Symphonic Orchestra Free Starter Edition

Fill out a survey and get a free download of Symphonic Orchestra!l

There are a lot of companies giving out free virtual instruments this holiday season. Check Synthopia for more.

Mini Scratching. Touchtable by Masc Design

A cool midi controller. Link

Free Ohm force synth

SymptohmPE

This 'Performer Edition' is a simplified version of our Symptohm:Melohman powersynth, especially made for live use - but being also handy at the studio.

Get it free here!

Merry Christmas!

Tips: Making out of date synth patches on new systems

Dreaming of owning a keyboard with a 6mb sample rom library? Thinking of selling your entire studio to get that new sound? Try these simple tips to get bigger synth sounds.

1. Use a double delay instead of reverb. Digital delays are the best. You can try one tight delay (30ms or so) and one long delay (250ms), then pan each to the left or right. This creates a larger sound space.

2. Filter the sample, or analog modeling synth with a Lo-Fi sample rate down-conversion (destructive). Change the bit rate to 12 or 8 bit. This would simulate old sample roms or digital synthesis.

3. Combine a choir (ahh) sample with a short percussive attack sample. Many pad patches have been created this way with various string type sounds or percussive strikes and plucks. Many keyboards based on rom libraries let you create a sound with two "oscillators" in the patch. Again use the tips above on something like this to make it sound bigger. This is the scariest tip.

4. Experiment with sample speeds, transposition zone, and formant. If you have a roland sampler with vari-synth or ableton you may be able to get low-fi type results on modern samples, as if you were to take a smaller section of the rom sample and stretch it to fit the keyboard. Sometimes its better to turn these new pitch correcting/stretching technologies OFF and let the samples run.

5. Use a stereo choir effect or guitar pedal

The old tricks are the best tricks.

Roland The Beast

The Beast Website

Ebay Listing US $4,086.23

Automator Action for Quick-Launching Rewire + DAW Setups

Each time you start a new song it can be a hassle to setup a complex DAW environment that includes Rewire, Internal and External Midi Instruments, and Audio. Using template songs and Mac OS X automator you can get to the full power of your computer in less than 30 seconds with one button click.

Download the Files (Includes Automator Action, Application, and Song Templates for Logic & Reason 4)

File Location: Home--->Audio--->StartupTemplates

If you decide to download the files you may have to customize them in automator and rebuild the script (thankfully Apple makes this easy). This would be required if you wanted to launch Ableton instead of Logic Pro along with Reason. You may want to customize the instrument selection to your liking in both the Reason and Logic templates. My custom setup of useful Reason and Logic instrument presets is provided. Once thats done, just put the automator app into your dock for a one button studio quicklaunch!

Once the script has run, Logic Audio and Reason are perfectly synced, with all your instruments ready to rock.

Guitar Hero Drums + Osculator Tutorial

A nice tutorial with photos & video to get your guitar hero drum set working with your computer.

http://www.vultrix.com/index.php/2009/12/04/guitar-hero-drums-as-a-real-drum-kit/

Vintage Korg EMX

This is my EMX, It looks exactly as in the photo except it isnt brown yet. This is a mock up I produced as a guide for the project. Just need to complete the face plate in brown and its done. The tubes and the vintage knobs really complete the look.

Flickr Link

Little-Scale's Novation LaunchPad Controls a Sega

I must have missed this guy somehow. I didnt know it was possible to control a "megadrive" directly yet.





Check out this guy's blog

Living Room Studio

Oliverchesler's Living Room Studio!

What you see when you die.

Link: What you see when you die.

Inside the Yamaha QY100, Changing the Battery

This is explains how to change the factory internal battery in the Yamaha QY100 sequencer.

What you need:

CR 2032 Lithium ($2)

Philips head screwdriver

1. Unscrew every screw in the back. A gold colored screw is at the position shown.

2. Pull back the casing slowly to reveal the copper shield. Mind the wires in the bottom right.

3. Unscrew the two copper colored screws which hold the shield down. Open the shield forward, still connected.

4. Push the old battery further into the case from the front (left to right in the pic). Remove the battery. You can also gently use a small screwdriver to pry it loose. Replace with a fresh battery.

5. Carefully re-assemble. Power up. The screen should say "Factory Preset" on its first startup.

Korg SX Electribe 808 (Vid)

Great 808 Beatz on an Electribe SX. Sweet effects! Thx Harlemnightsmusic.

Custom Novation Nova

http://www.flickr.com/photos/customsynth/4106230871/in/pool-synths

A very nice texture on a Novation by CustomSynth

Apple Doesn't want You Making Mix Tapes

From Create Digital Music DJ apps are not being approved by Apple's app store. Is it from of potential abuse for copyrights or overwhelming submissions from music developers? Currently there is no explanation. Do you think making mixtapes/dj mp3s are fair use?



Updated: Touch DJ, a full featured mp3 djstation for iphone has been approved. That was quick.

Yamaha DTX-Multi 12 Drum Pad

Feature packed, theDTX-Multi 12boasts over 1200 stunning voices in high quality covering drums, percussion and keyboard sounds, many drawn from Yamaha's professional Motif synthesizer range and many completely new. Up to 200 custom set ups can also be created and stored with ease to suit any musical context using all internal sounds and 42 types of effects.

Features USB and 64 MB sampler flash rom!!

Link Here Found on Music Radar.

I like the multi-level design!

Nintendo DS Piano Addon

Easy Piano allows you to record up to four 3 minute songs and also teaches you to play piano. From Valcon Games. I wish it could be compatible with other softwares like the Korg DS synthesizer :)

Silophone Realverb

Silophone.net

Silophone allows users to gain real reverb effects to their sound by uploading clips that are re-recorded inside a real life grain silo.The only bad thing is that it requires the Real Audio plugin. This is a really cool concept though and thats why I'm posting it.

Online Audio Workstation Application

Pluto.Synth Looks like an entire sequencer / synthesizer *online* with wav export. Very interesting! It requires a plugin called microsoft silverlight however. By Grape.Hu

LINK

DIY Acoustic Insulation Vid

Found on Synthopia. Check out this guy's blog

Looking For Music Inside the Brain

Using electrophysiological recording techniques to study the neuronal activities in the auditory cortex of awake monkeys, researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center's have shown neurons tuned to the fundamental frequencies and harmonic sounds

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091020111412.htm

Free V-Synth V2 Guitar FX Setup Patches

If you plug in your Guitar or other instrument into the V-Synth you'll want to look at some free patches which utilize the onboard amp and cabinet emulation. These patches are designed to emulate classic distortion and other guitar FX. Free download.

Link: http://forums.rolandclan.info/?action=show_thread&thread=31591&fid=4&page=1

Battlestar Galactica Disco

http://www.synthtopia.com/content/2009/10/11/giorgio-morode-lost-disco-battlestar-galactica-soundtrack-album/

Take a Listen @ Synthopia

Official Wavedrum Video Demo

GarageBand Now Has Midi!

midi0 allows garage band users to send notes to external synthesizers using the audio unit format.

Download it!

I'll be testing this out today to see how useful it is.

Yakitori Song - KORG microKORG XL with GarageBand

$1000 Shopping Spree

Head on over to Music 123 for a no purchase necessary entry form.

Mushboy Twins

Via Flickr

iTunes 9: Worse

Quick review of what I think about the drawbacks of iTunes 9 are.

1. Minimizing the window to "mini player" is now a 3-button command. The green upper left button no longer functions if you think about it. Collapsing itunes to get it out of my way was the only feature I used the most. Nobody ever remembers quick commands. Those were designed for power users who were doing repetitive graphics work. I want iTunes 8 back just to get this feature back...one-click minimize to the mini player please!! WTF.

2. The interface is harder to look at. They tried to candy it up even farther, but fucked up. The pause/play button is now whiter. But the playlist background is white. This is bad because you do not want a non-object (the background) to correlate color wise with the main buttons. Its giving me a 3d headache. Poor use of dimension.

3. I don't like how ever new feature requires an iTunes account now. It seems like apple wants to know what data is on your CPU. Why would I need an iTunes account to share across a home network? Lame.

Verdict: Its just an mp3 player. Screwing up the minimize window function and making it a key-command makes me want to digg up Soundjam MP.

UPDATE. FIXED!!!!! AN UPDATE to iTunes brings back the green button maximize function.

Nudge Monome Flash Clone

by Hobnox

Osculator Animation + DTExplorer

"I came up with a pretty straight forward solution, if we were to use the electronic drums anyway we could just as well use the MIDI for the beat detection and then have the turntables control the colors."

http://www.rickigregersen.com/2009/09/09/dtxplorer-drum-kit-goes-processing/#content

Skin Your Gear!

With Styleflip.com's flash editor I was able to make a star wars themed vinyl for an Electribe. The tool is pretty advanced, and you can order your creation. A wide selection of boxes are supported, like akai, and other DJ gear. I hope they make some more keyboard templates, beyond their midi controllers sometime!

Korg WaveDrum X Price?

According to yahoo groups the price will be $650. Since Korg.com doesn't even have a page up, I would wait till we are able to buy or get something more official to say for sure.

Downloadable Frequency Chart (PDF)

Ever needed a guide on frequency to help you mix? Ever needed to know where a sound will fall without looking at the meter?

Print out this chart from Stereoklang (PDF)

While a good start, I don't agree with it.

Critiques: Sounds starting at 200hz are not warm, as shown. These sounds clear and contain alot of information, some which is harsh! (Snares) Warmth is created under 80hz. You can increase warmth by increasing sub bass. Wheight is also wrong. It should be depicted as 100 hz and up, which is a range that the human body can feel, sort of like getting punched (kick drum attack). The rest in the diagram is OK.

Jexus Nord Lead FX

LinnDrumm II Design

Looks like I didn't see this yet. Its a cool 3d mockup. Looks a little like a mixing console. Everything is starting to take this shape lately.

http://www.rogerlinndesign.com/products/linndrum2/index.shtml

Little Phatty Photo

By Nourogg

http://www.flickr.com/photos/67623368@N00/2516347326/

Mortal Kombat - Peroxide Mocha

One day we got bored and decided to cover the theme from Mortal Kombat by "The Immortals", with Rachel re-doing all of the vocals bits from the game...

Mortal Kombat

www.peroxide-mocha.com

Bitch IS A Bitch

I don't think so!

Back To The Back To The Future

Back To The Back To The Future from Eclectic Method on Vimeo.

Gotta get back in time.

Flat Loudspeakers

These speakers can be integrated inconspicuously on walls or in furniture. At the Internationale Funkausstellung IFA in Berlin from September 4 to 9, Fraunhofer scientists are presenting a completely new concept for ultra-flat loudspeakers that still deliver full sound reproduction.

Science Article Link

The main advantage are these look to be installed for commercial use?

PSP Beaterator: Whats taking so long?

What is taking so long for Rockstar to make a PSP music creation game? Popular websites list Beaterator as a Rockstar creation in 2005. I know I played something with exact same interface, name, and flash technology running on a different website earlier than 2005. I'm taking a guess that it was purchased or liscensed by Rockstar and is finally making its way. WHATS TAKING SO LONG? I don't think anyone has been anticipating its release. I haven't. I remember playing Beaterator free on the web years ago. Corporate control made it disappear. Its only after Rockstar took control of Beaterator that I wasn't able to play it anymore!

I'm not going to buy it on PSP to support a flash game that was intended to be free and intended for everyone to use. I hope it doesn't sell well at all.

There are many free homebrew music creation titles on the PSP with similiar features!

Korg Wavedrum-X!!!

This looks rad!!!! I'm glad korg still has creative and advanced hardware coming out unlike their pop-tart mini keyboards. The Wavedrum WD-X emulates a hand drum realistically and uses precises sensors. Just from the video you can tell it must be better than rolands offering. I want one!

Korg MicroSampler Looks like Voltmeter

It seems like they come out with a new mini keyboard ever year.

From youtube "looks like a midi keyboard for troops in iraq... really ugly"

To me it looks like a plastic Voltmeter from electronics class or a yard sale toy. It looks like it has a sequencer at least. If it doesn't have time-stretch, pitch, beat-match, and sample chop, like modern samplers, then its not necessary to own, but I hope it does for the sake of people buying this ugly thing.

Link to Video

Go Take The Plastikman Survey

Plastikman is coming back? Fraid so. This time he is letting you have input on the album because he's out of ideas. This is a good marketing methodology because I can say bring back the analogue mixing setup that was used on Plastikman Musik earlier which is one of my favourite albums of all time and literally the best 808 + 303 recordings ever made!

Go take the plastikman survey

Apple & Behringer's Website LOLs

Behringer has decided to copy the layout and navigation features from Apple's website. Personally I think Apple deserves it and that Behringer should be free to do so if they want to present themselves that way. Apple's is like Behringer but worse because they provide generic hardware at a premium price. At least behringer is cheap. Apple stopped having their own chips, motherboards, and other features custom designed so they can repackage the cheap components for profit. The base for the OS is copied from Unix. They threw out most of their technology years ago and stopped being cutting edge when they stopped pushing the latest hardware standards in PPC machines (No blu-ray? No e-sata? etc. etc.)

I don't think bloggers should be complaining about it since we basically copy news article from other sites too. No big deal.

Royksopp Remixable Track

Their favourite track of mine is still Poor Leno that was also availble in the snowboarding game SSX3, but now you can remix a new one in this new contest.

Free Röyksopp Track To Download & Remix From Synthopia

Top 5 TGIF Theme Songs

5. My Two Dads


4. Going Places

Okay this was the best copy of the sound I could find, the vidder did it to full house...


3. Out of This World


Maureen Flannigan = Kristen Bell????


Ouch they spelled her name wrong in the credits!

2. Family Matters



1. Perfect Strangers


Nope Full House didnt make the cut because I dont think anyone wants to see John Stamos again.

One Key Drum Programming Tips

Ever had trouble timing drums on a keyboard? Use this tip to consolidate your drums onto one key to reduce errors.

How it works: Accents trigger fast snare and bass drum (high velocity), and normal strikes (low to high velocity) just play bass drum and optionally a soft/quiet/blended snare. This allows you to naturally play rock rhythms on the same key and frees up other fingers.

For this to work you'll need a sampler that supports custom velocity sensitivity and at least two samples per key. I used the V-Synth. I'm sure this will work in Reason or anything remotely modern.

1. Find your drum samples. Bass, Snare etc. Setup zones or make keymappings for drums.

2. Place a Bass Kick - 0-127 Linear Velocity (straight upward graph) on Middle C. This is OSC1 on the V-synth

3. Place a Fast Snare - 100-127 High Velocity (highly peaked graph) also on Middle C. This is OSC2 on the V-synth

Thats it. Now its slightly easier to play rhymthms on a keyboard using a single key.

BONUS TIP: Make a bass drum sound slightly more real! Using a variation of above you can blend a bass drum sample and a soft snare. Why would you want to do this? In real life when you press the bass pedal your resonating the surrounding drums (the snare's springs). In studios where samples are recorded their goal is to isolate sounds and make sure this doesn't happen. If your using samples from entirely different kits or electronic drums this method will blend them. If we add a soft snare sample to our kick drum at much lower volume you can blend them like its coming from one drumset. Make sure you use appropriate velocities for this. You don't want the snare to actually sound like an accent or compete with the real snare.

I hope this helps people make more natural sounding drum rhythyms or inspires someone to do something new with sample layers.

Free Real Drum Kits

Ever needed a real drum kit samples for free? Check out all these links compiled from From the Freesound Project. All have been checked by me for decent quality. Great for getting started without purchasing many of the commercial packages out there.

LINKS:

freesound :: view pack :: Tama Birch Drums

freesound :: view pack :: Rock-Drum-Kit

freesound :: view pack :: Studio Drums 1

Ian's Drum Set

Snare Drum in Parking Garage

Bonus: Look at these glitched up video game sounds from CyberiaLainKittyKat

Keyboard Cat Papercraft From Matrix

I knew I wasn't getting enough cats this week but the waiting finally paid off! Hee!

Link
http://tubbypaws.blogspot.com/2009/08/meow-again-its-time-for-papercraft.html

Found on MatrixSynth

Get ready for.....ORANGE WEEK

I like the color orange. I like the crayons. I like the way it burns my brain. It boosts the immune system.

This week I'll try to find photos of only orange things. Anything not orange will be ignored. I may even have to tint photos to orange just to set citrus moral standards in the synth comformity (community). Won't that be fun? I don't care what you think! Stay CHTuned.

V-Synth GT: Gets better with age

Some great photos, sound design info, and a nice overview of Current V-synth technology. Apparently there was a firmware update for GT users also.

Go to: V-synth GT @ Create Digital Music

Speak - Alienated, Free Album Download

This time around SpeaK has gone for a more diverse direction. Alienated contains DnB from minimal oldskool beats to pure jungle atmo to dark drumfunk. Whether you enjoy speed-driven Drum n’ Bass or small detailed break edits complimented by ambient soundscapes, you should be able to find something to your liking from this album. In the end though there’s only one way to find out!

DIRECT LINK: DOWNLOAD!

Make sure you listen to the track "Desensitized" it really rocks!!!!!!!

Web Page: Bitkins Electronic Music Label

Cakewalk V-Studio 100 Reviews

Awhile back I reported that this box was coming out. Multiple sources have begun to review it.

Synthopia Cakwalk V-Studio Review

Create Digital Music's Review

Do you think its better than the Zoom R16?

Quentin Tarantino: The Video Mix Tape

The Tarantino Mixtape from Eclectic Method on Vimeo.

Starscream - Future, and It Doesn't Work (Full Album Link)

Download the album (.ZIP)

I really enjoyed this release from 8BitPeoples.

Starscream on 8-Bit Peoples

Vintage Gear T-Shirts

UML Signature Series Vintage Gear T Shirts . Your Favorite Classic Synths and Drum Machines featuerd on a High Quality Silkscreened Tee .The Roland TR-909 , TR-808 , Jupiter and more....

I asked if they'd ever make lesser known roland keyboard shirts and I hope they get back to me :)

What kind of shirt would you want?

http://www.ultreen.com/assets2/pages/t_shirts/page_tshirt_main.htm

10GB Of Free (Open Source) Samples!!!!

In this wikipage are links to gigabytes of open source samples designed originally for the OLPC and other collections.

Loops, Grooves, Licks, Stings, Hits, Pads, Melodic Motives/Themes/Phrases, Sound-Effects, City and Country Soundscapes..., Motors, Machines, Toys, Guns, Explosions, Swords, Armor, Cars, Jets, Pot & Pans, Acoustic and Synthetic Noises, Acoustic and Electronic Drums, Voices, Western and World Instruments, Real and Human Animals, Industrial and Natural Ambiences, Film and Game Foley, and more, more, more!

http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Sound_samples

Looks like they saved people the hassle of re-sampling it!!!

Are VJs Boring??

EM11Forum Member says:

VJ's are boring. AWFULLY BORING. The audience standing there staring at the wall like mindless zombies. -Dach

Are VJs Boring you to death??

Rip Sounds From Genesis Games and Playback With VOPM

In honor of Sega Genesis 20th anniversary week here is some info from Sound Shack Forums, a forum solely dedicated to FM Synthesis????? on how to rip voices from Sega Genesis games (.gym and vgm formats) and using them with VOPM FM VST synthesizer.

This info was found deep in a page I'd rather not bother linking to.

VOPM - an X68000 OPM chip emulator.

http://www.geocities.jp/sam_kb/VOPM/

and a program to rip instruments from Sega Genesis GYM music into VOPM format - http://soundshock.se/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=242

Shiru made a program to rip instrument patches from VGM format into VOPM format - http://shiru.untergrund.net/software.htm
More FM modules available here - http://park14.wakwak.com/~valsound//fm_lib.html - Actually originally from Shiru's TFM tracker...
MaliceX ripped some MDX timbres from games and put them in his site's downloads section - http://djtbmx.soulbreakers.com/

Hopefully this info gets you started into the FM ripping or at least some good FM sounds!!

Happy 20th Birthday Sega Genesis!!

It looks like 2 days ago was the birthday of Sega Genesis!!!

Today marks the 20th anniversary of the U.S. release of the Sega Genesis, the game console that briefly put Sega on the video game hardware map.

I hope you can celebrate in your own special way!

Link: Happy Birthday Sega Genesis - Kotaku

Need 4 Mophos? Get the Tetr4 from Dave Smith!!

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



• Classic, real analog sound—including legendary Curtis analog low-pass filter.



• Four-part multitimbral capability with four separate outputs.



• Combo Mode for huge unison patches, stacked sequences, and "modular-style" poly sounds.



• Expandable: poly chain with other Tetras, Prophet '08, and Mopho for expanded polyphony



• Just 7.9" x 5" (20.07 cm x 12.7 cm).



• Free editor for Mac OS and Windows.

Overview

Tetra is our next-generation analog poly synth. Tetra takes the award-winning sound and features of Mopho, multiplies them by four, and packs them in a box less than half an inch larger!

Tetra has multiple personalities. It is a four-voice, analog poly synth, a sort of “mini Prophet.” It's a four-part, multitimbral synth with separate outputs, essentially four Mophos in one verycompact box. And it’s a voice expander for other Tetras or the Prophet ’08.

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

http://www.davesmithinstruments.com/products/tetra/

Here is a Demo Vid!

Paypal / Web Store

Its come to my attention that Paypal payments might not be going through in the store. I suspect that its something simple like my webcart system needs to be upgraded to meet paypal's specs. While I could probably switch the system to something else, I think I will try to to patch it. I'll let you know if its going to take awhile. In the meantime people can email me if there is anything pressing they need.

Thanks for being patient and thanks to the people who let me know about the issue. I'll let you know when its fixed.

This was an issue on Paypal's end and not with my site.

Update: Issue is FIXED. Email me if you have any outstanding concerns.

-ChipCollection Staff

Download Reaper 3

I hadn't heard about Reaper 3 before. I've mostly stuck to working within Logic or Tracktion for play & record type tracks. Their website allows you to download an uncrippled trial version!! The interface is pretty nice and works with midi as well. FX open a new window. Overall very clean compared to the standard monsters of the past. Did I like it more than Cubase? Yes. Did I like it more than Tracktion? Not sure yet. I may write a full review of it later. Reaper is not cheap at $250 but how can you complain about a trial version??!

Link to Trial: Works on both Mac and Windows
I think as time goes on there will be seeing many more software sequencers being written.

Online Monitor (Loudspeaker) Placement Calculator

This is just about the best online monitor placement calculator I could find. It even has a database of loudspeakers for a projected frequency response. It also accounts for things like chairs, carpet, and floor construction to calculate reverb times. Utterly awesome & free.

Tip: If you need your monitors farther back to the wall than suggested, draw string in a line to the corners of the room from your listening point and then move the speakers back on that axis. This keeps it in the proper distance ratio. Then use this diagram to fine tune and avoid the micro-dead zones (sonar-like lines).