MattlWilcox Liveset October 2007
The LivePA podcast is back and hopefully here to stay again. This week we have a nice hard set from MattlyWilcox. Check out more of his work at his decidingly 1990’s looking website http://www.mattlwilcox.com/
It has been quite a while since I have posted anything up on the LivePA Blog podcast feed. It is a new year though so I think I need to kick myself back into gear to get it going again.
Expect the first new podcasts to come in the next week or so and hopefully they should be a fairly steady weekly program after that.
If anyone has livesets that they would like featured on the LivePA podcast send an email to us at the blog here and be sure to provide us with a permeant, direct link to your mp3 file. If you need someplace to host your music I would suggest Archive.org
Satellite (8 of8)
Every once in a while I stimble across something that just brings a smile to my face. That thing today was this live video by the group Recorder. The video above has them apparently covering a song Skater Boy by Avril Lavgine. The song is called Satellite Not sure if it is that or not, but I love the mix, the stage presence and just everything about them. Check them out at their myspace page http://www.myspace.com/recorder
via Matrixsynth
Gearwire.com got a great NAMM show video with the Vice President of Beat Kangz and their new Beat Thang Groovebox. There was a lot of pre-show hype about this thing, but almost no reports from the show floor. Gotta say, I am more excited about this after seeing the video. There is even a nice video of them building a beat with it.
Korg always had a hit with their ubercheap and very accessible Microkorg. They are releaseing a new version though now that incorporates their MMT synthesis technology and updates the look with a retro feel (see what I did there?). SonicState.com got a new close up of the new little synth and I have to admit it sounds fantastic. I personally really dig the aesthetics on this one too so lets hope Korg prices it right because it was the cheap price more than anything that sold the original Microkorg.
SonicState.com Spectralis 2 Teaser (Sorry Video not embeddable)
The Drool worthy Spectralis 2 has rumored to be making an appearance at NAMM. Along with the Beat Thang though there was nary an announcement regarding it. SonicState.com however seems to be on the ball as they have announced a full review coming soon. In the mean time they have posted a super short little teaser on their site.
For all those musicians out there who have guitar envy and were curshed by the discontinuation of the original keytar a couple of years ago, you can rest easy. You head banging wannabe days are back with Roland’s announcement of the new AX-7 Midi keyboard controller.
The new controller features all the standards you expect from a keytar, but also features some improvements such as D-Beam controlling (so you can double up on your geekiness) and GM2/GS compatibility. Full features below
Features:
This announcement gets a big “YES!!!” in my book. I have always had an infatuation with wind controllers (probably because I am a saxophone and clarinet plaery), but their implementation in hardware has always been spotty because they generally have not been able to work with any synth you plug them into.
Hopefully Akai has been able to get around that limitation with the new EQI USB wind controller. Presumably one would expect this to be able to work within any DAW with any VST instrument, but the details are a little scare at the moment. It does say that there is a platform software for the model but that is it.
Quote: Press Release
EWI USB enables anyone, regardless of wind instrument-playing experience, to perform with the expressive capabilities of the wind instrument of their choice. The wind controller features a plug-and-play USB interface for use with the included Aria software, with Garritan and Akai Professional samples as a sound source. EWI USB is Mac and PC compatible.
Professional players will find EWI USB fully capable of performance for stage and studio with a five-octave range, breath modulation with adjustable threshold, pitch bend, adjustable vibrato, transposition and octave shifting capability, and fingering modes to emulate various electronic and acoustic instruments. Further, the Garritan/Plogue Aria software enables instrumentalists to perform with up to four instruments selected from the full collection of more than 75 orchestral, band and synthesizer sounds.
While EWI USB has full professional capabilities, its attractive price point and easy-to-play design make it a perfect choice for wind students. With a removable, dishwasher-safe, interchangeable mouthpiece[ Ed. Nice touch] that works well regardless of embouchure, EWI USB is excellent for introducing students to the world of wind instruments. Former wind instrumentalists who would like to return to playing will find EWI USB easy to adapt to, eliminating much of the embouchure-building time required with a traditional instrument.
Thanks to multiple fingering modes, EWI USB perfectly emulates saxophone, flute and oboe, as well as traditional EWI and EVI trumpet. The result is completely intuitive performance, even for players who have never picked up an electronic instrument.
"With EWI USB, we are delivering an incredibly expressive instrument to a whole new world of wind players," states Gregg Stein, Director of Marketing, Akai Professional. "Traditionally, electronic wind instruments have fallen into two categories: very expensive professional instruments, and inexpensive instruments of low quality. EWI USB is the first instrument to offer professional quality at such an affordable price."
Looks like they are still calling it a groovebox, which makes me lurch a little bit as it doesn’t have stand alone operation, but SonicState.com does have a nice hands on video with the Maschine to give everyone an idea of the interface flow.
So after seeing it, what do you people think? Personally I am not see what it can really do that a regular drumpad and Ableton live can’t, but then again this is just an intro video.
CreateDigialMusic is reporting that Ableton is offering free upgrade paths from Ableton Live 6 to Ableton Live 7. There doesn’t appear to be any official announcement or download link for this update, but heading over to the Ableton forums would presumably direct you in the right direction for the upgrade.
