Failed Muso

Still here!!

Here we go again!

Yet another apologetic post, making excuses for a recent spate of silence! I’ve no proper excuse other than life just getting in the way. However, there should be some good stuff coming soon, including some new goodies from Hollow Sun, one of which is pretty massive!! Sworn to secrecy, but this could be mahooosive for Steve

Also, I’ve been, and still currently am, involved with a marketing exercise with Nokia and their Comes With Music service. 20 of us from around the globe have been recruited to download as much as we can from the Nokia Music Store and then talk about it on Facebook. Apart from giving me tons of free music and a new mobile phone, I’m getting a good insight into online music retailing and some of the good and bad things about it. Be assured that there will be an extensive review about my experience right here.

I’ve got a bit of time off work soon, so hopefully that should see a few more posts popping up! Thanks for checking back and persevering!

“El Sol, Y Mi Canto” – New track from Failed Muso & Micky D

Another fruit of our labour!

This track was composed and performed yet again in Reason, using the soon to be released Nebulae Refill from Hollow Sun throughout. Much props and love to Micky D, Steve Howell and Matt Black

Enjoy

El Sol, Y Mi Canto by failedmuso

ZTT – New Collectors Editions and Compilations!

ZTT. One of my favourite record labels, owned and run by my favourite record producer, Trevor Horn.

Nowhere near as popular or influential as they were, but still home to an eclectic bunch of artists. However, one of it’s strengths is it’s back catalogue and under the guidance of curator Ian Peel, the Element series of re-releases continues unhindered and unabated!

Coming out on July 19th 2010 (conveniently 10 days before my birthday!) are two exciting releases. Firstly, we have the 25th anniversary re-release of Propaganda‘s “A Secret Wish“. Often overlooked at the time, it spawned some awesome tunes and influenced many. Sadly for Propaganda, a Teutonic quartet based in London, Frankie Goes To Hollywood were blowing everything else out of the water, including Propaganda, their own label mates. But the upshot was that the things learned with the production of “Welcome To The Pleasuredome” (also recently re-released as a collectors edition) were taken and refined and used in “A Secret Wish”, with Trevor Horn stepping back as an Executive Producer and allowing Steve Lipson to produce this masterpiece of art pop.

I have the rare SACD version of this album in glorious digital 5.1 and it still blows you away today, but this double disc edition with remixes, b-sides and rarities is a worthwhile addition to anyone’s collection.

Also on the same day, we will witness the first, and probably best, all round Art Of Noise collection. Usually, you have to settle for a collection centred around particular incarnations of this art pop collective, but the release of the aptly named “Influence” sees all era’s of AON united under one album sleeve. From early works to the slightly embarrassing late 80′s period and back to the “almost” original line up in the 90′s and 00′s, this 2 disc collection features some of the finest, most pretentious pop you will ever have the pleasure of hearing.

With both sets only costing £7.99 each, you have no excuse!!

Fairlight Supremacy ReFill updates to v1.3

It’s been quiet on the Fairlight front of late but this emerged yesterday….

Fairlight CMI Legacy / Supremacy Update 1.3
The original, complete Fairlight CMI II sound library refill for Propellerhead’s Reason now gets a large update, for registered (and new) users only. The update contains 130 Mb of new samples as well as 55 new Combinator patches and about 25 meticously crafted NNXT patches. For users of the original Fairlight CMI Legacy ReFill this means the refill has been updated with over 200 Mb of brand new sample material (in 24 bit resolution) since its release. Fairlight CMI Supremacy 1.3 will no longer be a free download for all, but the 1.2 release still functions as a free demo refill, freely available from www.powerfx.com. The new release is only available for registered users and new customers buying the refill directly from Bitley™.

New instruments in the 1.3 release includes some brand new, unbelievable sound creations programmed in 2010 using a vintage Roland D-50 synthesizer. A poll was recently made on Sweden’s largest music forum, 99musik (.se) where users were asked to guess which synthesizer was used. No one figured out it was a D-50; the correct reply was given by a user knowing Patrick Fridh always liked it and just mentioned the D-50 without really believing it could be that synth.

Supremacy 1.3 - For Registered Users Only

Fairlight CMI Legacy still only costs $69 but now contains almost twice as much sample material and over three times as many patches as the original release, now covering the entire Fairlight series II factory preset library as well as sounds taken from live audio sources. The library also contains synthesizer sounds from the same era as the Fairlight – such as Yamaha TX816, Roland JX10, Roland D-50, many drum machines, odd digital synthesizers and more. The amazing thing about the library is that it collects all of this for Reason, giving the Reason user access to sounds never before achievable within the software’s environment. The Fairlight cost over $70,000 in the 80s and was an untouchable dream synthesizer/sampler workstation for all keyboard players. Quite amazingly all of this is now available for $69 running on a Mac or PC computer. Fairlight is a registered trademark and the library is officially approved by Peter Vogel, founder of the Fairlight CMI.

Patrick Fridh has previously programmed factory sounds for Clavia and Propellerhead Software, as well as many libraries for PowerFX.

URL: http://bitley.laconicsounds.net

Hauz Vaib by Bitley™

I’m off to play with it now!

Venus Hum – Mechanics & Mathematics – A concert film by Neil Smith

It’s hard to review a concert DVD. I mean, it’s a concert. A DVD is just going to remove one of the most important elements of a live music show; the shared experience of partaking in a musical event. Even the best concert DVD’s (for the best, watch Blur’s “No Distance Left To Run”) lack that certain something. You can see the crowd, you can hear them, but where’s the delinquent tosser swinging his pint around, arms flailing? Where’s the obscured view? Where’s the aching back, nurtured through hours of standing up and not moving very much? Hmmmmm…. maybe the DVD is a better option after all?

Venus Hum have been around for 10 years or so. Comprising of Annette Strean, Kip Kubin and Tony Miracle this little trio might not be that well known to you, especially outside of the US. You might have seen them if you ever saw the Blue Man Group live, as they supported and played with them on their Complex tour.

But they pretty much sit under the radar. But that has never stopped them consistently producing some of the finest, melodic and interesting electronica to have ever come out of the US. Which is surprising for an act hailing from Nashville, TN, the home of country & western.

So, the DVD. Well, this is no ordinary concert DVD. As in, it’s not an amalgam of a few shows from a long running sell out tour. This is a film of a one off gig, played at a small, intimate venue in Cincinnati, OH called The Monastery, an old church converted into a recording studio and performance space. A small crowd and a close, intimate experience for those attending.

The first 20 minutes or so are dedicated to a short interview with the band, interspersed with snippets of footage from rehearsals.

The rest of the DVD is the show and a lovely event it is. Most of the “Mechanics & Mathematics” album is covered along with tracks from their previous long players.

From a synth geeks perspective, there’s not as much synth geekery to take in, save for an ARP 2600, Roland System 100m, a Space Echo and some other random bits and bobs. This is a heavily laptop based show with some rear projections going on. Tony Miracle seems more than happy with his very old Evolution MK149. Mine now languishes in the loft.

But this is all a blessing. Why? Well, for once you can concentrate on the music. There’s no flashy technology going on here. It’s two guys, Ableton Live (and Logic, I think), and the amazing vocals of Annette, seen here sporting a rather school mistress-y look which is quite a contrast to her previous guises. She’s still hot though!

This is a lovely DVD of a great little gig, the intimacy of which is superbly conveyed by the camera work. The music “does the talking”, the projections mere frilly, but effective edging. For once, a live DVD that’s more about the music than anything else. The band’s desire was to get their live act noticed by many more people. This DVD does that job perfectly.

Stay tuned after the credits for an excellent impromptu and completely unrehearsed version of “Alice”. No sequencing, just guitar, keys and a soaring vocal. Quite exquisite.

Venus Hum -- “Mechanics & Mathematics” is available now on DVD. A live album taken from the show is now also available from Amazon & iTunes.

Sneaky Peek – Hollow Sun EPII for Kontakt

Ok, just snuck these babies out of Hollow Sun for your delectation. Steve is still churning out update after update to his Kontakt portfolio and this is next on the line, due for release this week, if all goes to plan. It’s the Kontakt-ised version of his exemplary Yamaha CP70 library. As well as the classic CP70, it features a Hohner Pianet T, Wurlitzer EP200 and RMI Electrapiano. No audio demo’s yet, but here are some screen grabs…

Using Kontakt’s highly flexible and powerful scripting, each instrument has multiple panels to tailor the sound to your liking, including phase shifter, chorus, tremolo & reverb.

I remember Steve sampling the CP70 a few years ago. He bought a good model, assembled it in his front room, had it professionally serviced and tuned, and then sampled each note at multiple velocities, before applying his expert techniques to get the best sound with the smallest footprint. The upshot of this is probably the best CP70 sample set available that loads quickly and is supremely efficient.

Visit Hollow Sun for more details.

“Journey Into The Mist” – New Track from Failed Muso & MickyD

Journey Into The Mist by failedmuso

Commissioned by Hollow Sun to demonstrate the Reason ReFill library of their Hammond Novachord. To purchase this library visit Hollow Sun

Written by myself & Micky Dodds, and created completely in Reason. The only parts that do not come from the Novachord, a valve based synthesizer from 1939, are the drums. All other sounds, including percussion, come from the Novachord.

We had a lot of fun with this one, given that we wanted to keep it 100% Novachord, but when we added the drums, we all agreed it was better for it.

Much love to Micky for his work on this, as well as Steve for the sample library!

Update to Hollow Sun String Synths! Now with Added Elka Rhapsody 490

Only a few days ago, I announced the arrival of Hollow Sun’s updated String Synth II package for Kontakt. And then yesterday Steve, who clearly has consumed some kind of sampling Viagra, added yet another classic string synth to the package at no further cost!

Now users can get all Tangerine Dreamy or Vangelis pre his love affair with the CS-80 as the classic Elka Rhapsody 490 has now been added. Courtesy of the wonderful team at Forgotten Keys, this awesome and unique sound can be had in all it’s glory. This really is a joyous sample set.

If you have already purchased the updated Kontakt version, your link should still be active and allow you to download the updated version. If not, drop Steve a line and he’ll fix you up

Purchase the String Synth package here!

More Improved Kontakt Libraries from Hollow Sun

Blimey, when Steve get’s stuck in, he gets stuck in! Hot on the heels of the String Synth package comes updated Kontakt versions of two of my all time favourite HS libraries, Vintage Samplers & Newtron Bomb.

Vintage Samplers

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Tron Boys Choir

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Tron Brass

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Tron Choir

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Tron Flute

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Tron Mixed Strings

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Tron Violins

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Tron Watcher

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Featuring the same seamlessly looped samples as the originals, Steve has created some really great programs in Kontakt, utilising it’s scripting features and powerful FX. These samples have never sounded better!

But don’t just take my word for it, try listening to the demos and then go buy these babies at next to nothing prices

Vintage Samplers $25

Newtron Bomb $60

New Hollow Sun Strings Synths II for Kontakt

You know the old saying, “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks”?

Well, I beg to differ. I remember having many lengthy conversations with Steve Howell about “modern technology” and how it was all a pile of rubbish compared to the hardware of old. We would pontificate about how software synthesis and sampling was the realm of lazy “musos” who were probably using ripped off samples and things like software samplers were not even samplers and just plain old playback devices with FX.

But not too long ago, Steve started to dig into Kontakt, the application from Native Instruments, and began to find that it had begun to become a far more powerful tool than first thought. This exploration was made for a number of reasons. Firstly, there was the economic choice, given that so many people were using Kontakt, it was a market that couldn’t be ignored, especially as the predominantly hardware markets had begun to significantly dry up. Secondly, there was the issue of security. An Akai S5000/S6000 sample pack is made up of 2 or 3 types of file; an Akai Program and/or Multi and the .wav sample files. These can easily be taken and dumped into any sampler and with no proprietary format to break before doing so. Finally, the level at which you can manipulate samples in Kontakt now, especially with it’s new scripting features, puts it up there as a “cannot be ignored” sonic tool.

Having seen the incredible work done by Tracy Collins at Indiginus and the fantastic use of Kontakt to bring his sounds to life, Steve set about converting and creating material in this format. The Novachord package was one of the first and certainly the biggest Kontakt project undertaken and now Steve is slowly, but surely, transferring his legacy material into this format. And it’s not just a straight port either. Steve is having great fun using Kontakt’s unique features, all in the relative and increased safety of a proprietary format with a greatly reduced risk of piracy.

And so, here we have the latest of these ports. The Hollow Sun String Synth II Library. I remember first hearing these samples many years ago and they were some of the first samples I gravitated to when Hollow Sun was still running it’s highly altruistic free sample library. For me, string synths were some of the first and certainly most evocative synthesizer sounds I had heard. My first real love of synths came from Jean Michel Jarre and his use of the Eminent 310, featured in this very package with a very authentic phaser effect as an option. These sounds were intergalactic in nature and conjured up all sorts of audio induced imagery.

In addition, we have the Solina String Ensemble, Moog Opus and Roland RS202 which Steve has coupled up with a Roland VP330 for some vocoded formant loveliness.

Using Kontakt’s scripting, Steve has enabled a wide range of FX on each instrument, and there are other layers that can be brought in to beef things up or lend a new sonic quality, such as the brass samples included with the Solina.

And to top this all off, Steve has included 3 classic PolyMoog programs, Strings I, Strings II and the incredible signature sound of Gary Numan, the Vox Humana preset. Start layering these sounds with some of the other instruments for truly mind blowing results.

Better still, this package only costs a paltry £16 / €19 / $25 and is also available in Akai & EXS24 formats, albeit without the bonus PolyMoog programs.

Another small, yet perfectly formed package from the true master of vintage synth sampling. Check out the audio demo…..

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