I'm going to be away for the next three weeks, so posts might be a bit less frequent than usual. The MT Massive are on hand to keep things going, so keep sending tips to the usual address. Also, given the extraordinary standard of entries for the Strobopick competition (sample quote: "I played live with it strapped over my shoulder, while wearing a trenchcoat and ski goggles") I can't possibly make a decision in my current packing frenzy, so a winner will be drawn at the end of Feb.
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Victor from Strobopick was kind enough to send me a couple of samples of his amazing tiny strobe tuner, so I now have one of the new 'StroboPick SMD' extra-extra small models to give away. To win, use the comments forum (or try this link) to tell the story of the first music gadget you ever bought. The best story wins. I'll post worldwide (Now I've got Google Ad millions to burn), and pick a winner on Friday after consultation with the Music Thing editorial guidance committee. PS: If you're not registered at Blogger, drop me an email to claim your post.
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Cikira (that's her with the Moog), wrote a while back to let me know about the "SynthSights discussion group for e-musicians, where 'it's not about the gear'". It's clear that Cikira herself is in no way gear-crazed. She only has 4 Access synths, four Nords, eleven Korgs, nine Rolands, two Moog Voyagers and EIGHT circuit-bent Aibo robot dogs. There's a good interview here, in which she reveals that she is not a man, she is not Bob Moog's girlfriend, and she is 'not rich'.
Mrco writes to tell me about the Stump Preacher guitar, which was launched at NAMM '96. It was an amazing $1,000 composite/aluminium/carbon fibre/wood travel guitar, where the strings passed over big rollers to machine heads in the middle of the body. Unfortunately, it looks like Stump Preacher, which was founded by Australian guitarist John Devitry and machinist Rod Brower, seems to have gone bust.
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rOck1 rOck2 writes: "I found this bugger on eBay last week... a pedal box with several pots, jacks and a breadboard connecting the components into one of 5 circuits, including an Ampeg Scrambler clone and his take on the Klon Centaur. The first one I saw went for 89 smackatonies(U$). My knowledge of electronics is very limited and would like to develop my ear for capacitors and the like. Obviously all the components could be had somewhat cheaper through an electronics dealer but the CD Rom manual sounds worth trying, and the Case is EXTREMELY ugly. Note the fake wood grain on the bottom."
Here's a thing. On 11th October last year, a guy in South Korea bid $1,088 for this Ampeg Scrambler stompbox - a very rare and cool-looking octave fuzz pedal. From what I can see, it was a real bid and a real sale (the seller's feedback was "GREAT TRANSACTION!!!"). Not surprisingly, Ampeg announced at NAMM that they're re-releasing the Scrambler range - no prices or dates yet. More about the Ampeg Scrambler here.
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Another amazing music toy - tiny gloves (which only fit 8-12 yr olds) where each finger plays a different sound, and "A child can play on a surface or in the air". Best of all, you can buy three sets of the gloves in different colours, and they'll all work together. Unfortunately, $99 is a bit steep for a circuit bender to experiment with. [link]. (via Mikey and Red Ferret)
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MT reader Corky Burger (left) has been composing a series of MP3 ringtones on his Moog Voyager, Moog Theremin and Electron Monomachine. I'd highly recommend 'Interstella Samurai', although his latest effort, 'My Friend SID', is so irritating, it will probably be the next Crazy Frog.
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After the blizzard of high-tech products from NAMM, it's nice to get back to some good, old fashioned, real instruments. I was delighted to hear from Sam Farris: "You might be interested in my Tranjo travel banjo design. I'm the designer/inventor of what I call the 'Ultimate Travel Banjo'".
A bit like a mainstream version of the Zvex Nano Head (only 300 times more powerful)(and solid state, not tube)(and without the hand-painted case), the Crate PowerBlock is a tiny, very cute 150 watt little amp head. It might be time for music gear manufacturers to get over blue LEDs, though... (via Harmony Central)
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It's the Morrison Digital Trumpet, invented by an Australian trumpet player and trumpet-playing robotics boffin. Apart from perfectly matching a Moog Voyager, the best thing about it is that it's completely flat, so anyone playing it looks like they've walked into a cartoon. I strongly advise you to watch this [500k QT] of the inventor using it to trigger Reactor on a laptop (it sounds just like a squeaky trumpet to me, but what do I know?), and this [6.5mb QT] clip of a chap playing a load of different sounds. It's $2,495 from Patchman Music, or this one on eBay for $2,000: "I purchased it about two months... it wasn't used much."
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Peter is back with a special report: "As 25 January is Burn's night (the Scottish celebration of their national poet, featuring haggis, poetry and bagpipes) it seems an appropriate time to hail the surprisingly common MIDI bagpipe.
I've been thinking a lot about this crazy new range of Behringer pedals, wondering if it is possible to copyright the look, shape and colour of a product.
I'm usually down on M:Audio for their boring, ugly boxes, but now they've come with a interesting (if slightly ugly) box. The Black Box (great name!) is a neat little guitar amp modeller/effects box/sound card.
The interesting thing is that it includes technology from Roger Linn's everybody-says-it's-brilliant Adrenalinn guitar effects box. $299.95 seems reasonable, considering the Adrenalinn itself is $499.
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Steve from Bilocation, who records amazing surround sound and binaural albums, writes after his trip to Africa:
So, you've just bought a Mac Mini, you're running Logic, and you haven't got an audio in. You could buy some little USB interface and a cheapo microphone or, for a very reasonable $139, you could buy a Snowball, made by Blue, who make some really, really expensive microphones. It's USB powered, with two capsules, one for vocals, one for instruments. I really, really want one...
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It looks like all the product designers who slacked off on the Fusion were working hard after all. They've just announced a tonne of nice-looking new gear. There's the Photon X49 controller keyboard, with light-up bend/mod wheels like an Ion and tonnes of controls. Then there's a neat little IO|2 USB interface wrapped in what looks like curvy aluminium, and M1 Active - a cool-looking set of vaguely NS10-inspired black&white monitors. No prices yet. More.
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Behringer have just announced a huge new range of stompboxes. The Boss-'inspired' pedals are £15 or £22 (for a digital delay or reverb). The Electro-Harmonix 'inspired' ones are £31, as are the Sansamp-'inspired' DI Boxes. Those prices are incredible, as is their use of phrases like "sound was modeled after Electro-Harmonix® Big Muff®" on the website. I imagine they have good lawyers, and that Uli Behringer thinks of his company as the Ikea of music technology. But Ikea design their own furniture.
Sort of like a tiny, Japanese, dog-shaped, Triadex Muse, the iDog is a little robot dog that can sing: Gareth at Engadget writes: "Its main claim to fame is its musical ability, though: it’ll improvise tunes based on 720 internal musical phrases, changing the mood of the music as you wave your hand over the phototransistor on its head." More.
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By way of contrast to the approaching mountain of new products from NAMM, Jason from Theremin World writes: "She's turned a couple of metal dome theremins into a theremin-bra. Her site has a video showing her playing it. Wowee!" The video is a little bit too psychedelic to really see much, but is still well worth watching. Look further into the Audio Artists site, and you'll find this collection of mini synths built into handbags and tupperware boxes, this slightly disturbing pictue of Alice with a synthesizer baby, and this heart-warming picture of a man with a huge modular synth, a circuit-bent toy, a hexagonal drum pad and an 808. Aaaah!
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Edirol/Roland's range of midi controllers have been transformed. Out goes the cheap silver plastic! In comes cheap dark grey plastic! Don't these people even read Music Thing? (via Harmony Central)
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Berlin-based MFB have been making cheap, quirky synths since 1976. I always fancied their MFB Synth II with a built-in sequencer. Their new thing is the Polylite, a four-voice synth with digital oscillators and analog filters. I can't quite see how the control panel works from the German product page (where are all the knobs?) but it's pretty cute for €345.
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Roland US have announced that they're allowing three famous and ace effects boxes to be turned into plug-ins for the UAD-1 card. They're recreating the Boss CE-1 analog chorus pedal, the ultra-minimal Dimension D chorus box and, inevitably, the RE-201 Space Echo. Sounds good, and I've only heard good things about the UAD-1 card, although this irritable thread discusses the pros and cons of spending £350 on what is apparently a very aged video card with a bit of extra software.
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The first really interesting leak from the NAMM show, which starts on Thursday, is about Alesis' new Fusion synth. It's a big 'ol workstation, with sample playback, a virtual analog synth (presumably not too far from an Alesis Ion), FM synthesis (which they're selling as a retro essential) and physical modelling. No price yet, but it's likely to be $2,000 plus. It's very interesting that Alesis (and Korg) are launching brand-new workstations at a time when plenty of people feel a PC or Mac can do everything they do in a cheaper, easier-to-use package. It's even more interesting that Alesis appear to have fired every industrial designer they ever employed, and replaced them with junior Fisher Price employees armed with cans of silver spray paint. (via Harmony Central)
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If you're over 25 and British, you might remember Rock School - the epic BBC2 how-to-play-music show from 1987 that introduced a generation of young minds to a world of hexagonal drums, silver MIDI guitars and Jan Hammer. A chap calling himself sorcerers_cave is selling home-made DVDs of the series on eBay.
To save you the trouble of Googling them yourself, here's what those presenters are doing now: Dierdre Cartwright (a former member of Beaver), is doing very well playing jazz. Geoff Nicholls is still teaching drums, just as Henry Thomas is still teaching bass. Henry also gigs with Brit Jazzer Sarah Jane Morris, who also employs with Alistair Gavin, when he's not playing at the Lion King or Mamma Mia in London.
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Untangling MIDI is a 1988 docu-vertorial (or edu-tisement) about MIDI, stuffed with loving closeups of loads of ugly Yamaha gear and Roland guitar synths, presented by the charming Brad Vinikow... It was rediscovered by Paul Slocum, "a geek artist/musician/hacker living in Dallas, Texas" who develops music programs for Atari 2600s. (Thanks Chuck)
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It's nicely designed in shiny white plastic, but this is the new Focusrite Saffire, which will be launched at NAMM, which starts on the 20th. It's a 2-in 8-out Firewire interface with built-in DSP effects (they seem to be mainly for recording or monitoring, not for using as VST plugins). Nice but slightly unexciting, in other words. No word on price yet. (via ZioShow). UPDATE: Looks like the hardware effects will work as VST plugins. So this box is basically a much better looking EMU 1820M.
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Sabastian from Censtron writes about his amazing looking and sounding new circuit-bent homemade instrument, ZeroOne: "It's pretty cool, fun to play, and maybe the most musical thing we have created. Metal strips cause a speech synth to play arpeggios and... well you just have to see it to understand.". It's so cool, it even has it's own trailer [QT]. It's currently $53 on eBay.
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It was announced a few weeks back, but here are the full details on the rackmount Minimoog. It's kinda funny-looking, don't you think? It's $2195, compared to $2995 for the cheapest keyboard edition. Still no pictures of the crazy-sounding all-blue Minimoog.
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The Prophet VS was the only digital synth that Sequential Circuits ever built. It was a bit like a grittier Korg Wavestation (some the team who built it joined Korg when SC went bust), with that lush-but-slightly-cheesy '80s sound. A new VST version of the notoriously hard-to-repair Prophet VS is now available. It's called Vector Sector and it was developed by Joshua Jeffe, who was part of the original Prophet VS team at Sequential, and went on to build the EMU Proteus 1. There's a great story about the invention and birth of the VS here, and some VS samples from Hollow Sun here.
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Very quick off the mark, Cyndustries, the analog synth module people who did the Tabla Module, have designed a housing to build a Mac Mini + a touch screen into a modular synth. How cool is that? Very cool. Special order only (i.e. so far it only exists in Photoshop), and no price confirmed. Product Page. (Thanks Wiley)
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Is that a man holding a Synthaxe, standing in front of two Synclaviers? Why yes, it is. (It's Michael Jackson's guitarist during a soundcheck on the BAD tour at Madison Square Garden). Any similar submissions welcome.
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Piano sheet music for eight of your favourite songs from Super Mario games. 'Air Platform Theme' looks tricky. (Thanks Mikey)
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At the exact opposite end of the scale from the tiny, chic, MacMini is the UF Omnipotent Master Keyboard (good name!), a new range of keyboards from Chinese manufacturer CME Professional. They're great value - 46 semi-weighted keys with aftertouch for $199, up to 88 fully-weighted keys for $549, all in a metal shell with plenty of controllers, including proper sequencer transport controls. A few mysteries remain after reading the slightly vague Product Page: In all the pictures, there's what looks like the outline of a querty keyboard to the right of the control panel (you might have to tilt your LCD to see it) - but it's not mentioned anywhere. A built in querty keyboard would be very Fairlight, wouldn't it? Also, the red & black colour scheme is a bit '90s Roland, but there's one picture with a much nicer off-white colour, with reversed black/white keyboard and wooden end panels. NICE!
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Wow. The MacMini looks incredible. It's the size of a car stereo, it costs $500, and a 1.25 ghz G4 can run Logic, right? (Sure, Logic 7 costs considerably more than the computer, but maybe I can live with Logic Express). It doesn't have audio in, which really makes me think that an Apple audio interface might be annouced at NAMM. Plus, the new version of GarageBand can record 8 channels simulataneously, which seems slightly over the top.
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It's currently just an odd-looking prototype, but VocalSynth is a voice-controlled MIDI controller. There are very few details, other than general blurb that could apply to anything -
"Play or record solos in any (MIDI) instrument voice, singers can perform as instrumentalists, compose and arrange for full band or orchestra." Reading between the lines, it seems to be some kind of MIDI kazoo. It has a distinctly medical look to it, and the domain is owned by Bret Schneider of Schneider Medical Technologies. Professional Product Designs, the company behind VoiceSynth, are currently looking for a manufacturing partner. (via EMusician Xtra. Glad you enjoyed StroboPick, guys!)
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This is a Blonder Tongue Audio Baton - a fully-working valve graphic equalizer from 1959, currently at $100. I have just one question. Why doesn't audio gear look like this any more?
Surely this would be perfect for circuit bending: The 'Water Symphony' machine, from a company called Executive High Tech. The water drops fall on the keyboard and create "a hypnotic symphony of sound in full stereo". It must be a disappointment when you name your company Executive High Tech, and your products end up being sold by hippygift.com. (Thanks Mike!)
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Block Jam is a beautiful system of electronic musical dominoes, delevoped by Sony a couple of years ago. You plug the blocks together, dial a sequence into the LED display on the top, and they connect to make music. The Video and the other video explain it better. Unfortunately, there's no sign it will ever be released, but it's good to know those Sony profits are being well spent. Detailed description. (via We Make Money Not Art and Tommy) UPDATE: I've just got the Shockwave Demo working, and it's amazing - does everything that the blocks in the video can. (Thanks eshefer!)
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If you're in Manchester on the 29th Jan, be sure to visit Bothered's Tsunami Benefit Disco, featuring MT contributor Tommy Walker III.
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It's great how the iPod/Mac accessory industry seems to be turning it's attention to creating shiny, white, innovative music gear. The people behind JamPlug have announced JamPlug FM, which broadcasts your guitar to a nearby FM radio. Not sure how great it could possibly sound (although you'd be laughing with an Alesis XGuitar with built-in effects) but it's new, right?
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Another potentially great invention! Mac Mice, the people who did GarageKeys are about to launch GuitarPlug and MicPlug - a thing the size of a guitar plug, with a mini USB socket on the back. Plug the USB cable into your computer, and it's a mono audio interface. Lots of potential complications with drivers and such, but it's a great idea, and $49 seems reasonable. The mic version won't (yet) work with condenser mics that need phantom power, but it could still be a very neat way to get a SM57 connected to a laptop. Product Page. (via Harmony Central)
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After my Eventide Harmonizer enthusiasm, I'm getting increasingly obsessed with early digital effects. It's as if you could buy an Apple I, built in Steve Job's garage and use it as your everyday computer instead of a G5. One of the holy grails of old-school digital gear is the AMS RMX16 reverb. It's what Prince used to get the backwards reverb bassline on 'Kiss', and what Phil Collins used on 'In The Air Tonight'. AMS is a company set up by former aerospace technicians in Burnley, Lancashire in 1976, still going today. This RMX16, in perfect condition, just appeared on eBay. A couple of months back, someone tried to sell a non-working RMX16 for $1,487, but didn't get any bids.
JamPod is a tiny guitar amp that plugs into the top of your iPod to let you play along with the music. It's $50, available in Feb 2005, and it comes with a four-foot white guitar cord. (Thanks Mike!)
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Five things I learned after reading Bob Stanley's great piece about synth history in The Times today:
Thanks to Mikey for letting me know about HighAndes - a Dublin-based product design company who have developed three strange "musical interface products". The one you can buy is the £90 StikAx, a little thing that looks, in use, like a shrunken space saxaphone covered in buttons which trigger samples, loops and effects on your PC. It's been licensed by the Ministry of Sound* in the UK, so there's a huge, elaborate Flash website to let you 'experience StikAx online' and 'join StikAx Tribe'. Next up will be PikAx, a guitar-shaped thing with strings and a pickup, but which seems to trigger samples and loops in the same way. There's also SynthAx (not to be confused with the wondrous SynthAxe) which is a more straigtforward keyboard, "aimed at the Asian market".