When looking back at my latest year producing experimental music, I realized I always had trouble getting drums to work in my songs. This is due to my ineptitude at writing a decent drum loop and the lack of control you get when sequencing drums live with software, which greatly impairs the pace of one’s experimentation. When I laid hands on my band mate’s drum machine, a Korg ER-1, I was reminded how great an external sequencer can be. The ER-1 is a must have by itself, and in the age of computer driven production can be a terrific asset. Read the rest of this entry »

Do you remember the ‘golden era’ of video games? Where beeps, bloops and muzzaw sounds enraptured us for hours. At the same epoch, musicians wanted more freedom and couldn’t be satisfied with only beeps and bloops. They wanted the muzzaw too : Frequency Modulation, or FM Synthesis. Behind the shadow of the bigger names lies one of the least expensive synths on the used market lay, the Yamaha TX-81Z. Read the rest of this entry »