Video: Akai AX80 Demo by Syntezatory

The blue and orange florescent LCD displays use a simple and intuitive bar-graph format to show all its parameters and values, making for one of the best on-board displays ever!

The AX-80 has the privilege of being the first pro-keyboard produced by Akai, released in 1984

http://www.vintagesynth.com/akai/ax80.shtml

Another 8-Bit Christmas Album

Link to Article & Download @ Kotaku

Foundation 9s own Holiday Album.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Chip-Tunes Album Free

I’ve been working on a new album for the past few months and am releasing a free MP3 download of the first half - sort of a preview, I suppose. The album is entitled 8-Bit Jesus and contains 9 tracks thus far. Each one is a chip-tune version of a classic Christmas song done in the style of a different NES game.

Christmas Wishlist

Don't know what to buy yourself for christmas? Check out this toy list for some holiday ideas.



1. Roland SPD-20 Total Percussion Pad $650
Instead of getting a PS3 with Rock Band, why not grab a Roland 8 pad drum kit with 700 sounds loaded into it?


2. Korg Kaoscillator $200
100 of Korg's world renowned synth sounds right at your finger tip.



3. Sterling Audio ST51 Large Diaphragm FET Condenser Microphone $99
This microphone is the top rated in the under 100 dollar range in a number of realworld tests. I would rather have this than an m-audio mic or any other costing 3 times its price.



4. Korg DS-10 For Nintendo DS $36
For only 36 dollars and Amazon delivery this video game / synth will be on everyone's list.




5. Hal Leonard Rock Keyboard $12
Learn different Rock styles and chords to play along with the CD. If you are a beginner or intermediate I recommend this one as it helped my playing and improvising.

6. Stocking stuffer pick: Disney Hannah Montana Guitar with Bonus Amp



NO! Well if I'm not the grandaddy of all liars!

Poll: How is your studio setup?

{democracy:4}

Need For Speed: Undercover Review

Since I do play video games, and it is called the Chip Collection its time for a video game review. It does have a soundtrack, alot of which is electronic.

I have been interested in the Need For Speed series since they released Hot Pursuit 2 in 2001 or so. That game was the one of the first to introduce cops into into the series as a racing hazard, and it mostly was fun and livened up the game. Since then, tuner culture took over the themes of the Need For Speed Series, and they just can't seem to shake it unfortunately. At first it was a great thing, NFS: Underground was a great game on the PS2 and showcased some very fun cars. After this release however, EA has made the mistake after mistake by only allowing "open-world" tracks. These levels are not handcrafted for fun and adventure, like in Hot Pursuit, or even the first Underground, but merely a spaghetti of roads thrown together to emulate real life city driving like Grand Theft Auto. Next, Gran Turismo started to influence the NFS series by introducing semi-realistic handling in their newer game engines. With vehicles that either don't drift around corners well, feel wobbly, or just plain slow combined with extremely boring underdeveloped tracks, you get some of least fun driving experience in a video game I've had in a long time. Off-hand I'd recommend, Need For Speed Underground 1 or 2, Hot Pursuit 2, Dub LA, Burnout 3, or even Juiced 2 Hot Import Nights on PSP over all the other arcade racing games being released today.

Need For Speed Undercover suffers from everything you can do wrong in a racing. Let me tell you about my experience playing this with a list of pros and cons.

Cons:

• They start you off with a Nissan 240SX. Nobody really cares about this car, its super old, like GT1 leftovers. NFS is supposed to be about the latest and fastest.
• The tracks don't have a handcrafted feel. No adventure or exotic locales. Can't drive up steps.
• Buggy, I drove right through a police cruiser. I have never seen this happen in any game. Traffic is also seen driving through barricades.
• Too many game play modes, none of them are polished the same way as other NFS games have been.
• Its too easy. If you choose the lotus Elise, be prepared to go through 3 hours of sprint races where your 12 seconds ahead everytime. These are real numbers.
• I didnt witness a cop during sprint races until 3 hours into the game. The cops are not as fun as Hot Pursuit 2 (Helicopter barrels, bombs).
• The physics don't work with the tracks. You can take a hairpin turn at 130mph by just tapping the handbrake. In Underground you actually get to BRAKE and learn the flow of each track. This game needs drifting! It needs the old feel of the cars where you are actually racing.
• Tracks are too wide, no sense of speed w/ the ground, cars feel slow.
• No Ferraris
• Story/Concept for the game doesn't any make sense. Your an undercover cop, but the cops are after you, and your supposed to destroy the city, and gain street cred, and unlock cars you already have enough money for, and....yea.
• No point to the "leveling-up" gameplay in this one.
• IF you actually buy an unlocked car it will come out worse than the one you got after upgrades, and waste all your cash.
• Nitrous self-regenerates (non tactical).
• Nitrous is NOT available at the start. No start boost where you get your revs lined up and take off.
• Damage/Wrecks aren't as cool as Burnout 3, a game which came out 4 years ago.
• Can't buy cars you have enough cash for!!! (must unlock them, and it doesnt tell you how).
• Music is not very catchy to sing to. Who doesn't sing in the car sometimes?
• They threw away the crash/physics from the previous pro-street game.
• Raced the same damn car over and over for 3 hours.
• The Car Customization still isn't as cool as Underground's. Autosculpt is quite lame.

Pros:

• It works okay on my 2 year old iMac
• The Drum N Bass music supplied is very good
• Car models are fine overall
• Highway Races are scary.
• It recognized my old controller
• The theft modes or car delivery is very fun/hard, like in Most Wanted, because you play cars you can't own yet.
• It was fun for about 15 minutes of the 3 hours I played. Yes some of it is fun at least.

Unfortunately I'd be hard pressed to call this a racing game. There is almost no racing to be found in it. Even with the cops added back in the style of Most Wanted challenges, its too few and far between. Please EA just remake Hot Pursuit 2 with Ferraris/Prosche, and bring back the old drifty physics that would make you feel on the edge of no control around a corner. Bring back the adventure style short cuts. Make it a challenging racing game. Make it fun to level up or buy new car (no unlocking). Bring back the insanity of the police helicopters bombing your car. Go back to the drawing board and throw out the legacy engines you spent so much time creating and throw away your mixed ideas for core gameplay. Bring the speed back!!!

Verdict: 6.2 out of 10 (It works, its a waste of time, and mostly sucks.)

Buy these instead:
If you want street car customizations w/ blazing arcade speed get Need For Speed Underground 1 or 2 (Unfortunately f-ing EA took down online server, but its still fun)
If you want the definitive arcade experience & music to sing along to get Burnout 3 or one of its previous incarnations on PS2/Xbox/Psp. (Paradise is a time-waster in the open-world sense.)
If you want cops, ferraris, arcade physics, and rememberable tracks get Hot Pursuit 2
If you want to f-around with the cops get Most Wanted
If you want a real headache through different means get Need For Speed Carbon (hard, drifty) or this piece of crap.

Which is the Best TB-303 Emulator?

This site has audio comparisons of software, indepth analysis, and is a great resource for trying to find which TB-303 is the one for you!

http://www.acidvoice.com/

They even ran it through different distortions as a test. Cool!

Friday Link Load: $45 Analog Synth DIY

Build An Analog Synthesizer for $45 from Synthopia. Also a video demo!

Jochem Paap, aka Speedy J, wants to make an album that represents not just him, but the global techno community.

Take part in a global collaboration with soundcloud!! also from Synthopia





Noise.io Pro A full featured synth app for the iPhone! Only 9 bucks. Probably





Koblo Announces Release Of Vibra3000 Mini-Synthesizer!



A synthesizer showdown. Korg Microkorg vs. Micron? A very nice essay to read from the Silouhette

Sonic The Hedgehog VOPM - A virtual instrument.

This youtube video shows me the first I've seen of VOPM, an FM emulator of the Yamaha YM2151. I suppose it for sega genesis style music! Check out this song of Aquatic Ruin from Sonic 2


Want to try it out for yourself? Here is a link to the KVR info site on VOPM. It looks like they do have a macintosh version now. I'll have to play with this an report back. If it is true to the Sega Genesis's sound chip that will be amazing, although I know nothing is quite like the direct output of the real Sega console! Awesome!

Also check out CHIP32, which has an AU version.

Hot Gold Cuts

Available for download ($5) is my new studio album, Hot Gold Cuts!

Inspired by the feel of live recordings, this blend of electronica, lounge, and nasty electric-speaker-rock is set to move you into a new territory at an ever-increasing pace. Dark night cruisers, subspace rippers, organs, and mellow melodies are contained here. Various tracks, like Blackhawk and Hot Gold Cuts give you an updated 70s feel. Rollin Bass is eerily remeniscent of a certain frog puppet and Hyperspace Hotel sends you into deep space.
30Min. 192kb/s High Quality Mp3. 11 Tracks, all new & re-mastered; Contains Album Artwork for iTunes. Chip Collection Recordings 2008.



Hot Gold Cuts

1. Fire Pit Gremlins
2. Night Explorer
3. Rollin Bass
4. Sassy Snappers
5. Hyperspace Hotel
6. Hot Gold Cuts
7. Burned Marshmallows
8. Guitar Cruiser
9. Road Warriors
10. The Alley Rockers with Bats & Lead Pipe
11. Blackhawk

Thanks for supporting Chip Collection and independent artists!

Electronic Behavior Control System

Emergency Broadcast Network
Electronic Behavior Control System
A cut of remixed clips from tvs' earlier years. This track is taken from their album Telecommunication Breakdown.

found on sputnik7.com

Note: All accounts and comments have been deleted to clear out the massive spam. I was hit with about 10 spams a second, and also I had users signing up to post it by hand. So no new comments or signups till I upgrade the site. Thank you for commenting in the past and please know that I did read them!

Download Endless Dub Music

It's Coming Out of Your Speaker



http://itscomingoutofyourspeaker.blogspot.com/
So, If your need pirated dub mp3s...check it out.

Artist Spotlight: S.T.

S.T. is a electronic solo act since 2003 with classical music training. He has done scoring for professional film. Please check out his music, its very good and has been undeleted in my iTunes playlist for quite awhile now.

S.T. One-Man Electronic Music Unit




Link Here

Dave Smith: Mopho - The $399 Analog Synthesizer

Overview here at Analog Industries

Got my Mopho today (thanks, Shawn!!!) All I've done to this point is plug it up and take a step through roughly half the presets, but I have to say that aside from a couple UI quirks, this is an excellent box, and a really good value for your synth dollar.

Dave Smith Mopho on their Main Site

Affordable, fully programmable mono synth with a 100% analog signal path.

Well it sounds pretty cool! The filter is awesome, and the bass is warbly. Price is good for a new instrument. But the name is retarded. Mopho...Mofo....Mother Fucker? I would actually scrape the paint off mine and write Mother Fucker acrossed it. Then I couldn't show it around kids. How are you supposed to ask for it for christmas? "Mom buy me a Mopho!!" ....

Dave Smith will be releasing the Cokmasta Keyboard to go with the Mopho very soon.
Audio Demos Here

Do you like the Drums? Tino's Breaks Video

TINO TINO TINO TINO!

Hello Friends, go to http://tinocorp.com/ if your interested.

Tracks to Play On Repeat: SpaceMan

Eboman Samples Video

This link will take you to Eboman's new video.

"Eboman specializes in the production of audiovisual sample compositions, the development of audiovisual sampling software and hardware and performances as a DVJ or with his SenSorSuit. The SenSorSuit is part of an audiovisual sampling system, called SenS, which Eboman is developing in cooperation with SmadSteck."

The software he is using seems to be from Smadsteck and is called SenS IV. The video effects are kind of bizarre and distort across a 3d plane to the rhythm of the music.

Kinda cool! Go check out Eboman and his videos.

Games in Concert

Excerpts from Floor Jansen's Blog of the band After Forever:

We have been asked to do a show at Games in Concert on November the 15th.....These songs are specifically written for computer games.....we hope to see you at Games in Concert!!!

Music for this year's Games in Concert will be from Duke Nukem, Donkey Kong Country, Super Mario Galaxy, Final Fantasy VI, and Bioshock

Here is a video of last year's Games in Concert for Metal Gear Solid (Live Orchestra)



What a cool concert! If only I lived in the Netherlands!

If you need more information on Games in Concert here is a link to the website.

The Korg M50 Keyboard Workstation

Its light! It comes in 3 models, 61, 73, and 88 keys.



From first impressions it looks like the replacement for the TR models - which freakin bored me. It has a TOUCH SCREEN. It also has a VST plugin to control it for your DAW.

Ehm, I liked the angled controls!
"EDS" synthesis, new pianos, and classic keyboards. YAWN. Sounds boring. The M50 seems really early 90s in a bad way, but I have not played it yet.

Maybe if Korg sent me one I could give it a fair review HINT HINT.

LINK

Digitech DF-7 First Impression Review

The Digitech DF-7




This is a great distortion box. The DF-7 is a must buy for all in one distortion, whether used or new. Its a good value with 7 "classic" distortion selectable. In fact, its a better sounding version of Guitar Rig 3s distortion box section + tasteful cabinet selection. I like it alot.

This distortion is musical and it won't deafen your ears, unlike alot of analog units I've tried. If you test it against drums.....realistic or electronic, the DF-7 is a win.


Using it in the studio:

If you are in the studio, you can plug it straight into the mixer in stereo. It's cabinet emulations are very tasteful and sweeten even better if you add reverb on top of it.The controls are pretty easy. Careful tweaking and experimentation yields good results. A nice feature is the sweepable mid EQ. Some of the distortions it emulates do not originally come with this. Mode 5 gave me a really straight up The Prodigy power chord distortion ala Boss Metal Zone when it was combined with electronic drums of any kind. It sounded good. The stereo effect of this pedal is very decent: not awkward or too wide.

For practice/live:

If your plugging it into your amp you can boot it up without that cabinet mode to get the straight distortion. Switching distortions is also pretty instantaneous, but you have to reach down to do it of course. The pedal clicker is durable enough. The bypass seems like a true bypass, which is good enough for me. Mode 6, the Metal Master, is kind of mix of late 80s kickass something or other. All presets sound good with single pickup & humbucker.

I can't really say anything bad about the DF-7. Maybe you'd want to get your own Pre-Eq to do some more damage in the bass, or set it up different, but mostly I didnt feel like it, and all the presets on this thing were usable to some degree when properly tweaked. You should buy it and see if you like it. I can't stop playing my guitar now.

Sound Quality: 8.6
Build: 9
Musicality: 8.8
Value: 10
Fun: 10
Master Shredder Factor: 8.8
Total: 8.9 Would recommend to anyone, guitar players / drum n bass producers / synth people looking for dirty sounds.

Guitar Rig 3 retraction

Last month I posted a glowing review for Guitar Rig 3, and recommended it over Amplitube. Under more testing I can't do that anymore. Guitar Rig 3 has more distortion emulations, controls, recognizeable characteristics, and presets than amplitube. However, while testing it today I realized that it sounds like crap. I A/Bed guitar presets against some realistic sampled drums, it just sounded too digital in comparison. Part of this was the cabinet emulations fakey room reverb, and also part of it is the grainy texture of the sound. While practicing, it is not as noticeable and is actually very pleasant to work with. Its also easier to use and way more fun. Under mixing conditions is just of more concern. Certain presets do fix the problem, but I found a majority of the distortions very thin. Everything that came out of Guitar Rig 3 sounded okay, and comparable to the real deal, It was just very digital. I can't recommend it for musical use. I am still looking for a distortion holy grail on the mac platform.

LED Drumsticks

From THE FUTURE OF THINGS

illuminated drumsticks for Rock Band and Guitar Hero World Tour Drum Sets. When a player strikes them, the entire body of the drumstick lights up

Maybe they will work with regular drums too! I don't see why not. Look, its Vader vs. Luke/Obi Wan.

Public Service: Palin Supports Animal Cruelty

Mcain's fuck-faced running mate, Palin, supports aerial hunting of wolves and bears. She supported a bill that rewards persons to fly low and shoot animals from a plane. The bill gives a $150 reward for the sawed off legs of wolves. Screwed up!

Normally I don't put anything political on Chip Collection, but this involves animals and its something that needs to go "out there." Chip collection is against animal violence, especially in areas, like Alaska, that should be wildlife preserves. Wolves cannot defend themselves against these attacks, and in most cases, electric fences are a cheap protection against livestock. Hunting from planes is for pussies anyways. There is no reason to kill nature's wolves.

Please view this video and show it to your friends. Warning it is a little graphic.

Thanks

Alesis Fusion Shortage

There is a crisis shortage of Alesis Fusions. They are no longer being manufactured, and websites like Musicians Friend and Zzounds is not carrying the keyboard. A search on ebay pulls up only one listing.....only a 6HD. Unfortunately, early on the reputation for this keyboard suffered, and so did demand, as the price started becoming liquidated a year after its release. In its final days you could get a weighted 88 key for only $999 new or $700 on ebay.

Is this the final death of the fusion? Will alesis ever make anymore!!???? They better!! I still use mine as an all in one studio without my computer. The 8-input hard drive recording, and many of its sounds are excellent, despite some technical glitches. I hope they bring back the best sounds of the board into a new product that has a better sequencer, while keeping the 8-input hard drive. It could also use a casio style sampler in its song mode.



On another note. Tascam's FireOne, 2-channel audio interface, with jogwheel has dropped in price considerabley. For those of you with a mac, or a firewire interface, you can get this thing for only $115. It has headphone out, 2 mic pres, a guitar jack input, controllable buttons, MIDI!!! AND line ins. Thats a nutty deal! The jog wheel can even flash to the beat of your music and it comes with a version of ableton live. I would love to review one of these, as it looks like it has more function than Mackie's more expensive satellite product ($199).

Anyone notice that Mackie is starting to cater to people with lower budgets? Hmmm...a bad music equipment economy means good deals for us!

People Like US / X-files Mashup

http://www.peoplelikeus.org/dnload.htm

Make Sure you check out the People LIke Us download page. It is worth it to buy their CDs or donate!!

OpenStomp Coyote-1 Effects Pedal Now Shipping!

The OpenStompTM Coyote-1 is an open source audio effects processor built for guitar players. With the Coyote-1 users can develop custom audio effects in software (like distortion, echo, chorus etc.), mix multiple effects to build "patches", and exchange those effects and patches with the OpenStompTM community.

Also, It looks like it comes with some intuitive software that lets you build effects without programming knowlege!! Costs $349.00.

Link:
http://www.shop.openstomp.com/main.sc

A really cool idea turned into reality!

Alfajor Terrabusi (1994)

"Son, did you bang a gorilla?"
"Si"
"Wouldnt you rather have a banana?"
"No!"


Posted because the delicious treats play Soda Stereo in your cd player!!
Category: Addictive Video

Make Your Own Chord Wheel

Here is a link to a PDF that shows you how to make your own chord wheel. Instructions are included in the printout. You can use this to build compositions, chord progressions & songs in an easy way.

Link to the Downloadble Chord Wheel PDF


From ianchadwick.com

Guitar Rig Vs. Amplitube

Okay what we are going to have today is a shootout between the top amp modeling software. The only thing that matters when judging this software is ease of use, and also sound quality. These two things can be broken down and rated however in different categories. Keep in mind this is only my opinion. Highest total wins.





Guitar Rig 3
Sound Quality & Feel: 9
Gear Emulation: 9
Fatness: 7.5
Quality of Chords: 8
Expression: 10
Ease of Use: 8.5
Presets: 10
Knob Control & Feel: 8
Fun 9

Pros: The interface is nice. Drag & Drop eases creativity. There are many boxes that sound unique. Lots of presets. Country & Blues fans will be pleased I think. The metal section is also good. - Well the presets are just awesome! Better value for the money. Amps behave close enough to the real thing.
Cons: Doesn't have the heavy "fatness" aspect without tweaking. Presets might be harder to mix with, but I think that can be fixed with EQ.





Amplitube 2
Sound Quality & Feel: 7
Gear Emulation: 8
Fatness: 8.5
Quality of Chords: 9
Expression: 7.5
Ease of Use: 8.5
Presets: 7.5
Knob Control & Feel: 7.5
Fun: 8

Pros: Heavy Sounding, Uses Graphical Stomp Boxes
Cons: Many presets have an audible "grating" digital distortion which is loud and "jacked up." The presets for blues & country suck ass. No drag and drop stomp boxes.


Conclusion: Guitar Rig 3 Wins
I would say that both are very digital sounding in different ways. Amplitube is very upfront and has an audible digital tone to it if you listen close enough. Guitar Rig has a natural feel, and a "clean" cd-quality digital feel to it, and somehow retains the full expression of the amp emulations released by the guitar. If I had to compare the sound quality to keyboards, I would say that Amplitube is a Roland with the volume turned up too high and Guitar Rig is a Korg that finally got rid of the lame sounds.

If you absolutely need a totally overblown sound, that will work in your music, then get Amplitube. If you want to craft and create your own unique sounds, including metal, country, jazz, and get access to tons of different emulations/presets etc...then Guitar Rig is a better value and experience. Guitar Rig was more fun to play and I'm sure you can tweak it to work for your music - there are definitely enough different types of gear to do that inside! You will still be able to get that heavy metal sound in Guitar Rig 3.

Alesis Fusion: Ultimate Heavy Metal Guitar FX

Upon plugging my guitar into the Alesis Fusion, I always wondered how to use it as a guitar fx processor. The fusion includes 8 inputs, and a variety of FX. Unfortunately it only lets you use bus effects on the audio inputs, which gets rid of all of the amp modeling, and overdrives by themselves. To get a great heavy metal sound from your guitar and alesis fusion, you will have to stretch the use of the bus effects without clipping and overloading it (which is easy to do). Here is a great patch that lets you use the Alesis fusion as heavy metal guitar FX processor.


Step 1. Create an audio track
Step 2. The fx bus settings:

Bus Send 1 = Wah Distortion + Delay @ 99%
Dry Level 0%
Bus Return 10%
Time: 0.1ms
Feedback, Attack, Release, Sensotivity, all @ 0%
Drive: 100%

Bus Send 2 = Plate Reverb @ 71% (Optional)
Dry Level 0%
Bus Return 9%
Decay, Diffusion 100%
Density 35%
Damping 30%

Be careful when setting this up as you will likely clip the internal circuit or your speakers if all the settings aren't in yet. Pay attention to bus return levels.

Step 4. Plug your guitar into the Alesis Fusion's audio in OR through an external amp FIRST (recommended).

Here are the settings on my practice amp which leads into the Alesis Fusion via Headphone-Out:
Input Gain 100%
Treble 100%
Mids: variable (50%)
Bass: 100%
Overdrive: ON
Adjust the output volume accordingly

After all this setup you will get a live guitar FX processor out of the Alesis fusion, and a patch that sounds AWESOME.
Its like Overdrived Metal-Wah from hell. Great for solos and some chords.

Acid Sans TB-303 by D. Ager

Science!! Wood Density DOES Affect Sound Performance in String Instrument

If you've ever looked through guitar community forum posts you'll come across the topic of which wood sounds better. A lot of people have been saying that it makes no difference, while expert ears stand by their claim that the type of wood does. Well a new study has shown that wood density does affect the sound quality! Since the study was done on the violin, an instrument with a resonating cavity, it could be applied to acoustic guitar. I'm willing to take the leap forward and say it does have some affect on the sound quality of a solid body electric guitar. So density does affect sound performance!

The Secret of the Sweet-Sounding Stradivarius Link

Ebay Auction: Yamaha Dx200

Here is an auction for a very nice FM synthesizer box.




The yamaha dx200 has the same FM style chip as the older DX7, except it comes with....KNOBS!! It seems to be in good condition, except for a normal problem on DX200s: slight selector knob tracking problem/dirt. Here is a link to the auction.

Ariel Pink

I just love this video. Ariel Pink is hilarious.
A reminder: The auction on this website ends in 4 days. Link.

New DS Homebrew Music Programs

Glitch DS is a stuttering sample player



And DSMCU is a Midi Controller app. Check that remote automated fader action!

From Hackaday

Taking Advanced Orders on the LinnDrum II (Starting $1400)

Roger Linn is now taking advanced orders on his new LinnDrum II. There are two models, LinnDrum II ($1400), and LinnDrum II Analog ($1800).

Looks awesome!!

Go here to check out the page on their website.

Boycott Phonica Records

Music is either supposed to be for fun or creativity. But Phonica is a cultural sewer drain for music. Phonica Records supports artists who blatantly rip works from lesser known acts. Phonica keeps the money without crediting the original artist. 40% or more of their music are just "re-edits" and are sold for profit, states this article in The Guardian. Put quite blatantly, Phonica sucks.

What can you do??? Get the word out and say "Boycott Phonica" on your blog. You can check their database, and also Search Youtube to see if someone posted a re-edit of your mix, which Phonica could be selling. Report content abuse on Myspace to get your content removed if necessary. You might be getting ripped off $$$ and not know it yet.

If you felt like you have been wronged by Phonica, or know anyone else who has, please post in the comments with your artist & song details. I will repost your story and let the world know. Chip Collection is fighting back for the recognition of original creators. With your help the right artists can make a stand. WE are the fame and money in the new internet age of music, not these edit-posers.

Get the word out and Boycott Phonica! Only dick holes play their music nowadays.

Roland Releases the Juno Stage & GW-8 Workstations

Finally, full size keys on the Juno Stage Synthesizer! I think they fixed a fatal flaw that concerned people on the Juno-G (short keys). But wait, does it have record-in anymore??? The pianos sound nice.

Also the GW-8, another workstation, that is probably lower priced than the fantoms, closer to the incredibly boring Korg TR series.




I'm not sure what the big difference is between these two. Ones is supposed to be a cool synth, and the other is a "standard" workstation, but they are probably just slightly different sound set chips?

Anyways, both look pretty interesting so far!! Its always nice to see new workstations.

Hardfloor: Synths Vs. Software

I wish I had it again because the sound of the machine is something else, you can’t replicate it from a plug in

This is a very good article discussing the strengths and weaknesses of hardware vs. software, and the uniqueness of sound qualities that can be lost when making "the switch." Group hardfloor talks about the Roland TB-303 in the article

Link to the InTheMix article.

Win a $30,000 Artist Package Contest From Hobnox

We’re running an international contest for bans/musicians, filmmakers and cultural activists.
The winner of each category (music, film, culture) will be given an artist development package worth US$30,000 each. The package will be tailored accoding to the needs of the winner, supported by Hobnox and its network of industry professionals.

Submissions are accepted online now: http://www.hobnox.com/evo2-start.1302.en.html?

Hobnox is the makers of AudioTool, that I previously posted about.

Chip Collection for Sale?

I haven't posted news in the blog as often as I'd originally envisioned. I've let the site run on autopilot the whole time, with minimal updates, mostly whenever I really felt like speaking my mind. If there is someone out there that wants control of The Chip Collection Blog & its attached online sample store, then this auction is for you. The bid is set below what I had it valued, and for something I'd be comfortable letting it go for. Even If no one is really interested, the site will go on like I normal!! I'm still into music/synths and I love this website. So I will continue if nothing happens. Thanks!

Click below to view details at the Site Point Auction:



Update:

Min Bid lowered to $8,000. Buy it Now for $14k.

Multi Format Samplers Now Supported

Just a note:

Multi-sample formats are now available for the Nes Wave Pack and SK1 Complete sample packs. Previously these were Reason Refills only, which are also still avaiable as a seperate product. Native Instruments, Giga, and Soundfont 2 are supported. Multisample Patches are included with seperate drum samples for easy, custom loading.

NES WAVE PACK - Multi Format Product (Giga, SoundFont 2, Native Instruments)

CASIO SK1 Complete - Multi Format (SoundFont 2 Compatible Samplers)

Thank you!
Chip Collection

Korg Nano Contollers

The controllers have a transport section. Nice!!!

All USB, theres a 9 channel fader, and a drum machine / XY pad. Seem to be priced very well, but then again, its not like it has actual keys there.

Video from Sonic State. Nice to check out.

Tesla Coil Plays Jean Michel Jarre. What?!

You can file this under waste of time, or awesomeness.
I didn't know you could tune electricity to play music!

By ArcAttack, an AV-DJ group:



As seen on Flickr...

Places to Host your music

I saw a post somewhere else on where people like to host their music and their artist profiles for free. This is a list of some of them that came up. Fuzz and Project Opus had the nicest looking websites, while iComp & Macjams seemed to have a really tight community. If you host your music anywhere else, let us know where, and how you like it.


Fuzz - Connecting People Who Create And Love Music

Project Opus - Supporting bands, Fans and local music everywhere

iCompositions - Empowering The Independent musician

Mac Jams - Mac. Music. Community

{democracy:3}

D.I.Y. Or Die

Having a hit on radio doesn’t matter anymore. Nobody listens to radio for the music…

Thanks, LX7.CA

Check out his blog for interesting commentary and the rest of the videos. There looks to be 8 on youtube.

Ways to stop spam with Wordpress

I'll be looking for ways to stop the spam on my site once and for all. Its getting insane. Especially "trackbacks." This blog is run on Wordpress 2.0ish so i need to find some plugins. I do have kismet installed, but its just not good enough. If anyone has any suggestions I would listen!!

Thanks, and sorry for all the spam thats been in my comments. I don't know how to stop it or have the time to delete it.

Hopefully I can find something.

Holy Schnikes!!: Music Vest 1985

If we only had known that the future was 20 years ago.

Tutorial: Pitch Correction in Adobe Audtion

Check out Transit of Venus to learn about pitch correction in adobe audion and get tips. Included are audio examples.



A link to how to do pitch correction on her blog.

She has a great voice! (if thats really her singing). ;)
And that may have been the first time using a smiley on this blog.

Updated: Yes its really her! :P

Fibra's Custom Laser-Cut x0x0b0x

TB-303 emulation!

Fibra has many other custom synthesizer works on his Flickr stream.

Also check out his upcoming Divius (TR-808 clone)!




Divius - Roland TR808 clone

Adobe Soundbooth CS4 Beta

Beta! You must have a CS3 serial number to use it longer than two days.

Using a speech-to-text engine that Adobe declined to name, Soundbooth attempts to turn spoken words into text.

As with the original Soundbooth, the Soundbooth CS4 beta lets you add AutoCompose scores.

Looks like it has some cool new features. I wasnt quite impressed with soundbooth when I first started using it. It was buggy as hell. It seemed to do a little too little and the interface wasn't my favourite for doing simple edits. BUT we will see how this one goes, I am sure its much better.

Link to the Macworld Article

Integrated Wireless Midi/Audio Standard to be the future?

Yes of course. But the question is...Why don't we have this yet?

Imagine being able to select and and play an external keyboard that has only just been switched on from another. This would be a new integration standard that uses downloadable voice banks lists, sort of like a playlist accessible from other instruments. No more flipping endlessly through voice banks and trying to guess what midi parameter (program change) they are.

The technology is readily and cheaply avaiable. Just look at the gaming industry. Please make this.

--------------------


Also Updated today: PlayLive!



Playlive is a wireless midi controller for Ableton Live that runs on the Sony PSP.

From QJ.Net

Apache/Prodigy Video Remix

Grammy Winner Gives Mixing Advice, New KRK Rokits

Link to the Video with Greg Ladanyi

PreSonus has uploaded a video series featuring Grammy-winning producer Greg Ladanyi on providing advice on mixing, producing, recording vocals, and more.

Go there and get tips to producing vocals and mixing etc.





New KRK Rokits are here. They are curved so you can mix in the wind tunnel.

KRK Rokit Link

Any one know if this line is any good to mix on compared to others in the same price range - M-audio etc. ? They have always had the appearance of being higher quality, especially with the material used for the cones.

Space Invaders Studio

From Nuorogg on Flickr and Synthopia

Hey, no dust.

Link:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/67623368@N00/2492143015/

Digidesign and M-audio Drivers Lacking with Latest Operating System

From Create Digital Music

if you’re a user of Digidesign and M-Audio products and looking to use current operating systems, very often you’re out of luck.

Link to the article


I think that totally sucks. I've had this happen to me with an m-audio USB midi interface. They just never updated the driver on the switch from OS9 to OS X. All it was is a USB midi module. I had to sell it and switch to an anchient MOTU unicorn midi interface. Just go with MOTU. Their support is way better than both of these companies that are basically releasing gobs of products and not paying any attention to them at a later date.

Be careful who you buy from when you are getting computer-specific gear, even if it is USB, or plug and play.

Nastee Samplin': Stealing from chip artists.

Over on the 8-bit people's site, word is that:

Crystal Castles, a Toronto-based band, has been heavily sampling music from several chip music artists without obtaining permission or crediting them.

Artist's like Lo-bat have been affected. This is not the first case of this sort of thing happening, I think I remember and incident with a hip hop artist. Ouch? Or who cares? YOU DECIDE. Actually you don't get to decide. Creative Commons sucks so do whatever you want.



Also check out FREAKuencies, an 8-bit peoples release that sounds really good.
Quick Mp3

Go check out their site if your hungry for more chip music or the Full FREAKuencies release by Yerzmyey

Like Whoa & Cool: Kojima Mayumi, Tokyo Brass Style

Very cool rock n roll style from japan. The video is great!! You can't go wrong with this one.



Dragon Ball Cover?



Content found on Tachikomatic Days: In your basement

The Declining Quality of Apple, Synthmania 4 Year Anniversary

Many laptop-based Mac OS X users are experiencing significant audio issues on Mac OS X Tiger and Leopard. On Tiger, the culprit appears to be the AirPort Extreme Update 2008-001 released earlier this spring. One workaround on Tiger is to simply turn off AirPort.

From CDM

Do you think that Apple's software and hardware quality have gone way down?? Every update they release seems untested nowadays. Programs also seem to crash more often, even with an increased overall stability of the system. Airport giving audio problems is insane, and evidence that they aren't paying attention.






Step by Step instructions on how to Control Ableton Live with your iPhone

Link From Emusic


Beat Bearing!!!



Controlling a TR-808 with ball bearings! Looks like alot of people saw this one already. Eh, I'm slow.






Keytars and Controllerism From Lx7



Come Celebrate Synthmania's 4 year anniversary with a Visit to their page on the Electrix Filter Factory!!
Mp3 Demo


Do you need a kick start in your garden?

Features 5 encoders (with button), an additional button and a display. Software is customizable (by me, hahahaha).....But I use it to command my machinedrum effects over sysex

RuinWesen Midi Command Link @ EM411