Octatrack MK1 users might be getting conditional locks!

    Elektron recently launched updated versions of their boxes, including an Octatrack MKII.  Octatrack MKI owners might still benefit from this release as Elektron has now officially anounced via their website (see image below) that the MKII OS will be compatible with the MKI box and will "include the functionality of the MKII".  As you may have heard, the MKII will support conditional locks, which is a great way to add probabilities to your sequenced steps--opening up a whole lot of good fun.


    (source: https://www.elektron.se/support/?connection=octatrack#resources)

    Now, to further legitimize my suspicion that MKI will now be able to do conditional locks (aka trig conditions), have a look at the manual and you will notice that everything is almost identical between the MKI and MKII manuals except for the highlighted sections below: CONDITIONAL LOCKS and FILL MODE. (MK1 manual on left, MK2 on right)

     

    So, congrats to all MKI owners as it looks like you will have at least one more OS update to come (but perhaps more!) with additional features here and there.  Personally, I'm still waiting for program change parameter locks, which are present in the digitakt and monomachine.

    What features would you like to see implemented in the MKII OS?

M-Audio AV40 Dead Monitors Revival (capacitor replacement)

1/12/2015

I was recently given a pair of dead M-Audio AV40 near field monitors.  These little speakers are great!  However, I was puzzled as to how exactly they had failed.  After some googling I found that a few of the capacitors used on these have a tendency to go bad and leak.  I decided to open up the case and sure enough: I found the capactior were bulging and had a chemical leak at the top.  I removed the capactitors and ordered them from mouser.com as follows:

If GameBoy, Linux, and Vocaloid had babies: KDJ-ONE

1/08/2015

It's got a gamepad on it, but it's not a GameBoy. It's got a keyboard on it, but it's not a synthesizer.  It's running on Linux, but it's not a server. It's got a full-blown sequencer and it's not a tracker! It's KDJ-ONE!

New Kickstarter analog synth project gives you a taste of modular madness

Embedded thumbnail for New Kickstarter analog synth project gives you a taste of modular madness
1/05/2015

They call it Phenol--a new semi-modular analog synthesizer that is currently in the works and has already been successfully funded over at Kickstarter.

The project will feature some heavyweight synthesis capabilities that havent been seen in too many desktop analog semi-modulars this size or smaller.  Here are some "preview" specs:

Analog Chiptune Snob Heaven: over 154,000 audio recordings of real C64's chirping away

12/29/2014

Have you heard about the best-selling computer of all time? No, it's not your Mac. It's the mighty Commodore 64, which was released in 1982.

BrainZtain - Let You Go (Zoom Sampletrak)

Embedded thumbnail for BrainZtain - Let You Go (Zoom Sampletrak)
12/17/2014

One more Sampletrak video--check out the drum breakdown!  All sampled from same record, all inside the Zoom ST-224.

BrainZtain - Masked Beat (Zoom Sampletrak)

Embedded thumbnail for BrainZtain - Masked Beat (Zoom Sampletrak)
12/12/2014

I recently wrote about the highly underrated Zoom Sampletrak ST-224 sampler from the late 90's and even posted an audio-visual experiment to go along with it.  Here is one more example of what the Sampletrak can do with a few samples off a breakbeat record and some basic Korg MS-20 synth sounds.

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The Kilpatrick Audio PHENOL is the 2nd semi-modular synthesizer I've owned (the first being the Korg MS-20), and it is also the closest thing to a modular.  Soon after getting my hands on it I started realizing what the modular fuzz was really all about.

The PHENOL packs a lot of modular features in a small package.  This includes a very simple but useful divider and powerful multi-mode envelopes--all things that are not very common outside the modular world.

Everything else on... more

The MPC is THE icon of sample-based music--more specifically hip-hop. While there is an entire line of MPC's out there, what makes the MPC 1000... more

sampler

The Zoom Sampletrak ST-224... the poor man's MPC... the last of the 90's samplers... and there's a good chance you've never heard about it.

... more

I still remember when I won my first analog synth, the Korg MS-20, on an ebay auction for about $1000 in 2004.  The synth was still in its cult-... more