Exclusive & Exciting! Novachord in more formats!
Hollow Sun’s brilliant Novachord library is going from strength to strength by encompassing even more formats all the time, bring this exquisite library of vintage synthesis to an even wider audience.
It is looking increasingly likely that the library will soon be available in three more formats, to complement the existing EXS24 & Kontakt versions.
Last night I was given an exclusive sneaky peek at a Reason ReFill of the Novachord and it certainly looks pretty! 
I hear work is progressing apace and we should hear something very soon regarding a release date. Keep checking back here and at the Novachord website for the latest info. You can subscribe to my RSS feed right here.
Suffice to say, Reason is an extremely popular tool. It’s been my weapon of choice for some time now, with it’s immediacy and unrivalled stability. Some bemoan it’s closed format but in all these years, I have never felt restricted by it. Everyone has their own preferred tools for music making that suit their ideal work flow, and Reason ticks all my boxes 
And if that wasn’t enough, it looks like we will see the Novachord gracing the Akai S5000/6000 format soon, which means instant compatibility with the MPC4000 & MPC5000 production tools as well as the legacy Z Series rack samplers. The other beauty of the Akai format is that it will be readable by many other samplers and converters so this will increase the catchment of this unique library.
And finally, the Alesis Fusion will see it’s own version of Novachord soon after. Even after it’s untimely “death”, this vastly underrated workstation, which is rapidly gaining cult status and still commanding high used prices on eBay, is still getting up to date library from not only Hollow Sun, but places like Back In Time/KPR too.
Whilst I held Hollow Sun to ransom and squeezed this info out of them, they let slip of a number of high profile users of Novachord of which they are rightly proud, so who knows where we might hear this sublime collection of sounds soon??
Failed Muso Studio Gear Sale
I figure that by posting about it, it will motivate me to actually do it.
I have recently been toying with the idea of getting back into drumming and the idea is getting more and more appealing as time goes by. I do already have a kit, but it’s a bit dated now (Yamaha DTXpress Mk.1) and a fancy something a bit more 21st century. So I have decided on an Alesis DM10 Pro which I can get at a good price via my contacts at Alesis. Sure, I’d love a Roland V-Drum kit, but I’d also love the salary to be able to afford one!
So, to raise the necessary funds, I’m going to have to sell a bunch of existing gear. This is not easy. I am a hoarder. I hate to part with stuff. I’m usually okay once I’ve done it, but it’s getting to that point which is difficult.
Anyway, this is what I plan to sell:
1x Yamaha CS1x Synth
1x Yamaha DX27 Synth
1x Yamaha RM1x Sequence Remixer
1x Yamaha SU10 Sampler
1x Roland PMA-5 Touchscreen Arranger
I also have a Marshall Keyboard Combo amp.
As much as I love these bits of gear, they rarely get used now, with their abilities being easily taken care of by other bits of gear, such as my Alesis Fusion, Akai Samplers or even just in software.
Hopefully, the sale of this stuff will generate enough funds to purchase the drum kit.
These will only be sold in the UK, after my disastrous experience with the Elka Organ I sold last year, and preferably collection only due to weight (Obviously, this won’t apply to the SU10 or PMA-5). Shipping will probably be exclusively down to the purchaser to arrange.
If you wish to make an offer, do so via email to rob@failedmuso.com. Don’t use the comments sections.
More new stuff from Hollow Sun – Moog Taurus Mk.1 & Speak & Spell
Moog Taurus Mk.1
This afternoon I got first dibs at the newest addition to the ever increasing catalogue of commercial releases from sample legends Hollow Sun. This pack features the iconic Moog Taurus Mk.1. This bass pedal device was originally intended for sole use underneath an organ called the Constellation, but this Moog product never surfaced. The Taurus came with a 5 octave range and 3 presets plus a single user programmable patch.
It’s woofer trembling power soon found it’s way into many classic pieces of prog rock, electronica and dance music. It was often used both as a pedal board and also mounted and played by hands.
I can confirm that this a faithful, knee tembling recreation of the legendary Taurus sound
Incidentally, Moog are hoping to have 1000 newly built Mk.1 Taurus units for sale this November.
TI Speak & Spell
The other offering to come out of Hollow Sun is the free Speak & Spell pack for Alesis Fusion, Akai S5/6000, Z Series, MPC4000 & MPC5000 and Kontakt 3.5. This weighs in at 10MB approx. and includes every sound made by the Texas Instrument Speak and Spell toy.
A great, fun set of sounds
Things afoot at Hollow Sun
Some new and interesting developments over at Hollow Sun recently.
First up, Steve has started a blog. Now, if you know Steve as I know Steve, this is certainly not his “thing”. He views blogs, much like Twitter and any other form of Social Networking, as a lame and vacuous, self serving waste of time! Personally, I don’t agree, but that old Welsh git, purveyor of fine sampling products though he is, can be an old stick in the mud at times. So, for him to do this must mean something bigger lays behind it. And I can confirm that it does, although I can’t say what it is, but it will be good, I can guarantee you that!
Next is the Reaktor Korner, a small but perfectly formed repository of Reaktor ensembles, created over the years by Steve. Recreations of an ARP Axxe, ARP Odyssey and an emulation of classic string synths await you, all free of charge!
The following two new libraries I know VERY well! When I first met Steve, all those years ago, it was these samples that were my foot in the door, so to speak. Being a complete Fairlight whore, I wanted as many top notch samples as I could get, and Steve had loads of ‘em. It’s these samples that now feature, along with a big bunch of samples that also made me salivate uncontrollably, the Emulator EII, in his new release, Vintage Samplers.
Here’s the instrument list…
EII Arco Strings
EII Blown Bottle
EII Choir
EII Orch Chords
EII Shakuhachi
EII Strings
EII Waterphone
IIx ARR1
IIx ArrBass
IIx Bar
IIx BasClear
IIx Basso
IIx BassRick
IIx BobStrin
IIx BowdBass
IIx Drums
IIx ElBass
IIx FltCf
IIx Glock
IIx Kalim
IIx MarBlock
IIX Orch 5
IIx Piztwang
IIx Quartet
IIx Shatter
IIx StlBell
IIx Swanee
IIx V3Sus
IIx VibMid
IIx ViolHi
IIx ViolSus
IIx Wineglas
String Synths is a small, yet prefectly formed library featuring samples of such classics as a Moog Opus, Eminent 310, ARP String Ensemble, RS202 and a Roland VP330.
01 ARP String Ens
02 ARP String Ens Phaser
03 Eminent 310 Strings
04 Eminent 310 Phaser
05 Moog Opus 4′
06 Moog Opus 8′
07 Moog Opus 8+4′
08 Moog Opus 4′ Phaser
09 Moog Opus 8′ Phaser
10 Moog Opus 8+4′ Phaser
11 RS202 Strings I
12 RS202 Strings I+II
13 VP330 Choir
Finally, the Freepacks section of the Hollow Sun site now features, courtesy of Joeri Peters, the awesome PolyMoog Vox Humana patch, as well as the PolyMoog Strings I & II patches, all available in Akai, Alesis Fusion & Kontakt formats.
The True Art Of Sampling
Sampling.
Even today, some 30 or more years after digital sampling came to the world of music making, the word sampling, when used in a musical context, is viewed with equal amounts of cynicism and joy. Peter Gabriel once famously said that songs like Paul Hardcastle’s “19″ had set the art of sampling back by about 20 years. And you know what? He wasn’t far wrong.
Sampling is one of a number of electronic sound creation methods but sampling straddles the lines between other methods too. It can be a tone generator in it’s own right, but combined with other methods, can accentuate and aid them in achieving unique tones and timbres.
“19″ ushered in a desire for the novelty aspect of sampling. The ability to make silly, novel little sounds or phrases through stuttering and repetition. For a point of reference, consider the current trend of Auto-Tuning every R&B song to death. The perpetrators think it’s cool, but the listener soon tires of it and moves on.
The other thing about sampling is that during it’s early years, groups like the Musicians Union here in the UK expressed hysterical levels of concern that sampling heralded the end of real musicians and that computers would take over the world, killing or enslaving their former human overlords and rendering them obsolete.
Quite.
Anyway, back to Peter. Peter was right. The true art of sampling got set back by about 20 years or so. As soon as everybody decided they wanted to tr-tr-tr-tr-try sampling, the technique was considered too much of a novelty and no-one took it seriously. Then people started to use sampling for the sole aim of trying to accurately replicate instruments that already occurred in real life. It was seen as an easy and affordable way of having real instruments in a box, without the associated costs and logistics. Hence the Musicians Union’s stance. But nothing could replace real instruments played by real people. And to this day, nothing can. And whilst I’m sure that a time may come when machines may do an amazing job, I believe that the very thing that makes these instruments unique, the human element of free will and expression, will never be fully surpassed.
Peter, however, was a true pioneer in the field of sampling. Do a search on this blog for Peter Gabriel and Fairlight and you will turn up a number of YouTube videos showing Peter recording, and then using musically, found sounds and making great music with them too. Creating new, unheard of sounds from previously non musical sources. This was, and still is, the real art of sampling. Using the technology as a new source of sound, not one to replicate pre-existing ones.
Or is it?
As technology has advanced, samplers have become increasingly more powerful and capable of doing amazing things with sound. The advent of software samplers like Kontakt, EmulatorX, HALion, etc have ushered in a number of new and innovative ways of dealing with samples. I use the term “software samplers” very lightly here as, of all the applications that claim to be “samplers”, virtually all of them are actually better described as sample playback devices, EmulatorX from E-MU being a notable exception.
This advance in sample manipulation technology has allowed many new and wonderful things to be done but it has brought with it one awful, terrible side effect.
Bloatware.
In the “good old days”, samplists who beavered away creating libraries for the increasing amount of devices available, came up against one big problem. Size. The memory and storage capacity in those days was tiny by comparison to what we enjoy today. Today, one can purchase a 1.5 Terrabyte hard drive for £70 GBP. That’s 1500GB for the price of a Depeche Mode box set. That’s 1,500,000MB for the price of a tank of fuel in an SUV. That’s 1,073,741,824 kilobytes. Back in the day, you were lucky if you had 640kb to play with. So the samplists of the day used clever tricks and methods to shoe-horn as much in as they could, using Bonsai* sampling techniques. There was no waste, no fat, no bloat.
(* The term Bonsai Sampling courtesy of Steve Howell! ;o) )
Nowadays though, with space not being an issue, samplists have become shockingly lazy. It seems that people judge the quality of sample libraries simply by their size. a 50GB orchestra is considered to be far superior to one that fits into 100MB.
Oh that it were so.
Today’s libraries, in the main, are incredibly lazy. Vast amounts of silence at the end of each sample. No sustain loops, the master tool of the Bonsai samplist, in sight. Just fill up the space with rubbish because there’s enough room. And even then, the quality of the samples and the quality of the programming leaves much to be desired. It really is a sorry state of affairs.
Thankfully, it’s not all that bad. There are still true “old school” samplists out there who lovingly craft libraries that sound as good as or better than their bloated counterparts, but in a fraction of the space and, more importantly, a fraction of the cost. Two such examples are Hollow Sun and Indiginus.
Hollow Sun is, to all intents and purposes, the vehicle of one man, Steve Howell. Steve has been in the business since the early 70′s when he fell in love with Tony Banks’ Mellotron, amongst others. From doing roadie duties for Genesis, he swiftly moved on to synthesizers, building his own studio and hiring out his services until he started dabbling with samples and Akai samplers. Akai saw his talents and commissioned some material for their fledgling line of devices. The samples where a massive success and a long partnership ensued. Steve ended up being responsible for most of Akai’s library, also going on to design a number of the user interfaces for many of their MPC, S-Series & Z-Series product lines, as well as some of their digital recording workstations.
Hollow Sun came about as a sideline, initially to provide free or affordable samples for Akai devices and also to satisfy Steve’s love of not only the instruments but their history. His free Vintage Library is the stuff of legend. Sadly, leeching of the sounds and the actions of a few ignorant people saw that library illegally shared and with spiralling costs, Steve was forced to withdraw it. It would surface later in such things as his Nostalgia VSTi or in parts within the libraries for other instruments, such as the Alesis Fusion.
Since then, Steve has developed a modest but impeccable library, supporting not only Akai formats (S5/6000/MPC4000/5000/Alesis Fusion) but also Kontakt, Steve’s first proper departure into software sampler territory. Check out the following piece…
Steve has now added a whole new range of small, yet perfectly formed libraries to his shop, as well as making them all available for immediate download.
And Steve hasn’t forgotten how to treat his fans, so there is a wealth of free content too, including a raft of samples in various formats (just click on your preferred flavour and you will be taken to a page full of goodies) and a bunch of awesome Reaktor Ensembles.
And now Indiginus.
Like Hollow Sun, Indiginus is a one man show, that man being Tracy Collins. Tracy is a highly skilled session musician as well as a fantastic and very clever samplist. I first met Tracy a few years back when he was launching his sample libraries for the first time on Akai S5/6000 format. Back then it was just the Acoustic Guitar Collection and the then new Solid State Symphony. When I loaded the AGC into my S6000 I was blown away not only by the quality of the samples themselves but the intricate and extremely clever use of programming.
Tracy fully utilizes velocity switching in his work, which means that depending on the velocity at which the key is struck, a different sample, or blend of samples is played. How this manifests itself in his Acoustic Guitar Collection is that a very gentle touch plays a muted string, a normal touch plays a simple pluck and a very hard whack will get you a bent string. Now, this does require a bit of practice to get it sounding authentic, but once mastered, the results are nothing short of mind blowing. Just watch these videos….
As you can see in the 3rd video, Tracy has also included a Strum Maker program which makes authentic strumming an absolute breeze.
These guitar programs are so inspiring. You feel compelled to play them and tinker with the beautiful and incredibly realistic articulations.
And it’s not just guitars that Tracy has used his incredible programming techniques on. Check out this demo of his awesome Solid State Symphony package…
Solid State Symphony is also available in a smaller LE version.
As well as these two major libraries, Tracy also sells small $5 packages which include this glorious Lap Harp…
… and other electric guitars, electric pianos and session acoustic drums.
Tracy also offers some free sounds too.
So with guys like Steve & Tracy still creating original, imaginative and brilliantly constructed libraries, the true art of sampling lives on and you don’t HAVE to subscribe to investing massive amounts of $$$/£££/€€€ in big, bloated libraries which have you wading through them just to find the few hidden gems.
Every patch in a Hollow Sun or Indiginus library is a winner.
Hollow Sun relaunch with multi format downloads!!
The world famous and respected sample developer, Hollow Sun, have revamped their site, but most importantly, their product offering.
Most importantly, they are now, for the first time, available for immediate download!
Their libraries now come in a variety of formats including Akai S5/6000, Z Series, MPC4000 and the latest MPC5000 v2. There are also libraries for the Alesis Fusion too. And for the first time these libraries are available in Kontakt 3 format!
To use their words…
HOLLOW SUN now supports the popular NI Kontakt 3 format which takes these award winning sounds to new heights. Each sound has been meticulously converted to K3 format and hand crafted to take advantage of K3′s superb facilities.
HOLLOW SUN now offers a new download service in conjunction with PayPal. Just click on ‘BUY NOW’ and follow the on-screen PayPal instructions. You will be given a unique link to download your purchase. It couldn’t be simpler.
If you don’t have a PayPal account, no problem – you can use your credit card.
Buying from HOLLOW SUN has never been easier.
If you don’t have a suitable fast broadband connection, CDs are available on request.
>> SMALL PACKS NOW AVAILABLE
For those who, for whatever reason, don’t want to buy complete products, SMALL PACKS are now available enabling you to buy the HOLLOW SUN libraries in smaller, more affordable downloads.
>> AKAI MPC5000V2 COMPATIBLE
With the advent of V2 for the MPC5000′s new OS which can read S5/6000 ‘keygroup’ programs, all of HOLLOW SUN’s soundware is now directly compatible with the MPC5000.
If you use an MPC5000, HOLLOW SUN has to be your first port of call for new sounds to transform your MIDI Production Centre way beyond its hip-hop heritage.
Most libraries can be bought complete for $50, which is a bargain in itself, but they can now be bought in smaller chunks too. So, for example, you want the critically acclaimed Yamaha CP70 set, but not the other EP’s within that library (Wurlitzer EP200, Hohner Pianet or Classic EP), you can just download the CP70 for $25! Or you can have the Classic EP for $10, or the Wurli for $15. They’ll even let you have the RMI Electrapiano for free!
And yes, you read right. All of these libraries are available for immediate download! Pay your money and have those samples straight away. If you don’t have a suitable connection to download these, they will still provide them as CD’s on request.
There’s even a freebies section so you can sample their products and understand the quality you will get with these libraries.
I’ve known Steve Howell, the man behind Hollow Sun, for some years and we have worked together on a number of various projects, including Hollow Sun’s own library (including the Nostalgia VSTi) to work for Akai & Alesis on products such as the Akai MPC500 & MPC5000 & the Alesis Fusion & SR18. Steve’s work is impeccable and his list of credits is a veritable roll of honour, working with companies such as Akai, Alesis, Korg, Roland, Bela D, Apogee, HHB, Genex, and Novation as well as artists such as Peter Gabriel and Holly Johnson.
His skills as a samplist and programmer are second to none. I can personally vouch for the excellence of his output and can highly recommend any and all of his soundware offering.
Enjoy!
http://www.hollowsun.com/
The power of the internet and the idiots that populate it
“With great power comes great responsibility”
Most recently used in the Spiderman movie, but often quoted elsewhere, this is a very accurate statement. The internet gives many individuals great power, but very few of them wield it responsibly.
I’ll cut to the chase and explain why I’m using that quote. A few years back, Alesis, an American pro audio manufacturer of synths, mixers, recording equipment and other hi-tech music devices, released its first synthesizer workstation, the Alesis Fusion. It was a brave and bold move into a market place dominated by the big 3 keyboard manufacturers, Korg (Triton), Roland (Fantom) and Yamaha (Motif). These three manufacturers were long used to vying for the top spot and Alesis’ move was questioned by many. They would have to bring something very new to the table besides a decent price point.
That was almost 4 years ago. Fusion ceased production last year. If you’re lucky, it can be found lurking in the bargain section of retailers or going for reasonable prices on eBay. Alesis no longer make a synthesizer workstation.
So, as you can probably tell, it wasn’t a truly successful venture. But why? Well, there are numerous reasons which could all be discussed at great length. I’ll mention a few here though. Firstly, the market was already saturated with established brands with their inherently loyal followings. Then there was the almost non-existent marketing. Also, the Fusion didn’t look the part. Its “retro-ish” exterior and layout broke from ingrained conventions. Then there was the functionality of the device. Its sequencer was linear, with no proper pattern based sequencing, much loved by many workstation users. The SATA port on the rear was never fully implemented. It took until v1.24 of the OS to get certain sync issues under control. Its presets were buried under a strange navigation system and the open nature of its internal architecture meant that many people got frustrated because they simply didn’t understand how to load, organise and store new sounds. Oh, and the manual was shockingly poor. Early versions claimed to have a Vocoder (printed on the packaging) but that never came about.
But, on the positive side, it offered 4 types of very powerful synthesis (Virtual Analog, FM, Physical Modelling and Sampling). All the other workstations out there only offered one of those as standard (sampling, mainly playback) and the others as additional paid for options. Its VA engine is extremely powerful, as is its FM engine. Sample wise, it has the benefit of actually being able to sample out of the box (unlike most of the others) and, with a little help from a small piece of free software, can import a number of other very popular formats. It’s a veritable sonic powerhouse and it retailed for significantly less than everything else in its league. It had a built in 40 or 80GB hard drive, it had on board 8 track hard disk audio recording via 8 external inputs, plus 32 tracks of MIDI. Powerful layer mix functions, ADAT and S/PDIF outs, big rotary knobs and a powerful modulation matrix, excellent quality key beds in 61 semi-weighted and 88 fully weighted versions. The hard drives also allowed for storage of an almost infinite number of sounds.
But, sadly, it failed. It sold enough to cover costs and give a satisfactory return on investment, but it didn’t set the world alight.
However, there was one REALLY big reason that Fusion failed to get a foothold. And that was the power of the internet and the idiots that populate it.
Even before Fusion made it into retailers, the forums and boards of the internet had started to fill up with posts and comments slating the Fusion. Virtually all were posted by fan boys of the big 3 (some even opined that these were direct employees of the big 3 themselves), and virtually all had not even seen or heard a Fusion! It was slated for its looks, its pedigree, its spec and its price. “Too cheap”, “Looks like something from the set of Buck Rodgers”, “No USB MIDI”, “No Pattern Sequencing”, “Alesis aren’t even Japanese, so how can it be good?”, and so on. Of course, Alesis shot themselves in the foot too. Poor marketing, silly little bugs, unimplemented promised features, poor choice of sample converter developer, clunky navigation of presets, and the like.
But the real damage was done by the power of the internet and the idiots that populate it. That is a provable fact. Sure, Alesis could’ve done things differently, but there is a vast amount of Fusion owners who use it completely and produce excellent results with it and from it. The fact that second hand eBay examples are still selling for good sums of money show the high regard it commands from those that ACTUALLY used it. The overwhelming majority of its online detractors never even got to be in the same room as a Fusion, yet still felt more than capable of writing page after page of error ridden bile about something they had no knowledge of. Because the Internet allows them to do so. It allows all of us to do so. It allows me to do this too.
So, why am I telling you the sad history of a short lived and much maligned keyboard?
Quite simply, it is happening again and I want to nip it in the bud. I want to call out the ignoramuses and challenge their idiocy and inaccuracies before they have a similar effect on a new product. The product in question is the Akai MINIAK. Launched only this week at Frankfurt MusikMesse (and launched late as the device got caught up in customs and only made it to the show for the last day or two), it has already been singled out by some self proclaimed “expert” as being the final nail in the coffin of Akai & Alesis. The offender, an individual who goes under the moniker of “SubAnalog” (he fails to give his real name anywhere) has posted comments on his and other sites, slating the MINIAK, but sadly his comments are riddled with inaccuracies and mistakes, as well as poor spelling, grammar and punctuation.
His own personal review (or attack) can be read here
For example, when referring to the MINIAK’s built in vocoder and its obvious similarities between it and the Alesis Ion & Micron synths:
The ION did NOT have a vocoder and I don’t think the Micron did either. It was a resonant filter. I called up the engineers at Alesis and they admitted that it was NOT a vocoder plus they also confesses that most fo the claims on the product sheet were wrong.
This mini(h)a(c)k is the freakin ION sound library. WTF – that was the worst synth I ever had BAR none
Follow up – for the record – NOT a vocoder. Looked over some specs and photos – that is a “tricked out” filter. There is NO carrier, you can hear the weakness, thus not a vocoder.
Same weak sauce as the ION. If you have never used a vocoder (I suspect Aleseis is in that category) you can be duped
Well, actually, the Ion DID have a vocoder, a 40 band one, just like the MINIAK, as did the Micron.
Another glaring mistake in this one man attack on Alesis:
Alesis specializes in:
Low ethics in their business practices (look at the mixer line and compare to Mackie. Case in point Mackie Onyx and Alesis Xenyx – hacks? – compare the specs and then theink “Why would you call it Xenyx?)
Alesis do not produce the Xenyx range of mixers. They are made by Behringer. Alesis produce the MultiMix range. No doubt, he hates Behringer too!
Apparently, he also possesses the power of prophecy when referring to the MINIAK:
I told my audio friends over a year ago that this will be the demise of Akai.
All quotes above are taken directly from his posts, with all spelling, punctuation and grammar left the way he posted it.
Investigating deeper on to his website yields some scary stuff. Not scary like “shit your pants” scary, more scary like “two people actually had sex and gave birth to this retard” scary:
Yeah, I am rather a prick about this gear. My bio warns you, and here I am again doing the same. I just want to level the data here. So here’s some stuff to lessen the blow.
First, I am wrong sometimes. I read things incorrectly, use it wrong, make a poor call, and so on. I will admit when I am wrong. Sh!t, google caches all this crap, so erasing my idiocy does little good.
Next, if I am wrong – let me know. I will put a considerable amount of time into researching your claim. If you are wrong and I am certain I will let you know. Go ahead and rock that whois information, you will be sitting by a PO Box for a long while trying to fight with me. I live in Colorado and the gun laws are pretty liberal here, so there may not be a fight, only a blood stain.
Also, this little gem:
I have called too many manufacturers out on sh!t and you are a bunch of losers. Alesis – 2x I called you out and you ran with your tail between your legs. Each of those 2 times I fired off a long list of LIES you called “features”. All bullsh!t. 100%. Dean (the old rep) hated me for what I told him when I beta tested the Alesis Andromeda – it was and still is a piece of shit. I was only truthful and not willing to be caught up on the smokescreen.
Ever notice how I have no reviews of current Moog synths? That is because they are so riddled with weaknesses and overwhelming stupidity I don’t even want to waste my time (the little Phatty is the least annoying of the lot and over prices by about $800)
His bio reads like the ramblings of an under achieving egotist with overwhelming delusions of grandeur.
He seems to have feelings of utter contempt and hatred for all things Alesis (and Akai, being guilty by association) although it’s not clear why. Maybe he got blown out by an Alesis employee when he came on to them too strong, or he could be a disgruntled ex-employee (watch out for this gun toting freak turning up in Rhode Island soon!)
Either way, his ill-informed, uneducated, ignorant, wholly inaccurate and laughable comments will be seen by those who actually know what they’re talking about as a whole heap of venom ridden bullshit. Just check the comments after his slating of the MINIAK at SonicState. His subsequent silence speaks volumes. I was also made aware of a response made to his post on his own site about the MINIAK which attacked his crapulent diatribe that never made it past SubAnalog’s moderation. So this guy can dish it out, but cannot take it. Hardly the basis for building credibility in the field.
Sadly though, there will be a bunch of people who will read this and believe it all to be true, and worse still, believe that the writer actually knows what he is talking about, which he clearly doesn’t.
So why have I made such a lengthy post about this myself? Am I an Akai/Alesis fan boy? No. Am I an Akai/Alesis Employee? No. Do I own Akai/Alesis gear? Yes. Do I own gear manufactured by many other companies? Yes. Am I paid to write this? No. Do I have a personal grudge against the afore-mentioned individual? No. Do I believe in freedom of speech? Yes. Do I believe that everyone is entitled to their own opinion? Yes, so long as it is an informed and educated one.
This guy is an utter fool and idiot. I personally won’t stand up and defend the MINIAK for two reasons. One, it is an inanimate object that does not need defending. Two, I haven’t used it and therefore cannot comment on whether it is good or bad. If I get my hands on one, I will be sure to let you know. If I like it I will say so. If I dislike it, I will also say so. But until then, I will reserve judgement. What I am attacking here, is the ability of one fool to propagate mis-information and bullshit and pass it off as considered and valid opinion. Many will smell it a mile away and treat it with the utter contempt it deserves, but many will read it and take it as gospel. And the knock on effects of this tiny (and it really is tiny) ripple could be significant. I am not being dramatic when I say that livelihoods are what may be at stake.
I urge you to be individual, free thinking people. Try things out for yourself. Listen to the good and bad and make your own mind up. And when you see such vitriolic tirades like his, smell the rat that it is and cave its head in with a shovel! ;o)
UPDATE:
Well, it would appear I have some very esteemed supporters on this issue, namely Nick Batt of SonicState.com and the mighty Dave Spiers, the man behind GForce (makers of fine software instruments such as MTron Pro, Minimonsta, Oddity, impOSCar, VSM, etc).
Check out the clip that mentions this subject below…
© Sonicstate.com. Reproduced by kind permission of Nick Batt, Sonicstate.com
Check out the entire SonicTALK Podcast 124 and others HERE.
Lori Cunningham – Unseen
Well, before I start, I find myself apologising for yet another lengthy spell away from here. I hope I haven’t lost the few people who read this regularly but real life often gets in the way of things and these last few months have been all over the shop, as we say, and now the festive season is upon us, things don’t really let up. I hope that once we’re safely into 2009 and the dust has settled, a somewhat normal service may be resumed.
Anyway, just wanted to point you all in the direction of an acquaintance of mine, Lori Cunningham. Lori is an avid user of the Alesis Fusion, and it was through a Fusion forum that I first met her.
She has now released her first album, Unseen, and it’s available from a number of outlets but it’s probably easiest to get it via her own website.
The music is best described as ambient, ethereal electronica with soaring vocals and an “other worldly” nature.
Simply put, it’s feckin’ awesome stuff. You can check out all the songs on her website as well as a number of them at her MySpace page.
Look out for this beautiful songstress, I have a feeling we may hear a lot more of her soon 
)
Oh, and she’s a proper synth babe too !!!
Recreating Baba O’Riley & Won’t Get Fooled Again
A short clip on how the Alesis Fusion can easily recreate those classic keyboard riffs from two Who songs, “Baba O’Riley” and “Won’t Get Fooled Again”. Using nothing but internal sounds and VA synth engines, the powerful Mix mode, arpeggiator, filters and FX sections in the Fusion can easily recreate these intro’s to two songs from The Who’s seminal 1971 long player “Who’s Next”.
None of these Programs were sampled from the originals in any way whatsoever. All sounds come from the Fusion’s own VA engine and a Hammond Program from Sound Designer’s, Hollow Sun.
It was created as a response to this video from Organgrinder010 via Matrixsynth…
For information on how Pete Townshend originally created these sounds, see Here
Emax Collectors Edition Sample Library
Just thought I’d share this one with you. I treated myself yesterday to a new sample library from Digital Sound Factory. As you may well know, I’m a sucker for any early sampler like an Emulator or Fairlight and I am always on the look out for good sample libraries. So when I found this one, I was VERY interested. However, the $149.99 price put me off rushing out to get this. So, when I got a mail the other day telling me they were offering 30% off all their libraries till July 31st, and with the current exchange rate between the £ and $, it was an opportunity too good to miss. In total, it cost me a shade over £50 )
Not bad for 872 Programs !
These are really cool too. Ok, so there are some average staples in here, but there are some classic E-MU library sounds all over the place. And E-MU’s tendency to exploit the colourisation that their early samplers gave to sounds gives us some cracking stuff to play around with.
Only one problem however. These are all in Soundfont format. Now, I have nothing against this, and I can easily accomodate them within a number of environments, but I really wanted these in my Fusion, and there is a known bug in the free Fusion Converter that doesn’t translate the velocity setting. So each of these 872 programs plays at full velocity and I now face the prospect of manually tweaking each one ( Apparently, the upcoming update to Fusion Converter addresses this issue. I hope it arrives soon.
Anyway, here are some links for you if you want to check them out, and don’t forget, the 30% off offer finishes at the end of July.
Emax Collectors Edition Bundle (the 6 volumes that make up the bundle are also available seperately @ $34.95 each)
There are also audio demo’s all over the site, so check them out…
