3 archive page

Remain Calm has put together a list of its top 24 music apps for the Nintendo DS:

1. bliptracker - a drum machine & sequencer
2. dsmcu - MCU-compatible mix controller
3. Protein[DS] - sample looper, scratcher, glitcher
4. nitrotracker
5. kaosDS - converts touchscreen data into midi over wifi
6. sampling keyboard
7. dstep v2 - a visual sequencer
8. glitchDS - a cellular automation sequencer
9. repeaterDS - stuttering sample player
10. midipad - a DS Kaoss pad clone
11. toypiano - a sampled piano
12. dstar - MIDI sequencer
13. monome ds - an open-source Monome emulation
14. soundcells - cool looking virtual synthesizer
15. ukulele - a virtual ukulele
16. dssynth - an open source DS synth
17. MIDI Jammer - a graphical MIDI tool
18. AXE - move the stylus around on the touch screen to create simplistic music
19. pulse dsi - a MIDI synth
20. drummers v2
21. FUDI Kaos DS
22. knobs and sliders
23. drum me - virtual drum kit
24. strum me - a virtual guitar

Check out the Remain Calm site for screenshots and more info.

If you’ve tried these or other DS music apps, let me know what you think in the comments.

The Chemical Brothers have announced a new best-of album, Brotherhood, that will be released Sept 2.

Brotherhood comprises 2 discs, the first is a collection of 13 undeniable benchmark singles from the band’s immense back catalogue and new track Keep My Composure which features the shimmering flow of Baltimore’s Spank Rock.

The 2nd disc will feature exclusively Electronic Battle Weapons 1-10. Since 1996, Electronic Battle Weapons have acted as the laboratories for The Chem’s musical experiments and laid the rhythmic and melodic foundations for numerous tracks. Until now, Electronic Battle Weapons 1-9 have only been available on various limited formats. This is the first time they have been widely available.

Brotherhood will be preceded by the digital single Midnight Madness, the full-length of which will be included on Disc 2. Read more…

Weepr is a new free music application that is sort of like a software Tenori-On.

Not much information is available yet, and the site is in Italian, but you can download and try Weepr out here. Adobe’s Air is required.

It’s limited in terms of what sounds are available, and timing is a little shaky, but it’s free, and it’s distributed under a Creative Commons license, so you can change it and build on it, if you like.

Post-punk pioneers Devo are suing McDonald’s over a Happy Meal doll that sports the band’s signature red flower pot hat.

In April, McDonald’s introduced a series of American Idol Happy Meal toys based on a range of music styles, including Disco Dave, Country Clay, Rockin’ Riley and Soulful Selma.

Devo’s complaint is that the toy “New Wave Nigel” is based on the band’s image, and that the doll plays a Devo-esque song.

Bass player Gerald Casale said the band were taking legal action against McDonald’s for using their copyrighted hat without permission.

“We are in the midst of suing them,” Casale told AAP.

“This New Wave Nigel doll that they’ve created is just a complete Devo rip-off,” said Devo bassist Gerald Casale, “The red hat is exactly the red hat that I designed, and it’s copyrighted and trademarked.”

“They didn’t ask us anything. Plus, we don’t like McDonald’s, and we don’t like American Idol, so we’re doubly offended.”

While it’s clear that this toy was derived from Devo’s trademark image, you have to wonder if Devo itself has devolved, when it’s suing McDonalds over appropriating the band’s 25-year old image, instead of doing something new.

Sonofcastille has published a set of videos demonstrating beautiful steampunk-style synths and noise generators.

Here are a few of the coolest:

WSG

This is Ray Wilson’s Weird Sound Generator circuit off of musicfromouterspace.com, plus audio amp scavenged out of a Radio Shack amp. The case was an old telephone from the 70s. Read more…

Digidesign has announced the immediate availability of its Transfuser virtual instrument for Pro Tools.

Transfuser comes with nearly 2 GB of loops and phrases to get users started quickly. By combining a series of modular drum machine/sound generators, dedicated sequencers, loop manipulation tools, and effects with an intuitive drag-and-drop composition/editing interface, users can easily create, manipulate and perform loop- and rhythm-based music on the fly.

“Transfuser is an incredibly fun and creative way to quickly make and manipulate music right in Pro Tools,” says Digidesign’s Dusty DiMercurio. “Many people today rely on audio loops and phrases to create music. Transfuser offers user-friendly tools and a simple workflow that enables anyone to easily remix grooves and create original music from these building blockss.”

Transfuser is available now in RTAS format for both Mac OS X and Windows at a price of $295 / €282.

In this video, new age artist Kitaro explains how and why he uses the synthesizer as he does. He also offers some criticism about the “wrong” use of that instrument.

Digidesign has teamed with The Crystal Method, artist community Fuzz.com, and Remix magazine on a remix contest using a new track from The Crystal Method’s upcoming studio album, due in stores this fall.

By visiting www.fuzz.com/remixingprotools, you can download The Crystal Method song session, create a remix, and then upload an MP3, by September 30, 2008.

The Fuzz.com user community will vote for their favorite remixes, with The Crystal Method, Digidesign, Remix, and Fuzz.com staff reviewing the top voted remixes and selecting one winner and one runner-up to each receive a studio prize package.

“We are so excited to be a part of this remix contest. This will be the first time anyone has heard anything from our new album and now you have the opportunity to remix it,” said The Crystal Method’s Ken Jordan in a statement.

Grand Prize

• Digidesign 003 Factory
• Digidesign Transfuser
• M-Audio Studiophile BX8a
• M-Audio Axiom 49
• 1 Year Subscription to Remix Magazine

Runner-Up Prize

• Digidesign Mbox 2 Micro
• Digidesign Transfuser
• M-Audio KeyRig 25
• M-Audio IE 20 XB In-ear Monitors
• iLok USB Smart Key
• 1 Year Subscription to Remix Magazine

Waxy’s Andy Baio has taken a statistical look at how the record industry has changed in the last fifty years, and it looks like there’s a good reason why you hate so much mainstream pop music: the variety of pop music is less than half of what it was in the sixties:

According to Billboard, the late 1960s were the peak of musical diversity in popular music, with 743 different songs appearing on the 1966 Billboard Top 100 chart. It’s fallen consistently since, hitting an all-time low in 2002 with only 295 songs.

Since 2002, it’s improved only slightly, with 351 unique songs appearing on last year’s Top 100.

Is it any wonder that people are listening to less radio, buying less music and, instead, turning to blogs and podcasts to find new music?

Big Fish Audio has introduced a new sample library, The Jazz City Collection.

Description: Inspired by the classic 1950s and 1960s jazz albums of artists like John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, and others, Jazz City features 14 construction kits of traditional Jazz loops.

Also included is a substantial amount of extras and alternate loops, bringing the total content to nearly 3 GB in just the WAV format. An array of different ensembles are included, ranging from intimate-sounding jazz trios to quartets, quintets, and sextets.

Contents:

• 14 Construction Kits (1.6 GB of WAV files).
• 1.4 GB of extra and alternative WAV file loops.
• Tempos ranging from 55 to 205 BPM in various keys.

FORMAT: Apple Loops/REX/WAV/Acid/RMX
RETAIL: $99.95

Nine Inch Nails has announced the first wave of tour dates for their Lights In The Sky: Over South America 2008 tour:

• Tuesday October 7, 2008 - via Funchal, Sao Paulo, Brazil
• Thursday October 9, 2008 - Pepsi on Stage, Porto Alegre, Brazil
• Sunday October 12, 2008 - Coliseo El Campin Bogota Colombia
• Wednesday October 15, 2008 - Poliedro de Caracas,Venezuela

Check their performance page for updated details and on-sale/pre-sale information.

More tour dates will be announced soon.

Daft Punk’s Electroma - an art-house style movie that doesn’t feature their music and is only thematically related to their other work - is now out on DVD.

The movie follows the two Daft Punk robots, Hero Robot No. 1 and Hero Robot No. 2, on a road trip across the US Southwest.

The film explores the idea of what it is to be human.

While the movie got respectful reviews, it only got limited showings because of the nature of the film and the fact that the movie doesn’t feature Daft Punk’s music. Read more…

via Chip Collection: You can now place advance orders for Dave Smith & Roger Linn’s LinnDrum II drum machine.

There are two models: the all-digital “LinnDrum II”, available from Roger Linn Design and the “LinnDrum II Analog”, which adds four analog synth voices and 32 dual-function voicing knobs, available from Dave Smith Instruments.

Pricing is $1400 for LinnDrum II and $1800 for LinnDrum II Analog. Read more…

Omer Yosha’s AirPiano is a new musical interface which lets you play and control software instruments by moving hands in the air.

Above the AirPiano is a virtual matrix of keys and faders, each assigned with MIDI messages and ready to be triggered. The length of a triggered note is equivalent to the time a hand is placed on the corresponding virtual key. This is also confirmed by LED feedback

Here’s a video of the AirPiano in action:

The AirPiano is still in its prototype phase and its concept of a virtual matrix might eventually be used for other applications and purposes. Read more…

Keyboard Choir, a band described as “a journey through the history of electronic music” is a collective of six musicians who try to make music with the turbulence and dynamics of traditional ‘ensemble’ performance, using purely electronic sound sources and ‘found sound’.

“When we started we toyed with the idea of being a loose, random collective with people coming and going but it didn’t work, it was too loose and random. We got our act together and in late 2006/early 2007 we began recording what was to become our debut album, ‘Mizen Head to Gascanane Sound’, put to tape (or in our case, hard disk) in South-western Ireland, and named after the area. The album is released on Brainlove records and online 25/2/08.

While the video is a little iffy - Keyboard Choir looks like an interesting project.

If you’ve had a chance to catch these guys live, let me know what you think in the comments!