eBay or Stay: Yamaha QX5 October 11, 2009
Posted by introvert in Hardware, Review.add a comment
QX5 image from sonicstate.com
The QX5 (and later QX5FD with built-in 3 1/2″ drive) was the top of the budget line of Yamaha sequencers, competing with the Roland MC series along with the QX7 and QX21. Featuring sub-menu operation via soft buttons instead of punching in job numbers and a combined linear/pattern approach to sequencing made the QX5 a popular choice for the low-budget studio.
Inputs:
MIDI in, tape in, foot switch
Outputs:
MIDI out + thru, tape out, click (audio)
The QX5 is built into the same wedge-shaped case as a lot of other Yamaha stuff at the time (it’s pretty close in format to the TX7 module for instance). I wonder if anyone ever built a leaning wall out of these? Anyway – it could save data to cassette (yeah, right) or transfer song data via MIDI. The QX5FD had the luxury of a built-in 3 1/2″ drive, but they were quite rare, probably due to the price difference imposed by the drive.
Onboard memory was 128k which would store about 20,000 notes. (15,000 with velocity) The sequence would be structured into 8 tracks and up to 32 macros. (A macro is a track, which can be called upon from a track, a little bit like small patterns).Weighing in at 350x240x49 mm,s 2.9 kg (!) it’s not that easy to place in a rig. I once used a belt to attach it to my keyboard stand, positioned just below the keyboard.
I guess a use for it today would be as a sketchpad sequencer in conjunction with a keyboard, as the boot time is almost instant and it doesn’t lose its memory when powered off.
Yes
Backlit LCD display. Lots of features when editing tracks and if you can overcome the “track-1-mentality” (see below), it’s actually quite easy to use. Has most of the features you expect from a sequencer of its time, but this has the usual advantage of having battery-backed memory that’s always ready whenever you’ll turn it on, giving it a huge advantage over other models that had to load both OS and songs from disk.
No
All editing/recording is performed on track 1. This means a lot of swapping tracks, as track 1 always must contain the track to be edited, or the to-be-recorded track. Relies quite heavily on sub-menus, but they are logically constructed. Memory size may be obstructive. No undo function.
Beyond G.A.S. October 7, 2009
Posted by introvert in Inspiration.add a comment
Everyone knows the term G.A.S. Right? It’s short for Gear Acquisition Syndrome which is what happens when you learn about a new item for your studio – be it an intriguing software instrument, a new and interesting controller or just a synth that suddenly strikes your fancy. Something that you suddenly realize that you have to have and you can’t make music without it, thus going on a shopping spree on ebay, reading classifieds and doing what you can to fulfill this sudden need. Without making any new music until you have it in your trembling hands, of course.
For some, this is a chronic syndrome, leading to well-equipped and wonderful studios, and a handful of songs at best.
I propose something even more horrifying: A curse, which I will call SisyGAS.
Remember Sisyfos, who was sentenced to spend an eternity trying to roll a boulder up a hill, the irritating boulder always rolling down again when he was almost finished?
Well, I have seen SisyGAS and it’s worse. Imagine selling one of your studio belongings just to be able to afford the G.A.S-infected item you crave – but the very act of selling another piece of gear made you contract SisyGAS - leading to an eternity of missed opportunities. You will now never acquire that one piece of gear that will enable you to make the most fantastic music ever imagined, leading to fame, fortune, and front rows of female fans – because at the very last moment you will be sniped at ebay, you will always be number two on the phone (“oh sorry, I just sold it to another bloke five minutes ago”) etc.
Rumor has it that every Roland JV1080 that left the factory has been cursed with SisyGAS, so be careful.
The Waterphone Mystery June 26, 2009
Posted by introvert in Hardware, YouTube.1 comment so far
In the 80′s and 90′s, most synths seemed to have the preset “Waterphone” tucked away somewhere down the list, in the twilight zone between musical patches and sound f/x. It produced an eerie, slightly discomforting sound that seemed to be somewhat dissatisfied with the world as a whole.
Years went by, and numerous waterphone impressions that failed to be useful for anything else than a novelty spook for newcomers to the studio. I personally never considered the thought that the ubiquitous waterphone would be an actual instrument, I just sort of assumed that it would be some kind of invented sound effect with a name that somehow had stuck to the minds of synth patch designers.
And then, years later, I stumbled onto an actual demonstration of a waterphone. And yes, it is an instrument, and yes, it has found its way onto numerous suspense movie soundtracks.
I stand corrected.
I stand even more corrected now. According to Wikipedia, mr. Richard A. Waters is credited as the inventor of the Waterphone. A comment was left by a Richard Waters, pointing this out to me, so to recover some possible ill effects of my poor research, I offer a link to mr. Waters site here where numerous sound examples, as well as an introduction to the eerie but strangely addictive instrument can be found.
In all fairness, I will leave the video of the other waterphone example as well. There are differences in timbre and modulation between this and mr. Waters examples, but not being fluent in waterphonique, I will not stretch as far as calling it “a cheap imitation”. You be the judge.
eBay or Stay: Korg SQ-10 May 12, 2009
Posted by introvert in Hardware, Review.add a comment
Korg SQ-10
The Korg SQ-10 is a 3-track analog sequencer that uses rotary knobs to set the value for each step. In this manner, a sequence of 24 notes + 12 control values can be programmed. The sequence length is determined by patching one of the gate out jacks beneath the step to the sequence reset input. The third track is used to provide modulation data to the destination synth and runs in parallel with whichever track (A or B) is currently running.
Three different playback modes are available:
- Play track A through and stop
- Play track A followed by track B and stop
- Alternate playing channel A and B continuously
It’s about the same size as the Korg MS-20 without the keyboard, 35x20x10 cm and certainly looks impressive with knobs, jacks and flashing lights galore.
Use the CV from the third track to modulate the Tempo CV in (if you dare!). Use it to provide CV for effect processors, or analog synths acting as such. Use the whole sequencer to control the light show. Use it in a dark room and bliss out.
Inputs
Clock in, Sequence reset, Sequence start/stop, Single step, Tempo CV, 2xAudio in (a small active mixer!)
Outputs
CV, 14xGate (2 channels + 1/note), Audio out (mixer)
Yes
It’s an analog sequencer, meaning you have instant Tangerine Dream trance-inducing sequences at your fingertips. Also, each track has individual portamento control and the CV range is switchable between +1V to +5V meaning it can control various old gear.
No
Since the knobs are not quantized or in steps, fine-tuning each step can be a nightmare when programming a pitched sequence, and to make matters worse, the values change over time as the unit gets warmer! Sure, it’s great fun in combination with an old MS-20, but in reality, it’s too expensive today considering what it has to offer.
Thanks to Peter Cassidy for additional info
eBay or Stay: Yamaha QX3 May 3, 2009
Posted by introvert in Hardware, Review.add a comment
This is a new installment of near-Twitter-short reviews of old gear that could be gathering dust in your studio. Is it a keeper, or time to ‘bay it?
Yamaha QX3 image from Yamaha.jp
The successor of the popular but notoriously difficult QX1, the QX3 featured a large backlit LCD, 3.5″ disk drive and the ability to load and save midi bulk dumps. The eight midi outs of the QX1 were reduced to two on this unit giving it 32 effective channels.
It’s a big, pre-historic sequencer. No samples, no sounds, just the possibility to score some retro points on stage.
Yes:
Very sturdy, long-life buttons and display, reads and writes MS-DOS 3.5″ disks without weird own data format, mute/unmute tracks with live buttons, quick and intuitive step record, and fast to work with IF you can get your head around the Yamaha JOB paradigm: Hit JOB, punch a number + ENTER to get to the proper sub menu.
No:
MPC size on the desk, but no MPC power within. Linear tape-recorder-style recording, meaning no patterns, and just the option to loop the entire song. Which doesn’t even work properly. Volatile memory (sequence data lost on power-down)
A modular synth for your iPhone? April 19, 2009
Posted by introvert in Software.add a comment
Jasuto Screen Shot
As most of you undoubtedly have seen already, there’s an interesting new synth-builder-sort-of-modular-app called Jasuto out on the App Store. The interesting thing about Jasuto is that it manage to use the 2-dimensional screen space to carry more context than just the usual mess of virtual patch cables – size and proximity of sound and control objects are relevant for the overall result, and it is presented in a clear and understandable way.
Well, almost understandable. After downloading it to my iPod Touch I was dumbfounded for a while, until I looked at the tutorial videos which suddenly made it all clear to me. Sometimes, moving images say more than a thousand explanations. To me, at least.
Helmet Man Clinic: DrumMachine sampling – MPC style April 16, 2009
Posted by introvert in Hardware, Workshop.add a comment
In the last installment, my faithful assistant Helmet Man and I tried to explain sampling on the Elektron MachineDrum in a more accessible way than described in the UW User’s Guide.
By connecting gear to the audio inputs, we can sample up to one bar of audio (or shorter snippets) into each of the two sample instruments called R machines and play it back with the P machines.
We’re still backing off the bizarre and dwindling depths of the MLEV control, still restraining ourselves to the main inputs, and from sonic mayhem.
P-machinery
Understanding how the R and P machines work holds the key to MPC style beat reconstruction. Two measures of a loop in the current tempo can be sampled into the R machine memory by setting the END parameter to 127.
To cut up the sample, just create multiple P machines on several tracks. Now, you can quickly setup different parts of the loop at your fingertips, by adjusting the STRT and END parameters of each P machine. Since two measures equals 127, this means that setting STRT=0 and END=63 on the first P machine will make it play back the first measure of the loop when activated. You may need to tweak the start and endpoints depending on how close to the downbeat you managed to trig the R machine, but these are useful starting points. By setting the second instance of the same P machine STRT=64 and END=127, it will now play the second part of the loop. Similarly, you can now set up four P machines that could play back two bars each of the beat, and so on, without taking up additional memory, as they play back different portions of the audio recorded by the R machine.
Example of values and loop positions
Stutter and Hold
You should notice by now that triggering the P-machines does not mute each other, ensuing chaos. At times, this is desirable, to overlay synced loops, but for our purposes, we want to make sure that triggering another part of the loop mutes the other parts. This is what the RELATE MUTE-POS parameter under KIT>EDIT stands for.
Select the MUTE-POS parameter for the first P1 machine. Set the value to 14-M2. Then select the other P1 machine (M2, track 14) and set the MUTE-POS to 13-M1. Voilá – you have now made sure that the sample bits will cut off each other when triggered! Press ENTER and then EXIT out of the menu to try this out. (Note that you can also use the TRIG-POS parameter to make several audio bits play back in sync when one is triggered)
Playing for keeps
A downside to the RAM R and P machines are that their contents are lost on power down. And, even more dangerous to our Grammy-winning beat, if you should happen to re-trigger the R machine accidentally, by brushing against the wrong button, all will be lost (or replaced by something unpredictable). A good measure is therefore to store the loop in a ROM machine when you’re satisfied with it.
To do this, go to the KIT>FX screen and select the Sample Manager. Select the corresponding RAM machine, and press COPY (FUNCTION+RECORD). This has the effect of putting a copy of the selected machine on the clipboard. Now select one of the ROM machines and press PASTE (FUNCTION+STOP). If you had enough memory available, the sample captured in the RAM machine will now be safely stored in one of the ROM machines, and you can now program instances of the ROM playback machine with various playback parameters just as the RAM P machine before, with the difference that the sample will be retained on power-down, keeping it stored for next time.
King of YouTube mash-ups? March 5, 2009
Posted by introvert in Inspiration, YouTube.add a comment
This is awesome. Kutiman is the moniker for someone who is making cut-up mash-up stuff from YouTube music videos of all kinds. And it’s damn good!
Update: Here’s the link to his site, it was down when I created the blog post. Song #3 is my favourite, it’s a hit for sure.
Check this out for an example of the work. The official page is down from too much volume so YouTube will have to do for now 
(Does this make it a meta-YouTube experience? Oh…)
Link updated, kutiman is now hosting his own videos on YouTube.
Out-of-this-world recreations of old songs February 28, 2009
Posted by introvert in Inspiration.add a comment
Microsoft Songsmith appeared as a fun surprise on the radar a while ago, causing music forums all over the net to spawn endless threads mocking or praising the software.
If you have been living under an internet-less rock for a while, MS Songsmith is a software application that analyzes your singing, and creates an accompanying song. That is, it acts as a virtual band, trying to pick up your singing and fleshing it out to a full instrumented song.
While the quality of the results vary, the idea itself is intriguing, and sets down a marker on pop culture science. Isaac Asimov once predicted small machines for home use that could generate endless streams of intriguing music. I’d take that over some commercial radio any day. So, how far away is it?
Obviously, someone would take a leap of imagination with this software.
And someone did, coming up with the brilliant idea to isolate the singer’s voice from classic songs, allowing Songsmith to recreate the song as interpreted! The results are at times mind-boggling. In the worst moments, we get karaoke renditions of “Billie Jean” by Michael Jackson, but other results are eye-openers. We may laugh (and I did), but some of the versions actually opened my eyes on ideas to how new interpretations or re-mixes of songs could be made.
And that’s one way of using this type of technology – to liberate your notion of how a song “should sound” and give it a different context, giving a broader scope for different versions.
Judge for yourself. And have fun while doing it
Thanks to Retro Thing for finding this gem!
Helmet Man Clinic: MachineDrum Sampling February 19, 2009
Posted by introvert in Hardware, Workshop.add a comment
The sampling option of the Elektron MachineDrum UW (mkI/II) has left many users confused. It took me quite a while to get my head around the way sampling/playback works, and coming from a MPC perspective didn’t make things any less confusing.
While the MPC over the years have always been a sampler, the MachineDrum is a drum synthesizer at heart. Every instrument of a MachineDrum kit is generated by an instrument referred to as a machine. This means that the sample/playback instruments also fall into the machine paradigm, and this is where it tends to get complicated. (The guys at Elektron sure knows how to create inspiring quality instruments, but writing manuals are a different story…)
In this clinic, I would like to shed some light on how to use the sample engines, known as RAM machines, of the MachineDrum to advantage, and emulate how we would cut up a beat on the MPC.
Basic setup
For this setup, I have a turntable hooked up to my MachineDrum through a mixer. You need a mixer or a RIAA converter as you can’t connect the turntable directly to your MachineDrum. If you don’t want to use a turntable, just hook up any sound source such as an iPod, computer or similar.
Machines, machines
The first thing to grasp, is that it takes two different machines to work with samples: Play machines and Record machines. In the UW, we have two of each, R1, R2, P1 and P2. These actually go in pairs, so the P1 machine will always play back the sound clip recorded by the R1 machine, and the P2 machine will likewise play back the sound clip recorded by R2.
So, to have sample clip playback, we add a playback machine to our kit. Press KIT and select
EDIT, and make sure that you’re in EXTENDED mode. Holding FUNCTION, select M1 to be the instrument track of choice, and select the RAM-P1 machine for track M1. EXIT out of the KIT menu when you’re done.
OK, so now we have a sample playback machine on track 13 (M1). This can be programmed just as the other machines, and every step will play back the sound clip recorded by the R1 machine. At this moment, it will probably be empty, thus making no sound.
Recording a sample
To record a sample, we need a RAM-record machine. 
Punch up the KIT EDIT menu again, and select the RAM-R1 machine for track 16 (M4). Now, select the SYNTHESIS display mode, and I’ll walk you through understanding the parameters of the R machine.
There are four basic things to grasp when it comes to R-machines:
- They are volatile, meaning that they do not retain the sample in memory after power off
- They always sample to the same slot (R1 to slot 1, R2 to slot 2) meaning that every time R1 is sampling, the previous contents will be erased
- They start sampling when triggered, and
- They can sample from the audio inputs, or the audio currently being produced by the MachineDrum (known as resampling) – or a mix of both!
The sample source is controlled by the parameters MLEV and ILEV, meaning M(ain output) LEVel and I(nput) LEVel. If you have your turntable hooked up to your MachineDrum as described earlier, we want to turn down the MLEV fully, and up the ILEV. This will mix no resampling signal with maximum input signal to the R1 machine.
Resampling is the magic key to sonic mayhem. But let’s keep it simple before diving into the deep end, so we’ll just sample whatever audio we have on the inputs for now!
The parameters CUE1 and CUE2 makes it possible for us to listen to the source/sampled material. If you’re feeding your MachineDrum audio now, you can listen to it by gently increasing the CUE1 parameter. Try it!
Sample at length
The LENgth parameter is actually tempo related. By turning it up to 127, you will sample one bar of audio at the current tempo setting. Turn it up, and try to match the tempo of the MachineDrum to the beat you’re planning to record.
Assuming that you have audio at the MachineDrum inputs, all you need to do to sample, is to trig the R1 machine.
Yes, it’s really that simple. Assuming your MachineDrum is stopped, just hit the M4 button on the downbeat, and the R1 machine will sample two bars of incoming audio. You can check it out by hitting M1 (the P1 machine) !
In the next article, Helmet Man will guide you through rearranging beats MPC style.
