Nova Musik Winter Sale and Giveaway

Nova Musik will be giving away $13,000 worth of studio gear. The drawing will be on January 11. Entering is simple. Just send them an email via the link on the Nova Musik website. While there, also check out everything they currently have on sale.

sidsonic libraries advent calendar

"Looking for an inspired christmas? The sidsonic libraries advent calender will give you festive cheer! From St Nicolas day (Dec. 6) until christmas (Dec. 24), every day a new door can be opened. Stock up on fine sampling material and kick Santa from the roof with some fresh carols! Alternatively, send the tunes you made with our sounds to us! The musician sending the tune most fancied by our little and subjective brains will get a nice reward! A free Circus Circuit Bending Library!!!"

http://www.sidsonic-libraries.com/en/

Aj Gannon’s Toy Volcano

via GetLoFi where you'll find the download. "Toy Volcano is Gannon’s fifth official release. This album is a combination of ukulele, kazoo, handmade electronic instruments (pictured below), and various sampling and recording applications. The instruments have demo videos which can be found “here“.

Upon the official release of the album in December there will be a final demo video of the actual Toy Volcano which you can see pictured below in the center of the collage, plus an additional track produced for The Beatles Complete on Ukulele project found “here“.

Gannon is Aj Pyatak with special guests Jim Diotte, Bev Diotte, Bryan Tysinger, Beth Pyatak and Nova Pyatak.

songs 2,4,6,8,10,12, and 16 were created by Jim Diotte using sampled pieces of the Toy Volcano demos and other wonderful sound bites. Enjoy!"

It's like a crazy circuit bent Christmas! I gave this one the Stocking Stuffers label.

Jawharp on Novation Launchpad

YouTube via hotchk155. Novation Launchpads on Ebay and Novamusik
"I thought the XY control of the launchpad would make a good way to play a formant filter in real time. The pad is sending note trigger and continuous midi controllers mapped in Reason to XY of a formant filter, which is part of a Thor synth patch I created to approximate a jawharp. I also want to try to get a formant filter to "talk" under launchpad control....
See my other clips for programming and midi routing info... my hands are not really green :)"

Roland The Synthesizer 2nd Edition

via this auction

Giving this one the Stocking Stuffers label. BTW, check out the links on the right for more affordable gifts. Some of the Ebay links will take you to smaller DIYers / manufacturers selling their stuff at relatively low prices.

If you see a post that warrants the Stocking Stuffers label, be sure to call it out. Sometimes I miss things...

JazzMutant Holiday Sale

$250/250€ at JazzMutant

One heck of a holiday stocking stuffer for those that have the funds.

Dance music with MindStorms sounds

YouTube via organfairy. Good stocking stuffer idea.
"It has been a while since I made music on the MindStorms bricks. But now I present the longest and most complicated piece of MindStorms music I have ever made.

The title of the melody is "the Future Child" and the idea is to make a cheerfull bleepy melody with the NXT's tones and use the other sounds as effects while an organ and a synthesizer supplies the orchestra.

Most of the pictures are robots made by myself. The rest is something I photographed at the First LEGO League competition in Herning back in 2007. The screenshots are from the NXT-G PC programming tools.

This piece of music is made completely without sampling or time editing. Everything is played in real-time in 8 tracks with the MindStorms bricks in front of two microphones. So the melody is actually played on the 4-key LEGO keyboard and the NXT buttons. The other instruments are Yamaha HE-8 organ Roland JX-8P synthesizer and CR-1000 drum machine. A Revox B77 can also be seen in the background."

Gristleism!!!

YouTube via mopipi2. "TG´s Happy Meal!!"
Another stocking stuffer. You can find Gristleism at forced exposure. It also looks like there's a full blown Grisleizer on Ebay as well. Remember to check out the Stocking Stuffers label below for more holiday gift ideas.

Minimalist Style ... Akihiko Matsumoto (2009) iPhone RjDj Sprint Tokyo

YouTube via akihikotube
"Minimalist Style ... Akihiko Matsumoto (2009) iPhone RjDj Sprint Tokyo http://homepage.mac.com/sin..."
RjDj on iTunes here:

Tic Tac Tunes

YouTube via AndyGadget. A DIY Stocking Stuffer
"This is linked from the Instructables site. To see the whole project, go to http://www.instructables.co..."

Theresynth™ - Light Controlled Synth

YouTube via chamberofsounds. via these auctions
"Introducing the LABOZ Theresynth™ - It's a handheld, analog synth that makes music from light. Unlike traditional instruments with strings and keys, the Theresynth™ has no boundaries - you play it in the air using light as your sound source. You'll get unlimited tones and octaves by combining the "speed" & "range" controls. The momentary trigger/on-off switch allows you to play individual notes. Then turn on one of the Magic LED Wand's 7 strobe settings for some intense oscillations, creating outerworldly sounds & new dimensions. It's perfect for dramatic, live performances, recordings or just jamming on-the-go (via the built in speaker). They're available in 5 colors (purple, red, orange, yellow and white) with your choice of white or black graphics. See more and get yours only at: chamberofsounds.com" or Ebay

via these auctions

Moog | The Electric Eclectics of Dick Hyman

flickr by enso-on
(click for more)

This one is actually available on Amazon

I gave this one and the last the Stocking Stuffers label for the holidays. Be sure to click on it below for gift ideas.

Martin Denny | Exotic Moog

flickr by enso-on

You can listen to a track off of this album here. Album cover previously posted here with track listing.

on Amazon

Leon Theremin playing his own instrument

YouTube via slonikyouth

CLICK FOR MORE »

More Stocking Stuffers - Elektro Plankton

Andrew wrote in to let us know the remaining Elektroplankton games are up on the Nintendo website here.


Note, you can find the original Elektro Plankton on Ebay and on Amazon


Click here for all posts mentioning Elektro Plankton for more general info on the game.

Click here for all posts currently with the Stocking Stuffers label.

ether^ra TIDY CONTRAST

YouTube via potterpaint2000
"an improv featuring the ThinkGeek Bliptronic 5000, a Korg MS20, and my trusty Folktek Insectoid Bug along with various Kaoss Pads!"
Folktek on Ebay More info on the $49 Bliptronic 5000 here.

stylophone.mov

YouTube via elisazoot Stylophones on Ebay Stylophones on Amazon
Giving this one the Stocking Stuffers label.

Happy Thanksgiving and Holiday Sales

This post is a day late. I wasn't planning on putting up a Thanksgiving Day post but I figure why not. I hope everyone that celebrates the holiday had a great one. The day after Thanksgiving here in the US is known as Black Friday, which is considered to be one of the biggest days for discount shopping. People will line up in front of stores at ungodly hours just to get a deal. Well, fortunately we don't have to. If you haven't already, I encourage you to check out the MANUFACTURERS section on the right of this site. You will find a number of sales going on right now. Click on each image and check out what they are offering. I also created a "Stocking Stuffers" label below on interesting deals at reasonable prices. BTW, if you have any Stocking Stuffer posts or see that I missed the label for an appropriate post, let me know.

Native Instruments Launches "Synthsgiving"

"Berlin, November 26th, 2009 - Native Instruments today launched "Synthsgiving", a time-limited special offer that gives musicians and producers access to some of the most powerful software instruments on the market at a drastically reduced price. Until November 30th, ABSYNTH 5, FM8, MASSIVE and REAKTOR 5 will be available for download purchase in the NI Online Shop for $99 / 99 EUR, a discount of up to 75% on the regular pricing.

More information on "Synthsgiving" can be found at
www.native-instruments.com/synthsgiving.info

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."

Cakewalk Offers Free Effects, Plug-ins!

"Cakewalk is now offering several of its popular effects and plug-ins for free. SFZ+ and Square I synths and the Cakewalk Audio FX series of plug-ins are now available for no charge via the Cakewalk store. For more information and link for these products, see below:

SFZ+ is rgc:audio’s revolutionary SoundFont player sample-playback engine, packed in a professional VST/DXi instrument. Outstanding sound quality, stereo built-in effects, adjustable CPU/quality settings to adjust it to your hardware, fully multitimbral operation, multiple stereo outputs, several loading modes including direct-from-disk streaming and a beautiful interface make sfz+ the perfect choice for SoundFont users and professional composers: http://www.store.cakewalk.com/default.asp?sku=35-CWSZ1.40-20E

Square I offers the warmness and classic sound of the vintage analog synthesizers, combined with the fidelity and precision of a VST instrument. A simple synthesizer, oriented to the serious music enthusiast. High quality sound with a warm and easy layout, perfect to learn synth programming: all controls in one panel for instant access, clear and distinctive sections. The built-in effects add depth to the sound and convenience to the sound programming: http://www.store.cakewalk.com/default.asp?sku=35-CWSQ1.40-20E

Cakewalk Audio FX Series

Cakewalk Audio FX 1 is a series of real-time audio processing plug-ins. All Cakewalk Audio FX plug-ins are Microsoft DirectX- compatible, allowing you to use them with any digital audio software that supports DirectX - including Cakewalk SONAR and other Cakewalk applications: http://www.store.cakewalk.com/default.asp?sku=35-CWF11.02-10E

Looking for a way to warmup your digital audio - but can’t afford to spend thousands of dollars on vintage analog or tube gear? Now you can with Cakewalk Audio FX 2. Created by precise measurement and analysis, Audio FX 2 uses advanced processing algorithms to apply the classic sound and warmth of several different vintage guitar amplifiers and analog tape decks to your digital audio: http://www.store.cakewalk.com/default.asp?sku=35-CWF21.01-10E

Now you can make audio tracks sound like they were recorded in almost any room you can imagine. Cakewalk Audio FX 3 SoundStage allows you to design acoustic environments in which to play back digital audio, resulting in unique, realistic reverb. Audio FX 3 Features Two Views: Performer's View and Room View. To create the perfect room, just click and drag your mouse to move walls and change ceiling height. Choose from different microphones, and place them inside the room. Then assign each audio track to different "performer" positions to hear custom reverb on each track. When you’re finished, save your soundstage for other sessions, or use as a template for other designs. Audio FX 3 includes ready-to-use soundstages too: http://www.store.cakewalk.com/default.asp?sku=35-CWF31.01-10E

Cakewalk’s Holiday Sale & Gift Guide

Be sure to check out Cakewalk’s Online Store beginning Friday November 27, 2009 to find some great deals: http://www.store.cakewalk.com/b2cus/

Click on over to Cakewalk’s Holiday Gift Guide to find the perfect gift for the music lovers in your life: http://www.cakewalk.com/products/Gifts-for-musicians/default.asp"