Indiginus Acoustic Guitar Collection updated for 2010
I’ve long been a fan of the Indiginus sample libraries and their amazing attention to detail and authenticity. The guitar is a very difficult instrument to recreate in an electronic environment in an authentic fashion, but Tracy Collins, the man behind Indiginus has used very clever sampling techniques, namely detailed velocity switching and multisamples, to achieve what is in my opinion, the best acoustic guitar sample library in existence. And the price of this amazing library? A mere $40 in Akai AKP (S5/6000, Z-Series, MPC4/5000) & Kontakt 3/4 format!! That, my friends, is a deal, it’s a steal, it’s sale of the fuckin’ century!!!
Last month, Tracy released an updated version of AGC with improvements to the StrumMakerII scripts in Kontakt. Having played with this now for a bit, it’s a pure joy to use. But don’t take my word for it, use the player below to watch some videos demonstrating the beauty of this sample library.
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It’s also worth mentioning here that there is a new instrument in the Indiginus portfolio now too. The Appalachian Mountain Dulcimer is, in Tracy’s words:
…. a four stringed instrument usually played on the lap, by strumming or picking with the right hand and fretting with the left. It is normally diatonic, with the frets creating a major (or itʼs relative minor) scale. The tuning is most often D-A-D, with the two highest strings close together and in unison. When the instrument is strummed, the high strings can be used to play melody, while the low strings drone. Or, chords can be formed and strummed guitar style.
As far as anyone can tell, this type of dulcimer originated with the settlers of the Appalachian Mountains in the eastern United States as far back as the 18th century. Itʼs cheerful sound and characteristic heart-shaped sound holes must have been a comfort in what was, for the most part, a hard life. The instrument has enjoyed a revival in recent decades, and can have a Celtic, Middle Eastern, or Oriental sound. Our sampled Mountain Dulcimer is presented chromatically, and you will see the “in between” notes on the fretboard of the Strummer instruments.
Amazing stuff and only $30!! Available in Akai AKP (S5/6000, Z-Series, MPC4/5000) & Kontakt 3/4 format.
And while we’re at it, don’t forget the Indiginus Solid State Symphony library, another steal at $40, which is nothing short of stunning…
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??
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/
More new stuff from Akai !
There is the usual slew of stuff on the net about new arrivals at Winter NAMM 2009. Best place to see these is over at Matrixsynth, so I will just pick out a few.
Here are three new things from Akai.
The first one made me go “WOAH”….
APC40 – Ableton Live Controller
Ableton Live performance, perfected.
The APC40 is the world’s finest Ableton Live control surface. Ableton and Akai Professional worked in a joint partnership to make the APC40 the perfect Ableton Live control surface. Whether you are an electronic-music performance artist and Live is your canvass, a DJ using Live to mix tracks, or a traditional musician using Live on stage or in the studio, the APC40 is designed for intuitive, powerful control.
DIRECT DESIGN
Because Akai Professional and Ableton designed the APC40 for Live, you don’t need to map its controls to talk to the software. Just connect your laptop to the APC40 with its USB cable and you’re ready to make magic. The APC40 is class compliant, so you don’t even need to install drivers. And if you’re an advanced Live user, the APC40 gives you the ability to remap every one of its controls to suit your own style.
VIRTUAL VIEW
The APC40 talks directly to Live and Live talks directly to the APC40. This exclusive bidirectional communication makes the APC40 an advanced controller in that it can receive feedback from the software and display it on its clip matrix of 40 triggers and on LED rings surrounding each knob. The clip matrix gives you an instant view of clip status: what’s loaded, what’s playing, and what’s being recorded. Each state displays on the matrix in a different color so you can get a quick picture of clip state. You can shift your clip focus and get an overview of the clips you have loaded for your set. The APC40 has 16 knobs, each surrounded by a ring of LEDs. These LED rings make seeing your settings a breeze on dark stages, indicating the currently selected parameters’ values. This advanced visual feedback makes performing with the APC40 focused more on the music and less on squinting at the computer screen. In fact, you might even forget that the computer is there!
PREMIUM CONTROLS
Ableton selected Akai Professional as a partner because of its leadership position in great-feeling controllers that are rock solid, rugged, and precise. From the legendary MPC series that changed the way music is made to the industry-standard MPD and MPK controllers, Akai Professional is revered by musicians, DJs, and producers everywhere for creating the feel that powers their creativity. The APC40 is built with a rugged, metal chassis and slip-proof rubber detailing. Knobs and faders are solid and precise for pinpoint performance. It even features a high quality, replaceable crossfader.
CREATIVE CONTROL
The APC40 comes with a special edition of Ableton Live Lite so you can use it out of the box even if you’re new to Live. There’s also a free patch that upgrades full versions of Live so if you’re already a Live user, you can take full advantage of the APC40.
The APC40 has two banks of eight knobs. The first set controls Global parameters so you’ll always have instant access to your main sends, pans, and other essentials. The second bank of eight knobs is dynamically reassigned to the Track you select. You can control eight track parameters at a time, and as you switch channels, the Track knobs follow your focus. You also get special clip-status views and feedback that only the APC40′s matrix can display. The matrix is not limited to only 40 clips: you can scroll and shift, enabling access to an unlimited number of cells.
The APC40 has a wide range of controllers. The eight Global knobs can access four banks of controls; the eight Track knobs control nine different track parameters each. This gives you a massive total of 72 controllers that are dynamically reassigned. Channel faders, bus faders, and a crossfader give you smooth control of key values. You have even more control power with special controls including Tap Tempo, Tempo Nudge, record enables, solo/cues and two assignable footswitch inputs.
Designed in partnership with Ableton, the APC40 is the most advanced Live controller for the most advanced performers.
And the second one I knew about but had to keep schtuum ;o)
Meet the new OS. Not the same as the old OS.
The MPC5000 is the most talked-about MPC in the music industry today. It’s the latest evolution of the unquestioned standard in sample-based music production. The MPC5000 builds on the MPC foundation, combining powerful sequencing, sampling and processing with the feel of the exclusive MPC pads and Q-Link assignable controls. It adds never-before-seen MPC advancements such as a virtual-analog synthesizer, a streaming hard disc recorder, incomparably high-resolution sequencing, and over 100 other new capabilities.
MPC5000 OS 2.0 is a free, new operating system upgrade that includes more than 25 additional improvements, many of which are developed to accommodate the specific requests of the people who use the MPC5000 every day. MPC5000 OS 2.0 will be available Spring 2009 as a download at akaipro.com/MPC5000.Home on the range.
The most requested, exciting, and powerful new feature we’ve added to OS 2.0 is the ability to create and load Keygroup Programs. And with it, in MPC fashion, comes a massive array of cool Keygroup helper tools.
Now with the MPC5000, just like with our legendary S-series samplers and legacy MPCs, you can create chromatic key-mapped sample programs that take a sample and spread it across a range of notes of your choosing, automatically adjusting the pitch of the sample chromatically. You can then play these notes with the pads or an external MIDI keyboard or controller.
What does this really mean for you and your production? For starters, no more time-consuming program creation or relying on an external keyboard for your sounds. SHIFT+PAD will select a Keygroup, you can set range via MIDI if on range parameter, plus you can select a Keygroup via MIDI to select the next Keygroup with the note played. Another new feature is the ability to assign the root note of a sample assigned to each individual layer on a single pad. You can also pan each layer individually in Keygroup and drum programs. Imagine the sonic possibilities!
More good news for all old school producers – you can now import S1000, S3000, S5000/S6000, Z4/Z8, and MPC4000 format sample libraries, including Keygroups, from Akai Pro and third parties. Now you can migrate fully to the MPC5000 platform.
Hustle and flow.
Music production is all about creativity, workflow, the tools at your disposal and making it all come together as seamlessly as possible. So designing a music production device is rooted in finding the best possible collaboration of its elements. OS 2.0 makes production with the MPC5000 friendlier with such time-saving improvements as the new MultiEdit function which enables you to edit and apply parameters such as tuning, filters, pitch, pan—every parameter of the filter screen—to a group of pads, all at once. This streamlines the production process by empowering you to perform group editing.
Get around.
We just upped GRID EDIT’s abilities. You can now see and edit controller automation and event data in the new Controller Grid Edit Window. We also gave the sample editor some love as well. We’ve added a ZOOM function to each individual slice in Chopshop mode for even finer editing of your samples and beats. This takes the guesswork out of cutting a beat and ensures you get what you want every time.
We’ve added a slew of navigation shortcuts you’ll appreciate. For instance, you can now assign the sample you are working on in TRIM mode to a pad by holding SHIFT and striking the pad of choice.
We’ve improved the Effects, Synth and Mixer pages by adding a new Take Over Mode to the knobs and sliders. This is a great help when going between many different pages where you are using the Q-Links to change parameter values. Parameter values will not jump to the position of the knob or fader until the original values zero crossing is passed. This allows for seamless mix and edit moves in realtime.
It pays to play. Improving upon the all ready impressive mixing capabilities of the MPC5000, you can now toggle between the hard disk Audio Track Mixer and the Sequencer Track Mixer with one button without having to interrupt playback of the song. This speeds up track creation in a big way. You can now quantize Track and Pad Mutes in real time to the internal clock or that of an external device. This means that if you use an MPC5000 to trigger clips and tracks live, your mute punches will be perfectly in time.
Marrying performance and production, the MPC5000 now supports full automation of the mixer and effects.If you have an MPC5000, you know it comes loaded right out of the box. Now that even more capability is coming to should check out the new OS for your MPC5000. Or upgrade to the flagship MPC and get all of these new features along with it.
MPC5000 OS 2.0 will be a free download in Spring 2009 from the Documents and Downloads tab on the MPC5000 page
And finally, there’s the EWI USB, which had already been announced…
EWI USB is an electronic wind instrument for musicians looking for an easy-to-play, easy-to-use controller. Akai Professional’s decades of experience in wind and electronic music instruments are rolled into our most user friendly — and most affordable — EWI ever.
PREMIUM PEDIGREE
Akai Professional is the first name in electronic wind instruments. For over 20 years, Akai Professional has studied the art of playing saxophone, clarinet, oboe, bassoon, and other traditional winds, and developed electronic wind instruments that enable wind players to enjoy the same expressive control as in an acoustic instrument. We designed EWI USB to give wind players the expressive musical capabilities previously found only in much more expensive instruments.
PROFESSIONAL PERFORMANCE
EWIs are the only choice for serious wind players looking to make music electronically. While EWI USB is easy and fun to use, it’s also powerful, flexible, and most importantly reliable enough for use on stage and in the studio by professional musicians.
COMPUTER CONTROL
EWI USB is the most flexible EWI because it harnesses your computer to generate its sounds. Its USB interface means that all you need is nearly any Mac or PC and the included EWI USB software, and you’re ready to practice, perform, create, and record with a full collection of wind instrument sounds. Aria Player software was produced specifically for use with EWI USB, providing wind players with an unprecedented level of expressive control.
LARGE SOUND PALETTE
You get over 75 different orchestral, concert band, jazz band, and synthesizer sound sets expertly recorded and programmed by Garritan, renowned for its ultra-realistic instrument sound libraries.
MULTI MODE
EWI USB offers multiple fingering modes including sax, traditional EWI, flute, oboe, and EVI (brass), so whether you’re just starting out as a woodwind student or an old pro wind player, you’ll find EWI USB easy to play. EWI USB is designed for you to spend your time playing music; not learning technology.
SURPRISING AFFORDABILITY
Historically, electronic wind instruments have fallen into two different categories: high-end, professional instruments and toys. EWI USB breaks the price barrier, bringing professional quality, expressive control, and a studio-ready sound library to a price the professional-wind-instrument world has never seen.
Discover the world of expression that only wind instruments can offer with EWI USB.
And just to top things off….
Vintage Beat Machines Sample Pack
Authentic, classic drum machine sounds for your MPC.
Old school drum machines have a certain sonic style that producers worldwide turn to for unmistakable cool. Dropping ‘80s kick and snare sounds into a track will bring a smile to your face and feet to the dance floor. Building a library of these sought-after sounds has always meant committing lots of time and money. But now, Akai Professional has done the work for you with the new Vintage Beat Machines Sample Pack for MPC.
Your days of searching for 8-bit treasures will soon be over. This new sample pack will work with all MPC models and contain a huge collection of analog and digital samples from the early days of drum machines — and the founding days of many of today’s hottest musical styles.
The Vintage Beat Machines Sample Pack for MPC is coming in Spring 2009. Only for the MPC series.
Akai go MPC Update crazy !!
In the space of a week, Akai have updated the OS’s on 4 of their MPC range !! Receiving new versions are the MPC500 (v1.31), MPC1000 (v2.12), MPC2500 (v1.24) and MPC5000 (v1.02).
Good to see them keeping on top of things. Would it have anything to do with this rant by rapper Just Blaze ?? Hmmmm…
Even so, Akai’s reputation for their OS’s has been down in the doldrums for a long while now. They need to claw back the respect and faith of their massive user base if they intend to expand and continue this long serving line of tools.
Having worked with the “new” Akai (since Jack O’Donnell’s Alesis/Numark group) took over, I can tell you that they are committed to getting things right, but don’t want to leap into things and make wild promises. It’s a long road back, but they are definitely moving in the right direction.
Sadly, my suggestion of a new version of the Alesis Fusion merged with an MPC will probably never come to light, but I think everyone would agree that it would be an awesome workstation.
Now, all we need is a minor update to the MPK49 so that Global Settings save after power off and I’ll be a happy man 
)
New toys from NAMM 08
Sorry for the long hiatus. My day job is all consuming now and I get little time to search the net for new tit bits for our consumption, let alone post my witty, inciteful comments for you all to roll around laughing at ;o)
Anyway, January brings with it the NAMM show and so far, here are the toys I’m either chuffed to see or have been involved with in some fashion….
Alesis DM5 Pro with SURGE Cymbals
Other than these, there’s little else to excite me this year. Roland released the Fantom G…
….proving yet again that dead horses can truly be flogged.
