Official – Mark Knight & D.Ramirez V Underworld – Downpipe

via toolroomrecords:

The tallest building in Dublin city was wired up with two huge 100,000 Euro screens.

The combination of Underworld’s unmistakable talent for drawing on primal energies and Mark Knight and D.Ramirez’s unquestionable production skills and knowledge of the Dance Floor tells a powerful story that is ahead of the curve and pays off with a monster riff in the drop. An insanely infectious piece of music that has feeling and passion rushing through its veins, the combination of tech grooves and intense progressive-build nods heavily to the tight production skills of Mark Knight and D.Ramirez and sees a stunning return to international dance floors for one of electronic music’s most iconic voices Karl Hyde, for this, the much anticipated and long overdue follow up to the 2007 anthem Columbian Soul.

Having created a defining soundtrack to a chemical generation with the almighty Born Slippy and countless club crossover hits including the likes of Rez and Cowgirl, Underworld are highly regarded as one of the best in the business.
Take this heritage and legacy and combine it with one of the most prolific DJ production partnerships in the world right now and you have something very special indeed.
Directed By Eoghan Kidney Special Thanks to www.daft.ie/playhouse

This is a demo video for a video theremin, created with Max For Live in Ableton Live 8. 

via akihikotube:

Max For Live (ableton & cycling’74) Video Theremin Tutorial Patch

The Sherman Filterbank is a powerful, real analogue, solid hardware instrument, with a unique sound. In this interview, Herman Gillis talks about origin of the Sherman Filterbank and more.

Click here to view the embedded video.

via acodike

[BLOK] is a new modular synthesizer for Windows, originally designed as a platform for teaching audio synthesis to students.

Features:

• Classic synthesizer modules such as Oscillators, Filters, Envelopes and Effects
• Easy to use interface. Blok was originally created as an educational program to teach audiodesign principles. This means that each module is simple to understand.
• Connect everything. There are no limits on connecting blocks together.. if a block generates a signal, connect it up!
• Versatile DSP engine. Additive, Subtractive and FM synthesis are all possible. Let Blok be your synthesis swiss army-knife.
• Full undo/redo. Dont like what you have done? Go back to a time when you did!
• Low in cpu. Blok was made to run well even on low-end computers. On today’s machines, it tears up the track! This will let you make more complicated setups and get more bang for your synthesis buck.

[BLOK] is currently a free download, but the developer notes “only the buzz version is officially supported at this point! the standalone and VST versions are under heavy construction, use at your own risk.”

Developer Eric Archer is now shipping his Andromeda MK-1 and MK-2 drum machines, DIY minimal drum machines “designed as an experiment of making the most minimal drum machine possible using analog circuitry”.

In the video above, Archer demonstrates the two new drum machines, how they can interact and how you can control them in real time.

The Andromeda MK-1 and MK-2 drum machines are available for $55 each as DIY kits.

Here’s another demo. This one features 12 of Archer’s tiny drum machines:

Click here to view the embedded video.

The Andromeda MK-1 analog drum machine has a minimal sequencer with sixteen preset patterns, selectable by the red switch block.  The pushbutton restarts the patterns.  This feature allows you to shift the timing of the rhythm when synchronized with other Andromeda Space Rockers instruments.

The sound of the MK-1 is from a pair of damped sine wave oscillators, which are triggered simultaneously.  The oscillators are reffered to as “X” and “Y”.  Their pitch is controlled by the photocells AND the capacitors labeled X1,X2 and Y1,Y2.  The capacitors control the overall range of pitches that it can play.  Larger value capacitors here make lower pitches.

The square grid of holes is called the Personality Center.  You can use it to add additonal circuitry to your MK-1 to change its character.  I will publish the Personality Center mods as soon as I get a chance.

The Andromeda MK2 analog drum machine has a minimal sequencer with sixteen preset patterns, selectable by the red switch block.  The pushbutton restarts the patterns.  This feature allows you to shift the timing of the rhythm when synchronized with other Andromeda Space Rockers instruments.

The sound of the MK2 is from an analog white noise generator.  This noise is filtered by a resonant filter, and the cutoff of the filter is controlled by the photocell on the left side of the unit.

The sequencer triggers an envelope generator (EG).  This creates a signal that controls the duration and volume contour of the sound.  The EG is controlled by the photocell on the right side of the unit.

The EG’s signal is sent to a voltage controlled amplifier (VCA).  The VCA chops up the steady output from the filtered white noise generator into little bursts of sound, controlled by the EG.  This is what you hear at the output.

The sound of the Andromeda MK2 is like a primitive electronic snare drum / cymbal / handclap.

Propellerhead has released a new funk-flavored ReFill, Soul School, that features the soul sounds of the 60’s and 70’s.

To introduce Soul School, Propellerhead put together several very nicely done videos that introduce the library and the people behind it.

The Reason Soul School ReFill is available for download through Propellerhead’s web shop for EUR €79 / USD $99.

The Soul School ReFill sample library features twelve unique soul and funk instrumentals with all their musical elements – bass, drums, guitars and horns – in Propellerhead’s tempo-independent REX format, as well as a collection of the 60’s and 70’s-sounding instruments multisampled for use with Reason’s NN-XT sampler and Combinator device.

Composed exclusively for this ReFill and recorded using vintage technology, all material was played live by funk-savvy session musicians – simultaneously, without overdubs.

Every drum fill, bass line, guitar riff and horn lick featured in Reason Soul School is in Propellerhead’s REX format, sampled in different keys for full flexibility and tempo independence.

Complementing the loops and licks are the multisampled versions of the included instruments, as well as the Reason Soul Keys ReFill, containing patches for the Reason Factory Sound Bank and Propellerhead’s free Electromechanical ReFill as well as Abbey Road Keyboards and Reason Pianos based on the Soul School sound.

Using Reason Soul School

Click here to view the embedded video.

Using Soul School with Propellerhead Record

Click here to view the embedded video.

Soul Searching – Using The Patch Browser

Click here to view the embedded video.

Here’s a bit of ambient goodness to start of Free Music Friday – Herzog’s First Summer And The Running Dream:

first summer and the running dream” contains 5 tracks with a complete duration of 30 minutes. Compared to his earlier works “first summer…“ has a more droning, a bit distorted character. The sounds are layered very softly and sublime to a very harmonic composition. The overall mood is quite laid-back with noisy, distorted splinters. The noisy elements are getting stronger to the end of the EP but it leaves still a very harmonic picture.

You can preview the album with the music video above and download the tracks at the Resting Bell label site.

via disquiet

The video demonstrates a mindblowing touch-enabling self-organizing map for automatically organizing and browsing a library of 600 electronic music songs.

We do our best to avoid “cute kitty with music gear” photos at Synthtopia. You can only get so excited about another shot of somebody’s cat peaking out of their Buchla modular synth or sleeping on their Korg OASYS.

Jaded as we may be, though, this is the cutest kitty DJ in the world.

Ohhhh, kitteh so cute!

We’ll try to redeem this post by linking to the source of this photo, the blog of Ryan Gruss – a drummer who says that “the world has been overrun by shitty producers with their 808 samples and re-mixed Ableton Live schlock.”

Gruss is drummer on a mission to put more groove in your mix, and he’s doing it by blogging a free professionally recorded drum loop every day. He includes MP3 previews, but also multitracked Logic sessions and mixed down WAV, AIFF and REX2 files.

They’re Creative Commons licensed, so you can slap it up, flip it and rub it down as long as you give Gruss credit.

Special Secret Groove Sauce: Gruss’s RSS feed has MP3 enclosures – which means it’s a podcast and you can subscribe to it with iTunes and get the free loops delivered to your ears automatically.

In iTunes, navigate to Advanced – Subscribe to Podcast and paste in his feed URL: http://feeds2.feedburner.com/ryangrusscom

DJTechTools has just announced a new MIDI controller inspired by classic video game systems, MidiFighter.

MidiFighter is an ready-to-assemble MIDI controller that features 16 game-style buttons and 16 programmable LEDs. It can be customized and expanded, too.

MidiFighter MIDI Controller Details:

• Release Date: November 30th
• Price: TBA
• Plug and Play compatible device compliant midi controller
• USB powered
• Must be assembled (no expertise required)
• 16 programable buttons
• 16 programable LEDS
• Expandable to 20 programmable buttons and 4 analogue controls
• Limited Edition 200 piece run in this configuration (black PCB with white LEDS)

This thing looks like it’s going to be pretty insanely fun.

MidiFighter is a DIY kit – but it’s not hardcore DIY – it’s funcore DIY:

The Midifighter kit comes in a flat box that can be personally assembled in 5 minutes. Entry level moders can select the arcade button colors they want when ordering and assemble the kit into a custom configuration that fits their personal style or mapping. The arcade buttons snap into place thanks to our hand made clips that require zero soldering. Just screw together the frame using a simple allen wrench, snap in the arcade buttons and your custom controller is assembled and finished.

The finished controller is plug and play with super high quality low latency drivers and will work with all midi compatible software.

Because it’s a kit, you can customize it. Use color-coded buttons. Use the extra analog and digital input ports toadd mod wheels, joysticks, sliders and knobs. And if you want to get hardcore, the kit is totally open source so you can hack the firmware.

Pricing is TBA, but we should know soon, because they plan to release this November 30th.

Anybody interested? Leave a comment!

Hollow Sun has announced plans for a new virtual instrument based on the rare and amazing Hammond Novachord – a polyphonic analog synthesizer released in 1939!

The Novachord is sort of the B3 of synthesizers – a huge, unwieldy beast that sounds like nothing else.

Unlike the B3, though, the Hammond Novachord has largely been forgotten. They were expensive, few were made, and few have survived because of their complexity.

The Novachord features divide-down oscillators and individual envelopes and LFO for each note. Yeah – this thing could do 72-voice polyphony in 1939!

Here’s an example of what this 70 year-old monster synth can sound like:

Imagine if this technology had taken off!

The Hammond Novachord Sample Library

Hollow Sun is working with Novachord owner Dan Wilson of Hideaway Studios in Bath, England, to capture the sound of this beast in all its epic glory.

Here’s what they have to say about this project:

Work has begun on this and tentative sampling sessions are beginning to reveal what lies ahead of us – textures that would not be out of place on a modern synth 70 years on in 2009 but with a strangely ‘earthy’ and ‘organic’ quality quite unlike I’ve heard before, full of flawed nuances and subtelty. The Novachord doesn’t generate sounds … it breathes them in gasps and grunts and squeals and whispers!

It’s early days. As time allows, I shall be bringing news of progress on a (hopefully) regular basis … so bookmark this Blog to watch us through our laboratory’s musty window. Dan and I aren’t quite ponsing about in white coats here (I favour a good tweed and a robust brogue!) but it feels a bit like it as Dan probes and regulates the 70 year old valves and massive capacitors with voltmeters and oscilloscopes and I work the resulting samples into an accurate representation of this incredible instrument.

No release date or pricing has been set.

This is too much fun not to share – Thriller (Saitone 8bit tribute), directed by Raquel Meyers.

via TCTD

This video, by Justonic, visually compares interval and chords in just intonation vs standard equal temperament.

Justonic has created a system that lets musicians play in just intonation chromatically by playing the root note on a MIDI tuning channel. Their software sends MIDI tuning messages to adapt your keyboard’s tuning to be optimal for the root note.

via NoiseForAirports

The video for Digitalism’s Jupiter Room is based around the idea of abstract light design and movement complimenting the music.

Kinetic Labs has introduced Mot-Box – a sound generator built for musicians and sound designers.

According to developers, “It’s capable to produce sounds from drones to helter-skelter noises.”

It retails for 250 Euro.

Functional details below. Audio demos at the Kinetic Laboratories site.

Following on from the original Deadmau5 Touch Mix comes the new version (App Store link), featuring 20 tracks including tracks from his new album For Lack of A Better Name, new effects, tilt control and an integrated Twitter feed.

It retails for $2.99.

iPhone Music Software: Check out this visual demo of PatternMusic (App Store link) a gorgeous new matrix synthesizer for the iPhone.

PatternMusic retails for $4.99. Detailed specs below.

If you’ve used PatternMusic, leave a comment and let me know what you think of it!

PatternMusic Features:

• The Stage
  • Intuitively mix and arrange your songs by moving instrument icons.
  • Effortlessly add, duplicate and delete instruments.
• Multi-Touch™ Pattern Editor
  • Easily create unique looping note patterns.
  • Editor zoom – because not everyone has the same size fingers.
  • Up to 64 notes per pattern via the scrolling timeline.
  • Scroll through a 4 octave range for each instrument.
  • Solo mode – focus on a single part of your composition.
  • Dynamics for individual notes.
• Voices
  • 50 instrument voices to choose from.
  • Change voices at any time.
  • A full drum kit and percussion set.
• Built-in Help and Tutorials
  • A complete Help system is accessible throughout the app.
  • Access built-in and on-line Video Tutorials without leaving the app.
• Instrument and Song Settings
  • Tempo (including “tap tempo” for interactive tempo matching).
  • Time Signature
  • Scales – work within a mode and avoid “wrong” notes (more than 40 scales available).
  • Note length configurable from 1/16 note triplets to dotted whole notes.
  • Looping control – infinite or counted.
  • Configurable instrument start point.
  • Swing – create shuffle effects.
  • Transpose – up or down up to two octaves (an 8 octave total range).
• Song Management
  • Auto-save – PatternMusic automatically saves your songs when you quit or when you are interrupted by a phone call, and it automatically restores your last session when you return.
  • Manage your songs including song duplicate, rename and delete.
• Play along with your iPod Music
  • iPod Music Library access and control without leaving the app.
• Small app download
  • You’ll be creating music in no time.

Ableton’s Robert Henke (Monolake) discusses Max For Live and his history with Max.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Henke is one of the original architects of Ableton Live and now acts as part of the specification team, determining the direction for the future of Live.

via cycling74com

U-He has announced ACE (Any Cable Everywhere) – a new modular software synthesizer.

Description:

The selection of modules and clear layout make ACE the ideal instrument for newcomers delving into the fascinating world of modular synthesis. The number of ways to connect modules together is practically infinite, and you will soon discover how much more fun it is to make your own sounds in ACE than in a non-modular synthesizer.

Here’s what we know so far about U-He Ace:

• ETA: early December 2009
• pricing: 69EUR (includes 19% VAT, ca. 85 USD net when bought from overseas)
• formats: VST on Windows, VST/AU/RTAS on MacOS X
• system requirements Mac: Apple Macintosh Computer running MacOS X 10.4+ on a G4 processor or newer, Intel Core 2 Duo or better recommended
• system requirements Win: VST2 compatible host software on a PC with SSE2 supporting processor, Intel Core 2 Duo or better recommended
• number of presets and such: tba

WTF?

In this KorgTV exclusive, Dr. Funk rocks the Korg Kaossilator, while Go Go Girl kisses the camera and plays air guitar.

The festivities are only marred by Inset Man’s unfortunate placement of the closeup camera shots.

via KORGTVGERMANY