beats & synths - Digitakt, Repro 1 & 2 , Morphagene

Published on Jan 24, 2018 junklight

"Not my usual stuff - I wanted to make something a little more straightforward - been thinking about 'pop music' recently.

The morphagene sample is from a youtube video featuring a rag and bone man in Nottingham - hence the title of the track"

ELK Music Operating System (aka "the Android of Musical Instruments") Coming to NAMM

Some news that might be interesting to the makers out there.

"ULTRA-LOW LATENCY OPERATING SYSTEM FOR MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS TO BE PRESENTED AT NAMM 2018

The Music Operating System, named ELK, allows musicians to add unlimited sounds and features to their musical instruments and seamlessly share their performances online. It also allows manufacturers and developers to move away from system-specific chips and software.

January 24 – Anaheim, California

MIND Music Labs is presenting its ultra-low latency Music Operating System at NAMM 2018. ELK - this is the name of the technology - is an operating system for musical instruments, designed for optimal audio performance and seamless connectivity.

Musical Instruments Powered by ELK allow musicians to:

• Add new sounds and features to their instruments via online upgrades
• Easily connect their instruments to mobiles, computers and to the broader Internet
• Instantly share their performances online

ELK allows manufacturers to move away from dedicated chips and use standard off-the-shelf CPUs, with significant improvements in terms of user experience, performance and scalability - combined with unprecedented time-to-market advantages and potential new post-sales revenues from software, content and services for their devices.

ELK also allows software developers to easily release software, sounds and effects originally developed for computer environments on Powered by ELK musical instruments.

Key technical features:

• Ultra-low latency (1ms round-trip)
• Linux-based, using single Intel & ARM CPUs
• Support for JUCE and VsT 2.x and 3.x plugins
• Natively connected (USB, WiFi, BT, 4G)
• Full MIDI support

"ELK is the evolution musical instruments have been waiting for a long time, and is ready to disrupt the musical instruments world in the same way Android disrupted the mobile world ten years ago." is how Michele Benincaso, CEO of MIND Music Labs, announces ELK's release.

ELK’s capabilities will be demoed LIVE at NAMM in collaboration with industry leaders DVMark, MarkBass and Overloud (TH-U), the first brands that will support ELK in their new products.

About MIND Music Labs:
MIND Music Labs (http://www.mindmusiclabs.com) develops music technologies that change the way musicians create, record and share music. Founded in 2014, MIND has raised more than 1.000.000 Euros in investments from industry leaders in the music tech world. Among the people who believed in MIND Music Labs are Jacob Key - former VP at Warner Music - Ludvig Linge - co-founder of The Astonishing Tribe, bought byBlackberry in 2010 - and Jordan Rudess - Dream Theater keyboardist and music tech entrepreneur. MIND has been awarded as one of the most innovative music startups atMidem, Sónar Barcelona and San Francisco MusicTech Summit."

Mellotron Festival Planned for Memphis

DUETS FOR MELLOTRON from Crosstown Arts on Vimeo.

The above features Robby Grant and Jonathan Kirkscey performing Duets for Mellotron at a previous Crosstown Arts event.

The new event is set to begin Tuesday, April 17 at Crosstown Arts in Crosstown Concourse.

"Crosstown Arts to Host Mellotron Variations Series

Multidisciplinary event to feature dance, film, performances, and more

Crosstown Arts is pleased to present Mellotron Variations, a series of original musical compositions for the Mellotron that will be performed live alongside newly created multidisciplinary installations.

The free and open-to-the-public, multi-day festival kicks off on Tuesday, April 17 with a series of collaborative performances at Crosstown Arts in Crosstown Concourse. The main event — a Mellotron performance featuring Pat Sansone of Wilco and John Medeski from Medeski, Martin, & Wood alongside Memphis-based musicians Robby Grant and Jonathan Kirkscey — is scheduled for Saturday, April 21 with a reprise brunch planned for Sunday, April 22, both events held at Crosstown Arts.

Mellotron Variations was made possible by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, which Crosstown Arts was awarded earlier this year. The grant was one of 1,029 Art Works grants ranging from $10,000 to $100,000 awarded to fund local arts projects across the country.

The kick-off event on April 17 will feature a dance performance by New Ballet Ensemble with Lucero keyboardist Rick Steff on the Mellotron. Memphis Symphony Orchestra (MSO) horn player Robert Patterson will then debut new compositions which focus on the Mellotron in collaboration with MSO musicians. The evening will close with a premiere of a documentary featuring Memphis-based keyboardist Audie Smith.

On Saturday, April 21 at 7 p.m., Sansone and Medeski will join Kirkscey and Grant in a performance of original works for the Mellotron. Guests will have a chance to discuss the performance on Sunday, April 22 at noon at a reprise brunch that will include open discussion, a Q&A session with the performers, and encore presentations of the preview event.

This event aims to highlight the Mellotron’s role as a unique pillar in music sampling technology. The Mellotron was the world’s first pre-digital sampling keyboard, dating back to the 1960s. Each key plays a ribbon tape of pre-recorded instrument sounds. It was the precursor to the widespread use of digital sampling used in hip-hop, rap, and other contemporary music.

In April 2016, Crosstown Arts hosted a hugely popular live Mellotron performance featuring Kirkscey and Grant. That performance was recorded and made available via a limited-edition, pressed vinyl record titled Duets for Mellotron.

“We didn’t have any lofty goals for the shows in 2016, just to present a concert that we would like to see,” Mellotron Variations’ organizer Grant said. “For these upcoming performances, we want to push ourselves further by expanding the scope of our section with bigger visuals and new collaborators while also opening it up to other musicians and artists to see what they will do. Working with Crosstown Arts and getting the NEA grant has allowed us to do that.”

Biographical information:
Robby Grant is a songwriter, performer, and producer who has recorded and released records over the past 15 years under both his name and the moniker Vending Machine. He spent the 1990s co-fronting and touring the country with Big Ass Truck and currently plays with the garage pop group Mouserocket.

Jonathan Kirkscey is a composer, cellist, and producer who performs regularly with the Memphis Symphony Orchestra and Mouserocket, and is a co-founder of Blueshift Ensemble, a contemporary classical chamber ensemble. As a film composer, Jonathan has scored several award-winning documentaries including Best of Enemies, directed by Morgan Neville, and Won't You Be My Neighbor, a film about Fred Rogers which premieres in January 2018 at the Sundance film festival.

Winston Eggleston is a woodworker and avid collector of Mellotrons (he recently built one from scratch).

John Markham is a videographer and collaborates with the experimental group >mancontrol<. Together they created the oil-based light show that accompanied 2015's Duets for Mellotron performance.

Pat Sansone is a multi-instrumentalist (guitar, keyboard, percussion, harpsichord) from the bands Wilco and The Autumn Defense.

John Medeski is an American jazz keyboard player and composer. Medeski is a veteran of New York's 1990s avant-garde jazz scene and is known popularly as a member of Medeski Martin & Wood.

Robert G. Patterson is a resident composer with the Luna Nova Ensemble. Recent accomplishments include commissions from Opera Memphis, the One Coin Concert series in Osaka, Japan, and First Prize in the NATS Art Song Composition Award. In addition to his musical activities, Patterson also has been a professional software developer, and his interest in
computers led him to become an expert in musical engraving using a computer.

New Ballet Ensemble and School is a thriving after school dance program in the heart of Midtown Memphis, founded in 2001. Dancers from all over the Mid-South fill their studios six days a week, training and exploring cultural forms of dance alongside a strong classical ballet curriculum. New Ballet Ensemble was awarded the National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award in 2014, recognizing the country’s best creative youth development programs for using engagement in the arts and the humanities to increase self-direction, academic achievement, graduation rates, and college enrollment."

Malekko in Black Coming to NAMM

via @malekkoheavyindustry

"The modules dressed in black are new and will be showing in our #namm2018 booth 10604!"

Steady State Fate's Setup at NAMM

#steadystatefate all set up for #namm2018 ⚡️ Drop on by to check out the Entity Bass Drum and Percussion Synthesizers, Bantam, Muton, the Zero Point Oscillator, Detect-Rx, Clone and the new GateStorm firmware update 👾🎛👾

A post shared by Andrew Morelli (@steady_state_fate) on Jan 24, 2018 at 4:28pm PST

Folktek Mescaline

Note: Auction links are affiliate links for which the site may be compensated.

via this auction

"Let's start by saying that Mescaline is one of the finest times you'll have. It might seem intimidating at first but ultimately once you dive in, you realize there was nothing to fear and it's only here to help open you to extreme possibilities. It's capable of creating entire compositions and the possibilities are vast.

Each of these boards are eurorack compatible and can be installed in a eurorack system individually or all together. Each has its own eurorack power plug on the back. Each module is 44HP
Each of these boards is capable of being powered on a standard 12v adapter. Each has a 2.1mm jack on the back.
When used together, all power can be jumped to power all three boards off the same 12v power source or eurorack power source."

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Isla Instruments Kordbot

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via this auction

"KordBot is described as a ‘music production assistant that combines a chord generator, arpeggiator and step sequencer In one unit.’ It has 32 built-in chord types including inversions for each, with another eight user-banks for storing custom chord types."

See the ISLA Instruments label below for more, including demos.

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Korg Poly-61M programmable polyphonic synthesizer SN 003188

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via this auction

"Korg Poly 61M with a new battery (a genuine made-in-Germany Varta NiMh). It is fully functional, all keys working, all switches responding, midi, tape interface working and factory programs loaded."

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Tangible Waves AE Modular # Patch 9

Published on Jan 24, 2018 Dziam Bass

New Free State FX 5U Format FSFX 114: Digital Delay Line

via Free State FX

"Free State FX is proud to announce our new module the Digital Delay Line. The module starts it's life as an Eventide euroDDL, then your friends at Free State FX convert it to our beloved 5u format.

The euroDDL is currently backordered from Eventide, but we expect to get our first batch of modules by the end of February. It will take us 1-2 weeks to perform the conversions after the euroDDL's arrive. We expect to have the 114's ready to ship by early March."