2008
10.27

JoMoX 999

Category: Random Note / Tags: no tag / Add Comment

I can sum up my feelings about JoMoX very easily:  love the sound HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE the UI.  

I am going to sample the hell out of this one, and then box it up for the owner.  I had so much hope. 
2008
10.27

Goldilocks syndrom

Category: Random Note / Tags: no tag / Add Comment
Ever really gone into a buffet and had “All you can eat”?  Did you regret it later?  In a way, I have recently gotten the chance to have all I could eat, without having to pay the bill.  Its been quite educational. 
Over the last few months, a friend of mine who is currently residing out of the country began buying gear and having it shipped to my house.  I am quite honored that he considers my studio a safe haven for his not so insignifcant gear investments, but also that he gave me the green light to actually *play* with a lot of this stuff.  Its been like the ultimate guilt-free smorgasborg of  unbridled gear lust.  Ive come home on many a night to a living room that looks like a UPS store, and several very big surprise pieces.  I wont go into a full list, but rest assured my friend has some pretty wicked taste when it comes to gear, and none of this was anything but top of the line boutique (with a few choice vintage items thrown in).   
All of this gear, however, has not exactly come at *zero* price to me.  There has definitely been a cost involved in setting it all, checking it all out, getting peripheraly familiar with it and reporting back to my friend on wether it was a keeper or a sleeper.  Through all of this, I have learned a LOT about my own gear needs and gear lust that I never would have learned without this opportunity. 
For one, I learned that I *do* have limits.  All this gear is definitely too much for one person to use.  In fact, the more gear that comes in the more I tend to play with my Korg Prophecy and my rack of drum machines.  The more complexity I have available, the more I am drawn to the simplicity of my ER-1.  
My guess is that the limit is different for everyone, but I am certainly past mine.  Some people may be able to have a studio like Cikira and not feel overwhelmed.  For me, it seems if it gets past what I personaly own now, it becomes unimaginable and unweildy.  I spend more time trying to think about how to get it all to work together than making music.  That is bad.  
As an example, I have one of my absolute DREAM objects sitting to my left.  Its a Genoq’s sequencer (the NEMO specificaly) and I have only turned it on to verify that it works.  I have skimmed the manual a bit, but havnt dove in or attempted to get it integrated into the MIDI rig. I dont know what I would control with it anway – so it just sits there and I feel bad.  Imagine how bad I would feel if I actually had the non-insignificant charge on my CC?
That said, I still would like to get a Genoqs someday, but probably the full Octopus.  Why?  because in my smaller rig, and a tighter environment, I *could* see how it would be used and would be used.  Just with all thats in here now…it becomes excessive.
so I guess what I am trying to get at in my very meandering way is that a studio needs to be ‘just right’ for the user – not to big, not too small.  Just right.  Ive pretty much achieved that in my setup now.  Its also had the side effect of curing me of all GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrom).  
2008
10.23

Spectralis: Great synth, WORST MANUAL EVER

Category: Random Note / Tags: no tag / Add Comment

Wow…I thought I had read bad manuals, but this one actually makes it
*harder* to understand the unit it supposedly describes. It is so
absolutely poorly organized, its almost laughable. Its *soo* bad, and
the unit itself is soo *good*, i am considering writting my own
alternative manual that might actually make sense to human eyes.

2008
10.20

Update

Category: Random Note / Tags: no tag / Add Comment

…The rabbit is dead…

–
Sent from my mobile device

2008
10.12

End of an era..

Category: Random Note / Tags: no tag / Add Comment

Today I will be transfering the Negativegain.com domain to Micah, and he will be moving the NGP pages off of my server.  Basically, he has another free server he can use and I need to start charging for all the free hosting I had been giving away.  

In a way, its kinda sad.  I am letting go of my last connection to those old times.  I think about the dreams and wild ideas we had when Ryan, Jason and I first started NGP.  We were so naive as to what actually goes into running a record company (or any business for that matter) and making it successful.  We had no idea what we were getting into, and we just jumped in headfirst anyway. 
I wont lie and pretend we didnt make a hell of a lot of mistakes.  We really did.  We opened a niche lable to put out our own stuff and our friends in a genre that was in serious stagnation and decline at a time just before the MP3/Napster revolution was about to hit (if you ever downloaded our records for free and didnt follow it up with at least buying a t-shirt – fuck you.  I hate you, and I hope you die of slowly progressing crotch cancer).  It was interesting times to be sure.
But enough with nostalgia.  Its time to move on.  As soon as the transfer order is complete,  I will do just that.
2008
10.10

My take on the financial crisis

Category: Random Note / Tags: no tag / Add Comment

Whoever said living through history would be easy?

2008
10.10

New studio PC report

Category: Random Note / Tags: no tag / Add Comment

Well, the PC is setup having 90% of the software installed. I have now begun loading back my old data and putting it through its paces..

So far…HOLY CRAP! Running Kontact and Tassman at extremely low latency and getting hitting the processor for only 7% – absolutely stunning. The only synth (so far) that really hammers on it is Massive when run inside Live in ‘High Quality’ mode. that will top out a 16 voice synth at 20%. ok..thats not really hammering it. Pro53 can have as many voices as I want going and I cant get it over 3%. I havnt tried FM8 or VazModular yet, but assume its going to be the same story.

Tassman was particularly nice. Being able to open up and play some really complex patches with polyphony is a great thing.

No small part of this has to be owed to the PreSonus Firestudio I picked up. It sounds way better than the old EMU card – more punch and bass and very very clear sounding. Clocking on the EMU card may be to blame, as the AD/DA on that card were supposed to be pretty good… but maybe not as good as they want us to believe.

Speaking of the EMU card, I really wish I could get my Emulator X2 installed on this machine. It would rock. Unfortunately, due to the STUPID STUPID STUPID dongle protection and the fact EMU still hasnt released X3 (which is dongle free) I am kinda stuck without it. Sucks, really. I may dedicate a machine to running X2 until the X3 upgrade comes out, or maybe sell the 1820 (if I can) and get the X3 software as a new license. But I really hate that on principal.

2008
10.04

Category: Random Note / Tags: no tag / Add Comment
Finally got around to taking some pics of the new arrivals. Ill get the SH5 on here later when I have had time to see if I can get it working again.

Posted by Picasa
2008
10.04

FS: Stuff stuff stuff

Category: Random Note / Tags: no tag / 4 comments

Still for sale (next stop e-bay):

Korg Radias-R – $600
Electrix Warp Factory – $200
Electrix Repeater (with noise floor modification and pedals) – $800
Roland R8-m with 3 cards (Dance, Power Drums & Electronic) – $250

I also have a (Rather rough looking) Ensoniq MR-Rack which has a bad
output. Free to the first person who buys any of the above.

2008
10.02

New PC

Category: Random Note / Tags: no tag / Add Comment

Total hotness.  4 cores of 2.93ghz sex.  sweet.

Only one problem – My current audio card (an EMU 1820m) does NOT fit chasis because it needs 3 slots, and the two daughter cards dont fit rigtht without a PCI slot to hold them in place.   This is total suckage…
Of course, if I can weezle my way into a better audio system..then maybe all is not lost?