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The Realistic Concertmate MG-1 is vintage analog synthesizer that was distributed by Radio Shack under their “Realistic” brand name.

It was one of the worst synths that ever bore the Moog name. But, as the video demonstrates, that doesn’t mean it couldn’t make some great analog sounds.

Features:

• Two oscillators with sync & detune, one producing either a Square or Sawtooth waveform, with the other producing either a Pulse or Sawtooth waveform.
• One low pass filter/VCF, that can use the envelope generator, has limited keyboard tracking, and is capable of self oscillation.
• Limited envelope generator with variable attack and release, and a switchable sustain (no decay).
• Oscillator 2 can be tuned independently or synced to oscillator 1.
• Noise generator.
• Ring modulator (called “Bell Tone”).
• Polyphonic oscillator. This oscillator is routed through the filter, but not through the envelope generator or LFO.
• LFO that can modulate the oscillators and the filter using a triangle, square or random waveform
• Portamento (called “Glide”)
• External Control inputs for pre-MIDI CV/Gate.

The Concertmate MG-1 is notorious for it’s inclusion of a cheesy polyphonic organ sound and for using black foam on the interior which decays into a sticky black sludge over time.

If you’ve used the Moog Realistic Concertmate MG-1, leave a comment with your thoughts! Read more…

Download the free TC Electronic reverb plugin M30 for Windows & Mac before November 18th.

If you give it a try, leave a comment with your thoughts! Read more…

Developer Dan Nigrin has announced that his software Klee Sequencer is now available. The app, available for Mac and Windows, is a software version of the Klee step sequencer.

Features:

• MIDI output to any hardware or software synths
• Internal or MIDI clock control
• 10 preset slots for instant recall of parameters
• Presets can be saved to and loaded from disk
• Built-in clock divide capability
• Synchronous load – loading of pattern happens on clock pulses, and not in between
• Load on Play feature to allow for loading of pattern each time clock started
• MIDI-controllable baseline note
• Custom definable note range allows for alternative scales

Klee Sequencer retails for $40. 15% of the net proceeds go to support electro-music.com. A demo version is available.

Goldie, who was taken out of his comfort zone of drum ‘n’ bass to conduct a classical orchestra for television, is here put back into his own world by Addictive TV. This time it’s the orchestra playing d ‘n’ b.

Who else would like to see their local orchestra take this on?

via VJTV

Ctrl Alt Shift is a documentary exploring VJ culture, featuring interviews and footage from:

• The Light Surgeons
• D-Fuse
• Hexstatic
• Vj Anyone
• Addictive TV
• Vector Meldrew
• and
• Fatamorgana

This project was created by Dean G Moore & Simon Lane.

via accentfeed

Celemony has announced the release of Melodyne editor, the company’s first release featuring DNA (Direct Note Access) technology – technology that lets you access and edit individual notes within polyphonic material.

This means you can now:

• Correct wrong notes in a piano recording;
• change the chords in a guitar accompaniment after the recording is over;
• refashion a sample lick;
• Change a track from major to minor; or
• Change the mode of a recording.

Features:

• Single-track audio editing environment with Melodyne technology.
• Suitable for monophonic, polyphonic and rhythmic/complex audio material.
• Offers with DNA direct access to individual notes within chords.
• Works as a plug-in (VST, AU, RTAS) in compatible DAWs under Mac OS X and Windows.
• Can also be used in stand-alone mode.
• Activation on up to two computers or via iLok.
• User interface and manual in English, German, French, Spanish and Japanese.

Melodyne editor is available for PC and Mac for $349 USD / 349 EUR. Read more…

Imaginary Landscapes is a profile of visionary composer, artist and producer Brian Eno. It brings into focus Eno’s seemingly disparate work in sound, vision and light, and explores his music in visual terms, based on landscapes and images that have shaped his life as an artist.

Michael Una looks at using the $44.95 Highly Liquid MD24 MIDI decoder kit to control a handmade analog bass line sequencer and drum machine via Ableton Live.

John Cage is the subject of a new museum exhibition in Barcelona. The exhibit looks at Cage’s works in various media and his impact on all forms of contemporary art.

The New Yorker’s Alex Ross shares his thoughts on the highlights of the exhibit – but also raises this conundrum:

The great oddity of twentieth-century art history is that while Rauschenberg, Jackson Pollock, and other radical postwar painters are almost universally hailed as masters, their works drawing huge crowds in museums, Cage is still often treated as a freak or a charlatan.

The distinction makes no intellectual sense, but there it is.

It is striking that someone as influential as Cage – as a composer, author, electronic music pioneer and artist – hasn’t found an audience that reflects his influence.

Ross is right. Many people that might appreciate Rauschenberg or Pollock would cringe at the idea of sitting through a concert of Cage’s works.

Maybe the answer to Ross’s conundrum is as simple as this: you can’t close your ears.

If you see a painting that’s confrontational, ugly or incomprehensible, you can close your eyes or walk away. You are in control of the experience.

At a concert of music by an artist like Cage, you can’t close your ears or move on to the next thing. You aren’t in control of your experience – you can just react to it.

This seems to be a fundamental challenge of electronic music (and to a certain degree, music in general); when anything is possible, how do you create music that is original, yet still has the power to seduce someone’s ear?

via disquiet; Image: fallwithme

This set of videos offers a visual introduction to Native Instruments’ Maschine 1.1.