Monthly Archive for September, 2007

Web Roundup or Moving Sucks

Published
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kubton
on September 19, 2007
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We are moving at my place of business. It is horrible. Something about a group of monkeys and a football come to mind(how popular would that you tube video be.) It has sapped by energy and don’t feel like I can do much but here is a my occasional list of of web goodness.

Think or taking the vista plunge? Here is a list of what drivers for musical equipment work with what Vista (32 or 64) or either good luck.

Music 2.0 has an interesting article on Trent Reznor and his views on labels, music distribution and gives advice to fans. A good read.

I am not crazy about Prog Rock but Encyclopedia of Progressive Rock Instruments has weird/cool instruments listed.

This is guitar modding on a different level. Best engineer product of the 20th century changed into a much more peaceful device.

The entire lyrics to the greatest song ever written can be found here. Don’t forget to scroll. OK it is not Dylan, Lennon & McCartney or Tom Waits but it is funny to see it written out like that.

The Wayback Machine or Our Pretty Future

Published
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kubton
on September 14, 2007
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If you have not checked out the Wayback Machine you should. It can take you back to earlier days of the Internet. It’s The Internet Archive’s version of the Library of Congress. A giant cache of of web pages from the past. Man, web designers tastes have improved along with the functionality and usefulness. Here is a collection of some famous sites and since this is a music related blog some pertaining to music to give you a blast from the past. You can click on pics to embiggen them.

Dec. 1998

I am not sure did this site get out of beta and catch on?

Oct. 1996

Was still the search big boy I think it was the sun glasses.


May, 2000

The site that caused all that trouble. A memorable headline too!

Jan, 2001

The legal successor to Napster. Who knew then?

Mar. 1997

Propellerheads pre-Reason I still love Rebirth and ReCycle despite being a decade old. I am glad that yellow back drop went away.

Nov. 1996

Cool you can look up items in a catalog then type all the numbers in a text form and your order will arrive!

Not really faster than using the phone but they got better. If you explore the archive of the old site they did have a primative catalog but the search function was very basic. Need exact matches could not manage singular or purals probelm. Rember those days. Now you only have to spell realitive close to find what you want.


Oct. 1996

That typical early website look. Use what ever colors and stick a weak logo somewhere. The look of there site and DAW have improved greatly.

Nov. 1999

Their motto is drippy with irony toady.

Feb. 1997

I nice site for the day Digi has always been classy.

Feb. 2001

#46 is a snapshot of the Internet quirkiness. AYBBTU is still not dead just mutated weirder and it’s Birthday is kind of celebrated. Ms. Spears was probably as high this week as then. It still hot chicks, piracy and tragedies of the moment dominating search so maybe things haven’t changed that much they just look prettier.

DIY Attenuator or Ampwell House

Published
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kubton
on September 13, 2007
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I was looking up info on DIY L-pads & attenuators because I could use a little less volume at home sometimes. I found this creation the Ampwell House Guitar Amp Attenuator I definitely dig the design aesthetic. I had forgotten the utilitarian goodness of the empty coffee can.

L-pads are easy attenuators to build. And being in between the speaker and output transformer the are great for tube amps. You can keep the volume down enough to keep you spouse from killing you or the neighbors calling the cops and still have the wonderful overdriven sound of a saturated power tube and OT. The is some tone and definition loss especial at low low power. There is not really a substitute for a speaker moving a lot of air. Put it still is better than for some than using a solid state or that master volume knob(you just can’t get power section distortion with it turned down.)

Here is some info on L-pads & attenuators including some calculators to pick the right resistors:

Weber
BCAE
Guitar Nuts Amp Myths (a must read covering more than just attenuators)
Amptone Attenuators FAQ
Wikipedia

You can also great L-pad ready to go from parts express. They are basically supper duty potentiometer. For those need a 4 ohms L-pad a 8 ohms stereo wired in parallel will get you to 4 ohms. There are intended for Hi-Fi speaker balancing but work perfectly for guitar amps. The can mount in almost any kind of enclosure(like coffee cans.) You should get one with a higher wattage range than you need.

There also are some great commercial attenuators that try and combat the tonal loss:
Weber
Hot Plate
Marshall Power Brake
Koch Load Box

Pastrami

Published
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kubton
on September 13, 2007
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Maker: Danelectro

Type: Overdrive

Years: Currently in production.

Fame: Known for being cheap.

Mojo Factor: MMMM, Pastrami!

Price: CHeap. $20-30

General Sound Description:

Buzzy Overdrive with basic controls.

Who it’s for:

If you don’t want to drop any cash and need an overdrive or for a beginner. At this price point you can mod and bend fearlessly(but beware SMD.) Or, if you need a pedal that takes up almost no room.

Manufacturer’s Sales Pitch:

Well seasoned overdrive.

Info:


HC review


Find Music Making Info or Better Search Through Custom Search

Published
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kubton
on September 12, 2007
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Google has a lot of free gadgets. Good stuff like Google Earth & Docs. But what Google is really good at is of course search. So, squeezing their search prowess in to a customizable gadget might be their best idea.

This idea would be of course Google Custom Search. I decided to give a try to make my own. It wasn’t that hard just a little time consuming. I often am searching for answers or new knowledge on recording and music production questions. I actually looked for a search engine customized for just that but did not find one. I usually am able to find what I am looking for but it takes some shifting through quite a bit of unrelated matter. As good as searching has become it still can’t tell the perspective you are searching from. Even a novice bedroom producer is most likely not going to be interested in how to use the Windows wave recorder or a digital voice record aimed at the executive on the go, etc. Or sometimes you just want knowledge on a topic and do not want to wade through a sea of links trying to sell you gear when you are not looking to buy anything. Often I just search a few sites I suspect will have what I am looking for. But it is better to search all of them at once. So, I created the custom search engine to do just that. I knew least I am going to use it. I hope that it will be useful to other people as well.

You can find it at:

Music Production and Recording Search

If you like it, have a suggestion to improve it, or have a site that you think should be included please fell free to let me know.

Compressor/Limiter

Published
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kubton
on September 11, 2007
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Maker: Carl Martin

Type: Compressor/Limiter

Years: Currently in production.

Fame: One of the better known boutique phasers.

Mojo Factor: The really creative name lends no mojo.

Price: Expensive. $220

General Sound Description:

All the squish goodness of compression.

Who it’s for:

Those looking for a quality compressor.

Manufacturer’s Sales Pitch:

Carl Martin Compressor/Limiter has been specially developed to incorporate the same features and sonic clarity found in high quality professional studio compressors. To achieve this we incorporated a variable threshold, -variable compression ratio, -variable attack and release controls and of course, a gain level.

General Guidelines on the use of the Compressor/Limiter:

Threshold: Working anti clockwise, determines how much of the signal will be compressed. This is also dependent on how much signal is fed from the instrument.

Comp: Working clockwise, determines how much compression is applied to the signal allowed by the threshold setting.

Resp: Working clockwise, determines the attack/release times, going from slow to fast. In general, if you want to hear the compressor working with a crisp attack you should use slow times. If you require just a silent limiting you should use fast times.

Gain: Working clockwise, sets the overall gain.

Busy: Indicates the amount of compression being applied, even in bypass mode. The brighter it gets, the more compression is being applied.

Info:


HC review

KVR Developer Challenge or Virtual Democracy

Published
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kubton
on September 11, 2007
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KVR is have there annual Developer Challenge. The are 41 enteries and you can start voting Sept. 17th. Some of them look quite interesting you should check it out. It is a good idea to encourage and reward developers.

Sumo Plugin or EnRish Lessons

Published
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kubton
on September 11, 2007
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de la manacha has a nice roster of plugins. The just released sumo brings a smile to my face. I am a sucker for weird Japanese pop culture stuff and the description and instructions are written in Enrish. Definitely a fun plugin all around.

Phantasm

Published
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kubton
on September 10, 2007
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Maker: Toadworks

Type: Phaser

Years: Currently in production.

Fame: One of the better known boutique phasers.

Mojo Factor:

Price: Expensive. $375

General Sound Description:

Versitile enough to do most phaser sounds.

Who it’s for:

If you a single high quality phaser for all you phaser sounds this could be the ticket.

Manufacturer’s Sales Pitch:

Winner of the coveted Guitar Player Magazine Editor’s Pick Award, the ToadWorks Phantasm is the world’s first 9V battery operated, opto-analog dynamic phaser with a Center-Axis control pedal (whew!). With three basic modes of operation, stunning clarity and an uparalleled feature set, ToadWorks Phantasm is truly in a class of it’s own.

The end product of three years of development, Phantasm offers studio-quality phasing at a fraction of the cost. In fact, no other battery-powered phaser comes close to the range of features available on the Phantasm.

Simple to use, ToadWorks Phantasm is a sophisticated phase shift effect, with a smooth operation and low noise floor that will amaze the most die-hard digital fans. Trust us - this phaser’s set to stun.

Info:

HC review


Double 6 Synth or Isn’t That 12

Published
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kubton
on September 10, 2007
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odosynths new vst synth Double Six is pretty cool. It is an fm synth with, as the name implies, 6 operators. It seems easy to use. I find it tricky sometimes to get good sounds out of a FM. And I like its look too.

It is donationware which is a economic model that I really thinks work in case like this. It is like buying your buddy a six pack after he helps you move. Part with a few bucks is a good long term move because it will encourage developers to keep sharing good stuff with us.