Results for Tom Shear

Some interesting things I found recently:

# Interview, Workspace Tour: Alessandro Cortini’s SONOIO Album and Synth

Peter Kirn talks to Alessandro Cortini:

Call it cable addiction. Italian-born musician Alessandro Cortini, known for his live keyboard work with Nine Inch Nails, retreated into the studio with classic and contemporary Buchla modular synths to make “SONOIO.” Guided by his uniquely personal compositional style, he was able to wrangle that mess of chords and layers of analog sound into a genuine collection of beautifully-written songs, stacked high with Buchla timbral goodness.

Check some tracks from Alessandro’s new album below.

# Review: Korg Monotron

Tom Shear has had some time with the Monotron and shares his thoughts.

Whether or not the Monotron is for you really depends on your expectations. I've already outlined what it does best and if that sounds appealing to you, I can recommend you just place your order and get one now. You'll have an amazing amount of fun with this thing. If you're looking for a budget MS-20 to blast out some wall shaking basslines or other melodic bits, you're probably going to be disappointed.

Tom has also posted a free sample pack with some percussion sounds, sweeps, shrieks, and some tonal sounds from the Monotron. Get them here.

# Good-looking Ikeahacked speakers

From Make: Online

Inspired by the classic spherical speaker array Instructable from user mzed, Charles Visnic created these cool wireless speakers by transplanting the guts of a pair of RocketFish speakers into some birch bowls from Ikea, mounted rim-to-rim.

Some interesting things I found recently:

# YouTube – Beardyman – Live in the Underbelly: The Full show

Gotta love Beardyman! via Waveformless

# iPhone Beats and Bass, Free This Week, More Fun with Mic Input on iOS

Peter Kirn writes:

Ah, Mondays. If you’re looking for a way to brighten your work week and you’ve got an iPod touch or iPhone you can drop into your pocket, iOS music and audio developer Pulse Code tells us they’ve made four of its apps free for this week only, through August 8. That includes BtBx [iTunes], a simple and fun drum machine, DB-303, a simulation of the Roland TB-303 bass line synth and a particular favorite of pocket iPhone musicians, as well as a couple of fun toys – a robot tone synth and sound effects maker called Android FX and a text-to-speech “robot comedian.” These will all run on iPad, too, of course, though none has yet been adapted to iPad’s native resolution.

Some interesting things I found recently:

# Ean Golden’s 10 Minute Mini-Set

Over the past few years, we have shown everyone a fair number of controllerism tricks and techniques on this site. Through that time, everyone has consistently expressed a desire to see them used in the context of a real dj set. While it’s not realistic to beat juggle for 30 minutes and keep a dance floor rocking it IS realistic to sprinkle the mix with some amazingly fun routines. In the video above I condense a 30 minute set into 10 minutes of quick mixes that use controllerism as a tool for creative transitions.

Read on for the full 20 minute mix, and a contest in which you can win the midi-fighter controllers.

# mk: All New monome Kit Improves on Original; Q+A with Creator Brian Crabtree

Peter Kirn at Create Digital Music writes:

Open hardware means the ability to create exactly what you want. But it doesn’t have to intimidate the newcomer – not so long as you’re up for a project and a little creativity. The monome grid controller, long a sensation with digital musicians, finally sees a major update in its kit version. The “kit” isn’t built from scratch; instead, it includes the major components largely pre-assembled. A US$60 logic board contains the brain and USB port, with all surface-mount soldering done for you. (You don’t even have to upload firmware to make it run). A $40 driver operates the grid. $120 buys you the main guts – just add LEDs yourself (allowing you to pick a color) – and put the grid and pads into a housing.

Pre-orders july 16. shipping late july. More info at monome.org

Some interesting things I found recently:

# NXT-606 Lego Drum Machine

Peter Cocteau wrote in to let us know about his real LEGO drum machine that will make you dance !!!

I’ ve just put online my LEGO drum machine’s video. I’ ve made this MOC in August 2008.

The NXT-606 is a monophonic sample based drum machine with 24 percussion and fx sounds.

You can download the NXT-606 program from the nxtasy.org forums

# World Percussion Preview – Free Download!

The Loop Loft is offering some free percussion samples.

We're currently putting the finishing touches on our next major release at The Loop Loft, "World Percussion Loops", and we wanted to give you a sneak peek (or listen) of what we think is one of our greatest packs to date. Loaded full of a wide mix of ethnic percussion, including cajons, udu drums, frame drums and a variety of shakers, this loop pack is a must-have for anyone looking to round out their percussion library with authentic sounds and grooves.

Download available in AIFF, REX2, and Wav formats.

# Sample Fodder: ZX Spectrum Games In Your Browser

Need 8bit sounds? Tom Shear at Waveformless has a good tip:

In need of some stylish 8-bit chip sounds, but don’t have any of the old classic machines on hand to sample? No problem! zxspectrum.net is an online emulation of the old Sinclair ZX Spectrum computer complete with a huge selection of games to choose from. Load up Audio Hijack or any other program that lets you record a computer’s audio, fire up your browser, and before you know it, you’ll have a whole ton of classic 8-bit sounds ready to be edited into your own custom sample kits.

Some interesting things I found recently:

# Beatfly

Beatfly is a small illuminating blimp for entertainment. Its light and movement can be controlled via various interfaces such as MIDI controller, iPhone multi-touch interface, Flash interface on a web site, computer keyboard, mobile phones and voice, and music. It flies, filling the space with colorful light, producing diverse styles of performance in the air.

A limited number of Beatfly DIY kits are available to purchase for $65 USD. The kit includes a soldered circuit board, motors, propellers, structures, screws, and balloon. Size of the inflated balloon is about 110cm * 40cm * 80cm. You need some additional electronic parts (Arduino, XBees, Battery, etc.) and helium gas.

# Looking Beyond MIDI, What’s the Best Way to Represent Musical Notes Digitally?

Excellent article by Peter Kirn of Create Digital Music:

The history of music and the history of music notation are closely intertwined. Now, digital languages for communicating musical ideas between devices, users, and software, and storing and reproducing those ideas, take on the role notation alone once did.

Notation has always been more than just a way of telling musicians what to do. (Any composer will quickly tell you as much.) Notation is a model by which we think about music, one so ingrained that even people who can’t read music are impacted by the way scores shape musical practice.

# The AIR Users Blog Bargain Basement

The Bargain Basement at the AIR Users Blog is an excellent resource for getting some plug-ins on the cheap.

The AIR Users Blog has teamed up with sellers to offer plug-ins and soon hardware with massive savings. What you get are:

• low prices, in most cases insanely low!
• unrivalled support.
• free training videos and content.
• the protection of Paypal should you have any issue with your purchase.

# Alberto Balsam – Steel Version

"Alberto Balsam" by Aphex Twin Arranged by Ben Wallace for the CCM Steel Band June 2010.

# Paper and conductive ink piano

From Make: Online:

Takashi Kondo of Ogaki, Japan, created this amazing foldable paper piano printed with conductive ink and embedded with an ATmega328. I'd love to see a video of this creation in action, as well as some more details of its creation — like, where is it getting its power?

Some interesting things I found recently:

# Eigenharp Alpha unboxing – EigenZone

Geert Bevin writes:

Faithful to my Eigenharp Pico unboxing video, I also recorded one right after I received my Eigenharp Alpha. I hope you like it!

Until now I haven’t been able to find an unboxing video that showed what I personally always wanted to see about the Alpha and its accessories. I hope this video satisfies the drool-lust of people like me now ;-)

# Dreams of a Musical Future: Digitópia Winners’ Wondrous Creations; One Will Be Real

Peter Kirn at Create Digital Music writes:

What if you could have any musical technology you wanted – if you had only to imagine something, and it appeared? That was the somewhat insane notion behind the Dreams Competition CDM organized with Rui Penha of Casa Da Musica’s Digitópia research and education program in Porto, Portugal. Earlier this week, Rui and I sat down on the banks of Porto’s famed Douro River with Paulo Maria Rodrigues to pour through stacks of imaginary instruments. Some proposals read like wish lists composed to Santa Claus. Others included exquisite renderings, mock-ups, and even video that made them into serious, near-finished product designs. In the end, we attempted to choose the ideas that seemed the most surprising and original, including a winner that – with some limitation of its scope – would be feasible to actually build.

Far from just being idle fantasy, the winner will be realized by a team of developers as an open-source, free project. And I suspect some of the other entries may yield real tools, too. The line-up offers plenty of indications of what matters to people, and what’s possible. Here are some of our favorite entries out of an impressively high-quality bunch, plus, of course, our winners and the grand-prize selection that will inspire a real project.

Jonas the Plugexpert – Ondervlak

Lovely compilation of tunes, including Ik mis je, the track that won 1^st in the first rekkerd.org sample remix contest.

Richard writes:

This album mix is a selection out of my relatively slower attempts at music (<140 bpm) created between 2005 – 2010, with the exception of ‘Kontje’ which was made in 2002.

The album is available as a free download under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 license.

# Boss pedal mouse

From MusicRadar:

As you can see, it's based on Boss's perennially popular DS-1 distortion pedal, with the 'Tone' and 'Dist' knobs operating as the left and right mouse buttons. There's also a scroll wheel on the side and the 'check' L.E.D. lights up when it's plugged in!

Unfortunately it doesn't work as an actual distortion pedal, but that's probably a good thing, because it's made out of plastic and it would be crumpled by our huge ROCK feet.