New gear has arrived in the Untz studios. The (in)famous Roland TB-303 Computer Controlled Bass Line synth. It’s a bit weird to program, but all the more fun because of it (an excellent short & sweet howto for programming a TB-303 is on youtube here if you ever wondered how the thing works). Below is a recording of my first simple jam session, of course accompanied by the TR-909 drum box. I love odd-note acid patterns. Enjoy :)
Angel Alanis has released a free album that will make any acid head happy. The album is called “Tribute to Acid ONE” (which raises my hopes of getting many many more of these), and is part of Angel Alanis’s Freedom Series of freely downloadable albums containing music by many different artists, and also his own productions. The album is a wonderful collection of music new and old, remix and original, old school and new school, but all the tracks are made using the beloved TB-303 machine. Who said acid was dead? :) All tracks can be played on the website in a flash player as well as downloaded. Don’t forget to listen to part 1-4 as well. All top quality music.
Props where props are due - I heard about this free album first on Dave Clarke’s radio show White Noise. Dutch techno heads should be able to listen to all episodes of this great weekly, two-hour techno-music-only show HERE: http://weblogs.vpro.nl/whitenoise/. Should also work for visitors outside of .NL.
New gear - or maybe old gear would be more appropriate :) - has been added to the UNTZ studios: the all time techno classic from Roland, the TR-909 drum machine. It integrates well into my Ableton Live setup, it being the master MIDI device. My findings so far: the shuffle setting creates a good groove, the sounds have much more punch than samples, and the 909 drums sit very well in the mix without much processing. Also, the real time instrument parameters are great to tweak the sound in a very direct way. It is true what they say, almost anything you do on the 909 sounds “techno” straight away.
Below is my first preview of a simple track using the TR-909.
Time to put up the first music preview. This track was made back in 2002 together with Rvaggelen in one sitting. I guess this would best be described as tech house… After the long intro there are some sweet vocodered vocals from the ever wonderful Tori Amos.
Korg has put out some very cute (i.e. tiny) USB MIDI controllers a while ago that are worth a mention. It’s a series of very affordable and portable controllers, consisting of:
1) Rotary knob / fader combo
2) Twelve-drumpad controller (like the pads on AKAI samplers)
3) Two-octave piano keyboard
The controllers are small indeed but knowing it’s Korg they can’t be bad. At least they won’t take up much of your desk space :)
Each one of these will only set you back EUR60 max! Looks like a perfect set of kit to include in your laptop carrying bag too.
Click to visit the Korg Nano series website
Also sold online by Thomann Cyberstore
Dutch techno legend Jochem Paap - aka Speedy J - has launched an interesting concept: harvesting sound bits and parts of tracks from producers in the Soundcloud community to use for his upcoming album. An interesting way of using your unfinished tracks as a starting point for new material, anyone who is a member of Soundcloud can send in their material. Soundcloud is open for free registration to all which means basically anyone can compete. The Open Collabs website states that it accepts “[…] synth jams or loops you ended up ditching because they didn’t work, or parts of tracks that you got stuck with […]”. The sample material is all in the techno / ambient / electronic style with the main focus on 4/4 techno. The website states that all material sent in will be treated as raw material, so it might end up different than you intended.
If this sounds interesting to you: signing up is free and easy: just follow both links in this post and follow the instructions within each site. I know that I will definitely send in some material and see if it is accepted and turned into something new or exciting. Should your material be used in the final production it is good to know that you will receive a share of the profits that the Open Collabs album generates.
Some fresh new music is out and I caught it! Almost in time… Robert Babicz has released a nice three track EP called Dark Flower on Audiomatique, a sublabel of Pokerflat. My favourite track of the EP is Joris Voorn’s remix of the track. The main reason for this is the really groovy bassline that the remix has. Robert Babicz’s personal site has some nice DJ sets up for streaming that are well worth listening to.
Click the play icon to listen.
Another great tune missed upon its release: Matthias Meyer’s Reichenbach. Released on the liebe*detail label together with Ndru’s strangely titled track, A Pony Named Clipklop, back in 2005. I first heard Reichenbach in James Holden’s DJ set at Doornroosje and was pretty excited to find out what it was called. Thanks, Google! Anyway, a pretty minimal track that starts with only a few basic sounds plus a short-delay transformed stab then has some sweepy synth sounds added halfway to really get it going. Upbeat and of course with that lovely untz to it. Click the play icon to listen.
A well known issue for anyone that got DJ mix tapes from a friend of a friend back when audio cassettes were a popular medium: what the **** is the name of that banging track? With the rise of the interwebs there’s a few places that assist anyone who knows how to make a sound clip in finding the track again in digital form or in vinyl / CD. Discogs has its famous Track ID Forum, and TuneID have an entire website up just for the purpose of finding out what the title of a tune is. Both are great places to go when desperate for finding music or to reminisce over the good old days of techno/house - or whatever your poison is - listening to all the sound clips. Sometimes you can even find music without asking because someone else posted their favourite tune that also happens to be one of your beloved oldskool “choons”. Today’s find in the category How on Earth Could You Not Know This One: Code 6 aka Joey Beltram - Quad I. Click the play icon to listen.
Slightly under a year ago some great music was released and I completely missed it (no surprise there). Synclair’s track “Synclair” was remixed by a few artists who did a wonderful job but one remix really works for me: Cylob’s (whose weblog can be found here). First heard in a DJ set by James Holden @ Tivoli de Helling, Utrecht, Netherlands and instantly recognized when finally finding out the track’s name. This is a melancholic/dreamy, synthy, bit Italo-ey, bit IDM dancefloor tune. Click the play icon to listen.