Mastering explained in 44 secs by Robert Henke’s (Monolake/Ableton) computer
Everything Counts
Listening to Construction Time Again, another favorite album. Everything Counts is the obvious choice. However I always thought Pipeline was a really interesting song. Almost like a dirge, very plodding with a strange rhythm. As I write this I realize that I listen to too much music and make too little.
Nothing to report on NAMM, nothing interesting as I see it. I thought the TE tv tray thing might be something cool. Turns out to not be. Other than that it was a dull day. Perhaps tomorrow will prove to be more interesting.
It Begins
NAMM 2012 is in full swing. I of course am sitting at my day job miles away from LA. However, I will be posting comments as announcements are made. Some of them dripping with sarcasm. To start, Waldorf is releasing a reincarnated Pulse, called the Pulse 2.
Its all analog, as is the rage now, and was the rage 20 years ago. I had an original Waldorf Pulse in the mid 90s and I really liked it. It was one of the few synths that had a randomize preset feature. In fact the only other one I know of is the Sequential Circuits Prophet VS so it quite a rare feature. They have added some additional features to the sequel like filter FM and paraphonic voicing so you can probably make it sound like an old school string synth (assuming you REALLY want that).
Nord Drum
Doesn’t that look awesome!!! Its totally impractical for what I do, but I want one nonetheless. I remember when I was a kid in the 80s I used to build fake drum pads out of http://construxion.tripod.com/ and play along with Wang Chung, Thompson Twins and The Cars as those were the bands using Simmons Drum pads. I would have loved to have the setup above in those days. I might have to price check a Nord Drum and some pads and re-live the old days.
Cabaret Voltaire
Listening to a bit of Cabaret Voltaire, one of my longtime favorite bands. Its funny that, for the most part, all I listen to is post-punk and electronic music from the 80s. At least recently. Not only do albums like this bring back all kinds of good memories, they lack that modern sheen that seems to be on every new album. Oh, and its not dubstep.
Bitwig Studio
Several years ago a number of Ableton employees decided to form their own company to make music software. It was revealed this week
As you can see, its a bit of a clone of Live. I have moments of gear lust when shiny new things appear and fortunately for me and my bank account, this one is not yet available. Why I say fortunately is after the initial hype of the release faded (and I didn’t have a chance to buy it), I realized a few things:
1) I have invested a significant amount of time and money over the years in Ableton Live, Suite, M4L and Max licenses and upgrades. Not to mention Reason and other plugins. So I already have far more than I need to make music.
2) I hate the UI. Too dark, cramped, too little visual feedback and way too many knobs for me. Say what you will, visual aesthetics make a difference to me.
3) It appears to be so similar to Live in form and function that I can’t help but think about redundancy.
Those few points are really enough for me to stay away. Still I am a bit curious and if give the opportunity to beta, I might give it a go as I would like to hear how it sounds.
Aside from my internal drama, the community is buzzing about Bitwig. It is very similar to Live. Built by ex-Ableton employees. Unveiled at a turbulent time in Live’s very late release schedule. Its about as exciting as it gets for people like myself who are into that sort of thing. I plan on posting more as things progress. For now, take a look at www.bitwig.com
NAMM 2012
NAMM is coming up on the 19th and I am actually looking forward to it. I haven’t paid much attention for the past couple of years due to the lack of interesting products. However, this year, there are lots of teasers from different manufacturers.
I have moved from Blogger to Tumblr. Not much to see here, but I am working on new music.
