Lucifer Plug-in Lucifer Plug-in Review

The BCR 2000

The UC33

Muse Research Receptor Muse Research Receptor – why

AirFX

Dave Smith Instruments

Check out his upcoming developments.. pants!

The new machine drum

Numark Total Control

First Live Set

This makes for a really nice live improv tool. I can create mixes on the fly out of my music. The mixes are totally dynamic and never come out the same. I can mix pads from one song with the bass of another song.

The scheme I’m using is to do the following:

Each track represents a song component, drums, pads, leads, fx. I don’t have any vocals yet but eventually I would like to get some vocals in as well. I have a few tracks where I double up for more variety where layering doesn’t screw up the mix too bad (drums, FX).

Everything is labeled with the tempo to speed up cleanup within ableton. That’s probably not super necessary but it does make things faster.

Each song is a specific color so that I can visually find parts that should be together.

For drum parts I started labeling them with the type of drum pattern that is available and the song they came from.

For all melodic parts they are named first with the key they are in so that I can easily mix and match the songs that share the same key (amin = A minor, emin = E minor, f = F major).

FX are just named with the style of effect that I have.

All the sounds are my own creations from syths. Often the samples are recorded wet so I double up with a dry version if it makes sense.

I will post my first attempt at mixing this set after it’s encoded. It was rough in spots but has a some good moments.

Hopefully at some point he can help me revamp the visuals on this site because he is a total photoshop ninja.

I’m trying to compile a bunch of tracks into a cohesive album format. I’m tentatively naming it ‘Band-aids for Androids’ but that might not work out because I think band-aid is trademarked or something. Maybe I’ll come up with something better. Any ideas?

I decided to heavily remix Eetar on the way home from work

I’m took some of my custom synth patches (and rhodes) and experimented on a new track

Now that I have one I’m noticing them all over. It is a really popular keyboard in professional studios.

I really like the action on the keys, they have a sharp synth feel but plenty of response on the aftertouch for playing more delicate pieces. I haven’t yet gotten my latency below 15ms which is just slightly annoying but totally playable. I may need to pick up a dedicated audio card to get it lower.

The drum pads are not so hot but hopefully I can get a pad kontrol or MPD24 in a few months. I’m going to experiment with hooking up my MPC2000 to the MIDI on the Novation and see if I can use it as a secondary control surface for beat sequencing.

Loopa

Pushing and Getting Up

New Version of Smeezle on the Eeter

I’m a bit torn on uploading tracks that are not 100%. On one hand getting a track to 100% is a huge task and would require real mastering. Since I can’t make music a full time job I have to just focus on getting them to a state that I’m happy with. I think that it at least forces me to get some kind of completion on the tracks and also encourages me to put more polish on them than I might otherwise since somebody may listen to them.

If you come along and listen to any of the tracks, let me know what you think (good, bad or ugly).

Their videos are quite good.

Live Sets

The forums seem pretty active and I found some pretty good resources in there.

Create Digital Music

Cool blog all about creating digital music.

Cycling ’74

Products for new styles of music and media creation.

Reason Freaks

Comprehensive online reason resources

I use a Korg Prophecy as a master keyboard and controller and PodXT for recording currently although some day I would like to upgrade the audio in to a RME PCI card. I prefer trackballs for long mixing sessions and I’ve recently gotten a couple of Mackie MR5s for monitoring through a Mackie VLZ12 mixer.

Under the desk I have a small rack that I use when for playing live (hence the rack mounted lighting and patch panel). Usually the mixer stays in the bottom and is all wired up so I can just pull it out and it’s good to go. In this environment I’ve got a Korg ER1 and FutureRetro 777 hooked up with MIDI sync for doing some electro beats.

The MicroMoog is a never ending source of basslines, hooks and sound effects. It sounds amazing through the PodXT.

The cabinet on the rhodes is busted so I just line in into the PodXT. The piano has a very bright sound and is a good source for inspiration.

Over in the corner a couple of standbys. The electric guitar for riffs and chords and the Juno for basslines and analog pads.

Sweet and Sour

Smeezle on the Eetar

Simple Life – live practice

We Feel The Same

This is really rough, I don’t have any good way to mix levels as my monitors are dead. I’m going to research some good studio monitoring headphones and I’ll post my findings.

The main programs mentioned include:

• NanoLoop
• Little Sound DJ

The wikipedia article many other music creation options for the GB.

I love seeing new uses for old technology especially when they are used to create exciting forms of art.