J.C. & Kastil – No Spiritual Surrender

Here is a great release by J.C. & Kastil on Cabrera that is tricky to put a specific genre on. I would say it’s overall deep techno but there are elements of ambient and industrial noise as well. It’s a dark and edgy, almost apocalyptic world of sound we are thrust into where abstract modular mutated gurgles are backed by a punishing beat.

Best find of the week for me, though it was released over a year ago.
There exists a Part 2 of this release as well, which is more on the ambient side. You will have to head over to their Bandcamp site to listen to that as it doesn’t seem to be available on Spotify yet.

 

February 10th, 2019|Blog, I recommend, Music|

HYVE Touch Synthesizer Improvisation

I just uploaded a new video to Youtube where I play around with my HYVE Synth.
I wouldn’t call it a real performance though. It’s more like a demo of what this thing is capable off. I’m still learning how to use it.

Developed by Skot Wiedmann, the HYVE is a 60 voice analog polyfonic synthesizer where each key senses pressure, vertical position, and horizontal position. By pressing down and just wiggling your finger a little bit you can control the sound much more than with a normal keyboard. For example you can balance the stereo position of one voice by leaning the finger a bit to the left or right and the volume of the voice by how hard you press.

The layout of the bottom part of the HYVE is similar to that of a normal keyboard with the addition that you can play five octaves per key, all at once of course. In the top section the keys are arranged in different chromatic scales which makes it “easy” to play chords and drift though voices that would be pretty hard, if not impossible to do on a normal keyboard.

 

February 2nd, 2019|Analog, Blog, Synthesizer|

Found the right spot for my CSS Winner Certificate

CSS Winner liked this site so much that they gave me a star for it.

“It’s our pleasure to inform you that your website has been qualified to be a part of CSS Winner’s STAR category. This also means that you’re one step ahead of nominees. The selection was done based on the submitted website’s design, usability, content as well as functionality.”

So, thank you CSS Winner. It feels good to be a winner and I have already found the right spot for my new certificate. :)

January 30th, 2019|Blog, Design|

Cinematic Electronica from Thomas Ragsdale

I’m often amazed of how easy it is nowadays to discover great new music. Back in the day before the internet you would have to rely on the reviews in a weekly or monthly magazine and then get you ass down to the local record store, hoping for a miracle that they actually had the album in question. Today you are just one click away to discover something amazing. Like this album Self Zero by Yorkshire’s Thomas Ragsdale that Spotify quite correctly assumed I would like. It was released in November last year but I just found it through Spotify’s excellent recommendation engine.

Ragsdale spent his formative years making music for TV, movies and advertising companies but gradually shifted into performing live. I would describe the style on Self Zero as Cinematic Ambient Soundscapes. I like it a lot. Check it out!

 

 

January 28th, 2019|Blog, I recommend, Music|

My latest modded Gameboy is pristine

I have been modding a lot of old Nintendo Gameboys lately, but this has to be the cleanest looking so far. Actually the shell is brand new, but it’s also old. It’s a new old stock part aka NOS, something that has been stored somewhere for all these years. It’s in original Nintendo shell from the early to mid 90’s, but it has never been used, until now.

It still has the original color, meaning there is no yellowing, the logo is not worn out and there are absolutely no scratches or any other marks. Lovely.

The usual mods was of course installed:

  • White backlight screen from Deadpan Robot, which means you can play games, produce music and perform live in complete darkness.
  • Bivert chip for improved contrast and less ghosting.
  • Brand new gray glass screen.
  • ProSound mod to the original headphone jack, for improved sound quality, louder volume and less background noise.
  • Bass Boost mod for more sub bass. The thump / bass feel area below 50hz is more prominent now. This will make your tracks kick HARD when performing live.
  • 1000 uF decoupling capacitor on the power regulator. Reduces the hiss and hum that can occur because of the backlight screen.
  • New silicon parts

 

January 27th, 2019|Blog, Gameboy, Retro|

Spotify Playlist: Chilled Beats 04

I just put together another Spotify playlist with the best chilled tracks I’m listening to at the moment.

Chilled Beats 04

Two hours of the best Deep House, Ambient Grooves and Laid Back Electronic Music, selected by me. Got some fresh tracks here from masters of laid back electronic music, like C-Jay, Apparat, Jan Blomqvist and State Azure. Enjoy, and don’t forget to hit that Follow button in Spotify.

Photo by Alexandra Marcu

 

Eurorack 101 from Intellijel

The world of Eurorack Modular Synthesizers can be very complex and I guess a bit intimidating for even a seasoned electronic musician. It really is a jungle out there, with thousands of different modules made by hundreds of companies all over the world.

What does every module do, what do I need to get started and how do I connect everything to make sounds? Valid questions indeed. I found this excellent page from the Canadian company Intellijel that explains everything you need to know.

Lots of useful information, even for someone like me that have been into this thing for a few years now.

Eurorack 101: What is a Eurorack Modular Synthesizer

January 24th, 2019|Blog, modular, Synthesizer|
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