Orbital are back!!! At least for one performance, and pictures of their new live setup are up on the net. Looks like some fantastic analog porn in this shot. Anyone know what modular is in the back? http://www.loopz.co.uk/
via LivePA.org
Fun little LivePA video where the artist makes use of some common objects for sound. I am not 100% sure if this is straight up recorded or if they are using contact mics or something, but it does have a sort of music video effect overall more than a straight up live show recording.
I just had an amazing piece of kit come through my inbox. Openlabs at Messe have just announced an amazing new product called the DBeat. It looks to be an ultimate groovebox that takes the functionality and hybrid approach of their other software and merges it with a Groove box (very Command Station looking) interface. Flat out, this thing looks amazing and could very well be the killer LivePA tool that so many of us have been craving for. Specs are light at the moment, but it comes with 14Gbs of sounds, a full version of Ableton Live included (!!!!!!!!!), 12” touch screen with support for Windows 7, the ability to connect to USB turntables and more.
Price is $3,999 but down to $3,499 for pre-orders. I have to say, my mouth is on the floor right now as this looks to be one of the most amazing pieces of kit I have ever seen.
The internets have exploded yesterday about Teenage Engineering’s Operator-1 synth. Some deemed it to be an April fools day hoax, others thought it to be amazing. Well we have some brief video from NAMM and it is indeed real. Too bad we didn’t get any sound examples out of it, but we do know that we will probably be seeing a finished version sometime early 2010.
Teenage Engineering Operator 1
I love the resurgence of boutique synths manufacturers that we seem to be having right now. With all the advancements in software there is still interesting hardware coming out. Coming through the pipes today I saw that there is a new company called Teenage Engineering (awesome name btw) that is developing a great looking synth/midi controller call ed the OP-1.
It has your standard midi controller options, but what is interesting is some of the standalone features. It has 8 synthesizer models, 8 samplers and effects built into an extremely tiny package. It also has a full color OLED display with some very unique UI chhoices.
Inputs/Outputs
The retro simplistic design ala the Casio VL-1 looks great as well. Actually it sort of looks like an Ableton Live instrument brought to life.
A release date and price is not yet announce as the machine is still being developed, but Teenage Engineering is expected to produce an initially 100 units for Beta testing. You can sign up for more information at their website to try to get on the Beta list.
We have a new liveset this week from producer AtoMikDoG. This one is a little bit more up tempo then his past stuff.
Wacom NextBeat NXT-1000 Press Release (.PDF)
Wacom, makers of the very useful and cool tablets for artists has mysteriously decided to jump into the DJ market. Their newest product is called the NextBeat. It appears to be a self contained unit and not a midi controller. Overall I can’t say I am impressed.
There aren’t any features spilling out yet, but it does appear that the controller section can lift off from the body of the device allowing you to “roam” while you DJ.
The Press release states that a website for the product should launch tomorrow (March 18th) at http://www.nextbeat.com
via Gizmodo.com
Not sure what to make of this video. On the one hand it is cool, but on the other hand I think the iPod touch and iPhone have to be able to do better than this. The women need to sing out a little bit.
