Les Paul passed away today at the age of 94. The image to the left is from this obit article in The New York Times [Jennifer Taylor for The New York Times - Les Paul at Carnegie Hall in 2005]. He would have been 90 or so. Amazing. I originally was not going to put a post up as this site focuses on synths not guitars, however his work did lead to the effects we use with our synths. RIP Les Paul, you will be missed.
Thanks to John Levin for sending in the links and pics.
YouTube via znshn "The "Sleepdrone5" is a four oscillator drone machine. Each oscillator features: * discrete output - pitch tuning - pitch range selection - volume level - added tweak bus feature - on/off control. [Output of the oscillators are summed together and inter-(ring)modulated into a fifth "mix out" with master volume control]. N.B. This test uses only the main output.
IF POSSIBLE USE HEADPHONES OR CONNECT YOUR COMPUTER TO A QUITE DECENT SOUND-SYSTEM.
See also http://www.youtube.com/odiolorgnette ........................................ Franck Smith alternative digital techniques Live Electronics Odiolorgnette Sleepdrone5 Space Echo RE-20 phonocrafting noise manufacturing"
Update: Re-Published on Jul 14, 2017 Red Bull Music Academy
"Bob Moog changed the face of popular music by producing the first ever commercially available synthesizers. His journey began in 1954 when he enlisted the help of his father to start making theremins, which he spent ten years making for science fiction movies and avantgarde musicians. The first Moog Modular was knocked up for fun, as a project for his musician friend Herbert Deutsch. But pretty soon, after the first strains of success by (Walter, who became) Wendy Carlos, the Moog stole its way into the heart of rock and jazz fusion - appearing on the Beatles’ Abbey Road and the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds - and helped instigate all types of electronic music. At the end of 1977, Bob left Moog Music and founded Big Briar, teaching music technology courses at the University of North Carolina at Asheville from '89 to '92. Though he may have left us for a higher plane, he has left an enormous legacy behind, having irreversibly changed the sonic landscape of the world."
via Red Bull Academy. Also see Don Buchla and Tom Oberheim here and here. Dave Smith and Roger Linn will be coming. You can find the full list of Red Bull Academy lectures here.
Remember you can search for Red Bull at the top left of the site.
"Personal Orchestra 4 is state-of-the-art software that reproduces the sounds of the musical instruments in a symphony orchestra, right from your computer. This award-winning collection has set the standard for orchestral sample libraries.
Create lush symphonic music with this collection of software instruments. There are over 150 software orchestral instruments - delicious strings, intimate woodwinds, joyous brass, powerful percussion, a Steinway virtual piano, a glorious concert organ, heavenly harps and more."
"This videos shows the Ohm64Editor version 1.02 which introduces the LED pattern maker. It is useful for creating interfaces and patterns on your controller. The MAX/Msp source code for the editor is available and can be downloaded from lividinstruments.com"
"Ultra-compact 4-channel USB 2.0 audio interface for digital DJing combines professional sound quality with affordable pricing
Berlin, Aug 3, 2009 – Native Instruments today announced AUDIO 2 DJ, the world’s smallest USB audio interface for DJs. Delivering the exact same audio quality and performance as the acclaimed AUDIO 8 DJ and AUDIO 4 DJ interfaces that are used by professional club DJs worldwide, the AUDIO 2 DJ offers users of TRAKTOR and other DJ software a unique new balance of quality, size and price.
With a footprint no larger than a deck of cards, the bus-powered AUDIO 2 DJ literally fits in a pocket. At the same time, it can accommodate the most demanding club systems due to its studio-grade 24bit/96kHz Cirrus Logic converters and its special high-power output amplifiers capable of delivering a pristine +9.7dBu audio signal. Robust low-latency drivers for Windows and Mac OS X enable the responsiveness that DJs need for tight mixing.
The dual stereo outputs of the AUDIO 2 DJ provide the necessary connectivity to route two decks separately into an external DJ mixer, or to output independent master and cue signals when mixing in software. Two included RCA break-out cables make set-up fast and convenient, making AUDIO 2 DJ the ideal audio interface for travelling DJs who don‘t want to compromise on performance and quality.
Check out the video of renowned traceur Stephane Vigroux demonstrating the portability of the new Audio 2 DJ interface by free-running through London.
About Native Instruments Native Instruments is a leading manufacturer of software and hardware for computer-based music production and performance. The company’s mission is to develop innovative, fully integrated solutions for all professions, styles and genres. The resulting products regularly push technological boundaries and open up new creative horizons for professionals and amateurs alike. Native Instruments opened up the fascinating world of real-time sound synthesis on standard computers in 1996, and today offers an extensive product range for the Instruments, Guitar and DJ markets, designed and developed by three corresponding divisions within the company. Native Instruments currently employs more than 150 people in its two offices in Berlin and Los Angeles, and works closely with more than 40 international distribution partners to ensure its future growth and success.
Parkour Generations: Audio 2 DJ - music by Popular Damage
Pricing and availability AUDIO 2 DJ will be available in September 2009 for a suggested retail price of $119 / 99 € at authorized dealers and in the NI Online Shop.
Release Dates for Beaterator on the PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system and PlayStation®Network
New York, NY – August 13, 2009 - Rockstar Games, a publishing label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO), is proud to announce a September 29 and October 2, 2009 release date in North America and Europe, respectively, for Beaterator, presented by Rockstar Games and Timbaland. Developed by Rockstar Leeds, the studio behind Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories, and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories, Beaterator will be available for the PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system and PlayStation®Network.
“Beaterator is a very natural progression for us,” said Sam Houser, Founder of Rockstar Games. “Music is incredibly important to us here at Rockstar, and we believe that there are many people out there who share that passion and will be excited about creating music of their own.”
“I’ve worked closely with Rockstar Games to make something completely unique,” said Timbaland. “Beaterator is like taking my music studio and turning it into a suite of tools anyone can use. We can’t wait to hear the beats people make and share with the world.”
Initially created in 2005 as a Flash application on the Rockstar website, Beaterator quickly took on a life of its own. Featuring thousands of loops and sounds made by both Timbaland and Rockstar, Beaterator puts the power to make professional-level music at your fingertips in a format that’s portable, accessible and fun – anyone can now create great-sounding music.
YouTube via 909techno "total bs wankery - but still sorta neat. preset patch on the nord lead 3. not sure why i'm posting this - i don't really even dig the patch that much but still a neat demo of vocal type sounds coming from a filter. maybe someone will get something out of this.
this is just a patch being played with the pitchbend and modulation wheels. not a vocoder or any other external input."
via Dan Wilson who is looking for other owners in Europe. If you know of any contact him here.
"The Novachord is widely accepted to be the world's first polyphonic subtractive synthesizer. The instrument is about the size to two spinet pianos, contains 163 tubes and weighs 250Kg! Despite it's age the instrument features an early implementation of ADSR envelopes, a resonant filter and a full divide down oscillator architecture.
1069 were built and there are believed to be less than 200 still in existence."
YouTube via MaxMusicOne "One More example to the superbe possibility of the filter and envelope to wave. this time I have put also the solo track in mpeg..!! In this mode you can listen from the stereo with speackers at BALLS..!! (make attentions at the conseguence on Hi freq) It's Acid..!! ENJOY PEOPLE..!!"
YouTube via MaxMusicOne. USB mod for the Waldorf Wave. "A GREAT NEWS UPDATE FOR ALL WAVE ON PLANET" http://waldorf-wave.de/ "Some very good news for all WAVE users: It is now possible to use the WAVE without floppy disks. A USB stick in a special USB port will do the trick. Read about it in a PDF dokument in well known layout here. Thanks to Werner Schönenberger for his WAVE enthusiasm."
YouTube via SoundsAndGear "http://beatkangzbeatthang.com showing you a quick way to edit your sounds and samples in beat thang virtual while the track is playing, a must for many producers"
YouTube via yamahacs80 "Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark used Korg micro-preset 1977 synthesizer in several titles. Here this is sound melody of " Message" title. Also used for Enola gay lead... This little cheap synthesizer is very good, i love it !"