CJ (Air's new album '…): Nice flow & still timeless romantic indeed Debugger (World of Warcraft…): Not a ‘happy ending’ for Sky in Beyond the Game, … Saul (iPhone sequencers…): I love you !!
Thanks a kaossilator and an I phone…
22 November 09 - 18:37How auto-tune has become one of the hottest brands in the US
Everybody knows the sound of auto-tune by now. But where does it come from? Popular news blog Rocket Boom has made a funny overview of the history of auto-tune:
In the US auto-tune has become a nation wide hype. Watch the very funny gimmick in the huge popular The Ellen DeGeneres Show (Why don't they broadcast this in the Netherlands?):
Try it yourself? Check out the demo of Auto-Tune from Antares Or, do it the iPhone way.
And of course, when a hype starts, it began on YouTube:
14 November 09 - 19:13Inspiring remix of eighties television series Cosmos featuring astronomer Carl Sagan
It looks like I am in my space oriented period now. Last week I watched on a movie channel 2001: A Space Odyssey by Stanley Kubrick. I hadn't seen the movie for more than ten years. The stylistic capabilities of Kubrick are still striking. They make me very conscious of the infinity of space. A couple of days later i found by accident the remix of Carl Sagan's Cosmos, a popular scientific television series from the eighties presented by world famous astronomer Carl Sagan. Amongst others he was trainer and advisor of the Apollo 11 crew who landed in 1969 on the moon.
Think beyond the common sense
Again I was struck by the great stylistic approach of the television series from the eighties. It forces to think beyond the safe common sense. It's strange that in our times there is less attention for the spiritual beauty of our universe. It's merely about religions and their clashes than about our scientific chances in the universe. I personally get much more relief from the predictive words of Carl Sagan:
12 Oktober 09 - 09:00Air's new album 'Love 2' out now: Less fascinating than expected. But Air stays Air.
I am a huge fan of Air. I looked forward to the release of the French band's fifth studio album Love 2. This weekend I listened to the new album a couple of times. I must conclude it doesn't stand out. The album is less serene and sophisticated than it's predecessors. It's not that the duo tries a different approach. For 12 years they make the same music and I am very thankful for that. But Love 2 sounds less inspired. For the first time the light guitar, retro synths and organs sound a bit cliché to me. The arrangements here and there predictable. Still, Air stays Air. Even when they are less inspired, they make timeless romantic electronic music. Like 'Heaven's Light' and 'Love':
Development is a blessing. I started dj'ing around 1995. I bought two Technics SL-1200 MkII's and had a lot of fun for years. In the early 2000's with the introduction of the Pioneer CDJ-1000 digital dj'ing was gaining popularity. Nevertheless, until the introduction of Traktor DJ 3 I was not convinced of the digital possibilities.
Oddity
The last years however, I know that spinning records in the dj world will be an oddity very soon. This month the CDJ-2000 is introduced by Pioneer as the successor of the legendary CDJ-1000. For everybody who is still in doubt if digital dj'ing can make up for the original turntables. This is your answer:
And of course, there are always people who stick to the old skool:
Lately the documentary Beyond the Game was broadcasted on Dutch television. The movie shows two professional Warcraft III-gamers in the running towards the world championship, were they compete in a final battle. The documentary shows brilliantly the beauty and at the same time the pitfalls of gaming. Definitely a must-see.
Counter-Strike
It reminds me of an early documentary on Counter-Strike (still my favorite game) from 2002. After some searching I found the movie with the title 'First Person Shooter' on Google Videos. The quality is not very good, but this one is together with Beyond The Game a classic. Especially the interview with the maker of Counter-Strike is quite remarkable. And of course, watch the Warcraft edition of Southpark. Probably their best episode ever.
Beyond the Game trailer Watch the whole documentary here
04 September 09 - 09:00Apple Media Event on 09-09-09
Coming wednesday Apple will host the usual keynote for the holiday season. 'It's only rock and roll, but we like it' is the slogan. The last month there were a lot of rumors about Apple introducing a tablet computer, the size of approximately 4 iPhones. With the title for the keynote this will most probably not be the case. Still there is enough to speculate about: The appaerance of Steve (Jobs) himself.
Recovery
Jobs suffers from an end stage liver disease and underwent a liver transplant. Different sources stated Jobs has already returned to work after months of recovery. To celebrate the recovery of Jobs and his possible public come back, let's look back at his first public appearance at Apple in 1997 after been sent away in 1985.
Defining moments
At the Boston Macworld Expo 1997 Jobs explains his plans for the future of Apple, which is at that moment almost bankrupted. Certainly one of the defining moments in the history of the computer industry:
Ok, one more, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates together in 2007:
On Monday, May 18 Wolfram|Alpha will be officially released. The new search engine generates direct information instead of links to webpages. Wolfram|Alpha generates systematic data, like the outcome of calculations and objective knowledge on a great many domains. In their own words:
Wolfram|Alpha's long-term goal is to make all systematic knowledge immediately computable and accessible to everyone. We aim to collect and curate all objective data; implement every known model, method, and algorithm; and make it possible to compute whatever can be computed about anything.
The inventor of this ground-breaking 'knowledge engine' is the scientist Stephen Wolfram, founder of Wolfram Research and best known for the popular mathematical application Mathematica. You could say that he made his successful application Mathematica available by the internet.
But Wolfram|Alpha is more. Ultimately it is supposed to gather all systematic knowledge from essentially any domain that is based on systematic knowledge. On Friday, May 15 the first step of this ultimate goal has been taken. The website went live with the usual hick ups. After two days of testing Wolfram|Alpha will be official released tomorrow, Monday, May 18.
It looks like Wolfram|Alpha stands between Google and Wikipedia on the web. Wolfram|Alpha can do things which Google and Wikipedia can't and vice versa. All three internet enterprises claim to be world leading knowledge bases. Hereby is the ambition of Wolfram|Alpha probably the biggest of all:
We want to provide a single source that can be relied on by everyone for definitive answers to factual queries
Finally, we will find the ultimate truth! Or maybe not?
07 April 09 - 09:00Wacom introduces nextgen dj console
I follow the ongoing development of dj devices with great interest. Since the last years the hegemony of the Technics SL 1200 mk2 turntable series is over. The market is open for new products which could be the next standard in dance music.
Now Wacom, manufactureer of input devices like tablet systems, is joining the market of dj devices. Their new product is the Wacom Nextbeat dj console.
Last weekend at the Musikmesse at Frankfurt, Europe's leading trade fair for musical instruments, the dj player has been shown to the public. The design, workflow and interface are quite innovative. I haven't seen it in real life yet, but on the videos it has already a great attraction to me. Check out the presentation on the Musikmesse. The qualitiy of the movie is quite bad, but it's the only demonstration I could find:
I also found a movie with Peter Munch mixing two songs on the player:
The NAMM Show is the largest music products trade show in the world. It is held every January in Anaheim, California, USA. Here all the new music products for 2009 are showed to the public. This year two interesting developments draw my attention. First, it's nice to see that AKAI's 20-year-old concept of the MPC rhythm machine is still inspiring today's developers. And second, the innovations in digital dj'ing now really take off.
Native Instruments Maschine: A hybrid harware/software groove machine
MOTU BPM, an MPC style virtual instrument
The Akai APC40 (Ableton Performance Controller), a dedicated controller for Ableton Live
The new digital DJ SC System from Stanton
The NS7 Controller - Numark's dedicated controller for Serato ITCH
Let's do some trendwatching for 2009. What kind of electronic music will rock the dance floors in Amsterdam? It could be chipmusic. For now it's still a little subgenre in electronic music but it's popularity is growing, especially in New York.
Chip musicians use exclusively their archaic game and computer hardware to produce their songs. Popular devices are the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), Commodore 64, Atari ST and the Nintendo Game Boy. The old computer technique (8 bit) gives the music it's characteristic lo fi sound.
The annual Blip Festival in New York is the biggest gathering for the international chipmusic community. It took place last december and showed that chipmusic is at least a very funny gimmick. Watch how 8-bit hero Bubblyfish rocks the place. Don't miss the 8-bit version of Sweet Dreams at 05:15. Crowd surfing computer nerds all over the place:
11 10 09 09:00Korg brings sampling back to hardware with the MicroSampler
It looks like it's fun to work with, but it's usage has much limitations compared to software samplers. Still, Korg's new MicroSampler looks great and bring's back the joy of sampling with hardware.
Reverse karaoke. A new hype? Just sing first the song acapella and listen afterwards to the result with the music. The CEO of Khu.sh sure knows how to sell her gear ;) Check out LaDiDa iphone app.
Make your own modular synth on your iPhone with Jasuto. Warning: The app is just as amazing as complex. You need to read the documentation on the developer's website.
Good 
It looks like it's fun to work with, but it's usage has much limitations compared to software samplers. Still, Korg's new 
Put a musical piece in the new 
Overview of some interesting groove apps for the iPhone: 
Reverse karaoke. A new hype? Just sing first the song acapella and listen afterwards to the result with the music. The CEO of 
Sound cheesy and auto tune yourself everywhere on your iPhone with the 
Make your own modular synth on your iPhone with 
Matrix step sequencers for the iPhone: 
Last 