Jiggery Pokery & Forgotten Keys
Sounds like the name of some forgotten Prog Rock band, doesn’t it!
However, these are the names of two sample library developers that have come to my attention through my contact with Hollow Sun.
Jiggery Pokery is Matt Black, a guy with at least a couple of decades experience in the industry and who has most recently been converting some of the Hollow Sun libraries to the Reason ReFill format. Matt also sells his own work over at his Jiggery Pokery website. These libraries include a Farfisa, Vox Continental and B3 Tonewheel organs, each available separately or as one combined ReFill. There are also some lovely freebies to be had to whet your appetite, including demo versions of the above organs, plus the Laser Harp patch from an Elka Synthex, A Moog Taurus Bass and an Eminent 310U V2 as well as some FX Combinators and a wealth of Combinator skins.
Next up is Forgotten Keys, who, as their name suggests, specialise in “Quality downloadable low cost sound samples of old, interesting or hard-to-find electronic musical instruments.”
Here you will find .wav & Kontakt based sample libraries of an Elka Rhapsody 490, a Univox SR-95 / Keio Mini Pops MP-7 Drum Machine, Roland TR-77, Maestro Rhythm King MRK-1 Drum Machine and a couple of Yamaha FE-70 Electone Organ sets. Each of these packs are literally only a few quid each and well made too. They also have some freebies, including a small version of the MRK-1 and some impulse response samples of a Watkins Copicat for use in a convolution reverb such as SIR1 or Freeverb.
So, being a big fan of the little developers, I thoroughly recommend you go visit these guys, sample their wares (no pun intended) and support them as much as you can 
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…
Hollow Sun EPII for Kontakt
Hollow Sun EPII FX section
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.
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
Little Boots – Live
The delectable Victoria Hesketh, aka Little Boots, performing “Remedy” on Later… with Jools Holland.
Note the Yamaha Tenori-On, MicroKorg XL, DSI Prophet 08 and Moog Little Phatty
The Brett Domino Trio
A friend sent me this video on Facebook. Not a lot else to say other than if you are a fan of the Stylophone, Yamaha SHS-10 and other cheesy mini keyed Yammy units, you’ll love this.
May I present, live from Leeds (and London), The Brett Domino Trio…
http://uk.youtube.com/user/brettdomino
http://www.myspace.com/brettdomino
Awesomes !! LOL ;o)
Is this the scariest synth video ever !!??!!??
A Yamaha GX-1 being delivered through the window…[via cnxww893]
I, for one, would be crapping my pants !!!
Top stuff !
Yamaha CS1x Demo – Part 4
And finally, the last part of my run through of some of my favourite sounds from the Yamaha CS1x…
Not sure what to do next. Maybe the Korg Prophecy. Let me know if you have any preferences.
Yamaha CS1x Demo – Part 3
As promised, Part 3 of my basic demo of my Yamaha CS1x…
One more to follow to wrap the CS1x up.
