Between Radiohead being held to ransom and vaporwave releases, the MiniDisc isn’t strictly dead. I’ve owned a lot of hardware in my time but one model that always alluded me was a MiniDisc player. My cousin had one in the early 2000s and it was the coolest thing. This was before the days of MP3 players (I got one of those in 2004; a 128MB…
Akai’s iconic sampler has been around for over 30 years with fruitful timeline. Think of a producer, any producer. They’ve used an Akai MPC at some point or at the very least they’ve wished they had one. Much like the Fairlight and Mellotron before them, the Akai MPC has been a hardware staple in music production for four decades and there are no signs of…
The Swedish music man makes some jams using a $20 cat keyboard. We’ve asked producers in the past “if money was no object, what is one piece of gear you would buy?”. For many of these musicians, they’ve created music using very cheap tools. Even some the equipment I use cheap (or cheaper than retail price because they were second-hand). But we’d still love some…
When you wanna go to CHUUUCH but play things casual, Cory Henry is at hand. Here he is at NAMM 2017 on the Hammond XK5. And yes, that is Dr Lonnie Smith in the background.
Go from X to A with the new Roland SP-404A sampler. You know we LOVE the SP-404. Well, Roland went ahead and upgraded it. The SP-404A is a revamped version of the classic sampler “designed for live use”. It’s defining feature is the ability to marry up with Roland’s TR-8, combining both sample and percussive synthesis. It can either work as a standalone unit or…
Tom Holkenborg’s latest episode of Studio Time With Junkie XL looks at the comparison between hardware and software sampling. Film composer Tom Holkenborg knows a thing or two about sampling. Under the moniker Junkie XL, he is best known for the smash hit remix of Elvis’ A Little Less Conversation back in 2002 (remember the Nike Cage adverts). For this episode of his series Studio…
Reddit user uploads two awesome guides on mastering. As much as we love lo-fi beats and the grit of a vinyl record, we fully appreciate the craft of mixing and mastering. Madvillainy, Champion Sound, Knxwledge’s releases for Stones Throw (at the very least) – they’ve all been mixed and mastered. Most beatmakers loathe this task and just don’t bother. If you’re lucky enough to get…
Stuck on finding new music? Maybe Gnoosic can help. Gnod is a self-adapting system that learns about the outer world by asking its visitors what they like and what they don’t like. In this instance of Gnod all is about music. It will ask you what music you like and then think about what you might like too. In order to do this, Gnod asks you…
Finding yourself stuck in a sampling rut is hell. An internet radio might be your way out. I’d like to think if you’re reading this, you already own a record player as that’s the great foundation for sampling. Some people already have a laptop and the urge to rip from vinyl blogs and YouTube is greater and cheaper. But perhaps you’ve got the record player…
Akai release their latest sampler, the MPC Touch. MIDI controllers, drum machines and samplers (most combine the technology of all three) are constantly evolving and now Akai have upped the ante with the MPC Touch. The Japanese company have implemented a 7″ multi-touchscreen to their “music production center”, adding the capability to drag and chop samples and alter waveforms like never before. But they haven’t…
