Fireworks in May?

For fans of vocoders (I know, an acquired taste) I have posted a new cover of firework on soundcloud.. http://soundcloud.com/krakli-software/firework-vocoder

I actually believe, like or loathe ms. Perry, firework is a fantastically constructed pop song..

Plugin Boutique, New Service..

Loopmasters launch new webstore dedicated to selling music plugins! 

The Pluginboutique <http://www.pluginboutique.com> )  is a brand new venture from the team atLoopmasters <http://www.loopmasters.com> )  which is dedicated to selling Instruments, Effects and Studio Tools from leading music software companies worldwide. It is one of the very first sites to offer this service all in one place.

The website was designed from the ground up to provide a custom solution to sell downloadable products such as Soft Synths, Music Plugins, Studio Effects and Synth Presets – and launches with some great names already involved including Fxpansion, Ohm Force, Flux, PSP, D16, Sinevibes, Waves, Sonic Charge and G-Sonique alongside many others.

The website features product ratings, instant download and authorisation, a service to ensure all your plugins are up to date, one login to see all your plugins from different manufacturers, free plugins, trial versions, and a virtual cash scheme which rewards you with each purchase.

Matt Pelling, Director comments “With such a fantastic amount of Digital Music Software currently available, we felt we could use our experience and knowledge in this sector to create a great looking website where all the best products could be easily compared, so producers can research, purchase and download the best audio plugins for their projects, and start using them immediately”.

As an introductory offer all first time purchasers at  <http://www.pluginboutique.com>   will get a Free Sample CD from Loopmasters sent to them. Plus until the end of May every additional £100 you spend entitles you toanother free Sample CD. 
To claim your free samples simply leave a comment on the Pluginboutique facebook page <http://www.facebook.com/pages/Plugin-Boutique/228032207257761>  with your order number and the type of music you produce – your mystery sample CD/s will arrive in the post!

Me and Meeblip... The Full story!!

For theose that don't know Meeblip is an open source hardware synth. it is available in a variety of kit, semi built or assembly only versions. 

Being tight I went for the micro kit which was very good value at about £30 and included the circuit board and all of on baord components.  There is facility to add knobs and switchees, but these are not included with this particular kit.

The lack of controls are not a problem because you can control all of the functions using midi CCs.

The kit went together very well, the instructions were very good and the construction tutorial on the web-site was very helpful.

Best of all it worked first time.. The sounds it produced were pretty good, certainly worthy of a £30 project kit..

So.... flushed with my success I decided to house it in a box and add the appropriate controls (8 knobs and 8 switches) and here the problems began..

Firstly the total cost of the project now headed toards the £60 mark and would have been even more if I'd used a proper project box (to save money I used a plastic Feroro Rocher box!) Furthermore my crappy soldering let me down ths time and the synth would only issue forth harsh squeaks and distortion.

This started me thinking about the value for money aspect of the whole project.. So far it has cost me about £60, in parallel with this I have recently been buying second hand synths on Ebay for amounts around that figure and these second hand items offer sonic abilities and flexability way better than Meeblip (with all due respect)

In conclusion if you enjoy the fact that you have made the synth yourself or have a desire to hack the firmware (which is actively encouraged) then Meeblip is a great idea.. If you are just looking for a good value way to get into synthesis then Ebay may be your better option..

Casiotone 1000P Arpeggiator

I had some requests for a short video demonstrating this cool feature from a Casio keyboard from the 80s.

 So here it is...

All wired up, and making noises!

Everything plumbed together now, all that is missing is a better mixer (oh, and an old Yamaha reverb and and Akai Sampler that are on their way as I write!!)

Apologies for the clumsy playing, I will do a better video soon.