Califaudio

Synth Explosion - Flipboard Magazine

2013-03-30T08:03:00.001-07:00

I created a Flipboard magazine full of photos of synthesizers. It's called Synth Explosion.

The Flipboard app is a highly visual way to flip through Twitter and other social networks. The new "create your own magazine" feature is easy. If you have the new version of Flipboard on iPad/iPhone, you can find Synth Explosion here:

http://flip.it/6IzDn

Subscribe if you like it. It's free. Enjoy.

Audiobus iOS App

2012-12-10T05:59:00.001-08:00

Audiobus is now live on the App Store. The iOS app allows audio streaming between iOS apps. It will let you play a synth app through an effects app and route the audio to a DAW app for recording. Many apps are supported and more will be added. http://audiob.us/download

Jesse Kenas Collins: Intensity Of

2012-03-03T15:03:00.001-08:00

Intensity of from Jesse Kenas Collins.

Live documentation of a solo set by Jesse Kenas Collins.

[BRDG004] hazcauch × vokoi

2011-10-26T07:22:00.000-07:00

[BRDG004] hazcauch × vokoi from BRDG.

soundtrack from hazcauch / scept “VEIN”
http://itunes.apple.com/jp/album/vein/id470442851
http://www.beatport.com/release/vein/817687

visual:

vokoi (ARch / 710.beppo / tripon)
[ http://www.arch-project.com/ ]
generated with Max/MSP/Jitter.

Produced by Bridge
http://bridge.tokyomax.jp/
http://www.facebook.com/brdg.jp

via surachai

Serge Popcorn

2011-10-25T22:54:00.000-07:00

Popcorn from Rastko Lazic.

Live improvisation on a Serge modular synth.

via quadslope

Julian Treasure: 5 Ways To Listen Better

2011-08-03T21:35:00.000-07:00

Julian Treasure TED Talk: 5 Ways To Listen Better.

Also check out his previous TED Talk: 4 Ways Sound Affects Us.

Exclusive Interview: Ilan Rubin - Speak Through The White Noise

2011-04-08T09:00:00.000-07:00

Ilan Rubin is riding high.

Following successful tours behind the drums with Nine Inch Nails and Lostprophets, Rubin locked himself in the studio and re-emerged as The New Regime.

Now at age 22, Ilan Rubin has released his second solo album as The New Regime entitled Speak Through the White Noise.

Here Ilan Rubin offers insight into how he crafted the album.

CALIFAUDIO: Ilan, congrats on the release of Speak Through The White Noise. The album is really great. Which songs came most naturally?

ILAN RUBIN: Writing each of the songs was a natural process because I never force myself to write or complete anything. In fact if something isn't coming to me at the moment I'll leave it and get back to it later because I don't want to get used to a part that I know I'll just rewrite later.

CA: What's the most challenging aspect of being a one-man band?

IR: The most challenging thing about being a one-man band takes place in the live setting more than in does during the recording process. Sometimes it can be difficult finding people who handle their responsibilities properly as pieces of a unit. The recording process is always seamless and enjoyable.

CA: Where did you record Speak Through The White Noise?

IR: Speak Through The White Noise was recorded in quite a few locations. Tracks were recorded at Red Bull studios, Signature Sound in San Diego, my little home studio, and a song was completed by emailing files back and forth on tour.

Speak Through The White Noise by The New Regime

CA: I enjoyed reading the commentary you posted throughout the album on SoundCloud and wish more artists would share the details of their recording process this way.
Let's talk gear. What mics and preamps did you use?

IR: Thank you. Aside from what was done at Red Bull studios and at Signature Sound, we recorded with what was available at my house. I have a pair of Vintech x73 mic pres and two Distressors and those were used for everything. A Shure SM7b was used for vocals and depending on the guitar amps being used Royer 121's, Sennheiser 421's, Shure SM57's, and the SM7b were used.

CA: What was your drum kit of choice for the album?

IR: The drum sets I used for the album were mutt sets with the best sounding pieces of other sets. For example I used a 1968 Ludwig silver sparkle 16x16 floor tom, the 14x10 and 18x16 toms from the black OCDP NIN set, a black sparkle 26x16 OCDP bass drum, and a variety of snare drums ranging from black beauties to a 14x8 Tama wood snare drum.

CA: How about your favorite keyboards?

IR: The keyboard used most frequently was a Moog Voyager. I used a microkorg briefly before I upgraded to the Moog and ended redoing some parts but the microkorg is still a fun little instrument to play around with.

CA: The sequenced bass line in "Live In Fear" was created with a Doepfer MAQ 16/3 sequencer and a Doepfer A-111 VCO through a Harvestman Polivoks filter. How else did you use modular synths?

IR: Modular synths were used quite a bit on this album but they were entirely sequenced based for rhythmic purposes. I didn't control the modular with a keyboard and play it. I would control the pitch with the first row of the sequencer and use the other CV outs to manipulate other parameters. Also, I used a The Harvestman module a lot called the Stilton Adapter which allows you to insert up to 4 effects pedals at a time. So the bass in the chorus of Radiate The False for example is actually a modular synth sequence with an inserted Fender Blender fuzz to complete the sound. Other pulsing rhythms, drones, and the occasional noise were done with the modular as well.

CA: There's a ton of Roland Space Echo, both the old RE-201 tape echo and the new RE-20 pedal. What draws you to the sound of the Space Echo?

IR: I love the space (no pun intended) these echo units fill out. The reverb they produce is very dark and the sounds add an eeriness which I love. I thoroughly enjoy both the RE-201 and the RE-20 pedal although they do sound different. The feedback produced on the RE-201 is much more useable and the effect itself is a bit more tame while the pedal is more harsh and has a light rasp to it when its overdriven which is great.

CA: Is it true you've made your own guitar pedals?

IR: I went a little crazy for a few weeks and obsessed over building pedal kits. I assembled the PCBs, soldered everything, painted them, and tried out different mods occasionally. I plan on getting into designing some circuits when I can find the time.

CA: Any upcoming plans for The New Regime?

IR: All gears have been shifted to looking for the right tours. I'm very eager to get these songs out into a live atmosphere.

CA: Thanks for your time.

IR: My pleasure.

Trash_Audio Synth Meet 9: Richard Devine + Alessandro Cortini

2011-04-05T08:15:00.000-07:00

Surachai + Justin McGrath of Trash_Audio joined forces with Xart Studio in Chicago for Synth Meet 9 over the weekend.

Here are some live videos [captured by Dave Jones]:

Trash audio synth meet 9: Act 1 - Richard Devine from Attack Sustain.

Trash Audio synth meet 9: Act 2 - Alessandro Cortini from Attack Sustain.

Trash Audio synth meet 9: Act 3 - Alessandro Cortini & Richard Divine improv duet. from Attack Sustain.

Sampled Room

2011-02-01T06:42:00.000-08:00

Sampled Room from Mateusz Zdziebko on Vimeo.

Tools:

Canon EOS 5D mkII
DitoGear™ CrankSlider
Microphone Shure SM 48

2 Wine Glases
Panties
Bottle Opener
Drier
Tape
Tube Pack From Whiskey
Spring
Old Russian Camera
Spanner
Water

Shots, Edit & Music - Mateusz Zdziebko

Here's another video by Mateusz Zdziebko, with music by Stefan Wolanin, of STWN Recording Studio in Brzozów, Poland:

STWN Recording Studio from Mateusz Zdziebko on Vimeo.

Richard Devine: Clock Trippin, Poly Rhythm RENÉ

2010-12-04T06:07:00.000-08:00

Clock Trippin, Poly Rhythm RENÉ from Richard Devine.

"Analogue percussion performance patch experimenting with tripping the clock input to get different polyrhythms on the MakeNoise René. The MakeNoise Brains, K4815 Pattern Generator, Z8000, 4ms RCD, SCM and Pressure points are also being clocked with René from a single LFO.

Note: This patch was created entirely on the modular (No drum machines or computers used here).

Sound sources for the drums. One noise source from the Cwejman S1 mkII to make the long clap percussion sounds. Kickdrum made on the Cwejman BLD, and snare drum made from the Synthesis Technology E350. High hats courtesy of the Malekko NoiseRing."

Great modular synth video by Richard Devine.

RIP Peter Christopherson 1955-2010

2010-11-25T09:24:00.001-08:00

Chris Carter on Twitter:

"Our dearest beautiful Sleazy left this mortal coil as he slept in peace
last night. Words cannot express our grief."

Peter Christopherson left us with so much fascinating music, visual art and thought through his diverse creative outlets... COIL, Throbbing Gristle, Soisong...

Such sad news on this Thanksgiving Day.

-- Post From My iPad

X & the Flowers of Evil Tour LA 2K10

2010-11-02T07:45:00.000-07:00

So Simple & Darkmatter Soundsystem present:

X and the Flowers of Evil Tour Los Angeles 2K10

(a party in honor of Mater’s birthday)

Featuring performances by…

BROKEN NOTE - www.myspace.com/brokennoteuk

(Ad Noiseam, Ruff, Damage, Prospect & Sustained) London, England

XANOPTICON - www.myspace.com/xanopticon

(Hymen, Peaceoff, Mutant Sniper, Zhark, Aim) Pittsburgh

STRANGELOOP - www.myspace.com/strangelooptv

(Brainfeeder) Los Angeles

APX1 - www.myspace.com/djapx1

(Ghetto Life, Tonz of Drumz) Los Angeles

MINION - www.myspace.com/minion

(Darkmatter Soundsystem) Los Angeles

WMX - www.myspace.com/wmx667

(So Simple Records) Los Angeles

ARS DADA - www.myspace.com/arsdada

(OBF Crew, Meganeural, Cock Rock Disco, Splatterkore) Oslo, Norway

HEARTWORM - www.myspace.com/heartworm23

(Slowleak Records) San Francisco

DJ SPLEEN

(Dead Culture) Santa Barbara / Oakland

DJ MEGA BITCH - www.myspace.com/djmegabitch

(Kitten Factory, Spaz) Oakland

VISUALS by V1de0 D1ab3t3s - www.naboamusic.com

(Naboa Music) Los Angeles

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Saturday, November 13^th, 2010 - 8:30pm to 4:30am

$12 all night

$10 with email rsvp to: rsvpsosimple@gmail.com

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES

(specific address to be announced)

for more info check out sosimplerecords.com

event on facebook

Master Hands: DJ with Hands + Fingers

2010-10-26T09:40:00.000-07:00

The Master Hands is a DJ system that uses sensors to track hand and finger motions and translates the movements into sound. You can program your own sounds and songs to specific hand movements.

Has anyone tried these gloves on yet?

Moog Slim Phatty

2010-10-14T04:33:00.000-07:00

Moog Music has introduced the new Moog Slim Phatty—Moog’s most portable and affordable analog synth ever.

Designed to be used as a tabletop or rackmount (rack ears and wood sides an optional add-on), the Slim is built on the architecture of the Little Phatty synth. Play it from the front panel, with any MIDI controller or use as a voice expander with a Little Phatty, Minimoog Voyager or other synths. Up to 16 Slim Phatty units can be linked together for additional polyphony.

Features + Specs:

Two rock-solid oscillators
Universal internal power supply
Arpeggiator
100 presets – all new sound bank!
24 db/Oct Moog Ladder filer with filter Overload control and single Output VCA
2 ASDR Envelope Generators
Modulation section with 4 waveform LFO (with MIDI clock sync and tap tempo available) and 1x2 Mod Buss with 8 possible modulation sources and 4 possible destinations
Headphone out
Output on/off and Master Volume

I/O:

External Audio In
Audio Out (mono)
Din MIDI In, Out and Thru; MIDI over USB
CV Ins for Filter, Volume and Pitch (1v/oct.) and Gate in

Dimensions: 17" x 5" x 6"

Weight: 5.75 lbs

Availability: The Moog Slim Phatty is expected to begin shipping the week of October 28, 2010.

Street price: $795

White Space

2010-10-14T02:17:00.000-07:00

White Space from Ash Cross.

White Space is interactive media project by Ash Cross for his Experience Design 221 class at the Victoria University of Wellington School of Design in New Zealand.

The installation uses Max/MSP to generate and manipulate white noise controlled by a red and blue ball, whose coordinates are being tracked. The movement and position of the balls change the sound produced through filtering.

Atari Teenage Riot: ACTIVATE! in LA

2010-10-02T04:15:00.000-07:00

The Atari Teenage Riot concert at Key Club in LA on 9/30/10 was great!

Here's video I shot of ACTIVATE! before my iPhone got punched in the mosh pit, launching it up in the air before it landed in the mosh pit.

The LA show was intense! Alec Empire and the ATR crew had tons of explosive energy, and CX KiDTRONiK rocks in the new 2010 lineup!

I had been waiting over 10 years to see Atari Teenage Riot. My friend and I had tickets to see them in Munich and Berlin back in 1999 but unbelievably missed both shows because we were late! I've been kicking myself ever since.

Skinwalker opened with Minimoog Voyager, Moog Taurus pedals and drums.

All Leather's guitar pedal board.

Thanks to @psyoptikon and @markmilian for helping me recover my phone with only minor battle scars!

Spectacular Spectacular LA

2010-08-11T08:08:00.000-07:00

Saturday August 14th, 2010

So Simple Presents: Spectacular Spectacular

"A night of ridiculousness in honor of Baseck's birthday"

Featuring:

OTTO VON SCHIRACH - ipecac, subconscious communications / miami florida

ALL LEATHER - dim mak / san diego

WE ARE THE WORLD - manimal vinyl

BASECK / SONIC DEATH RABBIT - subconscious communications, darkmatter

DEREK MICHAEL - friendly integration, detroit underground

WMX - so simple

TED NAVA - so simple

WET MANGO - so simple / darkmatter

& very special guest!

VENETIAN SNARES - planet mu, timesig / winnepeg canada

real time cinema by:

NABOA

TIMEBOY - institute for cinema studies

18+
$15
$13 w/ rsvp
(only one name per email address. cut off is 3pm the day of the event)

Thesex - 816 S. Santa Fe Ave. Downtown LA, 90021

Swarm Intelligence Music

2010-06-15T15:25:00.000-07:00

Evan X. Merz has released Black Allegheny, one of the first albums composed entirely of swarm generated music, using an algorithmic Java program he wrote called Becoming.

Swarm Controlled Sampler - Becoming Live from Evan Merz.

Inspired by John Cage's chance-based compositions using graphs and gamut, Merz wrote the software for Becoming and incorporated the ideas of swarm intelligence.

Each "agent" has preferences that determine its movement around the grid. These values dictate how likely the agent is to move toward food (green), how likely the agent is to move toward the swarm (black dots), and how likely the performer is to avoid the predator (red dot). Audio files are triggered by the blue squares.

Download or listen to the album on Merz's bandcamp or check out more Becoming videos on vimeo.

Robert Rich Chicago 5/21/10

2010-06-03T05:05:00.000-07:00

Robert Rich played a fantastic set of spacy electroacoustic music at Transamoeba Studios in Chicago on 5/21/10.

Mesmerizing soundscapes, from ambient to tribal, using a variety of electronic and acoustic instruments, including the waterphone pictured here.

Dynamic concert performance.

A great mix of analog and digital sounds.

Meticulous + engaging.

Bird call.

Robert Rich's live gear setup.

Lap steel guitar - Digitech GNX3 + Eventide TimeFactor pedal.

MOTM Synthesis Technology modular synth - Line 6 Echo Pro + M-Audio Ozonic keyboard controller.

Mackie LM3204 mixer - Eventide Eclipse - Digitech RDS-8000 Time Machine - Line 6 Echo Pro + Olympus stereo audio recorder.

Korg keys - DIY PVC winds + percussion.

Ableton Live.

For more, visit robertrich.com.

Distortled Box

2010-05-30T05:16:00.000-07:00

Distortled Box Live Visual Set from Distortled Box.

Testing of the visual setup for the Distortled Box live sets. Two circuit bending Sega Master System II synchronized with a self made analog motor sequencer.
By Snail & Ralp.
Track: Ralp - Purprae.

Distortled Box is an audiovisual project started in Barcelona in 2007 by Degon, Nude Boy, Ralp, Sala, Snail and Weldio.

Music + visuals are generated entirely by 8-bit technology, including Nintendo Game Boy, Nintendo NES, Commodore 64 and Sega Master System, using programs such as LSDJ, Nanoloop, MidiNES, Mssiah, Cybertracker, JCH...

The collective is working on their second version of the Distortled Box, a portable sound/light system capable of starting an 8-bit mini rave anywhere:

Distortled Box V.2 Tuning from Distortled Box.

via sendling

How To Destroy Angels: The Believers - Wired iPad App

2010-05-26T06:21:00.000-07:00

How To Destroy Angels have released a new song called "The Believers" via the Wired magazine iPad app [iTunes link].

The interactive Wired iPad article gives a behind-the-scenes account of the recording process in Trent Reznor's studio, including several sound samples and photographs of the synths: moog minimoog Voyager - Diabolical Devices circuit-bent Casio SK-1 - Metasonix D-1000 vacuum tube drum machine - Roland RD-700GX... also an African marimba + ukulele.

Synth freaks, there's also a shot of Reznor's EMS Synthi A pin matrix.

You can read the article, Constructing a Song: Trent Reznor's Cacophony of Beats, online, but check out the iPad app for the audio + more pics.

How To Destroy Angels is the new musical project by Trent Reznor, his new wife Mariqueen Maandig and Atticus Ross, with Alan Moulder mixing on an SSL AWS 900+ console. Their self-titled debut EP is scheduled for release on July 6.

update: the believers - wired ipad mp3 [lo-fi rip]

NIN: Tetsuo Bullet Man

2010-05-25T09:15:00.000-07:00

Check out the new Nine Inch Nails track recently added to the final credits for the third Tetsuo film:

Nine Inch Nails: Theme for Tetsuo: The Bullet Man mp3

Bassline Baseline: Roland TB-303 Documentary Video

2010-05-12T11:58:00.000-07:00

Roland TB-303 Documentary BASSLINE BASELINE by Nate Harrison from Jack Time.

Bassline Baseline video documentary on the TB-303 and Roland's founder, Ikutaro Kakehashi.

Directed by Nate Harrison.

update: video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ho1MtyE_r3o

Korg Monotron - cEvin Key + Baseck : Japan

2010-05-02T04:42:00.000-07:00

Baseck + cEvin Key rocking their new Korg Monotrons at the Great Buddha in Kamakura, Japan.

youtube video via baseck

Pororoca by Laura Escudé + Scott Pagano

2010-04-14T08:10:00.000-07:00

Pororoca by Laura Escudé/Scott Pagano from Laura Escudé.

Here is "Pororoca," the first song to be be released off of Laura Escudé's upcoming debut album, Pororoca, out June 1, 2010.

Music + sound by Laura Escudé

Visuals by Scott Pagano

Download the song for free at lauraescude.com