Modularus Uber Alles

It's easy to get sucked into the world of the modular synthesizer. I find that unlike the music one makes with many other electric and electronic instruments, one has a very active duel role as listener and creator.

I sometimes drift to sleep having thoughts of wires and dream systems that are often seemingly as close as being just behind the next paycheck...

"I wonder how many Blacet Dark Star Chaos modules is necessary to achieve a full patchable arcade of overkill." I actually think this kind of thing.

Blacet has been a long standing provider of interesting and good sounding modules. Some like the afore mentioned DSC have become discontinued and coveted. Others still in production are compared quite favorably to more expensive competitors.

Cynthia Webster has her well acclaimed Zero Oscillator and Peter Grenader has his PlanB model 15 many of us are still waiting for the new oscillator from Livewire looks really cool. I think 2 of each would probably do the trick.

A lot of people seem to think that designer Mike Brown is underestimating how long it will take to get it into the market.

The same prediction seems to be made about every designer with the exception of Dieter Doepfer he is known to deliver pretty regularly.

On the other end of the spectrum Wiard flies it's freak flag and I love getting weird with them. I do feel that I'm about a hand full of additional modules away from maximum basics.

It's hard not to get dragged in to the bigger is better fantasy. In fact it's almost pointless to avoid it. Modular is mean to be big and complex.

Max 5, AES and upward.

I'm going to the AES convention this year, under disguise of course. It's funny to go since I have in many ways stopped being on the same page as most manufacturers and it's been a headache since the late 90's to see what kind of crap the big boys roll out.

Don't get me wrong. I love to get schwag and talk gibberish to my fellow audio people but fuck if shit hasn't gone in the wrong direction for quite a while.

For what it's worth I couldn't have picked a better year to take a fist full of Advil and go. My dear friend Alan is going to be at the Tascam booth showing off his Gigasampler chops and of David Zicarelli's has just announced Max 5 which is an important release for Cycling74 and Max/MSP users.

I remember talking to David on the eve of the MSP release and getting personal computer advice because this release was the reason that I moved from a 68 machine to a PPC Mac. I would have dragged that change out for God knows how long otherwise if it hadn't been for Max/MSP

I suspect the release of Max 5 will probably be the reason that I need to finally buy a new computer. Hell, I already have the wii controller ready to go.

Maybe AES will not suck so bad. Maybe it will convince me that I really need a Tenori On.

So much porn

Trying to write about The Wiard is not easy without falling into dumb lines which sound more like porno then descriptions of a musical instrument.

I will have to state first that the excellent designs warrant the exclusivity of it's price tag, which isn't bad when you count out each modules function. I know people who won't buy boutique audio products because they'd rather spend money on vintage stuff that isn't as good either in sound or in construction.

Up and running I was able to get a wide range of moving sounds that creep along and change timing in ways that I haven't been able to pull off on other gear. The only short coming I could come up with was that two of the modules were much older and didn't include the in/out arrows that are on everything else.

After several mind boggling patches that were complex and sounded great I pulled the patch chords and experimented with the modules in more traditional ways. each one out performed in it's expected purpose's and excelled in unexpected ways.

The Wiard isn't for everyone, if you want an organ or a piano move along. This instrument is probably a great choice for people who want to carve out their own sound and are looking for something that can take them to space.

wii are now ready to continue

Not that I'm a laptop performer by any means but I am a Max/MSP user and that makes me curious about stuff like the wii remote. Ideally, I would be using it in a situation where my laptop was handling certain functions and was more or less off to the side. But fuck I just love alternative controllers anyway.

no studio

It's been about 5 months since I packed up my gear. Longer since I stopped operations.

Having a private or public studio space is something I miss. Although I continue to create music I keep feeling like I'm in a holding pattern in this part of my life.

I think about getting an office or sharing studio space with either a band or someone in the business who I know and trust.

This time away has made me rethink some issues in workspace design and even recording format.

I've been pushed into this weird space of just being a musician and less of a technician (except when people call for advice). I like just being the artist, whether that is a clearly defined job or not, it's still much more of who I am am and how I function then anything else.

I hope I make some changes soon.

EML 101 fixed!

Thanks to Mike Bucki my EML 101 is back and it sounds great.

It still looks fuckin' ghetto but there isn't too much that I can do about that besides buying a nice handle for it. Sorry Mike, I can't be rockin' the rope.

OT: Rock $ Roll placement

Nobody thought that anyone could out do Guns & Roses in terms of greed. When the band released two albums on the same day instead of a double album and claimed this would save their fans money we on the outside laughed at the giant grunt of stupidity. No one from the underground music world would fuck their fans like that.

Flash forward...

Smashing Pumpkins has gone above and beyond by signing on for 4 different version of their new album. Each one has a "bonus" song (read an extra song that wasn't good enough) and all "special" versions of the CD will be sold by big chain stores and iTunes (which isn't any different) No special version for the indy shops, unless they are the ones who will get the vinyl version which will probably be at a fair number of places any way.

As I skimmed forums looking for reaction from the bands audience I could see a lot of people were pissed off, few were surprised. I guess when a band I like pulls a stunt, like most of The Sex Pistols branded output I just laugh it off and go "good one guys" so who am I to cast a stone?

Okay, now let's play devil's advocate...

People want their favorite musicians to keep making music and love to stay in denial that their pop stars really have day jobs. So what should a working musician do? They can either make money doing music or they can cop to having a straight job. Tough call.

A second point that some people may not have thought of... Collectors live variations on releases. Color vinyl, etc.

So only a real fan can decide what they feel is a rip off. I can't comment with any authority on Guns & Roses or Smashing Pumpkins, they really aren't bands I listen to. I can say that lot's of Punk bands have been returning in many ways, some just for the cash.

DVD Part 4 and counting

Today Alan convinced me that I had to face my fears and buy a spool of disk. I headed over the the local electronics discount place then the office supply place when the first had almost no selection.

From what I had read Sony disks were considered safe, good and generally available so I bought a 50 pack of their AccuCORE DVD-R's and headed to the testing ground.

I put together a folder that weighed in at 4.0 Gigs and dropped it in Toast. I choice burning speed as "best", began the process and waited. At the 1 second left mark, a write error appeared and Toast crashed.

Hmmm... Maybe it's something I did?

I restarted the computer and began the next burn, this time at "2x", I waited and watched and Guess what happened...

As pissed off as I was I figured the drive it's self was most likely fucked and I decided I should consider cutting my losses, pull the hard drive out and wack the fucking computer with my chain mace, which my wife apparently hid.

I networked the soon to be destroyed eMac with my Mirror Door and transferred the test folder.

Next I happily popped in a fresh disk and hit all systems are go. I leaned back in my chair and felt pretty satisfied. I imagined what I could do with the eMac's carcass to ensure it's total suffering. As the burn came to an end the same error notice appeared, crashed Toast and made me see blood red.

I now began to wonder whether these drives didn't like the dyes being used on the DVDs. I put in a CD-R and burned it on the eMac, I did another I verified that they matched the original files... 100% fine.

FUCK!!!!!

I'm now going to research compatibility issues with DVD-R brands while I debate buying another hard drive and returning this batch of disks.

Microsoft's newest toy

Having money doesn't always dictate one has taste.
This is a instance where Microsoft made a good buy on the technology market and may get to look slick for more then a minute.

As an Apple user, I am impressed.

fuck me with a gear slut artist brush

After years of back and forth with various people associated with The Brothers Baschet, one can actually order instruments in a semi clear manner. Of course if you want the good stuff you are going to have to suffer through a trip to France.

Check this site and drool. I want a set of everything in fucking D-E-L-U-X-E!