you can download a zip here with the final sequencing. its for a remix competition hosted by beatport here. if you are interested in voting (requires an account), you can vote for mine here.

yep. its that time of year again when i head to amsterdam. i’ve got 13 copies of our tribute soundtracks ep with me that i plan to give out or leave around the city. i’ll be at the melkweg for orbital on friday with at least one or two of them.

i do own translator, and so far its done a good job. i’ll also just be posting the sliced audio for those that aren’t using ableton.

feel free to suggest other formats.

the first live pack is available here: SimulatedStimulation.alp

took about an hour last night in the studio to record some of the sounds off the roland jp8000 for some of the dj tech tools forum members. for the most part the notes are C-1 to C8, but not all are usable. however all start on a C and progress up a half step with each note.

Simulated Stimulation
Early Earthlings
Prime Evil
Thorazine Wave
Bad Juniper
Performance
Dragon Droppings
Bad Juniper (companion)
The Throb
SickFucking+rmx

as usual, if you download, please register and comment. we’d like of like to know who’s pulling them down, especially since the next step is to take all of them and chop them to the individual notes and then set up instruments in simpler, sampler, etc for use.

enjoy!

because sometime shit happens.

its quite troubling though that so many are putting all their bets on apple; a company who is starting to wane from the professional market more and more each year and shifting its focus to consumers. just ask bunim/murray when it comes to video production. additionally arstechnica has a great write up on the topic, though its not all doom and gloom. from my perspective apple has a pretty good track record of EOL’ing things a little earlier than it should (the current march towards ending cdrom/dvd drives in machines), backtracking on former support statements (support for older hardware), and failing to deliver as promised (core midi and audio support in OS X).

now these could be debated, and to a degree some are more anecdotal to my own experience using macs for 20+ years. however i can’t help but think that by buying in to iOS, all these new devices that require one to operate are essentially disposable. think about how quickly after the iPad came out that the iPad 2 was released. what happens when the iPad 3 is released? what happens when the form factor changes and it can no longer dock with these new devices requiring one?

then there are iOS updates, which have moved to being over the air (OTA). what was the last OS X update that didn’t break a wide range of hardware on its initial release? most software manufactures advice against updating to the latest release when it first comes out. what happens when on your way to a gig your iPad gets an OTA and it renders your gear unusable? granted their updates aren’t super frequent, but it still is a risk you don’t have when using non-iOS gear. then there’s the notifications. there you are on stage jamming out and you get an email/twitter/facebook/whatever notification and it ends up on the house PA system. frankly i can’t wait to see all the problems that surface as a result of the marriage between disposable consumer electronics and professional gear. maybe the point is to get that “reoccurring” revenue for their hardware just like apple does.

all this aside, the biggest loss i see for us professionals is the stability. i have never had any of my hardware synths, samplers, effects processors, etc crash on me. some people have experienced it, but those cases are few and far between, and are usually more to do with overheating or power supplies dying.

there are a few new items shown at namm this year that are worth mentioning though:

Arturia’s MiniBrute : the MiniBrute is hands down the best thing released at this year’s namm. 100% fully analog synth. the approach to additive synthesis is great, not to mention the cv out with built in midi to cv converter, audio in that routes through the filter section, and a price tag of $499?!?!? yeah hands down this is just awesome. starts shipping in april (more info)

Nord Drum : it should probably come as no surprise that the virtual analog nord drum makes the list. just love the sounds coming from it, super easy interface, and a mono out makes it a perfect addition to any acoustic or midi drum kit. starts shipping in february for $499(more info)

Smithson Martin KS-1974 : this is the direction i wish all the hardware manufactures went instead of getting into bed with iOS. while not only an absolutely gorgeous piece of gear, you aren’t tied to their hardware. that’s right, you can get the software only for $499 instead of paying $2500 for the hardware. please don’t take that as a slam against the hardware as i’d pick it up in a heart beat if i didn’t already have a touchscreen as big or bigger. that said, i’ll be downloading the beta later today to play with it. (more info)

Livid’s MIDI Omni Modules : livid makes some nice hardware controllers as well as provides the parts for those looking to roll their own custom set ups. personally i’m partial to novation due to automap. now, there’s this rabbit hole known as modulars, and this is why i find these modules interesting. part of my reason of staying away from getting into modulars is that rabbit hole, but also not having a controller built into it. looks like livid might be about to cost me a lot of money. we’ll see though once details are up on their site. for now, we’ve only got the info dj tech tools received. (more info)

you can listen to the remix here and download the stems and my abelton set here (1.2GB). You will likely encounter errors opening it up as i used battery for some of the drum sequencing and an effect using max for live. however the parts are rendered out as a stem. if you register on the site with a valid email, you’ll get notifications in the future about other abelton sets, samples, etc we make available.

happy listening!

should have a choking sun update in the coming week.

having moved to a new house, we’re close to being completely finished getting the studio set back up. suffice it to say its a daunting task when you thinking about moving that much equipment as well as reconfiguring the way it is all connected. the bright side is that we should start being able to put something up at least every other week.