Back in 1989 I had a 4am radio show at the local college station, and besides playing artists like Amin Bhatia, Wendy Carlos and Frank Zappa (and any-bloody-thing-else I wanted at that hour), one of the LPs I ran across in the WMPG archives was “The Electronic Spirit of Erik Satie”. It’s the sort of album you might get if you put a group of stoned chamber musicians in the same room as Herbie Hancock with La Salle climbing the walls a la Monty Python.

Notes Relating to the Title: “The Electronic Spirit of Erik Satie” (Music Mystically Inspired)

Satie was convinced that he was a spirit working under the direct guidance of some medieval cleric whose fanatical piety he had inherited from beyond the grave.

This producer is convinced that he is also a spirit working under the direct guidance of Erik Satie, whose eccentricities and mysticisms have guided him throughout the making of this LP.

Further Proof:
A.) The arranger felt the actual presence of Satie in the room with him while he was scoring. (Erik’s spirit would hover around the room and, at times, reach over his shoulder and guide his pencil along the score page, shouting directions in his ear “B flat not B natural, you dummy!”) His worst moment was when he added bars to Satie’s barless music… (the arranger in this case cannot recall having scored any of the pieces in the LP.)
B.) The presence and guidance of Satie’s spirit was never more felt than in the programming and playing of the Moog synthesizer. All the wave forms, modulation mixes, oscillations and permutations have never been duplicated since, and the Moog player, who was entirely unfamiliar with the instrument at the time, has no recollection of having done the album whatsoever!!!!!!!

Beware of the Blog has got MP3s to download in case you haven’t got your own copy of the out-of-print LP from eBay like I (and BotB’s owner) did.

I recently found this great article about Modular Synth Epics at The Stretta Procedure blog. It talks about the rise and fall of the Modular-driven landmark synthesizer CDs of the late 60′s and early 70s, most notably,The Well-Tempered Synthesizer (1969), Switched-On Bach II (1974), By Request (1975) and Switched-On Brandenburgs (1979), Sonic Seasonings, Clockwork Orange Soundtrack, Beauty in the Beast and others.

Excerpt:
The introduction of patch storage and presets caused a schism. What inevitably happened with pre-built sounds was people stopped programming and simply played the instrument. There is nothing inherently wrong or bad about this, it was a much needed technological step forward. However, the idea of building a sound as needed for a composition decayed to relative insignificance. The sound was chosen first, and the music followed. Analog modulars themselves drifted into obscurity with the introduction of MIDI and digital synthesizers like the DX7. Not only were modulars finicky and time-consuming to use, the sound itself was old-fashioned and out of date. Thus followed a dozen years of inactivity – a modular synth dark ages.

Read the full article…

I’m always on the lookout for good tutorials. A lot of folks get set up with software like Logic Pro or Cakewalk Sonar and twiddle around a bit, and even a moderately talented person can come up with some great sounds. But, to really get to know your instrument well (that’s really what a DAW like Logic Pro is, an instrument), you need to either read the manuals (Logic Pro comes with over a thousand pages worth of manual!) or use video tutorials.

Nothing beats a well done video tutorial in my book. When you can actually watch a person using the software, see where they click, watch the song unfold in front of you, and follow along, that’s where you really learn something.

Sonic Academy has a great series on making music with Logic Pro 8:

Music Production Using Logic Pro 8

The modules, listed below, are very reasonably priced at US$6.55 (£3.99), or you can get the whole set for US$57.42 (£34.99).

Module 1: Creating a Drum Beat—make a dance drum beat using Logic’s Ultra Beat
Module 2: Creating a Bassline—construct a bassline using the ES2 Synthesizer
Module 3: Creating a Synth Lead Line—produce a synth lead line using the ES2 Synthesizer
Module 4: Creating Synth Sweeps—create filtered synth sweeps with the ES2 Synthesizer
Module 5: Time-Stretching & Stabs—how to time-stretch drum loops and & cutting up vocal samples
Module 6: Mixing—mixing track levels and using effects
Module 7: Arranging—arranging techniques used to assemble your loops into a full tune
Module 8: Automation—using Automation to make a more dynamic arrangement
Module 9: The Final Mix—final mixing, fills, effects and rendering

Visit Sonic Academy Now

Got money to burn and an itching to make vintage noise? Love knobs and patch cords? Synthesizers.com has got brand new modular systems that look like the old Moog Modulars, but without the headache of used analog gear (are the oscillators in tune? are there mice in the cabinet??).

Synthesizers.com  – Systems – Modular Analog Synthesizer for Electronic Music

This beautiful beast, the Studio-110, is priced at a very reasonable $14,357.50 </sarcasm> Seriously, I would sell one of my arms to have one of these in my studio.

From Synthesizers:
The Studio-110 is our largest pre-configured Studio system. The 6 oscillator base cabinet is topped by a 22-space cabinet, then an inverted 44-space cabinet, then a special crown piece. The system includes our 24-stage Q119 sequencer, plus 2 Moog-Style Q960 8-stage sequencers, sequential switches, and interfaces. The top row contains a complete 3 oscillator synthesizer with dual filters. A 5-octave keyboard controller, keyboard garage, foot pedals and patch cables finish out this incredible machine. You will not exhaust the possibilities of this system.

Instead of the usual technical review (there are dozens already), I’d like to present a review of the Minimoog V software synthesizer that deals more with the aesthetics, character and overall instrumental qualities of this wonderful little synthesizer. If you want an oscillator count, you won’t get it here.

First off, let me start by saying that I have owned an actual Minimoog (a sale I regret to this day!) and the Minimoog V from Arturia is a near perfect replica. To those of you who have that indefinable quality of auditory perception which grants you the ability to differentiate a sound generated via analog or digital circuts, the Arturia is close- very close, but no cigar. This comment is meant only for those analog-only snobs out there that insist everything sounds better analog. Yes, there is a difference in quality, character and feel of the sound, but what I am after when using an instrument is available in the Minimoog V: 99% analog simulation.

Out of all the commercial analog-modeling synths out there (there are many!), the MiniMoog V has one clear advantage: an ease of use that was developed by Mr. Robert Moog himself. There are far too many free and cheap analog synths available which hype the sounds they are capable of producing as “screaming leads”, “buzzing basses”, “massive pads” and “killer hornz” (with a ‘z’, yes), etc., and unless you really know what you’re doing, that is really all they can do. The MiniMoog V (and it’s hardware father) are true musical instruments, capable of a wide gamut of subtle emotive sonification.