The Bitley™ Showcase
Patrick Fridh showing off his immense programming and playing skills….
All of these sounds are available from the Bitley™ website 
New Material, Price Drops & Updates from Hollow Sun
Ok, as ever, Steve Howell has been busy as hell and he has some new goodies for you!
First of all, there has been some tweaking to the site itself, with the product pages getting a more structured layout. A single “BUY” button uncovers all the formats and their pricing which leads me on to the next update which is a revised price structure with most material dropping in price. It’s now an even better time to stock up on Hollow Sun libraries!
Here’s what Steve has to say…
Hollow Sun Nebulae
Hollow Sun Towers has had a bit of a facelift on each of the products’ pages. THIS one is a good example but they’re all pretty much the same.
More significantly, perhaps, is a price re-structuring for many of the titles with as much as a third off. They are…
- All Novachord formats (Kontakt, EXS24 and Reason Refill) are now $80. This represents a $40 saving on the award winning Hollow Sun Kontakt Novachord.
- All the $60 products are now $40 (‘Nebulae’ pad library, NewTron, CP70, Oberheim M1000, PPG, FS1R, M/01) representing a third off those titles.
- The Hollow Sun ‘Prog Pack’ is also available in Kontakt and EXS24 formats. At $100 for a bundle comprising the CP70 (and Wurli EP200, Hohner Pianet and RMI Electrapiano), NewTron, Taurus and string synths (with some steaming Hammonds thrown in for good measure), there’s a saving of $70 to be had there.
There’s also a fabulously authentic Vox Continental in the works here in Kontakt format which provides full control over drawbar settings as well as amp and cab simulation and Leslie – even a ‘Damage’ control to re-create a beaten up Conti! This will be released any day soon for a mere $20 so watch this space.
These changes mean that it’s never been more affordable – or easier – to own some of the greatest, most desirable, quirkiest and rarest electronic instruments ever made with all the samples lovingly hand-crafted to provide you with the closest experience of having ‘the real thing’ in front of you to use and abuse as you think fit.
Cheers,
Steve
Hollow Sun VP330
Hollow Sun Crumar Performer
In terms of new material, we have the Crumar Performer package, updates to the Kontakt version of Nebulae as well as a new Reason ReFill of that library (see my demo track, written with Micky Dodds) and a Roland VP330 package in Kontakt format.
As usual, the Kontakt libraries benefit from Steve’s clever use of scripting and using a uniform control method throughout all his Kontakt libraries. The Reason ReFills have been created in conjunction with Jiggery Pokery and are some of the best sounding and best value ReFills on the market.
Now, go fill yer boots!
Gear for sale! – ALL ITEMS NOW SOLD
Well, this is the final selection of goodies up for sale by me. I’ve already sold my CS1x and RM1x. That was tough as I really did like those bits of gear, but they were incredibly underused by me and needed to by liquidated to generate funds for the Alesis DM-10 Pro kit I want to buy.
So, to top up the funds and get me to the line, there are three further bits of gear to sell.
They are a Yamaha SU-10 sampler, Roland PMA-5 Arranger/Sequencer and a Yamaha DX27 FM synth.
Yamaha SU-10
Roland PMA-5
Yamaha DX27
They are currently up on eBay so take a look and make a bid! All manuals/power supplies included. All mint condition and never gigged. Only received limited use in my smoke & pet free studio.
Although the eBay widgets are displaying the prices in $USD they are all for sale in £GBP and all items are in the UK. I will consider shipping outside of the UK. Bidders must contact me prior to the end of the auction for a quote. Bidders with zero feedback will need to email me with cast iron assurances of their authenticity.
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.
New Order/Peter Hook – The Happy One (aka Spot the synths!)
Just lately I have been re-immersing myself in the whole world that is Joy Division/New Order/Factory Records/etc.. in fact, anything from that golden age of musical renaissance that was the New Wave revolution of circa 1979. This has involved re-purchasing Joy Division back catalogue, books, documentaries and films, as well as scouring the interwebs for anything remotely JD/NO related. I’ve even bought myself a ticket to go see Peter Hook give a talk on his life & times as bassist with the aforementioned bands as well as being part owner of the legendary yet doomed Hacienda night club in Manchester.
Anyway, whilst pootling about the web tonight, I came across the following video that, albeit in poor quality, shows us the legend that is Tony Wilson (co-founder of Factory) presenting a segment on a show (The Other Side Of Midnight) that has Peter Hook playing a track called “The Happy One” live, along with a bunch of synth geekery behind him. See if you can spot anything that I haven’t already seen.
I can make out an E-MU Emulator EII, a Roland D-50, Apple Macintosh SE/30, Yamaha TX-816 & Akai S900
Coldplay Studio clearout !!
Risking yet another deluge of idiots asking me if *I* still have these itmes for sale, I noticed that Coldplay are having a bit of a spring clean. Items include…
Emu SP1200
Roland SH-101
Pearl Syncussion SY1
Korg PolySix
Roland Jupiter6
LinnDrum LM-2
Oberheim Stretch DX
Korg MonoPoly
And just to remind anyone thinking of emailing me asking about these items and whether I still have them for sale or if I can ship to some Aussie backwater hick town, population 5, where the father is also the mother’s brother, I WILL hunt you down and rape you !! ;o)
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.
Never judge a book by it’s cover…
I’ve always had a thing for the Roland Jupiter 8. I think it’s because it looked so big and complex, with all those lovely multi coloured buttons. Maybe it was also because it was on the cover of Howard Jones’ New Song single back in 84..
..but when I heard it, it sounded so big and lush, it soon became an “I want” item that I have still yet to acquire. So, imagine my glee when Arturia announced the Jupiter-8v soft synth. Firstly, I was surprised that Roland allowed them to do it, having always been very restrictive in what people do in terms of recreating their gear in the virtual world.
So when the demo came out, I jumped on it straight away, especially as it looked so feckin’ nice !!
Oh dear.
Oh dear oh dear.
Not what I was expecting.
Arturia have often come in for grief about how their emulations actually sound nothing like the synths they are trying to emulate. I kind of agreed with that on the CS-80v, disagreed on the Minimoog. I guess that unless you have an original sat beside you to A/B test, then it’s all subjective anyway.
But the Jupiter-8v disappointed me. Not only because of the sound, but because it’s a god awful CPU hog, and the best latency I could achieve was about 10ms which is more than double what I normally get on every other soft synth I have. My PC is no slouch either (AMD 64/1GB RAM). It was also impossible to assign an external keyboard controller !
If Arturia are hoping to generate sales with the demo, they need to sort it out. If the full product replicates the shortcomings of the demo, they’ve got problems.
Try it for yourself HERE
EDIT: It appears these issues have now been fixed in version 1.02 which came out on Thursday. I’ve tried it and most problems seem to be rectified, but it still uses an inordinate amount of CPU 
(
At last, a proper Roland soft synth
Via MatrixSynth
Arturia announces Jupiter 8V, the software recreation of Roland’s famous Jupiter 8 which was in production from 1981 to 1984. The Jupiter 8 was a synth that not only inspired a generation of musicians ranging from Prince to Howard Jones, from Depeche Mode to Moby, it was also a unique machine that offered a sharp and crystalline sound while being uniquely phat.
The Jupiter-8V is the latest born in the Arturia family of analog synthesizer recreations. Offering the unique sound palette of the Roland Jupiter 8 with a bass that can bring down the house.
Based on the latest version of TAE®, the Jupiter 8 V also brings to you an advanced step sequencer, a new line of dynamic effects and a module combining LFO’s called Galaxy. All in one, the Jupiter 8 V comes with a perfect blend of classicism and modernity.
MAIN FEATURES:
* More than 400 high quality and innovative sounding presets
* Up to 32 voices of polyphony, and a Unison mode
* A unique audio structure featuring 2 oscillators per voice (16 oscillators in total), 2 LFO’s, 2 filters and 2 envelopes.
* Keyboard split and layer
* A set of Analog Sounding Effects: Dual Delay, Phaser, Flanger, all three being largely modulable by any audio source in the synth.
* 2 digital effects, X and Y.
* Additional Live-oriented Step-sequencer, additional Galaxy module for advanced modulations
* Set to Control with your external MIDI keyboard in just a few clicks.
* Full compatibility with major formats and hosts on Mac OS X and Windows XP (VST, AU, RTAS)
Curse their dongle protection. I’d buy this otherwise. But I hate dongles.
Most expensive Juno 60 ever !!!
Found This auction via the VSE Forums and spat my tea out !!!
£5000 Buy It Now on a Roland Juno 60 !!!!
He’s had 6 “offers” but I’m bamboozled by his stupidly high BIN price. I can only imagine that he’s either a) not the brightest star in the sky when it comes to synths or b) set it high on purpose to encourage the best offer. Surely he should have put a more sensible price up so as not to come across as a fruit loop !! If he felt it was worth £500 (for arguments sake) then stick a Buy It Now price of £600 on it. At least people would know what he’s expecting to be offered.
Strange person !
