Moog Music and Paste Magazine Debut a New Performance Series, Live At Moog

"Series launches with Yo La Tengo, White Rabbits, Matisyahu, and more

DECEMBER 10th, 2009 - ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA - Today Moog Music Inc. and Paste Magazine launched an innovative new web video series featuring performances filmed at the legendary Moog Music factory in Asheville, North Carolina. The series kicks off with a performance from quintessential rock innovators Yo La Tengo. Bands were given access to the Moog factory to explore and experiment with the dozens of synthesizers, guitars and effect pedals designed and manufactured here. Often the artists rearrange their songs to showcase the otherworldly sounds of Moog's instruments, yielding a performance unlike any other.

Each week a new session will debut on Paste's homepage. The first season features Brooklyn indie rockers White Rabbits, reggae star Matisyahu, New York jazz trio Medeski, Martin and Wood, songwriters Erin McKeown and Jill Sobule, live-electronica artist Pretty Lights, Widespread Panic keyboardist Jojo Hermann, jam-rock stalwarts moe. and the aforementioned Yo La Tengo. The series will continue with a second season debuting in the spring. Each episode features multiple songs, behind-the-scenes footage, and exclusive info on each band.

For many musicians, a visit to the Moog Music factory is the equivalent to a kid going to Willy Wonka's chocolate factory. "It's been great to see bands like Yo La Tengo, or White Rabbits, who have varying experience with Moog instruments, come in empty handed and eager to see what they can do with the gear," says Zac Altheimer, Marketing Director for Music Allies, the Asheville-based company producing the series. "We've captured some really amazing performances that differ greatly from the band's albums or typical stage show." Moog Music President Mike Adams agrees, "This experience has opened the ears of the bands that have visited to the sonic possibilities available with Moog gear. The bands and their fans will benefit from these free ranging musical explorations which have initial exposure here at PasteMagazine.com."

Live at Moog can be viewed at www.pastemagazine.com/moog or www.liveatmoog.com

About Moog Music: Moog Music and its customers carry on the legacy of Bob Moog, the inventor of the synthesizer. Moog designs and manufactures electronic musical instruments, including Little Phatty® and Minimoog® Voyager® synthesizers, Moogerfooger® effects modules, Etherwave® theremins and The Moog Guitar. Founded by Bob Moog, Moog Music designs and manufactures its products in Asheville, N.C."

ROLAND SH 201 CUSTOM INSERT PANEL OVERLAY - White

via this auction

"NOTE THE SH-201 IS NOT INCLUDED IN THE AUCTION. GREAT IF YOU WANT TO GIVE YOUR SYNTH A FACE LIFT. STICKY BACKED"

CustomSynth.

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RMIF ELSITA SOVIET USSR ANALOG DRUM SET SYNTHESIZER

via this auction

"Was made in January 1989 by Riga`s Music Instruments Factory (RMIF). Elsita has four independent and identical channels of analog drum synthesis that can produce really fat and original analog drum sounds. You can trigger it from drum pads (trigers) or from any audio out - drum machine, analog output of soundcard etc. As other soviet devices Elsita has it`s own unique characher that will be great for any sound design experiments!

Control on the front desk for each chanel:
Gain, Tone, Attack, Release, Tone\Noise Balance, Filter, Level.

The general functional buttons:
Mains indicator
Channels 1-2 or 1+2 (switch)
Channels 3-4 or 3+4 (switch)
Metronome (ON, 0-300)
Main Volume

Weight with stands, 22 kg (approx. 48.5 Pounds)

Some examples of how it really sounds:
http://ruskeys.net/eng/base/elsita.php#sn"

CLICK FOR MORE »

Synthesizer - Hand Sewn From Felt

flickr by moddyboy80

"This is another piece of mine, one that I am especially proud of.

It is a meticulously hand sewn representation of a synthesizer that my mother purchased for me when I was young, (13 perhaps?). I still own that synth today, and it even works sometimes. Despite all the smoke it emits!

This handmade felt fridge magnet is about the size of a business card. Maybe just slightly larger."

More Gristleiser Vids and a Note from Smashing Guitars

See update Update 12/10/2009 in this post.

coron ds8

flickr by synthmonger
(click for more)

Arturia Origin Keyboard

via sequencer.de

Theremin And Electric Kantele

YouTube via copperleaves

"I call this composition LEMMENKAINEN'S DREAM. Lemmenkainen was one of the heroes in the Finnish national epic known as the KALEVALA. The writer of The Lord Of The Rings, J. R. R. Tolkien, based much of his vision of Middle Earth on ideas and images from the Kalevala which he had read as a teenager. He liked it so much he actually learned Finnish in order to read the book in its native language, and later went on to invent a language entirely of his own (the language of the Elves called "Quenya") which was based on Finnish.

The kantele (pronounced "kan - teh - leh") is the national instrument of Finland and belongs to the family of instruments known as "psalteries". The one you see in this video is a 38 string, steel strung, electric kantele. It's magnetic pickups (which are eight inches long) were custom made by Jason Lollar for Bart Hopkin of Experimental Musical Instruments. If you are curious about them, visit Bart's website, windworld.com.

The kantele is an extremely resonant instrument and larger "concert" models are provided with a damper consisting of a thick felt strip similar to what you might find on a piano, in order to mute the strings. I left the damper box open in the middle part of this video so you could see what it looks like. These electroacoustic kanteles bear little resemblance to the traditional 5 and 10 string folk instruments but they open up all sorts of doors for modern musicians. The high tension and steel strings on the instrument in this video allow me, if I wish, to play the kantele with a bar which I hold in my left hand. Players of steel guitars and of certain traditional instruments of India also play in this way. The effect of it is a very pure and strangely lonely "northern" sound which I found appropriate for the piece.

The theremin I used is a Moog Etherwave Pro."

(iPhone / iPod touch app) SynthProbe Mobile Tutorial

YouTube via KayacInc. more vids here
"SynthProbe is a new musical instrument which every users can enjoy playing, regardless of instrument skills, intuitively. By touching and tilting your iPhone, or iPod Touch, you can play a variety of phrases."
Not seeing this one on iTunes yet.

Update 6/4/2013: you can find it on iTunes here:
SynthProbe - KAYAC Inc.

Abbey Road and Native Instruments team up

YouTube via NativeInstruments
"A visit to Abbey Road studios, and some first information about what to expect from the new partnership between the legendary recording facilities and Native Instruments."

Update:

"'Native Instruments and Abbey Road Announce Partnership

Berlin, December 10th, 2009 - Native Instruments today announced a close partnership with Abbey Road, the iconic British recording studios that have shaped the sound of popular music for over 75 years. Combining Native Instruments‘ industry-leading expertise in music software design with Abbey Road's unique engineering facilities, the two companies will create advanced software instruments of exceptional sonic quality and musical value, with the first product scheduled for release in early 2010.

As one of the most sophisticated recording and post production complexes in the world, Abbey Road’s equipment includes one of the largest microphones collections as well as a selection of famed analog outboard gear custom-built by EMI. Combined with the studio’s famous acoustics, and the expertise of Abbey Road’s engineers, the studios form an ideal environment for the production of sample-based software instruments of the highest quality.

With the award-winning KONTAKT sampler and its free KONTAKT PLAYER version, Native Instruments has established the most versatile and most widely adopted platform for sample-based instruments in the industry. Advanced features such as flexible scripting, sample morphing, and custom interface panels, which make KONTAKT the premier platform for the authentic emulation of acoustic instruments, will be used extensively in the products developed together with Abbey Road in the future.

'Both popular music culture and the recording arts are indebted to Abbey Road Studios in many ways", says Sascha Kubiak, Director of the Producer Division at Native Instruments. "We are excited about the challenge to develop software instruments that will put the Abbey Road sound into the hand of musicians and producers everywhere'.

'For over a decade, Native Instruments have been creating groundbreaking tools for artists to create and perform music", says Glyn Roberts, Head of Audio Products at Abbey Road. "We are looking forward to working closely with Native Instruments' developers to create exciting and innovative instruments for musicians of all genres'."