A big hit on the past MusikMesse in Frankfurt, the Arturia Spark ‘creative drum machine’ should be avialble worldwide now. Combining the power of analog synthesis, physical modelling and samples, through the intuitive workflow of a hardware drum machine, Spark is a highly creative beat production center.
This morning after ‘firing up’ my Twitter account, I pretty soon got to read the tweets about the loss of another great musician and artist, Gill Scott-Heron. An artist who has, undoubtedly, played a big part in the rise of soul and rap music and was a big influence for many of todays artists.
American transistor organ enthusiast Barry Carson has created a great set of presets for the Farfisa and Vox-organs in the Nord Electro 3, Nord Stage 2 and Nord C2, recreating many of the legendary organ sounds known from the popular music of the 60’s.
Nova*Musik have teamed up with Moog Music once again to bring you another piece of synthesizer history. They are proud and excited to announce the MOOG VOYAGER PERFORMER LUNAR IMPACT!
In honor of Bob Moog’s 77th Birthday this week, Moog engineer Steve Dunnington summons a Minimoog Voyager Orchestra to play a Mooged Out version of what else?…Happy Birthday!
Music Making Month has crested over the hill and now we are winding down to the last full week of events. We’ve come a long way, learned a ton, and even survived the end of the world on Saturday. What better way to celebrate that fact than with MORE Music Making Month Events!
Sometimes you see the ‘strangest’ maybe most interesting stuff on the internet. And yes we see a lot here at the Gearjunkies HQ, or people send us stuff that might be interesting. So this morning we were send this picture below. The Yamaha Motif XF Rack version. First impression is mostly “oh wow” that looks cool. But after a few seconds often this enthusiasm is tempered. Is this thing for real? The picture being a computer rendering, we do have our doubts…
Back around 2006, T-Mobile Germany made this rather comprehensive film on techno giant Richie Hawtin for its Electronic Beats marketing series. Thankfully, the doc is pretty bereft of cell-phone branding junk, and focuses solely on the DJ/producer’s rise to fame, from his humble, Canada-by-way-of-Britain beginnings to his current status as the toast of Berlin’s techno scene. This is the first time that the documentary has been viewable online, so enjoy the 70-odd minutes of classic Detroit footage and interviews with the likes of Derrick May, Kevin Saunderson, Mute label head Daniel Miller, DJ Magda, Hawtin’s ever-involved parents, and, of course, Hawtin himself.
Like there is no tomorrow Mario Jurisch has finished work on yet another DIY hardware controller for the Poly-Ana Admiral Quality VST Instrument.
Roland is pleased to announce that the RD-300NX Digital Stage Piano, the latest and most affordable member of its popular RD-series stage piano lineup, is now available. A state-of-the-art stage piano that boasts an advanced SuperNATURAL® Piano sound engine, electric piano sounds based on SuperNATURAL technology, a newly developed Ivory Feel-G keyboard with Escapement, and a unique Sound Focus feature, the RD-300NX offers players of all levels superior digital piano performance at a breakthrough price.
A pessimist would say that Music Making Month is half over. An optimist would say it’s only half begun. But a regular viewer to our events so far would say, “Don’t bother me with that. I’m busy making music!” This week in Music Making Month is one of our busiest and biggest yet, with some exciting new additions too.
Many, many years ago when we started Gearjunkies, we had to come up with a name. We wanted it to reflect the thought we had in our minds: the love for gear. Marc, Mark and myself (Eric) had a common love for electronic music but also the affection for the gear that made this music. That was when the name ‘Gearjunkies’ came into the picture and pretty soon we decided that this would be the name for our ‘project’: Gearjunkies!
This just came in from the Beatport Blog. A rare opportunity to get world fame (well kinda). Swedish gent and top notch producer Hakan Lidbo is a true musical maverick who reflects the times we live in. He has produced everything from easy listening electro pop, techno, electroclash, house and electronica for labels like Skam, Pokerflat, PAPER Recordings, Skint, Tommy Boy, and Ministry of Sound. He has remixed for Kool Keith, Plastic City, Ennio Morrocone, Depeche Mode, Trentemøller, Fever Ray and on. He also curates the Stockholm electronic arts festival Voltfestivalen.
Composer Keith Kenniff: “After learning about the tragic events of the Japanese earthquake on March 11th my wife, Hollie, and I were talking about ways to help. We decided to ask a few friends to join a compilation to help raise money. A few quickly became many as we were overwhelmed and warmed by the eagerness of these musicians to get involved.”
Dino Soldo is a multi-instrumentalist and singer/songwriter. He plays numerous instruments live for huge stars such as Lionel Richie, Leonard Cohen and Beyoncé, and has various self-penned albums. On stage, a wide assortment of instruments encircles him. Saxophones, wind instruments and harmonica, guitars, keyboards, percussion items, and in his own words, “some damn strange controllers”.