Jack Hertz's blog

In this first Geo Tutorial, I show how you can quickly and easily sample something in SampleWiz and move it to Geo Synthesizer! Get it now from the iTunes App store at http://itunes.apple.com/us/a...

For many weeks I’ve been trying to come up with a cabinet design for the vacuüm tube Theremin I built a while ago. I decided that the electronics were far too marvelous to hide away in the classic RCA “drinks cabinet” and it had to have *lots* of elliptical curves. Check out the full article and more images at http://www.stephenhobley.com...

Everyone is going bonkers over the the Animoog synth itself. Not much focus on the incredible job Moog did on the polyphonic keyboard and XY controller. Its easy to over look, but watch and listen for independent control of volume and pitch for each note. So you can have a fast attack touch at the top of the bar, or start at no/low volume and fade in for slow attack. Addtionally, you can bend the pitch note to note for smooth runs.

Chilled and deep sounding for this first release by :. X . M . M .: from Norway. Lay back and close your eyes for the cosmic journey through space. Strange sounding and moving of the melodies creates a slow and wide atmosphere to relax in... after listening to this LP try to return to Earth...if you can... Get it now at http://www.nostressnetlabel....

Brian Eno on stage during his “Illustrated Talk” at Moogfest in Asheville, North Carolina - October 29, 2011. Check out the images over at http://www.tumblr.com/tagged...

We are extremely pleased to announce that Kate will be releasing a brand new album: "50 Words For Snow" on 21 November 2011. The album will be the second release from Kate's own label Fish People and comprises all new material that was recorded during the same period that Kate worked on her album “Director’s Cut”.

Here's a new video Livid Instruments have made of their soon to be released modular midi controller system. It's based on the eurorack standard and will feature dozens of modules that can be arranged to create totally unique layouts. Shown in the video is a preview of their 4 modular skiff enclosure.

Thanks to Robot Speak for hosting Randy Jones and his Soundplane controller. He was really great sharing the intimate details on his controller and the technology behind it. Get a look at the controller, calibration software and other details presented by Randy himself.

Hypercyclic 1.1 is a new version of the original LFO-driven MIDI arpeggiator, gate effect and step sequencer for mangling sustained MIDI input chords, the output of which can then drive other MIDI instruments.

A while ago Rob Papen visited my Apollo studio. Together with his crew he was filming some footage for his upcoming book and DVD about sound design on synthesizers. While they were filming in my studio I filmed them with my own camera. So this short movie is sort of a 'making of'. More info about the DVD will follow on http://www.robpapen.com

Interesting vdeo of a very simple analogue neuron circuit modded for synth use. In this clop, the neuron is fed Tri waves from 2 CGS LFOs. The output is used to modulate the cutoff in a vari-BW VCF. Schematic is here - http://www.sdiy.org/pinky/da...

Madrona Labs are finally rolling out their Soundplane controller. They had a little meating in Berkeley, CA where Don Buchla popped in for a cup of coffee, laid hands on the Soundplane and pronounced it a worthy object. There will be a demo at Robotspeak in San Francisco, CA this Saturday at 4 pm if you want to learn more about it. Check out more details about the Soundplane at http://madronalabs.com/

Here is an excellent documentary on those who produce Noise, a small, unnoticed style of Electronic music.

This Saturday July 23rd, London-based electronic music composer MARK JENKINS stars at the VANDERBILT MUSEUM PLANETARIUM, NEW YORK. Mark has been a leading figure in the UK's electronic music scene for over 20 years, and his release last year of the world's first all-Apple iPad CD "The iPad Album" drew international attention. This weekend's concert at the palatial museum and planetarium setting on Long Island, NY sees his return to the USA, with other concerts in the UK and Europe to follow shortly.

New in the Maker Shed, the Redpark Breakout Pack for Arduino and iOS is the first general-purpose serial cable that Apple has approved for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. On one end, it’s got a dock connector to plug into your iOS device. On the other, it has an RS232 port that you can easily connect to Arduino or any other gadget that speaks a serial protocol.

Whereas Factor X was even bootlegged in recent years - always a mark of long lasting quality - Mystery Hearsay wasn't. No lesser quality however from this hometaper - as the lingo of the day was - also known as Mike Honeycutt. He went on to produce other things later on, such as Mystery X, Mystery Iguana, and part of Wilt, but Mystery Hearsay seemed to have gathered dust. This CD, in fact a re-issue of a tape release called 'Flesh Tomb' plus bonus material from a net release from 2007 (which is which is not clear from the cover). Without wanting to say much about the quality of the music, the quality of the recording is of an entirely nature than the Factor X one, i.e. something that seems at least more professional. One of those typical mid-80s things was the arrival of what was called 'ambient industrial': music that was too loud to fully downright ambient, but also not loud enough to be classified as industrial. Hence ambient industrial and that's exactly the field of Mystery Hearsay's music. Lots of guitar/synth manipulations, along with percussive, metallic sounds and tons of sound effects to manipulate them. Like with a lot of these 80s things its not the composition that counts but the mood created, so it sometimes gets off the rails and takes a bit too much time to be fully interesting. But this is another great reminder of the young FdW at home listening to tapes, and one who fully forgot that Mystery Hearsay was actually a great band. Long forgotten, but thankfully resurrected.

Here's a real blast from the past thanks to Tom Hirschberg who posted about this far out custom designed Moog Modular 3C Synthesizer named AARCHY. Tom describes the system that was built for an electro-rock music project back in the early 80s. Enshrined in a strange case covered in mirrors. It has arching panels, a drum synth, sequencer, dual keyboards and more.

Thanks to a post on Echoes Blog, we have been informed of something quite interesting that I am not sure what to think about as I write this. In an article by the LA Times titled "A new age for New Age music", they are talking about a revival of the new age music genre / style. Arguably the best and worst thing to happen to electronic music genre. This isn't the case of mistaken association by the outsider journalist. The story is about new blood purposely paying homage to the likes of mantle piece new age artists like Enya, Paul Winter and Zamfir. Is this a good thing or bad thing? Share your thoughts on this interesting subject below.

Buffalo Drum Loops and Hits sample library from Bolder Sounds for Native Instruments Kontakt 3+, Spectrasonics Stylus RMX and REX format. Check out these detailed demonstrations of the powerful Hand Drum Loop Engine created for NI Kontakt.

YouTuber rezfilter has posted a rockin' video demo of the Analogue Solutions Telemetry (Mini Vostok) Analogue Synthesizer. Information on the clip from the description follows: Here's a look at the Analogue Solutions Telemetry (mini vostok) synthesizer. This video features various sound types from the Telemetry synthesizer, each within a musical context (beats added). All synthesizer sounds come from the Telemetry and all of the sounds were tweaked live in the video, and recorded direct.