07 December 2012

Yamaha QY10 meets PFX 9003

Recently got a Yamaha QY10. Nice little machine. Biggest drawback: no polyphonic keyboard. No way to play cords with the keyboard. But yes, the QY 10 produces chords, every kind of; they must be programmed and can be played with a press of a key.
It comes with nice voices, the analog drum kit shines, also the piano, the vibe and some synth voices.




I did a short drum loop and programmed a bass (just one tone) and two chords. Mangled with a tiny beast, the pocket effect processor PFX 9003 from Zoom,  the outcome is a weird noise experience.
Just listen



24 October 2012

Squarepusher Vienna Okt, 10. Totally weird bass solo


Squarepusher. O my god. The guy comes from outer space. He delivered some  new kind of a concert. 150 percent energy, but does he care about the audience? Every song starts with a steady groove which was broken down into pieces after seconds. Squarepusher-like micro-rhythms that delighted the crowd in front oft the stage (the ones that immersed into sound or that ones like me, trying to figure out how he´s doing his job, what equipment he uses and so on ); that confused the dancers, who tried to capture a groove but can´t; that irritated the rest of the crowd in the back of the room who moved around waiting for some music  that can be memorized and taken home. No way. It was musique concrete pushed on a new level.
The light-show - overwhelming. But that black and white flashing LED patterns had a reminiscene of  fascistic sign systems. A heroic coldness, distance.
 In all this Squarpusher acts like a robot with a LED-helmet.  Face hidden, sparse gestures, far away from the crowd, not really  getting in touch with them. And leaving them totally alone with his bass solo in the end of the show, which was a brute atonal noise fxperience,  screeaming sounds that must not have a bass as origin. In itself an unbelievable example of a bass transcending his functions the solo was also a great piece of narcissm.
Nonetheless, Squarepusher is one of the greatest artists of our time because he changes the rules.


21 October 2012

Yamaha RX 5 Wave Card

I´m bidding for a RX 5 Wave Card. It´s the WRC04 with the experimental samples. The bid is 67 Euros. So the card is more expensive than the Drummy itself which I got for about 60 Euros.

20 October 2012

More thougths on the RS 7000

A machine like this is a manifestation of electronic dance music. What comes out first is dance. To master a beast like the RS 7000 and getting out of the dance-trap it must be seen and used as a modular system. Like stompboxes on a dinett space. Treated separatly: a drum machine, a synth that becomes a drone, the effects as a analog filter. And the sample functionality as a real audio gift, something that enhances and alters everything.

19 September 2012

sounds of the sun and the earth

I´m always fascinated of sounds produced by nature. One of my projects is to make the routes we drive  audible. Recording the ups and downs along the way and play it like sinewaves.
Discovered Semiconductor, two artist who work in the same direction. Just see, what they do with sun winds...


and  with earth magnetism...

09 September 2012

Electro-busking at the pond

Summer Electro-busking fascinates me. Outdoor playing with battery powered gear. Stored in the backpack. Strolling, finding a place to glitch en plain air.
I found a little pond (Fischweiher) in the woods and added some electro to the bubbling water.


Set up a Yamaha VA 5 amplifier, a Motorola Xoom tablet with Reactable as a sequencer and a little Zoom pocket FX and did a little improvising. I recommend the VA 5 as a fine busking amp. Ligthwight, endless battery power, good sound. Listen...


04 September 2012

RS 7000: the way to...

Picked it up in Austria. In the beautiful Mostviertel. After a businessflight  which was early in the morning I returned at about 1 pm to Munich. Then went by car to Amstetten (you know, the Pritzl-Town), well not direct, but close to. The guy who sold the machine had not done much with it. To much features. Couldt not explain the easiest questions. We turned it on, it works, I went away.
How comes that I reached out for a RS 7000? Following the discussions in Muff Wigglers Forum I was surprised, how much adored Machinedrum was. In the forum Machinedrum is regarded as the best drum machine ever. My Machinedrum eats dust (see picture), because I´m very fast in beatmaking using cheap Zoomies or the incredible Yamaha RY 30. I always do realtime recording when sketching beats. Machinedrum is a step-recorder by default. Nice but not really as fast as I like it.
In his book "Loops&Grooves"  Todd Souvignier says step-recording is for the birds. Its always better to do real-time-recording. This was a nice remark and I started a thread in Muff Wigglers Forum:  "Is machinedrum for the birds?"
In more than 130 posts  Machinedrum was defended, But in the discussion some drawbacks of Machinedrum came up. E.G it cannot handle differnt bar lenghts. As an alternative Yamahas RS 7000 was mentioned. And praised as a more flexible drummachine then MD. Plus elaborated filtering and soundshaping. I got me all the information on the RS 7000. There was so much admiration that in the end I want one.
The RS 7000. Here it is. And it will cost me at least 2 lives of a cat.


But anyhow. Here´s the first RSTune: