Category Archives: hints and tips

Using the Roland MX-1 in the studio: recording BFX and MFX into Ableton Live

Posted on April 10, 2018 by

  I own two pieces of Roland Aira gear (system 1 and TB3) and a Roland Boutique JX-03, all three of which I use live in CSMA together with my laptop running Ableton live. I bought the MX-1 to ease … Continue reading →

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Improvising with Bastl Kastle

Posted on January 6, 2018 by

  Bastl instruments are well known for thinking outside the box of conventional synthesis, and the Kastle doesn’t disappoint- its one of the strangest and most intriguing things I’ve come across in a while. Its got to be one of … Continue reading →

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Music Fail- God that sounds shit

Posted on August 6, 2016 by

There was an article posted in the Guardian website recently entitled Audio Fail  that has got a lot of people in a lather; sound artists foamed at the mouth and spat blood on Facebook whilst more traditional composers behaved rather smugly … Continue reading →

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Arturia Beatstep Pro Part 2- CV calibration

Posted on April 11, 2016 by

A common problem with CV voltage control is notes playing in the wrong octave; when I first connected the Arturia microbrute I found the microbrute was playing two octaves higher, no matter what I set the keyboard range to. A … Continue reading →

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Improvising with Korg SQ1

Posted on September 4, 2015 by

Last Saturday I got my hands on a Korg SQ1 step sequencer. This was released with the Korg MS20 Kit and Module. Having been a long time Ms20 user, now using the MS20 mini this was a no-brainer; its built … Continue reading →

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New sounds from forgotten boxes- EMU virtuoso 2000

Posted on January 28, 2015 by

In the dim and distant past, in an era of Sibelus V1-V2 and computers were not very powerful there was a 19 inch rack unit called the Virtuoso 2000, This was essentially a sample based synthesizer with two orchestral sample … Continue reading →

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Recording and mixing analogue synths

Posted on March 25, 2014 by

The recent reissue of the Korg Ms20 with the Arp Odyssey being developed plus the growing eurorack modular market means more people are now having fun with these things once considered deeply unfashionable (I was there in the mid 80s). … Continue reading →

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