Check out this cool synth kit that’s meant to be poked prodded and programmed into whatever you wish. It’s designed by James Grahame of Reflex Audio + Retro Thing, and Peter Kirn of Create Digital Music.
Here’s a demo of the kind of sounds you can make with this little hackable blippy instrument: Meeblip bassline demo by cdm
From James:
Oscillator A & B slightly detuned, square wave on A and sawtooth on B. FM turned all the way up, distortion on. The filter resonance turned way up (hence the chirpy squeal) and the filter cutoff knob is initially open, then twiddled a bit to help the filter chirp. At the end, I just slowly turn the cutoff down. the VCF envelope modulation is mapped to MIDI velocity, which adds some sonic movement.
I put together a compilation of melodic IDM / deep techno called Robohustlin for my label, subVariant. I put out an open call for submissions in July and got an amazing collection of submissions. I decided to go with minimal techno / melodic IDM since that was submitted the most. Hope you enjoy!
Chaircrusher’s “Crow Beat” and Milipede’s “30,000″ take a somewhat dark, harder approach, while tracks like Diarmo’s “Details” and Matt Wolfe’s “4:09am” hover somewhere between hopefulness and melancholy, held together with intricate rhythmic programming.
In keeping with subVariant’s tongue-in-cheek, music-as-consumer-product design aesthetic (see Subvaritrax, Exception AM), Robohustlin‘s digital cover lists the individual artists as separate “cures” in a packaging style based on the popular cough & cold medication, Robitussin.
Last Thursday was beset by technical difficulties, so I’m re-doing the virtual release party tonight. Watch the post on the subVariant page in case I need to switch back to Stickam again: Robohustlin Virtual Release Party
I’ve put together an IDM compilation on my label, subVariant and I’ll be doing a virtual release party on Thursday.
…Robohustlin, is a curated collection of melodic IDM, ambient and glitch tracks from Chicago and beyond… All thirteen tracks were chosen from an open call for songs in July-August of 2010, and represent the highest quality and most discernable sonic dedication that fit with the general theme that organically emerged over the course of weeding through all the submissions.
Thursday, September 23, 2010 at 9pm CST
Robohustlin with be premiered in a live DJ set by Liz Revision on Ustream on at ustream.tv/channel/live-at-subvhq (embedded below).
Friday, September 24, 2010 at 10am CST
The compilation can be downloaded from www.subvariant.com
Here’s some news from my Quantazelle production product. I’ve got two new tracks to share with you, “Quantum Gazele”and a cover ofBeyonce’s”Halo”
.I’ve also released a bunch of my samples as a free download, and I’m holding a remix contest with prizes. I hope you download it and play around with the weird sounds I’ve made, and I look forward to hearing what you’ve made.
And if you’ve been link-clicking you might have noticed I have a new website.I’ve also got some posters and t-shirts for sale if you want to go check them out.
Check out this free performance of Moldover at Risque this Saturday!
Known to 400,000 YouTube viewers as “The Godfather of Controllerism”, MOLDOVER has become the inspiration for a new generation of musicians interested in moving “beyond the decks.” Feb 18th, Chicago’s Ableton user group will feature Moldover for a special edition user group session.
Famous for building, hacking, and playing controllers with virtuosic skill, Moldover’s dynamic performances with his custom instruments are bringing new life into electronic music. Fusing hard rock with electronica, glitch edits, and frantic drum beats, Moldover’s signature style defies categorization. And with appearances on national television, coverage in major music publications, and countless live shows around the world, Moldover is in constant demand by people interested in this next evolution of music.
…but 2010 will be the best year of all time! OF ALL TIME!!
Yes, Kanye, your jackassery made for a pretty awesome internet meme. Here’s some of the best things about 2009. Oh yeah, and we put everything 20% off at Fractalspin, but only for the next 3 days. Happy New Year!
6. Kanye will let you finish, but… Lulz were had quite a bit this year, and countless photoshops made of Kanye upstaging Taylor Swift at the Video Music Awards. Here’s some of our favorites, and a larger archive.
Friend of the Site Liz McLean Knight aka Liz Revision aka Quantazelle of subVariant has put together a special, exclusive mix for CDM of 117-119 bpm musical goodness, excavated from the “_blippy” folder of sketches on her USB drive. Matt Moldover, who has been working on his CD-as-electronic-instrument album, lent his laptop. (Watch him assembling CDs in the video after the break.)
It’s all in celebration of a Halloweeen party Saturday night in Chicago, headlined by Josh Davis (BitShifter). Party ringleader Liz joins Josh on behalf of subVariant to represent the IDM-glitch-minimal-tech-house side of things, and Mr. Automatic (Front 312) and Onefiftyone (Chicago Workshop) will be joining in. If you’re in Chicago, this looks like the place to spend your Saturday. If, like me, you’re not, well, we have some music and videos for you to bring the party home.
I put together a compilation of melodic IDM / deep techno called Robohustlin for my label, subVariant. I put out an open call for submissions in July and got an amazing collection of submissions. I decided to go with minimal techno / melodic IDM since that was submitted the most. Hope you enjoy!
I’ve put together an IDM compilation on my label, subVariant and I’ll be doing a virtual release party on Thursday.
