, but I have the disks. Although, a fat lot of good they'll do you. It's 8/10, cosmetically, but works fine. $150.
2\. SoundArt Chameleon - I really like this box, but I just don't use it very often, so I might as well put something else in that rack-space. It is worth it for the Australis soundskin, never mind the other dozen-odd things it can be. All the information and current soundskins are avaliable [here.](http://www.chameleon.synth.net/english/index.shtml) Condition-wise, it shows normal use. I'm the original owner. Make me an offer on this one.
3\. Emagic EMI 2|6 - These things suck, but if you need a spare USB interface for something, I have one. $25 takes it home. Note that this unit has been on tour, and is cosmetically a bit rough around the edges. (Thanks, Wade.) It works fine, though.
4\. Alesis DMpro - Yeah, whatever. Only the left channel works, but it works like a motherfucker. I imagine this is just a loose connection inside, but I don't care enough to look. This amazing unit can be yours for the low, low price of $30!
5\. Wayfar MIDInes - Peter Kirn is off the hook for now; I just don't have the time to be fooling around with rack-mounting this, which is why I got it. While it is fun to make my NES act like a synth, ultimately, I vastly prefer it to act like Super Mario Bros. $70, as this is basically brand-new.
That's it for now. [Drop me a line](mailto:chris@positronrecords.com) if you want any of these.
---
## Yowza...
- Date: 2006-05-03
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/05/yowza/
It's the [EBOARDMUSEUM!](http://www.eboardmuseum.com/EBOARDMUSEUM-ENGLISH-04.htm) Big shit! Knobs! Buttons! Lights! Bells! WHISTLES! I can't believe I beat [MatrixSynth](http://matrixsynth.blogspot.com/) to this. I better hit "save" before he wises up! But that right there is a sight for sore eyes, make no mistake. Arturia who? I fucking _love_ the comments for the pictures on this site. e.g.:
_
To be true , for sure you've heard much more convincing strings than those of the ELKARHAPSODY . And it's only cold comfort that its user listing includes names like Supertramp and Jean Michel Jarre . But this special edition in beige ..... Waiter , one more cappuccino please !_
I wish I could write like that.
---
## Roland CMU-810 Workout Video (Sweatin' to the oldies!)
- Date: 2006-05-02
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/05/roland-cmu-810-workout-video-sweatin-to-the-oldies/
fmass sent me links to four videos he made giving his CMU-810 a workout with three System 100m sequencers. The CMU-810, if you're not familiar, is the part of the Roland CMU system that doesn't need an Apple II to work. It is basically an MC-202 without the sequencer and chicklet keys. The CMU-800r is a very basic box, based on a 303 and 606 combo, but it requires an Apple II to function at all. It has CV and gate outputs, and this box was meant to sit next to it, and be driven by it.
The other three videos are [here](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbOQIqkikJ0), [here](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dM9fkeSl0PI), and [here.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbOQIqkikJ0) For extra bonus credit, [here](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CF5ufVD5E1s) is a video of the CMU-800r in action. In my ideal studio, I have a complete CMU system, an alphasyntauri, and a Decillionix sampler, each with their own Apple II+. In my real studio, I only have the latter. Someday when I'm rich and famous, maybe. Thanks, fmass!
---
## API A2D
- Date: 2006-05-01
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/05/api-a2d/
Oh, you pretty thing. API can do no wrong in my book, and the A2D, finally unveiled today, is no exception. Obviously following in the footsteps of the Neve-AMS 1073 DPD, this is a pair of API 312 mic pres and a high-quality A/D convertor, with AES/EBU and SPDIF outputs, for under $2K. There's an insert between the mic pre and the A/D as well. Obviously, no one has one yet. I don't think I won the contest, because I haven't received a call from API congratulating me. If the winner is an AI reader, congratulations. If you're not an AI reader, I hate you with an unbridled passion.
Well, no matter. This box is absolutely definitely on my List. [Here's the site.](http://www.apiaudio.com/a2d.html) The only downer is that it is white, instead of sexy API crackle-finish black. Well, no matter. Doesn't affect how it sounds, which is, I assume, stellar.
---
## Fucktard Of The Week...
- Date: 2006-04-30
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/04/fucktard-of-the-week-2/
Hey, I've got an idea. Stop dancing around your bedroom for a minute so I can take this picture and put it up on the Interwebs. Is that okay?
This image courtesy of [S&TG.](http://www.suitandtieguy.com/)
---
## Hard-Core Gear Porn Friday...
- Date: 2006-04-28
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/04/hard-core-gear-porn-friday-3/
Here we have the home studio of one [Meic Kluge.](http://www.scaff.de/) A pretty nice collection of synths, in my opinion. An MS20/SQ10, fairly large Synth.com modular, all the usual Roland suspects, etc. etc. Go to the pictures, then right-click->view image; they're quite a bit larger than the site is letting them display. I especially like his vintage effects collection, which contains several pieces that I would own if I wasn't obsessed with things that are either silver or a Sequential Pro-FX.
---
## Craptastic Chording (with a bonus funny!)
- Date: 2006-04-28
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/04/craptastic-chording-with-a-bonus-funny/
I'm continually amazed at how bad fake sheets are on the internet. I mean, I'm perfectly aware that looking at sheet music (or what passes for such) on the internet is legally exactly the same as downloading mp3s, but it doesn't feel like it, you know? But that said, you're much more likely to find a good quality mp3 of a given track than an accurate transcription of the chord progression in that track. I have it in my head that every single lead sheet, fake sheet, and tab transcription on the internet was done by first-year Steve Vai wannabes at GIT and Berklee. Well, not Berklee, because you actually have to be able to read music to get in to the first year program there. So just GIT.
Anyways, I learn new chords and chord progressions by picking insanely complex jazz and pop songs from times past and learning how to play them; this is also how I practice guitar, an instrument I could be much better at. Tonight's goal was to learn the basic progression for "My Funny Valentine," which is a classic (and probably the best) example of the Im-Im(maj7)-Im7-Im6 progression, as heard in "Michelle," "What Are You Doing For The Rest Of Your Life," and about 70 other standards. It isn't in any of the fake books I have (surprisingly) so I go a-huntin', certain in advance of the comedic value, but fairly convinced I can parse out the major parts if I at least have a pretty good starting point. Just for clarity's sake, we're talking about the Tony Bennett version of the song, not the Elvis Costello or Miles Davis versions.
(As a brief digression, the Elvis Costello version has a fucking fantastic variation on this theme, with a decending bassline that just slays. But it is very nearly impossible to play on guitar, unless you have 8-inch-long fingers, which I don't.)
Anyways, look at the [first hit](http://www.e-chords.com/cifra.asp?idMusica=73392) (screenshot above) I went to when searching. The Bonus Funny is the auto-generated Google ad, "You can play guitar exactly like Tony Bennett!" Yeah, he's well-known for his six-string virtuosity. Sure. I should have kept clicking right then, but I made the mistake of looking at the chord progression. If you were paying attention above, you'll note that I said that "My Funny Valentine" is the best example of the oft-used Im-Im(maj7)-Im7-Im6 structure. Look at the progression in the screenshot. Try to play that, and see how fucking WRONG it sounds. I mean, really. It's a fucking Am(maj7), not a fucking Am7. One note off, and you've got a trainwreck.
Visiting several other sites, I didn't find a single example that bore even a passing resemblance to the original. I mean, I'm not gonna look a gift horse in the mouth or anything, but shit. If you can't pull it off in the first place, why bother, you know? I now imagine a wedding band having to do this tune, and the leader of the band making fake sheets from that site. I wonder if they'd get paid at the end of the night.
(For extra bonus digression, this progression is also used to good effect in the second half of the bridge of "Cry Me A River," another standard which I can already play fine, thank you very much.)
---
## Saturday In Seattle...
- Date: 2006-04-27
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/04/saturday-in-seattle/
Anything interesting going on in Seattle on Saturday night? Like some good ([non-trance](http://www.deluxecurl.com/trancewarningsmall.gif)) local electronica or something along those lines? The missus and I are trooping up to hang with friends, pick up a broke-ass CS-5, and spend money we don't have on shit we don't need.
---
## Weevils, bugs, and loopers...
- Date: 2006-04-27
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/04/weevils-bugs-and-loopers/
[BugBrand](http://www.bugbrand.co.uk/pages/bugbrandhome.htm) is a new manufacturer (new to me, anyways) of various audio audities. Pictured above is one configuration of the Weevil, which "features twin ring-mod lofi oscillators connected to a massive copper touch-plate and it loves to click, drone and squeal." Pretty basic stuff, electronically speaking, but you can never have too many drones, clicks, and squeels.
He also makes various odd things, up to and including an incredibly strange [modular system.](http://www.bugbrand.co.uk/pages/modular.htm) Most of the stuff on his site is bespoke, so keep that in mind. Regardless, some fun little things.
---
## Nothin' but fun 'round here...
- Date: 2006-04-26
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/04/nothin-but-fun-round-here/
So one of our loyal customers informed me of a site which was selling, among many other things, the entire Audio Damage product line. I got this email before I'd had my morning dose of caffeine and nicotine, and was thus quite excitable.
I quickly did a WHOIS on the site, got the technical contact, and called this kid in Florida and just opened up. I may have used the word "fucking" occasionally. Turns out, the site got hijacked, so it was (nominally) not his fault. My lovely and talented wife broke in to the admin for the site, and started merrily deleting files so the store wouldn't work, while I gave Paypal and the guy's ISP a good bell-ringing.
Long story short, problem solved, at least temporarily. I'm on a Piracy Rampage, though. Fair warning.
---
## Okay, this is going a bit too far...
- Date: 2006-04-26
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/04/okay-this-is-going-a-bit-too-far/
Yup. That's basically a soundcard in a cable. USB on one end, 1/4" on the other. I'm trying to keep an open mind, but the very first thing that popped in to my head when I saw that was "Boy, I bet that sounds _great._" Seventy bucks and it's yours. Check out their wicked cool [website.](http://www.soundtech.com/) Come on, guys. At least expend _some_ effort.
---
## Discord 2 Sneak Peak...
- Date: 2006-04-24
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/04/discord-2-sneak-peak/
[
](https://analogindustries.com/images/blog/d2.png)
Click the image for the full-size. This is the final UI for Discord 2. We felt that the hardware-looking one was just too busy and and hard on the eyes, so I went with a more modern UI for this. I'm going to give Ronin and Deverb the same facelift. While I prefer the hardware look for plugins, in some cases it is simply too much, you know?
In any case, here 'tis. The UI is in code freeze, so unless there's a typo or something, this is what is going out with the final product. This will be US$49.00, with a $10.00 upgrade to owners of Discords 1.0 or 1.5.
---
## 17" MacBook Pro announced...
- Date: 2006-04-24
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/04/17-macbook-pro-announced/
If you care about this, you no doubt know already, but Apple announced the [17" MBP today](http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/). I need to replace my iBook in the worst way, but not to the tune of $2799. I think I'll be waiting until the MacBook notPros are announced. I'm of the considered opinion that the 15" will run $999. That would be a pretty big coup on Apple's part.
---
## Fucktard Of The Week...
- Date: 2006-04-23
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/04/fucktard-of-the-week/
Sure, I'm a cynical old bastard, but you don't need to make it easy on me. I mean, really, now.
---
## DIY Passive Summing Mixer...
- Date: 2006-04-23
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/04/diy-passive-summing-mixer/
So this fellow on Gearslutz by the name of Mitchell decided to make himself a passive summing mixer. This flavor of summing has no make up gain; you use mic pres to bring the level back to line; in this manner you can determine the color of the summing. (The Rolls Folcrum follows this line of reasoning.)
Anyways, there are many more pictures [in the pertinent thread.](http://www.gearslutz.com/board/showthread.php?t=67680) This is actually, as you'll see from the interior shots, a fairly simple project. A lot of wiring, to be sure, but nothing terribly complicated.
---
## Something new from URS?
- Date: 2006-04-22
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/04/something-new-from-urs/
I make no secret of the fact that URS is my favorite plugin maker that isn't, well, [Adam and I.](http://www.audiodamage.com/) Them and Princeton Digital, I guess. But anyways, if you head to the [URS site](http://www.ursplugins.com/) and sit through the interminably long flash movie, you'll get treated to a little tease as seen above. (Right click, view image to see that bitch full sized, if you're lazy.) I don't know what it is, but it has a nice half a meter, anyways, and I'll probably buy it, because that's the kind of sucker I am. Anyone from URS wanna trade NFRs?
---
## Hard-Core Gear Porn Friday!!!
- Date: 2006-04-21
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/04/hard-core-gear-porn-friday-2/
Time to cue up "Thus Spake Zarathustra" because the Monolith is here, and we're about to start hitting each other with bones. The above multi-vendor system is owned (or rather _was_ owned, as it is now "30% more wee") by one [Vogelsheiss.](http://www.vogelscheiss.com/) My German is rusty, but I'm pretty sure that means "hot chicken" or something. Anyways, Charles Graef (which is his real name, I assume, since "Hot Chicken" doesn't work too well with the ladies. Well. maybe German ladies...) is unique among our HCGPF representatives inasmuch as the MP3s available on his site are actually quite good. Like, really good. Good enough that I'll ignore that 1402 just sitting there, all out in the open and naked-like.
---
## CME UF6 Mini review...
- Date: 2006-04-19
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/04/cme-uf6-mini-review/
The other fun thing I got this weekend was a CME controller keyboard. I'm a bit of a stick-in-the-mud as far as keybeds go. I'm not a very technical keyboard player (read: I don't know a fuckload of chords) but I'm fast and accurate, and have an octave and a fourth stretch. What this means is that the current popular trend for 3 and 2 1/2 octave keyboards, while fine for poking out progressive house basslines, are basically shit for my actual playing.
Five octaves are about the minimum for 2-handed playing, I think, and thus my initial search for a new controller was for keybeds with 60 or more keys. This field is surprisingly limited, especially if you don't want/need a fucking USB audio interface. I had pretty much settled on the CME UF6 or 7 to begin with, because the price-to-features ratio was quite good. But then I was reading Thomas Dolby's blog, and he is using a CME UF8 on his current tour. I figured good enough for Thomas Dolby, good enough for me.
This is a mini-review, in as much as I haven't actually tried out a lot of the features of this controller. I basically plugged it up and flailed for a bit to make sure it works. One handy feature is that it has MMC transport controls, which is nice. The keybed is great, not real springy like normal Korg/Yamaha stuff. It is firm, and each key has a little more give at the end of travel than at the beginning. The faders can be put in drawbar mode, which Just Worked with B4, and was good for an hour or so of fun. Much easier to program that particular softsynth with faders than a mouse. It also has that rare breed, a breath controller input. Didn't try this out, as I think that looks gay even in private, but it's there if you need it.
In construction, the UF6 seems pretty tough. The entire chassis, except the small panel in which the mod and pitch wheels sit, is aluminum, even the sculpted endcheeks. I don't think I'd have any misgivings taking it on stage. Built-in splits, which is also handy for live use. In fact, the control compliment lends itself more to live use than studio, in my opinion. The only caveat is that the front-panel legends are kind of difficult to read in low-light situations, which could lead to some exciting moments.
Basically, after a cursory examination, it is what it is, and does what it says, in a semi-stylish and obviously durable fashion. You really can't expect much more from a controller at this price point. Worth the money so far.
---
## Red Type B mini-review...
- Date: 2006-04-19
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/04/red-type-b-mini-review/
As I mentioned in the previous post, I've just picked up a Red Type B mic from [Red Microphones.](http://www.vintagemicrophone.com/JShop/index.php?a=crandall1) (As most everyone knows, Red was the vintage mic repair offshoot of Blue, but has now been spun in to a mic maker in its own right.) The Red Type B body is $450, and you have to buy at least one capsule at purchase time. Since I'm a bit short on funds, I went with the least expensive option, the $250 Lollipop Capsule. I also ordered the "Vintage Style" pop filter for $79. They don't charge shipping, and the shock mount and a good quality mic cable are included with the body, so for basically everything but the stand, the total charged to my credit card was $779.
The only real question with microphones is "is it worth the price?" I don't particularly care for buying mono-use stuff for my studio (e.g. monitors, mics, stands, that sort of thing) so I want to get the most bang for my buck when I do. Without being able to taste-test every new sub-$1000 mic on the market, I pretty much had to rely on the testimony of people whos opinions I trust, and I wasn't 100% confident with a blind purchase, even for something that seemed like such an obviously good deal. Nevertheless, purchase it I did, and I took it out for a trial run today.
I do have some minor beefs I should get off my chest straight away. The packaging was quite nice, and the entire system was well-packed, but the pop-filter, cable, and shock mount come in those stupid fucking hyper-protective thick-ass plastic SAF-T-SEALs or whatever the hell they're called. I don't know how many people are admitted to the hospital each year from injuries sustained while trying to open ridiculous plastic packaging, but I very nearly became one of them. Next up, the capsule just _barely_ fit on the body. I had to apply a not-insignificant amount of pressure to get it seated. This brings to mind two things: (a) will I ever be able to get it off again? and (b) will the other capsules fit as tight? I actually knocked the little "Red" badge off the capsule trying to get it seated, as it is just held on with a light epoxy or something. This was an annoying way to start the morning.
Now, those minor caveats aside, this mic is **The Business.** Run, don't walk, to their site via that link, and get one of these. Even with the most modest capsule, this is a \_great\_ mic. I tried it out on vocals, acoustic guitar, and electric guitar. I thought it did better at the first two than the last, but I'm a big fan of ribbons for electric, and tend to avoid the large diaphragm condensor sound, so I might be biased in that regard. But I've never heard a mic that was so across-the-board gentle. It sounded especially fantastic on male (meaning "my") vocals, which are notoriously hard to tame. I would liken the Lollipop sound to a 414, except without that low end whatever that the 414 seems insistent on adding.
In short, I'm quite happy with this purchase, and now I'm extra super especially wishing Mercenary would ship me my Chandler Germanium, so I can try it out with a real mic pre. A strong **Buy** recommendation from me.
**Oh, and...** the pop filter is excellent. I normally avoid them because I have a soft sibilance, and a normal pop filter makes me sound like I have a lisp. However, this pop filter doesn't seem to do that. It can be used with any mic, of course. It attaches to the mic stand, and is made of stainless steel, so it can be spritzed off between singers. I think I'm gonna get another one so I don't have to move the one I have between mics all the time.
---
## Back...
- Date: 2006-04-18
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/04/back/
Just rolled in from my trip to L.A. this weekend; my living room is inexplicably full of boxes. While I was gone, a Red Type B mic and a CME controller showed up. I'll put up initial thoughts tomorrow, and a full review of the Type B shortly thereafter.
Otherwise, I just drove 970 miles, and I'm a bit retarded.
---
## Hard-Core Gear Porn... Saturday?
- Date: 2006-04-15
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/04/hard-core-gear-porn-saturday/
Sorry for the late post, but I doubt Lisa would have taken kindly to me pulling over on the highway next to a 10,000 acre cattle feedlot to search for pictures of synths. But, better late than never. The above shot is from [Djam Karet's studio](http://www.djamkaret.com/studio.php), White Arrow. "The California-based Djam Karet has often been called America's greatest undiscovered band," according to the usual press-release-speak on the front of the site. I would think that statement could be argued quite easily, never mind the fact that it is somewhat oxymoronic. But that said, they have a lot of gear. They also have guitars for heads. Except for one guy that has a Roland Hand Drum Thingie for a head. [Seriously.](http://www.djamkaret.com/biography.php)
Here's their modular rig, equal parts Doepfer, MOTM, and Cwejman. There's a Yamaha FS1R stuck in there, weirdly enough. An under-rated box, that. I personally find prog-rock to be completely unlistenable for the most part, but if you like those sorts of bands, this is one of them. They have some nice shit, though.
---
## Out Of Town...
- Date: 2006-04-13
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/04/out-of-town/
Okay, time to pack. I'll be in L.A. all weekend, looking for a new landlord to throw money at for the honor of being allowed to sleep under their roof. I'll have an HCGPF, of course, but it may be late Friday evening. I'll be paying an in-person visit to the Mecca Of All Things Synth, [Analog Haven,](http://www.analoghaven.com/) time permitting. (My wife chortles "you're not driving my fine ass all the way to Los Angeles so I can stand around while you talk gear...") Back on Tuesday.Don't break anything.
---
## FMOF April Final...
- Date: 2006-04-13
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/04/fmof-april-final/
Okay, it was a good one this month. I think we're all getting the hang of this. I couldn't download the one from deceptakahn. Please make sure to leave your loops where I can get them until you see the final one up, as I don't usually download all of 'em until I'm assembling the Big Mo. Also, a couple of the loops didn't line up correctly, time-wise (you'll hear 'em...) so make sure you export a total four measures. I make sure everyone fits \_my\_ 120 bpm four measures, but if I don't get the full four measures, there's not a lot I can do...
In any case, once again, we took a crap loop and turned it in to a seriously schizophrenic whole. [Here 'tis.](https://web.archive.org/web/2006/http://www.analogindustries.com/samples/FMOF0406.mp3) Here's the list of submissions:
1\. Original Loop
2.[Chris Randall](http://www.sistermachinegun.com/)
3\. [rugerseeds](http://rugerseeds.com/)
4\. [Angstrom](http://www.timeshard.com/)
5\. [Wade Alin](http://www.theatomicaproject.com/)
6\. [shamann](http://www.sighup.ca/)
7\. NPProject
8\. Ronin
9\. [Gold Code](http://www.gold-code.net/)
10\. innerspace
11\. Navs Abbany
12\. Till
13\. Martin Jenkins
14\. [Eric E](http://www.bandkidsunite.com/)
15\. sdfgf asds
16\. Mike Trobridge
17\. BringMeUp
18\. Chad Beckwith
19\. [skOre](http://www.skore.de/)
20\. jt
21\. Chris Cortier
22\. Scott Stepenuck
23\. rabbitcrvshd
24\. noisegen
25\. Original Loop (faded out)
We're going to get extra experimental next month. A couple people have requested one with no beats, so I have to find some rhythmic, yet beatless, source material. That should be interesting.
---
## monome
- Date: 2006-04-12
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/04/monome/
This is the [monome,](http://monome.org/) probably the first to actual market of the slew of upcoming multi-button interfaces. It will be available in two sizes (8x8 and 16x16) and includes an application which allows you to determine how it will work, and to intercept MIDI data for it. The 8x8 one is going to be available shortly for $500. No price or availability on the 16x16 one. There is a short movie [here](http://146.186.186.101/~bcrabtree/monome40h.mov) which will illuminate you as to what it is for. I can't see this being terribly useful in a studio environment, but it might be nice live for improvisational loop performance. (Which is tedious to watch, but fun to do.) Thanks to [Chris O'Shea](http://www.pixelsumo.com/) for the heads-up.
---
## New Toy!!!
- Date: 2006-04-12
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/04/new-toy/
My Big Studio Miniaturization Process is well underway now. I sold 90% of my shit, and new (and much better) stuff has begun arriving. Witness what the FedEx man brought this morning. Got myself a Rosetta 200. How 'bout that?
I expected a subtle improvement in sound, but I was unprepared for the drastic difference between the MOTU 896's stock convertors and what is in here. It's like deep gloomy downtown Detroit night versus bright sunny Pacific Northwest summer day. I'm serious. Which is not to knock the MOTU 896 too hard. For the money, it is a fine unit. But it simply isn't in the same class as this bad boy. As soon as I get a 1394 card for the Rosetta, some lucky AI reader is going to be able to pick up an 896 for a quite reasonable amount of money.
---
## FMOF Last Call...
- Date: 2006-04-12
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/04/fmof-last-call/
Don't forget that today is the last call for this month's FMOF. I'm going to L.A. tomorrow morning, so we're ending FMOF tonight. You have until 8:00 pm Pacific time (GMT -9) to throw a loop. If you're linking, put 'em in this thread now. If you're [emailing](mailto:chris@positronrecords.com), don't forget to zip first.
---
## New Samples of the Lil' Phatty up...
- Date: 2006-04-11
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/04/new-samples-of-the-lil-phatty-up/
As the title says, there are new samples of the Little Phatty up on the [Moog Music](http://www.moogmusic.com/detail.php?main_product_id=227) site. These go a little more in depth than the original couple. I have to say that, while it sounds pretty much like you think it would, that is kind of nice. With Moog products (none of which I currently own, BTW), it seems you get what you pay for, no surprises (maybe bad?) but then again, exactly what you expect (maybe good?).
---
## Fuck me running...
- Date: 2006-04-11
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/04/fuck-me-running/
A Rosetta 200 is in the mail on its way to me, and I literally \_just\_ got done refreshing the Fedex tracking page, and wham, I figured out what the new API product is. I mean [this product.](http://www.apiaudio.com/candy.html) You don't need to enter, because I'm already going to win it, of course. Just to save you the trouble of typing. (Now, I'm definitely not going to win it because I just gave them 3000 new names, and that was kind of dumb.)
Anyways, I don't want to say what it is and be wrong, but if you look at the API ad on page 21 of the new issue of Mix, right under the text that says "312 Mic Amp," you'll be able to make an educated guess, too.
---
## SSL Duende page now up...
- Date: 2006-04-10
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/04/ssl-duende-page-now-up/
[Here 'tis.](http://www.solid-state-logic.com/music/duende_home.html) The Official Word is that you get 32 _channels_ at 44.1/48, so 16 stereo tracks, if that's what floats your boat. At 96kHz, halve that figure. Plus one buss compressor. Also, the skinny is that the code for the channel strip is lifted straight from the SSL C200 console, while the 2-buss compressor is a clone of the one on the 4000G. That makes them significantly different than the Waves products. I can't wait for a head-to-head of the two products.
---
## 2005 Album Sales...
- Date: 2006-04-09
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/04/2005-album-sales/
We were discussing this a couple months ago, using older numbers. Here are the just-released digits for 2005 from Soundscan for total albums sold. Note that the vast majority of vanity releases from bands, and releases from ultra-small labels (like Positron) are not included in these numbers. Soundscan is obviously only going to track albums that are in the Soundscan system. That said, there is some food for thought here:
\-Total albums released in 2005: 60,331
\-Of the 60,331 albums released in 2005, 16,580 (27.5%) were digital-only releases.
\-Of the 16,580 digital-only releases, 2,935 (18%) were from major labels and 13,645 (82%) were from independents.
\-Of the 16,580 digital-only releases, the TOTAL combined units sold = 865,424 units = an average of approximately 52 units / release.
\-Of the 60,331 albums released in 2005, 11,070 (18.4%) were from the 4 majors and 49,261 (81.6%) from the independents.
\-The 11,070 new releases issued in 2005 by the majors averaged 18,454 units per release.
\-The 49,261 new releases issued in 2005 by the independents averaged 787 units per release.
\-In 2005, 32 NEW titles generated sales of more than 1 million units, collectively selling 57.2 million.
Those top 32 albums averaged 1.79 million each.
\-An additional 62 titles achieved sales of more than 500,000 units, and an additional 316 titles achieved sales more than 100,000 units.
\-A total of 410 albums (0.7%) - of the 60,331 released achieved sales greater than 100,000 units.
\-These 410 albums had combined sales of 169.2 million units, with an average of approximately 413,000 units each.
\-These 410 albums represented 70% of all sales of new releases.
---
## Four Measures Of Fury - April
- Date: 2006-04-08
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/04/four-measures-of-fury-april/
Thanks for the 20-odd emails I got pointing out that last Saturday was the first Saturday in April. ;-)
[Here is your loop.](https://web.archive.org/web/2006/http://www.analogindustries.com/samples/FMOF_04.wav) It is 120 bpm (and the masses breathed a sigh of relief), and the Minimoog bass is a big fat C. As always, your loop should be exactly the same length and root key as the original. There's a lot of wiggle room in this one, and with the tempo being what it is, some more experimentation is possible than in FMOFs previous.
If you're not familiar with the Analog Industries FMOF project, here's the deal: download the loop, and proceed to reorganize/edit/destroy it to taste, then either post a link to your new version in this thread (or FMOF threads that follow it) or [mail it to me](mailto:chris@positronrecords.com). If you choose to mail it to me, \_please\_ zip it up. You can send me any format that Nuendo can import, which is any format, pretty much. I assemble all the submissions in to one long track, in the order they are received.
Now, the bad news. Normally, you'd have a week to do this, but I'm going to L.A. on Thursday morning for a well-deserved weekend of relaxation with my lovely and long-suffering wife, so FMOF submissions for this month must be received no later than Wednesday, 8:00pm Pacific (GMT +9). Sorry about that, but if I let it cruise the whole weekend, I'll end up having to download a shitload of wav files over some asserific hotel connection on to my poor little iBook, which won't be fun for me or you. Plus, like, I have shit to do that doesn't involve sitting in front of a computer.
So, Wednesday afternoon. Rock it!
---
## Hard-Core Gear Porn Friday!!!
- Date: 2006-04-07
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/04/hard-core-gear-porn-friday/
[](https://analogindustries.com/images/blog/studio1.jpg)
Okay, refresh monkeys. Your fix is here. I'm on a roll with the synth-centric HCGP entries. Whack the picture above for the full-size view of the private studio of a certain Mr. Rich. I have no more information than that. I don't know where this studio is, or the actual name of the person that owns it. He's a moderator on the Vintage Synth Explorer forums, and he posted a dozen or so images of his studio in [this thread](http://vintagesynth.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2288&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=555).
He has all the heavies: a DX1, an Obie 8-voice, PPG 2.3, Hartman Neuron. In short, these pictures are going to make you insanely jealous. The ubiquitous clear Gleeman Pentaphonic (only like, um, 2300 made, from the frequency of occurance), but the biggest deal for me is that this is the first studio we've featured that, to my knowledge, has all three of the Holy Trinity. If you examine the photos, yes, Virginia, you'll see a Prophet 5, a Memorymoog, and a Jupiter 8. (Plus a bonus Holy keyboard, a Matrix 12!) There's no single clear shot of the whole room(s) so it's hard to tell what's going on. But suffice to say, this would be a fun place to hang out.
---
## Good Adam A7 News...
- Date: 2006-04-06
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/04/good-adam-a7-news/
This was just posted on Gearslutz by Bryce from [Adam](http://www.adam-audio.de/):
_
Minor change...
It seems that the demand for the A7 is going to significantly exceed our expectations. This will allow us to build them a bit less expensively than we thought. Consequently, we are going to change the US sell price to be what we had originally wanted it to be - $999 per pair.
_
That is good news, indeed. At $1199, I thought these were the ones to beat. At under a grand, they're going to be the most popular project studio monitors on the planet inside a year. I'm getting a pair. Are you?
---
## Ratshack Reverb v2.0
- Date: 2006-04-05
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/04/ratshack-reverb-v2-0/
Now with a more accurate model of t3h suck!
That's right, kids. Ratshack Reverb v2.0 is now available for purchase in the [AD Store](http://www.audiodamage.com/product_info.php?cPath=1&products_id=2) as a Universal Binary AU/VST for OSX and VST for Windows. This is a from-the-ground-up rewrite of our hillariously popular version of the Realistic Electronic Reverb. The funny thing is that we originally intended this to be sort of a gag gift for musicians, yet come to find out that there is a rather extreme sentimental issue involved with this effect.
For those of you not in the know, the Realistic Electronic Reverb is actually an analog delay effect of the bucket-brigade flavor, and also makes an excellent distortion box by running, well, just about anything in to the mic input and cranking the gain. In all seriousness, it is actually a pretty cool vintage effect (I use mine when I need Elvis slap-back vox, and in my guitar effects chain for thickening. Or I did. I use this plugin now.)
The price for Ratshack Reverb v2.0 is $34.95, and the upgrade for previous owners is $5.00.
---
## Tube Porn Video...
- Date: 2006-04-05
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/04/tube-porn-video/
A short movie made by Dave Pape about [Theo Argiriadis](http://www.tube-electronics.co.uk/), a British tube effect builder guy. Says Dave:
_His workshop sublimates eccentric retro gear porn into a higher form,
something like gynaecological valve art - and after much pestering from me,
he agreed to assemble a little collection of units he's made over the past
few years for me to film._
I really want to hang out with this guy. He not only knows his business, but has really good hair. Check out [this distortion box](https://analogindustries.com/images/blog/aae_distort_box.jpg) he made for Dave. Hit up his website for more info, and pay special attention to that stereo spring 'verb / valve amp. That is a thing of beauty.
---
## A Wild Goose Chase...
- Date: 2006-04-04
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/04/a-wild-goose-chase/
I don't suppose any of my fair readers has an original manual for the Realistic Electronic Reverb, do they? We're doing the manual for our Ratshack Reverb today, and we wanted to use some quotes from the real thing. If you have this, and can scan it, or know where to find it online, let me know.
---
## The Big Sell Off (round three!)
- Date: 2006-04-04
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/04/the-big-sell-off-round-three/
Okay, we're getting in to the home stretch now. Here's what's up in this one. A little more esoteric...
**SCI Prophet 2000:** Still available. In excellent condition electronically. 7/10 cosmetically. Analog filters and VCAs. A few disks. Makes an excellent controller, or you can resample drum loops and such. I use it mainly for resampling softsynths to give 'em a little oomf. $225. No takers on this, and I'm parting it out for the CEMs (which are worth more than the $225 I want for it.)
**
Wurlitzer Model 112 electric piano:** The Supertramp Special. You basically need this, no two ways about it. It needs some love, though. There are two broken tines. I went to replace one of them (I have an NOS replacement for it) and discovered that the screw that holds it in is stripped. So that would need to be drilled out and retapped. Also, the amp needs to be recapped. This thing weighs 3.6 metric fucktonnes, so shipping is basically out of the question. So if you live anywhere from Seattle to L.A., I'll deliver. If you don't, you're shit outta luck unless you want to come get it. $400 takes it. Sorry. I just turned this on, and decided I'm not selling it.
**Wurlitzer Sideman:** The First Real Drum Machine. It's big. It's beautiful. It sounds awesome. It has a hum like nobody's business. The tube drum synth portion of the unit needs to be recapped, and I wouldn't wish this job on my worst enemy. The tube amp portion is clean as a whistle, and sounds fucking fantastic. See above re: size and shipping. It only weighs 1.3 metric fucktonnes, for what it's worth. Make me an offer I can't refuse, then come pick it up, because there's no way I'm shipping it.
**Sound Labs Mini Synth PCB, stuffed.** This is the PCB portion of a Sound Labs Mini Synth. All components are there except for one capacitor that I ran out of. Just add front panel pots and box to hold it, and you're golden. I'd like out of it what I put in to it, sans time. That would be $82.00.
As with the last bit, Paypal only, buyer pays for shipping of his/her choice. [Drop me a line](mailto:chris@positronrecords.com) if you're interested in any of this.
---
## Messe = Big Fat Waste Of Time And Money?
- Date: 2006-04-03
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/04/messe-big-fat-waste-of-time-and-money/
So, between my own native curiousity about things noisy, and my interest in aquiring grist for the AI mill, I am pretty hungry for press releases that look interesting. Is it just me, or was there very little at this Messe to be excited about? Here's my roundup of interesting shit...
**Adam A7 near-field monitors:** These look [sexy as hell,](http://messe.harmony-central.com/Musikmesse06/Content/ADAMAudio/PR/ADAM-Audio-A7.html) and for $1199 the pair, finally put powered Adam monitors within reach of the unwashed masses. I'm reasonably certain that Audio Damage needs to purchase these, so I can tell _exactly_ how bad my code is fucking up the audio stream. Now to talk my partner in to that... (Maybe I'll use the ploy where I say "dude, these speakers have your name written \_all\_ over them!" Yeah, that'll work.)
**SSL Duende:** I've talked plenty about this over the last couple days. I'm not sure whether I'm more excited about the Adams or this, but damn, it looks tasty. Still nothing on the [SSL flash-a-thon](http://www.solid-state-logic.com/) about it, but they always have been a little slow. Go there and read about the new iteration of the AWS-900+ that neither you nor I nor both of us together can afford while you're waiting.
**Moog Little Fatty:** There is truly nothing left to say about this that hasn't been already said by a whole fuckload of people that have never seen or heard it in real life. In my opinion, as one of those people, it looks like a good deal for a synth that is really eye-catching, and judging from the samples on the site, a 2-OSC Moog monosynth through and through. As several people that talked to Moog reps at the show have said, there will be another model down the road a bit, with plastic endcheeks and amber LEDs for $999.
If there's something else that came out that fits in my sexy file that I missed (unlikely) please let me know about it. I'd add the Focusrite DSP box, but there's just too much of a chance that it'll not be what it's cracked up to be. Focusrite is really hitting the bottom end of the market hard, and a lot of people who's opinions I respect say that the Liquid Channel is crap. So I have misgivings about the Focusrite Liquid Mix.
---
## The Big Sell Off (round two!)
- Date: 2006-04-02
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/04/the-big-sell-off-round-two/
The Blacet modular, the Univox EC100, and the Neumann PEV are spoken for, so they're off the block. Here's a current list of what I'm unloading, with suggested prices. If you want to make an offer, I'll seriously consider it, as long as it isn't a complete joke:
**SCI Prophet 2000 sampler:** In excellent condition electronically. 7/10 cosmetically. Analog filters. A few disks. Makes an excellent controller, or you can resample drum loops and such. I use it mainly for resampling softsynths to give 'em a little oomf. $225
**Oberheim Matrix 6:** You know what this is. It is in generally okay shape; could probably use a good cleaning inside. The mod levers are a bit scratchy. Otherwise fine electronically. Cosmetically, 7/10 $175
**TL Audio Dual Valve Mic Pre:** This has been with me for years and years. Works like a charm, except the right gain pot has a dead spot at the end of travel. Only a problem if you're using a ribbon mic, really. 2U rack mount, with a grill so you can see all the tubes. $80 (I believe I paid $700 for this in 1996.)
**Eventide H910:** This is the very unit we cloned to make the original Discord. The right (delay only) channel occasionally has some distortion. The pitch shifting channel works like a charm. I imagine a recapping would put it in to excellent health, but if you just want the pitch shifting part, you're good to go. Cosmetically, it is 7/10. $150
**Behringer Eurorack Pro:** 16-input 1U line mixer. Get this fucking thing out of my studio, please. I promise I won't make fun of you for it. Basically like-new condition. $50
**Groove Tubes Ditto Box:**Valve D.I. I don't like it. Maybe you will. Basically new, and comes with complimentary suck. $50
**Blue Ball microphone:** I don't like this either. Some kind of crazy person thought a phantom-powered dynamic mic was a good idea. $50
There will be more. Paypal only. I'll ship anywhere, buyer determines method and pays. [Drop me a line](mailto:chris@positronrecords.com) if you're interested in any of this stuff. I can deliver the keyboards anywhere from Corvallis up to Seattle.
---
## SSL Duende Screenshot...
- Date: 2006-04-01
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/04/ssl-duende-screenshot/
Just found a small screenshot of the two plugs from the SSL Duende, plus a mock-up of the front panel, such as it is. From [this here](http://www.musik-produktiv.ch/shop2/shop04.asp/sid/!18121995/artnr/100030231) site (if you want a slightly larger image.)
I want to take it home, and kiss it, and hug it, and love it, and name it "George."
**UPDATE:** [Here's](http://www.mi7.co.jp/pro/duende/) a Japanese page with better screenshots. It is, of course, in Japanese.
---
## Hard-Core Gear Porn Friday!!!
- Date: 2006-03-31
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/03/hard-core-gear-porn-friday-5/
In all the months of doing this, I don't think we've come across a place with this many synths, except for [Zimmerland](https://analogindustries.com/2005/09/hard-core-gear-porn-friday-3/) and that place from South America on the old site. Pictured above is most of the Selector and a small (!!!) piece of the A100 from Parallel Worlds, an electronic music studio owned by Bakis Sirros, the moderator of the Doepfer A100 user group. (I'd actually put it this way: he 0wnz0rs the A100 user group, judging from his collection of same.)
I know I usually list the gear, with snide comments about same, but I wouldn't even know where to begin with this guy's stuff. Basically, start with a list of, like, everything, and just subtract the stuff he doesn't have. It'd be easier. Located in Athens, Greece, Parallel Worlds is exactly that, a place where a keyboardist can frolic in verdant fields of patch cords. Well, I don't know about the "frolic" part, but everything else is basically correct. [Here's the studio](http://www.parallel-worlds-music.com/parallel_worlds_studio.htm), and don't say I didn't warn you. Take particular note of [this photo](http://www.parallel-worlds-music.com/modcornerweb.jpg) and wallow in the despair of knowing that you'll never, ever have a modular that big. Neither will I. Thanks to Harri from Finland for the link.
---
## Bush Of Ghosts double whammy!
- Date: 2006-03-30
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/03/bush-of-ghosts-double-whammy/
One of the most important electronic albums, and one that has heavily informed most styles of electronic music, got a big pat on the ass today. _My Life in the Bush Of Ghosts_ by Brian Eno and David Byrne, has been re-released on CD with (finally) proper mastering and seven (!) bonus tracks. In addition, there is a Bush Of Ghosts [webpage](http://bushofghosts.wmg.com/home.php) that has remix packs and lots of info about the album.
This was a rather inspirational album for me when I first started recording (if you listen closely to my first two albums, you'll find several samples from it), and I think you'd be hard pressed to find an electronic artist from any genre that isn't intimately familiar with this record. Even if you're a fan of neither Byrne nor Eno, you'd be well served to pick this bitch up.
---
## Take that, Focusrite! SSL DSP box on the horizon...
- Date: 2006-03-30
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/03/take-that-focusrite-ssl-dsp-box-on-the-horizon/
No photos yet, and the SSL site has no information on the product, but it looks like SSL is going to release a Firewire DSP sidecar to compete with the offerings from TC, Waves, UA, and Lexicon. Called the Duende, it will come in a 19" 1U rack form factor, and initially have two plugins:
**Xlogic Channel Strip:** Up to 32 channels (it's still not clear whether they mean tracks or channels on either this or the Lexicon box) of this plug, an EQ/Dynamics strip, can be hosted on the box. From the press release: _4-band EQ, switchable characteristics between E and G series EQ, variable hi- and low pass filters, an “over easy” soft ratio compression characteristic, independent side-chains for compressor and expander/gate, plus a link bus option to connect individual channel strips._
**Stereo Bus Compressor:** This is obviously the classic SSL 2-buss whacker, love it or hate it. (I'm in the former catagory.)
So, I imagine news of this, and pictures, will start making the rounds pretty quickly. As of right now, the only thing I can find is [this press release](http://www.proaudio.de/news/beitraege/2006_03-29.html) on ProAudio.de. MSRP of ~1600 Eu, so a street in the 1400 Eu range. This is getting interesting, what with all the sidecar options.
**EDIT:** In thinking about it, how is this not the functional equivalent of having a 32-channel 9000 Series inside your DAW, sans the mic pres? The more I ponder this, the more I think that this might be the product to beat.
---
## Blacet sold...
- Date: 2006-03-29
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/03/blacet-sold/
Okay, so it appears the Blacet has been spoken for. I'll put up a full list of the remaining items, with conditions and such in a few days.
---
## The Big Slim...
- Date: 2006-03-29
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/03/the-big-slim/
Okay, this is gonna be tough, albeit in a cathartic way. Lisa and I are going to be moving from our largish house in the country to a smallish apartment in the city (while it was a noble experiment, living out in the sticks ultimately blows) and thus my studio has to become significantly smaller for the time being.
While, as I aluded in the first sentence of this post, slimming a collection of instruments down to the bare necessities is cathartic, it forces some difficult problems to the forefront. I've done this a couple times in the past. At one notable juncture in my career, I had 18 analog synths. With keys. (I tend to eschew rackmount synths for some reason.) While it's nice to have every possible sound at my beck and call... well, yeah. You get the picture.
So, decision time, right? The most difficult choice I've made is to unload my (mostly) Blacet modular. I will probably end up buying one again, but I simply won't have the room in my new place, and I can live without it for the time being. I'm still not entirely certain about this decision, but there's a lot of money tied up in it that could be applied to stuff I would use a lot more.
All the stupid impulse-buy shit has to go too. That means Prophet 2000, Matrix 6, Wurlitzer 112, Wurlitzer Sideman. I've also got this ridiculous 70s Ampeg head I've been carting around for 5 years that I'll probably give to [Wade,](http://www.theatomicaproject.com/) if I can bring myself to box and ship it. Lots of little jank too, such as a Univox EC100 that mostly works, tons of DIY shit, an unmodded iOpener, stacks of racks, a Neumann PEV in a Vintage City rack, etc. etc. etc. etc. ad nauseum.
In short, time to clean house and go down to the bare minimum yet again. It is really nice to do something like this because I find it much more inspirational to get new stuff than try to drag every single sound, kicking and screaming all the while, out of old stuff.
I'll put up prices and pictures in the not-too-distant future, but if there's anything in the above list that you can't live without, drop me a line via the contact button above, and let's talk.
---
## Messe: New TC interface...
- Date: 2006-03-29
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/03/messe-new-tc-interface/
Man, and I _just_ bought a FireBox, too. This is the Konnekt 24D, a new interface from TC. Aside from the rather ostentatious use of the letter "K" this seems to be a pretty sweet box. It has the Fabrik C channel strip and Fabrik R 'verb poured in DSP right in the box, and you can use 'em standalone which is kind of nifty. 2 line ins, 2 mic pres, 4 line outs, plus ADAT ports.
Another nice feature is that you can network up to three together for extra I/O. I can't find how many Fabrik C instances you can run per unit, but I'm guessing the answer is "one," which is kind of a bitch. I imagine they feel you'll use it on the input. I'm not too hip on printing my DSP dynamics and E.Q. as most of the fun of having a DAW is having a non-volatile workspace.
Anyways, this looks pretty sweet. 470 Eu for the Konnekt 24D, and 320 Eu for the Konnekt 8, which is obviously less I/O and no DSP on-board.
---
## Lil' Phatty Info Up...
- Date: 2006-03-29
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/03/lil-phatty-info-up/
[Here's the deal](http://www.moogmusic.com/detail.php?main_product_id=227) on the new Moog. I've been sitting on a picture of this thing for like two weeks, and you have **NO** idea how hard it was to not post it. Moog has let the cat out of the bag, though, so go forth.
Personally, I think it looks pretty fucking sweet. If you want a high-res pic, click [here.](https://analogindustries.com/images/blog/LittlePhatty_huge.jpg)
**UPDATE**: [Analog Haven,](http://www.analoghaven.com/) the best store in the world, says $1375 is the price to beat.
---
## Messe: Cwejman module pic...
- Date: 2006-03-28
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/03/messe-cwejman-module-pic/
[
](https://analogindustries.com/images/blog/moduleshot_bg.jpg)
Shawn from [Analog Haven](http://www.analoghaven.com/) is at Musik Messe this week, and is promising to send me many pictures of cool shit. Above is the first of many, an image of the entire Cwejman modular lineup. Click the image for a high-res version.
This looks like a pretty nice system to me. Quasi-typical, but there are enough modules in the initial lineup to make a reasonably sophisticated system, from the looks of things.
---
## The Long Strange Trip Of A VCS3...
- Date: 2006-03-28
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/03/the-long-strange-trip-of-a-vcs3/
Huh. The Putney that was the subject of many AHNW pictures this weekend (including my post of a couple days ago) is up on [the 'bay.](http://cgi.ebay.com/Original-1970s-EMS-VCS3-The-Putney_W0QQitemZ7399242596QQcategoryZ1289QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem) Quite frankly, I can't think of a 3-OSC mono that I'd pay $3150 for, but to each his own. It is, after all, the rare tobacco-burst finish. Thanks to [DM](http://forum.soundarc.net/) for the link.
---
## MFB Multi-Filter...
- Date: 2006-03-27
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/03/mfb-multi-filter/
I don't know if this is new or not, but it's the first I've seen of it. Yet another el cheapo knobby box from German company MFB. [Here's the product page](http://www.mfberlin.de/Produkte/Musikelektronik/MFB-MultiFilter/MFB-Multifilter_e/mfb-multifilter_e.html) on the MFB site. It looks to be an analog multi-effects unit, with ring mod, compressor, distortion, two filters, two LFOs, two envelope followers, and three step sequencers.
All in all, it seems to be a fairly sophisticated box. 480 Eu. takes it home. I like stuff like this.
**UPDATE:** It seems they actually have another new product at Messe, the Step64 step sequencer...
Looks like MIDI in/out, CV/GATE out x4, and a couple other tasties. It might not be the prettiest thing in the world, but it looks like it gets the job done. This one will set you back 245 Eu. Info [here.](http://www.mfberlin.de/Produkte/Musikelektronik/MFB-STEP64/MFB-STEP64_e/mfb-step64_e.html)
---
## AHNW Synthi-porn...
- Date: 2006-03-26
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/03/ahnw-synthi-porn/
Some nice pics from Analog Heaven Midwest 2006 up on the [Retrosynth](http://www.retrosynth.com/slideshow/20060325_ahmw/) site. As a militant smoker, I particularly appreciate the nice tobacco-burst color of that Putney. You see too many in white; it's good to see one in cigarette-tar orange for a change.
---
## Wanna know what it feels like to get punched in the stomach?
- Date: 2006-03-25
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/03/wanna-know-what-it-feels-like-to-get-punched-in-the-stomach/
Go start yourself a company. Have it do pretty well. Well enough to the point where you can advertise in major music magazines. Then go do an ad buy in one (or more) of those magazines.
We just purchased a bunch of ads in Future Music and Computer Music, and spent a whole lot of money on a whole lot of nervousness. I'm reasonably adept with graphics-related things, but I don't have a lot of experience with making color ads, so I'm really sweating bullets on this submission, because it is a _lot_ of money.
Which brings up an interesting point. It doesn't really do any good to have products if no one knows about them, right? Plus it is generally accepted (and who am I to argue?) that the average consumer needs three impressions of a product before they'll even go look at it. We're basically betting the farm on this advertising buy, so here's to hoping! If you're in the mood, now would be a good time to buy an [Audio Damage](http://www.audiodamage.com/) product, because I've just drained our checking account.
---
## Sick gear sale on NYC Craigslist...
- Date: 2006-03-25
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/03/sick-gear-sale-on-nyc-craigslist/
Check out [this ad](http://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/msg/144832377.html) for a really fine collection of gear up on the block. Some of the prices are silly, but some are really good. Of course, it depends on condition. Being me, I have my eyes on that SCI Pro-FX, but it is far more than I'm willing to spend on one at this point. The prices for the H3000 and H949 are actually quite good, if they're in working order.
Thanks to Chris Cortier for the link...
---
## 500-series module porn...
- Date: 2006-03-25
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/03/500-series-module-porn/
Well, Messe is right around the corner, and we've got whatever the Roland Red thing is, and the new Moog, and the Focusrite Liquid Mix, and I'm sure many other nice things that We Can't Live Without. However, whenever these big shows come about, I'm left with the nagging feeling that there are plenty of really nice things already here that I don't have.
Case in point: [this thread](http://www.gearslutz.com/board/showthread.php3?t=64264) on Gearslutz is where our friend Adam Jay posted images of his 500-series rack of mic pres. That is one sexy slice of input, right there. Four OSA pres, four Pacifica pres (in 3 different flavors, natch), a Purple Biz, a Shadow Hills Gamma, and an API 512. That's seven distinctly different flavors of high-end mic pre in a 3U rack. Of course, Adam no doubt spent a healthy chunk of change on this rack, but he'll be able to take it to his grave, knowing that no matter where he goes or what he has to record, he's pretty much set. (Personally, I'd swap out two of the OSA pres with Averils, but that's just me.)
It's gear like this that makes it worth getting up in the morning, and I'm insanely jealous. Visit the thread for more pics.
---
## Focusrite Liquid Mix...
- Date: 2006-03-25
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/03/focusrite-liquid-mix/
Another addition to the family of DSP sidecars for your DAW, which includes the PowerCore and UAD-1. This bad boy is the Focusrite Liquid Mix. Obviously a permutation of the Liquid Channel; I assume it uses the same cloning technology. There is enough DSP in the box to run 32 EQs and 32 dynamics processors, which is more than enough for most projects, and certainly more than either the PoCo or UAD1 can pull off. (A total of 64 simultaneous plugs. Think about that.)
Each individual plug can be controlled from the UI of the unit itself, or via a small generic VST/RTAS/AU plugin GUI. All in all, it seems to be a pretty slick unit. I imagine this is embargoed until it is announced at Messe, but[
someone jumped the gun](http://www.dancetech.com/aa_dt_new/forums/thread.cfm?show_all=1&threadid=39850&messages=7&chatter_id=1&age=&step_rowcount=1&step_messagecount=1&start=1&end=7&threads_start=1&threads_end=50) and thus I reproduce it here, in the public interest. The price? £499, which I think is pretty reasonable for what you get. I'll certainly wait until someone who's opinion I trust gets one and provides a thorough review, but this might be the outboard DSP I finally talk myself in to getting.
---
## Hard-Core Gear Porn Friday!!!
- Date: 2006-03-24
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/03/hard-core-gear-porn-friday-4/
You always know that when I put up a picture of Vangelis or Tomita or Wendy Carlos gear, I consider it something of a cop-out, but I had a really busy week, and was unable to do my normal Thursday afternoon search. (Read: no one sent me a link this week!) On top of working on Discord 2, our label had a release, and I'm doing ads for the UK music magazines.
So, I head to my "gimmees" folder and pull out another old standby. Pictured above is part of the absolutely ludicrous [synth collection](http://www.garethjones.com/pics/erasure/vinceSynths.htm) of Vince Clarke. I, like everyone that spent their teens in the 80s, was a fan of Depeche Mode and Yazoo. I always found Erasure to just be a little bit too gay for my taste. (Nothing against music that tends gay, of course. I'm secure enough in my masculinity to think that Oscar G. & Ralph Falcon's "Dark Beat" is a pretty thick track.)
Anyways, I don't even know what to call half that shit, and I'm pretty well-versed in matters analog. Some better pics of the studio [here,](http://www.garethjones.com/pics/erasure/erasureKeys.htm) including Vince & Andy. And, of course, the most famousest of all the pictures of the Dome can be seen [here,](http://usuarios.lycos.es/audionautas/Paranoias/vinceclarkestudio.jpg) from a late-80s issue of Keyboard.
Interestingly enough, with all that shit, Erasure has gone pretty much all soft-synth (Oh, the tragedy! The shame!) according to the [Ask Erasure](http://www.erasureinfo.com/features/askerasure_07.html) page on their site. Well, Vince, if you're looking for somewhere to store all that gear, I would be glad to offer my studio...
---
## Thoughts on the New Moog...
- Date: 2006-03-23
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/03/thoughts-on-the-new-moog/
If you're not subscribed to the Analog Heaven list (and who can really blame you?) there's been quite the go-round in the last few days about the New Moog. Of course, the same issues have appeared on many other forums. It's really quite annoying how many armchair quarterbacks there are in this business.
In any case, I posted my ideas to AH, but since this site has far more visitors than are subscribed to that list, I thought I'd paraphrase them here for mass consumption. Several (dozen) people posted about how it didn't have this feature and that feature, and who on earth would buy this hunk of shit if it didn't give you a backrub? etc. etc.
My thinking is thus: Moog hand-makes high quality products. If they're not for everyone, so be it. In my experience, the Big Briar-era Moog products are of an exceptional build quality, and sound like they're supposed to. This quality and sound comes at something of a premium in price, of course.
I find it ironic that most of the people doing the bitching are _exactly_ the sorts of people that pay a grand for a 303 or a Source. This new synth is head and shoulders above the Source (an incredibly flawed instrument), I don't think anyone would deny that fact. And it will street for only a couple bills more. Quite frankly, I think that the new Moog will be exactly what it was billed as; a half-priced Voyager with half the features.
So, my big plan is to wait until there is a playable unit within my grasp, and play it, and see if I like it. If I don't, or I can't afford it, I'll just not buy it. How's that? In the mean-time, perhaps I can go to the snack bar and pick everyone up a large order of Shut The Fuck Up, with a side of Quit Your Whining?
---
## Komp This...
- Date: 2006-03-23
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/03/komp-this/
If you recall, a couple weeks ago I was pattering on about "getting the comp out." Well, it's out. Shipping next Tuesday. So, if you find yourself needing a helping of the Posi Stylee, you can go [grab yourself one](http://shop.positronrecords.com/products/product.php?pid=kp003&aff=ana), and in the process help support this site and its parent company, Positron! Records, which is the best record label in the world, and I'm not just saying that because I own it.
As an aside, you'll note that our store software is most fly. My wife Lisa spent several months writing a shopping cart from scratch that is basically designed expressly for independant record labels, because everything currently available for that purpose was a pretty brutal hack. It's an entire content management system and shopping cart suite for an indie label, and as you'll plainly see, enables us to sell digital content directly.
So we took the rather drastic step of giving the customer the entire album digitally even if he/she buys the actual CD. So the customer purchases a CD and has to wait 1 to 3 days (US + Canada) or 5 days (the rest of the world) to get it, but in the meantime he/she can still rock the fuck out of his/her iPod with the whole album.
We encoded all the albums by ripping the gold masters with EAC, then hitting the "alt--preset--standard" on LAME. They sound pretty good to me; in fact, I have a hard time telling between the master and the MP3 in some cases, on material I made myself.
I'm not going to out and offer Lisa's services to any indie label that wants or needs something like this, because she's got enough on her plate as it is. But if you own an independent record label, and want to have a conversation about what is involved, drop me a line with the "contact" button above, and I'll be happy to talk about it. I think this system is top-flight, and if every indie label had something like it, the world would be a better place for customers, that's for certain.
---
## w00t! and furthermore niiiiice....
- Date: 2006-03-22
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/03/w00t-and-furthermore-niiiiice/
If you kids happen to pick up the current issue of Future Music (the April issue, which is on sale today), there are reviews of both [BigSeq](http://www.audiodamage.com/product_info.php?cPath=1&products_id=13) and [Phase Two.](http://www.audiodamage.com/product_info.php?cPath=1&products_id=12) That, in and of itself, isn't that big a deal. What \_is\_ a big deal is that both plugins got the Future Music Platinum award, and also both got the Value award.
Time for me to add some gee-gaws to the product pages for both, heya? Here's the digits from the reviews:
**BigSeq**
Stability: 10
Value for money: 10
Ease of use: 10
Versatility: 9
Sound/results: 9
**Phase Two**
Stability: 10
Value for money: 10
Ease of use: 9
Versatility: 8
Sound/results: 10
There are plugin companies out there that have never got reviews in FM that good, and here we are with the first ones out of the chute just _killing._ I'd like to think that it's because we're so fucking good, or something like that. In any case, this is a big, big deal for us, and I'm busy for the rest of the day running around and waving my arms, shouting "A! D! A! D!" until the neighbors call the cops.
---
## And another one...
- Date: 2006-03-21
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/03/and-another-one/
I don't want you to get the impression I'm trying to talk you in to spending money because I can't, but this particular thing fits right in with normal topics of conversation here, so I thought it worth mentioning. Pictured above is the 401 half of an EML 400/401 sequencer that is for sale [here](http://www.axonvox.com/forsale/) for $1500, which I think is a pretty reasonable price for one in this condition. If you want the analog sequencer to end all analog sequencers, you could certainly do worse than this, that's for sure. There are more pictures [here.](http://www.axonvox.com/forsale/EML400-401/)
---
## Some really good deals...
- Date: 2006-03-20
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/03/some-really-good-deals/
I'm loath to give up this link, but we may be moving soon (again) and I don't need to be aquiring anything else for the time being. So, in the interests of spreading the wealth, I give you Robert Van Dyke's [price list.](http://www.robertvandyke.com/) I think that Mr. Van Dyke is in the business of dealing with vintage radio equipment, but there is a lot of crossover in to our end of the business. (Audio is, after all, audio. Most early recording studios used modified broadcast consoles.)
There are some really good deals to be had on a lot of stuff here. The caveat is that you pretty much have to call, which is (I know) a stressful adventure to those of us that are used to the Interwebs. He has several Gates and Ampex consoles, and a lot of choices for vintage American mic pres, compressors, EQs, et al. The prices are very reasonable, and I'm given to understand he is an easy guy to deal with. So have at it, and don't say I never gave you anything.
---
## Self-tuning guitar (again)?
- Date: 2006-03-20
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/03/self-tuning-guitar-again/
Yet another self-tuning guitar thing-a-ma-bob, this time from [Tronical.](http://www.tronical.com/info01.html) ("You play. We Tune." How 'bout that?) I tend to lump these sorts of things in the "solutions to problems you didn't know you had" folder, which is the same place I put almost all haptic MIDI interfaces. It's so fucking hard to tune a guitar that you need to purchase what is, in effect, a robot to do it? Sorry, but guitarists already get all the chicks without much work. I don't really see any need to make their job easier. I can't find a price, but I can't see how it would be cheap. Currently for Strats of various flavors and the ubiquitous Les Paul models. EDIT: Apparently, it is $800. So, an American Strat costs $799, and to make it so it will stay in tune is a dollar more.
---
## Discord 2 preview...
- Date: 2006-03-18
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/03/discord-2-preview/
Pictured is the final user interface for Discord 2, straight out of 3DS Max. This should give you a pretty good idea of what's going on. Click the image for the full-sized UI.
As you can see, there is a separate LFO for each side; these can be tempo-synced, and the four small knobs in each LFO section are the mod routing. Each LFO can affect the shift amount, delay time, HPF frequency, and LPF frequency, with either positive or negative mod.
Each side has its own set of shifting and delay controls, and the delays can be tempo-synced now. Another addition is the cross-feedback path, which (when used in a pitch shifter) produces some pretty sick results. On the right, the master section has output level, mix, and some specialty controls.
**LFO1->RIGHT** overrides LFO2's settings, and sends LFO1 settings to both channels.
**LINK** links the controls of the left and right channels, for ease of programming.
**
SMOOTHING** toggles between two separate pitch-shift algorithms. One is more vintage and grainy, and the other is smoother (hence "smoothing.")
I don't know how long this is going to take to complete. A few more weeks at least. Discord 1.5 will be discontinued when this is released, and the price will be raised to $49.00. Upgrades will be $10.00 for owners of Discord 1.5. The OSX version will be Universal Binary. I'll keep you posted on the progress. Currently, Adam is working on the guts, and I've just finished rendering the complete stack that makes up the UI. I'll theoretically have the entire GUI done and coded by Monday, but there are a lot of fucking knobs on this thing, each one of which has to be hand-placed, so it could take more time than I plan.
---
## New Moog Hint?
- Date: 2006-03-18
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/03/new-moog-hint/
I've been trying to stay above the fray on this whole New Moog thing, but [this](http://www.novamusik.com/search.aspx?click=Ads&clickid=68&type=Manufacturer&keyword=34) might be worth having a gander at. I find it incredibly hard to believe that there's a retailer on the planet that could keep this information under wraps, but something to ponder anyways.
---
## Hard-Core Gear Porn Friday!!!
- Date: 2006-03-17
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/03/hard-core-gear-porn-friday-3/
Old Schoolers Anonymous. Check this shit out. No computer, beeyatch! He makes songs the old fashioned way. He types them in to an MC-4, one note at a time, like Real Men Used To. I assume, from the top-level domain tag of [his site,](http://www.psproject.com.br/) that this guy is from Brazil. I also assume that he either has a trust fund or no kidneys, because there is some serious coin invested in this synth collection. Click the magic 3D spinnie thingie, and be transported to the Land That Time Forgot, and marvel in wonder at the Arp 2500 and 2600, Synthacon, Obie 4-voice, and other tasty treats.
I listened to the MP3s on the front page, and they're not as terrible as is usual for people that have this much kit. He likes Vangelis, but hey, who doesn't? On the bright side, there's no Mackie mixer in with this roughly hundred-thousand dollar setup. No danger of that. Back when the studio only had about $75,000 worth of stuff, he was on the Behringer/Tascam trip (as witnessed in the above photo). He has since upgraded to what I assume is one of those Roland V-Mix Mo 'Phatt Hard Disk thingies. Since I've never made fun of those on this site before, I won't start now.
This installment of HCGP was found and provided to me by Ace Cub Analog Industries Reporter the [Siesmologist.](http://www.tremorcore.com/)
---
## Burwen Bobcat...
- Date: 2006-03-16
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/03/burwen-bobcat/
It took some reading to figure out what the fuck this is. As far as I can tell, you buy this package containing the Burwen Bobcat software and a USB D/A convertor. The software is a plugin for Windows Media Player, and the D/A convertor plugs in to your stereo. Apparently, this is the mythical Good Box.
People that don't usually talk shit (Mark Levinson, Rob Fraboni) are quoted on the site, waxing eloquent about the "amazing depth and clarity" of Burwen Bobcat. Quite frankly, this falls squarely in to the "I'll believe it when I hear it" catagory, and if I didn't even have Windows Media Player on my PC, I'd be a happier person for it. But that said, it sounds interesting. I can't figure out how much the software/hardware package costs, but [go have a look](http://www.danielhertz.com/index.html) and let me know what you think. Anyone have any experience with this?
---
## Wow...
- Date: 2006-03-15
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/03/wow/
I don't really have anything to add to this. I mean, there's nothing that can be said about this album cover that the image alone doesn't convey. Taken from [this page.](http://porktornado.diaryland.com/albumcover.html) I wonder if Devastatin' Dave (The Turntable Slave) is still putting out albums.
If you look really close in the upper right-hand corner, you'll see that's a cut-out, too. What are the odds?
---
## One more Asian Gear Porn pic...
- Date: 2006-03-14
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/03/one-more-asian-gear-porn-pic/
[](https://analogindustries.com/images/blog/brochures/Rvol3cover.jpg)
I forgot one of the pics that Ethan sent me in the Asian Porn Fest last weekend. So here 'tis. It's the cover of a Roland brochure, and would be a pretty comprehensive studio, even by today's standards. (Just add 'puter!) Anyone know what the organ is? Click the image for the full-sized scan.
---
## Phase Two now Universal Binary...
- Date: 2006-03-14
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/03/phase-two-now-universal-binary/
Makin' license plates, that's what it's all about this week at [Audio Damage.](http://www.audiodamage.com/) Phase Two has been given the UB treatment today. This is a free crossgrade. If you own it, just log in to your store account and download the installer again. If you don't own it, well, what the hell are you doing with your time, anyways?
Next in the pipe is Discord 2, which will be a significant step for our second-most-popular plug. It'll have tempo sync on the delays, separate control over left and right pitch, and a couple other upgrades. And yes, it will go back to the hardware UI. We also have a couple new products in the works, which will ultimately replace Mayhem. Nothing but fun from AD for the next couple months.
---
## Vintage Japanese Gear Porn...
- Date: 2006-03-12
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/03/vintage-japanese-gear-porn/
Ethan Callender just sent me these scans from Japanese trade brochures, and I thought they were worth putting up here, as sort of a Hard Core Gear Porn extra. Click each image to be taken to the full-sized scan.
[](https://analogindustries.com/images/blog/brochures/p01-02.jpg)
This is an image of pretty much the full Yamaha audio line-up, c. 1984 or so. This would be a pretty brittle studio, were it yours. I forgot about the Yamaha keytar.
[](https://analogindustries.com/images/blog/brochures/p11.jpg)
Another Yamaha brochure, this one a bit earlier. I'd say around 1979-80 or so. I like how the faux-wood endcheeks all match. Notice the endcheek-colored stool. This would make a pretty slick rig, I think.
[](https://analogindustries.com/images/blog/brochures/p21-22.jpg)
This is pretty much the same thing, from a bit later, I believe. Note the CS-15 and CS-30, which were not present in the wood panel-thon of the previous brochure.
[](https://analogindustries.com/images/blog/brochures/p18-19.jpg)
And the best for last. Here's a classy one, and the image on the left actuall doesn't look that different from the Object Of Desiring for many musicians today. The entire MS lineup is featured, along with a fly monitor stand for the Apple IIe. I don't get the utility lights or the wine glasses, but then again, it was the early 80s. What are you gonna do?
---
## DubStation now Universal Binary...
- Date: 2006-03-11
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/03/dubstation-now-universal-binary/
Audio Damage's best-selling product, DubStation OSX, has been revved to 1.1 and is now available as a Universal Binary. The crossgrade fee is $5.00, and you can get it [here.](http://www.audiodamage.com/product_info.php?cPath=4&products_id=16) The Windows version remains unchanged at 1.0.2.
---
## Four Measures Of Fury March final...
- Date: 2006-03-11
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/03/four-measures-of-fury-march-final/
Okay, here 'tis. We had a few less submissions than last month, but I think in general they were more creative. I'm not sure if this is due to the more esoteric nature of the source material, or what. The MP3 ended up being a bit longer, as the loop is significantly slower than last month, so maybe that's a good thing. In any case, [here is the MP3](https://web.archive.org/web/2006/http://www.analogindustries.com/samples/fmof__03_06.mp3) of this month's total. Here's the list of submissions, in (more or less) the order they were received:
1\. Original Loop
2\. Navs Abbany
3\. [Steve Hamann](http://www.sighup.ca/)
4\. [David Deutsch](http://www.skore.de/)
5\. [Raf](http://www.myspace.com/goldcode)
6\. Cain Torst
7\. noisegen
8\. Konrad Carelli
9\. Angstrom
10\. [X.Cerveau](http://www.xcerveau.org/)
11\. inteliko
12\. [PBXorcist](http://www.pbxorcist.com/)
13\. [meeglosh](http://rugerseeds.com/)
14\. [wordclock](http://www.rainlikely.com/)
15\. D'MacKinnon
16\. [dj\_methodikal](http://www.methodikal.com/)
17\. Ronin
18\. meto
19\. [seismologist](http://www.tremorcore.com/)
20\. jt
21\. Chris Cortier
22\. Jesse
23\. [Chris Randall](http://www.sistermachinegun.com/)
24\. Original Loop
So, there you have it. Enjoy; I have a really good one lined up for next month...
---
## FMOF Last Call!!!
- Date: 2006-03-11
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/03/fmof-last-call/
Yeah, you can't fool me. You really have nothing better to do on a Friday night than turn one loop in to another loop. Seriously. This is your 8-hour warning. Post submissions in the comments of this thread, or [mail 'em to me.](mailto:chris@positronrecords.com)
On a side note, we're getting some really experimental shit this time, which is cool. We also got one that was so funny it almost made me pee my pants a little bit.
**
UPDATE:** All closed up. The finished product will be up tomorrow.
---
## Hard-Core Gear Porn Friday!!!
- Date: 2006-03-10
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/03/hard-core-gear-porn-friday-2/
I'm one of those kinds of people that make lists. I make lists in notebooks, in really small handwriting. I have lots of notebooks. It's the sort of thing you'd see in a David Fincher movie, where he would use the large quantity of notebooks full of really small writing by way of illustrating that the person in question was, by any normal standard of measurement, completely batshit insane.
That obvious fact aside, I have two synth lists. One is called "The Big Three" or sometimes "The Holy Trinity." It looks like this:
1\. Memorymoog
2\. Prophet 5
3\. Jupiter 8
That should be pretty obvious to anyone who knows anything about fuck all. My other synth list is mainly comprised of synths that, while not part of the Holy Trinity, are quite nice, and each and every one is Something I'd Like To Have At One Point Or Another. In the studio pictured above and below, you can basically see that list. This joint belongs to REwire, and not only does he/she/it (the site is not clear on that fact, so I'll be vague) have two of the Big Three, but a pretty fair portion of my other list as well.
There's an OSCar, a VCS3, a 2600, an MS20, and a Voyager. Dude (et al) has a pretty fucking nice collection. Nords are still giving me hives after last week's adventure, so I won't bring those up. And whatever with the Crackie mixer. But otherwise, it's a nice little space I wouldn't mind sitting in for a bit.
So, go visit his/her/their [site.](http://rewire.12inch.com/index.htm) There are a couple more pics and a complete gear list in the "studio" section.
---
## The Construction of David Gilmour's pedal board...
- Date: 2006-03-10
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/03/the-construction-of-david-gilmours-pedal-board/
Pete Cornish makes pedal boards. Pete Cornish makes David Gilmour's pedal boards. Pete Cornish was kind enough to photo-document this process. [Go look.](http://www.petecornish.co.uk/bop.html)
---
## Ward Beck modules. Qty: One Metric Fuckton
- Date: 2006-03-09
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/03/ward-beck-modules-qty-one-metric-fuckton/
Holy DIY console, Batman. This is obviously the left-overs of some serious Ward Beck console repair stockpile. Ward Beck is frequently, and in my opinion disingenuously, called the Neve Of The North. Let's make one thing clear: Ward Beck is **not** the Neve Of Canada. Neve is the Neve of Canada. Ward Beck is the Ward Beck of Canada.
Now that we've gotten that out of the way, there are enough cartridges here to make yourself a 16-channel Ward Beck sidecar, with enough left over for two more. Or you could buy the lot, then sell 'em one at a time on the 'bay and probably make a tidy profit. [Here's the auction.](http://cgi.ebay.com/184-WBS-WARD-BECK-SYSTEMS-MIXING-BOARD-MODULES-See-List_W0QQitemZ7397307346QQcategoryZ3278QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem) Don't get any drool on my website.
---
## Cheap drum trigger for your modular...
- Date: 2006-03-09
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/03/cheap-drum-trigger-for-your-modular/
Robert Trelease just posted the following on the Blacet list. I thought it might be interesting to those of you that have modulars but aren't on that list:
_
The [Blacet 2225 I/O](http://www.blacet.com/IO.html) works great for producing analog percussion and
bell sounds with inexpensive professional drum triggers.
I've gotten great results from a Pintech RS-5T drum trigger (~$23)
mounted on a 6" Remo Practice Pad (~$13). The TT3 trigger trap
bracket had to be slightly modified (end tab cut off) to fit the
practice pad. The trigger output is a 1/4" jack, making for easy
cable connection to the I/O.
Best results were obtained with 100X amplification on the I/O 2225,
with gain and level set for reliable triggers and gating. It was
easy to set the levels for stick or hand drum play (way simpler than
on my Yamaha DD-5 digital drums).
_
[Here's a link](http://www.musiciansfriend.com/home/navigation?q=Pintech+RS-5T) to the trigger at Musician's Friend. Any ol' practice pad should work.
---
## Audio Damage 914 Fixed Filter Bank now available...
- Date: 2006-03-08
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/03/audio-damage-914-fixed-filter-bank-now-available/
All right, it's here. The Audio Damage 914 Fixed Filter Bank is now available for purchase in the Audio Damage store. This one is a major upgrade to the 907A plug, and has the following feaures:
» Separate level controls for wet and dry signals.
» 15dB of makeup gain on the wet level.
» Twelve bandpass filters instead of the eight on 907A.
» Universal Binary and VST 2.4 upgrades, for complete compatibility on the Macintosh platform.
The price for this plug is $39.00, or $10.00 for the upgrade if you already own 907A. [Here is the page](http://www.audiodamage.com/product_info.php?cPath=4&products_id=14) for the full version, and [here](http://www.audiodamage.com/product_info.php?cPath=4&products_id=15) is the upgrade page. Note that there is a new catagory, "Crossgrades / Upgrades" in the store, and that's where we'll be putting all the Universal Binary crossgrades, as well as any products that have paid upgrades in the normal course of events.
---
## FMOF Countdown!
- Date: 2006-03-08
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/03/fmof-countdown/
Okay, keep 'em coming. This one is shaping up really nicely. Two days left. This is the new FMOF thread; put your submission links here, or zip 'em up and [mail 'em to me.](mailto:chris@positronrecords.com)
---
## Apparently your pedal board needs t00bs now...
- Date: 2006-03-08
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/03/apparently-your-pedal-board-needs-t00bs-now/
Man, just when I thought I had tubes in everything that could have tubes in it... I was pretty sure I'd met my Professional Musician Tube Quota, but then penzoil washington sends me a link to the Kanuter VTPB 1 Vacuum Tube Pedal Board, and I realize that there's still real tube warmth to be had. Oh, Holy Mother Of The Even Order Harmonics, thank you for blessing us so.
It looks like there's a tube preamp, then an effects loop, then a tube recovery amp. Toss in a power supply for your pedals, and you're in hog heaven, at least as far as tubin' up your sound goes. So, if my tube mic is hooked to my tube mic pre, and is placed in front of my tube amp, which is fed by my tube pedal board chock full of pedals with tubes in them, do I still have to practice, or will it just sound so fucking good that I can get by without actually playing anything?
[Here's the site.](http://www.amprepair.com/kanuter_vtpb1.htm) Although, I have to say, it looks a little fishy. There's no window so you can see the tubes. What's up with that?
---
## Calrec still around?
- Date: 2006-03-07
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/03/calrec-still-around/
I don't know how this slipped by me, as I'm normally pretty up on this sort of shit, but apparently Calrec is still in business. Or at least, someone owns the name and is making consoles. They are definitely slated to the broadcast (tv/radio) industry, but a console is a console when you get down to it. Of particular interest to readers here is the M3, pictured above. It looks like you can buy a boat and fill it with however many channels you need.
[Here's the page.](http://www.calrec.com/product/m3.htm) The interesting thing to note is that while the recording industry usually eschews cleanliness in favor of mic pres and eqs that have a bit of color, the broadcast industry wants the cleanest of clean, so that might inform your reading of the provided material. But taking that in to consideration, this is an interesting item. The C2 is also [worth a look,](http://www.calrec.com/product/c2.htm) particularly for the upstand modules (comp, limiter, etc.).
---
## No posts today...
- Date: 2006-03-06
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/03/no-posts-today/
Sorry, but I'm getting some major dental work today, and will not be posting. You can take this time to get your FMOF loop done...
---
## The Most Annoying Sound Ever...
- Date: 2006-03-05
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/03/the-most-annoying-sound-ever/
Peter Grenader of Plan B just posted a link to [Savart's Wheel](http://www.windworld.com/feature_pages/savart.htm) on the Analog Heaven list. I clicked the link, and read that it "is widely acclaimed for the fact that it makes the most obtrusive, obnoxious and irritating sound imaginable."
I was, like, "whatever. I made industrial music for 15 years." Then I played the MP3. That claim is no joke. This little device is _nasty._ Not the sort of thing you want to hear when you have a toothache. Thanks, Peter.
---
## Four Measures Of Fury March Madness!!!
- Date: 2006-03-04
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/03/four-measures-of-fury-march-madness/
Sorry this is so late. I meant to do it last night, but I was put down for the count by a _monster_ toothache that has left me all but unable to function. However, pharmacutical products have been liberally applied, and I can at least type now.
Anyways, now that you guys know how this works, we're gonna get a little tricky. This month is definitely tougher, not your average break. I've chosen a loop made from a freestyle track by Polish beatboxer Arczi. I should note here that, like you, I was unaware that all the best beatboxers come from Poland. I've since been corrected. It's interesting how utterly lacking in soul German hip-hop performers of any stripe are, while their next-door neighbors are actually quite good. I suppose there's a certain line of logic to that.
So, without further drug-induced rambling, [here is the loop.](https://web.archive.org/web/2006/http://www.analogindustries.com/samples/fmof_0306.wav) Four measures, of course. The tempo is 95 bpm. For those that weren't around for the last FMOF, here are the rules:
1\. When you submit a loop, it \_must\_ be the original tempo or a derivation thereof (e.g. half-time, double-time, etc.), and exactly the same length in time as the original loop. (i.e. if you go double time, you actually have to submit 8 measures.)
2\. Any and all chopping, slicing, dicing, effects, resynthesis, etc. are allowed. However, you may not use anything but the provided source material. No additional synths or samples other than what is provided.
3\. Either email me your submission, or post a link to it in this thread or later FMOF threads. If you choose to email your submission, please zip it, as that makes my life easier. If you have a web page you'd like a link to, provide that with your submission as well.
4\. All submissions must be received by midnight Friday next. I will then assemble all the submissions in the order they are received, and put the resulting file up as an MP3.
So, there you have it. The bass sounds are in B and C#, if you need to know that for some reason. Get to choppin', and may the best reconstruction emerge victorious!
---
## Hard-Core Gear Porn Friday!!!
- Date: 2006-03-03
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/03/hard-core-gear-porn-friday/
Oh, good ol' Dr. Joseph Paradiso. Can't go wrong. I have to admit, I usually find my HCGP subject during the week at some point, and save it for Friday, but for some reason I let two perfectly good HCGP sites drop already this week, and used up my cushion. So I've spent the last four hours looking at pictures of every fucking project studio on the face of the planet.
Long story short, I've seen a \_lot\_ of Nord Leads in the last couple hours. They're starting to make me throw up in my mouth a little bit. I hit a link, see red, close the tab. Next.
So, like the Walter/Wendy Carlos episode of January, I have to fall back on an old standby. This one isn't as well-known as, say, T.O.N.T.O. (I'll never be _that_ hard-up for gear porn), but it has been around damn-nigh as long, and probably holds the record for single largest DIY synth project. Built over a 14-year period, this beast has assimilated every synth that comes in a reasonable distance. It is, in fact, the Katamari Damacy of modular synthesizers. You bring a MiniMoog in the room, it rolls over it and Borgs it in to submission.
(Is "Borg" a verb? It is now.)
Every other synth you see in that picture has been patched out to join with the main modular, up to, and including, a Casio SK-1 sampler. Dr. Paradiso is an associate professor at MIT, and thus has access to more cooler stuff than the unwashed masses like you and I. Such is life.
Anyways, there is a \_lot\_ of information about the building of this synth and its history, videos and MP3s of it in action, and photos of its entire lifespan available on the page [devoted to it.](http://web.media.mit.edu/~joep/synth.html) Go forth.
---
## Too... Much... Porn....
- Date: 2006-03-02
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/03/too-much-porn/
The new Audities Foundation site just went online. It is, in a word, dope. [Check it out.](http://www.audities.org/audities/index.html) The Buchla part is particularly drool-worthy, naturally. The one dark spot is that they don't have a complete working AlphaSyntauri.
But then again, neither do I.
---
## New Rhodes?
- Date: 2006-03-01
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/03/new-rhodes/
The following was posted on the Rhodes Yahoo Group:
_
From: "j brand"
To: rhodes@yahoogroups.com
CC:
Subject: \[rhodes\] Re: New Rhodes Model?
Date: Mon, 27 Feb 2006 23:42:53 -0000
Hi everyone,
We are working hard to finish five new models and intend to show at Namm
January 2007.
Website comming that will keep you informed by fourth quarter 2006
Any qualified Rhodes technicians wishing to be factory authorized for warrantee service repair can register when the company website comes on line.
I support your community and have appreciated the suggestions in
developing ,hopefully ,the greatest Rhodes electric piano line ever._
Further details were then offered in [this thread](http://www.gearslutz.com/board/showthread.php3?t=61281) on Gearslutz, to the following effect:
_" Mr. Brandstetter has confirmed that the new instruments will:
be true electromechanical pianos, based on Harold Rhodes' design
mechanically follow (with improvements) the most recent production Rhodes, the Mk V
be fitted as standard with MIDI
be lighter, more roadworthy and more portable than any previous production Rhodes
be available in 73- and 88-note versions
offer many new features
have a striking visual presence, while obviously remaining a "genuine Rhodes" "_
Now, that's some news I can get behind.
---
## New Rhodes?
- Date: 2006-02-28
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/02/new-rhodes/
The following was posted on the Rhodes Yahoo Group:
_
From: "j brand"
To: rhodes@yahoogroups.com
CC:
Subject: \[rhodes\] Re: New Rhodes Model?
Date: Mon, 27 Feb 2006 23:42:53 -0000
Hi everyone,
We are working hard to finish five new models and intend to show at Namm
January 2007.
_
_
Website comming that will keep you informed by fourth quarter 2006
_
_
Any qualified Rhodes technicians wishing to be factory authorized for warrantee service repair can register when the company website comes on line.
_
_
I support your community and have appreciated the suggestions in
developing ,hopefully ,the greatest Rhodes electric piano line ever._
Further details were then offered in [this thread](http://www.gearslutz.com/board/showthread.php3?t=61281) on Gearslutz, to the following effect:
_" Mr. Brandstetter has confirmed that the new instruments will:
be true electromechanical pianos, based on Harold Rhodes' design
mechanically follow (with improvements) the most recent production Rhodes, the Mk V
be fitted as standard with MIDI
be lighter, more roadworthy and more portable than any previous production Rhodes
be available in 73- and 88-note versions
offer many new features
have a striking visual presence, while obviously remaining a "genuine Rhodes" "_
Now, that's some news I can get behind.
---
## Big Pimpin' with the RCA Synthesizer Mk II...
- Date: 2006-02-28
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/02/big-pimpin-with-the-rca-synthesizer-mk-ii/
Metasonix ain't the only game in town for tube synths. If you want to go vintage, you could do worse than the RCA Synthesizer Mk. 2, pictured above. (Or part of it pictured above, anyway...) [Here](http://www.obsolete.com/120_years/machines/rca/rca_blue.aiff) is a recording of this beast in action, courtesy of Obsolete.com, who have a pretty complete [article](http://www.obsolete.com/120_years/machines/rca/index.html) about this synth, installed in 1958.
"Yes, but Chris, I'd swear that photo looks relatively current," you say to me. "Those aren't chairs from the 50s!" Good eye. The above picture, taken from [this site,](http://www.organizedsound.com/gear3-rca.html) (one of a couple dozen, as you'll no doubt find out) is of the synth as it currently stands, still in its original home at the [Computer Music Center at Columbia University.](http://www.music.columbia.edu/cmc/index.html) As far as I can tell, it is still in operating condition.
Take special note in the Obsolete.com article about how it is "programmed," via punched paper rolls. That could really take the fun out of making music, I think.
---
## MidiNES maxi-review...
- Date: 2006-02-26
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/02/midines-maxi-review/
Okay, so I've been fighting this incredible head-cold for like 3 weeks now. My sister brought me some bad-ass Belgian strain of sinus trouble when she came to visit, and I just can't shake this shit. So, knowing when to say when, I went to the grocery store and put up with the "are you sure you're not a meth dealer?" questions to buy some serious sinus shit. (For those of you that don't live in America, you can't buy anything with ephedrine in it off the rack any more, part of the War On Meth, which is entering its 20th year or so.)
The net result of this serious sinus shit, and my ingestion thereof, was that I was up 'til 3 in the morning, bouncing off the fucking walls. Which leads me to the following: the above screencap is of my now-completed Nuendo/Cubase MIDI device map for the Wayfar MidiNES cartridge. It allows full control over every parameter from one window. (On a side note, the program that Steinberg provides to make these things is really fucking lame.) If you own a MidiNES, you might want this, so [here you go.](https://web.archive.org/web/2006/http://www.analogindustries.com/samples/midiNES_editor.zip) Drop the XML file in /program files/Steinberg/Nuendo 3/Device Maps/ (or Cubase SX or whatever) and load that bitch up.
In use, the cartridge itself is actually rather limited. The triangle wave can't be edited at all, and the envelope features of the pulse waves are counter-intuitive to people used to normal subtractive programming. And, of course, the sounds it is capable of making in any case are chippy, so there's that to consider. But that said, this unit is still fun as hell, and quite useful. Once I rack it up, I'll be using it often for my Scanalyzer and Micronaut projects.
I whipped up a little demo that doesn't sound like the hell-for-leather chipfest stuff that is on the [.:wayfar:. site](http://www.wayfar.net/0xf00000_examples.php). You can grab the MP3 [here.](https://web.archive.org/web/2006/http://www.analogindustries.com/samples/nes_chameleon.mp3) This track has all five channels of the MidiNES playing, recorded in one pass. The triangle channel is doing the bass. The hi-hat is the noise channel, and the kick and snare are from the built-in samples on the sample channel. The melody and rhythm part are the two pulse channels. (And boy, does this shit rock or what? Sorry, Herbie.)
I squished the result with Waves RComp, and added a touch of Princeton 'verb (because audio without reverb is like cornflakes without milk), but otherwise it's straight MidiNES. You can plainly hear the noise that is omnipresent in the beginning. If you multi-tracked all five channels, this would have to be dealt with, either with gates or some noise-killing plug, as it would quickly build up in to a chorus of hell-spawned whistling.
So the verdict? Fun as fuck. Can you live without it? Sure, but why would you want to? $89 for the cart and like $5 for an NES, and you've got a chip-tastic synth that really doesn't sound like anything else, and has quite a bit of depth. That's a bargain by anyone's standards.
Now, to rack-mount it.
---
## midiNES mini-review...
- Date: 2006-02-26
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/02/midines-mini-review/
So I got a midiNES cartridge today, as part of my long-range plan to force Peter Kirn to [give me his Nintendo DS.](http://www.createdigitalmusic.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=771&Itemid=44) First impressions are generally favorable. If you're not in the know, the midiNES, made by [.:wayfar:.](http://www.wayfar.net/) is a Nintendo cartridge that gives a normal run-of-the-mill NES a MIDI input, so you can play the synth portion of the CPU directly from any MIDI source.
What surprised me on first listen was how clean it was. If you don't plug it in to a TV at all, and run it in its MODE 1, the noise floor is much lower than other methods for making chip music. It's actually lower than other (much more expensive) synths I have, interestingly enough. You can play two pulse channels, a triangle channel, a noise channel, and the sample channel simultaneously, and each is addressed from a different MIDI channel.
It is entirely programmed via MIDI CC messages, so I'm in the process of making a device map for Nuendo/Cubase, so I can just grab a knob rather than having to go through the whole process of sending it a CC through other means. I'll provide this map to anyone that wants it once I have it done.
So, full review and sound samples coming. But at first glance, it is a nice piece of kit. I need to get a Par-Metal 1U rack and a couple switches from Mouser, then I'm gonna rack-mount this bitch and it'll be **on.**
---
## In Defense Of My Mixing Position..
- Date: 2006-02-25
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/02/in-defense-of-my-mixing-position/
I get a pretty healthy dose of letters regarding posts on this site, and the most common one I get usually reads something like this:
_
Okay. I get it. Mackie and Behringer mixers blow. What the fuck \_should\_ I buy if I'm on a budget, then? Huh, tough guy?
_
Let me make one thing clear right now: if you're just starting out, or you're a hobbiest with no intention of ever actually releasing anything, a Mackie or Behringer cheapie is going to be fine. In this business, you get what you pay for, and while a $199 mixer will, in actual fact, mix, there are trade-offs, and the main thing you're going to lose is definition, due to the low-quality op-amps.
When you see me repeatedly make fun of people for having Mackie and Behringer mixers, it's because they have several thousand (or hundred thousand) dollars worth of synthesizers, the best of the best, and they still submix with a $199 mixer. That's what I don't understand. If you can afford to buy four Jupiter 8s, you can afford to drop a grand on a mixer that doesn't blow.
My writing methodology is somewhat different than the normal synthesizer-based musician, so I'll grant that my opinion isn't of vast appeal here, but I'm of the firm opinion that any mixer at all is a bad idea. If you have an audio interface with 8 inputs, you should have 8 mic pres of reasonable quality, 8 eqs, and 4 stereo compressors. These should all go to a patchbay. There's no need for a mixer to submix at all. My own method only involves a pair of mic pres, two eqs, and no analog compressors in the signal chain.
But I tend to record things one at a time, rather than having all my synths chugging away simultaneously, so that method won't work for everyone. But for god's sake, if you're going to spend $10K on your synths, don't send them through a 3-cent op-amp. Please.
---
## Hard-Core Gear Porn Friday!!!
- Date: 2006-02-24
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/02/hard-core-gear-porn-friday-4/
If you were ever curious as to the studio that lives in my head, when I think about what my studio _should_ be, instead of what it is, above is a picture of it. Of course, it doesn't have Michael Hoenig in it, hardly ever. And I imagine I could probably come up with a better storage medium than the mass quantity of 5.25" floppies he has. And I almost certainly wouldn't have a DX7 in it. But otherwise, yup, that's it pretty much exactly.
For the full-size, [click here.](http://usuarios.lycos.es/audionautas/Paranoias/michaelhoenig1987.jpg) This is taken from the [Santuarios](http://usuarios.lycos.es/audionautas/Paranoias/santuarios.htm) site, which consists, by and large, exclusively of scans of semi-famous synth players sitting in front of their rigs from 80s-era Keyboard magazines. The early 80s were kind to neither fashion nor hairstyles, but there's some pretty fly-ass synths to be had. All the usual suspects are well-represented, and you can easily spend an hour getting your monitor all sticky-like going through the photos. The rest of the site is in some language that isn't English, and is thus completely oblique to an American such as myself.
---
## Nice modular gear porn from AHNE '05
- Date: 2006-02-23
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/02/nice-modular-gear-porn-from-ahne-05/
Pretty pictures. Blinking lights. Patchcords. You know you want it. [Go. Go. Go!](http://bizzofaction.com/pics.htm)
---
## Fucking Sweetwater...
- Date: 2006-02-23
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/02/fucking-sweetwater/
If you get the Sweetwater inSync mailing which goes out every week, you know that they "scour the web" each week looking for the best freeware/shareware. This week, in their infinite wisdom, they chose FuzzPlus 2.2. That's very nice of them, but they didn't warn us of this, or let us know in any way, shape, or form that several hundred thousand people would be downloading it today.
As a result, our entire box is running slow as fuck, and all the posiNET sites, including this one, are stuck in the mud. I took down FuzzPlus 2.2 until this storm passes, so things should pick back up, but it sure is annoying in the short term. I guess they just assume everyone has huge server farms.
---
## In The AD Queue...
- Date: 2006-02-23
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/02/in-the-ad-queue/
Okay, we're getting ready to throw our first batch of crossgrade/upgrade packages out in to the wild. After the first nervous moments of our VST2.4/Universal Binary Exploration, BigSeq (which is our first UB/2.4 product) is trouble-free, so with the glow of success fresh in our rearview mirror, we're feeling pretty good about things.
First up will be Ratshack Reverb, which received a major overhaul. Ratshack Reverb 2.0 features a completely rewritten interior. It looks the same on the outside, and in operation remains the same, but it sounds much better, has a lower CPU load, and now has MIDI learn, like most of our products. Also, 2.0 will include the long-awaited port to AU. Version 2.0 will increase in price to $34.95, and the upgrade/crossgrade for previous owners will be $5.00 to get the new version, which will include the Universal Binary AU and VST for OSX owners. This should be out later this week or early next week, as soon as we're done testing.
Immediately following that will be the whopper. We will release the 914 Fixed Filter Bank, which is a major upgrade to the 907A. The 914 features 12 bands, as opposed to 8 in the 907A. It also has makeup gain (an oft-requested feature of 907A owners), separate level controls for wet and dry, and an overall bandwidth control. It is head and shoulders above the 907A, and with the bandwidth control, makes a stellar passive-style equalizer. The 907A will be discontinued, and the 914 will be $39.00. The upgrade for previous owners will be $10.00, and will include Universal Binaries for the OSX crowd.
So, that's the first round. A UB of Dubstation will follow as soon as those two are out the door, and then we'll address where we're at. We have some excellent products in store, and as we continue the upgrade cycle, Discord 2 will be a major upgrade to that, our best-selling plug-in. It is gonna be a fun couple months over in AD land. Hit [the site,](http://www.audiodamage.com/) and sign up to the mailing list to be notified about the upgrade process.
---
## Word For The Day: agonistic
- Date: 2006-02-23
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/02/word-for-the-day-agonistic/
The Sweetwater Word For The Day never fails to make me chuckle. Usually, it's something like "Bi-Directional" or "AES/EBU" or "Nyquist Limit." Rarely is it an actual single word, which is why I've always thought it should be "vaguely music-related term for the day," although I suppose that doesn't really roll off the tongue in the same manner, at least not in English. I bet the Japanese have a single word that means "vaguely music-related term for the day," and can also mean "tuna that is maybe a little more gamey than I'd like" because Japanese is a context-sensitive language like that.
However, today I see a chink in the armor. The Sweetwater Word For The Day is [dovetail,](http://www.sweetwater.com/insync/word.php?find=Dovetail) of all things. They go on to say that it's a common method for joining a guitar neck to a body for set-in necks in acoustics. I have two questions:
1) Who doesn't know what a dovetail joint is?
2) Has Sweetwater reached the end of their 4th Edition Of Vaguely Music-Related Terms In English?
---
## Laptop Battle 2006
- Date: 2006-02-21
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/02/laptop-battle-2006/
I'm pleased to announce that Audio Damage, Inc. will be sponsoring the 2006 season of [Laptop Battle,](http://www.laptopbattle.org/index2.html) so if you're competing at one of the regional events this year, or at the finals, and you don't suck, we'll be giving you prizes and such. That will, of course, be grand.
---
## Hope Springs Eternal...
- Date: 2006-02-21
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/02/hope-springs-eternal/
So, I'm looking at this INetSynth from [Key2sound.com](http://www.key2sound.com/default.asp?sub=1&id=1&lang=1) that was announced yesterday, and I think I might be missing something. It looks like they're not just selling a soft synth, but an actual lifestyle choice, a la Apple. Aside from the ubiquitous "i" tagged moniker, which immediately sets off "hub of my digital lifestyle" warning bells, this thing has a built-in online sound browser/sharer, so you can scoop through the Repository and score sequences and patches from like-minded individuals. Sort of like the MySpace of synths.
I can't bring myself to download the demo, just on principle, so one of you needs to go and get this thing and report back. It seems to be a bog-standard take on the "32 OSC types, 16 filters, 85 LFOs" polysynth that seems so prevalent these days, but I have to admit I'm a bit curious. Or at least, I will be until I get the inevitable letter from the maker that reads something along the lines of "thanks for the mention, now would you mind correcting your post so that it reflects less poorly on us?"
Oh, did I mention it's 278.75 Euro?
---
## Ahhh, spring. When a young man's fancy turns to thoughts of vertices...
- Date: 2006-02-21
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/02/ahhh-spring-when-a-young-mans-fancy-turns-to-thoughts-of-vertices/
Sorry I wasn't up to snuff on my post count these last few days, but I went on a Total Immersion learning spree to teach myself OpenGL programming, because the interfaces to our plug-ins aren't groundbreaking enough. (Ho, ho, ho.) Also, the Olympics are on, and that takes at least four hours of attention from me every evening, time that would obviously be far better spent surfing the internet looking for things to make fun of.
So, expect a return to our normal posting schedule within the next 24 hours.
---
## Chaos And Music...
- Date: 2006-02-19
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/02/chaos-and-music/
I've been thinking a lot about chaos lately, as it relates to music creation. Watching the Olympics nightly, I've noticed one thing in particular about the speed events, such as downhill, combined, luge, skeleton: the guy that wins is the one that is willing to go right to the edge, and maybe stick a toe over. In the men's downhill in particular, the fastest times were turned in not by the guys that skied a perfect line, but by the ones that exhibited more of a (barely) controlled fall down the side of the mountain.
This, of course, results in a lot of wrecks, but being careful and controlled aren't necessarily desireable traits in someone that wants to go faster than everyone else. The same is true of music. Making safe music, or music that adheres to strict rules, is akin to making boring music. The most exiting music ever made is by musicians that stuck a toe over the edge. The Beatles may sound banal today, but that's only due to the fact that their best records were oldies before most of us were born. Strawberry Fields is simply out of hand, and much more "alternative" and experimental than anything Coldplay has ever done. (Then again, most anything is, so maybe that's a bad example.)
Anyways, to get back to the subject, I make no secret of the fact that I often use [aleatoric](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleatoric_music) generators to come up with melodies and rhythms. My favorite programs are [M](http://cycling74.com/products/m) and UpBeat, both written by David Zicarelli before he founded Cycling '74. I've released several songs that are almost entirely generated by those two programs. What I like about them, and aleatoric generators in general, is the fact that I can set the initial conditions, but the timing and order of notes is left up to the ghost in the machine, and while it takes patience to get something that people will find listenable, once I do, the result is never something I would have thought of on my own.
I've been pondering how to take pieces of these programs I like and put them in the (somewhat stricter) framework of the VST/AU environment. My thinking is that the more control one has over the source material and initial conditions, the more likely something interesting is going to come out. So imagine this: a synth/sequencer combination (think 303) except it has Buchla's Arbitrary Function Generator (pictured above) instead of the typical Roland step-time fiasco, and a somewhat more sophisticated synth section. What would this need? What would it not need? 2 VCOs, for sure, and a multi-mode filter, all of which could be controlled by the sequencer. A randomizing section for the various bits. I like Buchla's circular design above rather than the more linear x0x style. Something to think about, anyways.
---
## Hard-Core Gear Porn Friday!!!
- Date: 2006-02-17
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/02/hard-core-gear-porn-friday-3/
Since everyone and his kid brother decided to jump on the Gear Porn Express this week, I thought I'd head on back to more familiar territory, and avoid synths for this edition. This triplet of Mellotrons is a result of the side-hobby of the owner of [Wunder Audio,](http://wunderaudio.com/) makers of the excellent and well-thought-of PEQ1 replacement cartridge for Neve 1073-sized racks and consoles.
It just gets sicker from there. He owns and has fully restored Eric Clapton's original Helios console. That sight alone is enough to make a grown man cry.
And, yeah, his rack is looking pretty nice, too. That schtonkin' big pair of Fairchild compressors probably does a nice job of warming his room up.
Much larger pictures and some talk are available in [this thread](http://www.gearslutz.com/board/showthread.php3?t=31617&page=6&pp=30) on Gearslutz.
---
## The State Of My 808...
- Date: 2006-02-16
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/02/the-state-of-my-808/
Apparently, [this](http://wellwornworkshops.com/index2.htm?http://wellwornworkshops.com/stu808.htm) was at one time a Roland TR-808. It really isn't any more. Check [the rest of the site](http://wellwornworkshops.com/index2.htm?http://wellwornworkshops.com/stu808.htm) for some other canibalized drum machine work. A little bit scary.
---
## Food For Thought...
- Date: 2006-02-16
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/02/food-for-thought/
We're taking our label (and the parent of this site) [Positron](http://www.positronrecords.com/) in to the digital delivery realm here in a few weeks, so I've been paying more than normal attention to marketing and moving music as downloads as opposed to CDs. All the Posi artists do pretty good on iTunes and their ilk, but it has always annoyed Lisa (my wife, who runs the label) and I that Apple treats indies like second-class citizens. Our artists, myself included, can't be browsed to from any point in the site, even though there are 8.4 million albums in the world with my name on them.
Because I'm not signed to Joe Shit's Ragman Records, a subsidiary of Universal, I don't get the same features at iTunes that artists that will _maybe_ move 20 full-album downloads as part of the thousand copies they'll sell. (If you weren't aware of the statistic, 95% of major label releases sell 1000 copies or less.)
So, while I wouldn't say that Positron! has any hope of competing with iTunes on the grand scale in the digital realm, it certainly is smart to stop sending people to iTunes if they want a download, and give it to them right then.
But that's kind of beside the point. The reason I bring this up at all is that in my research on the subject, I came across [this article in the WaPo,](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/07/AR2006020702051.html?sub=AR) which puts some things in to perspective. The easy availability of single songs for purchase again has made novelty tracks and one-hit wonders the movers of the music world once more. This giant freight train we call the music industry has finally turned full circle.
---
## An odd request...
- Date: 2006-02-15
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/02/an-odd-request/
Okay, there are a lot of creative types that read this blog; I'm sure at least a few of you work in the gaming industry. I have a question. Is there a (relatively) easy way to turn a 3DS Max mesh in to a nice clean glBegin(GL\_QUADS) kind of list of vertices without a really tedious and lengthy cut-n-paste process? I know you cats all use Max and Maya to make your little soldier guys; how the fuck do you turn those meshes in to something the engine can use? There's gotta be an easy way.
For those of you that have no idea what I'm talking about, don't worry, neither do I.
---
## Prophet 64 cart coming soon..
- Date: 2006-02-14
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/02/prophet-64-cart-coming-soon/
If you were one of the readers of the old Media Temple (and thus whack) version of this blog, you may remember a couple of articles about the [Prophet 64](http://www.prophet64.com/) series of programs for the Commodore 64, which I successfully had running on several different emulators, for amusing semi-SID synth fun.
Well, the maker(s) of Prophet 64 are going to release a C64 cartridge containing updated versions of the three Prophet 64 programs, a (pre-audio) Logic-like sequencer, and built-in DIN Sync. They've got together with [Firestarter](http://www.firestarter-music.de/) to release a MIDI interface for the C64 that is a perfect compliment to Prophet 64. No firm price yet, but check this: get yourself a used C64 (~$75), the cartridge (~$49), and the MIDI interface (<$50) and you've got a synth that, aside from having massive indie cred, will wipe the floors with a SIDstation. All current info about the cartridge is on the Prophet 64 site. AI gives this two big thumbs up, and a strong "buy" recommendation.
---
## Messe Preview: elysia alpha compressor...
- Date: 2006-02-14
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/02/messe-preview-elysia-alpha-compressor/
It occurs to me I've been neglecting the pro audio crowd for a couple weeks now, as I blather on about VST and AU nonsense. So here's a beauty that is going to make its debut at MusikMesse, the[
alpha compressor](http://www.elysia.xu-medienproduktion.de/alpha_compressor.13.0.html?&L=3) from elysia. It is a good-lookin' beast, no doubt about it. This is a professional multi-band mastering compressor, with built in MS matrix (as opposed to a simple "link" switch), subtle filters, and soft-clip limiting. Expect to pay something akin to what a kidney would bring in the Reeperbaum for one of these, but boy, is it a pretty sight. L3? L-who?
---
## FuzzPlus2.2 UB VST/AU now available...
- Date: 2006-02-12
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/02/fuzzplus2-2-ub-vst-au-now-available/
The long awaited moment has arrived. FuzzPlus2 is now available as an AudioUnit effect. Head on over to the [FuzzPlus2.2 page](http://www.audiodamage.com/product_info.php?cPath=2&products_id=3) at the Audio Damage site and grab yourself a copy. Both the VST and AU are Universal Binaries, and the only requirement is OSX 10.3.9 or later. The Windows VST is unchanged from the last update.
In other news, while Adam works on the forthcoming 914 upgrade to 907A, I'll be busy porting our various products to VST2.4 and Universal Binary, and AU if warranted. My next project is a complete rewrite of Ratshack Reverb. We have much better delay DSP now than we did when we first released that venerable item. It'll be getting the same delay engine that powers DubStation and Ronin, along with some touch-ups to the EQ of the tail. It will also finally be ported to AU in the process.
---
## Sknote Realthing Update.
- Date: 2006-02-11
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/02/sknote-realthing-update/
Quinto Sardo, the designer of the [Sknote](http://www.sknote.it/) Realthing from a couple posts back, just wrote me to correct some things about my previous entry, and drop a bunch of information which makes this a much more exciting product. Now that I know all this, I want one, and you will too.
Basically, the Realthing has oscillators and filters on board, but no envelopes or LFOs. These are created in the VSTi itself.
The other main difference is that it is a polysynth, not a monosynth. It also has inserts on the back, so you can run hardware effects inline with the unit. There will possibly be an option for a tube stage as well, he says. You can access the oscillators, the filters, the tube, or all three in the VSTi, or as an insert effect.
The major thing is that it only needs MIDI in and out. All the sound coming from the box is brought in to the DAW via MIDI ports; you must dedicate a MIDI in and out to the hardware, and you can then forget about it. You still have to connect the audio outputs in to an in on your DAW, but it will be treated as a VSTi in other respects.
The coolest thing about all this is that different kinds of synths can be written as VSTi to access the oscillators and filters. All in all, this sounds like a much better idea than what I had originally parsed out from the information on the Sknode site. The insert loop in the unit makes it really exciting if you own a modular synth. This is shaping up to be a really cool device. Quinto has also informed me that it is definitely _not_ vapor. He has just received 8 completed units for final testing and software adjustment, and it will be on sale at some point in the not-too-distant future. More information as I get it, but this may be my pick for Most Baddest Ass Product of 2006, now that I have this new info.
---
## Four Measures Of Fury final mix for February...
- Date: 2006-02-11
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/02/four-measures-of-fury-final-mix-for-february/
As you can see, we've finished the first installment of Four Measures Of Fury. This worked out beyond my wildest expectations, so we'll definitely do it again next month (and I already have a good loop lined up, too!)
I got (not including myself) 28 submissions, which is just a hair under 1% of the average unique daily readership of this blog. On the one hand, I thought more people would participate; on the other hand, I'm almost glad more didn't, because with dealing with the BigSeq release, this almost got away from me. I'm definitely going to have a submission form for next month's entries, to better organize everything so I can do it all in one sitting.
Without further ado, [here is the MP3](https://web.archive.org/web/2006/http://www.analogindustries.com/samples/fmof_0206.mp3) of the whole mess, rendered straight from Nuendo. I used a pretty heavy dose of L3 to tame the levels, because the submissions were all over the map, so if you submitted, yours might sound a little more squished than when it left your computer. Including the original loop and mine, there are 30 in all, which ends up being slightly over 3 minutes long. It is a mind-bending collection that runs the gamut from nearly prog-rock to nearly ambient. The amazing thing you'll immediately notice is that they all blend together quite well. Using the common source material is the cause of that, I suppose.
No favorites were played, and I added all the files in the order they were received or put up on the site. Here is the list, in order, with websites where applicable:
1\. Original Loop
2\. [Chris Randall](http://www.sistermachinegun.com/)
3\. [shamann](http://www.sighup.ca/)
4\. [Peter Forret](http://www.smoothouse.org/smoothouse/)
5\. [Ruger Seeds](http://www.rugerseeds.com/)
6\. [Switchonoff](http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pageartist.cfm?bandID=427878)
7\. [Wade Alin](http://www.theatomicaproject.com/)
8\. [skOre](http://www.skore.de/)
9\. [unempty](http://www.unempty.com/)
10\. [Angstrom](http://www.timeshard.com/)
11\. [thephlexican](http://www.thephlexican.com/)
12\. [X. Cerveau](http://www.xcerveau.org/)
13\. [James Douglas](http://www.myspace.com/innerspacerecordings)
14\. PBXorcist
15\. Matt Giant
16\. [Jan Nemecek](http://www.jannemecek.net/)
17\. Navs Abbanay
18\. Niclas Markbäck
19\. Till
20\. [Jason vanHelsdingen](http://www.tillthenmusik.com/)
21\. [Bjorn Vayner](http://www.thecovertoperators.com/)
22\. Cain Torst
23\. meto
24\. [Gösta Wellmer](http://www.picturebox.biz/)
25\. Georg Bosch
26\. [D' MacKinnon](http://www.deviantmuse.com/)
27\. [Brandon Daniel](http://www.fdiskc.com/)
28\. MarkmaN
29\. [Justin Walgran](http://www.walgran.com/)
30\. Chris Cortier
---
## Sknote Realthing analog synth thingamabob...
- Date: 2006-02-11
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/02/sknote-realthing-analog-synth-thingamabob/
This is a cool idea, but I'm not too sure about the execution. The Italian company [Sknote](http://www.sknote.it/) is apparently thinking about making a hybrid VSTi/analog synth. (Whack the "software" button when you get to their frame-a-thon of a site. Didn't they get the memo about frames back in, like, '97?)
Anyways, Realthing is (or rather "will be" assuming it gets out of its vaporous state) a 1U analog monosynth of the 2 OSC variety, which, if I'm reading this right, is entirely controlled via a VSTi interface. This is a most excellent idea, but if I'm parsing things out correctly, I don't believe the audio appears in the DAW via the VSTi itself. Rather, you have to pipe it in the old-fashioned way. The VSTi is just a mechanism for sending it MIDI CC messages, I believe, and is thus just front panel with delusions of grandeur.
I think a 1U rackmount analog synth with just a USB 2.0 interface on the back which could be addressed via a VSTi, or maybe use the filters as an insert effect, would be a much cooler (albeit more complicated) device. If anyone has the skinny on this, I'd be more than happy to be utterly wrong in my detective work. All that aside, I kind of want to hold it and pet it and put it in a rack and call it "George" anyways. (Or "Giorgio," as the case may be.)
---
## FMOF Last Call!
- Date: 2006-02-10
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/02/fmof-last-call/
The time is nigh to get your Four Measures Of Fury submission in. As of this posting, a little over 12 hours left. [Email](mailto:chris@positronrecords.com) me a file, or post a link in this thread.
---
## Hard-Core Gear Porn Friday!!!
- Date: 2006-02-10
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/02/hard-core-gear-porn-friday-2/
Oh, this is a beauty. If that rig isn't _the business_ I don't know what is. I'd be happy with those two stands that have a MemoryMoog, a Jupiter 6, and four (did you just read that right? Four?) Jupiter 8 beauties. This studio of Devastating Power belongs to one [Ken Elhardt,](http://www.synthfool.com/ke.html) who you may know from his hyper-realistic MOTM [demo patches.](http://www.synthtech.com/demos.html)
So, yeah, that's a lot of synthy goodness. Interestingly enough, I don't see a Prophet 5. A MemoryMoog and four Jupiter 8s, and no Prophet 5? Come on, Ken. You're only one synth away from the Holy Trinity. Although, I suppose it's academic at this point. Ethan Callander reminded me of this page, one of many stupifying collections at Synthfool. I suppose he was attempting to make ammends for that tragic studio of a couple days ago.
---
## Audio Damage BigSeq Now Available...
- Date: 2006-02-10
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/02/audio-damage-bigseq-now-available/
After much trial and tribulation, and many colorful terms invented for Apple software engineers, BigSeq is [now available.](http://www.audiodamage.com/product_info.php?cPath=1&products_id=13) This is our first Universal Binary product on OSX, and our first to use Steinberg's new VST2.4 kit on both platforms, so we're just a tiny bit nervous. But all the testers are reporting problem-free operation on all three platforms (i386 OSX, PPC OSX, and Win32) and both formats (AU and VST) so I'm 99.999999999% confident.
BigSeq is US$39.00 for VST Windows and AU/VST i386/PPC OSX.
**UPDATE:** I was doing some research in my copious free time, and I think this may be the first _new_ Universal Binary product, period. Someone prove me wrong? Crossgrades don't count.
---
## Custom wooden modular synth...
- Date: 2006-02-09
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/02/custom-wooden-modular-synth/
Rykhaard Damien has created the [D.A.M.I.E.N.](http://deathlehem.bravehost.com/damian.html) modular synth from various and sundry boutique pieces and DIY plans. While we see a relatively large amount of synths that fit that description, none of them have maple panels and knobs.
There is a lot (and I mean a _lot_) of information on his web page about the various modules and what's in 'em. This was a great deal of work, no doubt.
---
## BigSeq Update...
- Date: 2006-02-09
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/02/bigseq-update/
Okay... The manual is done. The VST versions on both platforms are done. The copy protection is done. We're just chasing down one little bug in the AU, then a final round out to the testers, and the AU will be done. Then it's just building installers and presto, it's a product. Maybe later today? Tomorrow? This weekend at the latest.
---
## Another Tragic Studio Story...
- Date: 2006-02-08
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/02/another-tragic-studio-story/
Sure, you all remember [The Christian Studio,](https://analogindustries.com/2005/12/hard-core-gear-porn-friday-2/) and you all thought "well, that's just about as nasty as things can get," right?
Wrong.
Pictured above is the studio of one [Tapas Das,](http://silverhawk33.tripod.com/id25.html) who is to Korg what Tom Gross is to Roland. The title of his page, if you're bold enough to click it, is (I shit you not) "Building A Studio Around The i30." I wish I was making this up. That's like "Building A House Around The Commode." (No offense to my dear readers who are employed by Korg; the i30 is not one of your shining moments, as I'm sure you are aware...)
48 channels of quality Mackie line inputs at mixdown, to gather together all the mud of his keyboard collection in to one place, and give it a little film of oil on top, like a gas station's parking lot after a rain. Man, I wish I could come up with a better metaphor, but I'm simply stunned stupid. Ethan Callender sent me this link, so blame him. I'm just the messenger.
---
## YA FMOF Update...
- Date: 2006-02-08
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/02/ya-fmof-update/
So, I assembled all the loops I've gotten so far, so as to keep this monster from getting away from me. It's really interesting how this is shaking out, when you hear them all as one piece. The more aggressive people naturally got theirs in early, and now the ones I'm getting are by people that are a little more methodical, so the piece as a whole actually flows in a coherant manner. It'll be interesting to see how the overall sound progresses as we draw closer to the deadline (which is Friday at Midnight PST, GMT +9)
This is a strange experiment, but I already know it's worth doing again. We've got submissions from all over the world, in several different distinct styles, yet they all sit together well, due to the common source material.
So, keep 'em coming! This is the new thread for posting your links, as well. If you have no web space, zip that bitch up and [mail it to me.](mailto:chris@positronrecords.com)
---
## On Universal Binaries and other things...
- Date: 2006-02-07
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/02/on-universal-binaries-and-other-things/
Well, all seems to be well in Universal Binary Land. In the above screen capture, the BigSeq on the top is AU, the one on the bottom is VST. They were both built on an Intel Mac, and they're both running fine on a PPC iBook in Live 5.
We are in the process of tidying up BigSeq now, but it is, for all intents and purposes, done. The beta testers will have the final Release Candidate later today, and provided there aren't any major issues, you should see this for sale shortly. We're going to have some cool stuff coming down the pike as we make the transition to UB and Intel Macs. We're going to be updating some of our products in a major way as we do this migration. The first victim will be 907A, which will receive some major improvements. Discord 2 won't be far behind, then our other products will follow shortly thereafter.
---
## Four Measures Of Fury update...
- Date: 2006-02-06
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/02/four-measures-of-fury-update-2/
Okay, we've got some good submissions. Keep 'em coming!
If you have already posted a link in one of the other two threads, I've got the file, so you're good. If you haven't yet proffered your submission, either post a link to it in this thread if you have your own webspace, or [email it to me.](mailto:chris@positronrecords.com) If you choose the latter course of action, please ZIP it up first.
---
## Wolfram Tones
- Date: 2006-02-05
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/02/wolfram-tones/
This is a cool find. Wolfram, the makers of the excellent do-everything program Mathematica, have a whole mess of sites devoted to math and physics extensions of Stephen Wolfram's book [A New Kind Of Science.](http://www.wolframscience.com/thebook.html) One of the sites is called [Tones,](http://tones.wolfram.com/generate/) and generates aleatoric music based upon algorithms for same described in the book. According to the FAQ:
_
WolframTones works by taking simple programs from Wolfram's computational universe, and using music theory and Mathematica algorithms to render them as music. Each program in effect defines a virtual world, with its own special story--and WolframTones captures it as a musical composition.
_
It takes some fooling about to come up with good stuff, and the simpler forms of music (e.g. Dance) generally sound better than the more complex forms (e.g. Classical.) But once you come up with something you like, you can download it as a ringtone, save it, email it to a friend, whatever. It's a really cool application of what Mathematica is capable of, and well worth a look.
---
## Four Measures Of Fury update...
- Date: 2006-02-04
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/02/four-measures-of-fury-update/
Since it's been inquired by several people, [here](https://web.archive.org/web/2006/http://www.analogindustries.com/samples/light_pass.mp3) is an MP3 of the full track of Enoch Light's "Pass And I'll Call You." I assume it was named after the phrase his A&R guy uttered when he heard it. This song is, in a word, tragic.
Also, if you missed it in the comments, effects are fine. Resynthesis is fine. Anything is fine as long as the result is 153bpm, four measures long, and only uses the original source material.
---
## The Super Mario Bros. Audiosound Super-Synthesizer
- Date: 2006-02-04
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/02/the-super-mario-bros-audiosound-super-synthesizer/
Okay, unfortunately, it isn't quite as cool as the name makes it out to be, but [this](http://redruth.greenbean.org/~ben/4CR/smb_super_synth.swf) should be good for at least 10 minutes of clicking and chuckling. You can load four different world themes, then whack away at the various icons to make their sounds. Ultimately, the net result is that you get the sound from the game without actually playing the game. I'd say that it's probably more entertaining to just play the game in the first place.
Now, if someone made a SWF interface for the music creator portion of Super Mario Paint, \_that\_ would be fun.
---
## Four Measures Of Fury! v1.0
- Date: 2006-02-04
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/02/four-measures-of-fury-v1-0/
Look at all those tasty peaks and zero crossings, like it's just begging to be set upon with a Split tool, right? I hearby announce the first of what will hopefully become a monthly event here at Analog Industries, Four Measures Of Fury!
Here's the idea: I provied a four-measure piece of some source material. You download it, reorganize it in to a new piece of music, and send it back to me. I then string all the four-measure pieces in to one continuous chunk of group-think IDM. This is obviously along the lines of the CDM one second thing of the New Year, but with more timing constraints, because I'm linear like that.
So, the first Saturday of every month will be Four Measures of Fury Day, when you can grab the loop in question. You then have one full week to turn it in to something far more poignant than it is. All entries I receive by the following Saturday morning will be strung together that day in the order received, and a list of the participants will be provided, in order, along with websites if available/provided.
For our inaugural trip, I've chosen an easy one, so everyone can get in the groove. [Here is the loop,](https://web.archive.org/web/2006/http://www.analogindustries.com/samples/four_measures.wav) a stereo WAV file of the second drum break from the Enoch Light Moog travesty, "Pass And I'll Call You," as made famous in my most recent HCGPF post. Marvel at the panning drums! Thrill in anticipation with the first note of the amazing Moog melody that you don't actually hear. Basically, you've got a four measure drum break and a single bass note.
The tempo is 153 bpm, and any submissions I receive that are more (or less) than four measures exactly, and not 153 bpm exactly will be automagically removed from the queue, as well as any submissions that use any sounds besides what's already in the loop. Here's your chance to show off your drum break dissecting skills. Don't miss out!
I will provide a drop box starting Monday where you may send your submissions.
---
## Ronin review...
- Date: 2006-02-04
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/02/ronin-review/
Grooves Magazine, which was an excellent piece of print media, has moved to an all-digital format. Their first digital issue is free, and you can go have at it [here.](http://www.grooves-digital.com/grooves/2006_19/) The reason I bring this up is that there is a lengthy, fair, and reasonably in-depth review of our Ronin plug-in, which can maybe give you some insight in to this quite-comlicated piece of code.
---
## Hard Core Gear Porn Friday!!!
- Date: 2006-02-03
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/02/hard-core-gear-porn-friday/
I know this is kind of a cop-out, as far as hard-core gear porn goes, but you can't ever go wrong with a picture of Wendy Carlos' studio. The Tempi Mk. II console on the left, two Synergy synths behind her, and to the rear left, you can see The Moog That Started It All, from the loins of which sprang the Switched On Bach seed that resulted in thousands of really shitty Moog records, featuring banal pop music re-realized with really nasty sawtooth lead lines, and ultimately resulting in the paragon of bad taste in panning and strange balance choices, Enoch Light's "Pass and I'll Call You."
A full-sized image of The Moog is [here,](http://www.wendycarlos.com/photos/moog77.jpg) a full-sized one of the above photo is [here,](http://www.wendycarlos.com/photos/studioultra.jpg) and a whole 'nother mess of photos of her studio in various times and places is [here.](http://www.wendycarlos.com/photos.html) What's surprising to me is the fact that, while it seems like a lot of shit, it's really only four synths.
---
## And the beat goes on...
- Date: 2006-02-03
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/02/and-the-beat-goes-on/
I know you guys are probably getting bored of reading about this saga, so I'll try to limit my outbursts, but fucking fuck fuck fuckity fuck.
It took me all of an hour to turn BigSeq (the Windows VST) in to BigSeq (the Universal Binary VST), working in every host I have, both PPC and Intel. So, imbued with a false sense of bravado, I thought I would tackle at least the i386 version of the AU today. That was 9 hours ago, and I haven't got past the fucking prefix header yet. Fucking Apple. Or fucking Steinberg. 6 to 5 and pick 'em.
I think I'm going to work on some music tomorrow; else I may just punch this iMac right in its chubby little smirk of a face.
---
## Logic 7.2... oof...
- Date: 2006-02-02
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/02/logic-7-2-oof/
We, along with every other AU developer on the planet, were caught with our pants down by Apple's decision to [ship Logic Pro 7.2 today.](http://www.apple.com/logicpro/) Our UB timeline was based upon Apple shipping it when they said they were going to, which is a month and a half from now. So, needless to say, the Audio Damage UB AU products aren't ready yet.
I'm sure this came as a big surprise to almost all AU devs. The CoreAudio list is going to have some funny letters on it today.
---
## Full-size BigSeq screenshot...
- Date: 2006-02-02
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/02/full-size-bigseq-screenshot/
Man, it's funny. When we release a product, I spend a week sending press releases to every possible source of music news on the Interwebs (with the exception of Sonic State which is, in actual fact, pissing in the wind.) Nothing I've done to this point has got around the 'net as fast as my post this morning about BigSeq.
Since there seems to be quite a bit of interest in this plug, [here](https://analogindustries.com/images/blog/bigseq_full.jpg) is a full-sized screenshot, so you can get a better idea of what's going on. I didn't do this one in my patent-pending 3/4 view 3D because there's so many switches and such I thought it would ruin people's day. Full MIDI Learn on \_every\_ control, so if you have a MIDI controller with, say, 10 knobs, 16 sliders, and 56 buttons, you can play this bitch live and stuff. Everything can be automated, as well, if you're feeling crazy. It will go as slow as 2 steps per measure, on up to one complete pattern every 1/4 note if you're the anxious type. In free time (as opposed to host sync) it will go to just shy of audio rate, or so slow you can't stand it. Triplet and dotted note times are included, and the pattern can be anywhere from 2 to 16 steps long.
This will be $39. We're pretty much done with the VST, except for a couple bugs that need to be tracked down. AU, testing, then out the door.
---
## UB VST hosts?
- Date: 2006-02-02
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/02/ub-vst-hosts/
Is anyone aware of a currently available Universal Binary VST host? I can't find one for love nor money, but I know you guys get out more than me...
---
## Is this thing on? Tap, tap, tap...
- Date: 2006-02-02
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/02/is-this-thing-on-tap-tap-tap/
Okay, both the Rocky Mountain Research Division and the Central Cascades Rainwater Collection Facility branches of Audio Damage have Intel-based Macs on the premises now.
My initial impressions were heavily colored by the fact that the firewire migration thingy to copy the personal shit from one Mac to another doesn't work for fuck-all, at least viz. going from a PPC Mac to an Intel one. I thought it'd be handy, but it turned out to actually be an exercise in frustration; my iBook can no longer see its own ethernet port, and the Intel iMac was totally hosed, requiring a complete wipe and reinstall of the OS.
So, long story short, I wouldn't try that if I were you.
Otherwise, all seems well. I'm in the process of getting all the dev tools and geegaws that I need lined up and working the way I like, and then it's off to the races. For those of you curious about the speed, it's fast for a Mac. I wouldn't say it was screaming fast, otherwise. It's much faster than my iBook, of course, but nothing to write home about. My Athlon64 machine makes it look anemic, FWIW. But then again, that machine is dimed. I'm interested to see how the pro Intel Macs perform when they come out.
---
## In the queue...
- Date: 2006-02-01
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/02/in-the-queue/
Man, what a month. While I was waiting for _my_ Intel iMac to show up, I whipped out the product you see pictured above, BigSeq, which is an analog-informed gate and filter sequencer. I have the Windows version done, and when my iMac shows up (which, according to UPS, will be any minute) I'll start work on the OSX VST/AU. Don't know how long this one will take, but not too long.
In other news, work proceeds on porting our OSX products to UB. We're about 90% of the way to having a building method for our products. One issue remains, and when that's solved, we'll start pumping them out. We've also got Discord 2 and another product which I'll talk about when the feature set is, well, set. So the next couple months will be interesting on the AD front.
I'll have a full review of the Intel iMac tomorrow, theoretically. Assuming it works at all, and UPS didn't stick a forklift fork through it or anything.
---
## God damn! I said GOD DAMN!
- Date: 2006-01-31
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/01/god-damn-i-said-god-damn/
Man, if that doesn't bring a smile to your face, I don't know what will. [Inward Connections](http://www.boutiqueaudio.com/inwardconnections.htm) built this custom all-tube console for 16 Ton Studios in Nashville. There's a bit about it, and a couple more pictures in [this thread](http://gearslutz.com/board/showthread.php3?t=31617&page=2&pp=30) at Gearslutz.
The old-school faders with new-school blue LEDs are my favorite feature. Man, I bet this thing sounds like heaven. I have a small amount of experience with the Inward Connections sidecars, and I can only imagine... ATC monitors round out the picture. Fuck. I mean, seriously.
Thanks to antiguru for pointing out to me that I should have noticed this.
---
## A job opportunity...
- Date: 2006-01-31
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/01/a-job-opportunity/
If you have visions of becoming a sound designer, Ilio has a new service called Samplebase, which is an online library of samples with an integrated sample player plugin, and they're [looking for sample bakers.](http://www.samplebase.com/promokit.html) Give it a shot, right? The worst they can say is "no," and you have to get used to that if you've got aspirations of being a professional musician anyways.
---
## Speaking of Moog Cred...
- Date: 2006-01-30
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/01/speaking-of-moog-cred/
[Oof.](http://vintagesynth.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=8136) For some reason, it's more impressive to see the backs than the fronts. _(Thanks, rasmus\_nyaker)_
---
## UB In the Hiz-Nouse, Beyatches!
- Date: 2006-01-29
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/01/ub-in-the-hiz-nouse-beyatches/
That subject will look funny in your aggregator, no doubt. Anyways, today was a semi-momentous day, as we completed the first Universal Binary build of an Audio Damage product, the AU version of Dubstation. After some issues, which I would liken to fumbling about in a dark room with a pair of sunglasses on, using a flashlight in which the batteries have gone almost dead, we (and by "we" I mean Adam) got it built and working. Still some nonsense to deal with, but we're confident that we'll have all our AU plugs in UB as soon as there are hosts to use them in.
We're still a little stumped on the VST side; we're not sure what works where yet, and we're literally in the dark until we have a UB version of Cubase/Nuendo to test on. If you read the VST dev mailing list, you'd know that most all OSX VST developers are currently schtonked by Steinberg's decision to completely throw us for a loop. This should be entertaining.
---
## Build your own cigar-box guitar...
- Date: 2006-01-28
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/01/build-your-own-cigar-box-guitar/
This is an easy one, and almost certainly to good result. [Cigarboxguitars.com](http://www.cigarboxguitars.com/) has lots of information about how to build and play a cigar-box guitar, including making it electric via a piezo transducer or winding your [own pickups.](http://www.cigarboxguitars.com/workshops/Pickup_Workshop.php) Serious fun here, especially if you're in to DIY effects and circuit-bending. Instead of a cigar box, use an empty Speak 'n' Spell case, and build effects in it. You'll be the life of the party.
---
## DIY guitar pedal helper...
- Date: 2006-01-28
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/01/diy-guitar-pedal-helper/
This is a pretty cool idea. I've thought along similar lines since I started making my own pedals. It's a piece of wood, with a protoboard attached, and a piece of angle aluminum with various flavors of pots, plus a battery connector and I/O. See the whole project [here.](http://www.diyguitarist.com/DIYStompboxes/GEPB.htm) A good idea if you like to fool with the designs of various pedals.
---
## Hard-Core Gear Porn Friday!!!
- Date: 2006-01-27
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/01/hard-core-gear-porn-friday-3/
The above picture is the studio of one [Ruediger Lorenz](http://www.synrise.de/guests/lorenz/index.html), c. 1996 or so. He's the one on the right; don't know who the other two fellows are, but that guy with the Hard Rock shirt on really needs some lunch or something. He's running the decks because he's too weak to pick up a 3.5mm patch cable, I think. Anyways, that gigantic modular synthesizer tricked out in the red and white is of [his own design,](http://www.synrise.de/guests/lorenz/diy/loran.html) featuring parts from several different manufacturers, all DIY'd in to a monolithic case.
He has a pretty stellar [collection,](http://www.synrise.de/guests/lorenz/coll/boehm.html) in addition to that monster DIY project, including a PPG 300-series modular, a complete Roland System 100, a buncha Moog (for the obligatory Moog Cred), and the Boehm Soundlab pictured above. Another thing he has, and something I would dearly love to aquire myself, is a [Roland CMU-810.](http://www.synrise.de/guests/lorenz/coll/rolCMU810.html) If you have one of these (and please don't tell me about it unless you have the card, cable, and Apple \]\[+ software) I'll be more than happy to take it off your hands.
---
## Sorry...
- Date: 2006-01-26
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/01/sorry/
But my posting this week will be on the thin side, for three reasons.
1: Our [label](http://www.positronrecords.com/) has a comp in the production queue that is just about out the door, and I still have a bit of work to do on it.
2: Dealing with this VST/UB nonsense. (One of our Intel Macs is here. First impressions: quite nice, actually. We'll have the other next week.)
3: My sister is visiting from Belgium, with my new niece that I've only met for the first time about an hour ago.
So my posts will be few and far between for the next four days. I'll have HCGPF tomorrow, of course, but you don't have to be refresh monkeys today.
---
## Low parts-count DIY VCF...
- Date: 2006-01-26
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/01/low-parts-count-diy-vcf/
If you're looking for a pretty easy DIY project, I just came across this low parts-count VCF that looks pretty promising, done using vactrols. [Here's the page.](http://www2.charlielamm.com/synth/vactrolvcf.php3) Everything is pretty easy to get, and I bet it could be done on veroboard or something without too much drama. I may build one this weekend, provided I can tear myself away from the two-headed hydra of coding and trying to get this comp out the door.
---
## Fuzzy Fun, Pt. 2...
- Date: 2006-01-25
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/01/fuzzy-fun-pt-2/
Okay, after a quick go-round on the VSTGUI Dev list, I was able to get the VST2.4 version of FuzzPlus2 working on all OSX hosts that I have, as well. So [help yourself,](http://www.audiodamage.com/product_info.php?cPath=2&products_id=3) and do let me know if you experience a problem, as I'm slightly concerned about VST2.4 compatibility on OSX.
I'm gonna work on the AU version now. Hopefully I'll have it up tonight.
**UPDATE:** for those keeping score, I was able to sort out the MIDI issues on the Windows side, so we're all good with VST2.4 now. I'm getting scattered reports of a problem in Live 5 on the OSX side with the FuzzPlus2 VST, though. This bodes ill.
**UPDATE 2:** Man, I'm loving Steinberg today. I ended up pulling back to VST2.3, as I was getting lots of reports of problems, and I was able to duplicate the Live crash. So, the version that is currently up for download has the other changes, but it is built with VST2.3 instead of 2.4. I have hives. Big red hives. All over my face. The weird thing is that it works fine in Live 4. If I build it so it is "MacIntel ready" as Steinberg says, it works fine in Live 5. But hardly any other apps on the PPC version of OSX can use it then. This is some problematic shit.
So, what to do? Dunno. We'll get it sorted, I'm sure. If you grabbed the 2.4 one and it works, that's swell. I know the 2.3 one works in everything right now, so we'll stick with that. On the the Windows side, the 2.4 one seems to work in everything, so I'm leaving that up for the time being.
---
## Big mixer, small footprint...
- Date: 2006-01-24
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/01/big-mixer-small-footprint/
This is kind of an interesting concept in mixers I came across today. It's the Blue328 from [Renegade Labs.](http://www.renegadelabs.com/products/blue328/index.php) It's a full 32-input 8-bus mixer in a package that is 12" on a side. The name makes me think of the Digital328 from Soundcraft, the most expensive boat anchor I've ever bought. (I could easily come up with 328 reasons to never, ever give Soundcraft another dime.) But that aside, this actually looks pretty fly. There are three card slots, and each one takes 8 channels of AES, AES SRC, SDI, or a four-channel analog card. A three-band parametric and dynamics for each channel, and presto.
I think it is primarily intended for NLE suites and the like, so there's a dearth of normal features you'd see on a music production console, e.g. sends, inserts, etc., but if space is at a premium, and you just need to sum a bunch of inputs (like, for instance, a wall of modular gear) this might be the business for you. I couldn't find a price for it, which leads me to believe that "your left nut" is the going rate. Something to consider, though.
---
## Fuzzy Fun...
- Date: 2006-01-23
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/01/fuzzy-fun/
As I mentioned in my previous post on the subject, the VST2.4 SDK was released on Friday, which caused us some consternation. I spent the weekend working with it to see what was what, and some bad news results. Here's what I learned:
1) There is apparently a bug in Nuendo/Cubase, where plugins built with the 2.4 kit that have MIDI input (which is basically all our plugs) can't advertise their inputs. This still works in most every other host, but Cubase/Nuendo can't see 'em.
2) On the OSX side, if you build a VST using the 2.4 kit, its GUI doesn't work in anything but new Universal Binary hosts. There is only one of these right now, VSTLord, which was ironically created by one of the Steinberg engineers.
So, VST2.4 is out right now on OSX, or with any Windows plug that needs MIDI. I've updated our FuzzPlus2 plug to 2.4 (and fixed a couple bugs in the process) so you can go [grab it](http://www.audiodamage.com/product_info.php?cPath=2&products_id=3) if you'd like, and see how your host does with the 2.4 kit. It works fine in everything I've tried it in, but then again, it doesn't need MIDI.
So, a minor change to my statement on Friday. We'll begin work on Universal Binaries on Tuesday, but we won't be updating our plugs to VST2.4 until Steinberg fixes the two bugs above.
---
## Some off-season modular porn...
- Date: 2006-01-23
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/01/some-off-season-modular-porn/
Holy bujeezus. Check [this thread](http://www.vintagesynth.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2288&start=990) on Vintage Synth.org for the full-size of this collection, which belongs to some California bloke, _nom de plume_ of "dougt." Talk about a patching frenzy. Tip o' the porn-hat to rasmus\_nyaker, who thoughtfully sent the link my way.
---
## Early Moog demo record...
- Date: 2006-01-23
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/01/early-moog-demo-record/
Persuant to a conversation taking place on the Analog Heaven mailing list, Henry Birdseye put up an MP3 of an [early Moog demo record](http://fractaldvd.com/media/moogrecord.html) that was shipped out with liturature c. 1963. It's pretty corny, and certainly good for some laughs. The music is by Wendy (née Walter) Carlos.
---
## More NAMM synthy porn pics...
- Date: 2006-01-21
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/01/more-namm-synthy-porn-pics/
Brandon Daniel has dumped more pics from NAMM on [his site,](http://www.fdiskc.com/syn/namm/2006) so go have a browse. Warning: includes high-res photo of the [Gaytar.](http://www.fdiskc.com/syn/namm/2006/keyboardguitar_2.html)
---
## The Rocky Road Of Audio Software Development...
- Date: 2006-01-20
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/01/the-rocky-road-of-audio-software-development/
Well, it's been an interesting day. Ever since we released Phase Two (way back in the day, it seems; was it only Sunday?) we've been discussing the transition to Universal Binaries, and how Audio Damage would deal with this rather extreme event (from a developer's perspective, anyways.) We had pretty much decided on our plan of attack, then Steinberg dropped a bombshell on us this morning, in the form of a new VSTSDK, version 2.4.
This forced our hand in the decision-making process, which is both good and bad. One can assume that the two main VST hosts we deal with, Cubase/Nuendo and Live, will be VST2.4 compliant almost immediately, if they weren't already. (Which they are, of course.) On the other hand, what I refer to as the Stupid Hosts, which is pretty much everything _besides_ Cubase/Nuendo and Live, will deal with the VST2.4 spec in fits and starts. DAWs that don't correctly host VST2.3 now can hardly be expected to host 2.4.
So, in order to be fully compliant with \_all\_ hosts and both flavors of AU, we'd be required to make and support eight different builds of every plugin we release, in the form of VST old and VST new on Windows, the same for both flavors of OSX, and AU for both flavors. This would have the effect of quadrupling our work, both during creation and during the support phase of a product. Now, it already strains our production cycle and support load to just do AU and VST (the latter is more or less the same on both OSX and Windows, currently.)
So, the **Official Word from Audio Damage** on the upcoming transitions to both 64-bit Windows and Intel Mac is thus: we will build our plugins using the current version of VST, whatever that is. (In this case, 2.4.) We will also offer all our Macintosh products as Universal Binaries. Thus, if you use a host that isn't Cubase/Nuendo, Live, Logic, or Digital Performer, your mileage will start varying in the not-too-distant future, and you need to complain to them.
Since this is going to get complicated quickly, here's our plan. We will update FuzzPlus 2 to current VST standards (which I've already done) and also add all the bells and whistles to it that our commercial plugs have, such as MIDI Learn and our new text entry gee-gaw, which was created specifically to please Suit&TieGuy, so he can stop bothering us about text entry fields. This way, if you need to know if your host is compliant with what our plugs need, you can just check it with FuzzPlus2. We will also release the long-awaited AU version in Universal Binary, for the same purpose.
Which brings us to the Universal Binaries. Here's where the bad news comes in to play. All current Audio Damage products will be ported to Universal Binary. The crossgrade for each product will be US$5.00, which will go directly to covering the cost of the Intel Macs we have to purchase to do all this. Current products will all increase in price by $5.00, as well, except PhaseTwo, which will remain at its current price. All future products will be provided as Universal Binary installers of VST2.4 and AU for OSX, and an installer for 32- and 64-bit Windows hosts that are VST2.4 compliant.
Now, as for the timeline. This is going to take a bit of time for us to get everything lined up. We have to receive our new iMacs and then learn how to make Universal Binaries, then port our product line. I'm unable to provide an estimate for when this all will occur, but suffice to say that by the time Live, Logic, DP, and Cubase/Nuendo are all available for Mac Intel, our products will be as well. The one exception to this will be the Mayhem package, which will shortly cease to exist in its current form, as it is replaced with more sophisticated offerings.
I hope that answers all the questions that I've been receiving. Adam and I will field your thoughts in the comments section of this post.
---
## Hard-Core Gear Porn Friday!!! (Special Roland Edition)
- Date: 2006-01-20
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/01/hard-core-gear-porn-friday-special-roland-edition/
Since there are a lot of industry people that read this blog (although, god only knows why, when it's so likely I'm gonna talk shit about them) I thought I'd have an HCGPF Special Roland Edition, in case anyone from Roland is a devotee. This one is really only for the extra-super-duper HCGPF junkie, so if you're, you know, someone with a life or something, you might want to come back next week.
Anywho, the goal today is to (a) remind the R&D folks at Roland that they work for a company that _used_ to be cool and that's really too bad, and (b) remind the rest of us about what Roland shit that _is_ cool is like. (Along with some other fine kit.)
There's this site that belongs to Ishibashi Co., which is what I assume is a Japanese analog to something like Musician's Friend or ZZounds or their ilk. Ishabashi has an internet learning thingy, which I was able to parse out mainly via context, as I (like 99.999% of Americans) can't read a lick of Japanese. Part of that learning thingy is a page devoted to [vintage Japanese synths.](http://www.ishibashi.co.jp/academic/history_of_the_keyboards/main.htm) (Yeah, now we're getting somewhere.) I believe that they sell videos specifically about Yamaha, Korg, and yes, Roland analogs. If you click on the individual manufacturer's links, you'll be taken to what is obviously Mecca. There are excerpts from the videos that feature the entire sections for specific instruments. In the Yamaha section, you can learn all about the CS80 and CS15. In the Korg section, you get treated to the 800, 700, and of course the MS-20. In the Roland section, you learn that just because a synth has an "SH" in its title doesn't make it fly, as the well-spoken and articulate dude takes you through the SH-1000, SH-3A, and SH-7.
I should mention before you download these monster WMV files that they're in Japanese, so your comprehension may be limited to "oooh, pretty!" But that said, they're kind of nifty, and you get to hear what each synth can do.
---
## NAMM pics...
- Date: 2006-01-19
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/01/namm-pics/
Brandon Daniel has put up pics of some of the analog highlights at NAMM. Check [his site](http://www.fdiskc.com/syn/) for the goods. (Click on NAMM shows->Winter->2006.)
Of special note are the Chaos Computer from Livewire, which looks outstanding, and the new Korg Radias, which I've taken a shine to. (Korg, unlike some synth companies named Roland that we won't name, has managed to put out some trendsetting products over the last couple years.)
---
## The Ocean...
- Date: 2006-01-19
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/01/the-ocean/
This is a great DIY project from [Rutger Vlek.](http://www.orpheo.nl/dutch/index.php?mainframe=rsynthsite.php) He's kept a diary about building it, which is informative reading if you're thinking about taking on a project of this scale. The synth itself, called "Ocean," is 3VCO, semi-modular, and quite the looker. He was really crafty with some solutions to obvious problems, and the diary is an excellent read.
---
## Surprise! Roland bores us to tears for one more year!
- Date: 2006-01-19
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/01/surprise-roland-bores-us-to-tears-for-one-more-year/
"The A stands for Access. Fantom power for the masses!" Just what the world needs. [Four more Fantom workstations.](http://www.rolandus.com/products/productlist.aspx?ParentId=83) Hey, guys at Roland R&D? L stands for fucking Lame. Roland is the Stevie Wonder of the synth industry. In the 70s, they were The Shit. In the year 2006, they're just shit, with ten iterations of the synthesizer equivalent of "I Just Called To Say I Love You."
---
## FutureRetro product revealed...
- Date: 2006-01-18
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/01/futureretro-product-revealed/
This little beauty is the FutureRetro XS, which I assume stands for "Xpander Synth." We were pondering last week what their NAMM announcement might be, and lo and behold, [here 'tis.](http://future-retro.com/XS.html) It's a prepatched modular monosynth which looks pretty fucking sweet. One oscillator, plus a sub. No MIDI, as it is built to give an extra voice to the Revolution or 777, or act as a voice for the Mobius, all of which have CV out.
Well, it looks really nice, and I bet it's going to be inexpensive and sound excellent, because that's the name of the game for FutureRetro. I'd like 8, please!
---
## Mmmmm. Buchla.
- Date: 2006-01-18
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/01/mmmmm-buchla/
Our good friend Lorne Hammond organized an Analog Event at the Royal British Columbia Museum in Victoria, BC over the weekend, and a local music school brought out this vintage Buchla modular. No particular reason for posting this other than blatant porn.
---
## More creative on a Mac?
- Date: 2006-01-17
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/01/more-creative-on-a-mac/
Maybe not. There's this band called "The Postal Service" on SubPop. They have a video. The new Apple w/ Intel ad (you no doubt saw during the Golden Globes last night like 14 times) is basically a straight rip of the Postal Service's video for their song "Such Great Heights."[This](http://images.freshfjord.com/spunker/movies/thespunker.com.appleintelvspostalservice.mp4) is a QT movie of the commercial on the left with footage from the video on the right. [This](http://images.freshfjord.com/spunker/movies/thespunker.com.thepostalservice.suchgreatheights.mpg) is the unedited Postal Service video. That's pretty weak.
---
## Hmmm...
- Date: 2006-01-17
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/01/hmmm/
Speaking as someone who makes a not-insignificant percentage of his yearly income providing music for console games, I read [this article](http://www.armchairarcade.com/aamain/content.php?article.48), The Rise and Fall of Game Audio by Matt Barton, with interest. I'll save you the trouble of reading the first section, which is painfully ill-informed, by saying the following: skip the first section. Don't believe me? Well, don't say I didn't warn you.
Anyways, the author goes on to list reasons his opinion is more credible, because he listens to MODs or something, and then basically provides a lengthy argument as to why game music should sound like Jean Michel Jarre. While I strongly disagree with many of Barton's points (which seem to be, for the most part, paraphrasing of George Sanger's omnipresent arguements viz. game music), the article, in and of itself, makes some interesting assertions.
Let me just say this, though. When the Fatman was making his early hits, music in games was an afterthought, and relegated to the "oh, shit, we gotta get someone to do this" file, so his opinion is more valid in that context. Now, with games costing as much or more to make (and grossing far more) than most Hollywood feature films, the composer is beholden to the director. He makes what he's paid to make, and that's something that's almost entirely (but not completely) like whatever the director put in the temp, just like in movies. Someone should inform Mr. Barton of this simple fact.
---
## More Synthtech Frac-Rack news...
- Date: 2006-01-16
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/01/more-synthtech-frac-rack-news/
I don't know if this is fit for public consumption yet. It didn't come to me via the normal channels (e.g. Shawn from Analog Haven.) However, if you click [here,](https://web.archive.org/web/2006/http://www.analogindustries.com/images/blog/namm_frac.pdf) you'll get a PDF that is the brochure for the MOTM-in-Frac-Rack offerings that will be on display at NAMM. I assume this is the handout that will be available at the NAMM booth. In any case, it has all the goodies on all four Frac-sized MOTM modules. Looks pretty good to me. I have a Synthtech-shaped hole in my modular that these would fill quite nicely.
I'll probably get in trouble for jumping the gun on this, so enjoy my discomfort.
---
## Audio Damage PhaseTwo now available!
- Date: 2006-01-15
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/01/audio-damage-phasetwo-now-available/
PhaseTwo can now be purchased for instant gratification. [Go forth.](http://www.audiodamage.com/product_info.php?cPath=1&products_id=12)
---
## Yet another summing mixer...
- Date: 2006-01-15
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/01/yet-another-summing-mixer/
[SM Pro Audio](http://www.smproaudio.com/PM8.htm) is gonna drop the PM8 summing buss at NAMM. I thought we would start to see more low-cost summing mixers now that everyone realizes that DAWs can't sum for shit. And lo, and furthermore hark, here we have one. No price yet, but I can't see how it will be very much, as SM Pro is not a high-end company.
There are some questions, though. It says "passive" (which is what the "P" in "PM8" stands for.) That would imply that it was like the Folcrum or something, entirely passive, and you need to provide make-up gain via mic pres. However, it also plugs in; the Folcrum doesn't need any electricity because, well, it's passive. So, I think that the summing buss itself is passive, while there are line amps for makeup gain. Thus, the potential for shitty sound exists. We'll see, of course, but if this thing is any good at all, I'll guarantee that it's gonna be an excellent deal.
**
UPDATE:** I wrote to SMP, and they wrote back the following: _The Master Outputs do have a MAKE-UP gain stage to eliminate the loss of the input attenuation._ So there's some potential for nastiness there, but it makes it a lot easier to deal with than having to use mic pres.
**UPDATE 2:** In response to my second query, they just wrote to tell me the MSRP is $399. Wow. They're gonna sell a quadjillion of these things.
---
## First photos of Frac-Rack sized MOTM modules...
- Date: 2006-01-15
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/01/first-photos-of-frac-rack-sized-motm-modules/
As those of you that care no doubt know, Paul Schreiber is releasing several of his MOTM modules in the popular Frac-Rack format used by Blacet, Metalbox, Wiard, and others. At left is the first photo he's released, of the GX VCF in Frac-Rack format. Click [here](http://www.synthtech.com/pix/1485_test.jpg) for the full-sized image, or [here](http://www.synthtech.com/pix/1490pcb.jpg) for the insides. The main MOTM site is [here.](http://www.synthtech.com/) I guess Paul will be showing the complete line of Frac-sized MOTM modules at NAMM, in [Analog Haven's](http://www.analoghaven.com/) Booth Of Heavenly Analog. I'm really looking forward to these modules. Paul has hinted at prices, but nothing concrete yet, so I'll save idle speculation and just go with "they'll be reasonable."
UPDATE: I don't believe this is the final panel design. Paul mentioned that he didn't have the screening done for the panels, so he roughed these for NAMM using FPE. I assume the real ones will have the MOTM crackle finish or some such.
---
## Software rollin' out the door...
- Date: 2006-01-14
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/01/software-rollin-out-the-door/
Adam Schabtach (my partner in Audio Damage) and I met when we were both working for another short-lived company, Creative Synth Development, on the design of the [MODE package](http://www.cycling74.com/products/mode.html) for Cycling '74; we both left that project before it was completed, because we weren't fond of being hobbled by the Max environment and Pluggo, and all that entails.
So we started Audio Damage, and the rest (of that, anyways) is history. But during the early days of AD, I did some contract work for C74, in the form of the user interface for the unfortunately-named [Octirama](http://www.cycling74.com/products/octirama.html) 5.1 multi-band compressor. This is the only TDM plug I've worked on, and probably the only one I'll ever work on, but if you're a Chris Randall User Interface Completionist, you'll need to drop $495 to get it. For what it's worth, it's really good.
And now the news you've all been waiting for. Phase Two is done. The installers are made and tested, and it is 100% operational on both Windows and OSX. We're just writing the manual, and as soon as that's done, you'll want to go buy this bad boy. Can I say Monday? I don't want to put the cart before the horse, but Monday sounds good.
For those that have been living under a rock for the last four months, Phase Two is a pretty much exact copy of the Mutron Bi-Phase hardware unit. This is, by far, our most sophisticated model yet, and is perfect in all respects. We spent US$800 on aquiring a Bi-Phase to clone, but you'll only have to drop US$49 for the fruits of our labor. Monday. Probably.
UPDATE: The product page for Phase Two is now live at the AD site, with demos and some bullet points. (Can't have a product without bullet points!) [Check it out.](http://www.audiodamage.com/product_info.php?cPath=1&products_id=12)
---
## Hey, Harmony Central! Someone hacked your RSS feed!
- Date: 2006-01-14
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/01/hey-harmony-central-someone-hacked-your-rss-feed/
I was going through the [Zicos Pro Audio aggregator](http://proaudio.zicos.com/?lang=EN) just now, and unless someone at HC was actually attacked by wild dogs (not entirely out of the realm of possibilities, I suppose) their RSS feed has been taken over by Russian Skript Kiddiez.
---
## Hard-Core Gear Porn Friday!!!
- Date: 2006-01-13
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/01/hard-core-gear-porn-friday-2/
Okay, refresh monkeys. It's here, you can relax! This week, we take a visit to the venerable and omnipresent Rob Acid, and his incredibly cozy and inviting studio. This is what my studio looked like, back when I had a lot of gear. I don't know 'bout you guys, but I could make a record in a room like this. Trainspotting: Rob has some good kit, as you can plainly see. Neumann, Pultec, Sontec, and Filtek EQs, EMT, BKE, Urei, and API compressors, and an Orville for Eventide Cred, along with some nice Westlake monitors. I'm embarassed to say I can't tell what kind of console that is. Obviously some German broadcast sort, of the kind I normally like and know about, but I can't place it.
You want synths? Rob's got synths. An Andromeda, an MS20, and an SH-101 in this pic. Visit his [site](http://www.robacid.de/page5/page5.html) for more pictures, where you'll see his MonoMachine, MachineDrum, 303, 909, etc. Rob also does mastering and pre-mastering for reasonable rates (get your track whacked through that API 2-buss comp for 45 euro), and has released several records on various labels.
---
## And now here's something we hope you'll _really_ like...
- Date: 2006-01-13
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/01/and-now-heres-something-we-hope-youll-really-like/
Okay, I've been a professional musician for over 15 years, and I didn't think there was anything left to surprise me. But check this out: I ordered some new bass strings from Elderly Instruments last week. I've never ordered from Elderly before, even though I knew that the company existed. But I wanted a set of the black nylon Tru-Bass Rotosound strings, and they were the only place in the United States that carried them that wasn't a mass-market retailer (e.g. Musician's Friend and their ilk; I never buy from those sorts of companies if I can find someone else that has the product I'm looking for.) What I didn't know, and didn't discover from Elderly's... well... elderly web site, is that this company is serious business.
To wit: a rather largish color catalog came with the order. This catalog is actually significantly bigger than the 30-odd Musician's Friend catalogs I get every year. It's as big as any four of them put together, and it is chock-fucking-full of weird shit. They have a $130 professional concert-grade penny whistle. They have several harmonicas that cost multi-hundreds of dollars. But where Elderly comes out on top, far ahead of any other retailer I'm aware of, is [ukuleles.](http://www.elderly.com/new_instruments/cats/180N.htm) Now, I was born in Hawaii (Army brat, doncha know...) so the uke has a special place in my heart. Not special enough that I ever devoted more than, say, two thought cycles to its existence, but special inasmuch as it's from Hawaii, and I'm from Hawaii, and that's kind of cool.
If you click that link above, you'll be whisked away to Ukulele Heaven. Elderly actually has, in stock (free shipping for orders over $99) one hundred and eight different _NEW_ ukuleles. Never mind their vintage used models. I had no idea there was a market for vintage ukes, but come to find out, Elderly has a 40s Martin 3-M soprano for a mind-bending [$3200.](http://www.elderly.com/vintage/items/180U-364.htm) Or take the 1929 National resonator ukulele for the skull-crushing sum of [$3950.](http://www.elderly.com/vintage/items/180U-299.htm) Now, I realize those are US dollars, and what with the Chinese dumping all their t-bills, they aren't worth the paper they're printed on, but even so, that's a lot of coin for a four-stringed instrument not made by Stradivarius.
So, do yourself a favor and order the Elderly Instruments paper catalog. It is full to the brim with strange instruments. Dulcimers, harps, concertinas, autoharps, some really stellar guitars, and, of course, ukuleles.
---
## NAMM Rumours again...
- Date: 2006-01-13
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/01/namm-rumours-again/
A tidbit only, this little nugget from my favorite boutique manufacturer, Future-Retro. On the front page of [their site,](http://www.future-retro.com/) in with the NAMM booth news, is this: "we will be displaying all our current products
and the debut of our new analog XS prototype expander." Now, with the distinct lack of capitalization, it's hard to tell what that implies. Analog XS, I can get behind. "Prototype," we'll assume, is actually not in the name of the product. "Expander" implies expansion on a previous product. Maybe an extra voice synth for the Revolution? Who knows. Whatever it is, it'll be the shit, because Future-Retro is making it, and they're the shit.
---
## DIY Minimoog, round 28 (fight!)
- Date: 2006-01-12
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/01/diy-minimoog-round-28-fight/
The ever-charming and handsome Jeff Laity thought maybe I should mention the DIY Minimoog [thread](http://www.prodigy-pro.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12639) over at the Prodigy-Pro forums. If you're not familiar with the way things work over there, someone shows up with a piece of vintage kit and then a bunch of these extremely talented and knowledgable EE professionals jump in and start making hay of it, and the next thing you know, you have a bill of materials, some PCBs, and a handy forum for help. This is how the world got the GSSL and 1176 DIY projects, among several others.
They seem to be deciding to take on the Minimoog, as you'll see in the thread. This sort of thing is normally outside the Prodigy-Pro area of expertise, as the forum is heavily slanted to pro audio, not synths. But it'll be intriguing to see if it plays out to the end. Either way, if you're thinking of taking on a project of this magnitude, there are already a bunch of good suggestions and links to information you'll need. This will be one to watch.
---
## Something new from Neve at NAMM!!??!?
- Date: 2006-01-12
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/01/something-new-from-neve-at-namm/
If you take a gander at the [AMS-Neve site,](http://www.ams-neve.com/) you'll note the big countdown clock, which bears a striking resemblance to the clocks you often see in techno-thriller movies which say exactly how much time the hero is going to take (minus a couple seconds) to solve whatever large-magnitude problem is facing him/her at any given moment. So, either something is going to blow all to shit, or Neve has something undoubtedly cool up their sleeves. Anyone have a hint?
---
## Scoring contest...
- Date: 2006-01-11
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/01/scoring-contest/
Let me get something straight right now. If I could enter this, I'd not be telling you about it. But since I can't, being an old fogey and all, I'll gladly put it up here for your informational pleasure. Turner Classic Movies runs a contest every year called the Young Composers Competition. The prize is $10K and huggies from Hans Zimmer or something along those lines. You must be 18-35 to enter, and you have to be able to actually score music (that is, you must read & write notation) to win the grand prize, but it's not terribly problematic otherwise. You pick one of the four 1-minute clips of the available silent movie, and write a bit for it.
So, the contest page is [here.](http://www.turnerclassicmovies-yfcc.com/) Go forth, and garner the fame and fortune due you.
---
## Synth In A Month...
- Date: 2006-01-11
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/01/synth-in-a-month/
Collin Raffel is building a complete DIY modular synth in one month from various kits, and he's keeping a photoblog of the process, which should prove interesting. You can view it [here.](http://experimentalistsanonymous.com/other/siam/) On the Synth DIY mailing list, he said "When I am all done I will add a big page that will contain all details, soundclips, etc, as well as how much it cost and any advice for anyone who also wants to try to build a fully capable modular in a month."
Sounds like a good plan to me. I think you'll find from watching this that building a modular is nothing to be afraid of. It's just time consuming (and quasi-expensive.) However, it's far from difficult.
---
## Need a console? Here's a good one...
- Date: 2006-01-10
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/01/need-a-console-heres-a-good-one/
What is that maxim? Wish in one hand, shit in the other... Peter Gabriel's 72-channel (would that be 144 inputs at mix with the small faders?) SSL G, yeah, the one from the big room at [Real World,](http://realworldstudios.com/) is [for sale,](http://www.peterduncan.com/frames/realworld.htm) for what I feel is quite a reasonable price, considering its pedigree, condition, and features. For only £85,000 you can have one of the world's most listened-to tracking consoles in your own home. Of course, that doesn't include the cost of building an addition to house this ginormous console, but that aside...
---
## Macworld begins Tuesday...
- Date: 2006-01-10
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/01/macworld-begins-tuesday/
It seems everyone is [fairly convinced](http://www.thinksecret.com/news/0601expo.html) that the Jobs "oh, and one more thing..." part of the Keynote will be the unveiling of the Intel-based iBook and iMac models. I know the [last time](https://analogindustries.com/2005/12/new-intel-based-ibook-for-january/) I mentioned this, there was some dissent, but I know in my heart of hearts that I'm right this time. Well, we'll know by 10:30 tomorrow (PST), won't we?
I'm reasonably excited about this, because my iBook is about to head to the great pile o' forgotten laptops, so I'll be an Early Adopter of the Intel iBooks. It'll be entertaining, to say the least.
---
## BFD...
- Date: 2006-01-09
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/01/bfd/
So I scored a copy of FXpansion's [BFD](http://www.fxpansion.com/product-bfd-main.php) for Christmas, from [Santa Claus](http://www.theatomicaproject.com/index.jsp) of all people. While there are some issues, which I'll touch upon briefly, the basic idea of the plug is to completely obviate that most annoying of creatures, the drummer. And it does this in pretty convincing fashion. After spending some time learning the ropes, I threw it in a song and was immediately impressed with the fact that _I_ couldn't tell it wasn't a real drummer. I imagine a good drummer could tell, but those are few and far between, so there's not much danger there.
Of course, the ability to actually program drums that sound like drums is a plus, so some experience with the real thing is necessary; it's not a Magic Box or anything. There are some included MIDI grooves in various modern styles, and I suppose they're usable, but not my cup of tea. The plug (which is essentially a sample playback engine) makes it relatively easy to get a kit that \_sounds\_ like a set of drums; the actual programming needs to be \_played\_ like drums in order to complete the illusion.
The included kits are pretty good. Some modern kits and some vintage ones, for a range of sounds. I like the Slingerland set the most, except the foot is just about the biggest piece of flab you're gonna find. So I swap that out with one of the other feet, and I'm in business. You get control over the 3 sets of ambient mics (room, overhead, PZM) and the close-mic'd set. Adjusting these parameters to taste gets you your sound, whatever is appropriate to the song.
CPU-wise, it isn't much of a hit. It is hard on RAM and the drive, but I've got tons of both, so not much problem there. The only real problem I have is getting a good balance between the foot and the snare. Just using the stereo version of the plug, it's difficult to find a place where you can hear both. You have to use a lot of room or overhead to really hear the snare, and when you run the plug through a compressor, it brings out the room more, so it's a bit of work to not end up with "When The Levee Breaks" kind of shit.
The other problem, and it isn't so much of a problem as a matter of taste, is that normally when the foot gets hit, or the lower toms, the snare will also make quite a bit of noise. There is none of this here; they obviously turned off the snares on the drum kits when making the samples. This one added bit would really set it off, I think.
**UPDATE:** If I paid more attention, or read the manual or something, I'd know that this isn't the case. Some of the kits have the snare on for every hit, and others have an extra foot 1/2 step below the normal one (that I didn't notice because it was on the bottom key of my controller) that has the sound with the snares active. Thanks to musicjon for pointing out that I'm stupid. Don't make a habit of that!
Anyways, this is a stellar piece of work, and Angus and company should be proud of it. I strongly recommend it if you do any sort of music that requires "real" drums, and you don't want to go through the heaving mess of problems that Captain Caveman brings to the table. It's $329, and worth every penny.
---
## Meekmovie...
- Date: 2006-01-09
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/01/meekmovie/
Discounting the whole [Myspace aspect](http://www.myspace.com/meekmovie) of the deal, it seems there is a feature-length documentary on the life of English producer and father of green things, Joe Meek. There is a sort of a teaser available [at the Palmdoor Films site,](http://palmdoorfilms.com/MeekMusic.htm) with some of the audio from the film.
I guess I never really thought about it too much, but I kind of expected the music to be, well, weirder. For some reason, it's pretty much middle-of-the-road contemporary 60s britpop. Joe Meek is best remembered for having the bad luck to be working in England in the recording industry at the same time as George Martin, and will forever be overshadowed by that simple fact.
---
## DIY Crossroads. Just add mojo.
- Date: 2006-01-08
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/01/diy-crossroads-just-add-mojo/
So I built a Dallas Rangemaster clone today. I used, as usual, the plans from [General Guitar Gadgets](http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=137&Itemid=151), and ordered the parts I didn't have (namely the OC44 germanium transistor) from [Small Bear Electronics](http://www.smallbearelec.com/home.html) like always. Took about an hour to build all told; I think this is the simplest pedal I've done yet. (I don't bother with a PCB for these easy projects; I just build 'em on veroboard. If I had a PCB it probably would have taken about 15 minutes.)
In any case, once I booted it up, I was sort of stunned stupid by the Cream-ness of it. As soon as I sent signal through it I realized that the sound is kind of played, which is a drag because I spent $7 on a transistor for it. It makes the Crossroads tone, and that's about it. If you play anything else through it, it kind of sounds whack, but if you play Crossroads through it, it sounds amazing.
After fucking with routing a bit, I got some really cool tones from Orange Squeezer -> Rangemaster, but I don't think I could pull it off live, as it involved a lot of knob twiddling on the guitar, and that's a drag in a live situation. So, word to the wise: don't bother with a Rangemaster unless you're in a Cream cover band. By the by, I have a joke for you:
Q: How are Ginger Baker and 7/11 coffee alike?
A: They both suck without Cream.
---
## Synapse online
- Date: 2006-01-07
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/01/synapse-online/
For those of you that have a lot of free time you're looking to waste, you could do worse than browsing the archives of Synapse Magazine, the seminal 70s music technology rag. Cynthia from Cyndustries has graciously devoted quite a bit of bandwidth to complete scans of [several issues.](http://www.cyndustries.com/synapse/intro.cfm) Fantastic contemporary interviews with Herbie Hancock, Zappa, Bob Moog, Eno, etc., as well as a generous dose of reviews of (then new) synthesizers like the OB-1. The ads are, I think, the best part. Check out [this one](http://www.cyndustries.com/synapse/synapse.cfm?pc=43&folder=march1977&pic=43) from ARP, "Only The Strong Survive." A good way to spend a rainy afternoon.
(Since I live in the Western Oregon mono-season, every afternoon is rainy.)
---
## Wiki, Wiki, Wiki...
- Date: 2006-01-07
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/01/wiki-wiki-wiki/
KvR has started a [Wiki](http://www.kvraudio.com/wiki/) for music/tech. Interestingly enough, there are no entries yet for how to make the Cher vocal sound, the most effective use of a "trance gate," or which is better, Fruit Loops or Acid. Well, all things come to those who wait...
I dunno. KvR is a useful resource for certain things, and I read the front page every day, but the thought of the KvR community writing a Wiki is like the kids from Lord Of The Flies being put in charge of the Encyclopedia Brittanica.
---
## Plate Reverb... just plug in.
- Date: 2006-01-06
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/01/plate-reverb-just-plug-in/
This is one of those things where I guess I knew in the back of my head there must be somebody making 'em. It just never occurred to me to look. Have a gander at [Platesonics,](http://www.platesonics.com/index.html) AFAIK the only current builder of plate reverbs. And, while I'll grant that there's no EMT 140 in their arsenal, these guys make some inexpensive plate 'verbs, and judging from the MP3s they're not bad at all.
So ditch that IR and get yourself a #2400 Chamber Room for $692.
---
## Hard-Core Gear Porn Friday!!!
- Date: 2006-01-06
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/01/hard-core-gear-porn-friday/
Sorry, no wall of modulars today. I figured since 90% of what we (and I mean the royal "we," as in "me") talk about here is recording technology, I thought this week I'd send you to the mecca of same, the [Phantom Productions Museum,](http://reel2reeltexas.com/PPIMuseum.html) a building in Texas basically devoted to the preservation of reel-to-reel tape decks. The museum started as a working recording studio and mobile recording service in 1964, and still continues that same line of work. But what's cool is Martin Theophilus' collection of vintage mics and tape decks. He has everything from an Edison wax cylinder recorder on up to present-day gear, including dozens of reel-to-reel decks of varying vintage.
If you take the time to browse the collection (reached by clicking the button coincidentally labelled "collection") you'll see that he's thoughtfully scanned in vintage ads and catalog pages for most of the items. Especially interesting are the microphones, and their attendent ads. You can also pick up some vintage pillbox mics for quite reasonable sums on his "For Sale" page. (I'm gonna regret mentioning that, I'm sure. Those won't be around for long now that I've said it.) In short, the Phantom site is a pleathora of Gear Porn and information, and is well worth a visit.
---
## t00by goodness...
- Date: 2006-01-05
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/01/t00by-goodness/
From the creator of the [Pinky](http://www.sdiy.org/pinky/picture012.jpg) mannequin synth comes the [Incubator](http://www.sdiy.org/pinky/ts.html#top) tube synth, with two VCOs, two VCFs, a beam modulator, wave clipper and VCA. There are two different VCO designs, and lots of sound samples.
---
## Chandler / Abby Road EMI limiter plug...
- Date: 2006-01-05
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/01/chandler-abby-road-emi-limiter-plug/
The EMI Limiter plug-in I mentioned back in [October](https://analogindustries.com/2005/10/chandler-emi-abby-road-compressor-for-vst/) is now available to demo from the [Chandler site.](http://www.chandlerlimited.com/products/plugin_tg12413.php) Currently TDM and RTAS only (bleck) and iLok is required (doubleplusbleck). AU and VST are in the pipeline, and should be available shortly. With any luck at all (not) we'll not need a fucking DigiDongle, the world's most useless copy protection, for the AU/VST. $600 for TDM and $400 for RTAS.
---
## Things You Don't Want To Hear Your Bandmates Say On Stage...
- Date: 2006-01-04
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/01/things-you-dont-want-to-hear-your-bandmates-say-on-stage/
I was just listening to "Shadows In The Rain" off of Sting's Dream Of The Blue Turtles album (yeah, whatever. Sue me.) and the beginning where Darryl Jones goes "what key is this in?" always cracks me up, especially when I hear Sting go "ohhhhh," because I know the feeling. I've played a couple thousand shows, and I thought it would be interesting to compile a list of the top things you \_don't\_ want to hear on stage when you're the leader of a band.
1\. From the drummer: "How does this song start again?" SMG had a rotating roster of drummers, and we got short-shrifted once by a guy that rehearsed well, but didn't do so hot on stage. SMG songs were, for the most part, straight-ahead rock numbers. One, and only one, was in triplets. So I'm announcing the song, and I hear him behind me asking the guitarist how the song starts. I don't think much of it, but I count off, and he starts it in straight time. So I stop the song, turn around to him and say "hey, this is in trips!" I count it off again, and he starts it in straight time \_again.\_ So we repeat the above. I count again, and he starts in straight time a third time. I turn around, grab his cymbals and go "stop, motherfucker! TRIPS! You know. 123 123!" He was fired shortly thereafter.
2\. From the guitarist: "How does this song start again?" See above.
3\. From anybody but the drummer: "What key is this in?" The worst is when you're already playing it, and you can tell something is wrong, but you're not sure what. All of the sudden, a solo section comes up, and it's blindingly obvious that someone is playing a half-step off. I hate that.
4\. From anybody but especially the drummer: "Dude, I'm soooo fucked up!" This is a hard thing to hear about the third song in, because you know the rest of the set is gonna be a trainwreck, and there's nothing you can do about it. I've had a long-standing policy that someone that gets fucked up before a show won't be playing the next show. I can play every instrument but drums well enough to pull off a set, so I don't have any problem shitcanning someone for unprofessionalism.
5\. From anybody, in the middle of a song: "What the fuck?" Or alternately, "dude, my shit is fucked up!" 99% of the time, this is from the guitarist, and is a result of a pedal malfunctioning, and usually this is because he didn't change the battery. You'd think they'd learn.
6\. The worst thing of all doesn't come from on-stage, though. Rather, you're playing what you thing is a really good set, and you look up, and you see the soundman with a look of panic on his face as he stares at the console, and his arms outstretched, palms up, in the universal "what the fuck?" gesture. There are few things that can take the wind out of your sails like that.
---
## Sphere graphic equalizer...
- Date: 2006-01-04
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/01/sphere-graphic-equalizer/
In keeping with our sudden fascination with all things Quad Eight-related, here's an interesting item. [Helsing Audio](http://helsingaudio.com/) has parted out a Sphere Eclipse console, and is selling the excellent 920 graphic EQ cartridges as racked pairs. [This thread](http://www.gearslutz.com/board/showthread.php3?t=53241) on Gearslutz tells all about 'em, but the important number is this: $1750 a throw.
The quantities for these are, by necessity, quite limited, and you're unlikely to even come across any Sphere cartridges for sale to rack yourself. I've never seen any for sale anywhere. Sphere consoles are definitely part of the Pantheon, and easily as good as API/Neve/whatever, just not near as common. Worth checking in to if you have the flow.
---
## Codin', codin', codin', keep those doggies codin'...
- Date: 2006-01-03
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/01/codin-codin-codin-keep-those-doggies-codin/
Sorry my entries have been less than ubiquitous the last couple days, but I got my teeth in to a really interesting plug-in concept, and have been obsessing over it. The net result being a new Audio Damage product that will come down the pike shortly. I'll make some postings later today, as I wind up the VST portion of the program.
---
## Cheap-ass (yet inexplicably really good) Mic Pre...
- Date: 2006-01-02
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2006/01/cheap-ass-yet-inexplicably-really-good-mic-pre/
I just came across this bad boy. I don't know how on earth I missed it, seeing how I continually browse every possibly pro-audio DIY site. Anyways, what we have here is a pretty nifty combo. [925 Audio](http://www.orphanaudio.com/925/925indexpage%20a.htm) sells a kit to turn a line amp from a Quad Eight console in to a mic pre. (Sound whack? What the hell you think a 1272 is, anyways? Same thing.) For $199, they'll sell you everything you need to turn a Quad Eight 127, 127a, or 137 line amp card in to a rack-mounted mic pre. What's that? You don't happen to have a ready supply of Quad Eight 127 line amps? No problem. For another hundred bucks they'll throw one in.
See, it's like this. Circa 1998 or so, you could buy a Neve 1272 cartridge for like 35 cents. They were everywhere. Every pro audio shop on the planet had 90 of them. Then all the sudden, someone had the whiz-bang idea that, where the amp part was concerned, the 1272 was more or less exactly the same as more desirable Neve gear. Now, you'll be lucky (damned lucky) to find a 1272 cart that \_hasn't\_ been turned in to a mic pre, and if you do, you can expect to pay $750 or more for it, never you mind the cost of turning it in to a mic pre and racking it.
So, you were all pissed off that you didn't get in on the ground floor with this whole Neve 1272 thing. Well, now's your chance. You can have a genuine Quad Eight mic pre for $300 and a little time with a soldering iron. 925 will even sell you a rack to put 'em in.
---
## The best band ever?
- Date: 2005-12-31
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/12/the-best-band-ever/
I'm sitting here working on the graphics for a future AD product, and I've got my iTunes cooking, and I can't decide. Which is the best band ever? Agent Orange or Killing Joke? It's got to be one or the other.
UPDATE: I'm pretty sure it's [Agent Orange.](http://www.agentorange.net/)
---
## DIY '59 Bassman in a roadcase...
- Date: 2005-12-31
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/12/diy-59-bassman-in-a-roadcase/
As the subject says. The blinding logic of this stunned me a little bit. One of the biggest pains of touring is dealing with the guitar cabs and their cases. (The biggest pain, of course, is the drum set and the alcoholic pedophile that drives it.) Why not build the amp right in to the case? Why not, indeed. This guy has built, from scratch, a '59 Bassman clone right in to a normal 2x12 Anvil case. No fuss, no muss. Visit [his page](http://www.thewesternfront.org/amp.htm) for more pictures. If you want to build your own '59 Bassman, you can get the plans, parts, and lots of help at [Hoffman Amps.](http://hoffmanamps.com/)
Speaking strictly for myself, I'd throw a grill over the speakers, but that's just me.
---
## Hard-Core Gear Porn Friday!!!
- Date: 2005-12-30
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/12/hard-core-gear-porn-friday-5/
I'll admit that the usual suspects for Hard-Core Gear Porn Friday are a little bit too neat. Usually, the studios I put up here are on the clean side, which bodes ill for their actually being used at any point. Pictured above is the studio of a certain [Jason](http://www.myspace.com/2220658) _\[warning: soul-sapping Myspace login required to actually view the other pics\]_ who has a workspace much more like what I myself spend every waking minute in.
A little trainspotting is in order, as there are some odd items in view. Up top is obviously a Modcan. Under that is a Moog 15 for the obligitory Moog Cred Factor. (I think anyone that owns and uses a Moog Synthesizer 15 has about topped out on Moog Cred, quite frankly. No need for anything else in that department.) To the right of that is an extra-super-rare Wavemakers KB modular. Info on the whole Wavemakers line is available [here.](http://www.wavemakers-synth.com/) To the left of the Moog is an oscillator of unknown marque, and left of that is what? Can't tell. A LinnDrum, some Roland boxes, and the omnipresent Mackie mixer round out the picture. (Moog, Modcan, and Mackie. Three great tastes that taste great together.)
I gotta say, this is the first HCGPF image that actually looks a little porny, what with the panelling and the lamp. Anyways, some tasties here: an incredibly rare Vako Orchestron (sort of like a non-toy Optigon), a Polymoog, and an RMI Keyboard Computer. I won't mention the theremin, as that is, without a doubt, my least favorite instrument of all time. I'd rather hear a 20-piece band composed entirely of sackbutts, bagpipes, and accordians than a single theremin, but that's just me.
Anyways, Jason has a bunch of cool kit, and the contemporary decor sets off the vintageness of it all nicely. Go hit up his Myspace page, but words to the wise: you can only look at the pictures after you've been vetted by the Myspace Data Miners. Don't say I didn't warn you.
---
## L@@K!! RARE 1951 FENDER STRAT MINT!! (NOT VINTAGE GIBSON)!
- Date: 2005-12-30
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/12/l-k-rare-1951-fender-strat-mint-not-vintage-gibson/
I don't normally cross-post (rather, I just post, without looking to see if the other blogs have also posted; an altogether better habit) but this one was too good to pass up. I think this may have made the rounds already, but I've never seen it before, which is more or less the same as being new, right?
Anyways, courtesy of [Audio Mastermind](http://www.audiomastermind.us/2005/12/30/j-walks-ebay-ad/) (a blog that should be on your daily read list anyways) comes the j-walk [http://j-walk.com/other/todd/ebayparody.htm>eBay parody.](https://web.archive.org/web/2005/http://www.analogindustries.com/%3Cbr) It would be funny if it weren't so true.
---
## Nice new stuff from Carl Martin...
- Date: 2005-12-29
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/12/nice-new-stuff-from-carl-martin/
They're not on [the website](http://www.carlmartin.com/) yet, but Carl Martin just announced some tasty new pedals, the Crush Zone, Surf Trem, and of particular interest to us here at AI, the Red Repeat (obviously, that's what I've pictured above.)
It looks as though all three pedals are kind of re-branded versions of already existing stuff. The Red Repeat in particular seems to be a Delayla repackaged in vintage stylee. Well, it's from Carl Martin, so it can't possibly suck. 600ms, which is long enough to know you need more. Don't know the prices yet. Carl Martin will also be at NAMM, showing the Quattro, which is four of their fly-ass pedals in one pedal board, and the Custom Shop 50, which is a tube amp. All you need is a guitar, a tuner, and some cables, and Carl will take care of the rest, it seems.
---
## Dropping vintage science...
- Date: 2005-12-28
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/12/dropping-vintage-science/
This will probably be of interest to anyone that has a couple (or more) analog synths. If you follow [this link,](http://www.vasulka.org/archive/RightsIntrvwInstitMediaPolicies/IntrvwInstitKaldron/Amherst,MassEMS/SynthiEducHandbook.pdf) you'll be rewarded with a 4mb PDF, which contains the entirety of the Synthi Educational Manual, written by Peter Grogono for EMS in 1972.
It is more than just a manual for the Synthi. Rather, it is a pretty good book about subtractive synthesis in general. It is heavy on Synthi stuff, though, and the Synthi is an odd synth to begin with, so you might want to keep that in mind. But definitely recommended reading, and free as in beer.
---
## Major collector dumping gear (you'll wanna see this...)
- Date: 2005-12-28
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/12/major-collector-dumping-gear-youll-wanna-see-this/
The only three words I can come up with to describe this guy's collection, in order, are "holy fucking shit." (That's special for [MatrixSynth](http://matrixsynth.blogspot.com/2005/12/get-your-smut-here.html), where they feel I may swear a bit too much). This dude, whomever he might be, is selling a huge collection of highly desireable synths on the 'bay. [Check it.](http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQfsooZ2QQfsopZ3QQsassZwavstudios) I can only imagine what all that synthy goodness looked like in one room. He would have been the all-time Hard Core Gear Porn champion, I think.
---
## A handy program for a spare laptop...
- Date: 2005-12-28
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/12/a-handy-program-for-a-spare-laptop/
Some of you might recall that I used to write articles for one of the original music gear creation meta-sites, Darwin Grosse's CreativeSynth.com. That site has succumbed to entropy in recent years as a result of Darwin's increased responsibilities at Cycling '74, but he keeps quite a few of the articles from the original site on the current truncated iteration. I wrote a column about [using an otherwise useless laptop as a sidebar for your main DAW,](http://www.creativesynth.com/OPINIONS/012_LaptopRedux/op_LaptopRedux.html) in which I come up with what I think are several good reasons as to why I never throw anything away, and keep coming home from yard sales with more stupid shit. (My wife disagrees, but that's another entry for another time.)
I have several laptops lying around the studio (as well as one iOpener) which were at one time useful, but are now not, at least for their original intended purpose. On each of these laptops, for the most part, is a different operating system. I think, right now, I have one laptop each for FreeDOS, BeOS, System 7, Win 3.1.1, and Linux. The latter is where I finally come to my point. (And the blogosphere breaths a collective sigh of relief, because it has a short attention span.)
Pictured above is a screenshot from a new kid on the block, Hydrogen, from [Hydrogen Music.](http://www.hydrogen-music.org/?p=main) I haven't downloaded or installed it yet, as just booting my Linux box makes my eye tic a little bit, never mind installing a program and getting it to actually work, but this looks pretty slick, and is getting slicker. I'd certainly take issue with the adjective "classic" being applied to the TR-626, but otherwise there is a fairly comprehensive collection of samples for this program, and it seems to be reasonably sophisticated. If you, like me, have both a fond memory of "real" drum machines and a Linux laptop, drop this bad boy in and put that erstwhile doorstop to work.
---
## And now we return to our regularly programmed schedule...
- Date: 2005-12-27
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/12/and-now-we-return-to-our-regularly-programmed-schedule/
Back from Christmas With The Rednecks, and right in to it. Over the break, I got a letter from Michael Liero, who pondered the following:
_
Over the last
few years I have been running ableton live and reason on a very outdated
800mhz P3 gateway which I've owned for over five years. Im finally ready to purchase a new computer and was looking at an iMac, due to the fact that I am on a limited budget. I was goin to run ableton and reason on it with a presonus firebox, do you think that an iMac would be sufficient for a \[computer just used as a\] DAW?
_
Well, speaking strictly from a dollars to power ratio, I think buying a PC would be a wiser choice, if you can't afford one of the big gun Macs. For a grand, you can build/buy a pretty powerful PC, whereas the cheapest iMac is gonna set you back $1299, and is a long way from anything that could be described as a "powerhouse." Plus you'll need to get an external 7200 RPM FW drive. Your plugin and track counts in Live are gonna be on the low side, as well. The iMac isn't a computer very well-suited to production chores, in my humble opinion.
From a usability standpoint, it's strictly a matter of taste. I personally use a (quite powerful) PC for music because Nuendo is Nuendo, so who cares? I just want to use a shitload of plugins and not spend $4000 doing it. However, I vastly prefer OSX for my email, web surfing, iChat, iTunes, etc., and I am, in fact, writing this on my trusty iBook, which has been beat to hell, and still works fine. So, what does everyone else think? Let's keep this from degenerating in to a platform flame-fest. From a strictly professional viewpoint, should Michael spend $1299 on the new iMac, or put that same money in to a more powerful but less friendly PC?
---
## Squeeze this...
- Date: 2005-12-24
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/12/squeeze-this/
You know, when it comes to guitar effects, compressor pedals are one of those things that you don't really feel you need, but once you get one, you wonder how the fuck you ever got along with out it. I spent a couple hours today making an Orange Squeezer (courtesy of a schematic off the excellent [General Guitar Gadgets](http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=47&Itemid=79) page.) What a fantastic compressor this is. Sustain for days, and no low-end attenuation at all that I can hear. That Dan Armstrong cat knew a thing or two about a thing or two. There are about 40 different Orange Squeezer clones available; I don't know how close any of them sound to the one I made, or how close mine is to the "real thing," never having come in contact with one before, but damn...
I haven't put it in a Hammond box yet; as soon as I do, I'll drop a photo and maybe a couple samples, wherein you can be incredibly impressed with my stellar guitar playing once again.
---
## New stuff from JoMox comin'
- Date: 2005-12-23
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/12/new-stuff-from-jomox-comin/
Shawn Cleary from [our favorite synth store](http://www.analoguehaven.com/) informs us, the unwashed masses, that some cool new shit is coming from [JoMoX.](http://www.jomox.de/) First up, and pictured above, is the M-Resonator, which is, as far as I can tell, the filters from the Resonator Neuronium, the unit which holds the official Analog Industries award for World's Most Esoteric Gear.
The main thing, of course, is the [XBase999.](http://www.jomox.de/xbase999.html) According to the JoMoX site, "it's up to develop a drum machine that continues and improves a living cult." I don't know what that means, but it sounds like I need one. No, seriously. I _need_ one. Judging from the specs, it's pretty much everything you could ever want in an analog drum machine. Analog Haven will have both units for sale shortly. They'll cost an arm and a leg, but it'll be worth it.
---
## Hard-Core Gear Porn Friday!!!
- Date: 2005-12-23
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/12/hard-core-gear-porn-friday-4/
Something a bit different this week. If you haven't seen this, you really need to check out [Delta Lab](http://www.deltalab.dk/DEFAULT.htm), a studio in Copenhagen. Imagine, if you will, a coke dealer in the mid 70s. Imagine that coke dealer spending his hard-earned money on a recording studio. The image you get in your mind's eye would be an accurate description of Delta Lab.
From the c. 72 Neve console to the Farfisa Red Line to the Ludwig Vistalite drum set, this place _screams_ [Mod Squad](http://www.chezgrae.com/modsquad/). (And if you're too young to get the reference, well, more's the pity.) Check the gallery for the outstanding live room, which is to black and white what the control room is to red and orange. Let's get this straight from the git-go: Delta Lab is no [Chung King](http://www.chungkingstudios.com/gold.html) Gold Room. But it makes up in vibe what it lacks in gear. I, for one, would be happy doing an album there.
---
## Good tidings we bring...
- Date: 2005-12-22
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/12/good-tidings-we-bring/
Schism sent me a link to [this story,](http://www.macclesfield-express.co.uk/news/s/207/207169_its_a_fiddle.html) knowing it would incite me to rant, while small flecks of spittle formed in the corners of my mouth, and my eyes rolled back in my head. (I know that's why all of you visit this site; that, and gear pr0n.)
However, I think you'll be surprised at how I'm going to take something like this. First, you'll need to read the article, then come back here. \[Go ahead. I'll wait.\]
[BoingBoing](http://boingboing.net/) is, by far, the worst offender, but the Interweb At Large simply doesn't understand what performing rights societies are all about. To most of the self-styled intelligentsia, ASCAP == RIAA. This is fueled by various reports you see that read like the following: "John Doe has a really cool little store, that sells cool things we like, and he recently got a visit from \[performing rights society\], saying that since he plays cool music in his cool store, thus contributing to the overall vibe of coolness, he has to cough up $300 a year or some such. The OUTRAGE!!!"
I'll explain it in simple terms for those of you (and I'm talking to you, Cory Doctorow) that don't have the faintest idea what the fuck you're talking about. It's like this: I'm a musician that (barely) eeks out a living writing songs. It is a proven fact that people buy more shit in a store if there's music playing. They're playing my music so people will buy more shit in the store. Their profits go up as a result. I am (justly) entitled to a piece of that, because I helped sell more cheap-ass Chinese clothing.
That, in a nutshell, is what performance rights societies are all about. They make sure that if music is used to sell a product, the musician gets a piece of the action. Nightclubs bitch the most about this, because they have to pay the largest licenses. But you have to realize that a nightclub is simply a fiscal mechanism for turning beer in to money. It has nothing to do with music at all. Customers come to hear the music, and during the course of this, buy beer. In almost every nightclub in the country, the entertainment, be it Superstar DJ Blowme or Bob's Local Cover Band, is a loss-leader for the alcohol sales.
Which brings us to this fellow. (Or bloke, rather. He is British, after all.) Now, if there was a loophole by which a store that sold musical instruments didn't have to pay a license, well, then all Wal-Mart would have to do would be to have a musical instrument section. Sorry, dude, but it's for the greater good. Pay your fucking hundred and fifty quid, and get off your high horse.
---
## Customer Service Woes, Episode 199,343
- Date: 2005-12-21
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/12/customer-service-woes-episode-199-343/
As I've often metioned, I do most of the support for Audio Damage. Mainly, this involves getting people correctly sorted out on the Windows side, or figuring out what the fuck is wrong with the operating system on the OSX side. However, once in a while, a true gem comes down the pipeline. I wouldn't normally post someone's question here, but (a) it is incredibly unlikely that the person in question will see it, and (b) it's so endearing.
So, in the Holiday Spirit, I give you a letter from \[name withheld\]:
_
First I have to admit that I know nothing about music recording. I ordered an audiodamage substation for my son for Christmas thinking I was going to get the instrument that was pictured, but I guess the it's just a download. Am I right about that? And if so, where do I get the piece of equipment pictured? I know this may be a very naive question but as I said, I know nothing about this. Thanks for your response.
_
This definitely takes the cake for the best support email I've ever received, hands down. I definitely give the guy points for trying, and it is understandable that someone that has no idea of what a DAW is would be flabergasted by plugins that look like hardware.
However...
---
## All hail the mighty Variophone...
- Date: 2005-12-20
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/12/all-hail-the-mighty-variophone/
Check this shit out. The Variophone was an early-80s analog synth masquerading as a wind instrument rather than a keyboard. The synthesis method was a rudimentary physical modelling, using what I assume is a Schmitt Trigger kind of oscillator. The main unit could have several modules, and each one was optimized for a particular kind of windy synthesis (viz. fagott, klein klarinette, panflötte, etc.). Check the [Variophone & Martinetta Enthusiasts Page](http://www.variophon.de/index_e.htm) for samples, descriptions and photos, and best of all, a Virtual Variophone flash presentation.
This is not to be confused with the optical-based Variophone invented by Yevgeny Alexandrovitch Sholpo in Russia in 1932, which lives on in the audio waveforms you see striped on the side of a piece of 35mm movie film.
---
## Cwejman modular???
- Date: 2005-12-20
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/12/cwejman-modular/
It seems that the [Cwejman site](http://www.cwejman.com/) is down due to unknown Swedish troubles, but there's a Cwejman forum on [Electro-music.com](http://electro-music.com/forum/topic-8803.html) where Michael Cwejman posts now and again, and the above-linked thread is quite interesting. It seems that Cwejman is going to do a real modular, which is a bit of a departure from their normal prepatched and semi-modular [offerings.](http://www.analoguehaven.com/cwejman/)
There's a PDF available that talks about the various modules that will be available in the initial offering. Pictured at left is a 3-band parametric with voltage control on each control, which is pretty nifty. Also available will be a pretty fucking sophisticated oscillator, a multi-mode filter, and a complete voice module, which contains an oscillator, a multi-mode filter, and two envelopes.
These modules will be Euro-Rack, which just figures. It's looking more and more like I'm going to have to invest in a couple frames of that format. Maybe Shawn from Analog Haven (our friendly local Cwejman dealer) will chime in with an expected release date, and maybe some prices.
**UPDATE:** Shawn just posted to the Analog Heaven list that these will be shown at NAMM. I'll try to snap some pictures when I'm there.
---
## Phase Two Progress...
- Date: 2005-12-19
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/12/phase-two-progress/
We've now got Phase Two running as an AudioUnit. [See?](https://analogindustries.com/images/blog/phase_two_logic.jpg) All that's left now is optimizing, the manual, beta testing, and installers, and another fine Audio Damage product will be out the door. Not long now...
---
## It's about time! An API EQ DIY project...
- Date: 2005-12-19
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/12/its-about-time-an-api-eq-diy-project/
In my years of watching the various sites that talk about DIY audio gear, I must have seen a couple hundred requests for an API EQ project. (I think I may have made one or two of those requests.) Now that I'm older and wiser, I know that the API 550 is a hidiously complicated beast. However, I'm watching [this thread](http://www.prodigy-pro.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12161#img_4263) at Prodigy-Pro with interest. It seems Elco of [Egostatic Media](http://www.egostaticmedia.com/) is working on a clone of the [API 553 three-band EQ.](http://www.soniccircus.com/store/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=SC&Product_Code=305380) While this little guy isn't as fly as its big brother, it is still really fly, so I'm pretty excited about this.
Elco's project will be fully compatible with the API 500 form-factor, so it'll fit in the lunchboxes and boards already in existence. It has a couple extra features, too, like switchable highs and lows, and the ability to use any 990-footprint op-amp, so you can tune each unit to taste. I think it would be interesting to have, say, 8 of them, and have a different op-amp (e.g. Hardy, Melcor, Millenia, et al) in each one.
Anyways, the project should be quite easy, and relatively cheap. I'll keep you posted of the progress; when he has boards available, you can definitely sign me up.
---
## Help!
- Date: 2005-12-18
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/12/help/
Yesterday, during my Daily Surf, I came across a schematic for an MS-20 (Sallen-Key) filter that had been modified for 9V use as a guitar pedal. I had it in my head that it was at [hammer.ampage.org](http://ampage.org/cgi-bin/hammer/index.cgi?cmd=lt&xid=&fid=&ex=&pg=1) but I'm obviously mistaken. Does anyone here know what the fuck I'm talking about, and furthermore where the hell it is? I can't for the life of me find it again.
In other DIY news, I finished stuffing the Sound Lab Mini Synth board. For some stupid reason I accidentally ordered SMP-flavored op-amps instead of DIPs, so I need to scare up 3 of those before I can call the board officially _done._ But that said, I'm going to pick up some paint for the case tomorrow; assuming I don't pull all my hair out wiring the front panel (my least favorite part of any DIY project) this guy should be running within the next couple days.
**UPDATE:** Never mind. [Found it.](http://www.geocities.com/tpe123/folkurban/fuzz/sk.gif)
---
## Hard-Core Gear Porn Friday!!!
- Date: 2005-12-16
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/12/hard-core-gear-porn-friday-3/
This week, no funny business. What we have here is [Rusty Insects Studio,](http://www.carbon111.com/rustyinsects.html) owned by James "Carbon111" from the Analog Heaven mailing list. When I put up a studio and make fun of it, and you all go "yeah, but what the fuck is it \_supposed\_ to look like?" this is what I'm talking about. A good selection of digitals and analogs, some tasteful outboard, and not a piece of Mackie or Behringer in site.
Of course, James obviously has some cash to spend, as witnessed by the three Serge panels, but still...
Here's his workstation, which isn't visible in the above photo. In short, it's an excellent small workstation, properly laid out, with some good quality yet not too ridiculously expensive gear. Visit his page for info on all his stuff. He also resource pages for the Evolver, Serge, Microwave, and Juno 60, chock full of usefull shit if you have one of those pieces.
---
## Nady RSM-1 Ribbon Mic
- Date: 2005-12-15
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/12/nady-rsm-1-ribbon-mic/
So, Santa Claus brought me one of these Nady RSM-1 ribbon mics for Christmas. I was, like, "well, how bad can a [$129 ribbon mic](http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/search/detail/base_id/138803/src=00633) be?" The answer is "not bad at all."
I've been fooling with this thing all day, and my belief is that, as long as you don't have any moral qualms about buying a cheap-ass rebranded Chinese microphone, this bad boy is well worth the money. It's rather bottom heavy, as ribbons are prone to be. Works really well on voice and guitar, the usual ribbon staples. I don't have a drum set in my studio to test it out on overheads or whatever, but for vocals, it's money well spent. I mean, any mic that works okay at all for $130 is a steal, and this one sounds quite good. Quite frankly, I'd have a hard time coming up with anything bad to say about it at all, let alone at its price point.
So, a strong "buy" recommendation from AI Headquarters on this.
---
## The 4/4/4 Rule
- Date: 2005-12-15
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/12/the-4-4-4-rule/
No, it doesn't have anything to do with time signatures. Wilson inquired the following in the Sound Lab Mini Synth comments: _"...how do \[you\] find time for such projects? I know you have a job, a wife, make and record music, write a blog, play video games... so how do you fit it all in? Seems like I barely have enough time for the job, the music, and the girlfriend. I'm curious as to how you manage your time."_ I'll answer here, because it might be an interesting topic of conversation, as I know a lot of professionals read this site, and I myself am curious.
The first thing to note is that I have two "jobs." My main source of income, first and foremost, is making music. Make no mistake; writing songs is not a hobby for me. My ASCAP checks are how I pay my rent and bills. My wife runs our record label, so I don't have to deal with that, for the most part, but a constant steady output of music is required to make a living when you're not on a major.
Audio Damage, which is my other "job," is actually starting to eclipse music making, in both time and income. However, it's only really time consuming for me when we're designing a new plug-in. Adam does the lion's share of the coding; I do the user interface and the editor, then write the presets, while he does everything in between. I also do all the support and the business side of things. So it evens out in time spent, but his comes all in one chunk, while mine is a more consistent daily regimen. 90% of the support involves answering the same questions over and over again, so that's not too taxing, time-wise. Tedious more than anything else.
So, keep in mind that when you work a normal 8-hour-a-day job, you also spend an hour getting ready and going to work, and an hour coming home and reorienting yourself to not being at work. So an 8-hour-a-day job actually takes at least 10 hours out of your day. If you sleep 8 hours, that only leaves 6 for everything else, and that's not enough. You have to spend those 6 hours coming up with reasons to go back to work the next day, in my limited experience on the subject.
When you're self-employed, there's a real danger of spending 20-hour days on your pet project, to the detriment of everything else. This is not only a recipe for burning out, but it actually hinders the process. So I practice what I call the 4/4/4 rule. I NEVER allow myself to work more than four consecutive hours on a single project. So my day will be split up in to four hours of working on Audio Damage graphics or whatever, four hours of writing music, four hours of working on some DIY thing, and then the rest of the day, I'll read or watch TV with my wife or something. As long as I do that, I'm able to keep things in their compartments, and no one thing takes over my day and becomes too much like real work.
The final key is that I never spend more than 12 hours a day working, period. Even if I disregard the other rule, and don't limit myself to 4 hours on a single project, I still never work more than 12 hours in a day, even if I have to force myself to stop.
I don't know if this is illuminating or helpful in any way, but if you're curious as to why it seems like I'm a monkey on meth, that's how I pull it off.
---
## A reader question...
- Date: 2005-12-15
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/12/a-reader-question/
D'Macinnon writes:
_
I'm looking for a 24/96 or better capable USB recording interface/mic pre combo that's under a grand and has good ad converters and a good sound. I need it to be somewhat portable because I'm going to use it with a laptop that I'm hauling to record someone's piano. It's not really feasable for me to haul my entire recording rig over there or to move their piano so that's why I'm looking into a solution for portable tracking.
_
So how 'bout it? The first thing that came to mind for me was the Apogee Mini-Me, but that's over his budget, at $1300 or so. I think the Mini-Me is just about the most expensive USB interface there is, so pretty much anything else would work. As I'm strictly Firewire these days, I don't have a good opinion on this. Anyone have some input as to what the best USB interface for under a grand is?
---
## Novachord Restoration...
- Date: 2005-12-14
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/12/novachord-restoration/
In case you haven't been following this on Analog Heaven, or one of the many other mailing lists and forums it's appeared in, Paul Cirocco of [CMS](http://www.discretesynthesizers.com/) just finished his complete restoration of a Novachord, and has [fully documented the process.](http://www.discretesynthesizers.com/Nova/intro.htm)
For those of you not in the know, the Novachord is generally accepted to be the first commercially-available synthesizer. It is tube-based and polyphonic. Check out the MP3s at the bottom of the resto page and prepare to be floored. This thing sounds _good._ Paul has said he'll be offering a complete sample CD for sale once he assembles same, so be on the lookout for that.
---
## Sound Lab Mini Synth, Pt. 2
- Date: 2005-12-14
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/12/sound-lab-mini-synth-pt-2/
Quite a bit of progress on my [Music From Outer Space](http://www.musicfromouterspace.com/) Sound Lab Mini Synth today. I started stuffing the PCB, and after a couple hours I have all the resistors and most of the capacitors in, as well as all the sockets for the ICs. There's a lot of components on this little guy. I'd liken it to about the same amount of soldering as a PAiA Fatman.
I got a nice plastic enclosure at Fry's for it; I just need to paint it and make a decal for the front panel, and that'll be done. So, I guess a couple more four-hour days and it'll be done.
---
## SEMtex XL
- Date: 2005-12-13
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/12/semtex-xl/
You kids know about this thing? From [Anyware Instruments](http://www.anyware-instruments.de/) of Germany, this is a 2-VCO patchable analog, in the same neck of the woods as an Oberheim SEM module (hence the name, I suppose.) It has a whole slew of MIDI->CV stuff, and doesn't sound half bad, according to the samples on the website.
It is apparently 1200€, and I'm pretty sure I could get at least one real SEM for that, but then what do I know? Vishay pots, Neutrik & Switchcraft connectors, and there is at least one in actual existence.
**UPDATE:** one of the creators of this critter wrote to tell me the following: _"uhm, the semtex is not a "SEM", it is more a modular system based on a SEM plus lots of things.. like
the semtex has 2 Vcos plus 2 Subs and 3 very fast envs..
(the SEM has no subOSCs, the semtex has 2 of them)"_ Apologies, but I call 'em like I see 'em. A two-vco tabletop synth with the name "semtex" is gonna be compared to a SEM module by a lot more people than me.
---
## Scanalyzer...
- Date: 2005-12-13
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/12/scanalyzer/
Sorry I haven't been in my normal posting frenzy lately, but we have a new album coming out on Positron!, and it is sucking some of my time up. [On The One And The Zero](http://www.positronrecords.com/releases/release.php?id=posi019) is the debut full-length from Scanalyzer, which consists of myself and Wade Alin (of [Christ Analogue](http://www.christanalogue.com/) and [Atomica](http://www.theatomicaproject.com/).) Chock full of crafty programmed goodness, it is all modular synth and complex beats. Go pick yourself up a copy at the Positron! store, as I have stacks of them taking up space which would be better suited for keyboards and outboard.
On a personal note, unless I've counted wrong, this is the 67th album to be released with my name on it as either producer or artist (or, in this case, both.) That's getting up there. I remember sitting in Chris Connelly's apartment in Chicago a dozen or so years ago over a bottle of mediocre red, and I asked him how many records he was on. He answered "oh, fuck. I don't know. Seventy?" That seemed like a fuck of a lot of records at the time, and I thought I'd do pretty well if I appeared on a third of that during my entire career.
Funny how things work out.
---
## New Intel based iBook for January?
- Date: 2005-12-12
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/12/new-intel-based-ibook-for-january/
Think Secret seems to [think so.](http://www.thinksecret.com/news/0512briefly.html) And there's a [bigger article](http://www.thinksecret.com/news/0511intelibook.html) as well. Normally, I would never buy brand new technology from a company with a proven track-record for fucking early adopters. However, needs must when the devil drives, and in this case, the devil will be Audio Damage releases compiled with the Universal Binary.
Plus, my iBook (on which I'm typing this very missive) is on its last legs. So Early Adoption it is. At least you guys will have me as a guinea pig, so you can watch me swear and rant before you have to plunk down the cash yourselves.
---
## Alternate OS stuff for the MPC1000
- Date: 2005-12-12
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/12/alternate-os-stuff-for-the-mpc1000/
I don't have one of these boxes so I shouldn't really care that much, but I'm always tickled when someone takes the time to make an alternate OS for something. [Machinesound](http://maschinensound.de/blog/) informs us of [this site,](http://www.worldlingo.com/wl/services/S9M7KdqhsbwaHrQuWETzZ5dly2r2PlU_n/translation?wl_srclang=ZH_CN&wl_trglang=en&wl_rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww7a.biglobe.ne.jp%2F%7Empc1000%2Findex.html&wl_url=http%3A%2F%2Ftranslate.google.com%2Ftranslate%3Fhl%3Den%26sl%3Dja%26u%3Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww7a.biglobe.ne.jp%2F%7Empc1000%2F%26prev%3D%2Fsearch%253Fq%253Dakai%252Bmpc2500%2526start%253D10%2526hl%253Den%2526lr%253D%2526rls%253DDVXA%2CDVXA%3A2005-25%2CDVXA%3Aen%2526sa%253DN) which seems to have a couple different programs for the MPC1000. It's hard to tell what the hell is going on with the severe Engrish of the translator (e.g. "Loading those which convert the music data of the CD to the WAV to the memory of the MPC, being something which you play, it does") but I _think_ there are three separte programs. Or maybe one program that does three things. Or something.
---
## Phase Two Update...
- Date: 2005-12-10
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/12/phase-two-update/
Yes, it's time for a progress report on Phase Two, the next product from Audio Damage. Yesterday we hit a rather important milestone, as we froze the DSP code. It took a little longer than we had anticipated to get to this point, for a couple of reasons. First, while the switches on the Bi-Phase (and thus our UI) for the LFO shapes show sine and square waves, the actual waveshapes of the LFOs have little to do with those nice geometric descriptors; also, the shapes change quite a bit as the rate is increased. So it took a little bit more time to accurately emulate that.
The next problem we ran in to is that there are a \_lot\_ of filters in the Bi-Phase. We've modelled all of them, but it took longer than we expected to accurately tune them all to reproduce the Bi-Phase's distinctive character. There are filters on the input and output, and obviously a 6-stage phaser has six filters (and the Bi-Phase has two 6-stage phasers; hence the name), and there are filters in the feedback path for each phaser. So it took quite a bit of measurement, trial, and many errors to get it right.
So, the GUI part has been done for some time (as you no doubt saw on my last update.) That was grafted on to the VST itself yesterday, and I now have in my VST folder a fully working Phase Two with GUI. So what's left to do? Gotta get the MIDI stuff working (in lieu of the pedal, we've allowed the user to assign a MIDI CC to fill that role), gotta get the presets working, gotta \_write\_ the presets, then it gets ported to OSX VST, then finally to OSX AU.
So, I'm sorry to say that Phase Two will not be our last product of '05, but rather our first product of '06. Everything that is left to do is well-worn territory for us; nothing has to be invented, so it should go pretty quickly. I don't want to give an estimated date yet, but if I was a betting man, I'd bet on mid-January.
In other news, if you're in the Portland, Oregon area, Positron! Records (the parent company of this site) is throwing a release party for our [Scanalyzer](http://www.positronrecords.com/releases/release.php?id=posi019) album, which will be out next week. The party is at [Noir,](http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?ovi=1&zoom=7&mapdata=p5kqyoo6yZJQYUO30ijKAS%2bng4WuYFFhXFK4Iq9KBJA7LJsO2Obm6GvcjNH9E6dtvdIVkjJR9KyyhOTp1f3%2f5o5bakDrc1Iu6LecZyHYQOXo1GyEySyZc9YLYZqhIgR33Z5Iiac4mloVH%2fUaaOpYh6v5IDOpqduVsFZrviFGkPqO8d6Y%2fMe9skexZlfMTAITajF%2blb%2f29mgt9rh7e4Bqm75w8dy1haLcHgo5vSb5dBPJ9L7DYMQQsy9yS5WQbw2oXhczt7ozcft0ZLQMivCFU%2fxmwLMLy%2bNn%2bAudjHoNCGz7UG7Y6zIORl4Fg6h3qgqtC1Z%2b2b7yQu66JnuuT64BvW0txWX25N8y2kDawAe0FuJoS9W%2fSY4eGr7glu0zsdXIuHk4%2bvSrsL2RosVwahGO5j2%2fUZkS%2fdBwORtyHUK%2fTDeJ2CM6alogWo4reAkFQQcTSvVHHlQp7HupP%2bPRgLcckYEzZvnIUJOnV6vExk4IbyoVuw1XebqwVHLbSefVokD5H%2bEe3wbaiVgzPoDTZHz2AfNqdRRvrNT0k%2bPqfvgROnXgq7NgBAMpgvt4Su9PnWLKdPdzvLGpQ7ijSzJorXmM5i7tgcKjWQNRm1Mpd9vDfCaoPiENilH2Of8%2frd4DipiyKnRCTRr4W%2bP7zLJOvmXvcBCIHU5A5F%2bYeJb1xDoMnnrLhxwRnV0l8sqFr9Cqray94p6YCxPQ8MvLK%2bnUD1JZxWU4prVhefczBLwdzVBy9wfokidJQqbm7w%3d%3d#map1-link) it's tonight (Saturday, the 10th) and I'll be the DJ for a while. That's always amusing because it is, in effect, a goth/industrial club, but I can't be bothered to figure out all the bullshit synthipop that passes for industrial these days, so you can expect to hear none of that. So I'll spend a couple hours getting scowled at by fat chicks in black spandex while I pointedly play Shriekback and Iggy Pop songs.
---
## Hard-Core Gear Porn Friday!!!
- Date: 2005-12-09
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/12/hard-core-gear-porn-friday-2/
I don't know whether to thank [Dave Copeland](http://www.supercadedc.com/) for sending me such an obvious Hard Core Gear Porn link, or chastise him for looking at such a travesty in the first place. This studio, which belongs to contemporary Christian musician [Tom Gross](http://www.tomgross.com/photos_studio.htm) is as middle-of-the-road boring as a studio can be. It's really quite sad, and an excellent example of how bad things can get when a musician doesn't do drugs, drink, or smoke.
I mean, hey, whatever gets you through the day, and an ASCAP check for play on CCM stations spends the same as one for play on MTV's The Real World, I guess. But I've never seen a studio with so much stuff in it I didn't want. It's really quite amazing. This is like the keyboard section of a store that specializes in band instruments. (You know the ones I mean, when you're playing in LaCross, Wisconsin, and your drummer is on his last pair of sticks, and you find a store that has Vic Firth 2B, but they're like $7.00 a pair, but the place is right across the street from the club, so what are you gonna do? Yeah, that place. You know the one I'm talking about.)
So, seriously, if you know this guy, go over to his house and put out a cigarette on his carpet. Or something. This is just out of hand. He's managed to assemble a complete studio of \_bad\_ Roland gear. It's weird, because Roland has put out so much good stuff, it's hard to avoid. But this guy figured out a way. And TWO MACKIE BOARDS!!! Fuck. It's like pissing in the wind. It really is.
---
## Hey, look!
- Date: 2005-12-09
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/12/hey-look/
It's the [Apocalypse!](http://www.digitalprosound.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=36151)
---
## Parker acoustic...
- Date: 2005-12-08
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/12/parker-acoustic/
I've always been a big fan of Parker guitars, and have played them since the company started. I've owned a total of 7 different Parkers of all stripes, and currently have two. One thing I've always wanted was one of the original acoustics that Ken Parker made before he started doing electrics. (They're so fucking fly that one is in the Smithsonian, which is the only time I ever saw one in real life.)
Parker Guitars just [announced](http://www.parkerguitars.com/code/press/press_display.asp?pressid=80) they'll be selling an acoustic again. Pictured above, it is a thing of beauty, and has the normal Fishman bridge pickup (like all Parkers) plus a specially-designed Fishman humbucking neck pickup, which you can plainly see in the picture. The full-sized model will be $1999, and you'll also be able to get a thinline at $1499. Sign me right the fuck up.
---
## Crazy new oscillator from Cyndustries...
- Date: 2005-12-08
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/12/crazy-new-oscillator-from-cyndustries/
I've never paid too much attention to the Cyndustries stuff, because it's all Modcan format, and most of it is just other people's designs, reformatted for the Modcan system. But today Cynthia announced something really crazy, the [Zeroscillator.](http://www.cyndustries.com/modules_zero-osc.cfm?type=37) I'm not entirely sure what to make of this; as far as I can tell, it is a whole FM block, which would by necessity consist of two oscillators. The sound samples are illuminating, especially the bell one, which sounds very much like traditional DX-based FM. It looks really nice, and will be available in (get this!) MOTM, Blacet, Modcan, Euro-Rack, \_and\_ DotCom formats.
It is $650, which is pretty fucking hefty when you can buy two Blacet oscillators for the same price, and have enough left over for another module. But it can do some pretty strange shit, judging from the samples. Plus that big knob in the middle is pretty fly, and certainly worth a couple bucks.
---
## An odd thing...
- Date: 2005-12-08
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/12/an-odd-thing/
I have a question for you: do you think that people that learned how to engineer in a "real" studio (and by that I mean an API and a Studer A80) that have now migrated to digital are still mentally bound to the limits set by working on 2-inch?
I never really noticed it before, but something came up today that made me realize that I'm really stingy with track counts. Of course, if you worked in a studio with only one deck, you were by necessity limited to 23 tracks, or 22 if it was a not-too-well-maintained machine and you didn't want to hear the SMPTE whirring away. Or 21 if you didn't want the foot spread across three channels. (And for extra credit, how many people reading this have spent more than a thousand dollars discovering that you can't print a 909 foot next to SMPTE and expect it to still be, like, useful?)
I was just thinking that there are major parts of my production/engineering style that are informed heavily by the fact that I learned how to do everything on analog desks and decks, even though the last time I mixed anything off 2" was almost a decade ago, and the last time I mixed anything with any deck at all was five years ago. (The size of the tape on those Mitsubishi digital machines for some reason made the music seem less present, even though I know it wasn't the case.)
Anyways, I don't mean to get all maudlin; I'm seriously curious. Did you learn in an analog room, and do you find that you still work within those constraints, even though you don't have them any more?
---
## Pyp-Bomb...
- Date: 2005-12-07
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/12/pyp-bomb/
Okay, if you go over to the Pyp-Bomb [website,](http://pyp-bomb.com/home.html) you'll see some of the most ridiculous marketing-speak ever coined:
_
The PyP-Bomb is truly the next generation in quality portable power amplifiers. Combining solid state technology with state-of-the-art circuitry the PyP-Bomb is able to reproduce your instrument like no other portable amp can. Not only is the PyP-Bomb a great guitar amp, but it can also become your portable bass amp, harp amp, and even portable PA system! With the proper adapter, and a pair of PyP-Bombs, you can even get stereo reproduction from your iPod or any other standard MP3/CD player!
_
That paragraph is the best example of writing-by-groupthink that I've ever seen, and I've seen a lot. How something combines solid state technology and state-of-the-art circuitry is utterly beyond my powers of reasoning.
Here's my translation: it's an 18W solid-state amp with 1/4" and 3.5mm inputs, built in to a piece of 4" PVC tubing. ThinkGeek [sells it](http://www.thinkgeek.com/electronics/mp3/7dcf/?cpg=22H) for $149 as an iPod accessory, believe it or not. It has a rechargable battery, which is (according to the site) good for two weeks of "normal use," whatever that is. While the superlatives and description are just lame as lame can be, that doesn't change the fact that this is a pretty cool product, I think.
---
## New BBD chips available...
- Date: 2005-12-06
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/12/new-bbd-chips-available/
I know this is probably old news to the sorts of people that pay attention to such things, but [Visual Sound](http://www.visualsound.net/bbd.htm) (the makers of the excellent H2O chorus pedal) have done a large run of BBD chips that are direct pin replacements for the Panasonic MN3207 chips used in pretty much every good analog delay, flanger, and chorus pedals and rack units. They're not that expensive, either. $3.75 for the BBD and $1.95 for the clock. [Here](http://www.chipdocs.com/datasheets/datasheet-pdf/Panasonic-Matsushita/MN3207.html) is the Panasonic datasheet for the BBD chip. [Here](http://experimentalistsanonymous.com/diy/Schematics/Chorus/Zombie%20Chorus%20MN3207%20Based.jpg) is a simple chorus circuit that uses this chip. There are lots more out there that a Google search will pump out.
---
## Continuum Fingerboard MIDI controller...
- Date: 2005-12-04
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/12/continuum-fingerboard-midi-controller/
And from the "Strange But True" file, we have the Continuum Fingerboard, a MIDI controller from Haken Audio. It is available in a 4 or 8 "octave" configuration. Each pad area corresponds to a MIDI note number, and it is sensitive to x-axis movement, and y-axis movement, so you can shit out CC messages to your heart's content on ten simultaneous MIDI channels (one for each finger). As you all no doubt know, I tend to look suspiciously at non-keyboard controllers, because, well, I'm a keyboard player. I'm not entirely sure what the purpose of something like this would serve, but then again, I'm not one of those arty sorts that likes to "redefine the barriers between man and instrument" and all that jazz.
So, [go forth](http://www.hakenaudio.com/Continuum/) and read all about this $5290 controller, and how you will become the King Of Glissando once you own it.
---
## The Battle Of The Ex-Trident Engineers, Round 1 (FIGHT!)
- Date: 2005-12-04
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/12/the-battle-of-the-ex-trident-engineers-round-1-fight/
Pictured above is the upcoming console from [Toft Audio Designs,](http://www.toftaudiodesigns.com/) the Trident Series ATB console. The prototype was shown at the recent AES, and according to Toft personel posting on Gearslutz, it will be around $2499. As you no doubt know, Malcom Toft, aside from making some excellent gear in the middle price range, is a former Trident engineer, and one of the 80 or so people that can claim to be responsible for the "British EQ" you hear so much about.
Pictured above is the upcoming console from [Oram,](http://www.oram.co.uk/) the Trident Series 8T console. The prototype was shown at the recent AES, and according to Oram personel posting on Gearslutz, it will be around $2400. As you no doubt know, John Oram, aside from making some excellent gear in the middle price range, is a former Trident engineer, and one of the 80 or so people that can claim to be responsible for the "British EQ" you hear so much about.
Both of these consoles are designed by shortish, balding, plump yet respected British engineers, who have been in the business a long time. Both are 8-buss analog consoles. The Oram one has a pair of analog meters. The Toft one has a digital option. The Oram one is "hand made in England," and the Toft one features some Chinese manufacturing, but has more features.
I'm sure a shootout will occur in one of the many magazines that deals with such stuff, but let me say it here and now: it's a good time to own a project studio, with these two nearly identical products competing for your console dollar. I'm sure I'd be happy with either one.
---
## 4-channel AM16 clone DIY...
- Date: 2005-12-03
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/12/4-channel-am16-clone-diy/
If you're looking to get four really nice mic pres for the cost of one, you could do worse than to score [this PCB](http://www.prodigy-pro.com/detail.aspx?ID=339) from Prodigy Pro for $100. It has space for four Langevin AM16 clones, and includes a power supply PCB. Aside from the transformers, it's just a few parts, and would be a pretty easy build. (I'd put it midway between "beginner" and "advanced.") The transformers are the expensive part, of course, and you'll need four input traffos and four outputs. Total cost to build is going to be around $1500, using the Sowter reproduction AM16 transformers, when all is said and done. However, when a single channel of AM16 clone goes new for [$1100 or so,](http://www.mercury-rec.com/am16.html) this is a considerable cost savings.
The thread for discourse on this subject is [here.](http://www.prodigy-pro.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11019) If you were trying to decide what to get me for Christmas, you could just build me one of these.
---
## Pondering a new mic...
- Date: 2005-12-03
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/12/pondering-a-new-mic/
I'm in need of a new vocal mic, and the Red Type B keeps popping up in my peripheral vision every time I turn around the last few days. The price is certainly right at [$450 factory direct.](http://www.vintagemicrophone.com/JShop/product.php?xProd=37&xSec=17&jssCart=2efcda825c9b41e6bb465859954933fe) I like the fact that you can swap in old Neumann capsules if you so desire, and TapeOp (a magazine I trust implicitly) gave it a stellar review.
Questions I have:
1\. When you buy it straight from Blue, does it come with a shockmount? I can't find anything on their site to say one way or the other.
2\. Has anyone here used it? I can't find any user-talk except magazine reviews, which I normally take with a grain of salt.
---
## Hard-Core Gear Porn Friday!!!
- Date: 2005-12-02
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/12/hard-core-gear-porn-friday/
Wow. Wow. Wow.
Jaysen sends me a pointer to Edmund Eagan's [Twelfth Root](http://www.twelfthroot.com/studio/index.html) studio in Ottawa, Canada. This fellow has a 12-panel Serge system with a custom laser-cut aluminum stand, created by Mike Adjillian. While the system as a whole lives in a studio, it sure does look like a live performance rig to me. Really nice piece of work, that.
---
## Will someone please stop this guy?
- Date: 2005-12-02
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/12/will-someone-please-stop-this-guy/
Okay, I'll readily admit that the easiest way to avoid the articles at Record-Producer.com would be to... well... avoid them. But it's like driving past a car wreck on the highway; you just have to slow down and look for blood, you know? Plus it's fun to see my tirades on [Zicos](http://proaudio.zicos.com/?lang=EN) right next to the latest piece of worthless drivel from David Mellor.
In his [latest missive,](http://www.record-producer.com/learn.cfm?a=2943) the audio world's answer to Bill O'Reilly informs us that even though our gear sounds good, it probably isn't good, because we haven't thoroughly tested it. Apparently, the only good gear is transparent gear which introduces no distortion whatsoever. This would come as something of a surprise to the makers of the Neve 1081, the Fairchild 660, the EMT 140, the McIntosh amplifier, and the producers of pretty much every rock record ever.
Sorry, dude, but you're a fucking retard. The thing that separates a piece of good gear from a piece of bad or flat gear is the distortion it adds to the signal. You really need to stop writing and go back to Full Sail for some remedial classwork.
---
## Making The Super Fucker, Pt. 2
- Date: 2005-12-01
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/12/making-the-super-fucker-pt-2/
Well, that was easy enough. Aside from one rather drastic mistake on my part, the Super Fucker Mk. 1 was really easy to build. The only problem I had is that I didn't leave enough clearance between the switch and the case for the battery. I was only off by about 2mm, but it's all the distance in the world in this case. I won't make that mistake twice.
And how does it sound? Let me just say that whoever designed the [original circuit](http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=26&Itemid=94) knew what the fuck they were doing. I don't know how different my changes make it sound from the orignal circuit, as I never built that, but it sounds \_really\_ good as is. My changes involve swapping the 2.7K resistor with a 2.2K, using germanium diodes instead of the recommended ones, and using 2N2222A metal can transistors instead of the 2N5088 on the schematics.
I tried a lot of different transistor pairs before settling on the 2222A. I found a couple combinations that sounded more or less the same, and one combo that sounded markedly better, but the output was too low. Adam has a suggestion for increasing the gain, so I'm going to try that on the next one, with the other transistor pair.
And since you're curious now, [here's an MP3](https://web.archive.org/web/2005/http://www.analogindustries.com/samples/super_test.mp3), which I hope you'll listen to with the understanding that I'm not the world's greatest guitar player. The chain is Parker Fly on neck+middle, to the Super Fucker, to a TL Audio tube pre, straight in to my MOTU 896. I'm using Amplitude on the 800 Clean preset. The first little riff is without the pedal, then with.
---
## Making The Super Fucker, Pt. 1
- Date: 2005-11-30
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/11/making-the-super-fucker-pt-1/
You're looking at the parts pile for today's project, the Analog Industries Super Fucker pedal. I started with the normal EH Muff Fuzz design, then made some changes to account for the vintage parts I'll be using (from my hoard purchased a couple weeks ago). I ordered everything from Small Bear, including that nice cream-colored chickenhead knob. The first order of business will be to drill the case and paint it. I'll be applying the Super Fucker legend via decal, then I'll build the electronics on protoboard.
---
## Edward The Compressor...
- Date: 2005-11-30
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/11/edward-the-compressor/
Don't know how I missed this, but I just came across the TFPro [Edward The Compressor,](http://www.tfpro.com/products/p8info.php) a multiple architecture compressor for what I think is a not-too-bad price. You can select VCA, 1176, LA2A, and "Green Box" (which is the original JoeMeek compressor) modes of operation. Since the "TF" in TFPro is Ted Fletcher, the original designer of the JoeMeek SC2, that would probably explain its inclusion in the same sentence with the 1176 and LA2A.
In any case, this is an interesting concept, and while $1700 may seem a little steep for a stereo compressor, you are, in effect, getting four different compressors for the price of one. Worth checking out, but I'd rent it before I bought, if I was you.
---
## Back, and better than ever...
- Date: 2005-11-30
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/11/back-and-better-than-ever/
Okay, I'm back from "vacation" (and I use that term with the loosest of all possible conotations). A whole mess of DIY stuff showed up while I was gone. I've got the parts I ordered from Small Bear to build my Analog Industries Super Fucker pedal, which should be entertainingly painful. I've got my PCB from Music From Outer Space to build the Soundlab Mini Synth. I've got all the parts from Mouser for same.
So, some serious DIY is in store for this week. I'll warm up the Weller and get to work, just as soon as I figure out where the hell I'm going to put this Wurlitzer. I also have to read a week's worth of entries on all the industry news pages I normally peruse. That's gonna be fun. "Roland Releases Yet Another Piece Of Black Plastic With Virtual Good Stuff In It. Film At Eleven."
---
## Hard-Core Gear Porn Friday!!! (Mini Vacation Edition)
- Date: 2005-11-26
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/11/hard-core-gear-porn-friday-mini-vacation-edition/
Sorry for not having a massive Wall O' Modular today, but I'm on vacation and my priorities are all ass-backwards. However, I picked up the Oberheim Matrix 6 today, so here's a snap of my little guest bedroom keyboard rig I've aquired in my two days in Phoenix. The in-laws are much amused. ("What do you need two keyboards for? Why are they so old? They look all beat up. Don't you want a new keyboard? They have new keyboards at Circuit City." Etc. Etc. Etc.)
---
## Behold the mighty Wurlitzer 112!!!
- Date: 2005-11-24
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/11/behold-the-mighty-wurlitzer-112/
I'm posting from Fountain something or other, Arizona today. (It's a suburb of Phoenix. Fountain Hills? Something like that.) I drove over to my good friend [Mike Fisher's](http://www.amishrakefight.com/) house to pick up a Wurlitzer 112 electric piano. Man, this thing is a joy to play. Other than a slightly scratchy volume pot, and some wear on the corners, this bad boy is in top form. I can't wait to get home and start laying down tracks with it. Between the Wurlitzer Sideman and this, I have most of the tools an electronic band c. 1959 would be rocking the proto-rave with.
Tomorrow, I'm picking up a Matrix 6. Don't know what's in store with that, but it'll be a good start for my six-voice CEM synths collection I spoke of the other day. That should be ridiculous.
---
## Vacation Time...
- Date: 2005-11-22
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/11/vacation-time/
Well, not a vacation so much, but I'll be gone from now until Tuesday next. My wife and I are driving to Phoenix for the Thanksgiving holiday, so I'll be posting infrequently for this week.
For my readers not in the United States, Thanksgiving is an American holiday where we rejoice in the fact that Indians were quite succeptable to smallpox when we caucasians first got here. And the second half of that thought is that, for those of you that live in smaller countries, the distance from Western Oregon (where I live) to Southern Arizona (where we're going) is about 1270 miles, or 2040 kilometers. The interesting thing to note here is that both states are in the Western part of this great nation, and there is only one state between Oregon and Arizona.
America is a large country.
A spot of fun news, though: I'll be picking up a Wurlitzer 102 electric piano in Phoenix. It is in minty fresh condition, and will become the Hub of my Analog Lifestyle. Pictures and such when I get a moment.
---
## Here's something you don't see every day...
- Date: 2005-11-21
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/11/heres-something-you-dont-see-every-day/
It seems that a new company called [Bricasti Design](http://www.bricasti.com/) is actually releasing a hardware reverb, the M7. It is rather unusual for a hardware 'verb to come from someone besides TC, Lexicon, or Yamaha, so I thought it worth mentioning here. The website has the specs and it looks pretty tasty. Obviously, we're just pissing in the wind until someone actually hears it, but the specs look nice enough. No price yet, but according to them, the first units will be available in January. I'm going to guess around $1500 or more, just from the tooling on the front panel. Perhaps they'll be at NAMM and I can check it out there.
**
UPDATE:** Apparently, the lead designer of this bad boy is the guy that designed the Lexicon 480L. So the company has some cred. The unit will be $3000+ when it is released, so it better be God's Own Gift to reverb, because I could get two Eventide 2016s for that.
---
## Live 5 Caveat...
- Date: 2005-11-20
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/11/live-5-caveat/
Since this seemed to start a dull roar in my inbox from all my peers who think I'm hitting the pipe, let me state for the record that there is no way one could possibly record and mix "real" music in Live 5. For starters, the meters are nearly useless. There's no phase button, which implies that all Live users only own one microphone. The built-in EQ is whack, and the program and its various plugs are much heavier on the CPU than equivalent shit in Nuendo.
Also, I don't know how to explain this, but there seems to be some second-order distortion in \_everything\_. Every sound I record or import seems to develop soft edges and fuzziness that I can't explain. I thought it might be the audio interface, so I put it on my Big Box (Death Star) as opposed to my laptop (Tie Fighter), and it's the same thing. So all the above, plus the annoying manner in which Live handles presets for its built-in stuff, would keep me from ever finding it useful for writing "songs." But as a really sophisticated part of my modular, it is great fun. And I imagine it would be good live, as the name implies.
Your mileage may vary, of course. It's no Nuendo, but then again it costs a fifth as much.
---
## New Metasonix Anal Tube Vortex (or something like that)
- Date: 2005-11-20
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/11/new-metasonix-anal-tube-vortex-or-something-like-that/
Pictured is the latest from Metasonix, the S1000 "Wretch Machine," hot from the floor of the [Vacuum Tube Valley Expo](http://www.vacuumtube.com/vtv%20news.htm). It will have an MSRP of $2500. According to the literature, it is all-tube, all discrete, Hz/V operation, with an optional MIDI-CV interface for another three bangers. No info on the Metasonix site yet, but I'm sure some incredibly foul imagery will be forthcoming shortly.
---
## DIY MIDI Controllers For Fun And Profit!
- Date: 2005-11-20
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/11/diy-midi-controllers-for-fun-and-profit/
Okay, this is going to be a somewhat convoluted tale, so try to bear with me here. Our label just signed this fellow from Chicago (more on that when it is appropriate) and his prefered method of working is with Live. Since [Wade](http://www.theatomicaproject.com/) and I will be doing a certain amount of production on the resulting album, I thought it not a bad idea that we spend a little more time with Live. I have it, but I'd only really used it for testing Audio Damage stuff. I did one show with it back when it was in 2.0 land, and decided it wasn't for me.
So, I put Live 5 on my HP laptop, which is my main Road Machine I've talked about at length in previous entries. This laptop is heavily tied in to my modular, so my experiments with Live 5 as an actual working tool today were based around that, rather than a loop fest which is what would occur if I had have done this on my main music computer. Since I don't really have any loops on my laptop, I started out by just poking some sounds in using the loop recording tool in Live.
That was around noon yesterday. Since then, except for a brief break to sleep and get the oil changed on my Jeep (not simultanously, I'll add) I've been rocking this setup. Let me just say that I've become a True Believer. With version 5, Live is finally ready for Prime Time. I don't mean any offense to the Ableton guys, as I think they've always made an imaginative and useful product. However, it just wasn't for me. Didn't fit in my world. Whatever. Well, all that has changed, and I've actually thought up a couple new modules for my modular based upon having Live 5 in with it.
So, you're wondering if there's a point to this post anywhere in your future. Well, yes, as a matter of fact. Pictured above you'll see a controller made by my good friend [Mike Fisher.](http://www.amishrakefight.com/) It is one of several featured on the [Doepfer](http://www.doepfer.de/Controller_Fisher.htm) site that were created using Doepfer's Pocket Electronic series of DIY MIDI modules. Mike made this controller for working with Live specifically, and the giant video game buttons are intended for easy visibility during a (dark) stage performance.
One of the modules I've been thinking of making for my system would have, say, 3 or 4 large knobs and a couple buttons, and would be just for sending MIDI CC to Live. It's kind of an odd way to do things, but it would make more sense than buying one of those crappy throw-away Evolution controllers or something, and it would be right in my modular. Has any of my dear readers done something like this? Or is there an already-existing Frac-Rack module that sends MIDI CC that I don't know about?
---
## Hard-Core Gear Porn Friday!!!
- Date: 2005-11-18
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/11/hard-core-gear-porn-friday-3/
One of the AI readers, Phil Hendricks of Seattle, sent me pictures of his current rig, and as soon as I saw them, I knew my HCGP issues were solved, at least for this week. Pictured above, you can see Phil's Wall O' Korg, including an MS10, two MS20s, an SQ10, and an MS50. Ouch. A Minimoog D, a Roland Expander 102 (I think), an ARP Odyssey, what I believe is one of the Realistic Moogs, and a few various vintage effects. To the right, you can see some Moog modular bits. I'm embarassed to say I don't recongize the blue modular. I thought it was Emu at first, but that stuff is silver. It's not dark blue enough to be a PPG modular. I assume Phil will fill us in shortly.
Here's his vintage/current/boutique pedal collection. Lots of fun stuff here. Note the Realistic Electronic Reverb. No quality studio lacks one. I have two, of course, for double the quality.
Here's where Phil is trying to score brownie points off of me. But I can't be bought! A tasteful little collection, there. Can't go wrong with a K2K. Can't go wrong with an Emax II HD. Can't go wrong with an Evolver. In short, you can't go wrong.
And last but not least, Phil's modern modular setup, because whatever that blue thing is, whatever that silver thing is, the Moog modules, and that ARP 2600 in the corner simply aren't enough. Lots of Blacet, some Wiard, some MetalBox, lots of EuroRack. However, we see these sorts of rigs all the time. What Phil gets extra credit for is his taste in effects units. A PAiA vocoder, a Metasonix Hellfire Modulator, and a couple other pieces make for nice weirdness, but the cream of the crop is that blue box on the right, the Deltalab pitch-shifter. I believe that's an MXR Pitch Transposer there, as well, but I might be wrong on that.
In any case, hopefully Phil will pop on and let us know what the other pieces of note are.
---
## The Long Song...
- Date: 2005-11-17
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/11/the-long-song/
Over at Positron! Records, the parent site of Analog Industries, we do a [bi-monthly podcast](http://www.kposi.com/) that usually contains either music from the Positron! Catalog or unreleased material by the various members of the Positron! Galaxy Of Stars.
For some reason, for the new podcast, I got a wild hare (hair? I'm pretty sure it's a hare, not a hair) up my ass to do a single 30-minute song. I wrote it over two days, and recorded it in a single pass, which also included the "live" vocoder and keyboard parts, which I played during the pass. A couple edits later, and it was done. It ended up being 23 minutes long, because I took out a section which didn't work.
This was an interesting way to work; I normally spend several weeks on each track, so it was odd to just blast away at such a long piece of music. I think it ended up being pretty good, all things considered. I change keys several times during the track, but stay at the same brisk tempo (170) except a couple parts where I drop to half-time. (Back in my punk days, these would be the "mosh" sections.) I had to pre-record most of the modular stuff, because my modular isn't big enough to hold more than one sophisticated patch.
But all that aside, when you're used to working in the three to four minute neck of the woods, actually setting out to write a track that is a half hour long, especially at such a clip, isn't too easy. A good brain-stretching exercise.
---
## P2K In the Hiz-Nouse...
- Date: 2005-11-17
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/11/p2k-in-the-hiz-nouse/
Got my shiney new (old) Prophet 2000 today. It is in 100% perfect working order, and is actually about 9/10 cosmetically. Since I plan to mainly use this as a controller, and not a sampler (what an old-fashioned term that is...) I was mostly concerned with the keybed and how it played. Man, these guys knew how to build 'em.
This box definitely has one of the all-time great keybeds. Just enough sponge to feel firm, but it's not too hard on the fingers for someone not piano-trained. The much-lauded filters are typical CEM. Nothing to write home about, I don't think. If I had this unit back in the day when I cared about samplers, I would have no doubt been pleased. I inexplicably went the S-50 route, and graduated from that to an Emax 2 HD, so I missed out on the Prophet 2000 Bus. I did use a Prophet 3000 quite a bit in the early nineties, but it was buggy and kind of dated for the time I was using it.
I tried throwing in and mapping some samples just for fun. Easy as pie, and it is smooth on the ears, I'll grant that.
---
## Questions I have...
- Date: 2005-11-16
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/11/questions-i-have/
In no particular order:
1\. [Who gives a fuck?](http://proaudio.zicos.com/out.php?i=326098) They're titties. Half the human race has them, and the other half wants to touch them. Get over yourself, you prude little bitch.
2\. Why is the Sweetwater [Word For The Day](http://www.sweetwater.com/insync/index.php?find=11/15/2005) almost always two or more words? Shouldn't it be the "Phrase For The Day" then?
3\. [Didn't you get the memo?](http://www.futuremusic.com/news/november2005/sonybmgspyware.html) On the one hand, I feel kind of sorry for the Sony artists, who obviously weren't in the loop on this. On the other, AFAICT there's only one artist on Sony worth a shit, and that's [Ryuichi Sakamoto.](http://www.sitesakamoto.com/home.html) If anyone knows who holds the domestic rights to the first YMO, drop me a line. I'd be glad to press it for USA distro.
4\. [Where's the damned demo?](http://www.princetondigital.com/PD4/products/srvst) If you guys didn't use PACE, your lives would be easier. So would ours. Rock that shit right proper, with a simple serial. You're not stopping anybody from stealing it, and you're punishing honest consumers. See #3 above.
I know, regarding item #1, that I said I wouldn't do that, but I just can't sit idly by, while people who might not know better actually use that website as some sort of resource for information.
---
## SoundLab MiniSynth in the queue...
- Date: 2005-11-15
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/11/soundlab-minisynth-in-the-queue/
I know I threatened to build an [MFOS](http://www.musicfromouterspace.com/) Sound Lab Mini Synth several months ago, but time has not been permitting. Between FIA World Rally, Battlestar Galactica, and Rome, I've been far too busy watching TV to be bothered with building things. But now that sweeps week is upon us, I'll have at least a couple months of repeats, and it's time to address my backlog of PCBs, and the fact that none of them have shit stuck to them.
So, first up is the MiniSynth. The hardest part of this project, like all projects, is ordering the fucking capacitors. Someone at Tiny Shit, Inc. needs to get their business in order and make some sense of capacitors. Not only are there like 25 different kinds, but they're mutually incompatible, and the numbering system is just about the stupidest thing I've ever come across. You'd think it would occur to someone that it's just as easy to write .001 mf as it is to write 1000 pf. Get that shit straight, people!
In any case, that stressful bullshit is done with, and now it's just to wait for the box, and building will commence. It probably took me longer to enter all the caps in to the Mouser order than it will to stuff the damned thing, truth be told. I wasn't too thrilled with the panel designs on the MFOS site so I took the liberty of making my own panel, which is pictured above. I figured since the numbers on the knobs were almost completely (but not entirely) arbitrary, there was no real point in having them. So I lost those, came up with a snazzy little hash for the knobs, and moved the VCF stuff down to the bottom. I figure those are the knobs that get grabbed most often, so they shouldn't be in the middle of a bunch of stuff you might not want to bump.
Anyways, I should have this done by this weekend, FedEx Gods permitting. Photos as progress is made.
---
## Viral Marketing 101
- Date: 2005-11-14
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/11/viral-marketing-101/
So TC Electronics just put up [an interview](http://www.tcelectronic.com/Default.asp?Id=7083) with Jon Burton, the FOH engineer for The Prodigy. If you look closely at the photo above, which heads the interview, you'll notice that what's on the screen is pointedly \_not\_ a PowerCore plugin, but rather our own little [DubStation.](http://www.audiodamage.com/l33t/product_info.php?cPath=1&products_id=9)
Jon also mentions us in the interview, which is really nice of him. To wit: _“A lot of bands are experimenting with using software live, essentially trying to translate the song material into a live format. This doesn't always work” - Jon Burton explains - “because a lot of software plug-ins simply aren't good enough. Only within the last year, things have started to improve with the PowerCore platform and stuff like the Audio Damage plug-ins.”_
It's nice to be held in such lofty company, I'll grant. I'll also note that Jon purchased all our products; we didn't give him anything for free for the mentions. He uses DubStation and Discord for live vocal processing.
---
## The true definition of the word "fucktard"
- Date: 2005-11-14
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/11/the-true-definition-of-the-word-fucktard/
[](http://portland.craigslist.org/msg/110986255.html)
---
## Audio Damage Phase Two screen-shot...
- Date: 2005-11-13
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/11/audio-damage-phase-two-screen-shot/
Here is a screen shot of the final UI for Phase Two. If you click [here](https://analogindustries.com/samples/phase_2_big.jpg), you can see it in full resolution. As you can see, we've stayed more or less true to the original. The only difference is that instead of the "PED" mod source, we've made it so you can assign any MIDI CC to that setting. Otherwise, it is pretty much exactly the same as the real thing. Still a few weeks away from being done on this.
---
## Anyone need something _really_ ridiculous?
- Date: 2005-11-13
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/11/anyone-need-something-really-ridiculous/
From the Portland Craig's List: [this ad](http://portland.craigslist.org/msg/110926388.html) for a Yamaha DX-5. Don't see those around too often, and this seems to be in pretty good shape. $575 and a forklift takes it home. Quite frankly, I wouldn't mind having one of these, if only for the conversation value. "Why don't you just have two DX7s?"
Might be a good addition to our theoretical Vintage Digital studio.
---
## Lots of Logic...
- Date: 2005-11-13
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/11/lots-of-logic/
Ho, ho, ho. I bet you thought I was going to go off on one of my thrice-yearly rants about Logic! No such luck. What we have here is a big fat pile of logic chips, plus a metric fuckload of germanium (and silicon too) transistors and a bunch of LEDs, as well as a mess of other shit too prosaic to mention. I purchased this Pandora's Box for the low price of $10.00 at a yard sale.
The short version of this story is that you can expect my DIY output to increase significantly in the next couple weeks as I start a Fuzz Face assembly line.
---
## TechnoMage LIFE 2...
- Date: 2005-11-13
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/11/technomage-life-2/
I assume you all remember the little LIFE gizmo that TechnoMage made a couple years back. Well, snappa just hipped me to the fact that there is a [LIFE 2](http://www.technomage.freeserve.co.uk/life2.htm) in the works.
I tend to start looking for the exit sign when I hear the phrase "breaking down the barriers between performer and instrument" or anything that could conceivably fit in that paradigm, but setting aside the "organic, unexpected, subtle, ambient, hypnotic, analogue" descriptors for a moment, and accepting that this is just a little synth with no keyboard and no labels on the knobs, and it does look like it could be fun. The TechnoMage website isn't very explicit on what hoops one would have to jump through to aquire one of these little beasties; I assume they're for sale somewhere.
---
## Mmmmm, nice...
- Date: 2005-11-12
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/11/mmmmm-nice/
I was thinking the other day that it would be interesting to have a collection of the various 6-voice synth-on-a-chip analogs. My mental list included the SCI Prophet 600, Korg PolySix, and Roland Juno 60. (I've owned the latter; one of my favorites.) Lo and hark, in my email today I get a missive from Analog Haven, informing me that their used gear selection is [now online.](http://www.analoguehaven.com/used/) And what do we have but that beauty of a 600 for $499.
I think this is his way of getting me to start fasting or something. I've been looking at that page all day and thinking "now, how can I talk my wife in to letting me buy this?" I know that 600s come up here and there for less than that, but quite frankly, in this day and age, I'd be more than happy to send an extra banger to Analog Haven just for the fact that I know I'll eventually get a working synth in the mail.
---
## New TC plugs are food for thought...
- Date: 2005-11-11
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/11/new-tc-plugs-are-food-for-thought/
TC announced a couple new PoCo plugs today, and in doing so, also announced their [new UI initiative.](http://www.tcelectronic.com/Mint) This is a subject that is near and dear to my heart, so I have a bit to say on the subject. (What are the odds?)
When you're making plug-ins, you have to decide if you want to do a hardware look or a look that takes advantage of the environment (i.e. a computer screen. I've found that, in general, people prefer the former. I haven't really explored something like the Fabrik C pictured above, but I've gazed longingly at the System 6000 stuff for some time. The two schools of thought are, in my opinion, as follows:
**The Hardware School** states that a device that does a particular thing is more intuitive if it looks like the hardware.
**The Modern School** states that it's stupid to make a piece of software look like hardware, when it's on a damned computer screen.
Now, when we're doing something like Phase Two, which exists in the Real World as the Mutron Bi-Phase, logic would dictate that we make the UI as similar to the real thing as possible. (Which we've done.) But for something like [Filterscape](http://www.filterscape.com/) it makes sense to take advantage of the computer paradigm. (IMO, Filterscape is the single best modern UI there is.)
Speaking just to the email on the subject I've received, most people prefer hardware looking plug-ins to modern looking ones. I've done a bit of meandering in the AD product line before I settled on our current cartoonish hardware look, which I feel takes advantage of the computer environment, but still keeps an intuitive hardware feel to things. To get a good cel-shaded 3D look, I obviously need to tilt the hardware a bit, and this won't work for something like Ronin.
Anyways, I'm just thinking out loud. What do you guys feel? Is something like the new TC plugins and their uber-modern interface better than something like DubStation and its simple, cartoonish UI?
---
## Hard-Core Gear Porn Friday!!!
- Date: 2005-11-11
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/11/hard-core-gear-porn-friday-2/
This is a special edition of Hard-Core Gear Porn Friday, where we bring it on home. Yup, one of our own is featured this week. Here you see the birthplace of all things Audio Damage, the studio/office of a certain Adam Schabtach. Thankfully, I talked him in to selling his Mackie mixer recently, else I'd have to make fun of him, and I'm reasonably certain that wouldn't Increase Shareholder Value. In any case, you can see Adam's Monster MOTM and DIY Modular hovering in the corner. In the rack on the left are various and sundry Devices of the sort that are frequently used for making and/or effecting sound.
Under the red 'n' white flag/cozy is our Bi-Phase, from the loins of which sprang the soon-to-arrive bouncing baby Phase Two. You'll just have to trust me on that. Adam and I are both of the "you can never have too many computers" school of thought. You'll note there are three CPUs in the photo (just behind the Bi-Phase is a Thermaltake Tower Of Power.) That's the half of the room that \_doesn't\_ have a lot of computers in it. When I finally show you my studio, you'll be stunned stupid by the shear volume of computers I have. It's slightly ridiculous.
Anyways, that's what it looks like when you stay at home working on plug-ins all day. My studio is similar. My modular is smaller, and there's less cabling running hither and yon, but everything is covered with a fine film of cigarette ash. You take the good with the bad.
---
## Great...
- Date: 2005-11-11
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/11/great/
You'll probably only see this in the RSS feeds, but colossus.positronrecords.com, one of our two servers, is experiencing some "issues," of the sort that are probably best solved by whacking it firmly on the side. I've filed a trouble ticket to request just such a whacking, but we're in and out until this gets solved. Sorry for the troubles.
---
## Audio Damage Phase Two samples...
- Date: 2005-11-11
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/11/audio-damage-phase-two-samples/
Okay, we're now in the possession of a more-or-less fully working Phase Two plug-in, just to keep everyone in the loop. I have to say that this is the most liquid-sounding phaser plug-in I've ever heard. That's not to toot our own horn or anything; we're cloning someone else's design, obviously. But the Mutron guys knew a thing or two about phasers, let me state for the record.
Anyways, here's what you've been waiting for: [This](https://web.archive.org/web/2005/http://www.analogindustries.com/samples/bigsynth_without.mp3) is an MP3 of a Chameleon patch whonking away, and [this](https://web.archive.org/web/2005/http://www.analogindustries.com/samples/bigsynth_with.mp3) is that same line with Phase Two at the end of the chain. Obviously, this is a bog-standard phasing kind of thing. Phase Two, like the original Mutron box, is capable of some special effects. We're pretty proud of this one; there is no doubt that it is one of the coolest things we've made.
Things left to do? Many. Gotta shoehorn the UI in there. Gotta "optimize." Gotta get it working on both platforms and both formats. Gotta get it out to our long-suffering beta-testers. But we're definitely in the home stretch now. I'll put up a screen shot in the near future.
---
## The Joy Of Being A Professional Musician...
- Date: 2005-11-10
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/11/the-joy-of-being-a-professional-musician/
So, I had the opportunity to pick up a contract job today for a rather largish Interweb Company. It was a bit outside my pervue (which is basically fucked-up drumbeats and modular synth squonks, for want of better descriptors) but any port in a storm, I always say, and the ducats were there so I took the job.
Six hours later, I'd pretty much given up, and it was actually over a relatively minor point. (That's a double entendre, which you'll figure out in a minute.) See, I'm a self-taught musician; never had a lesson. I can play keyboards pretty well, and can get by on several other instruments enough to where it sounds like I can play 'em with a little editing/quantizing/Autotune/etc. However, today I ran in to a brick wall, and learned my limits. You see, the piece of music that was required was in a major key.
Now, that doesn't sound like a big deal, really. I mean, just hit the white ones, right? The problem is that I've been doing _this_ (whatever the hell that is) for nigh-on 20 years now, and I've just figured out that every single one of the couple hundred songs I've penned, published, and put on wax are in minor keys. Today, inexplicably, is the first time I've ever tried to write in a major. And it wasn't just any major, but C Major, the Key Of Victory. The People's Key. A Worker's Paradise.
The first album I ever bought was Joe Jackson's "Look Sharp." I'm a child of post-punk. I don't like or listen to pop music. My two favorite bands are Neubauten and Underworld. I just have no fucking experience with C Major. It's outside my realm of expertise. An alien world, where men run around in fields of daisies with no shirts on, rubbing honey on their nipples and singing happy songs, while the women hang out the wash and have children simultaneously. It is, to not put too fine a point on it, fucking played.
So, I had to give this job up, because I couldn't come up with a leitmotif that I could stand to play for the client without shuffling around the room in mute embarassment. I'm sure some people (hell, lots of people) have a knack for this sort of thing, but I'm not too proud to admit that I'm not one of them. The moral of the story? It's never too late to say you just can't pull something off. I'm not saying that you should think you have limits; I'm just saying that it's a bit shocking when you hit them, and a little fucking weird.
(Before you post, I know that Neubauten has one song in C Major; I don't care for it, so put that in your pipe and fire up.)
---
## SCI Prophet 2000
- Date: 2005-11-09
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/11/sci-prophet-2000/
If you recall, a couple weeks ago I was pining about my controller keyboard, and after some research/whining/pondering, had decided on an Ensoniq ESQ1 or SQ80 as a viable replacement. I've been searching for one that was both presentable, condition-wise, and attainable (as in "not in Europe".) Not having had a lot of luck in that regard, my eye began wandering, and yesterday I came across a posting on AH for a Prophet 2000.
While it is intrinsically the same thing as an ESQ-1 (eight voices, CEM filters and VCAs with digital VCOs) it does have a couple other things going for it which the ESQ-1 and SQ80 lack. First up, it is a Sequential Circuits product, and thus has Mojo, which Ensoniq most definitely does not. Second, it samples.
I bought it from the same fellow that sold us the Mutron Bi-Phase for cloning purposes, so I already know he's a good packer and reputable person. So we're in good shape all around. It'll be here in a couple days, and I'll give a full Vintage Review. I'm quite familiar with the much rarer Prophet 3000 sampler, but I can't remember ever having used one of these, so I'm a little excited to see what's what.
(On a side note, I'm still looking for a SCI Pro-FX rack, if you know of one.)
---
## He's Mr. Hundred And One...
- Date: 2005-11-08
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/11/hes-mr-hundred-and-one/
Actually, it occurs to me that our foreign readers won't get the reference in the title. Neither will anyone under the age of, say, 25. So it's pointless, really. But that aside, meet Mr. Heatmiser. Above is his brain, prior to hooking up leads. It only took about 20 minutes to make, and that's with messing a couple things up. The second one will probably take half that.
Here's the centerfold. (I originally typed "here's the split-beaver shot," but I couldn't bring myself to say it. "Centerfold" seemed like an altogether better alternative.) You'll note that I didn't use the original cloth-covered power cord like I intended. The fact is that it was just too nasty, and I didn't trust it. The power supply is a bog-standard Radio Shack 12V 500ma model, right off the shelf. Nothing to see here. Move along...
Here's the money shot. I found, in using it, that it really sounded much better with effects/pedals than without. Dry, it is really plonky and muddy. After some experimentation, I found that Parker->DOD Classic Tube pedal->Univox EC100 (which you see in the picture) actually sounded really fucking good. I'll make some samples tomorrow, when I figure out the best micing technique for this little fucker. It is much louder than I thought it would be, I'll say that much.
Total cost was $13.00 for the parts from Small Bear, $14.95 for the speaker, and $3.00 for the heater.
---
## The Manual Now Online...
- Date: 2005-11-07
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/11/the-manual-now-online/
Okay, don't say I never gave you anything. The KLF has put the entirety of their famous book [The Manual](http://www.klf.de/online/books/bytheklf/manual.htm) (Or How To Have A Number One The Easy Way) up on their web page. Read this. Print it out and read it again. Memorize it. Seriously, this book is The Shit.
---
## A (former) Competitor to Zimmerland...
- Date: 2005-11-07
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/11/a-former-competitor-to-zimmerland/
[Here is a Japanese site](http://sonar.web.infoseek.co.jp/rendoh/rendoh_himitsukichi.htm) that has a mess of photos of the old Turnkey analog room in London. I'm not even going to try, really. It's too much. Here's a map of the room:
That's getting in to "Holy fucking shit" territory. It has all been sold off, and the room no longer exists, which is for the better. Note that the "Moog" above the Emu modular is actually an Elector Formant. Thanks to rasmus\_nyaker for the link.
---
## Daft vintage computer music
- Date: 2005-11-06
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/11/daft-vintage-computer-music/
Okay, maybe not that daft, but at least a little bit daft. Check out the second entry on [Basic Hip](http://www.basichip.com/) for an MP3-ified album from god-only-knows when. It was created by four PhD guys (two from Bell Labs) on an IBM 7090 computer. Check out track three for some serious HAL flashbacks, and some fun sound effects on track ten.
---
## A Hard-Core Gear Porn Extra Edition...
- Date: 2005-11-05
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/11/a-hard-core-gear-porn-extra-edition/
Like an onion, make you cry. This is the \_home\_ studio of a certain echorec, a member-in-good-standing of the Gearslutz Krew. The pictures were posted in [this thread,](http://www.gearslutz.com/board/showthread.php3?t=47857) where you can see them in all their full-res glory. I don't even need to talk about his gear, as the picture does it all. But wait, there's more. He's got quite a collection of synths, guitar amps, and guitars, too. Check it:
Oh, that just plain hurts.
---
## For fuck's sake...
- Date: 2005-11-05
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/11/for-fucks-sake/
I don't know who this is, or why he has so many Marshalls, but it's a funny pic. Anyone know the story on this dude?
---
## Hard-Core Gear Porn Friday!!!
- Date: 2005-11-04
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/11/hard-core-gear-porn-friday/
For a change of pace, I thought I'd show a smaller home studio that was actually obtainable, rather than some multi-million dollar Fiesta Del Gear. The tasteful rig above belongs to [Matthew Stretta,](http://www.stretta.com/~matthew/resources/studio/index.html) and is a good example of a well-thought-out collection of analog and digital synths that will get you pretty much any sound you might need.
The first thing to note is that he has two of the Holy Trinity, the Prophet 5 and the Memorymoog. A Voyager holds pride of place, obviously, and the excellent Kurzweil is doing controller duties, it would seem. In the rack to the left, he's got a Focusrite stereo input strip, an Ensoniq DP4 (I tend to look suspiciously at these, but some people swear they have mojo, so I'll let it slide), a Blacet rack with a Wiard joystick, the breakouts for the Voyager, six racks of Euro modules, two Frostwave Fat controllers, and a Moogerfooger.
Since this is such a good collection of sound-generating devices, I'll pointedly ignore that little grey mixer next to the Voyager, or whatever the hell that black plastic synth is on top. But just because there's room for improvement is no reason to go jumping all around. This is a good rig, and anyone would be proud of it. More pics of the rest of his room at his site.
---
## 907A Now available...
- Date: 2005-11-04
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/11/907a-now-available/
Just a quick note to say that the 907A Fixed Filter Bank is now available for purchase at the [Audio Damage site](http://www.audiodamage.com/l33t/product_info.php?cPath=1&products_id=11). It is $29.00 for OSX VST/AU and Windows VST, and is the bee's knees, if we do say so ourselves. Go get yourself one. Seriously.
---
## Some new additions to the family...
- Date: 2005-11-03
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/11/some-new-additions-to-the-family/
Here's a picture of the modules I completed this morning; on the right is my I/O Module, which has breakout points for my MIDI->CV interface. There are also two ins and two outs which go to an ESI 2|6, attached to a laptop. In this way, I can use Reaktor or whatever in with modular patches.
To the immediate left, you'll see my Joystick Controller V2. (V1 was poorly designed, and did not survive two years of touring.) It is basically exactly the same as the [Wiard](http://www.wiard.com/) joystick module.
So, the top row of my modular is filling up, slowly but surely. Next on the agenda are the Spring Reverb module, my self-designed aux send module, and the [CGS](http://cgs.synth.net/) Dual LFO. I have the latter already built; I just need the panel for it. Lots of panel-werk on that one, so I've been putting it off.
---
## Oh, Dear sweet baby Debbil
- Date: 2005-11-03
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/11/oh-dear-sweet-baby-debbil/
Joe Kearny writes to inform us all that either he has an active imagination, or the Wurlitzer Sideman is actually an undisclosed holding facility where Satan is kept. Truth or fact? You be the judge.
---
## Oh, Dear sweet baby Jeebus...
- Date: 2005-11-03
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/11/oh-dear-sweet-baby-jeebus/
Welcome to my nightmare. That's a photo of the inside of the synth section of the Sideman. It is all point-to-point. Somewhere in that rat's nest of components is a ground loop. I think this might be a job for a professional.
---
## Battle: Ruby
- Date: 2005-11-03
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/11/battle-ruby/
Our friend [inverseroom](http://www.jrobertlennon.com/disc.htm) just finished his second Ruby-based amp, with blue crushed velvet, natch. I don't know if this trumps my HeatMiser model; I'll leave that to you to decide. But it is pretty fucking fly, no doubt. I still haven't received my parts from Small Dog yet, so I can't build mine, and thus he wins the battle almost by default.
However, once the HeatMiser is done, I have a new one in mind which will no doubt absolutely take heads off. Make no mistake: I will not be bested.
---
## The Wurlitzer Sideman...
- Date: 2005-11-03
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/11/the-wurlitzer-sideman/
Now, I'll grant that its usefulness is seriously outweighed by its historical significance (I don't find myself often needing one Foxtrot beat, let alone two) but I ran across one of these today at Portland Music, and I simply couldn't pass it up. $99 and a car ride later, the World's First Drum Machine is sitting in my studio.
Of course, it is also worth mentioning that the Sideman is actually the World's Second Drum Machine. The First title officially goes to the Chamberlin Model 100 Rhythmate, which came out in 1949. But the Chamberlin box was kind of like the Vikings discovering America first. When Columbus discovered it, it stayed discovered.
Here's the Disk Of Rhythmic Doom, which is where the Beguine begins, if I may be so bold. It is actually quite crafty in its construction. The tempo is varied by physically moving the rubber wheel that drives this disk from the outer edge (slow) in towards the center (faster). The rhythm itself is selected by a monster rotary switch that has (I shit you not) 12 decks. The deck selected by the rotary switch determines which of the diverse instrument sounds (viz. Tom I, Temple Block II, Clave, et al) is allowed to escape during any particular tick of the contact wheel.
The other thing you'll notice in the top picture are the momentary switches along the right side. These will shit out the appropriate drum sound on cue, should you desire to jam along with the Foxtrot. (Not as easy as it sounds, I've just discovered.)
Here's a pic of the amplifier, with its gently glowing compliment of t00bs. There are one 10" and two 3" speakers pooping out Foxtrots. This paritcular unit, which I nearly burst a disk getting out of my Jeep, works fine with the exception of a 120Hz hum, which means to me the filter cap in the tube amp needs to be replaced. The most interesting thing about it is that the "synth" section, for want of a better word, is mostly tube as well. There are 9 tube oscillators for making the various drum sounds in the synth section. There is a single shielded cable that goes from the synth to the amp, and it enters the amp via an RCA connector. This leads me to believe that I should have a relatively easy time sampling it without having to mic it up. We'll see how that goes in a minute.
It needs some cosmetic work, as well, but it is in surprisingly good condition considering it is 47 years old. The simple fact that it works like a charm (other than the cap) speaks volumes to the craftsmanship of the people that made it. The brass lever contraption that controls the tempo alone is as complicated as any modern synthesizer. Electrical engineers didn't design this thing. Normal engineers (the kind that make bridges and elevators) did.
**
UPDATE:** I've discovered, to my considerable dismay, that the hum originates in the synth section. It is a straight--up 60Hz mains hum, which means there's a ground loop somewhere. That's a drag; one look inside the "synth" part of the instrument sent me running outside, gasping for air. Since it's all t00b, it is high-voltage city, with big fat 50s-era capacitors everywhere you look, holding (no doubt) lethal doses of DC just waiting for the brush of a finger to unload their Ninja-like powers of destruction. However, the hum is easily defeated with the excellent Waves X-Hum plug, so I can at least sample and use this box without having to perform surgery.
**UPDATE 2:** Since you are no doubt curious as to what this thing sounds like, I've made [an MP3](https://web.archive.org/web/2005/http://www.analogindustries.com/samples/wurlitzer_sideman.mp3) of this bitch in action. I'm jamming (for want of a more better descriptor) on the Foxtrot section of things, which has quite a few variations, what with its multiple controls. I've just added Waves X-Hum to kill the 60-cycle noise, which is extreme. I experimented with X-Noise to get rid of the other buzzies, but I couldn't come up with anything that really got rid of it and still let the "cymbals" through. Just know that the foot is missing some of its WHOMP. Make no mistake, this foot is the motherfucker of all kickdrums.
At the end of the MP3, I bypass the mechanical part (there's a switch for that) and whack the individual instrument buttons a couple times each. You can, if you're crafty, part out a Wurlitzer Sideman drum kit from this MP3, but with all the noise, I'd wait until I've gotten it worked on. I will most assuredly add the samples when I get good ones. That tube-based kick drum is to die for when you hear it moving air. As an aside, you'll note that while the main rhythm is kicking, the feel is much less mechanical than a normal organ drum machine. This is ironically due to the inherent mechanical, rather than electronic, design of the machine; the rubber wheel that drives the rotary part slips, and what-not. Craziness.
---
## Hacking the ADA8000
- Date: 2005-11-02
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/11/hacking-the-ada8000/
There are some interesting threads over at the Prodigy-Pro forums concerning the Behringer ADA8000 AD/DA box. At around $220 street, it seems like a reasonable way to utilize those lightpipe I/O ports on your interface, doesn't it? However, when one digs a little deeper, one finds just about the stupidest possible design for a mic pre ever. The box has been pretty thoroughly reverse-engineered by the guys on the Prodigy forum, and a lot of thought has been given to improving its operation.
The main idea is, of course, to lose the stupid and terrible mic pres, and get right to the AD, which is of reasonable quality. The ADA8000 doesn't have real line inputs, which is where the problem lies. Your signal is going to travel through a pair of extra shitty op-amps and get padded even if you use the line input. That being the case, better to bypass the whole thing, and presto, you have an okay-quality AD/DA for not much money. (The caveat is, as always, that you need a good clock.)
Anyways, you can start with [this thread,](http://www.prodigy-pro.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7032&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0) then hit that search button at the top of the page and type in "ADA8000" which will get you about 20 other threads on the subject. One of the more comical suggestions was to go straight from XLR, through a $70 Jensen transformer right on to the pins of the AD chip. This would get you a pretty fucking good line level to lightpipe interface for the low cost of $830 for 8 channels. Quite frankly, I'd say off hand that wasn't worth it, but to each their own. It is possible to bypass the mic pres in this hunk of junk and actually turn it in to a usable device, so caveat emptor, but there you go.
---
## Heater v. Guitar Amp, Round Two
- Date: 2005-11-01
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/11/heater-v-guitar-amp-round-two/
Man, [Tube Depot](http://www.tubedepot.com/) didn't waste any time getting me my speaker. High marks for them; it was the first time I'd bought anything from them, but not the last. I ordered the speaker on Friday afternoon, didn't select any special shipping, and it got here this morning. No complaints there.
The speaker itself is hillarious. It's just like any other Jensen MOD, but only 6" across. How funny is that? I want to make a 4x6 cabinet now. Anyways, as you can see from the picture, my calculations were incorrect, and the mounting holes are about 1/4" away from the speaker's flange. So I need to come up with some gee-gaw to hold it in place. Shouldn't be too hard to fashion something out of aluminum, so I'll rock that forthwit.
So, I'm just waiting for the package from Small Bear, and I'll put this little bitch together, and we'll see what's what.
---
## Alienware Shoots To Kill...
- Date: 2005-11-01
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/11/alienware-shoots-to-kill/
While I may use OSX exclusively for web surfing, iChatting, email, and listening to my 18-odd hours of [Neubauten](http://www.neubauten.org/) MP3s, when I need to play live using a computer, my HP Laptop comes out on stage with me. The reason for this is that I trust it. While I like my iBook more from an asthetic standpoint, it hasn't shown me that it can be trusted in a live situation. I've seen lots of musicians have crashes and such on stage using Powerbooks and iBooks. The most notable of these was the last time I saw Underworld at the Riv, and their set was heavily truncated due to Powerbook problems.
However, my HP is getting a little long in the tooth, truth be told. It has done a couple hundred shows now, and is starting to show signs that it may be tired of getting thrown around. I know lots of people have horror stories of HP products not being reliable, but I'm not one of those. Not once has that computer ever given me a spot of trouble during a performance, but when it comes to live performance, I'm of the considered opinion that it is better to err on the side of caution. While I'm generally quite good at audience banter, there's not many things that are less fun than rebooting during a show.
So, I note with interest that Alienware has released a couple new laptops that seem to be quite well suited to live performance. In particular, the [M5700](http://www.alienware.com/product_detail_pages/area-51_m5700/area-51m_features.aspx) looks to be a winner in this rather odd catagory of Laptops That Are Probably Pretty Good For The Stage. It isn't a small laptop, that's for sure. 17" high-def widescreen, like the 17" Powerbooks. You can score it with a 2.13gHz Pentium M and put in up to 2 gigs of RAM, which is more than enough for running Live or Cubase SX3 and a pretty healthy chunk of plugins. It can also hold a dual SATA RAID, which is the key for healthy audio streaming. It's got an SPDIF out, so you can use a real convertor if you're feeling plucky. The only minus I can see is that, like a lot of PC laptops, it only has a 4-pin Firewire port. I really wish Intel would hop on the Clue Bus and start putting 6-pin ports on their laptop mobos. You need that if you want a buss-powered FW interface.
So, the El Stupido Version starts at $1399, and one kitted out for serious damage will set you back around $2800 (that's with max CPU, max RAM, and max drive, but all the other shit at normal levels.) Still cheaper than a Powerbook that is half as powerful. It's a pretty dangerous computer for not that much money, when you get down to it. The only way to know if it is tough enough for the stage is to actually take it there, and that's always a tricky proposition. Do I buy it and hope for the best? Hard to say. I doubt that Alienware would loan me one to try it out. ("Hey, guys, I'm in this industrial band, and I use a computer on stage, and, well, what with the beer getting thrown and all... No, seriously. I have a platinum record...")
Anyways, I always keep my eyes peeled for computers that look like they'll be good for this kind of situation, and this particular one looks like a winner.
---
## An interesting take on things...
- Date: 2005-10-31
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/10/an-interesting-take-on-things/
I was doing my morning Browse, and I took in a quick read of Craig Anderton's final [AES Wrap-up,](http://aes.harmony-central.com/119AES/Articles/aes_technology4.html) where he opines on the state of the industry. This particular paragraph caught my eye:
_
Software companies don't have an easy road. It's not just the software theft, which remains a persistent problem that saps the vitality of the industry, but also the need to keep up with the OS and hardware updates being thrust upon them. Add that to people complaining about the cost of upgrades. (So are software buyers some of the whiniest customers in the world, or what? I mean, do you ever get an email from Ford saying "Bring in your 2004 model, and we'll give you a new model for an extra $1,000.") Then add the trials and tribulations of copy protection - users hate it, companies hate it even more - and you have an industry that has to pedal really fast just to stay in place.
_
That right there is a little piece of truth. Now that I've spent some time on the side of the software business where things are made, rather than used, I have to say that it's an odd state of affairs.
For instance:
1) For some reason I can't fathom, TDM users don't complain about prices, even though a plug that runs native and one that runs in TDM are essentially the same amount of work for a company that does both. So they'll happily pay $899 for a plug that requires a $10,000 dongle, but the native version is $499 and people bitch and moan about that. That's one thing I just don't get.
2) Windows users are _way_ more bitchy than OSX users. If you asked me when we started this, I'd have said the opposite, but now I know better. When one releases a plugin on both platforms, the OSX users will say "hey, that looks like something that is useful" or "I don't think I need that," and leave it at that. Windows users, on the other hand, will generally go on _ad nauseum_ about why this feature or that wasn't included, why the copy protection blows, why there aren't enough presets, why it is too expensive, why it looks cheap, how they would have done it far better, how there are 96 free plugins that do the same thing, etc.
3) However, OSX users aren't getting off the hook that easy. It is \_really\_ difficult to keep up with Apple's moods vis-a-vis their operating system. It is so much easier to make a Windows VST than even an OSX VST, never you mind the gigantic PITA that is AU. And every time an OS update comes down the pike, we have to re-learn how to make an AU. It is really quite a struggle.
Our philosphy regarding pricing and upgrades is well known, so I won't go in to it at length here, except to say that I think, on the average, native plug-in makers charge too much. If prices were lower on the average, piracy wouldn't be so rampant. Or at least, people would feel worse about it than they do. Perceived value is a tenuous thing, especially when what you're selling is basically a stream of ones and zeros.
One final thought on this, then I'll return to our regularly scheduled programming. One of the main problems on the Windows side is the glut of freeware. One customer wrote our info line not too long ago, basically asking why he should buy DubStation when there were several similar products already available for free. I answered thus: when you purchase a plugin from a company, you're also purchasing a manual, someone to talk to if you have trouble or desires, an upgrade path which will follow the operating system's upgrades, and the relatively certain knowledge that the plug-in will follow the "rules" that are intrinsic to it being a professional plugin.
When you use freeware, or get a cracked plug-in, you rarely get any of those things. With a lot of freeware, you're basically buying in to something that will almost certainly become abandonware at some point, when the teenager that wrote the software grows up and actually starts working. That sentence will certainly earn me some ire, but I call it like I see it.
---
## Okay, here's the deal...
- Date: 2005-10-31
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/10/okay-heres-the-deal/
In the comments section of the entry on my PCBs, [Lindon](http://incsub.org/wpmu/nodnil/) ponders on the following theme:
_
Whats that "Groove Tubes" \*thing\* in the background!?....grief and you complain about Mackie gear...I'm hoping its just some crummy catalogue they sent you or its ironicly being used as additional wrapping on you PCB's....otherwise my faith will have taken a dent. :-)_
Here's what happened: I went in to Guitar Center (gasp, choke) to pick up some other shit, and saw that they were blowing the Groove Tubes Ditto Box out for $89. I figured "well, I always could use another DI. How bad could it be?"
The answer is "so shitty, you can't even sell it without feeling bad about it." It would actually be all right if it weren't for the nagging buzz/hum/hiss/whatever that completely overwhelms everything you run through it. That, and the fact that it generally sounds like roasted dog shit.
The thing is that I keep my studio on the chilly side. If I need to play keys, I have to warm my hands up. And as it turns out, aside from its other failings, the Groove Tubes Ditto Box makes a hell of a heater. God's honest truth, the only use I've found for this thing is to warm my hands. I've read good things about the Vipre, and that other t00b-a-thon they just released looks not bad, but the Ditto Box is one of the most amazing pieces of crap I've ever run a signal through. A Whirlwind Imp would be a better choice for DI than this.
---
## Glitch This...
- Date: 2005-10-30
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/10/glitch-this/
So I grabbed myself a demo of dblue's [Glitch](http://illformed.org/glitch/) VST last night, in searching for drum-destroying plugins. It's been a long time since I was surprised by a plugin that doesn't model/imitate analog gear, I have to say. This plug is fucking awesome. What you've got is a timeline of N steps (max 64) of N units of time (the usual suspects), and each step can either have no effect, a specific choice of one of the 8 included effects, or a random choice of same. Each effect has a multi-mode filter, as well, and there's also an overall filter and overdrive.
The 8 different effects are well-suited to killing your audio. I don't care for the flanger (because I don't like flanging in general) and some of the controls are a bit obtuse, but you can solo each effect to get the settings right, and it is pretty simple in operation once you get over the "a ha" hump.
Bad things? Plenty. It's written in Delphi, which is a poor choice for a plugin IMO. This means it is Windows-only VST, and always will be. (For a commercial product, I know from experience that you're automatically denying 80% of the market of plug-in buyers.) The knobs which should be logarithmic (level, filter freqs, etc) are not, so their useful range is down at the bottom all squeezed together. The filters are plain-jane.
Good things? It's easy to use once you figure it out, and the resulting audio is just completely out of hand. There are two separate randomize features; one for the effects and one for the timeline. The price is 30 Euros, which fits in to my worldview of plug-in pricing quite nicely. For the money, as long as you're a Windows user, this is an excellent buy if you need/want insta-glitch. I recommend you grab the demo and spend some time figuring it out.
As an aside, I think it's worth noting that, when I mention software on this site, it is important to remember that I didn't get it for free, I take no advertising money, and I don't know the guy that made it. In this day and age, when stealth marketing and "endorsements" are the norm, you can rest assured that when I say I like something, it's because I actually like it.
---
## ph34r m4 m4d h34t3r!
- Date: 2005-10-29
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/10/ph34r-m4-m4d-h34t3r/
Here's an image of the most awesomest heater I found that is going to be turned in to a guitar amp, as I mentioned yesterday. I ordered all the parts from [Small Bear Electronics](http://www.smallbearelec.com/StoreFront.bok), and went with a 6" Jensen MOD from [The Tube Depot](http://www.tubedepot.com/6insp.html) for speaker purposes. I took out the guts of the heater and measured, and unless my calculations are horribly wrong, two holes of the speaker's mounting flange line up perfectly with the screws you see on the front that hold the heating element in place.
I'm gonna keep the fancy c. 1950 cloth power cord, and put a 12V wall wart inside the case. (The [Ruby](http://www.runoffgroove.com/ruby.html) amp I'm building runs off 12V DC, as it happens. Or 9V. Take your pick.) I got some really nice blue knobs that more or less match the color of the blue-grey hammertone finish of the enclosure, so it'll look pretty spiffy, I think. All the parts will be here on Tuesday, so we'll build then, and see how things work out.
My other Big Project to finish before I start the GSSL is rack-mounting a [Midines](http://www.wayfar.net/0xf00000_overview.php) system. I picked up an NES today with all the accessories for $5.00. All I need otherwise are the rack enclosure, the Midines cart, a couple nice buttons, and a lot of patience. Then Peter Kirn will [owe me](http://www.createdigitalmusic.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=771&Itemid=44) a Nintendo DS, and that'll be cool. Although, in the long run it may be easier to just buy the DS.
---
## Hard-Core Gear Porn Friday!!!
- Date: 2005-10-28
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/10/hard-core-gear-porn-friday-4/
Cutting a fine figure in his leather pants, Martin Hollinger, the museumsbesitzer of the [Synthorama](http://www.amazona.de/content/peoplelounge/personalstudio/synthorama/synthorama.htm) Synthesizer Museum literally chortles with amusement that all you little people could ever aspire to owning something only meant for the True Moog User.
Martin has quite a collection, including what is pictured at left, the Moog Modular Vocoder. There are, AFAIK, only two of these. [Here](http://www.sequencer.de/pix/moog/moog_vocoder.jpg) is a picture of either the other one, or the same one in a different locale. Martin also enjoys windsurfing, playing the sackbut with his schlagga band, and lording it over the Little People with his extensive collection, which includes, in no particular order, a clear Gleeman Pentaphonic, an acyrilic OSCar, a complete Roland System 100, a Wurlitzer Sideman (the first drum machine), a grey \_and\_ blue-faced 2600 pair, and pretty much everything else, ever.
I should note at this point that I don't speak a lick of German, other than knowing what a schlagga band is, so I may have been fibbing about the windsurfing thing. A little poetic license. But the nicest part about the pictures of Synthorama are that there isn't a single Mackie mixer in sight. This doesn't mean that there isn't one there, of course. But if I can't see it, then that's half the battle.
The link to this site was provided by [Maxime,](http://www.counterw8.com/) via Tom from MusicThing. So thank them for making you feel like less of a person. It's really not my fault after all.
---
## A vow...
- Date: 2005-10-28
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/10/a-vow/
Okay, I give up. I'm not going to slag other sites any more. There are two reasons for this course of action:
(1) It's like shooting fish in a fucking barrel. That's only fun for like the first couple fish. After that, it's just sad. To illustrate this point, I'll note that Sonic State has just broke the amazing story that [SSL has released a free plugin.](http://www.sonicstate.com/news/shownews.cfm?newsid=2405) I mean, they \_just\_ broke it. Only two weeks after it appeared on every single music blog and forum on the internet. I guess they were too busy leafing through Roland product liturature trying to decide what they're gonna buy with their employee discounts once Roland gives them all jobs.
(2) If I complain too much, and others complain, it could possibly have the (I'll grant incredibly unlikely) effect of these sites actually cleaning up their act. Then it would be a lot harder for the good sites to actually be Above The Herd. Of course, we don't have to worry about that, but like I said, I'm an optimist.
So, I hereby announce that I will no longer diss Sonic State or Record-Producer.com. It's like making fun of the kids getting off the short bus. They can't help it. They were just born that way, and no amount of electro-shock therapy is going to change anything.
---
## Pretty Cool Boards...
- Date: 2005-10-27
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/10/pretty-cool-boards/
Got home today to find a package from Denmark in my mailbox. Turns out it was my PCBs for the GSSL and G1176 clones. These are really nice boards, well worth the money. (A total of 23 Eu. for both.) They come freeze-dry wrapped in this super-heavy-duty PCB condom, which is ribbed for her pleasure. Now to make a Mouser order. The resistors alone for the GSSL are over $50. I can't wait to see what the damage is on this bad boy when all is said and done.
However, I'm in the middle of about twenty projects, not the least of which is talking my wife out of a 50s space heater we have so I can turn it in to a [guitar amp.](http://www.runoffgroove.com/ruby.html) (Has anyone here built the Ruby from RunOffGroove.com? If so, how does it sound?) This heater would make the flyest little amp, and I'm obsessing over it. My wife, for some reason I can't quite fathom, thinks it is better off being a heater because it's, like, winter and shit. Women.
---
## Jesus H. Christ...
- Date: 2005-10-27
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/10/jesus-h-christ/
Just shoot me in the fucking head. Seriously. It's that bad. Don't believe me? [Read this.](http://www.record-producer.com/learn.cfm?a=2893) On second though, don't. That'll be 30 seconds of your life that you'll never get back.
Now, it seems I've done nothing but spew vitriol the last few days, and believe me when I say I'm normally an optimistic, cheerful person. But I gotta call bullshit when I see it, and I've been seeing a lot lately. And this article takes the cake. To wit:
_
To succeed in mainstream, you have to know how to do it. You have to be able to analyze musical styles that are transitioning from cool to mainstream, and recreate those styles in a way the mass market will find appealing.
Don't waste energy aspiring to be an artist. Few mainstream artists come from the ranks of home recording studio owners. Find a niche that you can master - songwriting, production, management, musician - there are plenty.
_
Those have to be the most incredibly annoying pair of paragraphs I've ever seen commited to print. I had to read the article a couple times to make sure he wasn't being sarcastic. It is important to note that the segment in question is taken slightly out of context. He's saying that you shouldn't aspire to be a particular artist (e.g. 50 Cent); he's not saying that you shouldn't aspire to being an artist (i.e. one who makes art.)
At any rate, let me answer the two points raised, and in a succinct fashion. To point #1, no you fucking don't. To point #2, are you fucking high?
The key ingredients to "mainstream success" are (a) an intense desire to achieve same, and (b) absolutely blind luck. And "cool," whatever the fuck that is, is both transient and context-sensitive. For instance, you're at a gay rave. (Keep up with me here.) If you're, say, a heterosexual male in a suit, you're not cool. Now, take one of those gay ravers and put him in the bleachers at Wrigley Field. Now he's not the cool one.
I can't even believe I'm arguing this point. Let's just say that David Mellor doesn't have the faintest idea of what he's talking about and leave it at that. I've just formed an opinion that Record-Producer.com is the Behringer of music journalism (if we broaden the term to include those that can spell).
---
## Breaking news: Behringer CA16
- Date: 2005-10-26
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/10/breaking-news-behringer-ca16/
In a stunning development, [Behringer](http://www.behringer.com/), a world leading designer, manufacturer and distributor of professional audio and musical instrument products, today announced the imminent availability of the **CA-16 High Precision Professional Tube-Driven Ass,** an ultimate multi-function ass-modelling workstation. Each CA-16 is is equipped with a hand-selected 12AX7 vacuum tube with UTC technology for exceptional warmth, lowest noise and signal integrity.
In addition, the CA-16 features ultra-flexible ass modeling technology that allows the user to quickly optimize recordings and choose between 16 different open cans of analog ass. The CA-16 also features direct injection and cheek-size functionality, to allow the user to fully shape the ass to suit the project at hand. The CA-16 features BEHRINGER’s sophisticated output limiter that enhances signal distortion, while a dedicated low cut filter eliminates unwanted flatulance.
The CA-16 will be available Q1 of 2006, for an MSRP of $19.99. Like all Behringer cans of ass, this product will come pre-opened at the factory.
---
## Chandler Germanium-covered goodness...
- Date: 2005-10-26
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/10/chandler-germanium-covered-goodness/
For some reason there wasn't any press release or much talk about these at AES, so they kind of slipped through the cracks, but Chandler Limited, The Boutique Audio Company That Can Do No Wrong (how do they fit that on a business card?) was showing prototypes for a pair of germanium-tranny boxes, pictured above. There's nothing yet on the Chandler [product page,](http://www.chandlerlimited.com/products/index.php) and not much talk in the usual circles around them, but this is a pair of fuzzboxes I wouldn't mind getting my hands on.
There's a slutty [thread](http://www.gearslutz.com/board/showthread.php3?t=46528) about them over yonder, which includes a much larger version of the above picture, so you don't get any drool on \_my\_ web page. (They have special DroolGuard over at GearSlutz; I can't afford it here.) The picture says it all: a mic pre and the sweetest little stereo compressor you're likely to find. I even like the color. And never you mind that EMI channel. Just never you mind.
---
## Cheese Pt. 2
- Date: 2005-10-25
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/10/cheese-pt-2/
As you can plainly see, I'm now running the Specdrum inside the excellent [Spectaculator](http://www.spectaculator.com/) emu, courtesy of [shamann](http://www.sighup.ca/). This thing is the tits, really. It sounds so awfully bad it's good, you know? I'd put up an MP3, but my fucking miserable Mbox won't cooperate, and the emu won't record the output of the Specdrum.
Note the "PEOW" sample, #5. It is aptly named.
**UPDATE:** Okay, I've managed to record the output of the Specdrums program by the simple expedient of running cables. So, without further ado, I give you [a ZIP file](https://web.archive.org/web/2005/http://www.analogindustries.com/samples/specdrum_loops.zip) with some loops showing the Specdrum in all its glory. For some reason, it is mentally impossible to program anything but the most banal rock and electro loops with this. I even put a special one in there for Tom from MusicThing. 1 Meg Of Glory Awaits!
**UPDATE 2:** As if this subject actually warranted two updates. Shamann has put up a [ZIP](http://www.sighup.ca/misc/Cheetah_SpecDrum_Kits.zip) with all the sounds from all four drum kits, because he is a Special Child, and obviously hasn't taken his meds today. So, between those two files, I think that's probably about all the Specdrum action one could take.
---
## Why I Hate Digidesign, Vol 36 rev C
- Date: 2005-10-25
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/10/why-i-hate-digidesign-vol-36-rev-c/
My little sister could write drivers better than the absolute travesty that Digi pawns off as the Mbox driver. It's always been a problematic little piece of code, but once I finally installed OSX 10.4, it actually became agressively stupid, making it the President Bush of drivers.
My normal course of action when installing a new Mbox CoreAudio driver is to uninstall the old one first, because Digi manages to write drivers that actually compete with each other for the same piece of hardware, which is stupid. So I do that, then install the latest CoreAudio driver from the Digi page, and the Mbox doesn't show up as a possible CoreAudio device any more. What's more, when I run an application that has audio, the stupid Digi Hardware Manager thing still pops up, but you can't connect, because it says the hardware is in use.
I put up with Apple's quirks because I like OSX (for surfing, email, iChat, etc.; not, as I've made plain, for making music.) But putting up with Apple doesn't mean I have to put up with the shoddy driver guys at Digidesign. So, the Mbox gets pitched. Fuck this stupid hunk of plastic, and fuck the company that made it. It has been nothing but trouble since the day I got it.
So, I need a new interface for my OSX box.
---
## Behold: The Power Of Cheese...
- Date: 2005-10-25
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/10/behold-the-power-of-cheese/
A comment in the last post got me wondering about using my ZX81 (and of course I have one; that really goes without saying) for musical endeavors, something I thought more or less impossible. And research shows that other than the [Music Percussion Computer](http://www.euroshima.com/images/gear/mpc.jpg) (which uses a ZX81 for sequencing) and a couple home-brew programs that use the cassette port for beeping away little classical tunes, it is a quixotic endeavor.
However, the Spectrum series is another matter entirely. There is, according to my count, One Cool Thing for the Spectrum, and that's the Cheetah Specdrum (pictured above.) Now, the Spectrum computers didn't really have any following in America, unlike the ZX81 and TS1000. There are basically none here. So it's no surprise that I missed out on this little gem. My research shows that it is basically a D/A convertor, nothing more. The program had a simple x0x-style sequencer, and it threw 8-bit samples of, like, drums, I guess, out the sound hole. A gold star for the user that finds the samples on the Interwebs first!
---
## Oh shit! Hold me back!
- Date: 2005-10-24
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/10/oh-shit-hold-me-back/
Tom from [Music Thing](http://musicthing.blogspot.com/) A different [Tom](http://www.vxmusic.com/) thought I wouldn't bite on this. He seems to think we're too high-brow over here at Analog Industries to be bothered with such mundane gear. However, I have no pride, so in the interests of proving that point, I give you [this,](http://cgi.ebay.com/Behringer-Recording-Studio-2-MX-9000s-See-Pics_W0QQitemZ7359569212QQcategoryZ41472QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem) the World's Most Style-Free Recording Studio, up on eBay in its entirety, for the low, low price of $2450. (And not a penny goes to waste, as you'll soon see.) I'm fairly rolling in mundanity with this one. Marvel at 48 (!!!!) channels of quality Eurodesk! Shimmer with anticipation at the sight of an Ultradyne! Giggle with schoolgirl glee at the possibility of owning not one, no, not just one, but TWO M-Audio Delta 1010 interfaces!
Seriously, though. You have to start somewhere. I'm not a snob or anything... okay, well, yes, I'm a snob.
---
## All Is Quiet On The Western Front...
- Date: 2005-10-24
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/10/all-is-quiet-on-the-western-front/
Man, it's been a long time since I had a whole weekend go by without finding anything new and/or interesting for Monday morning posting purposes. I guess I should point out that I had a lot to do this weekend, and thus wasn't the normal Surfin' Foole that can dredge up the usual oddities. So I'll opine on my current goings-on.
I've been working on this new Scanalyzer record (named "On The One And The Zero,") with [Wade Alin](http://www.theatomicaproject.com/) for the last couple months, and it's the first time I've co-wrote an album with someone where the co-writer is a couple thousand miles away. Wade lives in Chicago, while I am, of course, high in the Cascade Mountains in Western Oregon. Through the miracle of the Interwebs, we maintain a constant dialog and flip Nuendo folders back and forth. (Wade, like all smart producers, uses Nuendo on PC, just like me, which is convenient for this sort of work.)
The record itself is IDM/Noise/DubDustrial, so it's not a terribly complicated process, I'll grant, but it's still the first time I've done anything like this, and it can lead to some interesting thoughts about the creative process itself. Will all electronic musicians turn in to pasty agorophobes by the advent of cheap broadband? Wait! They're pasty agorophobes already! I personally can't really see this sort of situation working in the context of rock music, except for remixes, I don't think. But for "electronica," it is a viable way to record an album.
How we do it is thus: either Wade or I will come up with, say, 32 measures of a song idea, figure six to ten tracks of drums and synth. Then the other will add and edit 'til it exhibits some song-like tendencies, then flip it back for completion. The album is approaching "done" status in fits and starts; we've been working on it on and off since early last year. But both Wade and I have our Main Things to work on as well, so that's no surprise. Back when I was rich and famous, I would think nothing of locking out a recording studio for a month or two just to write, but with having a home studio, the time pressure isn't there, and I tend to not work as fast, or without the same Sword Of Damocles provided by the financial department of the Label hanging over my head. _("Yes," said Dionysius, "I know there is a sword above your head, and that it may fall at any moment. But why should that trouble you?)_
Actually, in thinking about it, that's not entirely true. I was signed, first to Wax Trax!, and then to TVT, for a total of 6 years, during which I released four albums. My contract ended in 1997, and since then I've released nine albums. So I guess that technically speaking, I'm \_more\_ productive without the Sword. That's an interesting line of reasoning...
But I digress. The point is that while it is nice to be in a room with someone when you're writing/producing, it is no longer necessary. I think you're also more likely to try wacky shit, because no one hears it but you; there's no danger of creative embarassment. But I don't think it would work with every kind of music. Thoughts?
---
## PSS Battle!
- Date: 2005-10-23
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/10/pss-battle/
The fun continues here at Analog Industries, where (despite all evidence to the contrary) we know how to fucking party! It seems our friend [J. Robert Lennon](http://www.inverseroom.com/) unwittingly threw down the gauntlet when he posted [a link](http://www.helstab.com/music/inverse/Christmas%20Afternoon.mp3) to his PSS-only track in the comments of the last post.
Well, I'm certainly not going to be outdone on my own website, so I've gone and penned a four-minute (and change) PSS-470 Odyssey, a bizarre mish-mash of IDM, progressive house, and what could only be described as dubdustrial. As if I had nothing but time on my hands, really. So grab yourself [an MP3,](https://web.archive.org/web/2005/http://www.analogindustries.com/samples/PSS-chmod.mp3) and lean back and enjoy a powerful combination of a $2.00 yard-sale keyboard and several thousand dollars worth of outboard. Take that, Mr. Lennon!
Who's next? Who wants to join the PSS Battle? Two men enter, one man leaves!
---
## Yamaha PSS-470: Synth Of The Gods
- Date: 2005-10-23
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/10/yamaha-pss-470-synth-of-the-gods/
Well, okay, maybe not "the Gods." How about Synth Of The Dogs? I came across one of these at a yard sale a couple months ago for $2.00, and I was like "hey, why the fuck not?" It sat in my workshop area until today, when I got the wild idea that I would, like, turn it on and stuff. Come to find out, as hippy-dippy home keyboards of the 80s go, this one is actually kind of semi-cool. Not so much the built-in sounds, but it is a 2-op FM synth, with various non-sensical controls (like only Yamaha can do) to chew up the preset sounds. This section is called, inexplicably, the Digital Synthesizer.
But never mind that. What is fucking fly about this stupid little thing is the drum machine. Not only are the sounds, like, totally amazing (I'm not entirely sure at this juncture, but if someone told me the drum sounds in this bitch were analog I'd believe 'em) but you can program your own beat. Like, from scratch. How often do you see that on a home keyboard of this vintage?
Hours of fun ensued, and I can now add "Master PSS-470 Programmer" to my resume. This bad boy gets two thumbs up from me. If you see one at a yard sale or Goodwill, I give it a strong "Buy" recommendation. I can now say there's a piece of Yamaha gear I like.
**UPDATE:** Due to popular demand (well, okay, one demand), [Here](https://web.archive.org/web/2005/http://www.analogindustries.com/samples/PSS-470.zip) is a zip containing the absolutely stunning sounds of the PSS-470 Custom Drummer. You can go ahead and delete your Discrete Drums folders now, kids. You'll never need another drum sample. Seriously. I'm right in the middle of composing my PSS-470 Demo Song, As Realized By Someone Who Really Likes Yellow Magic Orchestra.
---
## Moog Mixers...
- Date: 2005-10-21
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/10/moog-mixers/
I was browsing around the [Moog Archives](http://www.moogarchives.com/mawelc.htm) today, and came across these two pieces. Pictured above is the Moog 1084 mixer, which is, according to the 1971 Moog Catalog, _"a signal coordinating center of moderate complexity designed to meet the requirements of modestly scaled electronic studios."_ Sounds like something I really, really need. Eight line inputs and two mic pres later, this four-buss mixer is obviously poised to set us up the bomb. If that one isn't enough...
...the 1200 is even more flyer, with an effects send and a classy mixer-like form-factor. This one would set the aspiring c. 1971 laptop musician back a whopping $3995, while the 1084 was only $1825. Now, I know a lot about synths, and even have a hefty dose of experience with the various Moog outboard processors, but I've never heard of these two pieces until today. Anyone here seen one of these in real life? [Here's](http://users.goldengate.net/~rw/studio/moog1084.jpg) a color pic of the 1084, which seems to be altogether more common than the 1200. I found a couple hits for 1084s for sale, but literally \_nothing on the Interwebs about the 1200, other than the Moog Archives page.
---
## Hard-Core Gear Porn Friday!!!
- Date: 2005-10-21
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/10/hard-core-gear-porn-friday-3/
Okay, so no multi-image oak and velvet Room Of Doom this week. What we have here is a prime example of why Roger Arrick sleeps well at night. This Italian fellow (who's name I am blissfully unaware of) has obviously dropped just shy of ten grand at [Synthesizers.com,](http://www.synthesizers.com/) for a system that nicely compliments his VCS3 and Doepfer synths. It's no Scot Solida [Monstrosity](http://forum.soundarc.net/viewtopic.php?t=78), but this dude is no slouch, either.
But, wait...
What's that in the rack?
Argh! Another Mackie mixer! I just can't win, can I?
---
## Moog 907A Fixed Filter Bank...
- Date: 2005-10-21
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/10/moog-907a-fixed-filter-bank/
If you were wondering why I've been rather silent the last couple days, this is why. The next [Audio Damage](http://www.audiodamage.com/) product, coming out some time next week, after we tidy up, is the 907A Fixed Filter Bank. Now, this is a little more esoteric than our normal products, I'll grant. It's one of those things where if you know what it is, you know why you need it, but if you don't, it's kind of hard to explain.
The original Moog 907 was designed by Bob Moog because of a request by Wendy Carlos for a bank of bandpass filters to use when modeling, e.g., wind instruments, cellos, etc. In short, things with a resonating cavity in them. This configuration is known as a Formant Filter, and is also handy in speech synthesis and the like. (That big hole between your nose and chin is a resonating cavity, it turns out.)
Now, what does it sound like, you ask? Well, I'll have samples up on the AD page in a couple days, but the long and short of it is this: any audio passing through this filter picks up a kind of vocal quality. The original, and our software clone, only cuts the signal; there is no gain as it is entirely passive. So there is a bit of attenuation. We thought that sticking to the original would be better, as giving each band gain would drastically affect the sound of the device, and basically make it nothing like [the original.](http://www.moogarchives.com/m907.htm) So there are 8 bandpass filters, along with four-pole low and high-pass filters, for a regular orgy of sound-carving fun. This will be $29.00, and available for OSX VST/AU and WinXP VST at some point in the next few days.
**UPDATE:** I whipped up a quick vamp so you guys can get a bit of an idea of what the 970A and Phase Two are all about. The signal chain is:
Lounge Lizard (Dirty preset) -> 907A -> Phase Two -> DubStation -> Waves RComp
The first 8 measures are just the Lounge Lizard and DubStation. At measure 9, I switch on the 907A. Phase Two gets turned on for the last 8 measures. (Then I automate the regen and time on DubStation at the very end, just for fun.)
[Here's the MP3.](https://web.archive.org/web/2005/http://www.analogindustries.com/samples/970_demo.mp3) Thank you very much. I'll be here all week, and don't forget Wednesday is Lady's Night.
---
## Monster studio liquidation auction on BidSpotter...
- Date: 2005-10-20
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/10/monster-studio-liquidation-auction-on-bidspotter/
BidSpotter is liquidating Toronto's McClear Digital, and there are over a thousand items in [the auction,](http://www.bidspotter.com/forms/imagegallery.php?gallery=2497) ranging from cheap-ass AKG headphones on up to the Studer Vista 7 console. With BidSpotter, you watch the auction live, and you have to pony up a $500 deposit before you can bid, but you can score some \_really\_ good deals here. There's an H3000SE, a mess of LA3A and 1176 comps, a Neve "from the board" stereo EQ, etc. etc. etc.
If you have the means, strongly recommended.
---
## What's in your dream studio?
- Date: 2005-10-19
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/10/whats-in-your-dream-studio/
I was just wondering what the _de rigeur_ Dream Studio was these days. I'm referring mainly to your computer/DAW/converters/summing/outboard highlights, rather than the stacks and stacks of synthesizers/guitars/sackbuts you all desire. There are a lot of options these days for assembling a system, and if I had unlimited funds, here's what I'd get:
Computer: A loaded [Alienware MJ-12](http://alienware.com/product_detail_pages/MJ-12_7550a/mj-12_7550a_features.aspx?SysCode=PC-MJ12-7550-A&SubCode=SKU-DEFAULT) dual-core Opteron box.
DAW: [Nuendo,](http://www.steinberg.de/ProductPage_sb190e.html?Product_ID=2442&Langue_ID=2%22) of course.
Convertors: [Euphonix AM 713 and MA703,](http://www.euphonix.com/post/products/converters/AM713_MA703.htm) plus an RME MADI PCI card. Yeah, I think 24 channels of Euphonix conversion would do me just fine. Alternately, I could live with an [Apogee AD16X and DA16X](http://www.apogeedigital.com/products/ad16x.php), plus an RME Hammerfall, or a pair of Rosetta 800s plus a Big Ben, if I wanted to slum it.
Summing mixer: [Neve 8816,](http://www.ams-neve.com/html/products/8816.php) and that goes without saying. Or the [Aurora Audio](http://www.auroraaudio.net/main.shtml) GTM-822, if I got the Apogee convertors.
Outboard: I think one of [these](http://www.eventide.com/profaud/h8000.htm) would set me up pretty nicely, quite frankly. Plus a 2016. And the API 2500 compressor would round out the picture well.
Monitors: a pair of [Adam](http://www.adam-audio.de/professional/) S3As would be just the ticket.
So, that's my dream system. I'm looking at a pretty healthy chunk of change there, so I either need to win Powerball, or get a production job that pays something besides, like, a ball of yarn and a dose of goodwill.
---
## New Powerbooks. Yawn.
- Date: 2005-10-19
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/10/new-powerbooks-yawn/
Apparently, the above image is copped from the Apple site, where crafty folks have figured out how to get to the press releases before they have gone live. So that's what's gonna be announced tomorrow.
Kind of blah, in a "whatever" sort of way. I do need a new Powerbook, but not enough to buy one before the Intel machines come out, I don't think. We'll see how close the above is to the real thing; there is a real possibility it was hax0r3d.
---
## Hugh Le Fucking Caine
- Date: 2005-10-18
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/10/hugh-le-fucking-caine/
There are giants, and then there are **_BOLD ITALIC GIANTS_**. Hugh LeCaine is definitely of the latter group of giants. Pictured above, playing his 1945 creation, the [Electronic Sackbut](http://www.hughlecaine.com/en/sackbut.html) (sometimes this shit just writes itself, you know?), LeCaine is one of the baker's dozen of people that can lay claim to having invented synthesis. The rest of [HughLeCaine.com](http://www.hughlecaine.com/en/) is chock-full of the sort of information that is only available in countries where you can get grants for making web sites like this. Check out the Instruments page for the [Special Purpose Tape Recorder,](http://www.hughlecaine.com/en/sptape.html) a Mellotron fore-runner, and the [Oscillator Bank,](http://www.hughlecaine.com/en/oscbank.html) which, as the name implies, is a bank of 106 oscillators.
---
## Chandler EMI Abby Road compressor for VST!
- Date: 2005-10-18
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/10/chandler-emi-abby-road-compressor-for-vst/
I was a little worried, but one of the Chandler Guys hopped on to the [pertinent thread](http://www.gearslutz.com/board/showthread.php3?t=45304&page=1&pp=30) over at Gearslutz and said that the EMI Comp plug they're working on will be released first for TDM, with RTAS and VST to follow in a bit. Between the URS compressors and this bad boy, I think my DAW compression needs, at least in software, will be pretty much met for the time being. I'll drop more info as I find it, but suffice to say that this is the one to watch.
---
## Homemade Mellotron w/ Walkmen
- Date: 2005-10-17
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/10/homemade-mellotron-w-walkmen/
Just picked this up off of BoingBoing. Mike Walters has created the [Melloman,](http://mysterycircuits.com/melloman/melloman.html) which is fundementally the same as a Mellotron, except made with cassette Walkmen. (Yeah, technically it would be "Walkmans" but I just can't bring myself to type that.) In a nutshell, the tapedecks, fourteen of them, are running all the time, and the keyboard gates the audio signal from each one.
Here's a view inside:
Now, this is a really crafty project. He explains it in some detail on his page, but the long and short of it is that he has fourteen decks. On thirteen of them there is an answering machine casette, which has a sound on the left channel, and the same sound an octave higher on the right channel. A great idea, and a great homebuilt case to put it in.
There's even an extra deck with drum loops on it, for Super Bee-Gees Extra Credit. Five fucking stars, dude.
---
## The most awesomest hand-built outboard...
- Date: 2005-10-16
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/10/the-most-awesomest-hand-built-outboard/
I don't know who the hell this guy thinks he is, but he's just making the rest of us look bad. Take a browse through his [Gallery,](http://www.diygallery.de/Galeria/index.html) and be amazed at the quality of the work. The site is rather thin on information, and I'm not entirely sure how I got there or who this stuff belongs to, but it is \_really\_ nice.
---
## WTB: Ensoniq ESQ-1 or SQ80
- Date: 2005-10-16
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/10/wtb-ensoniq-esq-1-or-sq80/
Okay, it's official. I'll take one. Just gotta find one, right? When I lived in Chicago, it was as simple as going to the various Music-Go-Rounds until one turned up. Now that I live about 40 miles East of Bumfuck, OR, I have to go begging. So, if you've got an ESQ1 or SQ80 that is taking up space, trust me when I say it will be better off here. Drop me a line if you have a line on one of these.
(On a side note, it's kind of quasi-funny, because when I wasn't looking for one, it seemed like I couldn't swing a dead puppie without knocking one off its stand. Now all the sudden I want one, and they're nowhere to be found.)
---
## Mic Pre Kit Roundup...
- Date: 2005-10-16
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/10/mic-pre-kit-roundup/
I was assembling a list of all the mic pre kits available on the web, and I thought it might be informative to put it up here, where everyone could enjoy it. So, what follows is a list of every single mic pre kit I could find on or in the Interwebs.
**PAiA Tube Mic Pre**
PAiA makes several t00b-based products, including a [mic pre](http://www.paia.com/tubestuf.htm) that can be built in either mono or stereo configurations. $68.85 for each channel, and $29.75 for a rack that holds a pair.
**Pat's Discrete Millenia Pre-Amp**
[The page](http://www3.telus.net/public/vintage1/kit.htm#JFET) is HTML c. 1994, blink tags and all, and a little bit awe-inspiring in its grotesqueness, but Pat does indeed sell a mic pre kit. Or part of a kit. Or something. I'll tell you what: if I'm gonna drop six bangers on something I have to build myself, I'm gonna want, like, a little more confidence in the seller, you know? Especially when I'm buying what is basically a couple trannies and a piece of perfboard. Caveat emptor.
**Hamptone HJFP2 & HVTP2**
This is more like it. Designed by Scott Hampton, this pair of kits (one solid state JFET-based and one tube-based) is really nice. The enclosure is even pretty sweet, when all is said and done. Not cheap at all, but you gets what you pays for. $549 for the stereo JFET and $699 for the stereo tube, available [here.](http://www.hamptone.com/newkits.htm) Scott will also build 'em for you, for a couple hundred more, which might not be a bad angle to look at, since this project is not for beginners.
**Seventh Circle Audio**
If you head on over to the [Seventh Circle Audio](http://www.seventhcirclestudios.com/SCA/SCA.htm) page, you'll be greeted with one of the nicest kit packages. There are four different mic pres, based upon the API 312, Neve 1272, and two custom designs. There's also a rack that will hold eight of the units, so you can mix and match. Obviously, this is more of a long-term project, what with having to build 8 of the little fuckers. But price-wise, it's a good system. The pres themselves range from $149 to $324, and the rack and PS will set you back $500.
**EDIT:** As is noted in the comments, you get the power supply free if you buy a pre kit and the rack. I've changed my mind and decided this is The Best Deal On The Internet if you want to build your own mic pres.
**Green Pre**
Not a kit, as such, but a well-worn path for DIY. This is another Prodigy-Pro project, and there is a wealth of information in a meta thread on [that forum](http://www.prodigy-pro.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5150) about this. A pretty simple build; costs will vary with your choice of components and racking, but figure about $150 a channel or thereabouts.
**JLM Audio Micro 1290, et al**
This one is about as easy as a kit can get for the rare-air high quality shiznit. [At the JLM site](http://www.jlmaudio.com/JLMmicro1290.htm) you can buy the kit for $250, and about half of it is already built for you. You only need to solder 36 parts to the board. This is based on the mic pre section of the Neve 1073. Lots of various options on this one, and JLM has a couple other offerings for the discerning kit builder.
---
## Compressor School...
- Date: 2005-10-15
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/10/compressor-school/
For those of you that feel like you jumped in the deep end of the pool with all this compressor talk, I just came across [this page,](http://www.tangible-technology.com/dynamics/comp_lim_ec_dh_pw2.html) which is an excellent and easy-to-read discourse on the various different kinds of compressors, why they do what they do, and basic ideas for using them in normal work. If you're just getting in to pro audio (or if you're an editor of Sonic State) and don't really understand all this arm-waving about compressors, I strongly suggest giving that page a once-over.
---
## Some really nice DIY...
- Date: 2005-10-14
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/10/some-really-nice-diy/
If you head on over to [this thread](http://www.prodigy-pro.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10659) on the Prodigy-Pro forums, you can read all about David Cannikin's beautiful clone of the Gates Sta-Level compressor, pictured above. The real Sta-Level is an incredibly rare piece which generally goes for $1000 to $1500 when it goes at all. Same family as the LA2A, a tube-based opto-compressor. Here's a pic of the Real Deal:
Quite frankly, I like David's better. Check out the thread for pictures of the awesome point-to-point wiring. What a cool box.
---
## Hard-Core Gear Porn Friday!!!
- Date: 2005-10-14
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/10/hard-core-gear-porn-friday-2/
Yup, it's Friday already, and you know what that means! What follows are 3 photos that are from what I believe is the now-defunct Pacific Coast Productions. Don't quote me on that, and if I'm mistaken, I'll gladly print a correction. Yet another example of some really, really fine synths running through not one, not two, but **three** Mackie boards. (At least the D8B is sorta okay, I guess, in a weird kind of way.) Ranting aside, on with the pr0n...
Here's a nice view of the Central Command Area of this gorgeous room. The CS80 and the business end of a Waldorf Wave (don't see those two often) hold pride of place, and you can also see an Andromeda, a Supernova, and a nice fat Obie, among the other usual suspects.
Facing the other direction, we see the Waldof Wave in all its glory. To its left we see the Holy Trinity of analog polysynths: Prophet 5, Memorymoog, and the mighty Jupiter 8. There's some other shit there but who really cares with those four in the picture. On Monosynth Row, we see a Minimoog, an ARP 2600, and that rarest of birds, a clear Gleeman Pentaphonic. (Yeah, you're gonna see that at a pawn shop.)
Here's another angle on the whole shootin' match. I'm given to understand that most of these synths have found new homes, and that's a good thing, because this is just a little too much for me, knowing these beauties were all sitting in one place.
---
## The Most Flyest, Awesomest Keyboard Of All...
- Date: 2005-10-14
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/10/the-most-flyest-awesomest-keyboard-of-all/
Okay, persuant to our conversation of yesterday, here is the result of my extensive research in to what would constitute the best keyboard to control Nuendo, Photoshop, \_and\_ 3D Studio Max. [This](http://www.euphonix.com/post/products/mc/mc_guidedtour/mc01_intro.htm) is the single most amazing keyboard/worksurface/whatever that is available, the Optimus OLED keyboard included. From Euphonix (yeah, that Euphonix) and monikered the **MC**, it features a full 101-key keyboard, a trackball, a jog wheel, four motorized faders, 8 assignable knobs, and 56 (yes, that's _fifty-six_) "smart switches," with little LCD screens in them that show their current function. Oh, did I mention the built-in touchscreen?
The assignable macro keys will work with anything, and the fader section is a HUI emulator, which will work with any application that can use a HUI as its control surface (which is all the DAWs that don't completely suck.) It is really happiest with the Eu-Con version of Nuendo, and has some specific features (monitor controls, talkback, etc.) that work only in a Eu-Con environment, but in short, this is the most bad-ass, configurable, smooth looking keyboard/controller/whatever on the face of the earth, and is completely without peers. I can't find a price anywhere, and it's too late to call Euphonix and ask, but I imagine it is in the realm of "if you have to ask..." Seriously, though. Now that I've seen this, I don't know how the fuck I ever got on without it. I wonder how much I could sell one of my kidneys for. They've only been slightly abused.
---
## AD: Phase Two update...
- Date: 2005-10-13
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/10/ad-phase-two-update/
Adam just sent me a working (mostly) iteration of the upcoming Audio Damage plug Phase Two, our clone of the Mutron Bi-Phase. No UI yet, and some of the features aren't working, but let me just say that it sounds good. Like "OMG" good. I must bow down and pay homage to the designers at Mutron, who definitely knew a thing or two about a thing or two when it comes to phasers. (Or "phasors," in Mutron parlance.)
I'm not normally one to use a phaser on much. I was posessed to do this clone because it seemed like a worthy challenge, not because it was something I needed or wanted (like DubStation or Discord.) Adam has always been a big fan of the Bi-Phase, so he was all over it. However, now that I've heard this little fucker, I'd have to say that it is, in fact, the shiznit in all respects. I'll begin doing the UI today, and Adam will finish the major coding here in a week or so. Then it's on to testing, and we've got ourselves a product. (Of course, the least fun part of the project, porting to AU, still lies ahead, but we've got that mostly hacked by now.)
---
## A New Controller...
- Date: 2005-10-13
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/10/a-new-controller/
Okay, my keyboard controller (which is a no-name 4-octave thing) is not fitting in to the New Plan, and I'll tell you why. For some reason I can't fully explain, and thus won't bother, I use a controller which is powered off the joystick port (and I don't mean USB) of my PC. The reason for this is that when PCs first started getting USB MIDI interfaces, they uniformly sucked, because the USB support in Win98 uniformly sucked. Using an MPU-401 was always (and still is) rock fucking solid, so for some reason I just never switched to USB. Never saw the need.
Now, with my new console setup, I need to get a controller that has a little more juice to it. I still have no intention whatsoever of running a USB controller. I'll still use the joystick port as my main input because, even though it looks stupid when I type it, the feel/timing/whatever is better than MIDI that has come in on a USB device. I have several USB interfaces, but they're used for other computers, not my main DAW machine.
So, what works for you? It's now hard to find a controller that \_doesn't\_ have every bell and whistle on it. I'd prefer one with a 5-octave waterfall keyboard, but that's not really necessary. It should be noted here that, unlike most modern "electronic musicians," I can play, extremely fast if not that well. (Ho, ho, ho.) So none of this bullshit X-Factor nonsense. I don't want 46 sliders, 35 knobs, 6 x/y pads, and a partridge in a pear tree. I want a fucking 5-octave keyboard that has a pitch wheel and a mod wheel and a good action and a MIDI-out port. Nothing more. Ideas?
**UPDATE:** I'm actually leaning towards one of the ubiquitous 80s digitals for use as a controller, I think. Those things are built like tanks, and we'll need to travel to the stage now and again, so it would be wise to plan for same. ESQ-1? I've never owned a single piece of Ensoniq gear (and that's probably the only company I can say that about) so this would be a leap for me. Maybe even a Mirage. DX11? I had a Korg DW8000 for years, and aside from having really tired sounds, it served me well. Something to ponder, anyways. Anyone have an ESQ1 they want to ship to Oregon for a pittance?
---
## Chock full of synthy goodness...
- Date: 2005-10-12
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/10/chock-full-of-synthy-goodness/
Back when I was a whippersnapper, knee-high to a short goat, I got a spankin' new Atari 2600 for Christmas. Little did I know this would be my initiation in to the endless cycle of product upgrades and system flame wars. Not too long after I got my Atari, my best friend got an Intellivision system, and it had a keyboard. This was officially my first introduction to the wonderous powers of synthesis, and has a soft spot in my heart for that. Of course, all the games on the Intellivision sucked, and we all know who won the Atari/Intellivision/Colecovision wars, but I still remember plinking away on that keyboard.
The sound chip in the Intellivision was the GI AY-3-8914, which while having a rather unfortunate name, was far more capable than the custom TI chip in the Atari 2600. Three channels of sound, and a noise channel (does that sound familiar?) and if you had the Computer Component, you got another chip for a total of 6 channels of synth and 2 of noise. (Of course, you could only access both chips by having the computer bit.)
The whole setup (the Master Component, the Computer Component, and the Music Synthesizer) is readily available from eBay or various other sources of Retro Console Fun; since the system doesn't have the cachet of the 2600, it isn't as expensive to obtain a complete system, which is something on my Big List Of Things I'll Do Real Soon.
---
## Putting my money where my mouth is...
- Date: 2005-10-12
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/10/putting-my-money-where-my-mouth-is/
So, today I ordered PCBs for the [Gyraf](http://www.gyraf.dk/) clones of the SSL 2-buss compressor and Urei 1176 compressor. I figured if I was gonna talk all that shit about people being better off going DIY for certain pro audio needs, I better practice what I preach. The boards for both compressors were a total of 23 Euro including shipping, which isn't much. I ordered them from Gustav Of Denmark, via the [thread](http://www.prodigy-pro.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=233) on Prodigy-Pro.com. I'll keep everyone posted on the progress, but expect much comedy to ensue.
---
## The Hunt...
- Date: 2005-10-11
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/10/the-hunt/
Dear Lazyweb:
Is there some sort of keybed that can be switched so that it has key markings for Discrete 3DS Max, Photoshop, _and_ Nuendo? I could get just a Cubase/Nuendo keyboard, one that only does Photoshop, and one that does 3DS Max, but it would be nice if there was a swappable keybed for each program using one "frame" or whatever. I've seen these for [gaming systems,](http://www.zboard.com/global/products/) where you can lay on a keybed for, e.g., Quake, and swap it with one for Medal Of Honor or whatever, but is there one for people (like me) that actually have work to do?
And before you bring it up, I know all about the [Optimus.](http://www.artlebedev.com/portfolio/optimus/) This Nexus Of All Cool will certainly be mine when it is released, but it is at least a year away.
**Update:** After doing some research, it has become obvious that the Optimus (which doesn't actually exist yet) and the Zboard (which is now gaming only, but it wasn't always) are the only two products that do what I'm talking about. But I did come across [these,](http://www.ymouse.com/xkeys.php) which show promise in the event I wanted to attach Yet Another Gee-Gaw to my computer(s).
---
## And the finished product...
- Date: 2005-10-11
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/10/and-the-finished-product/
For both of you waiting with baited breath to see the results of The Big Console/Desk/Whatever Building Project, well, here you go. The new hub of my analog/digital hybrid lifestyle. Yes, I know I have Events when I should have Adams. Sue me. I've played a couple thousand shows; the shimmering quality of [Adam](http://www.adam-audio.de/) monitors would be lost on me.
---
## And from the WTF files...
- Date: 2005-10-11
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/10/and-from-the-wtf-files/
I literally stumbled in to the [Sintefex Audio](http://www.sintefex.com/?targ=products&src=home) page on accident. I meant to click one Google link, and clicked a different one by mistake. I feel like I accidentally walked in to the ladies restroom, inasmuch as it's kind of cool for a second, but I really wouldn't want to stay for any length of time...
The above picture is apparently the FX8000 Replicator, which aside from having a name right out of a mid-90s sci-fi movie, seems to be something along the lines of the [Focusrite Liquid Channel.](http://aes.harmony-central.com/115AES/Content/Focusrite/PR/Liquid-Channel.html) I don't know if it is all that, but it has a weird quality that makes me want it, in that way that I want anything that hardly anybody else has. I wonder if they actually made any.
---
## AES: Rumors and shit...
- Date: 2005-10-10
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/10/aes-rumors-and-shit/
There are a couple unsubstansiated rumors about this product and that seen at AES. Of course, if I had have gone, they wouldn't be unsubstansiated, because I'd substansiate them. But since I didn't, and thus can't, I provide them here as if they were Real News.
**Chandler TG1 as TDM plug-in:** I've read in several places that [Chandler](http://www.chandlerlimited.com/) was showing a TDM plug of their TG-1 Abby Road Limiter, or something similar. I don't really care because it's TDM, and thus over-priced and for a closed system I couldn't give two shits about. But maybe it will excite some of you.
**Synthax Algorithmix software goes native**: I know, I know. You're saying the same thing I am. "Who? What? Why?" Exactly. [Synthax](http://www.synthax.com/index_comp.html) owns RME, so there's that. Anyways, they have these plug-ins for DirectX, and they're telling people that they'll be releasing them for VST/AU. Don't know why this wasn't banner headlines...
I don't really care about the Synthax stuff (and I'm in a big club, there) but the Chandler rumor is interesting. Any readers see the plug? Any hope of it going native?
---
## DIY Day pt. 2 - Carpentry 101
- Date: 2005-10-09
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/10/diy-day-pt-2-carpentry-101/
Here we see the console I started last weekend. As you can see, it is pretty much done. All I have left to do is bore the holes for the cables of the various items that live on its surface (e.g. monitors, speakers, etc.) and paint it. I'm actually going to get the paint here in a minute, so chances are good I'll finish this today. In keeping with the theme of Shaolin Fist Of Death Studios, it will get an oriental laqueresque kind of treatment, black with red trim. It should look utterly ridiculous.
For the curious, the whole project took 1 1/2 sheets of 5/8" plywood, a Skillsaw, a jigsaw, some wood glue, finishing nails, and a hammer. And a lot of sanding. Note my fly-ass left-handed hammer. One of the many ways I get back at righties on a regular basis. ("Hey, can I borrow your hammer?" Heh. Sure.)
---
## DIY Day pt. 1 - Modular Madness
- Date: 2005-10-09
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/10/diy-day-pt-1-modular-madness/
I'm calling Sunday DIY Day, for today at least. Time to update on my recent projects. I finally finished my second DIY module for my [Blacet](http://www.blacet.com/) modular, a Digital Noise module from [CGS.](http://cgs.synth.net/) In the picture, you can see my snazzy panels for the Psycho LFO and Digital Noise modules from [Front Panel Express.](http://www.frontpanelexpress.com/)
I still have to get the tiny LEDs that go above the binary outputs, as you can see, but it is otherwise done. Works like a charm. Total cost to build on the Psycho LFO was about $38, and for the Digital Noise about $44 (the panel cost more; more holes in it.) These are easy-to-build modules. The hardest part of the whole operation was ordering the capacitors.
---
## AES: Roll Music Super Stereo Compressor
- Date: 2005-10-09
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/10/aes-roll-music-super-stereo-compressor/
This is one I've been waiting to see. There was a "coming soon" on the [Roll Music page](http://www.rollmusic.com/systems/superstereo.shtml) for ever and a day about this box, and lo and behold, it dropped at AES. It is quite obvious that it can trace its lineage from the Gyraf SSL 2-buss compressor clone straight to the SSL stereo compressor, putting it in the same family as the Alan Smart C1 and C2. The main difference appears to be the addition of a high pass filter. Price is unknown, but this is one to watch if you need a good 2-buss compresser (and of course you do) and don't want to take on the rather daunting task of building the Gyraf clone for yourself. Since it is coming from Roll Music, it won't be that expensive. I bet it will be under a grand, or right around there.
**EDIT:** I think it is important to note that my comments above viz. the Roll compressor being a descendent of the GSSL clone were based upon Justin's comments on his own web page. After reading several threads at the various pro audio forums, I personally am convinced this bears no resemblance to the GSSL other than superficially. So, I take back what I said. The people that have heard it say it sounds amazing, as well. The GSSL sounds like an SSL, which isn't necessarily "amazing."
---
## Ludicrously good channel strip roundup...
- Date: 2005-10-08
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/10/ludicrously-good-channel-strip-roundup/
Since I was being all snarky yesterday about input chains, I thought it might be an interesting exercise to have a look at the top end of the input strip market. An input strip, in my mind, contains everything you need between the microphone (or instrument) cable and the A/D. In some cases it might even have the A/D, which is handy. I think what I'll do is put up the insanely expensive ones today, then later today or tomorrow a group of more affordable choices that don't completely blow.
As I mentioned in my gear pr0n post yesterday, people tend to overlook this sort of thing in their Quest For Gear. But a good input strip will let the true colors of your synth/bass/kazoo really shine, and is money extremely well spent, IMO. Since there are a lot of these sorts of products, we'll limit the selection to units that contain a mic pre, an equalizer, and a compressor/gate. In short, an entire input chain in one unit. Just add input.
First up, we have the [Solid State Logic](http://www.solid-state-logic.com/music/xlogic_esigchannel.html) XLogic E Signature Channel. This is a channel strip cloned from an SSL E-series console. If you ever hear people talk about the "SSL sound," they're talking about the E-series, because it is the most colorful of the SSL lineage, for sure. Of the 14 full-length albums I've released, half have been either recorded, mixed, or both on an E-series, so I have a bit of experience with this particular sound, which could be described using adjectives like "aggressive," "chunky," and "wrawkin'." This strip is brand new, just announced at AES, and I can't find an MSRP. I'll wager it's in the $2500 range, though. Just for fun, it includes the "Listen Mic" compressor, just like the free plug-in that was dropped yesterday. There will also be an A/D option.
The [API 7600](http://www.mercenary.com/api76chst.html) channel strip is basically the input section of an API Legacy console. It is, in short, the fucking Shit. As has been mentioned here, there, and everywhere, API is _the sound_ of American rock. This bad boy will set you back $2750, but it is worth every single penny. It is part of API's rack-mount console series, and has sends that work with the 7800 master module, but that isn't necessary to use it, as it will work fine by itself. It includes the mic pre and compressor from the Legacy console, and the 550a equalizer. A strong "buy" recommendation, if you have the means.
After two discrete designs, it might be time for some tubes. Clocking in at $2650, the [Pendulum Audio Quartet](http://www.mercenary.com/penquar.html) is chock-full of NOS tubes hand-blown by German virgins in the 50s, when blowing tubes was something the Russians didn't do very well, and people were more innocent. I don't have any experience with this particular unit, but I've seen a lot of people that know about such things write positively glowing reviews of it. The thing to note is that it has a \_lot\_ of options for carving up your tone. Transformers can be switched in and out, the routing of the unit can be changed (e.g. EQ before or after compressor), all the modules can be patched out and used indepentently, etc. It is an extremely versatile box for the money. There is also the inevitable [Mercenary Edition](http://www.mercenary.com/peauquiimeed.html), (every manufacture that has a product in the Mercenary store has to provide Fletcher with a custom job, it seems) which is, like all Mercenary Editions, "more agressive," "punchier," etc. Supposedly a great fucking box, but I don't know from using it.
So, those are but three of the [possibilities.](http://www.mercenary.com/doesevbutlau.html) The price range for a high-end input strip generally hovers around the $2K to $3.5K mark, with some considerably more. But you get what you pay for here, no doubt. Not only is it a good investment for your sound, but these things hold their value (and in many cases appreciate) so when you finally give up this whole music racket and decide to become an investment banker, you can sell this stuff and put the money in penny stocks.
---
## AES: Toft 8-buss console preview
- Date: 2005-10-07
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/10/aes-toft-8-buss-console-preview/
Well, truth be told, I don't know if this is actually \_at\_ AES, but the [Toft](http://www.toftaudio.com/) fellows said they'd be showing it there. (Just wait 'til winter NAMM, because I'll actually be there, and thus won't be sitting here typing out my ass all day.) In any case, this is something you don't see coming down the pike every day: an analog 8-buss console.
Toft is generally accepted to be on the low side of high-end, or on the high side of middle-end, depending on who you ask. That caveat aside, this console is gonna _smoke._ It is a true 8-buss, and is available in 16, 24, and 32 input frames. It also has a digital option for FW, AES, and ADAT. Nothing I can find says whether the ADAT and FW are both I and O, though. Well, never mind that; this is an ideal front end for your DAW, especially if you have a lot of keyboards (see my rant earlier.) The best part? The price. It has an MSRP of $2495, which means a possible street price of under two grand.
It's also worth mention that Toft is part of the PMI Audio Group, which includes JoeMeek. In conversations I've seen online, folks from Toft have mentioned several times that Joemeek will be introducing the Meekser next year, which should be a nice little mixer for not a lot of money. Something to look forward to for NAMM, I guess.
---
## AES: PreSonus Inspire
- Date: 2005-10-07
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/10/aes-presonus-inspire/
PreSonus just dropped a spanner in the FW interface market with the INSPIRE 1394, which has mic pres, instrument inputs, and phono (!) inputs 'round the back. The big news is that it retails for less than $200. Why am I posting this here? Well, the INSPIRE is the first PreSonus product to include their new Propak, which is a software package containing the [usual suspects.](http://www.presonus.com/propak.html) However, it is the first mass-produced product to contain Audio Damage plug-ins. The Propak includes FuzzPlus2 (which is already free, of course) and the Filterpod plug-in from [the Mayhem package.](http://www.audiodamage.com/l33t/product_info.php?cPath=1&products_id=1)
Now, we don't normally cotton to this sort of thing, as my faithful readers well know, but two factors weighed on our decision. First, PreSonus is cool. They make good products for low prices. Second, we get some totally animal exposure out of the deal, because this INSPIRE jobby is gonna move some units, being the first FW audio interface worth a shit under two bangers.
---
## AES: Princeton Plate Reverb for VST
- Date: 2005-10-07
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/10/aes-princeton-plate-reverb-for-vst/
The [Princeton Digital](http://www.princetondigital.com/) Stereo Room Reverb is my favorite native reverb plug, hands down. I use it on _everything._ It is a VST implementation of one of the three reverb types in the 2016 hardware unit they sell through Eventide. (The original Eventide 2016 is the most flyest of all 'verbs, IMO. In my dream rack of black 80s signal processors with red LEDs, it has a place of pride right at the top.) They've just announced that they'll be releasing a VST version of the plate program from the same unit. It will be $99, PC only currently.
Now, if they'd only do a native version of their Ursa Major TDM/RTAS plug, I'd be a happy camper.
---
## AES: Free compressor plug from SSL!
- Date: 2005-10-07
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/10/aes-free-compressor-plug-from-ssl/
SSL just dropped this bad boy, a free VST/AU clone of their famous listen-mic compressor. You can grab it [here.](http://www.solid-state-logic.com/resources/lmc1plugin.html) Mac only, sorry to say.
---
## Hard-Core Gear Porn Friday!!!
- Date: 2005-10-07
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/10/hard-core-gear-porn-friday/
I know, I know. "Chris," you say, "how the fuck are you gonna top last week's [Zimmerfest](https://analogindustries.com/2005/09/hard-core-gear-porn-friday-3/)?" Well, the truth is, I can't. You'll have to go through life knowing that it will never get better than that. Our friend Don over at [soundarc.net](http://news.soundarc.net/) turned me on to James Whit (I guess that's his name), who can certainly hold his own against the destructive power that is Zimmerland in sheer quantity, anyways. The above photo is but one angle of his studio, which is stuffed to the gils with a pretty fucking nice collection of synths.
There is an album [on his AOL Homesite page](https://web.archive.org/web/2005/http://www.analogindustries.com/%3Cbr%20/%3Ehttp://pak05.pictures.aol.com/NASApp/ygp/GuestLogin?event=DirectView&shareInfo=aeVRhXusOtKfgSfMzo2NrBnS9nsnzB8Y6GOKPxgcebE%3d&pageName=AlbumViewFromEmails&locale=en_US&locale=en_US) which shows off his collection, a couple hundred grand worth. (Two Synthis _and_ a VCS3? That's just plain ostentatious.) Here's what I don't get, though. I regularly sift through piles of pictures of these guys studios, and to a person, they all have thousands of dollars invested in the highest of the high end of the synth world, and they all run their gear through shitty $250 Mackie boards. That makes no sense to me at all. Metaphor? No problem. Say you go and buy a brand new Aston Martin DB7. It is hand-built for you in England, as only the English can do. You then take that DB7 to Costco and have them put the $50 set of tires on it. Seriously, guys. The mixer is where the rubber meets the road. If you're gonna invest all that money in synths, you should pay attention to your signal chain and A/D converters at least as much.
---
## And while we're on the subject of sexy...
- Date: 2005-10-06
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/10/and-while-were-on-the-subject-of-sexy/
I don't normally like to cop material from other music blogs. I figure that you're all just like me and read all of them. However, [Matrixsynth,](http://matrixsynth.com/blog/index.php/2005/10/06/sequential_circuits_profx_site) the final arbiter of all things Analog, just hipped me to [this site,](http://electricmusicbox.com/profx/main.htm) a "fan" site for the Sequential Circuits Pro-FX system.
Now, I ran in to one of these complete systems in a pawn shop once, around '95 or so. It was $150 and I didn't buy it. I've been kicking myself for nigh on a decade about this, to the point where I have a permanent bruise. (It's right next to the one I have from passing up a NIB Prophet 5 Rev 3.2 for a grand). A lot of people don't know that SCI, along with Moog, made outboard.
Anyways, the site itself is on the thin side, and hasn't been updated in several years, but it has info on each module in the system, and some really nice pr0n. The Pro-FX was designed by [Dave Smith,](http://www.davesmithinstruments.com/other/museum.html) and is thus permanently placed in the Cool file. If any of you are aware of one of these systems for sale, even the 3U one, please don't hesitate to drop me a line.
---
## It's the new style...
- Date: 2005-10-06
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/10/its-the-new-style/
I guess cute little recording concoles are the Next Big Thing in the boutique world. Hot on the heels of the Wunder Audio announcement last week, we have this little beastie from Tonelux. This is more a configure-it-yourself (CIY?) kind of thing; Tonelux has a wide variety of modules for their summing/recording system, and this will hold them all in various configurations.
A bit more info on their [website,](http://www.tonelux.com/) but suffice to say this is another one that ain't too cheap. On the bright side, you'll see that [Manowar,](http://www.manowar.com/) the World's Loudest Band, has chosen Tonelux for their studio. Now, there's a ringing endorsement. Because their records are so good.
---
## And another thing...
- Date: 2005-10-06
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/10/and-another-thing/
AES starts Friday, and I just want to jot a quick note to major manufacturers: don't send me your fucking press releases. I don't know how I got on your Big List Of Shills, but I only talk about things that, like, don't completely fucking blow. Nobody cares if you put a tube in your beatbox for extra phatt beatz. Seriously.
I'm not kidding. This site is boutique only, unless it is really fucking fly, so spare me.
---
## And now for something completely different...
- Date: 2005-10-06
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/10/and-now-for-something-completely-different/
Since it seems the [entire](http://www.createdigitalmusic.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=916&Itemid=44) music [industry](http://osxrecording.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=132) blog-o-[sphere](http://www.sonicstate.com/news/shownews.cfm?newsid=2374) is all a-titter with giggly schoolboy glee over Amplitude 2, as endorsed by the lead guitarist of the Italian metal band [Cameltoe,](http://www.ikmultimedia.com/AAA/index.html) it begs the question: are there any female readers of this blog? I get a couple thousand people a day here, and logic would dictate that the demographic would follow the normal professional musician community at large, as in the readership is a sausage-fest on the order of about 98.2%. I'm just curious if that's actually the case here.
I have a polling mechanism as part of the nifty posiNET back-end, but I don't really see the need to use "Are you a girl?" as its maiden (heh) voyage on this site. There's really no way to tell, I suppose. But my real curiosity is thus: does the blatant sexuality of the Amplitude 2 marketing actually move products? I think it is pretty lame, myself, but having known (and fired) quite a few guitarists in my time, I can see how it might work.
The funniest part, though, is at the beginning of the Flash movie (yeah, don't pretend you didn't click the Cameltoe link above...) it says "For Mature Audiences Only." So I guess they don't actually intend for any guitarists to see it?
---
## URS compressors!
- Date: 2005-10-04
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/10/urs-compressors/
The URS equalizers are pretty much the bomb, as far as software equalization goes. I'm a big fan, and you'll find an A-series on just about every track on every project in my system. URS just dropped a bombshell, though. At AES, they'll be announcing a pair of compressors. I normally loath to print press nuggets here, but I'm pretty excited about this, and it is hard to type when I'm excited. So some cutting and pasting is in order:
_
URS CLASSIC CONSOLE COMPRESSOR BUNDLE
The URS Classic Console Compressor Bundle digitally re-creates the sound of two popular British console compressors. The URS 1970 is smooth and warm, and the URS 1980 is snappy and more aggressive. Both feature high-resolution 48-bit double-precision processing and 192k sampling. Separate compressor and brickwall limiter, internal sidechain with high- and lowpass filtering. Prices: $899 TDM and $449 Native RTAS AudioUnits and VST.
_
There's nothing on their [site](http://www.ursplugins.com/) about this yet, and that little tiny thing is the only picture I can find. My Powers Of Deductive Reasoning tell me that the 1970 is a Neve 2-buss console comp, and the 1980 is almost certainly an SSL 2-buss. This is most awesome. I'm just all a-titter with excitement.
---
## Central Station...
- Date: 2005-10-04
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/10/central-station/
Got myself one o' them there [Central Stations](https://web.archive.org/web/2005/http://www.analogindustries.com/%3Cbr%20/%3Ehttp://www.presonus.com/centralstation.html) today, with the nifty little remote control thingamajig. This bad boy is definitely the new hub of my Analog Lifestyle. What it is, for those not in the know, is basically the master section of a console. You got your input selectors, your speaker selectors, your big-ass volume knob. The little remote thingie duplicates the major features.
It's a bog-simple piece of kit, really. Plugged it in, it worked. It is a passive device; there is nothing in the audio path to speak of, and all switching is done with mechanical relays (so you get a satisfying "thunk" whenever you change the inputs.) Very handy thing to have for a computer-based studio that doesn't have a console. I'll post a more thorough review after I've lived with it for a while, but my initial impressions are nice clean workmanlike interface, and it does what it is supposed to without any drama. Can't really ask for more than that from a piece of gear, can you?
---
## Mystery solved...
- Date: 2005-10-04
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/10/mystery-solved/
Okay, we've found out about the Radio Shack Ring Of Death. The creator is one [Toby Paddock,](http://www.seanet.com/~tpaddock/) who, aside from being obviously deranged, took the time to pen this missive:
_
Each reverb have an added delayed-only signal output that feeds into
the next in the circle. I haven't spent much time with it yet so I don't
really know what it wants to do. Cheesy old sci-fi movie noises and
obnoxious feedback are easy to get from it.
The lucite box is a neon oscillator 4x4x4 grid "art thing". Not really
synth-diy related, but it does have oscillators modulated by other
oscillators. Sort of. I would like to try to get some signals out of it. It
is powered from +/-160V (20uA) with a floating ground and I'm guessing the
ground floats around a bit as the lamps fire.
_
So, there you have it.
---
## Wunderful...
- Date: 2005-10-04
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/10/wunderful/
Okay, here's the deal: I have a platinum record. And a gold one. I'm, like, quasi-famous and stuff. So I think, because I'm even more quasi-famous than most of the people that endorse products (and thus get them for free) I should be getting more free shit. I may not have sold more records than BT, but I sure have put out a fuck of a lot more, and being prolific has to count for something, right?
The problem with the above equation is (a) I hate to ask for free shit, and (b) I'm a world-class gear snob. Most of the shit you can get for free is, well, shit, when you get down to it. What would be really nice is if a company like [Wunder Audio](http://www.wunderaudio.com/) decided that they wanted a quasi-celebrity spokesman, and that I was just the musician they had in mind, and then they sent me, say, one of their spankin' new Wunder Recording Consoles. If that little stinker isn't just a thing of beauty, I don't know what the hell is. Ten inputs, based around their luverly PEQ-1 channel strip. This isn't a summing buss, but rather an actual recording console in mini-me form, along the lines of the Neve Kelso or Melbourne. No price on the website, but seeing how a single PEQ-1 cartridge goes for over $2,000, we're talking at least $20K for this bad boy.
Shit, I'd endorse child slavery for that. Seriously, Wunder. I'll say very nice things about you every day. Think about it.
---
## Master Control Center 102
- Date: 2005-10-04
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/10/master-control-center-102/
Some progress on the Master Control Center today. One point to remember during all of this is that I live in the Pacific Northwest. What that means, for readers from outside the United States, is that it rains pretty much constantly. North America's only rain forest is here, and with good reason. (English people would feel right at home here.)
So, between squalls I had to haul all my plywood and tools outside, whereupon I could measure and cut until another cloudburst, when I had to haul everything in again. So it took about four times longer than it should have, but it's a good start. I changed the plans up somewhat from my original design, as you can see. I made little wings for my speakers, so that they would be up higher. The actual desk portion will now be the same width as the unit itself.
I should finish the major construction tomorrow, then it will be on to finish work, and presto, we'll have a console/desk/whatever, just like that.
---
## The Final Sign That The Apocalypse Is Upon Us...
- Date: 2005-10-03
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/10/the-final-sign-that-the-apocalypse-is-upon-us/
I was browsing through the [Flickr gallery](http://www.flickr.com/photos/tpaddock) of the Pacific Northwest Synth Meeting, and came across this gem. I don't know who it belongs to, but this... uhhhhh... array? of nine (9!) Realistic Electronic Reverbs is like something out of a Lovecraft novel.
Will the Guilty Party please step forward and inform us all about this Weapon Of Devastating Power?
---
## Building an SSL Compressor Clone...
- Date: 2005-10-02
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/10/building-an-ssl-compressor-clone/
I've mentioned the Gyraf SSL clone several times on this blog as a good starting point for someone interested in trying their hand at doing some high-end DIY. I just came across [this page](http://oxygene.dynip.com:8080/ssl/?photo=1) where this guy has documented building the Gyraf clone from aquiring the PCBs all the way up to the finished product. It may not be the prettiest clone around, but it's an interesting documentation of the process by someone that is new to DIY. A handy resource if you're on the fence about building one of these. (Like me, for instance.)
---
## Audio Damage Update...
- Date: 2005-10-02
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/10/audio-damage-update/
For those following along, work proceeds on the Mutron Bi-Phase clone, which we've imaginatively named Phase Two. (Our marketing department, me, in other words, decided that it was wise to harken to the original in the naming process.) For those not in the know about such things, a phaser consists of a metric fuckton of allpass filters. You need one filter for each "pole" of the phaser. Since the Bi-Phase is actually a pair of 6-pole phasers, well, you do the math.
But anyways, measurements are made, the allpass is built, and things are being assembled. The UI is made, and as soon as we freeze the features and determing that this damned thing actually works, I'll throw it up here for your perusal. Yes, it is cel-shaded, to save the obvious question. It is also, by far, the nicest UI I've done. I'm rather proud of it. So, Phase Two is in the oven. It will be available some time Real Soon Now (read: two months? No way to predict) for AU and VST. When we get closer, I'll have a price for you, as well as the UI. As always, watch this space for details. And make us feel generally good about ourselves by going and spending $39.00 on the [only analog delay plug-in worth a shit.](http://www.audiodamage.com/l33t/product_info.php?cPath=1&products_id=9)
---
## Master Control Center 101
- Date: 2005-10-01
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/10/master-control-center-101/
Since I'm about to start accepting commercial clients in my (thus far private) studio, it is time to address the issue of my desk/console/whatever. The current Rube Goldberg assemblage of Metro Shelving and Quick-Lok stands just ain't gonna cut it any more. First, it doesn't look professional, and second, it's just asserific.
So, I'm going to build myself a desk/console/whatever that better suits my working methods and compliment of gear. Spending a couple minutes in 3D Studio Max to (copping a phrase from our friends in the movie industry) previsualize the final product was very illuminating. The first thing I noted is that I need at least four, and preferably six, rack spaces directly in front of me. These will hold the stuff that I have to twiddle most often (my Neumann EQs, Central Station, mic pres, et al.)
The next thing, being primarily a keyboard player, is a keyboard controller. Now, this took some thinking. I wanted to have some options in the way things are layed out here. I could move the controller to live with all my synth stuff (which is immediately to my left, as I am left-handed) so it would be wise to make this area deep enough to hold a dedicated fader extravaganza for working with Nuendo. In browsing all of these various devices, it looks like the best bang-for-the-buck, without all the stupid bells and whistles, is the [Tascam US-2400.](http://www.tascam.com/Products/US-2400.html) Now, I've never laid eyes on one of these in real life, so I can't speak to the build quality or anything, but it looks well enough, and the reviews I've read seem to be uniformly "this is fine." I'm very much a control-keys and mouse mixer, so I don't really know if this would aid my workflow enough to justify the expense.
Anyways, that's down the road a bit. I made enough room on the desk portion to hold one of these, should I go on a wild spending spree and decide to purchase something like this. The nice bonus here is that the Tascam unit is one of the larger devices of this family, and if it will fit, most all of them will. (Except the Mackie one, which is deeper by a couple inches, and I already know I don't like that one, having spent some quality time with it.)
Some further thought on the matter, and it occurred to me that the base of the unit could hold my pair of PCs, and if I spent some time with that sound-mat shit that the Hi-NOS Tunerz use, there would be a little iso booth in the bottom to kill the sound of the computers.
I should point out that I stridently refuse to buy anything that I can build myself, and that goes quadruple for shit that is made out of MDF. I **WILL NOT** purchase anything made out of MDF ever again. I've learned my lesson. "Hey, that desk is cheap, and it looks nice! I'll take one!" and then 6 months later it's all bent to shit because you put your speakers on it, and it couldn't take the weight. Then you move one time, and the corners all get rounded off. Thanks, but no thanks. Cabinet-grade birch plywood will be our medium of choice here.
I'm open to thoughts on this matter. I won't be doing anything ridiculous like that bent birchwood thing we had in Gear pr0n [couple weeks back.](https://analogindustries.com/2005/09/hard-core-gear-porn-friday/) My cabinetry skills lend themselves to austerity, so keep that in mind.
---
## Hard-Core Gear Porn Friday!!!
- Date: 2005-09-30
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/09/hard-core-gear-porn-friday-3/
Okay, it's the moment you've all been waiting for. Now, let me state from the outset that these photos have appeared on the internet before. They were put in the MOTM Yahoo group for a brief period, but they were removed; in the time they were there, word got around quickly. (Which is why they were removed, of course.)
However, I fly in the face of convention, and put them here for your enjoyment. An anonymous donor provided them to me, and I will remove them if asked, because the owner of this system isn't exactly known for revealing the tools of his trade. So, without further ado, I give you Hans Zimmer's Wall Of Modular, which is, without a doubt, the World's Most Ludicrous Synth. Each picture is a link, which will take you directly to the full size model.
**Moog #1**
[](https://analogindustries.com/images/blog/hz1.jpg)
This is the far left of the Wall, and is, by and large, original Moog modular, as far as I can tell, of various vintages. There seems to be some non-Moog stuff on the second row of the left panel. Any thoughts?
**Moog #2**
[](https://analogindustries.com/images/blog/hz2.jpg)
This is the other side of the Moog Alcove, showing the third panel.
**Misc #1**
[](https://analogindustries.com/images/blog/hz3.jpg)
This is the next panel, and is made up of miscellaneous synths. There are two Studio Electronics SE-1s, a Cwejman S1, several racks of Doepfer (which have a couple Analog Solutions modules stuck in 'em, for balance, I suppose), and a pair of Midified and racked MiniMoog. The black panels are all CMS, as far as I can tell.
**Misc #2**
[](https://analogindustries.com/images/blog/hz4.jpg)
This is another angle on the same panel.
**Roland**
[](https://analogindustries.com/images/blog/hz5.jpg)
Between Hans Zimmer and Vince Clarke, I'm surprised that any Roland System 100m modules are left for the rest of us. This is one of the largest there is, with 58 VCOs, 37 VCFs, 32 ENVs, 12 VC Phase shifters, and 9 Sequencers. I think somebody needs to organize an intervention. This man must be stopped.
**The Whole Shebang**
Two different angles of the entire system.
[](https://analogindustries.com/images/blog/hz6.jpg)
[](https://analogindustries.com/images/blog/hz7.jpg)
---
## Wow^2
- Date: 2005-09-29
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/09/wow-2/
Pictures of this bad boy were floating around the Intardwebs not too long ago, courtesy of our friends at [Analog Haven,](http://analoghaven.com/) but now it is up on [the 'bay.](https://web.archive.org/web/2005/http://www.analogindustries.com/%3Cbr%20/%3Ehttp://cgi.ebay.com/Worlds-Most-Modified-Roland-TR-606-TR606_W0QQitemZ7354365370QQ) In a nutshell, it is a 606 where every possible mod has been done to it, and broken out in to the Euro-Rack modular form factor. I covet this greatly, I'll admit, but I imagine it is going to go for well over a grand (probably more like $1500 to $2K) and that is simply out of my price range for what is a relatively shitty drum machine, no offense intended to the obviously incredibly talented person that pulled this off.
---
## Auction-o-rama...
- Date: 2005-09-29
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/09/auction-o-rama/
If you're an auction-a-holic, you probably know about [this site,](http://www.govliquidation.com/list/e1602) but for those of you that actually \_don't\_ have all the free time in the world on your hands, this is kind of fun to browse. GL is one of the several companies that is contracted to unload all the useless shit that the US Government pays far too much money for, never uses, then eventually stacks on pallettes for disposal back to the American public.
(Yeah, do that math in your head: you now have the opportunity to buy something that, technically speaking, you paid for in the first place. You gotta love the government.)
There are some really good deals to be had; the caveat is that you usually have to go pick the shit up at whatever huge-ass supply depot it is sitting in. You want a whole pallette of Carvin bass amps? Look no further. You need a patchbay the size of Delaware? You've come to the [right place.](http://cgi.govliquidation.com/auction/view?id=690355) The prices are low, and about 4 times a year there is a specific auction for music gear (which is what the first link is.) You really never know what the hell you're gonna see there. Worth taking a browse now and again, I suppose. That is, unless you actually have, like, a life or something.
---
## New boutique audiophile quality microphone!
- Date: 2005-09-28
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/09/new-boutique-audiophile-quality-microphone/
The [web page](http://www.kingcapitolpunishment.com/highrollermicrophones.html) says it all:
_
"HIGH ROLLER" microphones are sonically right at home when
used to record drums regardless of the type of preamplifier utilized
in the process.
these hi definition microphones boast an astonishing dynamic range
with a signal to noise ratio well above
500 db you can record anything while still capturing the soul of
the performance.
_
That about sums it up. This handmade beauty (apparently available with six different color schemes) is only $30.00! I mean, what else can you get for $30 that will enhance your creativity this much? Okay, besides a quarter gram of cocaine and a case of Mickey's Big Mouth.
While you're on the site, be sure to check out the one-off [Sleepdrone](http://www.kingcapitolpunishment.com/sleepdrone.html) analog synth/opto-theremin/rat's nest of wiring. Like wombats fucking, that one. I, of course, have never actually seen or heard wombats fucking, but I bet they sound like the Sleepdrone when they do.
---
## It's got salsa, rhumba, cha-cha, disco...
- Date: 2005-09-28
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/09/its-got-salsa-rhumba-cha-cha-disco/
Man, my mom cracks me the fuck up. I go over to her house today, and she presents me with a Casio CTK-411, which is your typical home keyboard drum-n-chords magical music machine. Now, I have to preface this with a little bit of back-story. To my parents and grandparents (and I imagine this is true for most music pros), it seems unfathomable that someone can make a living making music. Even though I've been doing it for over 15 years, it still hasn't sunk in. My grandfather's now-traditional opening salvo whenever I see him is "got a job yet?" My mom put the "hip" in "hippie," but even she can't seem to grasp the concept that one can get paid (in the long run) for this.
So my wife and I moved from Chicago to Oregon a couple months ago, and have in the process gone from living over 2000 miles away to literally being just down the street. A side effect of this is that my mom has finally seen my studio, and once she got over the cognitive dissonance that was created by seeing two monitors attached to one computer, she began to take stock of the other contents of the studio.
I was unaware of this course of events until presented with this Casio today. I tried my hardest to not be snobby about it, and I think I failed when I asked "why do you think I need this?" It turns out, she saw my controller, which is a brandless, buttonless black thing that has nothing but 5 octaves of keys and pitch and mod wheels. She decided I should have a keyboard with "more stuff on it."
So, go ahead and yuck it up. This bad boy has MIDI in _and_ out. I'm gonna one-finger-chord my whole next album, and then who will be laughing? Are there any circuit benders in the Willamette Valley that want to make this bitch, like, cool and stuff?
---
## Man, oh, man...
- Date: 2005-09-27
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/09/man-oh-man/
I almost can't wait until Hardcore Gear Porn Friday, because I have a special feature. An unknown person provided me with pictures of the most ludicrous modular synth setup you'll ever see. The problem with putting these pics up is that all HCGPF entries after this one will seem kind of weak by comparision.
Well, no matter. Suffice to say that Friday's special edition of Hardcore Gear Porn will be a stunner.
---
## Okay, this is silly...
- Date: 2005-09-27
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/09/okay-this-is-silly/
I'll readily admit that I'm a glutton for punishment when it comes to sound-generating equipment. I'll happily spend 3 hours trying to get an SE30 running UpBeat to sync with my main Nuendo box, so I can get it to make its special hi-hat fills on some ass-down shitty 80s digital drum machine, when I could easily do the same thing in about 4 minutes with a sample directly in Nuendo.
In that light, I've been eyeing the Yamaha [TX16W](http://www.vintagesynth.com/index2.html) sampler for quite some time. These things are cheap as hell, generally going for $75 to $100 on the 'bay, and with good reason. They are generally accepted to be the single most unfriendly instrument every conceived by man. The operating system makes so little sense, it might as well be throwing text on its tiny screen in cunieform or some other language that only 4 people can read.
However, this translates in to "challenge" to me. One of my hobbies (at least that's what I call it; most other people consider it a sign of obsessive/compulsive disorder) is getting obsolete or unusual operating systems to run on modern computers. (Or vice versa.) I can, to the dismay of people I work with, wax poetic on BeOS for days. All this translates in to an unseemly desire to have a sampler that no one else likes.
On paper, it seems like a powerful instrument, for its time. It's a 12-bit sampler (which is 4 more bits than the holy land, but 4 less than anything that sounds remotely good.) Hardware samplers have pretty much been obviated _en mass_ as a result of the emergence of the DAW, so they're \_all\_ cheap. But this one has something about it that I can't put my finger on. I personally can't stand Yamaha gear. Every Yamaha product I've ever owned could fit nicely under the descriptor "asserific." I'm under no illusion that the TX16W is any different.
However, it does have one thing which most older samplers don't have: an [alternate operating system,](http://www.nuedge.net/typhoon2000/Typhoon2000.htm) in the Typhoon2000. This is a free replacement OS for the TX16W, that adds a few features, and makes it almost bearable, I'm given to understand.
Well, time will tell. I'm _this_ close to picking one up. We'll see how it all works out.
---
## Keepin' it real...
- Date: 2005-09-26
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/09/keepin-it-real/
Dangerous will be releasing this bad boy at AES; it's called Monitor. There will be two parts, the Monitor ST (which is stereo), and the add-on Monitor SR (which makes it surround.) It has the most bad-assest of all remotes, as you can plainly see. Think of it as a PreSonus Central Station with a serious meth habit. Apparently it is going to be $1800 for the stereo bit and the remote, which may seem like a lot for what is essentially a volume knob, but it sure does have a purdy mouth. Hit their [website](http://www.dangerousmusic.com/) for glamour shots and better descriptors.
Dangerous has also dropped the Master, which is the ass-end of a mastering console. This is an area of the music production industry with which I have only passing familiarity. I master my own records now, but back when I was rich and famous and able to afford Bernie Grundman, I sat there while Brian Gardner repeatedly pressed the Good button. Basically, my visits to Bernie Grundman consisted of a flight to L.A., 3 hours spent admiring the several hundred gold and platinum records on the wall while Brian made my shit listenable, then flying back to Chicago. I don't know what the hell those guys do, and I don't understand the tools they use to do it. Anyways, yeah, Dangerous has some of that now. It's on their website. Etc.
---
## A bit of a scoop...
- Date: 2005-09-26
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/09/a-bit-of-a-scoop/
Here's something worth talking about, right here. A fellow on the OSX Audio newsgroup posted a letter he received from Sony, as follows:
_
The current versions of the Oxford plugins for the Powercore platform,
(EQ, Dynamics, Inflator & TransMod), will run as both VST and Audio
Units compatible versions, but require Powercore hardware to provide DSP
resource.
We will, at some time in the future, produce native 'Audio Units'
versions of the Oxford range of plugins, but this won't be before the
first half of 2006 at the earliest due to other workload commitments.
Regards,
Rod Mansell.
Sony Plugins Support.
_
So, if one would read that a certain way, some time after Q2 '06 Sony will be releasing native (read: VST and AU, no need for a PoCo) versions of its absolutely stellar plug-ins. Of course, the letter only mentions AU, but they would, of course, be silly to do AU and not VST.
However, if you read [the thread,](http://www.bigbluelounge.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=24808) you'll see that our new friend Rod wasn't too happy that the person had posted his letter on OSXa. There is a psuedo retraction later on. Quite frankly, I don't believe the guy that posted it is at fault. If the information wasn't supposed to be made public, it shouldn't have been told to any random schmoe off the street, right?
So, Rod, you can come work for Audio Damage. It doesn't pay for shit, and we aren't as sexy as Sony, but we have a lot fewer secrets to keep, so it might be better suited to your temperment. You are, of course, being fired from Sony for breaking your NDA. I think that's a safe assumption.
---
## These are sum of my favorite things...
- Date: 2005-09-24
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/09/these-are-sum-of-my-favorite-things/
Okay, all heated debates about the relative merits of various summing mixers (or lack thereof) aside, here's the first glamour shot of the new Neve box, and I'm sorry, but that shit looks _fine._ [Here](http://shopping.netsuite.com/core/media/media.nl?id=28004&c=360669&h=175d68c8d848f0697bcb***************) is the full-size pic. Try not to slobber on your keyboard.
---
## Hey, wanna see what fraud looks like?
- Date: 2005-09-24
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/09/hey-wanna-see-what-fraud-looks-like/
Ebay has been alerted, and this will almost certainly be taken down, so get it while you can. [This auction](http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7352950298) is some yahoo-address-having fraudster basically re-auctioning [this](http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7348318383) beautiful Jupiter 8. Check the pics. The second auction, the real one, was won by a fellow in Brazil.
I have to be honest: I would never buy something like this on eBay. Maybe two or three years ago, but not now. I'm not going to buy a heirloom synth or piece of outboard unless the seller is a reputable and long-standing member of one of the several synth and audio lists and boards I belong to, or I can see it in person. It's just too easy to get duped by this shit, even if you're paying attention. I guess I'm lucky in as much as I've never been had on eBay, despite using it heavily pretty much since it started carrying things besides Beanie Babies. But I've definitely become more cautious in the last couple years.
**UPDATE:** As I surmised, the fraud auction was removed by eBay.
---
## Hard-Core Gear Porn Friday!!! Round 2
- Date: 2005-09-23
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/09/hard-core-gear-porn-friday-round-2/
Just kill me now. I came across this rig today, and since it is still Friday, I figured we'd go for the double whammy. This Serge/Doepfer/MOTM modular belongs to one John Duval, who is apparently one half of the cinematic/ambient/electronic/et al duo [Dweller At The Threshold.](http://www.dattonline.com/source/datt.html) The two panels between the Doepfer stuff and the MOTM stuff are what? ASM-1 custom jobs? Hard to tell.
This is the sort of synth that makes me regress in to my animal backbrain, screaming "shit!" at the top of my lungs while punching the wall repeatedly. 24 Serge panels? Shit!
---
## Hard-Core Gear Porn Friday!!!
- Date: 2005-09-23
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/09/hard-core-gear-porn-friday-2/
Yup, it's Friday, and that can mean only one thing: hardcore gear pr0n. Now, I don't know if [this place](http://www.keyboardmuseum.org/play.html) is even still around, but I've slobbered over this guy's collection, monikered the Audio Playground Synthesizer Museum, many times in the years this site has been up (and the years since it has been updated, for that matter.) Extra credit for the soundsheets and audio demos. Great fun, that.
---
## I've got it!
- Date: 2005-09-22
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/09/ive-got-it/
I've now figured out how to take advantage of the marketing hype, depsite the fact that our DSP, by and large, contains little that is tube-like. I'm going to put a small window in all future UIs, where you can see the tiny ninja that lives inside, and makes our plug-ins so god-damned dangerous.
Yeah, that's it. There will be a blue LED to illumintate him, just so you know it's a real ninja and not, e.g., some metrosexual indie rocker dressed up like one.
---
## ENOUGH!!!
- Date: 2005-09-22
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/09/enough/
My feelings on tubes have been posted here and other forums enough to where you have probably got a good idea of my maxim: if there's a window so you can see the tube, the tube's inclusion in the product is as a gimmick or marketing ploy, not because it will impart any magic powers on the gear. There are (rare) exceptions to this rule, but for the most part it is a safe rule of thumb: if you can see the tubes from the front, it doesn't matter if they're in there or not, because it's still a shitty piece of kit.
Which brings me to what is pictured above. The only thing dumber than tubes added to a product just so you can say there are tubes in it (and sorry, Korg, but I'm talkin' bout you...) is putting a picture of an imaginary tube on your plug-in UI. I, of all people, know that the user interface of a plug-in does in fact do a lot of the talking about that plug-in. But I draw the line, you know?
Now, I don't have anything bad to say about TL Labs otherwise. I mean, they're one of those snobby sorts of companies that only make TDM and RTAS shit, and charge an arm and a nut for their plugs, and use (gasp, choke) iLok for their CP (an utterly pointless exercise if ever there was one) but I'm sure they're very nice people. But a fucking tube? Come on.
Well, never mind all that, yeah, go ahead and [check it](http://www.tllabs.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=55) if you're a PT user and have half a banger to drop on a compressor plug-in with a real live tube in it.
As a rather amusing aside, I was thinking of Antares' The Tube plug-in the other day, and mentioned to Adam that it would be funny if Audio Damage released a plug-in called "The Op-Amp" and it had perfect models of all the shitty dimestore op-amps that are found in low-end Chinese-made gear. We would release it in TDM only, and charge $799 for it with iLok CP. It would probably sell like hotcakes.
---
## Utterly pointless waste of time...
- Date: 2005-09-21
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/09/utterly-pointless-waste-of-time/
...which makes it banner headlines here at Analog Industries! [This site](http://users.informatik.haw-hamburg.de/~windle_c/TableHooters/instruments.html) has a rather extensive list of quite a few home and toy keyboards, and how their sound is generated. Handy to know which of these is "analog," and which is "digital," so when people come over to your studio and see a stack of Casio MT-30s, you can justify their existence, using the following phrase:
_
"These instruments synthesize their main voice from 2 layered multipulse squarewaves with different digital envelopes followed by simple analogue filters. (Casio called this principle Consonant- Vowel synthesis.) The results can be very different from average videogame squarewave sounds and permit high quality timbres."
_
Just more fuel for the analog/digital wars. The list is kind of Euro-centric, but should still be printed out for crib notes when you're making the rounds of Goodwills and Salvation Army stores (or whatever the analog is in Europe) for circuit-bending fodder.
---
## Well, we're really quite big in Japan...
- Date: 2005-09-21
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/09/well-were-really-quite-big-in-japan/
I don't know what it says, but I'm sure it's very polite. "Look what these gai-jin put together. Maybe they aren't so stupid after all." Go [there](http://www.dtmm.co.jp/archives/2005/09/vst_2.html) and see for yourself.
---
## OhBoy
- Date: 2005-09-20
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/09/ohboy/
I've got an odd question. Is anyone aware of a VSTi or AU instrument that emulates the GameBoy audio hardware? And I don't mean some dumb-ass SynthEdit sample-fest, either; I mean a VSTi that uses the audio engine from one of the many emulators, or perhaps one of unique design, and the audio is done in DSP, not with samples.
---
## Freak it like this...
- Date: 2005-09-20
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/09/freak-it-like-this/
Sorry I didn't post anything on Monday, but I was busy as all get-out. Finished up a contract job for \[_redacted_\], then actually made my otherwise quite-powerful PC (AMD64, doncha know?) whimper like a little girl from having to render 3D Studio Max files all day long. However, the GUI for Phase Two (the AD Bi-Phase clone) is now more or less done. I don't want to talk shit or anything, but, well, okay, I will... I think Audio Damage needs to get in an MC battle with another plug-in company, basically.
Anyways, I'm sure to find something interesting to talk about in the morning, but I'm so wiped right now I'm starting to see fantom lizards in my peripheral vision, and that's not a Good Thing.
---
## A warm fuzzy feeling...
- Date: 2005-09-18
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/09/a-warm-fuzzy-feeling/
The [Audio Damage site](http://www.audiodamage.com/) has gotten a complete top-to-bottom facelift, courtesy of my loving and talented wife. Aside from the obvious, some back-end changes were done to enable better delivery of upgrades.
However, the biggest news is that FuzzPlus 2 is [now available](http://www.audiodamage.com/l33t/product_info.php?cPath=2&products_id=3). We only have the VST versions for OSX and Windows currently. The AU version will be rocking in a week or so, so please don't send me nasty letters about how I hate AU (and you know who you are!) While it's true I do hate AU, I hate it a lot less than I hate the average Windows VST user. (And a caveat here: I am a Windows VST user, so I know from whence I speak.)
So, go get yourself a free plug-in, courtesy of us, and maybe add yourself to the mailing list so I can spam you with product announcements occasionally, and thereby justify my otherwise wretched existence.
---
## The Scoop On The Neve...
- Date: 2005-09-18
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/09/the-scoop-on-the-neve/
As you can see, we have a (sort of) picture of the Neve 8816 summing mixer now. [KMR Audio](http://www.kmraudio.com/news/mt/index.php) put it up in their new products blog; the text is the same that you've seen elsewhere, but this is the first time an image has appeared. Looks like they fit all that shit in to 2U, which is cool. I am now fully convinced that this is the most awesomest summing mixer to be released yet. I mean, Total Recall? How cool is that?
---
## A large diaphragm...
- Date: 2005-09-17
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/09/a-large-diaphragm/
With that title, you no doubt have a mental image of a fat chick pre-coitus, and who can blame you? But actually, this is a reader-requested column on large diaphragm condenser microphones. The nice thing about large-diaphragm condensers is that they are, by and large, good all-around mics. Unlike small-diaphragm condensers and dynamics, large-diaphragm condensers can be used in pretty much every situation with a safe assumption that they'll get the job done. If you're going to be recording vocals, you pretty much have to have one, of course, but it will also be useful for pretty much any other application. If you can only buy one mic, it should be a large-diaphragm condenser, basically.
Now, there are about 13 quadrillion choices in this particular catagory of microphones. You can spend as little as $59, on up to $10K and more. We will, of course, concentrate on the low end of the market here. These are three mics that I've used quite a bit, and give good results, for not a lot of money. In order of okay, pretty good, awesome.
**
[MXL V57M](http://www.zzounds.com/a--635145/item--MSEV57M)**
This mic is as cheap as cheap can be. $59 with a clip, or $69 with a shockmount and a handy little grey plastic case. I purchased one of these right when they came out, because I was, like, "how bad can a large-diaphragm condenser mic actually be?" The answer is "not that bad." It is what it is, of course. I mean, what do you want for $70? It isn't going to make the heavens cry out in hosannahs or anything. But it works fine, and is actually a rather good deal. In my not-at-all-humble opinion, you'll find that this mic is more usefull and better sounding than your average SM58, at half the cost.
In particular if your voice has a nasal quality, or you're recording high-mid heavy content like guitar or horns, this mic will smooth the signal out quite a bit. Make no mistake, what is coming down the cable has no resemblance whatsoever to any sort of air vibration you might be hearing in the room. To call this mic "colorful" would be a tragic understatement. However, it isn't terrible, and it could certainly be worse. If you don't mind sending hard currency straight to China, this is a servicable solution, and you might as well get a couple for this price.
**[Audio Technica AT4033CL](http://www.zzounds.com/a--635145/item--AUTAT4033CL)**
Now, this is one of my favorite mics right here. I actually have the 4033a, not the CL, but they're intrinsically the same microphone. (CL = "Classic" as this is a reissue of the 4033a.) I bought this mic in 1996 or so, and have used the fuck out of it, until it has no fuck left at all. After taking dozens of tumbles, and having literally thousands of cigarettes smoked directly in front of it, and recording dimed AC30s and Fender Twins for hours on end, it still works as well as the day it was made. So, there's that to consider.
The 40xx series in general, and the 4033 in particular, have a pretty smooth high end, which people who don't know better call "warm." It is $399 most places, and in my opinion is worth every single penny. If you can only purchase one microphone, and even if you have a bit more money, I'd recommend this with no hesitation at all. It won't really be able to capture crispy-clean stuff to your satisfaction, but it has an overall good vibe to it. Vocals in particular work well with this mic. If you've used a C414 for vocals before, imagine that sound, with less of the high-end, and you're in the ballpark. This mic couldn't stand toe-to-toe with such lofty company, but that's the best descriptor I could come up with.
**
[Shure KSM44SL](http://www.zzounds.com/a--635145/item--SHUKSM44SL)**
Let me get something out of the way about this one right now: I bought one of these, and after about 9 months I sold it again. I just want you to know that up front. It wasn't for me. Don't get me wrong, the KSM44SL is an _excellent_ microphone. This is the only mic I've ever owned (or even used, really) where the sound that gets printed to disk is pretty much exactly the same as what I heard in the room. It gets the high end stuff no problem. It gets the low end stuff no problem. Mids? It's got mids for days.
However...
I choose gear for myself based upon the colors it adds to my pallette. This microphone has no color at all. I like microphones (and gear in general) to add to the process, rather than just replicating it. So, long story short, this mic wasn't for me. However, if you're recording a lot of acoustic instruments, especially for other people, you might want to get yourself one of these; you could do far worse. At $700, it is a spendy mic, and I could come up with many other choices in that price range that _were_ colorful, but sometimes I suppose you need to get the sound down, and this guy is it. I borrowed the baby brother of this mic, the KSM32, for a while, and liked it better. It is significantly cheaper at $500, and way more colorful. It is excellent for vocals, and good on guitar as well. There is an even cheaper model, the KSM27, but I haven't tried that, and thus have nothing to say about it.
So, this isn't meant to be an end-all-be-all roundup of condenser mics, by any stretch. I was asked to recommend a few large-diaphragm condensers, and I have done so. Your mileage may vary, as always. Most better music stores (and by "better" I'm specifically not referring to Guitar Center) have a mic room where you can try out their offerings. By all means go and give a few the once-over. Every model is different, and you'll even find quite a bit of noticable variation from one mic to the next of the same model. Ultimately, you'll need a whole toolbox full, but you have to start somewhere.
---
## Hard-Core Gear Porn Friday!!!
- Date: 2005-09-16
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/09/hard-core-gear-porn-friday/
It's Friday again, and that means hard-core gear pr0n! We're kicking an ironically minimalist tip today. Now, you'll notice the beautiful bent-birch desk holding up the Sony DMXR100, and the clean-as-a-whistle layout of this control room. Now, here's the kicker: this is a _home_ studio, the private composing suite of a producer/composer. Do you believe that shit? The guy goes by the handle "Killahurts" on Gearslutz, and doesn't have a web page that I can find. He just put this picture up in a [thread](http://www.gearslutz.com/board/showthread.php3?t=3071&page=7&pp=30&highlight=plywood) where people were showing off their control rooms. It's not so much that this is a home studio. I can live with that. I'm curious as to the home that is wrapped around it, though.
---
## Sum This (Summing mixers, Pt. 2)
- Date: 2005-09-15
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/09/sum-this-summing-mixers-pt-2/
Okay, time to address this tardiness issue. I really feel that if I smoked more cigarettes, my productivity would increase. I suppose the only way to know for sure is if I tried.
Anyways, back to the summing issue. There are three main flavors of summing mixers currently available. We'll go in order, from simplest to most complex.
**Plain Vanilla**
These sorts of summing mixers are totally passive. A passive summing mixer needs make-up gain, because (due to annoying features of physics) you lose volume when you mix channels together. The most popular example of a completely passive summing mixer is the [Rolls Folcrom](http://www.mercenary.com/rmfo16chpasu.html). This box is so passive, you don't even need to plug it in. The concept with these sorts of boxes is that you use a pair of mic pres to make up the 30-odd db of signal loss. The "sound" of the summed mix is thus dependent on the quality and flavor of the mic pres you use. So, while the Folcrom is only $750, and thus the cheapest of the high-end summing mixers, you have to figure that you're going to need at least two high-end mic pres; otherwise, there's no point to the exercise at all.
**A Little Bit Of Iron In The Path**
By far, the most common sort of summing mixer is this flavor. These units have a passive summing array, but have built-in line amplifiers, thus obviating the need for mic pres on the output. The most popular of these is one of the first ones released, the [Dangerous 2-Bus.](http://www.mercenary.com/dangerous2bus.html) At two and a half grand, it's a bit of an investment, and only sums eight channels. Of this catagory, there are two general kinds: those that color the sound, and those that don't. The D2B is definitely of the latter catagory, but there are several offerings in the price range that do add a bit of "vintage" color to the signal, whether your tastes run to tubes or iron. (For the former, the [innerTube Audio Atomic Sumthang](http://www.mercenary.com/inauatsu.html) is a nice one. For the latter, probably the [API 8200A](http://www.mercenary.com/api82limi.html) is the way to go.)
**The Full-Meal Deal**
This catagory has the most cool shit in it, I'll say that much, but "an arm and your left testicle" is the general price range. These sorts of summing mixers are basically small consoles with no mic pres. They'll have, for the most part, transformer-balanced inputs, direct outs per channel, VU meters, and a simple console master section, usually with a couple monitoring options. Pictured, you see the [Chandler Mini-Mixer,](http://www.mercenary.com/chlimitgrami.html) which is exactly that. My current favorite is the [Aurora Audio GTM-822,](http://www.auroraaudio.net/aa_html/aa_products_gtm_822.html) made by Geoff Tanner, a former Neve engineer and all-around cool guy. These sorts of mixers can be used for other purposes than just summing, and are generally full-featured. There are about a dozen to choose from, and they generally fall in to the $4000 to $8000 price range.
The summing world is about to be turned on its ear, though. AMS/Neve is going to[
announce](http://www.digitalproducer.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=34531) a 16-channel full featured summing mixer with all the bells and whistles at AES for $3250. Figure a street of around $2750 to $3000 for this. This has become my new Object Of All Desiring. Now, AMS/Neve _almost_ falls outside the scope of shit I would recommend, as they're a bigger company than I normally like to talk about here, but quite frankly, I think this is the one to beat. I'll throw pictures and such as soon as they're available.
So, to sum things up (hardy har har) summing outside your DAW will give you obvious improvements in headroom, dynamics, "air," and clarity. However, it isn't cheap. If you make electronic music exclusively, this probably won't be a big enough gain to justify the expense. However, if you're mixing "real" music, and you're not using the only DAW with a summing buss worth a shit (HTDM PT), you're definitely going to see that the expense is worth it by introducing an analog summing process to your mix. It's a matter of choosing the unit that most fits your budget and what you're trying to accomplish. I personally believe that the mini-mixer variety gives you the most options, but you can get away with some significantly cheaper solutions.
A link to all of Mercenary's options was put in the comments of the last summing article. I'll [throw it again,](http://www.mercenary.com/2buscom.html) and say once more that research is your best friend here. [Gearslutz](http://www.gearslutz.com/) is the spot to be in this regard, as there are lengthy threads on the pros and cons of every single summing product, as well as many threads on summing itself. (Hint: use "OTB" as your search term, "outside the box.")
---
## Get yer 1176 here!
- Date: 2005-09-15
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/09/get-yer-1176-here/
Building your own high-end gear is always something I recommend here at Analog Industries, and I attempt to bring you the easier-to-build stuff when I come across it. In that light, [this site](http://www.geocities.com/m_natsume/1176.html) may be of interest to you. One of the many 1176 clones available as DIY. This one, like the last one I pointed out, has some mods, and has departed from its [Gyraf](http://www.gyraf.dk/) roots a bit.
There are two reasons I point this one in particular out: (a) the circuit boards are only $20, and (b) the web page has \_very\_ thorough descriptions of the why and wherefor of the process. Thus, while it is a relatively simple build as such things go, you can actually learn about what's going on in the process, rather than just soldering components to a board. The expensive parts are the iron and the VU meter, as always. You're looking at about a $400 to $500 cost-to-build here, depending on the components you go with, but of the 1176 projects I've come across, this one seems to be the best way to go.
---
## Nice...
- Date: 2005-09-13
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/09/nice/
Man, don't know how I missed this one. The Signal Arts MAP is a pretty sophisticated "analog" sequencer, with a whole slew of MIDI->CV features. A little pricey at $850 (you could get two Mobius.. uh... Mobii?) for that, and have some money left over for cables and lunch. But it has three gate outputs and three CV outputs, where the Mobius only has one of each.
What I don't get is the 8-step pattern format; I know you can chain 'em and all, but at $850, I don't think they should scrimp on the encoders, you know what I mean? Anyways, [go forth.](http://www.signalarts.ca/satspecs.html)
---
## Okay, then...
- Date: 2005-09-12
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/09/okay-then/
Sorry I wasn't the normal content provider you know and love this weekend, but I was up to my nipples in work. I still owe a couple Summing Mixer articles, and a special request for a large diaphragm (now, that's just about the dumbest word ever) mic roundup. All these things and more will be coming down the pike in short order, just so you know.
If you can't wait another second for something Cool, then I suggest you mosey (mosie? mosee?) on over to [this site,](http://www.vintageconsoles.com/mci.htm) and take a look at something you can't afford. This is the console that both Saturday Night Fever and Hotel California were recorded on, among many other incredibly played songs, and it is for sale. From the way things are written on that page, basically, if you own this console, you're going to be responsible for many, many tragic classic rock songs.
---
## w00t.
- Date: 2005-09-10
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/09/w00t/
The Great Mutron Bi-Phase hunt is now over. Thanks to everyone that wrote to help. We don't actually have it in our greedy little hands yet, but it is bought and paid for and on the way. Now to turn theory in to practice. (And that's the easy part, right?)
---
## Gear Porn Friday!!!
- Date: 2005-09-09
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/09/gear-porn-friday-2/
Okay, this is one of the more ludicrous pictures I've come across. This Doepfer/Analog Solutions/Analog Systems/Wiard/Blacet/et al system comprises 27 (!!?!!) 3U racks of Euro and Frac-Rack modular. That's right. You're looking at over twenty thousand dollars of modern modular kit right there. The MS20 and companion sequencer sitting on top look almost like an afterthought in the midst of that monstrosity.
It should be noted that the picture is, if I have my math right, short at least one rack; the news section of the site lists another rack added just yesterday, if I'm correct. This system lives in Germany, and belongs to [self oscillate.](http://www.selfoscillate.de/) His parents, the Oscillates, obviously had a sense of humor. If my last name was Oscillate, I'd name my children "Sine Wave" and "Low Frequency," I think.
---
## Feedburner...
- Date: 2005-09-09
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/09/feedburner/
I just added AI to the Feedburner service, so if that's your poison, [here's the link.](http://feeds.feedburner.com/AnalogueIndustries) I'll have my webmistress put one of those stupid little chicklet things in the sidebar, just as soon as she's done cooking me dinner and rubbing my back.
---
## A little bit of summing, Pt. 1
- Date: 2005-09-08
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/09/a-little-bit-of-summing-pt-1/
As the Great Mutron Bi-Phase Hunt continues, I suppose I should spend a little quality time with some other subjects. I've noted that, due to my repeated mentioning of summing mixers and summing in general on this site, I've now received several questions regarding what the hell I'm talking about. So let's just note that (a) I'm no electro-mechanical engineer; I just know what sounds good, (b) I'm a gear-snob of the first order, and (c) Your Mileage May Vary. With that out of the way, here comes **_The Analog Industries Guide To Summing, with your charming and handsome host, Chris Randall. (Pt. 1 of 3)_**
Why would someone want to sum outside a DAW, when the DAW has a perfectly good summing engine in it? Well, unless you use PT HTDM (and even then, really) the summing engine in your DAW sucks. Plain and simple. \_Anyone\_ that has a console and mixes stems instead of mixing "in the box" knows this. My experience is with Nuendo and Logic, so I'll refrain from knocking other DAWs, but a simple experiment is in order: make four group channels in your DAW, all four of which go to the main "stereo" output. Mix your song to these four stems. Once you have it sounding good, send each stem to its own pair of outputs, and do a unity gain mix on your console. Instant air, instant dynamics, and instant room in the mix. It's as plain as night and day. (Especially if you break those stems out while you're wearing headphones.)
Don't have an 8-output soundcard? Don't have a console? Don't know what the fuck I'm talking about? No biggie. This is the promised land that lives between pro-sumer making shit at home, and working in a "real recording studio" with, like, gear and stuff. It is quite a bit more expensive to do this than to just mix in the box, but not near as expensive as aquiring a proper console, etc. First, let's see what the hell a summing mixer is. We'll use the Dangerous Music [2-Bus LT](http://www.dangerousmusic.com/2buslt.html) for our example purposes.
The 2-Bus LT is the baby brother of the Dangerous 2-Bus, far and away the most popular summing mixer out there. Every single console, and in fact anything that combines two or more audio signals, has a summing mixer. What Dangerous did, much to everyone's surprise, is provide just the bit you actually need when mixing in the ProTools/Nuendo/Logic environment, the analog summing part. So you can think of this box as the part of the console after the faders but before the master section.
I'll spare you the nasty math, mainly because I care about it less than you. What this box does is combine your stems _outside_ your DAW. You then take the stereo mix back in to your DAW or on to a 2-track recorder of some sort, where you then master it like normal. This doesn't make sense, does it? Well, first we need to talk about mixing to stems, rather than mixing everything to stereo. A graphic is in order:
So, you've got your group tracks. Now, the next phase of the operation assumes that you have an 8 (or more) channel soundcard. Rather than bussing all of those groups to your stereo output like normal, you'd buss Group 1 to outputs 1+2, Group 2 to outputs 3+4 and so on. You're left with 4 stereo sub-mixes rather than one. This next graphic illustrates how a summing mixer enters in to the picture:
So, as you can see, your four stems get summed _outside_ the DAW. They are then returned to the DAW, where you will record them down to a stereo pair, which you can render like you would normally. Now, the major hiccup here is monitoring your stereo mix. This is where something like the Presonus Central Station comes in to the picture. In the next installment, we'll have more charts and diagrams and shit that explains in some detail more complicated setups. In the third and final installment, we'll round up all the currently available dedicated summing boxes, and go over their pros and cons.
---
## RSS...
- Date: 2005-09-07
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/09/rss/
For the many folks that have written to say the RSS feed doesn't work in \[insert reader here\], go ahead and give it another try, as I believe it is fixed. But don't forget to come and click a Google ad or something now and again.
---
## ePray...
- Date: 2005-09-07
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/09/epray/
This kind of shit cracks me the fuck up. What we have here is a "vintage" (and by that I mean the Webster's definition, "really fucking old and busted") RCA broadcast console up on eBay. It clearly says in the auction description that it is basically a total tear-down, never mind the 1000-odd words you get from the pictures, which show a unit that may or may not have been on the ground floor of a tenament house in the 9th Ward in New Orleans last week.
But that's not the funny part. Go ahead and [check out the auction.](http://cgi.ebay.com/RCA-Tube-Recording-Console-from-Neve-room_W0QQitemZ7347553780QQcategoryZ23785QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem) Look at the title. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, this fantastic piece of cobwebbed, corroded, well, let's just go ahead and call it something that belongs in a dumpster, somehow qualifies for posterity on the basis that it spent time in a room with a Neve console. Now, if that is a demonstrable fact, and thus lends the item credence, I think we should know what kind of Neve console. Or was there just some Neve outboard. I mean, it would have more Neve Mojo in it if it brushed up against one of the A.I.R. custom Neves than if it just sat on top of a rack with a couple 1081s in it, you know? Maybe it spent time next to (or perhaps underneath) a little Kelso. That's not much Mojo, there. Or was it with a Capricorn? Most people that have worked on a Capricorn say it isn't a "real" Neve. (I've worked on a Capricorn, and thought it suitably Neve-ish for my purposes, but I make industrial music, so there's that to consider...)
Seriously, though. I've just about had enough of this shit. In the unlikely event that you'd actually want this piece of complete crap, does the fact (true or not) that it sat in a room with something made by one of the various companies that have held the name "Neve" have \_any\_ effect on its value? At all? There's salesmanship, and then there's snake oil...
---
## Wanted...
- Date: 2005-09-06
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/09/wanted/
We're looking for a Mutron Bi-Phase in good working condition, for not a metric fuckton (1.3 imperial fucktons) of money. Or one we could get on extended loan. Drop me a line if you have a line on something of this ilk.
---
## Echo Fiesta...
- Date: 2005-09-06
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/09/echo-fiesta/
[Here is a cool site](http://homepages.enterprise.net/greenworld/page2.htm) that has pictures and brief descriptions of a bunch of '60s delay units of various flavors. I'd like one of each, please, but especially that Baby Binson pictured above.
**UPDATE:** Okay, I should have looked at that better. Roughly half of the links lead to the corner of No and Where. But the ones that do work are interesting.
---
## While we enjoy this brief respite...
- Date: 2005-09-06
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/09/while-we-enjoy-this-brief-respite/
Since it's a Slow News Day, I'm of the considered opinion that you should [check this shit out.](http://tmweb.free.fr/Homepage%20VF.html)
---
## A bit OT, but...
- Date: 2005-09-05
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/09/a-bit-ot-but/
One of the members of AI's parent site, sistermachinegun.com, has put up a [lengthy account](http://www.sistermachinegun.com/newsgroup/post.jsp?msgid=1125943032246&r=0) of his time in New Orleans, before, during, and after the hurricane. Makes for some interesting reading, and is one of the only comprehensive first-person accounts that I have seen. Not really within the purview of this site, but I thought it might interest most.
---
## WOW! GREAT NEWS FROM ROLAND!
- Date: 2005-09-04
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/09/wow-great-news-from-roland/
Sonic State is [reporting](http://www.sonicstate.com/news/shownews.cfm?newsid=2331) that Roland has instituted a top-down restructuring, spinning off the BOSS group in to its own semi-autonamous entity, and...
Oh, right, I forgot that nobody fucking cares. I am now firmly convinced that if Sonic State isn't owned by Roland, then somebody that runs that site is fucking somebody at Roland. They continually print the most banal Roland press releases. A boutique company can send them shit all day long, and they'll never print it, but someone at Roland gets two-ply bathroom tissue instead of the company-standard one-ply, and it's banner headlines at Sonic State. I have no idea why I continue to subject myself to this drivel, but I'm a junkie for music news, what can I say?
**UPDATE:** I just did the math, and fully 10% of the articles on Sonic State's front page are about Roland. I realize I'm obsessing over this, but it is still such blatant ass-licking, I can't help but notice.
---
## Open-Architecture hardware round-up...
- Date: 2005-09-03
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/09/open-architecture-hardware-round-up/
For some reason, I've lately (like in the last year) turned away from pre-patched synths, and towards more open, customizable solutions. I'm of the considered opinion that one piece of DSP is pretty much like another, and it's what you do with it that counts. In that light, here's some pieces where the sum is perhaps greater than the parts.
First up, we have the Chameleon, from [Soundart.](http://www.soundart-hot.com/english/) Unfortunately, Soundart went out of business not too long ago, but I'm given to understand they still have some available, for around $550 when all is said and done. I've seen these on the 'bay as well now and again, so they're not unobtainable. I own one, as does Adam, and while I like mine more than he likes his, we both like it just fine. Luckily for us, Paul Maddox (of Monowave fame) has kind of taken the Chameleon under his wing, and made a site devoted to furthering software development for it, which you can find [here.](http://chameleon.synth.net/) All these "skins" are in addition to the several that you can get on the Soundart site, so all in all, this particular unit probably has more good quality programs available for it than any other option, cost-wise.
Now, by Open-Architecture, I want to be clear that I don't mean "open" like Open Source. I mean open like it isn't a chunk of DSP that is permanently stuck being, e.g., a Virus. In that vein, next up is the Roland VariOS. This particular beastie is significantly more powerful than the Chameleon, but only has three "skins:" VariOS-8, which is a Jupiter 8 emulator, VariOS-303, which does what you'd expect, and V-Producer, which is a slightly dumbed-down version of the VariPhrase box they used to hype the shit out of. You can read about it at the Roland site [here.](http://www.rolandus.com/products/details.asp?catid=8&subcatid=37&prodid=VariOS)
This unit is also discontinued, I think, but it is available here and there as Roland sells down their stock. Sweetwater has it for $845. Worth it? That's up to you to decide.
Now, the Nord G2 Engine, well, you know all about it. It's a Nord G2 with no front panel; all programming is done via the USB interface. This isn't open in the strictest sense, as it only runs one program, the G2 Modular stuff. But it is certainly as programmable as the other two options, and considerably moreso in the case of the Roland unit. It is also much more popular and is still being made. It'll set you back a grand, if you shop around. I think that everything Nord makes kind of has this Nord-ness to it, and my experience playing with the G2 demo doesn't really change that. But if you dig the Nord, you could do worse than this.
Last up, we have the venerable [PowerCore FW.](http://www.tcelectronic.com/PowerCoreFireWire) This isn't as adaptable as the other three, as it is just a brick of DSP that needs a DAW to function. However, when it comes to professional-quality programs, it beats the other three hands-down. If you end up getting the really good plugs, this will end up setting you back an arm and a leg, but it's the best game in town for open systems, no doubt about it.
The point to all of this? If you're going to be buying a DSP-based synth or effect any damned ways, you might as well get something that can be more than one thing, you know? The current crop of Virtual Analogs and multi-effects are all intrinsically the same thing inside; it's the programs that count. So shop for the best programming options, not the best looking front panel.
---
## Gear Porn Friday!
- Date: 2005-09-02
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/09/gear-porn-friday/
Okay, rather than a ludicrous wall of gear, today I'm giving up a ludicrous \_rack\_ of gear. I copped this off the [Waveterm](http://www.waveterm.com/) page. What you're looking at is a fairly complete version of what was, for all intents and purposes, PPG's final product series. From the top, it is a Waveterm B, the Expansion Voice unit (to give 8 more voices to a Waveterm/Wave system, for a total of 32 voices), the Expander (which gave an additional hard drive), and the HDU, which gave the Wave system direct-to-disk recording. You can just see a PPG Wave 2.x (probably 2.3, given the rest of the system) peeking in on the right.
For its day, this was about as powerful as wavetable synthesis got, and is certainly still a viable system today. I don't know who owns this, but the process of elimination would say that it was owned by the creator of the Waveterm C software, which is downloadable on the same page. The Waveterm C package allows any random PC to emulate the Waveterm, so if you have a Wave 2.3, you're good to go. Note that this package also comes with a Wave 2.3 emulator which is surprisingly good. Download the demo to give it a try. You can actually have a whole Wave system (like you see in the picture above) running in software, should you desire. I feel it sounds better than the Waldorf VST plug (which is now abandonware, sadly.)
---
## Free Anechoic chamber...
- Date: 2005-09-02
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/09/free-anechoic-chamber/
If you live in or near Boston, you might be interested in [this,](http://boston.craigslist.org/zip/93231949.html) a CraigsList posting for a free anechoic chamber. What would you do with it? Well, if you tracked guitars, you could put a little amp in there, crank it up to 11, close the door, and not hear a god damned thing. If only I wasn't 3000 miles away.
**UPDATE:** Apparently, it isn't free. They want $400 for it. Even so, that's a pretty good deal for something like this.
---
## Am I Bloo?
- Date: 2005-09-02
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/09/am-i-bloo/
There are few tools you actually \_need\_ to create music, but a good compressor, a good mic pre, and a good mic are the three things you should spend money on. For everything else, you can either do it in your computer with passable quality, or the difference between good and bad is only noticable by people with "golden ears." That's why I continually post about high-end mic pres, compressors, and mics. This is the one area that separates the men from the boys. In that light, I bring you this.
Pictured above is the end result of the Bloo Technologies LA2A kit. This is apparently as close as you can get to the Real Thing in this day and age. It isn't exactly inexpensive, though. There is a thread at the Prodigy Pro forums, found [here,](http://www.prodigy-pro.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=175) that is everything you need to know. Bloo Technologies doesn't have a website, and this is more or less a complete child of the Prodigy Pro site. He mouses about the price, and won't actually tell you unless you e-mail him. I have thoughtfully done so for you already, and (risking the Wrath here) I post it: the kit from him is $650. It is missing a few parts which you will have to procure separately, which brings the total cost-to-build to around $850.
Now, Universal Audio makes the current incarnation of the Teletronix LA2A, available for $2399 from [Vintage King,](http://www.vintageking.com/s.nl/sc.18/category.415/it.A/id.748/.f) so $850 is quite a deal, if you're handy with the soldering iron. There are several other knockoffs, in the same price range, or you can, of course, track down a real one for about a grand more.
---
## Okay...
- Date: 2005-09-02
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/09/okay/
I'm going to attempt to make an entry here, even though it's difficult to think about gear while watching my country come apart at the seams. I just want to warn you from the outset that I'm in a really shitty mood, so no punches will be pulled.
First up, Mbox 2. Everyone is getting all freaky-deaky over this. I imagine it's a nice enough little box, but two points. First, DigiDesign can't write drivers to fucking save their lives. I have an Mbox connected to this very computer, and the only thing that has kept me from spinning it through the nearest window on several occasions is that I actually need it so I can run the useless pile of shit that is ProTools LE on the rare occasion that I need to for AD purposes. These boxes are fine if all you need to do is run PT LE, but check it out: if you have it hooked to a PC instead of a Mac, the driver prevents the computer from hibernating. That's just the tip of the iceberg. I could go on for hours. My second point is that I happen to be privy to the knowledge that a certain hardware company is about to announce a \_really\_ nice FW portable that blows this out of the water, in both features and price. Can't say who or what just yet. I'll find out if I can talk about it today.
Next, I'll have a Gear Porn picture today, I promise. Until then, if you're in the US, please don't drive your Hummer H2 a block to the grocery store then leave it running so the AC will keep it cool while you pick up fresh frozen snacks. We are quite literally \_out\_ of gasoline here. Try to keep things in perspective.
---
## New Orleans...
- Date: 2005-08-31
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/08/new-orleans/
I have plenty of thoughts on New Orleans, of course. It is one of my favorite cities in the world, and certainly my favorite in North America. If you're curious, you can head over to my [other blog](http://www.sistermachinegun.com/blog.jsp) at the Sister Machine Gun site and read. I didn't feel it necessary to put the same post in two places.
---
## New Unit from ElectroKraft...
- Date: 2005-08-31
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/08/new-unit-from-electrokraft/
Just got word from Tony at ElectroKraft that his [new product,](http://www.electrokraft.com/) the Lunar Module, is now available. This little guy (or big guy; hard to tell from the picture) is the MIDI Controller Of Doom. Tony sez:
_
"I have created an exciting alternative midi controller that will produce sounds and rhythms not before possible with currently available midi controllers. The "Lunar Module" will transform your store bought sound modules, synths and drum machines into completely new instruments. Each one is hand made and can be customized to add controller options like pitch bend, sustain, modulation wheel, etc. Customizing can be done before or anytime after purchase."
_
The sound samples are fucking killer. I'm thinking that hooking this to a modular and using a scale quantizer (like the Blacet/Wiard MiniWave) and I'm basically in business. It is $249.00, and since each unit is hand-made, you can get customization really easy. Looks like a good purchase to me if you make any sort of experimental music.
---
## AvrX update...
- Date: 2005-08-30
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/08/avrx-update/
You might recall me talking about the [AvrX synth](http://www.avrx.se/index.html) on the old site. You might also recall that I mentioned that the inventors might make a kit available. I've just received an update e-mail from them regarding the status of this. They say:
_
The response has been greater than we hoped for, and so far around 40 people have announced their interest in buying a kit! At the moment we are getting quotations from our suppliers, studying different systems for payment, and working on the manual among other things. Within a couple of weeks we will have the final details ready.
_
I, for one, will definitely be rocking this shit when it is available. Status reports as they occur.
---
## More on the Crumar GDS...
- Date: 2005-08-29
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/08/more-on-the-crumar-gds/
I've always wanted a Synergy, but truth be told, I couldn't really illustrate _why_. Just one of those obscure and hard-to-use things that I desire, more or less just because it is obscure and hard to use. This GDS makes the Synergy look like one of the most popular keyboards in the world, if you use a sliding scale based on obscurity and difficulty of use.
The [Synthony](http://www.synthony.com/vintage/dkigds.html) page has a whole article on the GDS and how it relates to the Synergy. The original Synergy is sort of preset, and you'd need a GDS to actually program it. The Synergy II and II+ could be programmed with a Kaypro computer, and thus didn't need the GDS. I like this quote from the product's liturature: _The GDS is a completely digital synthesizer. Consequently, it is free from the problems of traditional analog units._ Fucking fantastic.
In any case, while the Synergy occasionally makes an appearance on eBay, AFAICT a GDS never has. These aren't common, by any means. Our friend Paul Schrieber (owner of MOTM) is apparently a Synergy Lover, and has a [section](http://www.synthtech.com/synergy.html) on the Synthech site devoted to it, but it looks like his love was itinerant, based upon the frequency of updates (or lack thereof.) It is interesting to note that the Synergy and GDS are basically computers programmed to act like synthesizers (like so many of today's synths) and thus could theoretically be emulated in much the same way the PPG Wave 2.3 and DX7 have been. Something to ponder, anyways.
---
## And we have a confirmation...
- Date: 2005-08-29
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/08/and-we-have-a-confirmation/
On our Friday gear pr0n picture, I was unsure of what this unit was, and postulated that it might be a QASAR M8, the fore-runner to the Fairlight CMI. However, [Todd Fletcher](http://microrelease.com/) writes in to say:
_
The thing in question is a Crumar GDS, mother of the Synergy and used by Wendy Carlos (for Tron) & Tangerine Dream as well as Schulze. The CPU & monitor goes with the keyboard on the floor to it's right. It mostly sounds like a DX7, and would probably drive an analog guy like you nuts :-). Nothing even close to a filter in that machine.
_
Oh, I loves me some digital, make no mistake. But thanks for that spotting. I had a feeling I was wrong there...
---
## Digital Jimmyhat?
- Date: 2005-08-29
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/08/digital-jimmyhat/
This is a pretty funny page. I quote:
_
Being a jazz diva requires more than a sultry voice, a drinking problem and a tendency towards self destruction these days. You have to use every advantage you can muster - falling back on scat singing and the occasional exposed breast to land the big label contract just doesn't cut it anymore._
Anyways, believe it or not, it isn't just comedy, but actually a product page for a company that does a full reconfiguration of the Altec 342B mixer you see pictured. These guys make high-end tube amps, so they are, of course, insane. (I think dealing with the high voltages eventually turns all companies that sell mostly tube products in to Lord Of The Flies. Go ahead and prove me wrong on that. I dare you.) [They all have shitty web pages too.](http://www.bottlehead.com/et/et.html) (The old "scroll to the right" trick... crafty...)
---
## DubStation now available...
- Date: 2005-08-28
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/08/dubstation-now-available/
The most awesomest plug-in from Audio Damage yet, DubStation is now available for purchase in the [AD store.](http://www.audiodamage.com/l33t/product_info.php?products_id=9) It is VST for Windows, and VST/AU for OSX, and is US$39.00 for direct download.
Not to be cocky or anything, but I am of the considered opinion that this plug-in is The Bomb, and not just because we made it. Easy on the CPU, good looking, and it sounds great, too. I made a quick demo track, which you'll find on the product page. I'll have Wade make a proper one when he isn't so busy, as he's much better at that sort of thing than I am. But if you give the demo a listen, you'll hear the looping, reversing, etc. that makes DubStation such a fun plug-in.
Our next order of business at AD is some contract work for a hardware manufacturer; after that, we've got another cool plug up our sleeves. This is such a fun job. I wish it paid better.
---
## Here's something you don't see every day...
- Date: 2005-08-28
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/08/heres-something-you-dont-see-every-day/
Now, here's a sexy animal, right here. A PPG modular synth, half model 100 and half model 300. It's on German eBay right now, with a minimum of over $16,000 with no bidders (I wonder why...) The auction will probably be closed by the time you see this, but [here you go.](http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7344338428&ssPageName=MERC_VI_RSCC_Pr4_PcY_BID_Stores_IT)
---
## Summing mixer for electronic musicians...
- Date: 2005-08-27
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/08/summing-mixer-for-electronic-musicians/
I've been in the market for a summing mixer for a while, since I ditched my console. (For the record, the Soundcraft Digital328 is the biggest pile of shit ever to grace the pro-audio section at Guitar Center. Don't say I didn't warn you.) A few months ago, Vince Poulos, the main man behind Speck Electronics, announced on Gearslutz that he was going to be releasing a summing mixer. He put up an initial front-panel mock-up, and opened the field for comments.
The cool thing is that he actually implimented some of the comments (including one of mine, it seems.) Today, he announced that the Speck X.Sum is now available from the various places that sell Speck stuff. It is $1495, and is, I must say, the \_perfect\_ summing mixer for electronic-based musicians. It is basically a 32x4 mixer, split up in to 16 pairs. Each stereo channel can be assigned to either a Mix A or Mix B output. In simpler terms, you can take 16 outputs of your DAW and sum them to Mix A, and you still have 8 stereo inputs left as a super high-quality keyboard submixer, bussed to Mix B which would go back to the DAW.
This is such a perfect solution to my ills I almost peed myself. It is a bit expensive, but has moved right to the top of the "Must Get Now" list of shit I'll aquire when I'm rich and famous. You can read all about it [here.](http://www.speck.com/XSum/XSum.shtml)
---
## Hard-Core Gear Porn Friday!!!
- Date: 2005-08-27
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/08/hard-core-gear-porn-friday-3/
Bet you thought I forgot, huh? No such luck. Here we have one of my favorite gear pr0n pictures of all time, of Klaus Schulze live in concert in Linz, Austria in 1980. We can plainly see a pair of MiniMoogs and the trademark Moog modular behind him, as well as a VCS3. My original off-the-cuff spotting said the thing on the right was a Fairlight, but note the one-piece monitor/keyboard, plus the black face of the "CPU." So that's not what it is. The time is right, as the Fairlight CMI came out in '79. Could that be a QASAR M8? I've never seen a picture of one, but its CPU unit was black, I'm given to understand.
In any case, he's playing a CS-80, and aside from the 2600 on his left, I can't make out anything else in the picture. (I think that's a Polymoog under the Minis, though.) It is important to note that, when playing gear of this caliber, a welding helmet must be worn. I copped this pic from the [Official Klaus Schulze Website,](http://www.klaus-schulze.com/welcome.htm) home of many ridiculous photos.
---
## Tunafish...
- Date: 2005-08-26
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/08/tunafish/
Sequencers are a dime a dozen these days, but check out this uber-simple VST host and semi-audio sequencer from [Brambos.](http://www.brambos.com/) I've tried out the demo, and it definitely has potential. A lot of VSTs by commercial developers don't work, or crash it, and it has a couple obvious bugs without too much digging, but it's kind of an interesting take on the quick-n-dirty paradigm, and could be a fun sketchpad if some of these bugs are fixed.
---
## Good mic cable deal...
- Date: 2005-08-26
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/08/good-mic-cable-deal/
I just got my monthly spam from Vintage Microphones, and they've started carrying the Blue mic cable series. Now, I know this isn't a sexy item. Quite frankly, I hate spending money on shit like this. But these are, like, heirloom-quality mic cables, and the price breaks for quantity orders are fantastic. You can get 10 Blueberry mic cables for $265, which is an excellent deal, plus Vintage Microphones is a cool company in my book. [Go forth.](http://www.vintagemicrophone.com/JShop/product.php?xProd=41)
---
## Rub a dub dub...
- Date: 2005-08-25
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/08/rub-a-dub-dub/
You can always tell when Audio Damage is nearing the end of a release cycle, as I hardly ever post. That'll continue to be the case for the next couple days, so sit tight...
---
## A New High In Low...
- Date: 2005-08-24
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/08/a-new-high-in-low/
Tacky, tacky, tacky. Open Labs, makers of the NeKo OpenSynth (you know, that honkin' big AMD-based computer with a keyboard built in) have been sending this press release around. I don't normally print press releases, but I thought I would make an exception in this regard:
_Open Labs (www.openlabs.com), which built the first Windows-based keyboard workstation in 2003, is one of a number of innovative synthesizer manufacturers that trace their lineage, if not their inspiration, to Bob Moog.
\[...\]
Open Labs CEO, Victor Wong, chief architect Craig Negoescu, and chief technology officer Lary Cotten are all available for comment on Bob Moog's passing._
I mean, come on. I know that one of the cardinal rules of running a business is to send out a press release every time your CFO has a bowel movement, but I'm afraid I have to draw the line at this. I had previously thought this company was kind of cool in a weird sort of way, but, I mean, fuck...
---
## Resistance Is Futile!
- Date: 2005-08-24
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/08/resistance-is-futile/
Now, I'm not a fan of Digidesign. I've managed to release 11 full-length albums and twice that many singles never having used ProTools to record even one song. I've done session work that involved PT, and of course Audio Damage ported our first product, the Mayhem package, to RTAS. So I've used it enough to know that I don't like it. I don't like anything about it. I don't like the work-flow or the layout or the sound of it. I don't like the over-produced PT-based albums that were so common in the late 90s and early 00s. (Garbage, I'm talkin' bout you...)
What I really don't like is how the Borg Cube that is Avid is sucking up companies now, like they were Apple or something. They scored M-Audio not too long ago, and while that didn't directly affect me, as I don't use any M-Audio products, on Monday they announced that they purchased Wizoo. Personally, I don't really use Wizoo products that much either. I have two of their sample disks, the grand piano and the electronic toolkit thingie. But the thing about Avid buying up companies is that they do the same thing Apple does--they Avidfy 'em. So, let's see how long it takes before M-Audio interfaces and Wizoo sample-playback plugs only work with PT.
Now, you're saying "Chris, why the fuck do you care? You don't seem to have hung your hat on either of these companies' products..." Well, that may be true, but I like to have \_options\_, you know? Once companies get over a certain size, they seem to just ingest everything in their path that might be worth a shit. Let me put it this way: I _used_ to be a Logic user.
---
## Whoops.
- Date: 2005-08-23
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/08/whoops/
Sorry it's been slow today, but I'm busy as a motherfucker. After observing the mandatory day of silence for the passing of Dr. Moog, I was going to post all kinds of fun shit. However, Matters have reared their ugly Heads, and I'm forced to actually, like, work today.
We're at the point right now where DubStation just lacks a manual. It is otherwise done but for rolling presets and final testing. Expect it shortly. Until it is out, however, I wouldn't expect to hear a lot in AI Land if I were you.
---
## R.I.P. Dr. Moog...
- Date: 2005-08-22
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/08/r-i-p-dr-moog/
The impact of your inventions on the world of music (and thus on the world at large) will be felt for decades, if not centuries, to come. Maybe other people invented the concept of electronic music before you did, but when you invented it, it stayed invented.
---
## the_box
- Date: 2005-08-21
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/08/the-box/
I normally don't go in for these Creative Solutions For Breaking Down The Barrier Between Performer And Audience (anyone that has ever played a rock show for 5000 people knows that barriers, or barricades more appropriately, are definitely desired between performer and audience...) but this is kind of a nifty idea. Brian Crabtree has made a Box that is an array of buttons that can control pretty much any program that accepts MIDI controller data.
[His site](http://nnnnnnnn.org/index.php?n=0001) also has some MP3s of his work up, which aren't bad at all. Go have a look/listen.
---
## O-Scope Fiesta...
- Date: 2005-08-20
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/08/o-scope-fiesta/
So this town I live in (population c. 1000 or so) has an anual "Dog Dayz" yard-sale kind of thing which takes place today. Lisa and I were making the rounds and at our last stop, I came across an old Bell & Howell Oscilloscope. It said "make offer" on it, so I said "hey, will you take $20?" The lady was all "hell, yeah" which made me feel she only expected $5.00, so now I feel like I was cheated, even though I got a good working o-scope for only a sawbuck. Funny how that works out.
---
## Linux woes...
- Date: 2005-08-20
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/08/linux-woes/
Okay, so I did something kind of dumb. I decided to give that OSx86 install everyone is doing a whirl on my HP laptop. To make a long story short, that didn't work, and obviously I completely hosed the hard drive in the process. So, rather than immediately re-installing WinXP, since I don't normally use this laptop except when playing live, I thought I'd give Linux a whirl, and see what the Linux music scene is doing lately.
So, after searching about a bit, I settled on the Xandros distribution. Downloaded it, and installed. Completely painless, and quite frankly a bit easier than installing WinXP or OSX on their respective platforms.
However, I've hit a brick wall. I want to use my emagic EMI 2|6 box with this computer. Apparently, the driver for this box is built-in to current kernels of Linux, but I can't for the life of me get it to work. Every page I find with a hint of "instruction," (and I use that term loosely in this context) is something on the order of [this.](http://adi.thur.de/index.php?show=emi62) Let me just say that shit like this is why Linux will never replace Windows as the desktop OS of choice. If you just want to surf and check your e-mail, it's fine, and even better than fine, because it is more or less completely unsucceptable to virii and such. But if you want to do \_anything\_ beyond the simplest tasks, it becomes a hair-pulling experience.
So, my question is thus: if \_anyone\_ that is reading this has managed to get the ESI 2|6 (or 6|2, for that matter) to work with Linux, and can give me clear, concise instruction for doing the same, I'd love to hear about it.
---
## 386 DX Is The King Of The World...
- Date: 2005-08-19
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/08/386-dx-is-the-king-of-the-world/
386DX isn't just a musician. He's more like a lifestyle choice. [At his site,](http://easylife.org/386dx/) you can listen to his most excellent renditions of The Hits, including [this amazing version](http://easylife.org/386dx/calif.mp3) of California Dreamin'. You can see pictures from his appearances. You can buy his CDs. In short, you can do the same things on his site that you can on every other band site on the internet.
But there's something there I can't quite put my finger on. For some reason, you can [buy a computer](http://www.electroboutique.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=1&products_id=33) which is pre-configured to basically be a 386 DX performance. Embrace the amazingness that is 386DX. I'm a fan, and you will be too, shortly.
---
## Hard-Core Gear Porn Friday!!!
- Date: 2005-08-19
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/08/hard-core-gear-porn-friday-2/
Okay, this is kind of a gimmee, because anyone who is in to synths at all and has been on the internet for more than, like, 3 hours or so knows about Çikira and her [gear.](http://www.cikira.com/gear/) But for both of you that haven't seen this site, she has more synths and outboard than any ten normal gear-obsessed synth players. I've decided, after a couple years of occasionally gazing at her website, that there is this sort of Çikira Event Horizon, which constitutes the absolute limit of the number of synths you can have and still get work done.
There are so many synths in this studio that it has become something of a magnetic attractor, a dip on the synth gravity plane, like those pit things in Marble Madness. I mean, members of the Synth Illuminati just [drop by,](http://www.cikira.com/visit/buchla/) I suppose in the hopes that the Çikira Event Horizon will have enough give in it to maybe hold just one more synth. "I'm sure if we moved these three Nords closer together, we'd be able to fit this new guy in..."
---
## A turn for the worse...
- Date: 2005-08-18
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/08/a-turn-for-the-worse/
Bob Moog isn't doing too well, as you no doubt know. The hospice page put up for checking his condition was updated today, and seems to not really have any news that could be described as "good." [The site is here,](http://www.caringbridge.com/cb/inputSiteName.do?method=search&siteName=bobmoog) if you haven't seen it.
---
## The Best Free VST/AU Ever?
- Date: 2005-08-18
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/08/the-best-free-vst-au-ever/
Well, I don't know about all that, but as free VST and AU plugins go, the Luxonix LFX1310 is one of the best. It's a multi-effects unit about on par with an SPX-90 or thereabouts. It's been available as a PC VST for some time, but has just today been made available for OSX VST and AU. Free as in beer (you must cough up an email addy, nothing more.)
In use, it is quite simple. There are three slots, and each one can hold one of 24 different effects. All the normal utilitarian effects are included, which makes this (for the money) an incredibly useful tool. [Go get you some.](http://www.luxonix.com/home/en/products.html?id=lfx1310)
---
## Coming soon to a DAW near you...
- Date: 2005-08-17
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/08/coming-soon-to-a-daw-near-you/
Our new baby is definitely Getting There. All my previous screenshots of DubStation (either here or OSXaudio) have had the AU version. As you can see, it is now running happily in Nuendo on PC. We had a bit of a problem with the MIDI learn mode stuff, but it is fixed, and DubStation's major development is now done. All that remains is to tighten up the code a bit (Adam calls this "optimizing"), write presets and the manual, and beta-testing.
So, here's the basic deal with DubStation:
\>> Delay time from 4ms to 2000ms
\>> True 'analog' style delay, where the signal pitches when the time is changed.
\>> MIDI learn mode for VST (this is handled by the host in AU plugs)
\>> Host sync, reverse, loop, and low-cut on the delayed signal
It really is a simple plug-in, and you'll barely need the manual. It will be US$39.00, and available in our store for instant download when the time comes. Obviously, I'll keep you posted.
---
## BREAKING NEWS: Entire Music Industry Shuts Down!
- Date: 2005-08-16
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/08/breaking-news-entire-music-industry-shuts-down/
Man, I'm sorry about no posting, guys, but there ain't fuck-all happening out there. I haven't found anything interesting to talk about in nigh-on 24 hours or so. Although, I'm secure in the knowledge that I'm not alone, because none of the other music blog sites have, either.
It is truly the Dog Days of summer, and it seems everyone is taking a breather from not announcing anything worth a shit at Summer NAMM, so they can ready their press releases on what they're not doing at AES. Here at Audio Damage Graphics And Concept HQ, I'm currently testing the VST version of DubStation which Adam winged at me this morning. AU is done, done, done. So it's only a matter of time before we start sending out our own press releases about that little beauty.
I was hoping to find some interesting plug-in news to post about, since I haven't done a software post in a bit, but the most exciting thing KvR has listed in the last week is the free [Brackenburg guitar amp modeller.](http://www.floridamusicco.com/) Everything else is just software updates and SynthEdit shit.
So, here's to hoping something interesting happens soon so we can all fight to see who can make the pithiest comments about it.
---
## Schumman, Joy Of Man's Desiring...
- Date: 2005-08-15
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/08/schumman-joy-of-mans-desiring/
Heavy gear-lust here. The Schumman PLL is a member of the same family that the [Electro-Harmonix MicroSynth](http://www.zzounds.com/a--635145/item--ELHGMS) heads up. It may cost twice as much, but it looks ten times cooler, doesn't it? This is \_almost\_ made of unobtanium. Each one is hand-made, and there is something of a waiting list for this $500 work of art. I'm pretty sure I mentioned [Main Drag Music](http://www.maindragmusic.com/js/index.html) and the Schumman pedals they alone sell at some point in an earlier iteration of this site, but they're so damned cool, I think it's worth a second look.
---
## The Hip Hop, it don't stop...
- Date: 2005-08-15
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/08/the-hip-hop-it-dont-stop/
I have to confess that I Don't Get It. [ModernBeats](http://www.modernbeats.com/free_vst_plugins.php) has announced a free VST package (free as in "buy $200 worth of shit from our site, and get this package free") which is, to quote directly from them, "5 innovative plugins specifically designed towards modern Hip Hop production!"
While I haven't tried them (mainly because I haven't bought $200 worth of shit from the ModernBeats site), it's obvious from the screenshots that they are SynthEdit creations, so PC only, plus all the normal caveats that implies. (As a "real" VST/AU developer, we tend to look down our nose at SynthEdit plugs, and justifiably, I think.) But what I don't get is how these are "specifically designed towards modern Hip Hop production!" There is something called a WaterVerb, which seems to be a reverb plus some samples of bubbling water, Subatomik and Transistor (the uses of which should be obvious), and BlazeBox (which a mutli-FX unit). The final plug is TimeMachine, which is basically the same as the Grungilizer that comes with Cubase.
So, I don't see how these are any more specific to hip-hop than any other plug-in (with the possible exception of Waves L2), but I have to be kind of bemused when a chunk of SynthEdit plugs get press. Just caveat emptor.
---
## An ass like BLAM...
- Date: 2005-08-14
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/08/an-ass-like-blam/
Now, this is a good lookin' microphone, make no mistake. [LeWilson Microphones](http://www.lewilsonmicrophones.com/) also puts them out in green and orange. Don't know nothin' about them except that they're damned easy on the eyes, and have a tube in them. No prices on the web site, but I can't see these being cheap. Since words like "custom," "hand-built," "Neumann," and "Haufe" are liberally sprinkled through the single page, I can make a ball-park guess and say you're looking at a $1500 mic right here.
The one thing I find nice about tube mic manufacturers is that, unlike every other company that puts tubes in their gear, they don't feel the need to stick a window on there so you can see it. It's enough to simply say it's a tube mic without having to stick it in your fucking face. I've never understood that. "Look, we put a Russian 12AX7 in this \[insert middle-of-the-road kit here\]! Isn't it fabulous? Now you know it's just fat with a capital Ph!" I'm not sure which is stupider, consumers or the companies that take advantage of them.
---
## Space*Synth update...
- Date: 2005-08-13
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/08/space-synth-update/
As a bit of an update to my Tiny Digital roundup of last week, Tony from [ElectroKraft](http://www.electrokraft.com/) dropped me a line to let me know that the reason no more Space\*Synths were available is because they require a specific chip, the Texas Instruments SN76477 (which is the sound chip used in many vintage video games, not the least of which is Space Invaders.) This chip is no longer made, and is rare as rare can be. Thus, unless a quantity can be procured, no more Space\*Synths.
He did let me know that he has another project in the pipeline which sounds really cool. I'm looking forward to it, and will drop info when it becomes available.
---
## Hard-Core Gear Porn Friday!!!
- Date: 2005-08-13
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/08/hard-core-gear-porn-friday/
This absolutely ludicrous wall of outboard and synths belongs to some studio called "Cosmos," I think. I could make a feeble attempt to Trainspot all the gear on this wall, but I think that the phrase "two of everything, ever" would about cover it. Let me just state for the record that if you're even remotely bothered by that picture, then you definitely don't want to see [the rest of the studio.](http://homepage.mac.com/armandoavila/PhotoAlbum2.html) Anyone know where this is or who owns it?
---
## Well, that didn't take long...
- Date: 2005-08-12
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/08/well-that-didnt-take-long/
Hardmac is [reporting](http://www.hardmac.com/niouzcontenu.php?date=2005-08-10) that OSX Intel has been hacked to run on any PC. There are two videos on the site of a run-of-the-mill PC laptop booting OSX. Of course, this was going to happen; I'm surprised that it happened so quickly, though. Welcome to the Wild, Wooly World of x86, Apple guys. Pack a helmet!
---
## Alice mic kit...
- Date: 2005-08-11
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/08/alice-mic-kit/
[This](http://scotthelmke.com/alice-mic.html) is kind of nifty. It's a DIY small-capsule condensor microphone called "Alice." Judging from the sound clips, it compares favorably to other mics of its ilk, and is somewhat cheaper. I kind of like the copper tube look, truth be told. The creator, Scott Helmke, offers kits for this, as well. If you want to supply your own piece of copper tubing and grill, the cost is $25. The "Everything" kit, which comes with all you need to build it as you see it on the site, is $50. Note that this isn't a n00b kit. You need to have a mediocre understanding of soldering and such, and a Dremel tool to cut the mic body. He also sells the completed mic for $200.00, which is pretty reasonable for how it sounds and what is in it. There is no shopping cart on the site; you have to e-mail him with your wants and desires.
While you're at his site, check out his [Brazil](http://scotthelmke.com/brazil-mic.html) mic. A Terry Gilliam-inspired piece, it uses the same guts as Alice but an altogether more-cooler body. This isn't available as a kit, but he'll build one for you if you ask nice.
---
## Big Trouble In Little... uhhhh... Japan...
- Date: 2005-08-11
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/08/big-trouble-in-little-uhhhh-japan/
There's an interesting AP wire article [out today](http://www.detnews.com/2005/technology/0508/11/0tech-277114.htm) that details a bit of drama concurrent with the launch of iTunes in Japan last week. It seems that Sony hasn't yet done a deal with Apple, so there are no Japanese Sony artists in the new iTunes Japan store. So some of the Sony artists have broken ranks and attempted to release their catalogs to Apple directly.
For at least one musician, this means "they are no longer a Sony recording artist," according to Sony. Of course, it is worth noting that a musician signed to a major technically has little or no control over the master use rights of his record, so of course the Sony artists that go this route are in blatant violation of their contract. Now, that said, I think what we're seeing here is the Final Battle. I'm amused that it will be fought in Japan rather than the United States, but when this is done, there will be a new paradigm wherein the music retailers with the most power will no longer give a flying fuck about any other marketing.
For the people that run iTunes, they couldn't really give two shits if you're an indie or a major, if you've sold 10 records or 10,000,000. It's enough that you're there, because there's no backstock that has to be dealt with. My recent [Micronaut](http://www.positronrecords.com/releases/release.php?id=posi017) album takes up exactly the same shelf-space as Thriller and the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. iTunes and MSN Music can stock pretty much every record sent to them, whereas even the big brick-n-mortar-n-drywall retailers can only have a relatively tiny percentage of all releases available at any one time, so they concentrate on those that actually sell.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out. When indie labels can cut out their largest expense, which is production of the actual CD, they can concentrate more on promotion, and level the playing field a bit with the majors. While I vastly prefer the quality of a real CD, and like getting the cover art and liner notes in a nice printed package, it occurs to me that I haven't bought a real album in almost two years. All my music purchases have been through either iTunes or Warp's excellent [Bleep](http://www.bleep.com/) service.
---
## Hey! Wanna see a trainwreck?
- Date: 2005-08-10
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/08/hey-wanna-see-a-trainwreck/
Well, on the one hand, you have to admire us Americans. When we're not busy spreading Freedom at the point of an M-16 or complaining about the French, we sure are a crafty bunch. We can figure out how to make money on anything.
Of course, the net result is that when we're not coming off as bullies, we're only one step away from your average Nigerian scammer. Check [this site](http://www.internetaudioguy.com/) out. (And I apoligize in advance to the Internet Gods for giving this fucktard any traffic at all.) The Internet Audio Guy wants to tell you the secrets to making digital audio products to sell, because, you know, 35% of people are auditory learners.
From what I can parse out from his half-assed site, the object of the exercise is to use his Bronze Studio Package to create pyramid-scheme audio content. Now, I could just ass-rape him on that alone, but the thing that really gets my goat is the Bronze Studio Package itself. This is an Edirol UA-25 interface, an Audio Technica AT3035 mic, and a copy of the baby Sound Forge. He'll sell you this Amazing Package Of Studio-Quality Hardware And Software for $695, plus whatever shipping he decides to tack on, and won't tell you about until you've already entered your payment information. This is amazing, inasmuch as the sum total from ZZounds for the same "package" is $507.95, which is a mark-up of only $187.05.
Luckily, we live in the information age, and it's easy to put paid to morons like this with even a tiny bit of research. But, god damn, I hate these sorts of things, fat male-pattern baldness snake-oil salesmen that make their living by taking advantage of people that just want to get a leg up in the world. It's not often you see it in the audio market, but lo and behold, nothing is safe.
**EDIT:** I just figured out something really cool about that site. On the first page, below the fold (that's newspaper parlance for "scroll down") there are a bunch of audio testimonials in little Flash sound-playing gizmos. After you've given the page a minute or so to fully load, you can create a really cool _musique concrete_ kind of thing by playing them all at once, and starting and stopping various pieces. I'm going to record a track of this, call it "Music Of The Spherical Heads," and copyright it. Then I'm going to sue the Internet Audio Guy for infringement.
---
## The ultimate in vintage hybrid synths...
- Date: 2005-08-10
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/08/the-ultimate-in-vintage-hybrid-synths/
Back in my day, we walked three miles to school in eight feet of snow (or was it eight miles in three feet of snow?) and we couldn't afford a fancy digital-analog hybrid like the Evolver. We had to make do with what we had, and that was the IBM 1403 printer attached to the IBM mainframe computer. Once we were done computing ballistic missle trajectories, we took a much needed breather by teaching that printer to play "Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head," among many other hits.
Well, not "we" in the specific sense, but a more general American "we." Check out the recordings from a 1970 glitch/chip music performance of mainframe and printer with occasional banter. [Computer History Museum.](http://www.computerhistory.org/exhibits/highlights/)
---
## Tiny Digital Roundup...
- Date: 2005-08-10
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/08/tiny-digital-roundup/
It's Wednesday, and that means it's time to send in the Rodeo Clowns, because we're having a round-up! This week, we'll have a gander at all the little digital synths that make life worth living.
The first contender for the all-time title of "Shit Chris Really Wants But Can't Seem To Obtain" is the [Droid-3,](http://abildgard.com/en/droid-3/) which (like every cool synth these days) hails from Scandanavia. Denmark, to be precise. Those zany Danes have made something that is almost entirely, but not completely, unlike a SidStation. It's black. It has one knob. It sounds like death on a stick, and naturally, there are caveats. Danegeld, to name the first. It'll set you back US$599.00, as if we needed a sign that we Anglo-Saxons are still beholden to the Dane after a millenia. Oh, BTW, that's not including the plane ticket, which brings us to our second issue: if you're not in Denmark, you ain't getting one, because they won't ship over the border.
Next on the agenda, we have the ElectroKraft Space\*Synth. This particular item also seems to be made of unobtanium, as the [ElectroKraft site](http://www.electrokraft.com/) has removed all mention of it, despite the fact that they issued a press release announcing it only 6 months ago. Let's just pretend that it is available, for the time being anyways, and say that it is US$189.00, and ostensibly makes sounds just like the engine in the Donkey Kong coin-op. That's reason enough to covet one. I don't want an ApolloAxe at all, which is just another excuse for keyboard players to look like retards (as if we needed that.) So ElectroKraft, please actually release this unit! You can read about it from the original press release, which is available on [Harmony Central.](http://news.harmony-central.com/Newp/2005/Space-Synth.html)
If you read [MusicThing,](http://musicthing.blogspot.com/) you know all about the Cracklebox. Personally, I find this little guy to be a bit annoying, bordering on Master's Thesis Stupid. (Maybe if someone made a table, upon which was projected an image of a Cracklebox, and you moved little disks of lucite around to Break Down The Barriers Between Performer And Audience, I'd be a bit more impressed.) But we're ecumenical here at Analog Industries, so it gets thrown in the ring with the rest of the toys. Read all about it at [Crackle.org,](http://www.crackle.org/) then buy one for 50 Euro plus shipping, and impress all the Emo kids at your local coffee shop.
Our final entry comes from our Tuetonic representatives MFB, in the form of the [PolyLITE.](http://www.mfberlin.de/Produkte/Musikelektronik/MFB-POLYLITE/PolyLITE/polylite.html) This boxen goes one better than the Droid-3 by having no controls at all. It is a four-voice DCO-based synth with analog filter and VCA that can only be controlled from MIDI CC messages or from the front panel of an MFB SynthLITE II. No sound samples that I can find, but [NuLoop](http://www.nuloop.com/details_dj_e.php?art=36028) apparently will have them for sale Real Soon Now at 269 Euros.
Of course, there's the requisite Gameboy offerings like [NanoLoop](http://www.nanoloop.de/) and [LSDJ,](http://www.littlesounddj.com/lsd/) and various other methods for coaxing badly aliased sounds out of gear singularly unsuited for the task. And there's Dave Smith's excellent [Evolver,](http://www.davesmithinstruments.com/) of which plenty has been said. If there are any synths of this ilk I've missed, feel free to throw a link in the comments section. There's one more scratching at my hind-brain, but I can't remember its name, and thus can't search for it. Maybe I'll remember by morning.
---
## New ShinyBox ribbon mic...
- Date: 2005-08-10
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/08/new-shinybox-ribbon-mic/
ShinyBox has released another cheap-ass ribbon mic, the ShinyBox model 46. This one is even cheaper-asser than the last one I mentioned a couple weeks back, at only US$150.00, versus the US$165.00 of the somewhat larger (and less awesome, if the copy is to be believed) model 23. Like I said, I haven't tried these, so I'm not giving them my Official Stamp Of Approval or anything, but I mean, really, now. How can you go wrong?
Hit the [ShinyBox site](http://www.shinybox.com/product_info.php?products_id=51) and judge for yourself. He has a no-questions-asked return policy, so there's really no harm in trying it out.
---
## 2/3 of the way to being a rock star...
- Date: 2005-08-09
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/08/2-3-of-the-way-to-being-a-rock-star/
Here's a progress report on the Great Kay Refinishing Pageant. All the StupidBurst paint was easily removed, as it was a rather thin coat. Took me about 45 minutes total of sanding. I then hand-sanded the body to within an inch of its life, which took another three or four hours. After that, I stained the back and sides with a deep walnut color. Today, I sprayed the body with about 6 coats total of polyurethane.
It is actually looking like a Real Guitar now. After I wet-sand the final coat of poly, we'll see where we're sitting, but I think it is pretty much done. It's funny how good the spruce/birch/whatever plywood really popped out once I started laying poly on it. You can't tell in the picture at all, but there's so many little knurls in it, it almost looks like bird's-eye maple. In any case, this guitar looks so much better now, and all it took was a little elbow grease.
---
## Oh, that's Creative...
- Date: 2005-08-09
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/08/oh-thats-creative/
Let me just point out, before getting off on a rant, that if you're even remotely interested in using a computer for making/editing music, your sound I/O should be nowhere near the computer itself. The inside of a computer is a set of monkey bars, upon which the RF demon spawn of the various parts of the computer itself will play. (Parenthetically speaking, that's a hell of a metaphor, if I do say so myself.)
So, what do we have here? Creative Labs has figured out a new way to rip off pro-sumers: the X-Fi sound-card series. Now, the first thing I notice is that this is a PCI card with jacks on it. That automatically rules it out of the race for a Reasonable Solution To Your Pro-sumer Audio Needs. (See painful metaphor above for reasoning.) Basically, you take a run-of-the-mill Soundblaster Platinum Live XT-Whee, and you make it black as midnight, and give it some shiny gold bling, and you can charge 5 times as much for it.
Well, we don't cotton to that sort of thing in these parts. They're gonna be asking US$399 for this thing down at Best Buy (and that's \_without\_ the stupid service plan. Shit, don't get me started...) and I don't think you need me to go in to all the \_actual\_ semi-pro sound I/O you could pick up for that amount of money.
Okay, I need to go to my quiet place and converse with my power animal now. Wake me when this is over.
---
## Welcome (again)...
- Date: 2005-08-09
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/08/welcome-again/
As you can see, we're kickin' it nu-school now. Special thanks to my lovely wife Lisa for making it much nicer than it was, and to Mark Beeson at [Heluna](http://www.heluna.com/) for writing the awesome posiNET back-end in the first place.
Now, as you can see, you can comment on the entries, once you've joined up. If you want to put a link in your comment, just write out the link (including the http://) and the engine will automagically change it to the proper HTML. The comments do not allow HTML, so don't try being slick there.
You'll also note that we've used the posiNET messaging feature, so you can private-message people that have commented, or anyone that is just hanging about. This feature is network-wide, so if you visit the [Amish Rake Fight](http://www.amishrakefight.com/), [Sister Machine Gun](http://www.sistermachinegun.com/), or [Atomica](http://www.theatomicaproject.com/) websites, you can just log in to them using the account you created here, and your private messages and member page will follow you. Pretty nifty system, I think.
We will, at some point, figure out how to port all the entries off the old site so they show up here. Until that lofty event occurs, you can go [here](http://old.analogindustries.com/) to see them. If some other site linked to a specific story, unfortunately it will be bouncing you to the front page, so you'll have to go hunt it up on the old site for now.
In any case, enjoy the new site, and let me know if you find any bugs.
---
## Good idea? Maybe not...
- Date: 2005-08-09
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/08/good-idea-maybe-not/
So Peter over at the [Create Digital Music](http://www.createdigitalmusic.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=771&Itemid=44) blog came across [this site,](http://boris.eggsandtoast.com/nintendo.php) where this guy rack-mounts an NES. This, in and of itself, is kind of, well, not that cool. However, Peter made what is perhaps a mistake. He said the following:
_
"you should be able to do what this fellow did and cram your eBayed NES into a 1U rack mount. Then, add MIDINES, a custom cartridge for MIDI output. \[...\] Anyone who pulls this off, I will personally give you . . . oh, I don't know, I'll find some kind of prize. You can have my Nintendo DS or something."
_
Well, I don't know about the "or something," but I'll be glad to take your Nintendo DS off your hands shortly. One rack-mounted [MIDI-NES](http://www.wayfar.net/0xf00000_overview.php) coming up. Peter, I prefer USPS Priority Mail.
---
## 1/3 of the way to being a rock star...
- Date: 2005-08-08
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/08/1-3-of-the-way-to-being-a-rock-star/
At least, that's what you're led to believe when you don't know any better. I found this Kay acoustic at a yard sale yesterday for $10. (When I got it, it was strung up, and had a bridge, if you were curious.) It sounded all right, considering the strings had probably been on it for 20 years. No cracks that I could see, although the paint job was a little hashed. Any help with a model number or rough date would be appreciated. It has the painted-on Kay logo common to the proletariate line, and is made out of what I could only assume to be birch plywood. The number "52" is stamped on the heel block when I took the (bolt-on) neck off. I assume that's a model and not the year of manufacture, because there's no way this thing is that old. I have a Silvertone arch-top from '53, and the differences are manifold.
In any case, I've never been a fan of sunburst paintjobs, and I'm definitely not a fan of red sunburst paint-jobs. Since the guitar needs quite a bit of work anyways, I decided to re-finish it in the bargain. I'll put up progress reports as I do so. I need a new pickguard, because the Kay logo is worn off of this one. Anyone that has a thought on where to get a new (or NOS) pickguard for this bad boy please whack the "contact" button and tell me so. My l33t Google skills were of no help. The lameburst paint came right off the back with a little Mouse action, so I expect to begin the paint job tomorrow or so.
---
## New Jomox product in the pipeline...
- Date: 2005-08-07
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/08/new-jomox-product-in-the-pipeline/
The XBase 999 is apparently coming down the pike. Seems to be a logical extension of the Xbase 09. Real analog for the kick, snare, low tom and high tom, samples for everything else. Improvements over the Xbase09 are as follows:
1\. Compression envelope on the kick, giving you the knocky rap of the 909 or the smooth decay of the 808, you pick 'em.
2\. In the sequencer section, all patterns are A/B now. Also, micro-shuffle is per instrument, rather than per pattern.
3\. An additional 16-step sequencer controls the external filter, a la AdrenaLinn or Evolver.
4\. Theoretically, you'll be able to MIDI sample dump your own sounds to overwrite the factory samples.
There are a couple other new features; overall, Jomox has once again dropped a bomba. Go check out the [announcement page](http://www.jomox.de/xbase999.html). They're saying Fall/Winter '05. Knowing how this sort of thing plays out, we'll probably see it first at Winter NAMM.
---
## OSX Audio back on line...
- Date: 2005-08-07
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/08/osx-audio-back-on-line/
Sort of. Seems to be a bit iffy at the moment; some graphics aren't getting served. But those blessed forums are back on-line, and that's all that matters, right? [Go forth.](http://www.bigbluelounge.com/index.php)
---
## Yard Sale Woes...
- Date: 2005-08-06
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/08/yard-sale-woes/
So, I learned a couple valuable lessons today. I was cruising the yard sales today, and came across a fellow selling a Farfisa Fast 3. Now, this isn't the Score Of The Century or anything, but I go to enough yard sales to know that you generally don't come across anything really cool often enough to truly make it worthwhile. I spent some time going over the instrument, which looked to be in good health. It was dirty, having apparently sat in this dude's garage for the better part of 30 years. But it seemed to be in excellent health otherwise. I asked him what he wanted for it, and he said $30. Now, I should have bought it on the spot, but I didn't have the cash on me, and I wanted to make sure it worked first.
So I trundled home, got the appropriate cables and a set of headphones, stopped at the ATM and got out the cash, then headed back to the yard sale, which was about 20 minutes from my house. I went over the instrument with a fine-toothed comb, and discovered that all the switches were dirty (as I imagined they would be) and a lot of the contacts in the keybed were sticking. But nothing that couldn't be fixed with relative ease. So I said "okay, here's your $30. Let's load it up."
The guy goes "well, here's the thing..." While I was gone, he spent some time searching on the 'bay and various other Interweb resources, and came across a reference to a Fast 3 that some fucking nipplehead on SonicState payed $500 for. So he decided his (which he bought new in 1965) was worth significantly more than $30. While that would certainly be true with an instrument in pristine perfect condition, this one most certainly was not. It was missing about half of the stand hardware (but inexplicably had the swell pedal), a couple knobs off the cover piece, and the top itself was loose due to missing screws, never mind the fucked up keybed and dirty switches.
So, I said I'd be willing to go to $40 or $50, but it simply wasn't worth any more than that. He decided that he wanted $150 for it and not a penny less. Now, Farfisas of any stripe, with one notable exception, are generally worth $150 to $300 in good shape. If this one could be described as that, I'd consider it, although I don't really want a Farfisa at all. But I was, like, "man, you're not gonna get that, I'm sorry to say. The only people that are gonna be interested in this instrument at all are people like me, and they're gonna know what it's worth." He was firm in his convictions, so I walked away.
So the things I learned are thus:
1) If you see something, and it's a killer price but you don't know if it works, buy it anyways. Worst case scenario, you'll be out a couple bucks.
2) When you're going to yard sales, make sure you take a couple quarter-inch cables and a set of headphones with you, if you want to test something out.
---
## Hardware Sequencers...
- Date: 2005-08-06
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/08/hardware-sequencers/
For some reason, in the last week I seem to have been bombarded with references to hardware sequencers. Adam is currently designing a pretty nifty one for his modular, and the Analog Heaven mailing list has been chock full of hardware sequencer comments. Plus I keep running across references in my normal surfing activities.
Back in the day, I used to be anti-computer. In the late 80s and early 90s, there were two kinds of electronic musicians: those who used the Atari ST, and those who didn't. I was in the latter group, and my sequencer of choice was the [Roland MC-500](http://www.rolandus.com/community/rug/spring_02/classics.asp). Man, I was \_fast\_ with this thing. For some reason, the layout and keys lent themselves to just lighting fast editing and such. That and an S-50 sampler, and I was in business. When I signed my record deal with Wax Trax!, I used some of my advance to buy an Emax, but kept on keepin' on with the MC-500, and that was my combo for the first two Sister Machine Gun albums. (A [SCI Studio 440](http://www.vintagesynth.com/sci/studio440.shtml) played a big part in the first three albums, as well. Man, I'd like to score one of those bad boys again...)
I made the big Switch in '94 or so, and got a Mac. I haven't used a hardware sequencer since (with one exception which I'll note below), and I don't think that anyone would argue that the non-linear nature of computer editing is far more suited to overall creation than the extremely linear vibes of your average hardware sequencer. However, because of the constant inundation of references of late, I've begun to think about getting myself a hardware sequencer again. So I went out and found all the current (cool) offerings. I won't, of course, link to anything that Rolakorgaha makes, because we're simply not interested in that shit around here.
[Synthesizers.com Q960](http://www.synthesizers.com/q960.html) - This is a brand-new piece from the DotCom guys that is basically exactly the same as the old 960 sequencer from Moog. Of course, it's DotCom format, and thus will be happiest with some DotCom infrastructure. Impressive lights and such, which can be seen in [this movie](http://www.unisynth.com/user/Q960%20Short%20demo%201.wmv). (Link to WMV file.) It is $800 straight from DotCom. The big minus is no MIDI, of course. CV/Gate only.
[Infection Music Zeit Sequencer](http://www.s120339565.websitehome.co.uk/instruments/zeit.html) - This idea was floated several years ago, and has been a long time coming, but it seems that Infection is about to actually have Zeit sequencers for sale. (Will be available in the US from [Analog Haven](http://www.analoguehaven.com/).) The Zeit is a four-track 16-step "analog style" sequencer that goes for 1299 UKP. With today's exchange rate, that's approximately $194,000.50 or something. It is, however, BIG. And has a lot of lights on it. We like these two features. Both MIDI and CV/gate instruments can be driven.
[Future Retro Mobius & Revolution](http://www.future-retro.com/) - I owned (and technically still own) a Future Retro Mobius. This is an excellent piece of kit, being basically the sequencer section of their 777 synthesizer. It has a semi-303 kind of programming interface, and enough output possibilities to do some pretty sophisticated driving on a modular synth. I loaned mine to Van Christie from Die Warzau, and now he won't give it back. This particular unit is about as far as you can take your sequencing dollar (or Pound or Euro or Yen) at [$345](http://www.analoguehaven.com/futureretro/mobius/) from Analog Haven. They also make the Revolution, which is a sequencer similar to the Mobius, grafted on to a DCO-based noinky-noink kind of synth. I would very much like to get one of these, and probably will, eventually. It is a bit pricier than the Mobius, at [$699](http://www.analoguehaven.com/futureretro/revolution/), but obviously has a synth attached, which makes it a bit more usable. Both the Mobius and Revolution have MIDI and CV/gate outputs. The Mobius has a couple more options in this regard.
[Manikin Electronics Schrittmacher](http://www.manikin-electronic.com/en/index.html) - When you need to mach your Schritts, who you gonna call? This box is a whopper, clocking in at [$1699](http://www.analoguehaven.com/manikin/schrittmacher/). Babelfish tells me that Schrittmacher means "pace setter." This thing is _the business_ as far as currently available hardware sequencers go, at least from my reading. I've never been in the same room as one, so I can't tell from personal experience, but it sure does seem to have every feature one could want in a hardware sequencer, except for one detail. AFAICT, it doesn't have CV and gate outs, and is MIDI only. I'm afraid that's a deal-breaker for me. Your mileage may vary.
[Sequentix P3](http://www.sequentix.com/) - This box is a pretty tasty combo from Colin Fraser. It started life as a DIY project, and can still be purchased as a kit, although your cost-to-build isn't going to be drastically less than just purchasing the finished unit from Analog Haven for [a grand](http://www.analoguehaven.com/sequentix/p3/). Now, this is the one I'd be willing to throw my endorsement behind, except it, like the Schrittmacher above, doesn't have CV/gate outputs. Other than that, it's as full-featured as you could want.
[Analog Solutions Oberkorn](http://www.analoguesolutions.com/) - Back to the ever-present Euro-Rack formula, the Oberkorn has a pretty good feature-set for the price, [which is $799](http://www.analoguehaven.com/analoguesolutions/oberkorn/). It is a true analog 16-step sequencer, with all the usual features such a beast would have. The minuses are (a) it's EuroRack, so you need some sort of infrastructure like the 960 above, and (b) no MIDI.
So, from our research, and taking my bias out of the picture, the Future Retro Mobius is, far and away, the best deal going for a hardware sequencer. At $345, you get a MIDI sequencer which also puts out V/Oct CV, Hz/V CV, gate, trigger, and clock signals, will drive a DIN-sync based unit of Roland vintage, and acts as a pretty good MIDI/CV interface. Quite frankly, all these other units are nice, but they just can't stand up to the cost-to-performance ratio of the Mobius.
---
## Rock School
- Date: 2004-12-07
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2004/12/rock-school/
So we're running this contest over at the Positron! site, wherein we asked for remixes of a song off my upcoming Micronaut album, and the winner is voted on to the disc. I wasn't expecting to be swamped with remixes. I expected to get five, or maybe ten at the most. Come midnight today, I had 25! It kind of made the process a little more difficult, especially for the people that are taking the voting seriously. They have to choose among 25 possibilities, and pick one to go on the album.
Generally, when I'm making a Sister Machine Gun album, I start about 30 to 40 songs, and finish around 15 of them, depending on the mood striking me, or my desire to finish any particular idea. When I'm doing a Micronaut album, that number is more like 75 to 100 tracks. (I should mention that the starting point I'm happy with is only about 16 bars long, so it's not like I'm actually recording a hundred tracks, then throwing 85% of them away. They're just ideas, really.) I'll generally bring about 25 of these to a stage that could be called "almost done." Then, I'll pick the best 15, and grind them together, changing keys and tempos, until I have a completed record.
With this, my fourth Micronaut album, I went about things a little differently. I had the usual hundred or so ideas, and had actually completed eight songs, with the (quite misguided, it turns out) idea that I was half-way done with the record. Then I had to run across one of those albums that Changes Everything. It's kind of annoying when that happens, truth be told. The first Underworld album (not the "Underneath the Radar" Underworld, although I liked that iteration quite a bit, when it was pertinent, but the "dubnobasswithmyheadman" album) was one of those records. David Bowie's Earthling was another one. Whenever I happen across one of these records, it changes the way I listen to (and thus make) music. This can be quite a pain in the ass. It really was in the old days, when I wrote in a proper studio. My fourth Sister Machine Gun record ended up costing over a quarter million dollars to make because of a situation like this. I went in to the studio one night, pulled out all the 2" tapes, and erased everything but the SMPTE on all of them, thus flushing 3 months of writing and recording down the tubes. You gotta do what you gotta do.
Anyways, blah, blah, blah, life-changing, etc. etc. Same thing here. I was half-way done with the album, and all the sudden I got turned on to Harry Gregson-Williams' score for Man On Fire. Don't know why this record hit me so hard. Up until this point, I've actually studiously avoided most movie scores. But for some reason, this album did \_it\_ for me, whatever that is. I suddenly decided that all the songs I'd done for Europa totally fucking blew, and I could do much better. So, I started over. Took me another three months to write the album again, but I've now done so, and the finish line is here.
The point of all this? The song that was the fodder for the remix is one of the first pre-Gregson-Williams bunch, so now I have to figure out how to make a song that sounds almost nothing like the rest of the album, and its attendant remix, fit in with the other 15-odd tracks. Should be an interesting exercise.
---
## Our TAS are better than your TAS...
- Date: 2004-12-03
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2004/12/our-tas-are-better-than-your-tas/
Well, we're about to put Audio Damage in Test Mode, as the RTAS port of Mayhem is nearing completion. I'll be honest; I'm not much help in this particular endeavor except as moral support and a funnel for complaints. But as soon as that's done, we're going to start whanging away at our Next Big Product. In actual fact, due to the above point, I'm already whanging. The design is (more or less) complete, and it's about to go in to what we ironically term "Feature Freeze" where we figure out which of my hairbrained schemes can actually be accomplished without having to re-write the entire VST SDK.
"So, what the fuck is it?" That's what you're wondering, right? Well, I'm not ready to tell yet. Suffice to say that all you folks that Switched a couple years back from Logic to platforms that had a little more staying power will be getting a feature you might sorely be missing. That's right, I'm talkin' about Tape Delay. Formulate in your mind's eye a picture of the Tape Delay plug-in. Now multiply that by about 140, and cross it with an EMS Synthi. You just \_might\_ be in the ballpark for what we have planned.
So, when we've (and by "we" I mean Adam) determined that everything in the design can actually be accomplished without sub-contracting MIT, I'll maybe drop a screen-shot or something. But for now you'll just have to trust me when I say that this plug-in will be The Shit. In fact, it will be the only delay-based plug-in you'll ever need. Ever. Seriously.
---
## I thought it was finally here...
- Date: 2004-12-03
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2004/12/i-thought-it-was-finally-here/
..but I was sorely mistaken. One of the many kookie ideas I've had for VST plug-ins was a VSTi version of a circuit-bent Speak & Spell. Since I'm fairly confident that Adam would be, in a word, nonplussed about such a thing, I don't think I've brought it up to him. Or maybe I have. I don't know.
In any case, it's enough to know I've pondered such things. I wouldn't be entirely sure about how to go about it, truth be told. But I've always kind of thought it was my idea to do with as I saw fit, since no one else seems to have any inclination to make such a thing. That's when my stomach lurched while I was reading createdigitalmusic.com today, and came across a link to [this site,](http://www.roilnoise.com/) Roilnoise.com. I just saw the picture, the words "download," "Mac," and "PC," and assumed the worst had happened, and clicked, without reading the article itself.
Come to find out, these cats made a reasonable Flash simulacra of a bent Speak 'n' Spell. While it's fun and all, for like a minute, all it is is a collection of samples of a bent Speak 'n' Spell. It's not actually doing any math, nor bending any real speech synthesis in real time. Thus, it's not what I wanted to do, and my Big Idea is still safe. Unless, of course, someone actually reads this blog and rips me off. But I know you're all here for the free shit on the download page, so I don't have to worry too much about that, when it comes down to it.
---
## Discord review...
- Date: 2004-11-30
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2004/11/discord-review/
Our friends at the [MusicThing Blog](http://musicthing.blogspot.com/) have put up a nice review of Discord. Go check it out.
---
## Deverb + Discord
- Date: 2004-11-23
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2004/11/deverb-discord/
Sorry it's been such a damned long time since I posted here, but I've been literally swamped. We had a new release over at Positron!, my wife and I had massive legal troubles as the result of some bad judgement concerning what substances we should or shouldn't take on our vacation, and we've been busy-busy-busy getting Deverb and Discord out the door.
I'll speak to the third point, as that's what most concerns the visitors to this site. Deverb and Discord are two new VST plug-ins from Audio Damage. Deverb is a dark-ass reverb for gloom 'n' doom-oriented tracks, and Discord is a pitchshifter in the vein of the Eventide H910, which I waxed poetically about in an earlier entry on this very site.
We used the brand-spankin' new 3.0 version of the VSTGUI SDK on these, with PNGs and true alpha blending. I'm pretty proud of the basic and functional user interfaces. Especially now that shadows can go over hash marks without too much drama. (Thank you, PNG-guy, whoever you are!) Both plugs can take MIDI input from your controller for extra fun sound warping. They're $39.00 each, or $68.00 the pair. That's really good news for all you Europeans, as the dollar spirals in the toilette bowl prior to our economy's collapsing in on itself. Anyways, go have a gander at [the site in question.](http://www.audiodamage.com/)
In other news, my next Micronaut record is almost in the can, and we're sponsoring a remix contest of one of the tracks on the Positron site. The winner gets his remix included on the album. So, go have a listen, and read the missive here: [Micronaut Remix Contest](http://www.positronrecords.com/artists/micro/contest/index.html)
The contest is open to anyone, so whip up something cool and send it in. This is a good way for a beginning producer to get his name out there, because the songs on these Micronaut records almost always get used in various TV shows, including Real World and Road Rules, among many others.
---
## Lemur
- Date: 2004-10-20
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2004/10/lemur/
I'm always on the lookout for cool control surfaces, and lo and behold, what do we have [here?](http://www.jazzmutant.com/lemur_overview.php) This has been making the rounds of the various music tech sites lately, so you might have seen it, but it's still a nifty concept for a configurable controller. Go check it out.
---
## Man, oh man.
- Date: 2004-10-17
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2004/10/man-oh-man/
Princeton released their Eventide 2016 reverb plug for VST this week. Boy, howdy, is this a nice reverb. I don't buy a lot of plug-ins myself, but I'm definitely getting this. Either that, or starting to save for the Eventide hardware re-issue. Or better yet, one of the originals.
Anyways, this is top-of-the-line, as far as VST reverbs go. Really CPU light, and it sounds fantastic. Go grab the demo [here](http://www.princetondigital.com/PD3/plugins/sr_vst_page) and see for yourself. (PC only currently. 30 day un-crippled demo.)
---
## Sequence-O-rama
- Date: 2004-10-07
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2004/10/sequence-o-rama/
This is pretty cool. This fellow Colin Frasier has made a D-I-Y analog-style 8 track sequencer. Looks like a tough build to me, but the only reason I know which end of a soldering iron to hold is because I've burned myself so many times. [Check it out.](http://www.colinfraser.com/p3/p3.htm) According to his site, he'll offer completed units for UKP450 by the end of the year.
---
## It's been a long time...
- Date: 2004-10-07
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2004/10/its-been-a-long-time/
Sorry that it's been a few days since I posted, but I've been rather on the busy side of late. We're putting the finishing touches on not one but TWO new plug-ins for Audio Damage. On top of that (and I believe I mentioned this before) I'm recording two albums at the same time, among the many other things that make up my daily Quest For Income.
About the two new plug-ins: as I mentioned in a post early last week, we're starting the Digitalis series of plug-ins modelled after vintage digital effects. I already spoke about DeVerb, which is a fairly accurate representation of mid-ranged digital reverbs of the 80s. It also has MIDI control over various parameters, so it can be "played" in with a track. This enables some unique effects. Since I've got some questions about it already (e.g. "why the fuck should I buy your reverb when my DAW comes with at least two?") I'll mention that this device doesn't lend itself to accurately representing Studio B at Electric Ladyland. Rather, it is most definitely of the "dark" persuasion, and is well suited to dance and industrial, two forms of music that need reverb with flavor.
The other plug-in that will be released at the same time is DisCord, which is loosely based on the Eventide H910. As you may be aware, I recently aquired one of these units, and was just amazed by its ability to make almost any track sound better. I begged and pleaded 'til Adam gave in and made a chunk 'o DSP that has a lot of character while still running true to the original. It can pretty accurately simulate an H910, if that's your wish (and you don't run a TDM system, or can't afford Eventide's remake) but we gave the concept a little goose in the right direction. This plug-in will floor you, and it costs a fuck of a lot less than the Eventide package. In fact, you could buy the pair of Digitalis plugs 10 times over, and still save money.
So, those are on the immediate horizon. I imagine we'll drop them some time during or after AES; DeVerb is in beta testing right now, and DisCord is to follow shortly.
And since you put up with what was in effect a blatant commercial announcement, here's something completely ludicrous: an ARP 2500 [on the 'bay](http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3753423515&ssPageName=ADME:B:SS:US:1) for $10K. Now, I fully understand the 2500's place in the Synth Pantheon, but I can't see spending that much for what is, in effect, 2 OSCs, a filter, an LFO, an envelope and two sequencers. No, thanks. For the same money, you could get a MemoryMoog, a Prophet 5 and a PPG Wave 2.3, all in pristine condition, and have enough left over to buy a car. That's just plain silly.
---
## New Die Warzau album out today...
- Date: 2004-10-05
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2004/10/new-die-warzau-album-out-today/
One of the Illuminati of the Chicago industrial music scene, Die Warzau, has released their first album in eight years. You can nab it at the [Positron! Records store](http://shop.positronrecords.com/pb/pb001.html) for US$14.00.
---
## And now, for something completely different...
- Date: 2004-09-27
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2004/09/and-now-for-something-completely-different/
We're getting ready for a massive Audio Damage data fiesta here in a couple weeks. We have a new product on the way, and the website will be getting a major upgrade. I can't really talk about the new plug-in, except to say this: it is the first release in a series which will be called _Digitalis._ All the plug-ins in this series are modelled on vintage (or "old," my preferred terminology) digital effects units. We have several releases planned for this series, and they will all be moderately priced and feature-laden. We will be selling these individually, rather than doing a package like Mayhem.
Speaking on non-AD stuff, I haven't found anything new worth mentioning here. My time has been split between working on the new AD products and recording two albums at the same time, a "solo" record (which cracks me up because SMG is, by its nature, a "solo" project....) and a Micronaut record. It's a race to see which one will be finished first.
---
## I've Got A New Toy, Oh Way Oh...
- Date: 2004-09-21
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2004/09/ive-got-a-new-toy-oh-way-oh/
Three gold stars to the person that can name both the performer and author of that song.
Anyways, got some new kit, and I write about it in the "gear" section. Go on. Tap that button. You'll love it. Really, you will.
---
## Powercore Compact
- Date: 2004-09-21
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2004/09/powercore-compact/
TC has made a little version of the Powercore FW, called the Powercore Compact. I've been meaning to pick the normal one up for a while now; unfortunately, the Fiscal Gods haven't been kind to me the last couple months. This looks to be just the ticket for what I need to do. Check it out [here.](http://www.tcelectronic.com/)
---
## Shaolin Fist Of Death
- Date: 2004-09-21
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2004/09/shaolin-fist-of-death/
We've been entertaining the thought of moving back to the Pacific Northwest for quite some time now, probably 4 years. We actually almost did it two years ago, but the Big Plan fell through.
In any case, I've been batting around the idea of opening a semi-public recording/mixing facility once we get there. It'll be Nuendo-based, and have a mini API console as the centerpiece. I've got the whole thing laid out in my head. All I need is a hundred grand. No problems, right? The thing is that it is physically impossible to make money with a one- or two-room facility these days, when all that facility does is record bands. With a facility like this, that wouldn't be the case, as the great majority of the available time would be taken up by myself, with my own production and remix projects. I'm just saying that it will have the \_ability\_ to take on external clients, something I can't really do right now. (Mainly because the Accelerator, my current studio, has no room for anyone to sit down besides me, it's so stuffed with keyboards.)
So the goal, such as it stands, is thus: a free-standing double-walled building with a small live room and a largish control room. API 7xxx and 8xxx rack modules to make up the console, an API 2500 for the two-mix compression duties, and Apogee all around for conversion. I'm going to go down to three synths, in the interests of space. My plans include bumping up my current Blacet modular by 3 rack spaces, getting a MiniMoog Voyager, and a MemoryMoog (with Lintronics mod). This will cover modular, monosynth, and polysynth duties. The rest can be done with plugs. I have some various ideas about outboard, but that's another entry.
Unfortunately, all I have so far out of that list above is Nuendo and the Blacet. That, and the name of the studio. It'll be called _Shaolin Fist Of Death._
---
## Niiiiiiiice....
- Date: 2004-09-15
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2004/09/niiiiiiiice/
Just found out about this today, via the [MusicThing](http://musicthing.blogspot.com/) blog. It seems [this young feller](http://www.wayfar.net/) has made a MIDI interface and software combo, called MIDINES and NESFX respectively. These two things, used in concert and as the names imply, turn your Nintendo Entertainment System in to a MIDI-capable synthesizer.
w00t, etc. Judging from the sound samples, this is \_right\_ up my alley, and has been immediately placed in the "must... have... now..." file for future purchase. I thought the Atari one from a couple years ago was pretty nifty but ultimately useless, unfortunately, as it couldn't be properly tuned. This is a whole different basket of eggs, here, what with the MIDI and all.
---
## Brick 0 Brick
- Date: 2004-09-13
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2004/09/brick-0-brick/
In my never-ending quest for musical weirdness, I came across an interesting site last night. AFAICT, this guy doesn't make commercial products. He's made something called the MIDIbrick, which is a sort of MIDI hardware prototype base. Using that as a starting point, he came up with [this,](http://www.gweep.net/~prefect/eng/tr-6006/) which is, to make a long story short, a MIDI controller based upon the programming paradigm of the Roland TR606 drum machine.
Now, this is interesting on two fronts. First of all, in my opinion, the TR606 had one of the most elegant and easy-to-use programming methods for drums, like, ever. (Interesting, given that its sister unit, the TR303, has probably the most difficult and unusable interface ever.) Many devices have aped the programming interface, which speaks volumes about the usability. So, what this guy has made is a MIDI controller that (I assume) maps to the standard GM drum map, and allows you to sequence drum parts with an environment that is very comfortable for doing so.
The second thing is that it got me thinking. One could make the TR606 interface as a MIDI-capable plug-in, and have that same paradigm actually within the sequencer. I made something similar as a Logic environment back when I used Logic, and it worked pretty well. However, I no longer have Logic or the environment I made, so that does me little good. Steinberg has opened the SDK for building MIDI plug-ins, so there's some potential. I had a look at the SDK, and it's not very well documented, not like the VST SDK. So, I'm going to give it a whack, but I don't have high hopes. I wasn't able to build the example plug-in. (This, as I know from trying to develop for AU, is a dismaying thing, because you don't even know where to start. Stranger in a Strange Land, and all that.)
But anyways, a cool idea. Unlikely it will ever come to anything on either front. I'll drop the guy a line and see if he's going to make more than one of these things.
---
## Droid 3 not too far from shipping again...
- Date: 2004-09-11
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2004/09/droid-3-not-too-far-from-shipping-again/
I'm always on the lookout for odd little boxes, and the [Droid 3](http://abildgard.com/en/droid-3) fits the bill nicely. Unfortunately, I found out about it after they had already sold all their export units last year. I just got an e-mail that implies they're about to start making some units available to US customers again.
It's a little monophonic DCO-based synth with an incredibly sophisticated routing matrix. Judging from the samples available on the site, it definitely is in a class of its own, perfect for "video game" sounds and effects. Not too expensive, either, considering each one is hand-made. While it's in the same family as the SIDstation, it seems to be a much more stable device, and better suited to live performance. (My SIDstation crashed so often, I was never brave enough to take it on stage.)
---
## Buchla re-releases Series 200 modular!
- Date: 2004-09-10
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2004/09/buchla-re-releases-series-200-modular/
This is worth a "wow," if you're in to this sort of thing, which I am. Don Buchla, one of the original Iron Men of analog synth design, has decided to release an updated version of his Series 200 modular. [Check it out.](http://www.buchla.com/200e/index.html) Buchla is one of the Holy Trinity of modular synths, the other two being Serge and Moog. In all honesty, if I had $19,850 lying around, I can't say for certain that I would spend it on a modular; I could think of a lot of ways that money could go further. But that said, this thing is worth every dime. It has a feature set so far beyond current modular systems manufacturers' offerings that you can't even really say it's in the same category. Hats off to Don for what is obviously a well thought-out and detailed system.
In other news, we got \_whomped\_ on today with Ratshack Reverb sales. Ratshack's first day as a product is our best single day ever at Audio Damage, so a big "thank you" to everyone that decided to support our little company. Because of the success of this low price-point plug-in, I've been thinking of other designs that might fit the same niche. When Adam gets back from his well-deserved vacation later this month, we'll figure out where we're going after the RTAS ports are done.
---
## And away we go...
- Date: 2004-09-08
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2004/09/and-away-we-go/
The Audio Damage site has now been updated, and the Ratshack Reverb VST is available for purchase, so whack that link to the right and go check it out. I got a tooth pulled today, so I'm in no shape to make demo sound files. I''ve asked Wade Alin (Christ Analogue, the nice bumpers you hear on Discovery Channel, and about a million other things) to kick some out for me, so we'll have something to listen to shortly.
---
## What a day...
- Date: 2004-09-08
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2004/09/what-a-day/
Boy, howdy. The final day of development on a new product, be it an album (my wife and I also own a record label) or piece of software, is always a major pain in the ass. We finished Ratshack Reverb today, and it was roll-up-your-sleeves-down-and-dirty. A major problem with the copy protection in Windows held things up for about 10 hours, and was no fun at all.
But we got it licked, and Ratshack Reverb will be on sale at the Audio Damage store some time tomorrow. Coincidentally, I'm getting a wisdom tooth removed from my head tomorrow, so it'll be good fun all around. The VST versions for Windows and OSX are built and sitting on our server, waiting for the store update, and all is right with the world. After I recover from the forced extraction of one of my preceious teeth, I'll address the RTAS port. Speaking of which, the RTAS port of Mayhem is done, and in beta-testing as I write this. I expect it to be available some time around the end of the month, or early October. After RTAS of Mayhem and Ratshack Reverb are done, we'll begin our next product, which is a Big Secret at this point.
Since I'll have a bit of a lull for the next couple weeks, I'm going to make another freebie VST, and was pondering what to make. Any suggestions for a small plug-in you always wanted but never found, drop me a line.
---
## Ratshack Reverb In The Pipe...
- Date: 2004-09-06
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2004/09/ratshack-reverb-in-the-pipe/
The next Audio Damage product is almost done, and it's a doozy. I imagine it will be up for sale, in Windows and OSX VST, within the week, as soon as we get the installers done.
It is an actual model of the Realistic Electronic Reverb, which as anyone who had this box (which is just about everyone) knows, is actually an analog delay unit. We even modelled the input distortion of running a line-level signal in the mic input. It's as close as we can make it to the real thing. As soon as VST goes on sale, and we work out any issues that invariably arise with the first batch of customers, we'll port it to RTAS and give that a go.
Whether it is humor you're looking for, or a way to recreate that experimental phase that everyone goes through when they're first starting out, this is just the box. It'll be $29.99 (the same price as the real Realistic one).
---
## Assembly 101
- Date: 2004-09-04
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2004/09/assembly-101/
I'm always on the look-out for new (old) ways to make square waves, so [the XGameStation](http://www.xgamestation.com/about_gamestation.php) really caught my ear. In a nutshell, it's basically a learning/development platform to teach people the basics of game design, in the form of a game console about on par with, say, an Atari 5200 or thereabouts.
Now, I'm just starting to come to grips with C++, so diving in to low-level assembly code would definitely be a Bad Idea, but I'm still tempted by the desire to make something like [NanoLoop](http://www.nanoloop.de/) for it. (BTW, NanoLoop 2.0 for GBA is coming out soon. I expect it to be quite fly.) In this day and age, where everyone has the same plug-ins and DAW, you really have to go out on a limb to come up with some unique sounds; I don't know if learning a low-level programming language is exactly the limb I want to go out on, but...
---
## Hey, now!
- Date: 2004-09-04
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2004/09/hey-now/
The previous post apparently had a tenor that suggested I might be a Mac Hater, at least according to some e-mail I received during the night. Let me state for the record that I swing both ways. My main music production computer is a PC, but I also have Mac action. In point of fact, I am a Mac Lover. I've drank the kool-aid.
As it happens, I have 9 (nine!) Macs. I have this iBook G4, which I use for _everything_. I have an SE and an SE/30. I have a PB100, a PB150, a PB165C, and a PB170, and a Mac Plus. I just got a Mac IIci, which I am turning in to a classic music machine. It'll have an AudioMedia II card and a SampleCell card, and be for running Turbosynth, SampleCell, and maybe an old build of PT or Deck or something. What I'd really like to put in it is a NuVerb card, but those are a little hard to come by.
I'm currently lusting after the new iMacs. I'll be getting one as soon as they rev it. My AD partner Adam has convinced me that it is a Bad Idea to buy the very first model of any new Mac; since he has more Mac Cred than I, I'll take him at his word, and wait.
Anyways, there's nothing wrong with being militantly for or against a particular platform or piece of software. You just have to keep in mind that other people may see things differently.