Experimental Musician and Multimedia Artist
I use my Xkey 25 Air pretty much every day in the studio. No matter what state my studio wiring is in, I can just turn this bad boy on and I've got velocity, pressure, mod wheel, pitch bend and octave shifts at my fingertips. Because it's so compact with no knobs to snap off... Continue Reading →
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,... Continue Reading →
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,... Continue Reading →
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... Continue Reading →
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... Continue Reading →
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... Continue Reading →
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 one of... Continue Reading →
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 =... Continue Reading →
Better Support For Wacom Tablets in Live 8.0.2 For the past year, I’ve been using a Wacom Bamboo tablet as an alternative input device for a mouse. It works well with VSTs. However, in Ableton Live, the pen stroke length to move a knob through it’s entire range of values is too short. In the... Continue Reading →
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... Continue Reading →
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... Continue Reading →
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.... Continue Reading →
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... Continue Reading →
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... Continue Reading →
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... Continue Reading →
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... Continue Reading →
