New Compact Synth from Arturia

Every now and again I have my synth-gear-slut moments, and this may be one of them. Gotta say: The Arturia MiniBrute looks intriguing. It's great to see manufacturers coming out with new instruments that push the boundaries of architecture in a compact space. Their website had this to offer on the subject of presets:

"MiniBrute comes with no electronic presets. You build yourself every sound you hear. Believe us, this is fun, this is creative and this helps make better music (and honestly, this is not harder than browsing sub-menus)."

I love this statement - as I have always been a firm believer that if one if forced to program new sounds from scratch whenever using a device, it pushes one's brain to (a) learn the machine that much better, and (b) always come up with novel ways of using it, and (c) adapt its sound/function to what you are making at that moment. My first synthesizer was a Roland Juno 6, and it had no presets - and I am so grateful for that fact! It taught me to program my new toy very quickly, and really get the most out of it - an experience I wouldn't trade for all the presets in the world.

The specs on this little gem are truly impressive - if your'e into that kinda stuff. Extensive mod section, great LFO options, and arpeggiator (thank goodness!!!)... and Aftertouch Modulation? Thank you!

Here's a cool video which highlights it's features.



More info here: Arturia MiniBrute

Toilet Talk

One of my newer projects is something I call Toilet Talk - where I basically give brief video reviews of restrooms I come across. I was often amazed at the discrepancy between a nice dining experience and the "less than great" conditions of their restrooms. So using that as a spring-board I thought it would be fun to look behind the scenes - as it were - and review various restrooms in all different kinds of settings.

If you find them entertaining, please "like" them and repost/send them to friends or your own blog or Facebook page. I have a LOT of them and will be posting more soon.

Let me know what you think, and (please!) post fun comments. Thanks for checkin' them out!

DM1 The Drum Machine V2.0 - Music app for iPad

So - they've updated a rather nifty piece of drum machine software I've been exploring on my iPad - gotta say: overall it's quite impressive... new updates make it even more-so. I really appreciate the fact that nearly all software updates on APPs are free(!). On my budget, that's the right price.

Dextro (demo)

Previously unreleased vocal/house collaboration with Craig Mitchell - Check it out!

Dextro (demo)

Anthony AntFacter-Charles Cohen-Julius Masri

When visiting my friend Charles in Philly - he invited me to improvise a brief opener for his set with Julius Masri. It was a magical weekend with Charles as he's one of my favorite musicians and a dear friend. I had a total blast! Thank you Charles - for encouraging me to make more music - again.

Losing the Moment

Fact: All moments arrive and pass. I think, generally as humans, we learn the meaning of this more-so as we get older. For the past few years I have been coming to realize this more and more in a variety of ways. Today I had another poignant reminder:

As stated in an earlier post I have very much gotten into photography - and am currently working on several particular studies to showcase in the near future. Some of these require specific conditions. On my way to to the gym I decided to get some (decent) coffee and took a route I normally don't. It was raining, but not too hard. In crossing the street, at just the right angle and lighting conditions, I found an incredible example of one of my studies... but I had dallied to get to the gym and really wanted to get some coffee another block away. I figured: I'll just snap some pics on the way back.

Well - coffee took longer than I thought it would, as I waited for the caffeine to hit, and generally lost track of time. The lighting changed, and it started raining harder. Heading back toward the gym, I carefully looked in the spots where I'd found my subject. Gone. All gone. Washed away in the muck of NYC streets and drainage. I became annoyed at myself, as this was not the first time I'd experienced this lesson.

I realize we all do this from to time: not recording a quick 'demo', not writing down an idea, inspiration, or quote that wafted through our busy heads... or, perhaps worse(?) not expressing an honest emotion we've been feeling for a special friend or loved one.

The moment passes - the rain gets harder and the drainage of time carries it all away. No use in crying over it, nor beating ourselves up... but those moments will never happen in the same way again.

Lesson: take that moment... steal it as you can, express yourself and know that even if it wasn't perfect you know that you took advantage of something that may never come 'round again.

Wire to the Ear is one of my absolute favorite blog-spots. Oliver writes concise and interesting entries about music, technology, life, art, and personal experiences as a performer/producer. A recent entry concerning depression and art was of particular interest and so I am re-posting a link to it below. Leonard Cohen has written some great, deep and very moving material. Hope you dig this!


Victory Over Suffering