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April 27, 2005
podifier - drag n drop podcasting
There's a new kid on the podcasting block. It's called podifier. It's an application that makes the process of podcasting a little easier again, with inbuilt ftp and RSS generator. You can drag and drop your files, and easily publish your own podcasts.
It's been put together by Sydney based nerdgineers Red Square. Check it out Podifier Via CreateDigitalMusic
Posted by funnelbc at 11:10 PM | Comments (0)
legal fun for a friend of mine...
This is a bit horrible, but I thought that perhaps some of my readers might be a bit interested in this. A design mate of mine who just recently put me up when I was up in Sydney for a conference, has been threatened with legal action. He has the domain lifethroughapolaroid.com and the legal folks around at Polaroid seem to think that he's taking away from their brand's cachet by running a site and blog on the above mentioned domain.
I'd just like to voice my support for Ben and say that I think that it's just a tad overzealous and unnecessary and makes Polaroid as a company look not only outdated but more than a little unfriendly. Surely a site that features a stack of Polaroid lifestyle images is the kind of publicity that they can't buy? Damn shame. I have a Polaroid camera, and as a simple protest I plan not buy film for it or use it again.
If you have a polaroid, why not investigate alternatives for cool analogue images, such as Lomo Cameras - there's a company that understands the value a real dialogue with thier customers.
Posted by funnelbc at 10:51 PM | Comments (0)
songpod.com.au giveaways
Songpod is a Sydney based indy music site. They've got a bunch of artists and some good info and links as well. They've got a bit of a thing on at the moment whereby if you sign up to their mailing list you can win tickets to some of the shows they've got coming up. So check out songpod.com.au and bung them an email to get on the mailing list if you're located in Sydney. This batch of giveaways closes today (27th) at 5pm.
After the jump there's details of the gigs they've got in the next few days..
Like as follows:
Lana De Angelis & Band (CD launch)
Thu 28 Apr
w/ Aaron Lyonnes, Rebecca Shephard
$10
Heifer
Fri 29 Apr
w/ the Vultures, Axis, The Lost
Mz Ann Thropik
Sat 30 Apr
Euminal, Rica Tetus, Death Looms
$10
venue details:
The Excelsior Hotel
64 Foveaux Street, Surry Hills, NSW
http://www.excelsiorhotel.com.au
Posted by funnelbc at 07:36 AM | Comments (0)
April 26, 2005
aussies driven to downloading...
Over at p2p.net there's a rather well researched article by Alex Malik about the lack of availability of popular chart Australian music (we're not talking indy bedroom rockers here) on the major music services as available to the average australian consumer.
So while ARIA disseminated the message in the recent Kazaa case that illegally downloading music is immoral and illegal, Jesse McCartney’s record label (an ARIA member) has failed to make the track available as an authorised digital download, and has now deleted the single - thereby possibly driving consumers to p2p networks and mp3 websites.
p2p.net article: aussies driven to downloading
Posted by funnelbc at 11:07 PM | Comments (0)
speaker in traffic cone!
Stretching the my definition of cone, it looks more like an extruded triangle to me... Anyway. I also suspect this will upset google image searchers looking for the vicarious pleasure that is brought to them by searching for Various geometic shapes. They could be looking for some sort of construction advice, well it just got harder for them to find what they're looking for. This is yet another reason I love MusicThing.
This guy built a speaker inside a traffic cone. It's got a little amp in it, and apparently it sounds shit. Something's don't need to make sense, they're just right. Via MusicThing
Posted by funnelbc at 10:45 PM | Comments (0)
aussie itunes music store to open 28th april?
Appletalk.com.au are suggesting that iTunes music store is to open on the 28th April. The source of this information? Russell Crowe. Life is stranger than fiction sometimes. We'll see if the eventuates in 2 days I geuss.
Appletalk.com.au Via viathewire.net.
Update - This thread on the appletalk.com.au forums has folks saying they've sucessfully purchased music online from the Australian iTunes music store.
Posted by funnelbc at 10:36 PM | Comments (0)
shuffler automatically fills up USB music players...
This is pretty cool. Shuffler is a program that automatically allows you to load music to your Windows USB (MSC-Compliant) music players. It automatically fills your player with music for you. Handy! Especially if you don't get down with iTunes.
It works with any music player that shows up as a removable USB drive by the looks of things, so those creative nomad type doovers should be cool with this too.
Shuffler Via The Mighty Engadget
Posted by funnelbc at 10:25 PM | Comments (0)
aussies driven to downloading...
Over at p2p.net there's a rather well researched article by Alex Malik about the lack of availability of popular chart Australian music (we're not talking indy bedroom rockers here) on the major music services as available to the average australian consumer.
So while ARIA disseminated the message in the recent Kazaa case that illegally downloading music is immoral and illegal, Jesse McCartney’s record label (an ARIA member) has failed to make the track available as an authorised digital download, and has now deleted the single - thereby possibly driving consumers to p2p networks and mp3 websites.
p2p.net article: aussies driven to downloading
Posted by funnelbc at 08:57 PM | Comments (0)
April 22, 2005
normal service will resume in a day or two...
Update: The thing I was working on went so well I now have 2 solid days work ahead of me, even though monday is a public holiday. I've very excited, looks like this is going to work out great!
Hi guys, just a note to say that normal service of news posts and general bits and pieces will return in a day or two. I've got a large job that I need to clear out and a big meeting on saturday before I can contemplate posting stuff here! Sorry! :)
Posted by funnelbc at 07:28 AM | Comments (0)
April 21, 2005
paper on the benefits of p2p
Just a quick one... Available as PDF from the consumer federation of America who I geuss must be this PDF on the Benefits of P2P
Posted by funnelbc at 11:59 AM | Comments (0)
April 20, 2005
protools goes to v6.9
ProTools has seen a point upgrade to 6.9. It's been better integrated to work with Avid's video post production gear, improved mixing with D-command and D-control. I'd be interested to see what kind of real world improvement this is to the existing mixer as the one that used to be there was pretty good. It's a free upgrade for owners with qualifying PT sofware.
Visit digidesign.com for more info.
Posted by funnelbc at 07:56 AM | Comments (0)
mawzer: a modular control surface
I drew a product like this on paper ages ago, and I'm so happy that the tin foil hat failed and the good folks at Mawzer were able to read my mind and make this thing a reality. It's a really good idea, lots of mixer functions and discrete control functions of mixing desks and other interfaces are modular in nature, and this takes it to the next step. This has applications for anyone who can work with MIDI compatable devices. I think we'll be seeing a lot more of Mawzer in the future.
If Behringer get in and do something cheaper I wouldn't be surprised. This could be a real area of growth for hardware & software controllers.
Mawzer.com via Create Digital Music.
Posted by funnelbc at 07:30 AM | Comments (0)
April 19, 2005
numark ipod mixer
I think the picture probably explains the concept better than I could, but here's a bit of a concept of a mixer that Numark are apprently working on. It'd be interesting to see what this'd be like to actually use, but for the cost of 2 ipods plus the mixer you could purchase a cheaplaptop and a copy of the very fine Traktor from Native-Instruments. Still it's a fun looking concept and I think there's a genuine market for this.
The good folks from CDM cover the numark ipod mixer in far greater depth than I can manage while I'm sneakily posting this at work... Thanks Ben!
Posted by funnelbc at 09:53 AM | Comments (0)
April 18, 2005
use compression for good and not evil
The excellent and fully anorak worthy Music thing links this rather fabulous article on why Ricky Martin's "Livin La Vida Loca" is one of the loudest and quite possible most shite if I may add my own bitter vitriolic thoughts on the subject track ever laid down. There's a bit of information here, but as my finely honed copywriting skills are achin' for some usin' the reason you should read this page is so you understand why adverts on TV seem so goddamn loud even though the networks swear the volume is the same.
The Death of Dynamic Range required reading for anyone with a passing interest why pop music is actually killing little babies and stabbing nuns. That's right i'm looking at you Ricky Stabby McStabs Martin. Via Music Thing. And on a very similar note...
Posted by funnelbc at 10:30 PM | Comments (0)
the freesound project
The Freesound Project is a online resource that collects up heads of different sounds, and have them all licenced under the fabulous and very exciting creative commons sampling plus license. This means you sample the work for in songs commercial and non commercial, and use it in performances free of charge. You must give the author credit, and no advertising, and you must make it clear the license that it's covered under if you reuse or distribute the work. You can preview the sounds easily using the website to decide what you want. Love it. I'm having a lot of fun browsing the samples available. Here's a fun example of the kind of stuff you can find there, just press the play icon to hear it.
That's pretty simple as legalese goes for original and cool samples you can grab and use for just about anything. I like this creative commons business and I think that the more music and information that we get out there the better. This kind of project encourages a much more fluid and uncomplicated approach to creating music. That's a very good thing as far as I'm concerned.
Posted by funnelbc at 10:15 PM | Comments (0)
nine inch nails track available for garage band
Nine Inch Nails have made their track 'The Hand that Feeds' available to download in Garage Band format (they've converted the files from Pro Tools) and made them free to download. This is a really excellent idea, and really quite nice of that friendly chap Trent Reznor.
It's a nice idea, and it's a bit more inspiring than the demo tracks that come with most software packages. As a bit of trivia, Missy Higgins' hit 'All for Believing' was recorded as an Australian demo for one of the Roland hard drive workstations - because the demo song that was included at the facotory was so crap. Trivia tastic!
You can grab the file Makezine Via Gizmodo
Posted by funnelbc at 10:48 AM | Comments (0)
youthweek concert
Direct from the new music news forum we have these words from the fronline of the youth week concert in Marrickville by forumer and all around good person afisenni! Take it away my friend!
Wooooo yesterday Marrickville council held a free concert in a park for Youth Week...I tend to ramble so I'll just summarise.
Itu - a woman with a nice voice, a guitar and a dude playing unusual percussion. Pretty nice but at that stage there were only about 20 people in the park and nobody was particularly into it.
The Accidents- ugliest band ever.
78 Saab- WOOOOOOOOOOOO! Even though I only have the Beat Of Your Drum EP, and most of the songs they played were from the album, I enjoyed it a lot. Yess we were sitting on the hard hard grass right in the front 8) haha. Although they weren't particularly charismatic or crowd-engaging (except for the tambourinist who also played a bit of keyboard - he was one awesome dancer), the audience seemed to really enjoy it. :D They were the best...no bias there. Woo so after their set I went and got a photo with three of them, but they were all like "Yes photo, sure, but we have to still be able to drink our beer" except I didn't really have anything to say to them so hmm :?
ANYWAY they were followed by the Redsunband who my friend had been whining about but I liked them...although it wasn't exactly park music. I dunno man. Not a lot to say about them :?
Lastly were the Cops. At this point, a weird, very drunk old man was dancing right in front of the stage, soon to be joined by a couple of my friends, and that was a bit distracting (so was the pain of sitting on the grass/dirt for a few hours). They were really fun though, really enjoyable. I liked them except I think it was just the vibe they created - if I were to listen to them now, in a totally different environment I'd probably be bored. Or weirded out, who knows.
Goddamn that wasn't brief. It wasn't particularly interesting either. Except for the 78 Saab bit hehe :)
Posted by funnelbc at 10:32 AM | Comments (0)
April 16, 2005
online sound toy : beatarator
Rockstar run an annual thing for their employees to do something creative apart from the fancy and full of fun games that they make. This year, they put together beaterator. It's a fun little looping audio sequencer. You can make up your own loops by using the step sequencer and the sounds they provide, or upload your own (maximum of 10 @ 1mb each).
This is quite fun and simple to use, along the same lines as those acid music making programs that were so popular a few years ago. All done in flash, and it popped up a warning saying that it doesn't perform so well in firefox and they recommend internet explorer. I threw caution to the wind and used firefox anyway and it seemed okay to me.
beaterator cheap as in free.
Posted by funnelbc at 02:41 PM | Comments (1)
wax audio - so good. so very funny.
Wax Audio have just released their new album Mediacracy, available as mp3 download in it's entirety. You can also grab the cover artwork as high res and print it out.
Wax Audio grab samples and recontextualize them into songs that talk about what's going on in local and global politics. I guess a better way to put this, is they've got George W doing a version of Imagine by John Lennon. Ironic and powerful satire. Also on that album is a track called "Off the Air" where we hear the unctous jackass Alan Jones off the air, with interjections from radio deadshit Kyle, from godknows what shitawful radio station it is that he's on.
Visit Wax Audio and get some free tracks. Burn it and pass it on!
Thanks Todd!
Posted by funnelbc at 12:07 PM | Comments (0)
April 14, 2005
cog album released - old EP's available free!
Cog have just released their new album, The New Normal a couple of days ago, and it looks set to kick some fairly serious bunghole. They've even made a pretty cool post on their site saying that if you see their CD for over $30 bucks, go somewhere else. I've been trying this technique at the local Triumph motorbike dealerships, and sadly no luck thus far - but solidarity my brothers!
Also, they've been kind enough to release their first 2 EP's, Just Visiting Part 1 and Just Visiting Part 2 as free mp3 downloads off their site. Tunes are good and the feeling is nice, good work cog!
Visit Cog.com.au. Thanks Ray!
Posted by funnelbc at 11:15 PM | Comments (0)
midines - midi cart for nes systems
I don't think this is a new thing (as in like 4 months old) but here's a quick heads up on something cool. It's a cart for NES systems that basically takes advantage of the onboard soundchip to generate music.
I've had a listen to some of the preview tracks, and there's a very hardcore mod sounding gear here. It's the sound you want if you're into lo-fi 80 beats. Theres a lot of sounds that will bring tears to the eyes of anyone who is a child of the 80's.
Visit wayfar.net and check out the midines.
Posted by funnelbc at 07:08 PM | Comments (0)
New music news forum
There's a new addition to the forums, a music news section. If you are looking for a spot to pimp your gig, post upcoming tour dates, tell anyone about new track releases post em up here. I'll be keeping an eagle eye on this forum, and if I see stuff which I think is suited to the main part of the site, I'll post it up as a news item for the world to see. At the time of writing that means about 450-500 people will see it each day!
Alternatively, if you want to keep it under your hat, you can email me news on info {at} ausmusician dot com.
Posted by funnelbc at 01:33 PM | Comments (0)
iLog v1 - too late for april fools?
Hrm. Well, here's something that if it was a real product would be kind of fun. I just kind of like the aesthetic. The little sample sounds are pretty full on experimental, (like the video clip), so who knows? It could be real. But somehow I doubt it. Kind of a fun little website to go with it to.
The Log1k looks like a good wheeze too. I love the idea of a self contained audio worstation - I think thats what appeals about sofware solutions for Pocket PC for me.
Go checkout the owl project Via We Make Money Not Art.
Posted by funnelbc at 12:45 PM | Comments (0)
the disco dance floor guys
Also in the random bucket for this fine rainy morning, is the the disco dance floor. Made from 1536 LEDs, capble of 30frames per second for colour changes, hooked up to a *nix love-in... It's "The First East Disco Dance Floor". This is so damn cool. A bunch of MIT kids have put it together and it basically a dance floor hooked up to a PC running the opensource xmms with a custom plugin to send it to the control software for the dance floor. Thats right, I said the control software for the dancefloor. It is truly the year 2005 when the floor gets a program too! You've gotta see the videos to truly appreciate the idea - it looks amazing in action.
Dance my little nerdies, dance! Via CreateDigitalMusic
Posted by funnelbc at 07:55 AM | Comments (0)
the next harddrive I buy will be a hitachi
Let's not pretend that this about better capacity for hard disk drives, lets not pretend I'm not excited by 10x the current storage for hard drives - let's just be grateful that Hitachi saw fit to put together such an awesome animation to explain a new technology. I doff my hat to you Hitachi.
Turn yo sound UP! Via the disco dance floor folks
Posted by funnelbc at 07:46 AM | Comments (0)
April 13, 2005
new peer2peer app - grouper
This sounds a bit interesting. There's a new P2P kid on the block, and it's called Grouper. It allows you to setup a smaller p2p network. It's private and can contain 30 people maximum. It doesn't allow you to copy music, it only allows you to stream from your friends computer. It does however allow copying of pictures and movie files due to the nature of the media. I think this is a really interesting and noble (if you can use that term) attempt at legal file sharing.
Posted by funnelbc at 09:05 PM | Comments (0)
mp3elf - nerdy but cool!
The mp3elf is a mp3 player that connects to your computer via ethernet cable - it can play mp3s from your local server, or even stream internet radio. It features 24bit DAC and plays mp3s up to 320kbps quality. Quite a fun idea, and the guys who run the project make it available in 3 ways, as a completely assembled unit, as a kit with all the parts supplied or you can ge the plans for free - it has been released under the open source BSD liscense. Excellent!
Mp3elf.net Via Gizmodo
Posted by funnelbc at 08:48 PM | Comments (0)
ashdown superfly lightweight bass amp
Ashdown make some very sexy gear. They usually go in for the full analogue style with very hot backlit analogue VU meters, retro styling and well.. usually very heavy bass gear. I know, I used to have to move them around, and by bass amp standards, they're certainly up there as far as weight goes.
At this year's Musikmesse they've announced the Superfly Lighweight Bass amp. Basically its a digital bass amp that puts out 500watts in a magnesium alloy body. It really looks the goods. And it only weighs 4.5 Kilos! (10 pounds for the Amerikans). Only bummer of course being that you'll still have your cabinet to move about, but still this is a pretty signifigant breakthrough, and makes good ergonomic sense.
Go check out the ergonomically sensible press release or live life on the edge and check out the rest of ashtons's hotness. Via Harmony Central.
Posted by funnelbc at 08:28 PM | Comments (0)
tc electronics g-system
I think that the guitar hotness from Musikmesse has landed. The G-system is floor based system that allows you to manage your effects pedals from the one interface. It also provides 2 Digital Signal Processing sections, giving you access to Filter (as in envelope), Compression & post effects such as Noise Gate, Modulation, Pitch, Delay, Reverb & EQ. It's got a chromatic tuner as well. You can also plug your amp or effects inline and have access to all your gear via the g-systems interface. It's not cheap, coming in at a rrp of $1395 Euros, and about a zillion dollars by the time it makes it way over here. But it really is a beautiful thing, and looks like a really nice unit if you've got cash to spare and bucks of pedals you want to get under control.
Posted by funnelbc at 08:21 PM | Comments (0)
music recommendation - atariboy
I was out walking on the internet the other day when this other blog pulled me over and said, hey man, here's some cool software, and this guy does the graphics for it.
I like graphics nerds who are also music nerds and so I checked out some of atariboy's tunes on em411. I recommend you check out this tune I don't do do's, I'm not a hairdresser. Because the song is good. I liked the track and I thought some of you may like it too.
Posted by funnelbc at 08:02 PM | Comments (0)
April 12, 2005
podcasts & legal issues...
Podcasting is becoming increasingly popular. The term podcasting refers to recording music and or spoken word to be later played back on portable music devices. It can be delivered via RSS feeds or just linked on a webpage, or a blog. I bet Apple is stoked with that little puppy, even though the name infers it, the podcast isn't an ipod exclusive thing, its just different ways to deliver content to portable players. It's like timeshifted real audio that doesn't suck. Yes that's right, real audio and their annoying player can get knotted. So apart from offering a more flexible solution for music lovers what else awaits for fans of the podcast? Well... maybe a lawsuit if things head the way they have been going...
So a little time has passed and due to the sheer volume of people downloading podcasts has reached the point that big music is surely going to start to take an active interest. This FMQB article discusses some of the big issues surrounding podcasting. Not the least of which is which laws they are covered under, the fact that the vast majority of music in podcasts isn't licensed in any way.
While of course the audio quality is almost always much worse than standard music mp3's as the files are compressed for obvious bandwidth constraints, podcasts published with lossless audio compression cannot be far away. Especially as the amount of bandwidth to users inexorably increases.
The problem
This poses a few issues, as once you start distributing music online, no matter how noble your intent - to put together an independent radio program effectively - that begins to violate basic acceptable use policies no matter where you're from. Sadly, I forsee record companies continuing their neanderthal approach towards digital music which has hallmarked the story so far. Which has been nothing if not antagonistic so far. Neil Leyton from Fading Ways says it best "Oh. And another thing. "Music Publishing", as a concept, is wrong. No one creates songs out of thin air..."
Right now, things are good, podcasts are plentiful and big music is slow to react. And like big companies, perhaps it's time for us to get our collective shit together. As the FMQB Article mentions Creative Commons copyright may provide a valid way out for everyone concerned.
While the existing copyright structure provided by creative commons copyright cant't apply to most of the existing podcasting, as the podcasters don't own the copyright. However, if anybody is likely to successfully try and eek out some form of license that people can release their podcasts under - the creative commons folks might just be the the people to help us make it pallatable for both parties. The quality is inherently low, and the podcast shows are certainly no danger to commercial radio in terms of production values - but people aren't looking for something slick and professional when they download a podcast, they're interested in other people's opinions and music. It's a genuine word of mouth old style broadcasting, and this term keeps on cropping up in my mind - independent radio.
The problem with radio in general is that there is only so many licenses available and in most countries, getting a license to get on the air is an expensive and heavily regulated area. Community radio stations, and non-profit radio stations are still relatively rare, even here in Australia where there is legislation in place to allow for community broadcasters. This effectively means that there is limited opportunity for anyone to just put together some songs and their thoughts into a radio show as there is simply not enough radio stations and not enough commercial reasons for everyone to have a radio show.
a possible solution.
So podcasting, which is by far and above a non-profit labour of love is the bastard child of a lack of availabity for public speech brought forth into the digtal age. So what I propose is that there be some structure put in place to encourage music lovers and satisfy big music that their next big threat isn't from independent podcast/radio shows - but from music that no longer interests or inspires their customers.
Simply put, podcasts aren't an attempt at mass duplication and a vehicle for music pirates. It's literally an extension of the blog ethos - whereby people want to create content, and they want to be able to also include music of the time as it's part of the language which we all use to communicate - the vernacular of right now. In a blog, it might be a sideways link buried in an article or a discussion such as this, in the real world it might be someone quoting The Simpsons, and with podcasts it's playing music which we respond to.
If podcasts were able to be legally covered with a No Derivative works license saying that the file cannot be duplicated or changed legally it means that anyone seeking to extract audio from the podcast would be in breach of copyright.
I'm aware that the podcaster doesn't own the copyright for the music that they put in their shows, but also by the very same token, they're value adding by providing more exposure for the artists, also providing vocals and dialogue that obviously the end user is interested in. When you download a podcast is most often for the style of show it is, not for the music explicitly in most cases.
Things are needlessly complicated by the world we live in, and voices like the creative commons provide a simple way forward that respects ownership, but also provides a framework for people who want to produce content and self publish it to other like minded people. What happens with podcasts will largely be reliant on what the blogging community do as a whole to protect itself, and encourage responsible use by us the end users, and an responsible and intelligent attitude by big music companies.
Related Links:
Creative Commons for Audio
FMQB Article that inspired this editorial
Fading Ways a Canadian label that is championing the Creative Commons cause.
dmusic.com allows you to publish your songs under Creative Commons.
Wired Magazine's look at Creative Commons - to celebrate they released an issue with a cover music CD & made it available as MP3 download. It features the Beastie Boys, Gilberto Gil, Thievery Corporation & Le Tigre just to name a few.
how-to to podcast by PodCast411.
Posted by funnelbc at 08:40 PM | Comments (0)
which online music service? extremetech tells...
Over on ExtremeTech they've put together a feature on which online audio service offers the best service. They're compared on availability of songs and artists, prices and has a bunch of other useful information. Those us living in the Southern Hemisphere who currently have to make do without online music big gun iTunes Music Store, can find out about the alternatives available.
Extreme Tech - Which Online Music Service is Best? via the might gizmodo
Update - Australian IT mentions another problem for prospective online music purchasers - only 65% of chart Australian music is available to purchase online. Link
Posted by funnelbc at 06:46 PM | Comments (0)
April 11, 2005
more musikmesse 2005 - videos!
Also available as part of Harmony Central's amazing coverage of Musikmesse in Frankfurt, Germany, you can watch videos of some of the new products announced at Messe as real media streams. I hate hate hate the real media player, but it's one of the few formats people seem to use for streaming video.
Go check it over on Harmony Central I personally guarantee that excitable sales reps and nerds talking about some new hotness awaits you!
Posted by funnelbc at 11:21 PM | Comments (0)
p5 data glove v2
As a continuation of their coverage on using video game controllers for music, Create Digital Music have some tips on how to look more like a cyborg when making music. Sounds like sound advice to me. I totally dig that the p5 data glove has been co-opted for use that I seriously doubt the original makers would have ever forseen.
Also, cdm points readers in the direction of local Melbourne outfit simulus, who are using the p5 data glove in their experimental live music performances. You can download some sample tracks and listen to some pretty spaced out stuff.
Posted by funnelbc at 11:02 PM | Comments (0)
soundblaster with video editing built in
Some interesting news from the good folks over at Creative. They've revamped the Audigy 2 ZS, and added the Audigy 2 ZS Video. Basically they've added DV inputs, onboard hardware encoding/decoding for writing to mpeg and DV formats easily - plus all the normal Soundblaster Audigy good gear. The video processing comes courtesy of the rather amusingly alt-capped 'LSI Logic DoMiNo' processor. Could be a great little option for the bedroom music twiddler who wants to put together their own videos.
Also of note to the non-music market is the fact that the bundled software will allow the end user to record from a tv source down to DVD complete with a dvd style menu. Another nail in the coffin for VHS.
Posted by funnelbc at 07:08 PM | Comments (0)
untitled box with lights meets man
This looks like fun. It's a live performance device which triggers loops. This is the work of Brian Crabtree. Each row is a sample and as the light progresses along the row you can see where through the loop the sound is at any time. Which allows you to retrigger it a little way in, or late into the sample.
I just liked the little video and I think it's pretty solid effort as far as homebrew boxes go. I think it'd be fun to play with. There's a point about 40 seconds into the video in which this really begins to shine.
Via Pixel Sumo
Posted by funnelbc at 03:21 PM | Comments (0)
April 10, 2005
basement.nebula
Go check out the new clean styles of the basement.nebula site. Avex (a regular on the OT forums) has just updated his site and theres plenty of basement.nebula eclectic dnb style tunes to download. basement.nebula is the collaborative music of radhe & avex, both very talented guys. I recommend it, I recommend it to you ten-fold!
Clicky! basement.nebula.com
Posted by funnelbc at 02:30 PM | Comments (0)
cheaper entry level sennheiser headphones
Sennheiser - makers of headphones to the stars & music nerds like me - have released some new budget headphones under the "entry-high-end" moniker. The models are named HD201 and HD215 (pictured). Some of Sennheisers cheaper headphones aren't much to write home about, but I think lots of folks will dig being able to get a set of headphones with the Sennheiser logo on them regardless of the sound quality. Probably a good idea to try before you buy, which is good advice for anyone looking to buy headpones.
Both are noise reducing designs with complete over-the-ear pads. The HD215 is better at blocking out outside noise, and features a rotating earcup so that you can rotate your ears. Maybe that would be handy for the DJ set as well. The US RRP is $24.95USD for the HD201 & and $149.95USD for the HD215.
Via Harmony-Central or visit Sennheiser.com
Posted by funnelbc at 02:03 PM | Comments (0)
April 09, 2005
arcsolo - mp3 download of new EP
The kids from arcsolo would like you to know that they have just released their debut EP called 'Don't talk moonwalk'. Sounds like very sound advice to me. If this wasn't fabulous enough news by itself, they've made both tracks available as mp3 downloads free from their website. Check out 'Get On Back' it's a banging little tune, and I understand its getting playback with FBI radio up in Sydney. Oh, and - check out these posters I did for fbi when they launched (apologies for my ugly old website).
Oh where was I? Right. 'Get On Back' is a great tune, and goes along at a nice pace. I think this would be a darn fine tune to experience live. The second track 'It's Alright' has a nice broken beat start - I'm a little scared it's going to end up on advert. If I see this on a ad for a Barina next year, someone owes me a shandy. In fact, goddamn it, I demand a shandy!
Visit Arcsolo's website and grab some free EP action.
Posted by funnelbc at 11:17 PM | Comments (0)
combat wombat - best posters ever.
I was out and about the other day and I spotted the artwork for the combat wombat gigs in Melbourne. Which is a bit neither here nor there to you, but I liked the posters. So there.
Apart from being not bad on the old music, they also happen to be really cool ethical human beings and they're running/plugging (who can tell in the crazy mixed up world of the internet) a thing in their activism section called "donate ya dole day" where folks donate half of their dole check to help bail out political prisoners in Mexico. There's more info on their site: Combat Wombat.org. Oh and you can read an artist profile on amo.org here.
Posted by funnelbc at 05:50 PM | Comments (0)
terratec ax-100
Just a quick one on this - it's a rackmount guitar to midi convertor. Unlike the Roland Midi option, this puppy converts the actual sounds to midi via a 32bit RISC processor (like the Apple G4 processor - only not really at all). I wonder what the latency is like? Hopefully not as awful as the gr-33 and it's ilk.
Check out Harmony Central's coverage on this one
Posted by funnelbc at 05:41 PM | Comments (0)
m-audio trigger finger
Now this is more like it. Good going Product Namey guy, henceforth known as Ted the Guy who Makes up Product names. Triggerfinger not only has good name it also mimicks the famous akai SPC look with the 4x4 grid of pads. 16 pad midi drum control surface, with 4 sliders and 8 knobs, and what looks to be tempo and patch control. Pressure sensitive as you would like with this sort of thing. Athough how pressure sensitive will be the life and death of this thing - I know on the last few el-cheapo keyboards I've had the pressure sensitivity is pretty awful. Gotta stop jamming in my mittens too. I wish - I wish that they would make more material in aluminium - or saints preserve us - steel. I'm pegging that this is made out of that godawful silver plastic which just screams fragile. It does. I hear it's cries. I had an oxygen 8 that apart from being quite a bit of fun, had a nasty tendancy of the slider covers falling off at unfortunate times. I shouldn't have to get the superglue out on a product when I'm using it at home - god knows what would happen if you tried to take this plastic gear out into the real world.
Check out m-audio's page for the trigger pad and Ted, the guy who makes up product names, you can have the afternoon off, well done!
Posted by funnelbc at 05:27 PM | Comments (0)
m-audio icontrol
I bet they're loving the name, iControl. Heh. Up all night thinking that one up Mr Product Namer Guy. I bet their copywriter comes in at 9am and leaves at 9.02am. Filthy copywriters. You can't trust em. Okay enough of that. M-audio has released a dedicated controller for Apple's Garageband and it doesn't look half bad. 8 knobs, a shuffle wheel, transport control, a volume control and what looks to be solo, record arm and mute and headphone sends for each fo the 8 tracks. Fancy dan. It also has a wood veneer, which I don't think that there's nearly enough of these days.
Pretty much everyone seems to be thinking the same thing which is that - I want to be able to use this for other programs. Which shouldn't be an issue, as it not only works via USB but also via MIDI, so if your software can learn from MIDI you're in business. Apparently will be retailing for $141.99 Euro. Nice. I predict this will be a pretty big seller with it's intended audience.
Visit Gear Junkies bit on it or check out m-audio's page for it or visit Create Digital Music for their take on it!
Posted by funnelbc at 05:03 PM | Comments (0)
April 08, 2005
icombi wireless bluetooth headphones
I like the idea of bluetooth headphones, even though in reality I think that the battery factor might be a tad fiddly. Still the icombi bluetooth headphones for ipod from thanko seems to solve that with 11 hours battery time (more than enough for the ipod which this set is meant to be paired with) and you rechard via USB. Am I the only one who thinks that current technology is badly hobbled by poor battery life? Yeah. I thought so. Still it's a nice idea - and this reminds me that theres some bluetooth headphones I looked at a little while ago from HP that work with their PDAs which I might check out too.
Via Gizmodo check out thanko.jp some translation required (if you don't read kanji).
Posted by funnelbc at 10:08 AM | Comments (0)
April 07, 2005
wallpaper redux now with grey!
I've just updated the onetonnemusic wallaper, as the orange was a tad dayglo. Just a smidge. The new version features the same design as previously just with a dark grey background with subtle pattern like the old one. Hurrah.
You can get the 1680x1050 pixel widescreen (good for apple users) version here.
You can get the 1600x1200 (good for everyone else) version here.
Posted by funnelbc at 03:01 PM | Comments (0)
giant headphones
Are you frustrated with how your headphones are just not big enough? From the folks at mixco makers of interesting industrial design things come the giant headphone prototype. Which "look great dangling from the ceiling or placed on the floor. I'm totally into the idea of dangling them from the ceiling and not so into the floor idea.
Via MoCo Loco comes Mixko.net (Who also make giant keyboard key stools too!)
Posted by funnelbc at 07:32 AM | Comments (0)
April 06, 2005
hello, australian musicians.
Hey kids, just a reminder, that if you are interested in getting your music written about and covered here, just bung me an email on info at ausmusician dot com and I'd be more than happy to have a listen to ya stuff and point folks in your general direction if you have a website.
Cheers!
Posted by funnelbc at 11:03 PM | Comments (0)
digitalmusician.net looks promising
Also announced at musikmesse is DigitalMusician.net a online collaboration music site. The concept is as follows, you hook up with other musicians via the site - and you can collaborate online using a special VST plugin via DSL internet connection. Holy crap! That's a pretty nice idea. The site is currently in public beta, and you can apply to take part in the beta by filling in the form on the site. It's a really high concept, and I would love to see how this one pans out.
Check it out - digital musician.net Via Harmony Central
Posted by funnelbc at 10:41 PM | Comments (0)
reaktor 5 announced at musikmesse
Reaktor is the beating bleeding heart of hardcore (or should that be hardkore?) soft synth programming. Everywhere else lets you tinker with the effects, but Reaktor is the one if you want to get into the nuts and bolts and really change that sound. For better or worse! Reaktor 5 from Native Instruments has just been announced at Musikmesse. Reaktor 5 is coming out with a new feature called Core technology (as pictured above) that allows "true low level signal processing design". The potential with Reaktor has always been pretty much limitless - and with the new version it looks very positive for a slightly more accessible program as a whole. Native Instruments have also added easier skinning of the instruments and a improved user interface.
Via Harmony Central check out NI's page for Reaktor 5
Posted by funnelbc at 10:23 PM | Comments (0)
pro tools with m-audio hardware.
Funny how things go like this. I was just making insightful type comments on why on earth Digidesign hadn't seen fit to update protools free in some shape or form. And here arrives a good reason why they wouldn't. Pro-Tools software with M-Audio hardware. Hrm....
Posted by funnelbc at 09:20 PM | Comments (0)
an open letter to digidesign
As most people know DigiDesign's ProTools is where you go when you are serious about working with audio. A few years ago they released Pro Tools Free which is a limited version of the ProTools software that apart from limiting you to 8 tracks of Audio and 48 of midi was pretty damn cool. It didn't have enough multitracking ability to be a threat to the digi001 (which was then their bottom product) or even now to the mbox system.
What was also nice about Pro Tools Free was that you could work up tracks on your machine and take it to a bigger and better studio with Pro Tools, dump in your tracks and do real mastering and post production work on the industry standard. It wasn't the most reliable software platform, but support was plentiful via the digi forums, with other users kicking in to help other people. Infact, some of the more obscure problems I had when I used to fix TDM (the full version of Pro Tools basically) systems I usually got answers quicker from the forums than I did from Digidesign support here in Australia.
But we all told ourselves that when they updated the commericial Pro Tools to the new version we'd see a new version of Free that benefited from the stability of Windows 2000 or saints preserve us - Windows XP. But it never came. The free version of ProTools runs on Windows 98/Me and OS9 on the mac. Windows 98+Me being just about the most unstable platform for audio ever.
Which brings me to my point. Okay, and while I'm not suggesting we should just have a big love-in and Digi should give us free copies of their big money earning software - an updated version of free is something the music scene could really do with. Digidesign gets all that great customer goodwill and everyday schmoes can play around with thier music on Industry standard - and here's the real nub of the issue - EASY to use software. I'm convinced that Pro Tools is the best solution for audio editing, it's handling of editing, automation, inline effects are second to none. It really is fantastic to use - and its a damn shame they haven't seen a business case for updating free since they released it so many years ago - I'm convinced that it's a win-win situation for DigiDesign and musicians everywhere.
Posted by funnelbc at 09:51 AM | Comments (1)
April 05, 2005
phoenix studio - how did I not know about this sooner?
I just stumbled across Phoenix Studio 1.1. I was actually looking to see if hope against hope if some ubernerd in a bunker had put together a VST host for the Pocket PC platform. Which admittedly was pretty unlikely, but you never know what you might turn up if you don't look for it. But instead I found Meloditronic software and what looks to be very exciting piece of Pocket PC software - Phoenix Studio. The demo is unputdownable. Infact, i'm off to lay down the $30USD for the full version so I can really start to play with this sucker and write a few words about this. I'm actually really excited about Phoenix Studio. I found the Griff Pocket Studio unintuitive and a bit sluggish (mind you that was mind you on my older PDA which I have since replaced). I'm going to be taking the train to work tomorrow kids!
It's early days yet, but a really simple and fun interface, easy step pattern editing, 3 synths, a drum machine and a bunch of other fun stuff in my pocket! If you've got a Pocket PC check out the demo
Posted by funnelbc at 10:04 PM | Comments (0)
free vst plugin : memory
This was linked on the good ship Create Digital Music and while i'm always into pinching their stories and rewriting what they said and crediting them but still basically using their hard work to give me content for the good ship onetonnemusic, sometimes the inspiration just doesn't strike. And truly, I wanted to let everyone and anyone know about memory and even better it's compatability with the even more awesome P5 data glove as a rather cheap and cool performance tool. But I couldn't. But just then I played with memory in Abelton Live and I decided - ye verily I need to go speak it on the mountain. If you are VST equipped, download memory as a free sound mangling tool to add to your arsenal.
Get it here Did I mention I pilfered this from CDM?
Posted by funnelbc at 08:47 PM | Comments (0)
moshgirl
Funny funny stuff. Make sure to scroll down after the first one. It gets better.
Thanks Montague!
Posted by funnelbc at 09:58 AM | Comments (0)
sampletank for free? sounds good to me!
IK Multimedia have a pretty funky promotion going on. If you purchase either SampleTank 2 or AmpliTube you can recieve the other product for free! So you buy Amplitube and you get SampleTank. Fancy! This promotion runs till the end of April, so get in there quick!
IK's page for the promo Via Harmony Central
Posted by funnelbc at 09:36 AM | Comments (0)
interfacin' like it's 2005
Create Digital Music were kind enough to do some of the fancy google footwork for us all and have got some tasty links on the subject of new user interfaces. I saw something like this a while ago, and even had a little drool myself over audiopad. I'm certain that it's going to be in this field that the next real generational leap will be for user interfaces in general, not just for audio.
Go visit CDM and be enlightened.
Posted by funnelbc at 09:28 AM | Comments (0)
April 04, 2005
tx-2 buttprobe. i'm a little scared.
Metasonix are a bit funny. But that's okay. I'm not quite sure where to start with this one, but they've sent me a picture and some info on their new pedal as announced at the last NAMM. It's made entirely out of vacuum tubes, or at least allegedly, I think theres at least a little poor taste and some chunky steel casing to go with those sweet sweet tubes. One thing which may be of interest is that to modulate the distortion even further is that there's an LFO (envelope filter) built into the tx-2 to give even more extreme and wild distortion.
I think as niche handmade style pedals go, this is brimming with more than enough to justify the curiosity purchase - they called it the tx-2 Buttprobe, I mean how can you go wrong?
metasonix.com scroll down for perhaps the most awesome flash animation (including the elevator disco) I saw all day! Here in Australia you can purchase them from Skullshoe Audio
Posted by funnelbc at 06:24 PM | Comments (0)
win tascam gear @ tascamforums
Tascamforums.com is running a competition where you can submit your songs and go into the running to win a 2488 Digital Portastudio plus a VL-S21 Studio Monitor System or a DP-01FX Digital Portastudio all supplied by TASCAM. Hotdamn! You have to register an account on the tascamforums to enter (registration is free). You have to submit an original song as a mp3, not be a professional musician and also a picture of your studio. Easy peasy! Go and win some stuff my droogies!
Via: Harmony-Central
Posted by funnelbc at 02:01 PM | Comments (0)
creamware to release digital models of classic synths
CreamWare makers of nice software have just announced some rather fancy new things. It works as follows, the box is all digital, but looks like a complete replica of the Minimoog - which becomes the Minimax ASB, and the Prophet 5 becomes the Profit-5 ASB. They come packing USB which by all accounts exists to allow for working with presets on your computer. I'm sure Creamware must of worked out the legal technicalities, so it'd be nice to see even more of this style of thing - it doesn't take away from the appeal of the original item, but it does also make those amazing sounds more accessible for those of us without gold toilet seats.
Source: Harmony Central Via CreateDigitalMusic
Posted by funnelbc at 01:23 PM | Comments (0)
stop!
Thanks Jade!
Posted by funnelbc at 11:38 AM | Comments (0)
haZy ep release
This guy sent me an email about something else, but I went and checked out his site. You may or may not be into his tunes, depending on what variety of muzak you are into, but if you do happen to like fairly hardcore circuit bent sounding tunes you might just like the works of haZy. He put out his first EP on em411 a month or so ago, and I think theres some nice potential here. On one of the tracks I swear I heard a commodore 64 style action. Check it out if you like it glitchy and very electro. Music you can't dance to.
Posted by funnelbc at 11:10 AM | Comments (0)
jaxter artist awards winners announced
The winners of this year's jaxter artists awards has been announced, with 50% more entries than last year, they had a tough time picking winners.
"The overall prize for best entry goes to Graeme Pillemer, working under the stage name Earl Gray, for his undeniably groove-infused composition 'Bad Luck'. Described by the judges as an R&B version of Ben Harper, Graeme has created what one judge called 'a cruisy, funky alternative country-tinged bluesy classic'. Graeme wins $5,000 cash, and Mbox from Digidesign (pictured below) and a membership to The Can."
I'm gunna swing on over to jaxter.com.au and check out the track. Well done to Graeme Pillemer and good on jaxter for putting together such a good thing.
Posted by funnelbc at 10:09 AM | Comments (0)
April 01, 2005
things that I made last night
While procastinating about doing any actual real work, I put together a logo for the very fine and very full of actual content create digital music. I emailed it off before I went to bed and Imagine my delight when I found out they liked what I did for them and put it up on the site. Rather nice. I also did some new header graphics for them and you can check them out at create digital music and see them in all their pixelly glory.
Also it turns out that thanks to that musicthing as mentioned earlier on, were kind enough to link me. It may have been due to my nerd abuse/compliment depending which side of the LFO you roll on, but its all d20's as far as I'm concerned. Something I wanted to do a nice little thing for a site I liked has ended up with onetonnemusic getting linked from two of my favourite sites for electronic music news.
Posted by funnelbc at 11:25 AM | Comments (0)