Roland TB-303 with Devilfish Mod on Ebay

I realize it is insanely overused, but somehow, I never get sick of the sound of a Roland TB-303. And all the better if it is one with the infamous Devilfish Mod.

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Book Recommendation: Circuit-Bending: Build Your Own Alien Instruments

Circuit-Bending: Build Your Own Alien Instruments (ExtremeTech)


For those unfamiliar with the term, circuit bending refers to the practice of purposely short-circuiting electronic devices such as children's toys or home keyboards in order to get them to make bizarre new sounds. The man many credit with the start of the circuit-bending movement is Reed Ghazala, who also happens to be the author of this book. Can't get a much better source than that. Anyway, the book covers everything from what equipment you'll need to basic electrical engineering to how to solder all the way up to guiding you through about a dozen specific projects for modifying specific pieces of gear into shrieking monsters. The style of the book is very casual and easy to read, and the information is presented in a manner that is easy to understand even for people with no prior knowledge of the subject. Highly recommended to anyone with more than a passing interest in circuit bending.

Steiner Parker Synthacon on Ebay

I've never actually played one of these American made synths, but the demos I have heard of it make me want one badly. Very evil and gritty sounding...

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Making Music on Your iPhone

There's no doubt that technology just seems to be advancing faster and faster these days. One need only look at how far cell phones have come in the past few years to see evidence of this. Once just a means of communication, now cell phones are more like Swiss Army knives full of useful gadgets from cameras to MP3 players. With the introduction of Apple's iPhone, the cell phone has now started to smudge the line between phone and computer. This has exciting possibilities all around, but especially for electronic musicians. With that in mind, I thought I would compile a round-up of some of the currently available iPhone Apps that turn your phone in a musical instrument. This is by no means a complete list, but it should give you a good starting place...


Synthpond by Zach Gage ($1.99)
Touch-based sequencer where the user moves 'nodes' around the screen to alter the music. Best used with headphones, this one also uses node position in spatial placement of the notes allowing them to be moved around the stereo field. Check it out on

Destiny Digital Synth by Magnus Larsson ($1.99)
16-bit 'Digital Wave Micro Synth' with 7 sound presets including a drum set playable from an on screen piano keyboard. More sound patches are promised for the future. Check it out on

Digidrummer Lite by Magnus Larsson (FREE!)
Play drums with your fingers on 8 virtual drum pads. It allows you to have your Ipod music playing along in the background so you can jam along with your favorite songs. Check it out on

Digidrummer by Magnus Larsson ($0.99)
Sampled drum machine with record and playback functions, saveable beat library, multiple drumsets and more! Check it out on

Creation Gig Bundle by Magnus Larsson ($5.99)
This bundled package consists of 3 programs: Bedrum (a classic drum machine), Destiny (a digital synthesizer), and Digidrummer (a sampling drum machine users can add their own samples to). Check it out on

Minisynth by Yonac ($1.99)
Aka 'The MiniApollo". Virtual analog type synth playable from an onscreen piano keyboard. The synth has 2 oscillators (each with 4 waveforms to choose from), a modeled lowpass filter with cutoff and resonance, attack and decay filter envelope, glide, reverb, and more. Check it out on

Noise.io Pro By Amido Inc. ($9.99)
A synth and sequencer combo boasting a ton of features including 3 generators, 2 filters, 3 LFOs, 3 sequencers, 6 effects, unlimited presets and an apparently very active users community. Check it out on

Sound from Sound Synthesizer by Intelligent Gadgets ($2.99)
Essentially an FM synth you control by singing into your iPhone (or indeed by using any sound your iPhone can pick up) through the use of a special pitch to note algorithm. Check it out on

Pitch to Note+ by Intelligent Gadgets ($3.99)
Uses a polyphonic pitch to note algorithm to display note or chord information using the iPhones built-in microphone. Check it out on

Synthesizer by Stefan Welebny ($0.99)
Extremely simple, additive-based synth. Check it out on

Voxbot by Xyster.net ($1.99)
Speech synthesizer that will speak any text you type into it. Check it out on

Cosmovox by Leisuresonic ($2.99)
Essentially a theremin for your iPhone. Allows you to control a full featured synthesizer tuned to over 50 different scales using the iPhone's built-in accelerometer to track the location of your hand motions. Check it out on

BtBx ("BEatbox") by Pure Profit ( $3.99)
Drum machine offering both a sequencer and keyboard view, 8 drum sounds, 2 instrument sounds, 2 real time synthesizers, 16 step/16 pattern drum machine style sequencer, tempo adjustment, full low pass filter with cutoff and resonance, distortion and delay effects, and much more! Check it out on

Android FX by Pure Profit ($0.99)
Tap and slide your finger on the iPhone to produce all manner of blips and bleeps that would make R2-D2 nod with approval. Check it out on

PASY02 by Pankaku Inc. ($0.99)
Control the sound of this synth by manipulating an onscreen 'net'. Check it out on

BPM Tap Tempo by Audiodog ($0.99)
Tap-based utility for calculating a songs tempo, setting appropriate delay times, or setting an LFO rate to sync. Check it out on

FMScreen by Piticule ($1.99)
An FM synth for your iPhone controlled by tapping or sliding your finger across the screen. Check it out on

iXY MIDI Controller by CM Software Design ($2.99)
An XY pad on your iPhone for controlling your MIDI instruments (over a wifi connection with your computer). Check it out on

Metronome-iTick by Music Motion (FREE!)
Simple digital metronome with adjustable time signatures and tempo. Check it out on

MiniPiano by Junpei Wada (FREE!)
Simple, 3 octave piano simulation. Check it out on

Shazam by Shazam Entertainment Ltd. (FREE!)
If you've ever heard a song and wondered what it was, this is the app for you. Simply hold up your iPhone to the music and within seconds it will identify the song for you. Check it out on

Ocarina by Smule ($0.99)
Innovative virtual ocarina you play by blowing into the iPhone's built-in mic and fingering notes on the touchscreen. Legend of Zelda your butt off! Check it out on

Pocket Guitar by Shinya Kasatani ($0.99)
Virtual guitar for your iPhone that lets you press and strum strings just like the real deal. 6 different instrument sounds are included along with 3 different editable effects. Check it out on

MixMeister Scratch by Mixmeister Technology (FREE!)
This app allows you to play a song from your mobile device and scratch over it just like a DJ.
Check it out on

Chords by Adam Zapletal (FREE!)
Simple chord reference tool for guitar chords featuring 28 chord types for each note. Check it out on

More Cowbell! by Maverick Software (FREE!)
For win you have a fever and the only cure is more cowbell. Simple, playable cowbell for your iPhone. Check it out on

Harp by You Just Made Music ($1.99)
Use your left hand to pick chords and your right hand to strum out notes on this virtual Harp for your iPhone. Check it out on

Tuner 440 by Francois Baronnet (FREE!)
Free guitar tuner for your iPhone. Check it out on

GuitarToolKit by Agile Partners ($9.99)
Combines a guitar tuner with an extensive library of 1300 chord variations for quick reference. Check it out on

iTabla by Vidya Multimedia (FREE!)
A digital tabla and tanpura that fits in your pocket. Check it out on

Oblique Strategies by Far Out Labs (FREE!)
A virtual deck of Brian Eno & Peter Scmidt's infamous Oblique Strategy cards. Designed to be used when a musician is stuck on a song, the deck provides vague/crytpic statements that the musician is supposed to use as a way of getting 'unstuck' . Check it out on

BeatMaker by Intua ($19.99)
Full featured music creation studio for your iPhone. Too many features to list here, so just check it out on

Synton College Multi-Level Instructional Synthesizer on Ebay

Man, what is with all the crazy rare stuff showing up on Ebay lately? I've never even heard of this..

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Cyberworm's Free "Electric Drum Machines Megapack"

Download a free 46 megabyte collection of 728 synthetic drum and percussion sounds over at Cyberworm's blog. And if you enjoy the sounds, remember to donate to help ensure the blog goes on! Here are details about the material from the man himself:

"I worked on this samplepack for 2 months and finally did it! 728 single drums in one huge pack!
Samples made with Access Virus B/Virus TI, Jomox AirBase, Electron Machinedrum, Korg Prophecy, Polyvox synthesizer, Roland Juno-106 and "NoiseLab" drum synthesizer by Oleg Sharonov. Also used Alesis 3630 compressor, dbx 166XL, TL Audio Ivory 2, Izotope Ozone.

Pack contain:
bassdrums: 115
claps: 61
cymbals: 164
fx: 162
percussions: 64
snaredrums: 97
shakers: 19
stick/rim/cowbell sounds: 68
toms: 32

wav format, 16 bit, 44100 hz, mono/stereo, 46 mb"

Burikusu!!! Debut Released

Today is the official release of "2080", the debut album from Burikusu!!! on my label, 23db Records. If you haven't already, take the time to check out the sample clips from this album - I think you'll be impressed. These guys are definitely one of the most original acts I have heard in ages.

If you like what you hear, you can order your own copy here.

Or, for those who prefer to buy their music digitally get it on or on Amazon MP3

Waveformless Joins The Groove Network

The more observant among you ( ie the 2 or 3 of you who aren't drunk right now) may have noticed the new link bar at the top of the page. This is part of a new cooperative effort among music bloggers called The Groove Network. This is simply an effort to try and expose our respective readers to each others' blogs and hopefully turn people on to some cool stuff they might not been aware of otherwise. So take a few minutes to check out some of the blogs linked above. I bet you will find a new favorite or two!

4 Beginners Tips for Cleaner Mixes

Arrangement, Arrangement, Arrangement! One of the most common mistakes beginners to electronic music make is to haphazardly add parts to their song without any sense of logic or order. This leads to muddy mixes with multiple parts fighting for the same frequency space. When you are adding a new part, pay attention to what frequency range it's in to ensure that you aren't putting it in an octave that is going to compete with an existing part. If it does, try playing the new part an octave higher or an octave lower. A well-arranged track can have a lot going on and still sound clean with each part distinct from the others. The cleaner your mix starts out to begin with, the cleaner the end result will be.

Think in 3D
Not having multiple parts playing in the same frequency range is a good rule of thumb, but isn't a hard, fast rule. There are things you can do so that two parts in the same range aren't fighting for space in your mix. The simplest is to change the position of one of the tracks relative to the other by using panning or reverb level. By having one track panned more towards the right, and the other more to the left (avoid panning hard left or hard right, though, as this usually sounds very unnatural), you can have two parts around the same range and still have them sound distinct. This is still a common technique used in mixing multiple guitars in rock music. But don't stop there. Consider also the position of tracks 'back to front' in the mix. 'Wet' tracks that are heavily reverbed have a tendency to sound further away from the listener than ones that are drier, or have no reverb at all. This doesn't quite produce the same degree of separation that panning does, but done correctly it can definitely help two competing parts sit well together.

Subtractive EQ
The biggest trouble area for most mixes is the low end You want the bass frequencies to sound nice and full, but sometimes you just end up with pure mud. The best way to remedy this problem is through judicious use of subtractive EQ. Subtractive EQ simply means using an equalizer to subtract frequencies rather than boosting them. In fact, it is always preferable to cut frequencies than to boost them if possible, because by cutting frequencies you are freeing up bandwidth in your mix, while boosting them takes up more room in your mix. So make a habit of cutting the bass frequencies out of everything in your mix that isn't a kick drum or bass. You might think that sounds like violins or bells or crash cymbals don't have much low end, but you would be surprised just how much there usually is. And even small amounts of unneeded bass frequencies can add up over several tracks and make your low end wooly and indistinct. My default starting point is to use a highpass filter to cut out everything below 200Hz on most non-kick/bass tracks. And on the kick and bass tracks, it's a good idea to roll off everything below 40Hz since most consumer stereos won't reproduce these frequencies anyway. Keep in mind, this is just a starting point - you will undoubtedly need to tweak each track individually to get it perfect. You'd be amazed at how just this one simple trick will clean up your mixes. Your kick and bassline will come through much clearer, and your mix will sound more open, even allowing you to add more parts if you desire.

Keep It Hot
If you are recording hardware instruments, you need to make sure you record them as loudly as possible without clipping the signal (unless you are deliberately clipping it for effect). It's easy to forget that 'real' instruments and mixers emit noise (since softsynths don't have this problem). You want to ensure that your 'real' instrument parts are as far above the noise floor as possible. Simply normalizing your already recorded track is not good enough since obviously, making your track louder will also make the noise louder. So take time to set levels properly and you will minimize any noise issues.

What are your favorite tips for cleaning up mixes?

Rare Crumar Symphonizer on Ebay

I love the sound of old string machines. Crumar was quite famous for these, but I have to admit, I hadn't heard of this one. And a quick search of the inter-Googles didn't turn up much of anything. Anyone familiar with this one?

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Extensive Interview with Ultravox's Billy Currie

Via stevevoxxy on YouTube:

Spectral Audio Neptune 2 Synth on Ebay

This is kind of an obscure one...

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256 Free Distorted Kick Drum Samples

Jobro Media present 256 distorted and mangled kick drums for absolutely free...

GO GET THEM...

Rare Whiteface Arp Odyssey on Ebay

And no reserve to boot!

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