Germany

Synthmeister Dieter Doepfer demonstrates his little friend – the tiny, but mighty, Doepfer Dark Energy analog synthesizer.

via Synthiefrau

The Berlin Wall came down 20 years ago today – which is pretty amazing – or ancient history if you’re not a Gen X’er or older.

The fall of the Berlin Wall led to profound political changes, but also profound cultural changes, especially in the world of music.

Ueberschall – the samplemeisters of Germany – has put together a new sample library that tries to distill down the influential electronic sounds of the city – Sounds Of Berlin.

Description:

With the release Sounds of Berlin Ueberschall covers the different sub-genres of minimal sound — from 120 BPM Afterhour-House to 130 BPM Dancefloor-Techno — and is oriented around labels and themes such as “Kompakt”, “Mobilee”, “Vakant”, “Boxer” and “Cocoon”. The 1 GB content is built for professional club sound needs. 1258 Loops & Samples provide enough material to be invited to countless sessions and hours of inspiration and creativity.

Each of the 75 construction kits is broken down into its single lines, each kit offers bass loops, synth loops and drum and percussion loops which can be integrated easily into every live set, thanks to Elastik. For your own groove creation you can use the single drumsounds which provide the low-end treatment and high frequency sizzle for the right punch in every club. All material is preprogrammed and ready to roll out thanks to the bundled Elastik interface. Elastik has many features which complement the electro genre nicely: filters per note, hi quality transposition, granulation effects, volume settings per note and easy mixing with additional Elastik libraries.

Specs:

• 1 GB, 75 Construction Kits, 1258 Berlin Loops and Samples
• Elastik Soundbank for Mac/PC/AU/VST/RTAS/StandAlone
• Elastik Player included – no sampler required

Sounds of Berlin retails for 99 Euro.

See the Ueberschall site for audio demos. Read more…

This video, Truckstop Gondolero, captures Kraftwerk in 1971, back when they were still groovy.

via BVM0Experim0Indus0TV:

Live studio performance, 1971.

Krautrock: The Rebirth of Germany is a new documentary film that examines how a generation of” Krautrockers” built a new German musical identity out of the cultural ruins of war.

The documentary will debut Friday October 23rd on BBC 4 at 9pm. No word on when it will be available outside the UK.

Description:

Between 1968 and 1977, bands including Neu!, Faust, Can and Kraftwerk looked beyond Anglo-American pop to create some of the most radical and original sounds ever heard in the country.

The experiments of Tangerine Dream, Kraftwerk and Cluster would give the world its first taste of electronica.

By the late Seventies, some famous English and American ears took notice as David Bowie, Brian Eno and Iggy Pop decamped to Germany in an attempt to tap into the Zeitgeist. Meanwhile, in a studio overlooking the Berlin Wall, Iggy and Bowie would record Low, Heroes and Lust For Life, taking the sound and feel of Krautrock to the bank and to the world at large.

via TV pick of the day

Seminal electronic band Kraftwerk have announced plans to reissue 8 of their classic albums with the release of 12345678: The catalogue .

Eight of the band’s albums will be repackaged, including:

• Autobahn (1974)
• Radioactivity (1975)
• Trans Europe Express (1977)
• The Man Machine (1978)
• Computer World (1981)
• Techno Pop (1986)
• The Mix (1991)
• Tour de France (2003)

The collection will be available as eight individual CDs, eight individual vinyl sleeves, a CD box set, or as a digital download.

Yum! Let’s hope there are some goodies thrown into the mix.

via the quietus