Category: Midi/USB Keyboards & Controllers
-
Madrona Labs Soundplane West Coast Demo Tour Starts Tomorrow
After already presenting Soundplan at Expo '74 in NY, Madrona Labs has set off on the west coast leg of their tour. I pulled this schedule from the news section of their web site. Robotspeak, San Francisco, Saturday Nov 5, 4pm CNMAT, U C Berkeley, Monday Nov 7, 2pm UCSB, Media Arts and Technology Seminar,…
-
Korg microKEY Hands-On Review
I received a Korg microKEY USB powered as a gift over the holidays – woot! Here is a hands-on review. Size It’s bigger than I expected. Here are some shots giving you some perspective. Here it is when compared to an Akai LP2K25. Here it is compared to my Novation Remote SL 25. And finally,…
-
Overview and Time-Lapse Video of My Ableton Live Laptop Music Rig + Controllers
Over the years I’ve played hundreds of shows as a keyboardist using my trusty Apex column with various hardware synths. In late 2009 I had a vision to create a new Ableton Live laptop-centric rig using only virtual synths running in Live. While I wanted to play some keys, I was really excited to add…
-
Modulate This! – Best of 2009 Electronic Music Tech
Despite the economic downturn, 2009 was thankfully a huge year when it came to new technology for electronic music artists. Rather than try and cover every significant release, I’ll instead list some of my favorite products and notable trends. The Year of Ableton What a big year for Ableton. Live 8 with great new features…
-
Hands-On with the Tenori-On: First Impressions + Integration with Ableton Live
Now that REBOOT has released, I’m gearing up to perform these songs live. One of my goals it to make the performances more visually interesting, help the audience connect with what I’m doing musically, and not spend an entire set hunched over a laptop. I just added a Tenori-On White to my rig to help…
-
My Studio Setup: 1 Laptop/3 Configurations + Akai APC40 Eye Candy
Revised 7-3-2009, changes are in red. For over two years I've been completely laptop based and loving it. Here are some notes on the three configurations I run with my latpop. First, I'm running an HP DV6500T running Vista, Ableton Live 8 Suite, and various vsts (Alchemy,Sylenth1,NI Massive/Absynth 4,Gladiator 2,Dimension Pro, Morphine…) I run in…
-
Video Tutorial: Ableton Live 8 + APC40 + Remote SL Controllerism
I’m the proud owner of the new Akai APC40. I’ve already integrated it into my workflow along with my Novation Remote SL. I’ve put together a video of how I’m using these controllers with Live 8. Watch the video on YouTube: <img style="BORDER-TOP-STYLE: none; BORDER-RIGHT-STYLE: none; BORDER-LEFT-STYLE: none; BORDER-BOTTOM-STYLE: none" alt="" src="http://newecho.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451cae869e201156fc42ea7970c-pi" onload="var downlevelDiv =…
-
Videos of Jordan Rudess and His Korg nanoKEY
Over the holidays I picked up a Korg nanoKey and nanoKONTROL. I was skeptical at first but I have to say that I use them all the time – especially when on the go or when making music with a laptop on the couch. The build quality is no where near what you’d see on…
-
Sonic State Behind the Scenes Video – Howard Jones, Robbie Bronnimann, and Laura Clapp On Tour in Australia
I found this series of vides via pedx1ng’s post on the Ableton Live forum, who found it on Matrixsynth. These videos by Sonic State cover Howard Jone's tour in Australia. I've re-blogged them here with annotation. I've always liked Howard Jones's music and the fact that he's not all about nostalgia but is still writing…
-
Novation Automap 3 Pro Unboxing and Time Saving Installation Notes
I blogged earlier about the release of Novation’s Automap 3. I just purchased the Pro edition and thought I’d share my notes on the install. Ok, it’s all software, but the term Unboxing still seems to fit. I took some wrong turns along the way so I hope these notes will save you some time.…
-
Novation Automap 3 Is Now Available
Automap 3 was announced at Winter NAMM 2009 and is now available. As of this release there are now 2 versions, free and pay. I’ve pasted details in from the Automap 3 Product page below. For me the Pro version seems the most compelling as it includes key stroke assignments and fully Auto-mappable XY…
-
Modulate This! – Best Products of 2008 for Electronic Musicians
Hope you all are having a restful holiday season. I continuously strive for the leanest rig that will give me the best results. In this post I’ll offer a list products that make up the core of my rig. Consider this my “If I was stranded on a desert island” list for 2008. Note that…
-
Use Your KORG USB Compatible Synths as Controllers on Vista
The latest version of Korg's midi driver for windows, version 1.1.1, is compatible with Windows Vista. This means you can use Korg hardware with USB capability as controller to drive your DAW or virtual instruments. On a side note, I've been running Vista for over a year on my music production laptop and have almost…
-
Video Overview of The Sonar V-STUDIO 700
Cakewalk has announced Sonar V-Studio 700. Here is a blurb from the press release. "SONAR V-Studio 700 matches SONAR 8 Producer with the VS-700C V-Studio Console multifunction control surface and VS-700R V-Studio I/O audio interface, which includes an onboard Roland Fantom VS Hardware synthesizer. The VS-700C V-Studio Console provides fast and comprehensive hands-on access to…
-
Novaton Music Automap 2.0 Now Available for ReMote users
Automap Universal 2.0 is now available for Remote and Remote Compact. Get the scoop here.