Results for Amon Tobin

I got hooked on music from the Ninja Tune record label back in the mid nineties. DJ Food, Funki Porcini, Amon Tobin, Vadim… Just a few of the artists that got me excited about music in ways I hadn’t experienced before.

Ninja Tune was founded by Jonathan More and Matt Black, the guys behind the most excellent Solid Steel radio show. As electronic music duo Coldcut they have hundreds of releases and remixes on their name.

If you’ve never heard of Coldcut you can read up on Jon and Matt on their wiki page.

With Sound Science Coldcut offers a collection of quality sounds similar to the ones found in their own recordings.

This exclusive sample pack produced for Loopmasters by Matt and Jon themselves features a huge collection of previously unheard and unreleased material which is sure to grace many future hit records through genres such as Hip Hop, Breaks, House and Drum and Bass. A true skeleton key of sound, the loops and samples are a must for every serious music producers collection.

I’m not sure how to best describe the Coldcut sound, but I know it has to do with head bobbing. Funky breakbeats, jazzy bass, high energy synth stabs, groovy melodic samples… mix it all up in a blender and you know it will sound delicious.

What do you get?

Sound Science includes over 350 loops in both Wav and Rex formats, almost 300 single shot sounds, and 45 patches in various popular sampler formats.

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Audio production software has come a long way. Where as in the past one would typically use a number of traditional instruments, synthesizers, drum machines, mixing panels, etc., software has opened the door for many home studio musicians to produce music on a budget.

Although you could easily get along using software exclusively, you may still want to use a controller when recording music, so you can actually “play it” instead of programming everything.

Native Instruments has recently introduced Maschine, a powerful combination of software and hardware, or as they put it, a complete Groove Production Studio.

MASCHINE combines the flexibility of computer-based music production with the ease of a groove box into one powerful creative tool. Utilizing onboard samples or your own audio files, MASCHINE’s symbiosis of hardware and software not only ensures a fast and fun workflow, but lets you easily turn your ideas into professional productions.

So let’s take a looks at what this Maschine is all about!

Where’s the installation disk?

I generally don’t read manuals anyway, but Native Instruments doesn’t encourage me much either. I open the box and the first thing I see is this lovely control surface. All I can think is “hook it up man, let’s get going!”

I am a long time Windows user though, so I know better than to just hook up anything USB without checking for drivers first. The installation disc was all the way in the bottom of the box, so I almost missed it.

The installation of the drivers and Maschine software was a breeze; it just takes a while to copy all the content from the DVD. After authorizing Maschine in the Service Center, I figured it was a good idea to download the latest update as well. All set to go, let’s see what we have here!

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YuriCDM, a collaboration between CDM and Yuri’s Night Bay Area, has posted exclusive mixes of two artists who played at Yuri’s Night Bay Area last weekend.

Amon Tobin @ Yuri’s Night – image by Scott Beale / Laughing Squid

Amon Tobin Yuri’s Night mix

Having covered CDs, vinyl, and video games, a lot of Tobin’s work is currently focused on live music. He’s shared this Chicago mix from January for the site here. “DJ mix” suggests that this is more like the boring, DJ texting on his cellphone fare we’ve had to live with in certain venues lately. I think, as usual, it sounds more like Amon come back from space.

Check Amon Tobin’s website for more information the man and his works.

Deru @ Yuri’s Night – image by JasonUnbound

Deru’s Free Mix

Deru, aka Los Angeles-based IDM electronicator Benjamin Wynn, is playing Yuri’s Night Bay Area coming off of an injury — a repetitive stress injury. (Seriously.) And little wonder: laptop artists have some serious keying and mousing to do under the best of circumstances, and Deru pushes his computer to self-described cyborg-like technological detail.

Visit Deru @ MySpace for more info.

Keep an eye on the YuriCDM site for for video and more.