Gleetchplug Berna

Quite an interesting, and very affordable toy from Gleetchplug - the Berna virtual electronic studio.....

Based on the early electronic systems of the 50s and 60s, it's only €10.69 (£9.67). Try out the demo, see if you like it, but don't forget to turn up the oscillator levels to make it work (the 9 pots towards the top of the third column (took me a while to figure that one out). The demo times out after 8 minutes.

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Numotion Keyboard

So, want to be a guitarist, posing at the front of the stage, but you made the mistake of learning keyboards? Well, I have the ideal soluton for you - the Numotion Keyboard.....

Yes, it's a curved keyboard, not just a photoshop mistake. Check out the videos of this thing in action.

Trouble is, as Counterfieter succinctly put it, "it makes you look like an arse".

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Cable Drop

While unsuccessfully hunting for Christmas presents, I spotted these...

As with the best ideas, it's really obvious once you've seen it. (I found them at firebox, but they're also at amazon). Only around a tenner for a pack of six.

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Buy the T-shirt, get the album!

Unconvincing Ford Prefect Mos Def is selling his album in an unusual format.

We looked at ASDA selling T-shirts with song lyrics and MP3 quite a while back, but this takes the idea one stage further.....

The Ecstatic's Killer of Sheep T-shirt has the album artwork on the front, tracklisting on the back, and a download code for the album on the tag.

More details here...

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The Beatles never broke up...

So in another universe, the Beatles never broke up, and they're still touring.

James Richards accidentally travelled to this universe, and brought back their latest album.....
Head to thebeatlesneverbrokeup.com to listen to and download their Everyday Chemistry album, and read the full amazing story...

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What's with Pro Tools HD anyway?

Yes, we get this a lot......

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Brainworx Cleansweep

Been a bit busy putting the new studios together to blog much recently, but to make up for it, here's a new free EQ plugin for you....

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World's Greatest Song...

Read on for the world's greatest song, or at least the most irritating...



The track in question is Public Image Limited's "Fodderstompf", the very name implies grinding banality and the track was indeed a sneering knock off, shoved together to fill up the running time of their debut LP and deliver a two fingered assault to the record company and record buying public. Despite having a history of getting up peoples noses in his previous band the Sex Pistols John Lydon decided PIL were going to be a complete break with the Pistols swaggering pub rock, indeed he planned a complete break with all rock, the one consistent being the power to annoy. But I don't think even John Lydon and his merry men could have envisioned how unbelievably funny and teeth grinding this track would end up.

When every rock act these days, with the honorable exceptions of Slipknot and System of a Down, seem obsessed with telling their mildly depressed Mondeo driving fans that its OK to feel a bit worried but everything will be all right because lets face it you are white and western, a glutenous shower of platitudes that make you want to join the Taliban, PIL's irony saturated track comes over the hill like the sanity police and reminds us all to stop moaning so much about fuck all. When global warming grows teeth its not Keane fans who will have to worry, mores the pity, it's the poor bastards in the third world who will get the big Kahuna...

This reality, the hand ringing of the western privileged classes and the shafting of anyone else is echoed in the bottomless "black" sound of the music, the thin helium voices moan "we only wanted to be loved" in increasing derangement as the rumbling dub bass and eerie squelching synths buzz like tsetse fly in the bush.

One proviso the Youtube clip below proved incapable of translating the bass of the original which is virtually inaudible on the clip so download for the full glory. Without the groove the piss taking voices are unbearable for the full ten minutes however funny!



Maningrey

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The Daily Adventures of Mixerman

If you've got a few hours to spare, check out the Daily Adventures of Mixerman. It tells the story of a recording job from hell. Many familiar situations for those who've been there, many lessons for those on their way...

(Unfortunately, you'll need to buy the book to see how it all ends...)

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