Bonding

Picking up an RM1X in Cash Converters for £140 was admittedly a bit of a gamble, and of course half the pads (including the play button) aren't working, but it's still amazing what this thing can do.
A YouTube search of 'RM1X' yields nothing but endless techno and house remixes which completely lack development and seem entirely to ignore all the onboard programming possibilities, as well as all the effects units. There's an uncharted territory with this sequencer that somehow no one seems to have thought of accessing yet, the territory of simple melody-driven pop songs.

Anyway,  for an advocate of underrated things and an opponent of excessive spending on music gear, the RM1X is ideal. I just wish I can get those pads and buttons fixed quickly.

All this also got me thinking about equipment videos - why are they often so remarkably unappealing? Why aren't there more like this one with Adrian Utley? That Minibrute sounds completely out of this world.

When Will You Come Home

'Making noises like a dog,/
making noises you can't hear'
....has got to be one of the saddest lyrics ever.

Also, this song should end at 2:15 - it'd be better that way.

МАЯК

... Nope, that's not supposed to be 'MARK', and that letter is definitely the right way round. Маяк means lighthouse in Russian. "Маяк" was (they are no longer active) a Ukrainian band from Kharkov.

                                                           

(Im)practical tips and (un)sound advice

We're over half way through February! This means it's time for the Mid-Month Motivational Message:
You're an amazing person. You do amazing things. And if you don't, then you will do amazing things in the future. Just keep at it.

Now, if the following picture applies to you, please read on...

So you really want to make some cool sounds but for one reason or another you don't know where to begin. You have a really bad digital keyboard that you got at a carboot sale (or maybe your grandma, thinking you'd be in raptures over it, gave you it for Christmas).

Now you happen to have an alright DAW (that means anything that isn't Audacity). And in that DAW you notice an intriguing little option:

If you enable this option, you can hear yourself while recording. So far, not so good. What difference does it make if you hear your trashy keyboard going through your DAW or not?

Well, your DAW happens to have another inconspicuous button mysteriously lit up with the green light of success:

 Clicking on it, you find filters, a dozen choruses, several reverbs, and a range of delays. Add as few or as many as you like to the 'FX chain'. Make sure 'Monitor Input' is on. And this is when you will bless the fateful carboot sale (or your grandma) a million times, because the keyboard will sound nothing like its trashy pre-FX self.

The basic equation is
trashy keyboard + FX + monitor input = sounds unheard by human ears

...
All of the above might be complete codswallop. But you're not doing it wrong if no one knows what you're doing.

The Swedish film you never saw: Mio Min Mio

This was one of my favourite movies when I was a kid. It's a Swedish 'Neverending Story' of sorts. My sister got a set of pan pipes just so we could play the theme tune. It's so funny how in the last variation on the theme in the video it just goes through loads of funky key changes. What's not to love?

The Hillcrest Club - Breakfast at Christmas

...Who are the Hillrest Club? Has anyone heard of them?

Happy Christmas!

Field Hymns Records

I cannot for the life of me find out how to embed Bandcamp links in posts. but you can find the link to the Field Hymns label here.It's a really intriguing little label, probably because so many of the releases cite early tape music and synth pioneers as influences. One of the artists, Foton, is actually the person behind Curd Lake who I posted about earlier this year. That's their album art below.