Crosstalk 38: Bashing Something That Deserves It -- Guitar Hero

February 11, 2008
Crosstalk Best Of NAMM

Crosstalk returns from Los Angeles in its new audio podcast format. Bill Holland is joined by Owen O'Malley, and special guest Liz McLean Knight. Meet Liz and hear the Crosstalk picks for the best and worst things at Winter NAMM 2008.

Also, guess which new pieces of gear have iPod docks. If you guessed "all of them," you might have won a prize.

Presenter: Bill Holland, Gearwire
Location: Chicago, IL

Crosstalk 51, Full Episode: Shocking Facts About Slash Revealed
Crosstalk 51, Part 3: Power-Tube Shootout! Or Valve! Whatever!
Crosstalk 51, Part 2: So, How Much Ya Tweakbench?
Crosstalk 51, Part 1: A Pickup By Any Other Name . . .
Martin 00-28 Eric Clapton, Now In Madagascarian And / Or Carpathian Flavors!
C-Thru Music Axis: Keyboards? Phooey! The Future Is In Hexagons!
Samson StudioDock: What Don't iPods Connect To Nowadays?
Electro-Harmonix Bass Big Muff: Have You Seen The Muff In, Man?
Focusrite Liquid Saffire 56 Will Astound You With All Those Ins And Outs
Focusrite Forte4Free Campaign: Buy One Take One Becomes A Historic Event
Focusrite Saffire PRO 24 And Saffire Mix Control Software Play Good Cop / Good Cop With Your Recording Projects
Focusrite New Compression and EQ Emulations for Liquid Mix: Vintage Legendary Mixes For Today's Production Requirements
Korg Kaptivator Lights Up The Show For IAMX
Korg D888 Is A Little Magic Secret Chris Corner Doesn't Want You To Know About
Korg AudioGate Version 2.0 For MR-Series Recorders: "So Easy, Even You Can Do It," Says Needlessly Belligerent Man
Korg DTR-1000 Rackmount Digital Tuner Makes a Hard Task a Little Less Hard for Kylesa
Percussa Urbano Lounge: Cubes Get Combinated
Percussa Sound Pack 1: One Loop Collection, On The Rocks
Percussa Midi Bridge Software: AudioCubes Software Gets Updated
Percussa AudioCubes: DJ Puzzle Gets A Belgian Package
Gibson Robot Guitar: Heck Yes, We Got Our Hands On One
Taylor Build to Order Program Is Way Better Than A Zwinky
Gibson Guitars, Fender Guitars And More: It's Never Too Late To Start Pretending
Obbligato Turnstyle: NO BATTERIES REQUIRED!
Rain Recording Solstice Dragon Edition: Produce Video Game Music That Would Have Made Billy and Jimmy Lee Weep
BIAS SoundSoap 2: Audio Restoration Just Got Rerestorated
SoundLib G-Player Giga Sample Player Never Forgets
Aegis Sonix: Experimenting Around With 1984
McDSP Retro Recorder: Retro Look, Retro Functionality, Digital Advancement
The Schneider Disc Used For Live Stereo Recording By Matt Lane And Keith Saunders
Drum Tracking At Gunpoint Recording Studios: Just Four Mics -- Yes It Can Be Done!
SPL Auditor, SPL Frontliner And SPL Cabulator Among New SPL Products At Musikmesse

I feel like you guys are

By: Anonymous Coward

I feel like you guys are gettin it together! Liz is great. Mp3 is better than a video. Thank god you got rid of Britton and Henry!!! Nice Job Bill!!!!

Mon, 2008-02-11 23:45

thanks, man

By: bholland

Why show what we look like, when nothing is really happening on video? I think we'll bring back the video once we start actually doing things with products on screen.

Tue, 2008-02-12 12:13

a quick correction!

By: bholland

The Audiocubes are going for 599 EUR for four, and 349 EUR for a pair. That's probably close to the estimate I gave in crosstalk, given the current state of the USD. I wanted to get the correct info up there, however.

Tue, 2008-02-12 12:58

FYI, the table you talked

By: Anonymous Coward

FYI, the table you talked about is called the ReacTable, and is a project of the University of Barcelona. So yeah, normal it's not at NAMM, they don't sell it...

Tue, 2008-02-12 04:13

I figured

By: bholland

someday...

Tue, 2008-02-12 12:02

bill you WOULD like the

By: Anonymous Coward

bill you WOULD like the kaossilator! What a cheesy piece of shit! The Kaossilator not Bill.

Tue, 2008-02-12 10:41

defending the kaoscillator for what it is...

By: bholland

For starters...yes, I love cheese. Especially Gouda. and Miami Bass. As for the Kaoscillator...

It's not as serious as most synths and samplers, but it's not really meant to be a revolution in synthesis. I mean, what else is a little bigger than an ipod, and can do all that? It's just a good piece of compact gear to carry with you for adding sounds to a set on the fly. I'm a big fan of the Kaoss pad, as it can help a lot with adding quick effects to a live PA.

Yes, it's RCA out, but that's perfect for a playing a set in Ableton or Serato where you are in a booth the size of a New York apartment closet. Moreso if you have to fit a laptop, controller, control vinyl on 2 decks, and the handful of pint glasses left in the booth. Realistically, you want something small.

The other thing to consider is the performance angle. The hardest thing about laptop sets is how little there is for the audience to watch. There is a reason that a live analog PA still means something. I played with Atomic Babies this past weekend, and there was a group crowded around them to watch what they were doing.

This performance angle is lost in a lot of laptop sets, and the new challenge is figuring out how to work around that. One alternative is the one taken by a handful of producers involving multimedia. DJ Spooky, for example, has started mixing video into his sets, while Tycho mixes video abstractions in sync with his live PAs. Another alternative is adding outboard gear.

The Kaoscillator is an extremely cheap way to add something to your set while not crowding the booth. Yeah, it's not a 909 or a 303, but it's not really meant to be.

On the high end, I like the new Kurzweil PC3X. I think it's one of the better-sounding, and easier edited, workstations to come out in a while. I'm not going to be buying one, though, because I need things that are easier to carry into a club (or on a plane)

Tue, 2008-02-12 12:02

thank god that stupid ass

By: Anonymous Coward

thank god that stupid ass henry is offa here

Mon, 2008-02-18 16:34

Whence the haters?

By: ghasse

I guess I just don't get it. If you feel there is an issue with somebody's information, or if you want to take on an opinion, please go right ahead. Random flaming isn't really helping anyone.

Tue, 2008-02-19 11:38

There is a portable player that plays lossless audio...

By: Anonymous Coward

It's called an iPod. You are aware that you can put uncompressed aiff files on an iPod and play them, right? If you find mp4 or mp3s or apple lossless to be to much of a comprimised, then don't buy or use those files. Buy cds and bring them into your iPod (or Zune or whatever). Blaming that choice to the iPod makes no sense at all.

Sat, 2008-02-23 08:04

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