So many things get better with age -- cheese, wine, George Clooney -- but did that Ibanez Blazer Bass really attain some magical quality once it hit the two-decade mark? Crosstalk discusses the liberal use of the "vintage" tag and its implications.
Edirol's new P-10 is an instant video-sampler with a layout that's familiar to anyone who's ever used any of the previous audio samplers by Roland / Boss. To everyone else, I'm guessing it looks like a Gaga-Meter. I also assume that everyone is as obsessed with Ghostbusters as I am.
Jason Donnelly aka DJ Puzzle aka Alfalfa from the "Little Rascals" heads on over to the Akai booth to check out the brand new MPC5000 before his big go-kart race.
I'm a learn-by-doing kinda guy, so when I need to remember the killer beaks that pop into my head from time to time, I just beatbox until I get home. This does not make me very popular with my fellow mass transit commuters. If only there was another way! Oh, hang on. . .
If you're not a big fan of reading things, you're probably not even reading this right now. That's too bad, because inside, we've got some close-ups of the Akai MPC-5000
Akai's MPC5000 makes a huge splash at NAMM. The brand new Music Production Center has all the tools you need to create a track from your first idea all the way to disc.
Remember back in day when Sesame Street was actually fun for parents to watch with their children? Remember back when cookie monster had a serious cookie addiction and there weren't any stage-stealing red muppets running around? Well, then you might want to check out this clip of Herbie Hancock turning children's voices into micro samples.
Offsite Link: Check out the official Fairlight website here.
Sinevibes MPC Recharger is a breath of fresh air for MPC users looking to expand their sound options. It provides 20 new kits and 320 new samples, all of which have never been heard before.
We sit down with the reunited Prototype 909 for an interview with the techno group. Prototype 909 talks about their penchant for using Roland equipment along with some homemade concoctions.
In the last part of Bill Holland's interview with Koop, Oscar and Magnus tell of some of their live sampling secrets. They simply use the on board sampler in Apple Logic and play all of their samples live without any triggering...
In the last video, Warren Harris used his wizardry on the MV-8800 to put together a slammin' beat from scratch. Warren now draws from outside sources to show us chop mode, a feature that looks as easy as pie when Warren...
Offsite Link: Visit Roland's official website here for more information.
After they came all the way from Sweden, Bill Holland caught up with Swedish "swingtronica" masters Koop. Koop talks about making electronic music for the record and the stage, marimba, their latest album "Koop Island,"...
Warren Harris visits us from Roland with the MV-8800 production sampler. After briefly admiring the new look, Warren cuts right to the chase and starts laying down some tracks. It's not as simple as Warren makes it look,...
The MKII label on the Elektron Machinedrum SPS-1UW signifies that some improvements have been added to this machine. Both aesthetics and sound quality get a little boost, and some new features based on user demand should...
Roland's Warren Harris visits Gearwire studios bringing the brand new SP-555 pattern sequencer with him. Watch how easy this box is to use as Warren uses some of the presets and some custom sounds to put together a nice...
Offsite Link: Visit Roland's official website here.
It's nearly fact that gear is most likely to malfunction right before you try to use it as a live show as is the case with this ESI-4000 at Gothicfest. Here, we get a real look at the hectic, behind-the-scenes action during...
Redmatica comes straight from Italy with their targets set on sampling as they introduce Keymap 1.5. While most companies focus on sample playback, Redmatic focuses heavily on sample creation - which would lose its musical...
Offsite Link: Visit Redmatica's official website here.
DJ Mani talks about a grocery list of gear he's used starting with the Akai MPC2000. Mani used this tool to learn production, and since, he's expanded quite a bit, stepping up to Cubase on a PC and then finally switched...
Chiasm's Emileigh Rohn started her band as a creative outlet while in graduate school and has released four CDs (and one download only recording). Her music is electronic, vaguely calls to mind industrial (in the old sense...
For those of you out there using an Electrix Repeater Loop-based Sampler, a new, lighter solution has been offered by Electrix. The Electrix Virtual Repeater Pro offers the same features as the hardware, but in software...
Chiasm, a solo project from Emileigh Rohn, appeared in Detroit in 1997. Rohn was in graduate school at the time and used the recording of her demo as a artistic release--a pressure valve. In 1999 Chiasm was signed to COP...
Offsite Link: For more on Chiasm.
For more on Emu.
This year at Summer NAMM in Austin, Roland unveiled a new model in it's SP line of Samplers; the SP-555. This sampler allows you to take live input and capture loops on the fly, altering them immediately with several...
Offsite Link: Visit the official Roland website: www.rolandus.com
Roland has introduced a new model in the SP series of samplers at Summer NAMM: the SP-555. You have plenty of options for getting your loops into the SP-555: sample using the included line input or phantom-powered mic input,...
The Mystic Underground of Brooklyn, N.Y., is a collaboration between Ben Socci and Vladimir Valette. The latter handles the lyrics and melody and the former the music.
As evident from the fonts on the image to the left, Puremagnetik's P-50 Linear is retro to the maxx. Taking its cue from the Roland D-50 synthesizer, this latest Micropack navigates classic sounds from the Me Decade...
In this final Clavia Nord Wave Video Björn gives us a more complete description of the design and possibilities of this new design. among other updates he first two osillators can feed waves and wavetables into the mix and...
Björn Leander from Clavia gives us a very nice demo of the Nord Wave. From the video we can easily see that instead of the infinite encoders we saw on the Nord Lead 3 Clavia has decided on regular pots that have been on...
In this video Björn Leander of Clavia gives us some preliminary info on the Clavia Nord Wave. Although it is not evident in the name a this time the Wave in in the same family as the Lead series only with a sample and wavetable...