Category: audio hardware
drums machines, samplers, synthesizers, microphones…
tools and toys to capture, mix, process, or convert.
…MIDI and other catch-22s…
“where the WIRE things are”
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GEAR: Akai XR-20
“the urban SR-16” Akai XR-20 : the “urban” SR16 Distinguishing Features pattern based real-time sequencer, with fluid movement between recording and performance. clear, bright blue light-up pads most-things on one-small LCD screen. distinctive and aggressive sound set, focused on modern rap/hip-hop/etc sounds Personal Perspective After Akai and Alesis went under ownership with Numark in the…
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GEAR : Akai “MPC1000”
Akai MPC 1000: a compact flagship This became my (first) serious relationship with a piece of gear, bringing new levels of learning to be creative within limitations, and I found not only how their “Programs” could create drum kits or chromatic voices (leads, vocals), but also experiment in between. As understand of, and ability to…
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on sex/gender parts of inanimate objects, and censorship
Background: Many electronic appliances are built to make electrical interconnections with one another, whether to supply power, exchange analog signals (audio/video/etc) or digital signals (keyboards, hard drives, etc), or simply to allow remote action of switches (remote buttons for cameras or speed pedals for sewing machines). By design, these interconnections are built to be unique,…
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Novation Circuit pad/ui glitch teardown and FIXed !
History / Motivation I got a the Circuit by Novation back in Fall of 2018. I was blown away by how simple and flexible the UI was, both for sequencing internal sounds, and as a MIDI note-controller for external gear. Then, suddenly, it started glitching, at the pads. It seemed fine if I held it…
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Pad expression on live eDrum kit
Movitation I’ve been experimenting with playing live electronic drums for a while. For most e-kits that one can buy off the sales floor, I find there is limited expression for controlling the sounds while playing them, beyond using the dynamics of your hits to control volume, tonality, or switch between samples. I found myself wanting…
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composition from Novation Circuit boot-glitch(es)
Last week, my Novation Circuit booted up in a rather worrisome state. It was generating a flurry of random notes, even while stopped, and the lights were going bananas. A quick search found this video of someone else experiencing the same problem.: I tried power cycling repeatedly, but it didn’t help. The comment-thread on…
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OctaTrack FIXED with NEW UI-board !
after trying to fix the faulty-switch myself, I settle for buying/installing a whole new a replacement PCB panel for my Elektron OctaTrack.
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Working with drum trigger godfather/innovator Dan Dauz to (try to) improve (one of) his products.
Motivation Since 2005-ish, I’ve had a frustrated love-hate relationship with electronic drum pads. This was even part of the passion for musical interfacing that carried me through grad school, but now I’m finally putting my ideas and tools to test a design that remains dynamic even under hard playing in loud-vibrating environments. Product Tech and…
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Product Review for Future Artist’s MIDI Looper, part 1: “motivation”
German company Future Artists have been developing and advertising a an interesting product, their MIDI Looper. Let’s see what this bug-eyed brand is looking for in their progressive, minimal design. It is a new kind of MIDI sequencer (and cannot record sound directly), that records MIDI Notes and CCs from external gear, and plays it…
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exciting progress and prototype- demos of MIDI gear from German innovators Future Artist
Motivation The more I use and study MIDI (usually in that order), the more I enjoy it. A decade or so ago, it was THE way to streamline synthesis/processing/recording of music; not just because computers were too slow to do all that as raw audio, but also because working in symbolic performance data/notation allowed you new and…