Tuesday 10 March 2015

Party in the park - Lovebox weekender lineup announced!


Looks like a great lineup, especially with Rudimental returning for the Friday after they smashed it silly a couple of years ago.

From the press release:

"Across the entire weekend, the Lovebox masses will be treated to an exclusive set from Despacio, the innovative, custom-built soundsystem brought to you by LCD Soundsystem's James Murphy and 2manydjs. This is going to be an unmissable experience.
Another Lovebox exclusive is an extra-special A/V set from the revered Bonobo. His appearance is set to be immersive and unforgettable, as is Squarepusher's - his pioneering, experimental shows have wowed crowds the world over, and now he's set to stun Lovebox following a sold out show at the Barbican and the release of his highly-anticipated sixteenth album Damogen Furies."
As long as the weather holds, I'll be there!

Friday 6 March 2015

NAMM 2015: New Korg gear

A little late out of the running, but worth talking about nonetheless. Meanwhile in camp Korg, the other major Japanese synth maker still seems to be powering ahead with their own ideas and released a number of new hardware units at NAMM this year. Nothing quite on the lines of the Korg volca range but still some interesting things nonetheless.

Thursday 5 March 2015

Pocket Operators - SonicLab review


Arriving in my inbox this morning was notification that Gaz Williams, frequent contributor and panellist for Sonic State, had published a series of videos about the wonderful new Pocket Operator series of digital synths. These are a look into these three machines and I have quite a few take homes from a more thorough look into them.

Positive

  • Lots of interesting sounds
  • Shuffle (Volcas, take note!)
  • Built in effects
  • Syncable
  • Charming Game & Watch style displays
  • Cheap
  • Straightforward to use

Negative

  • AAA battery powered only
  • Only Ionian scale (no sharps/flats!)
  • Danger of damaging components too easily
  • Game & Watch display nearly useless when making music
  • Controls look far too small
  • Very few parameters
  • Almost demands the use of the case (sold separately)

Any negative feedback for the Pocket Operators can be easily dismissed in terms of the especially low price, though getting hold of one (or all three) is another thing altogether, with stock shortages at the moment. The more I look at them, the scaling problem in particular, I have started to see a number of large compromises in these units that will make me want to take a closer look at them until I eventually get to play with them myself.

Keep any eye on Sonic State as they are due to release another video on chaining all three together and good to see Gaz outside of Sonic Talk!

Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCW64y2tidRL5njv0JrQdvbA