Well, here`s something really cool! And Dan forgive me for not having known this before! It`s all poor Djs dream come true. All those torq, Serato and Final Scratch can go to hell, here comes Quad2. It is a digital vinyl system WITHOUT an interface. So all you need is a decent soundcard (ASIO), 2 discplayers with the specially time-coded vinyls and off ya go! As simple as that, and all that at a really decent price. Go check it out here: Schaack Audio Quad2
So I´d already posted about the Gakken DIY-Synth SX-150 that I ordered. They also did a Mini-Theremin-DIY-Kit. I´d be getting that perhaps too. But on my researchs about the Mini-Theremin I dicovered some really funny movies involving the Mini-Theremin and cats. Watch here:
So here is a guy who has a specially ingenious and artistic idea. He made a “song” out of 70200 samples that just lasts for 33 seconds. The german law stipulates that even the smallest and shortest sample can be considered as being the property of the person who registered it. For every sample that is being used in a song the artist must make a declaration. So this guy phones to the GEMA, the german association who handles the artist copyrights and asks for 70200 formulars. As it seems he even wants to fill them out an give them back to the GEMA. What seems like a hoax, is actually an artistic project which wants to show how ridiculous copyright can be and that there have to be changes to old laws, that are no longer compatible with the speed of the internet. Here you can find a video (in german) of the project, alongside with the actual “song”:
So here comes pure japanese madness. Gakken, as it seems is some kind of magazine or similar and had previously already released a theremin kit (got to find that one). Now they released a DIY-synth that looks a bit like a Stylophone made by Bob Moog. It is an anlogue synthesizer. As it seems the thing is already completely sold out. So hoping on my luck I looked it up on eBay and found a bargain and bought it. So in 1 or 2 week i´ll do some really screechy tunes!
A guy even build a sequencer for the SX-150, called the SQ-150, you can find schematics and pictures here: SQ-150 by Home Made Synth (japanese):
More and more things come up in the DIY area of electronic music that tend to make everything easier for the aspirant electronics experimenter (as noted in another post with the littleBits). Now a really interesting project comes from a collective, called the “machinecollective” . They present a prototype of a modular open source control surface. That means that you can (end of september) order different bare-bones control surfaces. I can already see my next circuit bending project with one of those control surfaces. You don´t have to find the casings, solder wires, fasten potis; everything is ready to be connected.
So here I found something really cool on www.engadget.com. Some prefabricated tiny circuits with different purposes like joystick, triggers and so on. They snap together through magnets, that´s also where the current goes through. This all seems pretty neat for some simple DIY-synth construction. I have put myself on their mailinglist to get updates an so on. More info in this video:
A youtube user made a pretty cool video about the thingamakit and his little brothers the thingamagoop. He simply recorded some thingamakit bleeps an blops and plays along with his battery:
So there are more news on the Chimera Synthesis Site (Chimera Synthesis). I still haven´t bought one of their synths, but the decision is nearing. Now they have released another synth, named bc08, which as they describe it is a “subminiature synthesizer” with an integrated simple sequenzer. There´s not much more info on their site, just two photos, where you can see the SMD (surface mount devices) technique that is used to produce their miniature synths, and which does also explain how they do it, to fit a synth into such a restricted space. So more info and videos coming soon.
So having read on several blogs (Trash_Audio) about the Thingamakit, somehow the big brother of the Thingamagoop with some additional features, I have ordered one. As it seems it will take some time before it arrives here at home. But as soon as I got it I´ll inform you about the construction process and if it will work afterwards ^^.