Okay, I figure this subject is interesting enough to warrant its own post. In the previous topic, we discover that we generally agree that the following synths, which can be had for a song for the most part (or at least they could before this post, sorry...), are all worth space in your studio:
1. Ensoniq ESQ-1 / ESQ-M / SQ-80 I lump these together because they're all essentially the same thing; the SQ-80 has moar of everything the ESQ has. I just bought an ESQ-M for $100 last week, and this is right in line with what I've paid for the four I've owned. This one is kind of a no-brainer. I am personally baffled as to why these are not more desirable. DCOs with CEM filters and VCAs.
2. Yamaha TG-33 / SY-22 I've never used one of these, so I can't speak to them, but apparently people feel strongly about them. Enough to where I'm considering hunting one down. It is a vector synth like the Wavestation, Prophet VS, Microwave, et al, but unlike those, it combines that with a full FM synthesis engine. The reason, I think, that they don't command higher prices today is that there are no filters. At all. My research shows they go for about $150 to $200, with occasional $75 - $100 bargains.
EDIT: 3. Kawai XD-5 This is a drum synthesizer that creates sounds with DCO oscs similar to those found in the ESQ, DW8000, etc. It is a sophisticated drum synth that is capable of both normal (albeit somewhat dated) and rather strange percussion sounds. They go for $125 to $175. (Or did today, anyhow.)
Since we've already discussed the first two (or five, depending on how you count) ad nauseam, and all seem to agree they're desirable, let's start the list with them, and I'll add to it as others come up that we all seem to agree on. The Ensoniq Fizmo can't really be on the list, as it is borderline rare, and commands a minimum of $350 to $450 when it comes up (and works.) The Yamaha FS1R is also quite expensive; I rarely see them going for under $750. We're looking for instruments and effects that can be had in the $50 to $200 range without looking too hard, that are innovative and unique enough to fit in the Secret Weapon category.
A side note: since I last mentioned it, we've updated Vapor and Rough Rider (free) to 32/64-bit. Adam is working on Dr. Device right now. We're about 2/3 of the way done, and most of the remainder are pretty simple. So we should be done with this 64-bit update and back to making new shit Real Soon Now.
On the third day of the convention, I mostly just talked to people about AD stuff and the suchlike and played pianos. I didn't make any earth-shattering gear discoveries, unfortunately. I didn't go to the fourth day, because that's the day they let the Dirt People come and touch things, and I don't want any part of that.
One thing I did do that was interesting was listen to Morton Subotnik give a little Q&A at the Buchla booth. The conversation wound, in a circular fashion, towards limitations, and someone asked about intentionally limiting one's palette (a subject, as you all know, near and dear to my heart). He basically informed the questioner, who was thankfully not me, that limitations are stupid. He rhetorically asked "why would you not want to be able to make the sound you know you need?"
Obviously I have a fairly fluid idea of intentional limits, and I have my reasons for imposing them, but it was an interesting point. He's a smart man. He's also touring all year in various parts of the world, and it's probably worth going. Info here.
After Saturday's NAMGLASTRAVAGANZA, I went in to L.A. to grab an ESQ-M off a friend, because I suddenly needed one of those. (You know how it goes.) When I got home and started fooling with it, I realized this 25-year-old synth that I paid $100 for is easily on par with most of the current analog offerings I saw at NAMM. This made me sad, for obvious reasons. We get all excited about new shit, just because it's new shit. We overlook the fact that it is lacking in many ways. The Minitaur could have been released in 1986. Easily. So could the Aurturia Minibrute. There is _nothing_ in these products that makes the intervening 26 years seem relevant, except maybe some construction methods and materials science.
And then the Trash_Audio BBQ. Which wasn't a BBQ at all, but rather Taco Time. So they might want to re-examine their naming paradigm. Good fun that; saw many people I normally only speak to in the twatscape, hung out with Tom Erbe, who is very smart, and Peter Nyboer, who is also very smart. Basically I just stood around feeling stupid. There were several AI regulars there, and I had some excellent conversations about meta-stuff, which I always enjoy.
Anyhow, home again, and back to work, which is stacked up like planes waiting for approach vectors at O'Hare. Shit just got real.
One thing I did do that was interesting was listen to Morton Subotnik give a little Q&A at the Buchla booth. The conversation wound, in a circular fashion, towards limitations, and someone asked about intentionally limiting one's palette (a subject, as you all know, near and dear to my heart). He basically informed the questioner, who was thankfully not me, that limitations are stupid. He rhetorically asked "why would you not want to be able to make the sound you know you need?"
Obviously I have a fairly fluid idea of intentional limits, and I have my reasons for imposing them, but it was an interesting point. He's a smart man. He's also touring all year in various parts of the world, and it's probably worth going. Info here.
After Saturday's NAMGLASTRAVAGANZA, I went in to L.A. to grab an ESQ-M off a friend, because I suddenly needed one of those. (You know how it goes.) When I got home and started fooling with it, I realized this 25-year-old synth that I paid $100 for is easily on par with most of the current analog offerings I saw at NAMM. This made me sad, for obvious reasons. We get all excited about new shit, just because it's new shit. We overlook the fact that it is lacking in many ways. The Minitaur could have been released in 1986. Easily. So could the Aurturia Minibrute. There is _nothing_ in these products that makes the intervening 26 years seem relevant, except maybe some construction methods and materials science.
And then the Trash_Audio BBQ. Which wasn't a BBQ at all, but rather Taco Time. So they might want to re-examine their naming paradigm. Good fun that; saw many people I normally only speak to in the twatscape, hung out with Tom Erbe, who is very smart, and Peter Nyboer, who is also very smart. Basically I just stood around feeling stupid. There were several AI regulars there, and I had some excellent conversations about meta-stuff, which I always enjoy.
Anyhow, home again, and back to work, which is stacked up like planes waiting for approach vectors at O'Hare. Shit just got real.
I hit all the obvious highlights yesterday, so this morning I spent some quality time in Hall E, the Basement Of Failed Dreams And Sadness. This is the fun hall, because it has all the booths where an inventor is risking everything on a throw, plus all the hyper-aggressive English-challenged Chinese clone-mills. (Remember last year's classic signage: "Nearly Zero Defects!") There's a lot of heart in Hall E. I tweeted a lot of the fun stuff I came across, and for most of it there's not much more to tell than that. I mean, Chord Dice? Those are so patently obvious, it doesn't bear explaining. Lots of that sort of thing.
One thing I did spend a little time with was the Rhizome SXE. Aside from Empowering Your Creativity™, it is actually a pretty cool live performance tool, especially if you're in to the whole streamlined workflow thing. Unlike a lot of Linux-based all-in-one tools, it is _very_ quick. I tweeted a video of me switching modes and such on it. While I tend to give this sort of thing the Hairy Eyeball, the Rhizome actually intrigues me a bit, surprisingly. The creator wasn't in his booth when I stopped by, so I'm going to hit it again tomorrow (twss) in the hopes of getting a full demo.
It seems like there are about 20,000 boutique pedal makers at NAMM. The vast majority of them are slinging the usual clones (Octavia, FuzzFace, Tubescreamer, Orange Squeezer, etc.) and Jam Pedals is no exception. However, what sets them apart is that each and every pedal is hand-painted; not like ZVex, where there's a general style for a particular kind of pedal, but rather each individual one is its own work of art. Jam is a Greek company, if that matters. One thing they do is combine their pedals in to single multi-pedals, where you pick the signal flow and features (within reasonable limits) and they make you your pedal. Each one is decorated uniquely, and you effectively have an all-in-one pedalboard built to your specs, that is also a small work of art unto itself. I like their style. Pure Hall E.
I went through all the guitar displays in the main hall today, and came across a couple nice guitars (the Fano stuff really caught my eye) but NAMM really isn't the environment for noodling with something, and honestly, one quirky tube amp sounds pretty much like another after a while. And the guitar area is right next to the drum area, and you know how I feel about drums, so it was just pretty stressful all around.
Saturday is my reward for a job well-done. This reward consists of hanging out in the Fender area, where I have several friends, and spending some seriously quality time in the piano room, fondling $200,000 instruments and pretending I can, like, play and stuff. I'll also attempt to get to any questions that you have that I didn't manage to answer today via the twatscape. And the Trash Audio BBQ is tomorrow night, of course.
One thing I did spend a little time with was the Rhizome SXE. Aside from Empowering Your Creativity™, it is actually a pretty cool live performance tool, especially if you're in to the whole streamlined workflow thing. Unlike a lot of Linux-based all-in-one tools, it is _very_ quick. I tweeted a video of me switching modes and such on it. While I tend to give this sort of thing the Hairy Eyeball, the Rhizome actually intrigues me a bit, surprisingly. The creator wasn't in his booth when I stopped by, so I'm going to hit it again tomorrow (twss) in the hopes of getting a full demo.
It seems like there are about 20,000 boutique pedal makers at NAMM. The vast majority of them are slinging the usual clones (Octavia, FuzzFace, Tubescreamer, Orange Squeezer, etc.) and Jam Pedals is no exception. However, what sets them apart is that each and every pedal is hand-painted; not like ZVex, where there's a general style for a particular kind of pedal, but rather each individual one is its own work of art. Jam is a Greek company, if that matters. One thing they do is combine their pedals in to single multi-pedals, where you pick the signal flow and features (within reasonable limits) and they make you your pedal. Each one is decorated uniquely, and you effectively have an all-in-one pedalboard built to your specs, that is also a small work of art unto itself. I like their style. Pure Hall E.
I went through all the guitar displays in the main hall today, and came across a couple nice guitars (the Fano stuff really caught my eye) but NAMM really isn't the environment for noodling with something, and honestly, one quirky tube amp sounds pretty much like another after a while. And the guitar area is right next to the drum area, and you know how I feel about drums, so it was just pretty stressful all around.
Saturday is my reward for a job well-done. This reward consists of hanging out in the Fender area, where I have several friends, and spending some seriously quality time in the piano room, fondling $200,000 instruments and pretending I can, like, play and stuff. I'll also attempt to get to any questions that you have that I didn't manage to answer today via the twatscape. And the Trash Audio BBQ is tomorrow night, of course.
Just got back to the RPV after the first day of NAMM. The best thing I saw today was the Schmidt Polysynth. While it is somewhat comical when you're sitting on your couch reading about it (and I laughed when I saw the Messe announcement, just like the rest of you) in real life it is as close to a work of art as a synthesizer can be in this day and age. Completely over the top? Sure. But you get a lot for your synthesizer dollar. Good thing, because it's a lot of dollars. Absolutely beautiful synth, though.
Its panel is a little overwhelming, honestly. But at the end of the day, it is a sophisticated synth with a lot of programability. Sonically, it wipes the floor with any other modern analog I've played. (No offense to my many friends who make modern analogs, but this thing swings for the fences, no expense spared, no corners cut.)
A lot of people here and on Twitter asked about the nord drum, so I asked for, and received, a full demo. They cut a lot of corners to keep the costs low on it, and it has some interesting design choices as a result. A single monophonic output is probably the most glaring oddity. No headphone out will probably disturb some people too. The way the nord rep explained it to me, this is for that rock band that has one pad to trigger the big 808 foot. (Think Korn.) In that context it is fine.
Sonically, it sounds very nord-ish. I've always thought that nord products had a particular boxy sound to them, sort of like every solo Greg Hawkes ever played all jammed in to one red box. The drum is right in line with that. If I had to pick one word to describe the sound of this box, it'd be "electro." The trigger inputs work incredibly well, but that's no surprise considering Clavia's situation with ddrum. Lots of good IP for drum triggering up in there. The salesman told me $250 street, but I got the impression that's not a final number.
I fiddled with the Minitaur briefly. It is exactly what it says on the tin: a cheap-ish way to get a big ol' Moog bass sound. Very limited, sonically. It essentially makes about 6 sounds total, all of which you've heard a bajillion times before. If you need that particular bass sound, here's yet another way to get it.
The Arturia Minibrute is about the size of an SH-101, maybe a touch smaller. It really reminds me of the Novation BassStation, sonically and features-wise. The keybed feels like ass on a platter, and it is about 8 keys short of playable, in my opinion. But there was a Roland rep at the Arturia booth laying down some serious stank on the thing, so it's certainly possible. Another one-trick pony. If that's the trick you need, you'll find it here.
I got a full demo of the Solaris from John Bowen and (shit, I'm sorry, dude, I forgot your name...). The Solaris is the logical progression of the Prophet VS and Wavestation. It takes those concepts and just extrapolates them out in to what a DSP-based synth can pull off in 2012. The panel is really well laid-out, and super playable. Some very crafty features internally as well, and the many mod routing possibilities, coupled with an extensive oscillator and filter library (and user samples, natch) gives it a really broad palette. I think this is going to be my next synth purchase.
That Alesis keytar everyone is crowing about is a complete piece of shit. It feels like a RockBand controller. About as cheaply constructed as they could get away with. Setting aside the fact that it's a keytar and thus pre-retarded (pretarded?), it's a shitty controller. Period.
iPad docks. iPad apps. iPad accessories. iPad. iPad. iPad. To quote Art Gillespie, Alesis/Numark/Akai went all Honey Badger on the iPad. So did everyone else. There's so much iPad-related gear at NAMM this year I don't even know where to start. So I won't.
Anyhow, that's my general take-away from today. My mobility is somewhat limited so I couldn't cover the ground I could last year. Tomorrow morning I plan to spend my time looking at guitar-related things, so if you have any guitar, bass, pedal, or amp requests, now's the time. And I'll field any and all questions about what I saw today until I fall asleep.
January.18.2012
Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick. Hit Me Slowly. Hit Me Quick.
Leaving for NAMM in an hour or two. L.A. is a five-hour drive on what is both the most boring and most exciting highway in America. Boring because it is essentially a straight line all the way there, and the only visual stimuli are dirt and the occasional rock; exciting because you could easily get crushed by a tractor-trailer driven by a methed-out redneck talking on his cell phone, so you drive in this constant state of near-catatonic boredom, with occasional doses of adrenalin red-line.
Anyhow, needless to say, I'll be hard to get ahold of for the next 5 days. There is no wi-fi worth the name at the Anaheim convention center, so my "live" updates and pithy comments will be made chiefly via my Twatstream. If there is some piece of gear you'd specifically like information about, and if it isn't too physically taxing to find this information (keep in mind that I am still somewhat handicapped in the locomotion department) then I'll be happy to hunt it up for you. Let me know in this thread, or if I'm actually at the show via Twitter.
And the first person that says anything about my fucking cane except "hey, nice cane!" is getting beat with same. Soundly. Anyhow, this is an open thread. Subject is NAMGLA.
Synthtopia is reporting on Auria, a 48-track DAW for iOS (specifically the iPad 2) from WaveMachine Labs that will supposedly bring 24-channel recording and VST support to iOS.
I call bullshit, though. And for two reasons:
1. VST Support means what it says: the app hosts VST plug-ins built to the VST standard. However, there is no such thing as a VST SDK for iOS. This being the case, it is a physical impossibility for Auria to host VSTs; what it hosts are VSTs that have been ported to Auria. WaveMachine say they are "leading the charge" to bring the VST format to iOS. I personally like to think that, due to the nature of my business endeavors, I'd be aware of any such "charge." However, this is the first I've heard of it. Be that as it may, the sandbox design of iOS precludes any of this sort of thing at a basic level, at least in the manner we know it.
2. They claim the app can record 24 channels simultaneously. Yeah. Let's point out a couple things. First, there is no such thing as a 24-channel class-compliant USB 1.1 audio interface. So that's kind of important. There doesn't need to be a second thing. The first is enough.
I wouldn't be incensed about this except that in a situation like this we get a lot of people asking whether our plugs are going to be available on this platform. WaveMachine hasn't contacted us, which is interesting considering we're one of the largest of the 2nd Tier plugin companies. And if they did, we'd tell them we're not interested in porting a plug-in to sell it as an in-app purchase in a single DAW. We don't support single-DAW formats. Never have, never will. And rest assured this requires a port. This app can not host OS X VSTs. It is an impossibility.
I call bullshit, though. And for two reasons:
1. VST Support means what it says: the app hosts VST plug-ins built to the VST standard. However, there is no such thing as a VST SDK for iOS. This being the case, it is a physical impossibility for Auria to host VSTs; what it hosts are VSTs that have been ported to Auria. WaveMachine say they are "leading the charge" to bring the VST format to iOS. I personally like to think that, due to the nature of my business endeavors, I'd be aware of any such "charge." However, this is the first I've heard of it. Be that as it may, the sandbox design of iOS precludes any of this sort of thing at a basic level, at least in the manner we know it.
2. They claim the app can record 24 channels simultaneously. Yeah. Let's point out a couple things. First, there is no such thing as a 24-channel class-compliant USB 1.1 audio interface. So that's kind of important. There doesn't need to be a second thing. The first is enough.
I wouldn't be incensed about this except that in a situation like this we get a lot of people asking whether our plugs are going to be available on this platform. WaveMachine hasn't contacted us, which is interesting considering we're one of the largest of the 2nd Tier plugin companies. And if they did, we'd tell them we're not interested in porting a plug-in to sell it as an in-app purchase in a single DAW. We don't support single-DAW formats. Never have, never will. And rest assured this requires a port. This app can not host OS X VSTs. It is an impossibility.
It's been a surprisingly busy time here in the new year, and I haven't had the opportunity to sit down and do one of the big Things I Do that warrants a Real Blog Post. So I just keep dumping these little nuggets; thanks for being patient. Anyhow, in no particular order:
1. We've just updated Replicant OS X to 1.6.2 to fix a few problems the AU was having; notably, some users were losing their presets when installing or upgrading. Also, we've added back the mono->mono and mono->stereo modes. This update is in the AD store now. The Windows version is unchanged, and the VST on the OS X side is unchanged.
2. I'm just finishing up on a big contract UI I've been working on for the last month and a half, but can't talk about except to say that it's big and I'm just finishing up. I believe the company I did it for will announce it at NAMM, and I can speak on it at that time. It is an extremely cool concept, though, and it was a pleasure to do it. Wish I could show it off.
3. In other Wish I Could Show It Off news, making good headway on the next AD product, which will be what we call internally a "top line effect." That is to say that it will be one of the non-traditional effects Audio Damage is best known for (c.f. Replicant, Automaton, Axon etc.) and in that light, it is a good one. I don't normally make a habit of talking about these kinds of products until we have a working example in-house, since it's not always clear they're gonna do what our fertile imaginations have suggested they'll do. Or that they're possible to build at all. But as longtime readers know, I almost always show off these top-line effects once they're mostly working, in order to gauge interest and get feature feedback, and we'll most likely do that with this one, as well. It's still a ways away; I'm working on new UI code, utilizing the new animation tools that Steinberg were kind enough to add in the latest VSTGUI SDK, while Adam continues his work in the 64-bit Salt Mines. He pretty much hates me, you, Apple, and the horse we collectively rode in on at this point, and I can't blame him. But we're making good headway; all the hardest ones have been done, and it should be smooth sailing for the next couple weeks until the whole line is built to current standards. Just in time for Apple to announce a new plug-in format or some other stupid shit, no doubt.
4. I'm starting to get more submissions for the AI Comp, all of which are uniformly awesome. You have just over a month remaining. I have also been thinking about the sleeves for the LP, and to that end have ordered the sample pack from Stumptown Printers. I would like to do these recycled sleeves with silk-screened artwork for extra arty-fartyness. As soon as the samples arrive, I'll take them over to my screenprinter and see what he thinks about screening them. I'll keep you informed on the progress on that front.
1. We've just updated Replicant OS X to 1.6.2 to fix a few problems the AU was having; notably, some users were losing their presets when installing or upgrading. Also, we've added back the mono->mono and mono->stereo modes. This update is in the AD store now. The Windows version is unchanged, and the VST on the OS X side is unchanged.
2. I'm just finishing up on a big contract UI I've been working on for the last month and a half, but can't talk about except to say that it's big and I'm just finishing up. I believe the company I did it for will announce it at NAMM, and I can speak on it at that time. It is an extremely cool concept, though, and it was a pleasure to do it. Wish I could show it off.
3. In other Wish I Could Show It Off news, making good headway on the next AD product, which will be what we call internally a "top line effect." That is to say that it will be one of the non-traditional effects Audio Damage is best known for (c.f. Replicant, Automaton, Axon etc.) and in that light, it is a good one. I don't normally make a habit of talking about these kinds of products until we have a working example in-house, since it's not always clear they're gonna do what our fertile imaginations have suggested they'll do. Or that they're possible to build at all. But as longtime readers know, I almost always show off these top-line effects once they're mostly working, in order to gauge interest and get feature feedback, and we'll most likely do that with this one, as well. It's still a ways away; I'm working on new UI code, utilizing the new animation tools that Steinberg were kind enough to add in the latest VSTGUI SDK, while Adam continues his work in the 64-bit Salt Mines. He pretty much hates me, you, Apple, and the horse we collectively rode in on at this point, and I can't blame him. But we're making good headway; all the hardest ones have been done, and it should be smooth sailing for the next couple weeks until the whole line is built to current standards. Just in time for Apple to announce a new plug-in format or some other stupid shit, no doubt.
4. I'm starting to get more submissions for the AI Comp, all of which are uniformly awesome. You have just over a month remaining. I have also been thinking about the sleeves for the LP, and to that end have ordered the sample pack from Stumptown Printers. I would like to do these recycled sleeves with silk-screened artwork for extra arty-fartyness. As soon as the samples arrive, I'll take them over to my screenprinter and see what he thinks about screening them. I'll keep you informed on the progress on that front.
1. Bigseq2 has been updated to 64-bit on all platforms, and there are a bunch of minor bug fixes. v1.1.0 is now in the AD Store for download. Free update, and recommended for all users.
2. Steinberg has released current all-platform 32/64 versions of Neon and Karlette; info here. Neon is one of a handful of synths that can lay claim to the title of "first commercial soft-synth." It kind of sucks, of course, but in its own special way. Karlette is a "tape-style" delay with a ludicrous user interface and an almost unusable sound; pretty good fun. Both are free as in your mom.
3. Starting to gear up for NAMM. I have nothing to add to that except to say that there will be knobs.
2. Steinberg has released current all-platform 32/64 versions of Neon and Karlette; info here. Neon is one of a handful of synths that can lay claim to the title of "first commercial soft-synth." It kind of sucks, of course, but in its own special way. Karlette is a "tape-style" delay with a ludicrous user interface and an almost unusable sound; pretty good fun. Both are free as in your mom.
3. Starting to gear up for NAMM. I have nothing to add to that except to say that there will be knobs.
1. Just a quick note as a reminder: if you are sending me a track for the comp, DO NOT SEND ME AN UNCOMPRESSED WAV OR AIFF. Read the last two paragraphs of the instructions again. I want an MP3 with your name and contact info in the metadata, so that I know who made the track, and how to find you again. I am, of course, not going to put the MP3 out. But if I have a folder with 70 files in it named things like "submission_1.aiff" there's no reasonable way to organize it. Just follow the instructions. If I pick your track, I will contact you about getting me the uncompressed, unmastered version, and the format I need for that. Don't try to be fancy.
2. Ricochet is now 32/64 on all platforms, and is now in the AD store for download. I forgot to mention this here. Go forth. Should be a seamless transition, and it contains a number of minor bug fixes, as well.
3. Young Americans records is releasing a quadruple album set of some of the highlights of the Daphne Oram tape collection. Looks like a really nice set, even if you don't care for this sort of thing; it is available here, and there are images of the set and three sound samples here. I just went ahead and ordered it, because these things don't come along often, and it would be nice to have. If you're not clear on who Daphne Oram is, get thee to ye olde Wikipedia.
2. Ricochet is now 32/64 on all platforms, and is now in the AD store for download. I forgot to mention this here. Go forth. Should be a seamless transition, and it contains a number of minor bug fixes, as well.
3. Young Americans records is releasing a quadruple album set of some of the highlights of the Daphne Oram tape collection. Looks like a really nice set, even if you don't care for this sort of thing; it is available here, and there are images of the set and three sound samples here. I just went ahead and ordered it, because these things don't come along often, and it would be nice to have. If you're not clear on who Daphne Oram is, get thee to ye olde Wikipedia.
New Year, y'all, and it's time to get this party started. Pursuant to the earlier discussion on the subject, I'm hereby announcing an open call for submissions for the first Analog Industries compilation album. Here's the rules:
1. This will be primarily a vinyl release. As such, certain restrictions are in place that one would not normally find in a digital release. The track you submit can not be more than six minutes in length, and in the event of acceptance you must be able to provide an unmastered 24-bit version, so that mastering needs that are specific to vinyl release may be met.
2. The track you submit must be new, unreleased in any form, and will be exclusive to this compilation for six months after the release of the album. When you submit it, I should be the first person outside your Circle Of Trust to hear it. Ideally, you'll write it specifically for this compilation. Obviously, we're gonna have to go on the honor system for this, but you and I want the same thing here, and that's for this to be a special release. It is going to be expensive to make, and we have to pull off the nearly impossible in 2012, and that's to store all the value we can in the release itself.
3. Financially, this will almost certainly be a losing prospect, just by the nature of how this sort of thing works. When you submit your track, you are doing so with the knowledge that the ten artists chosen may be called upon to kick in a bit to realize the actual physical product. If I'm able to pay for it all up front when it becomes necessary to do so, I will, but the nature of my income (which goes in fairly severe cycles) dictates that when the time comes, I may not be able to do so, and making a physical album, especially vinyl, is not a cheap proposition. The ten chosen artists will decide what best suits them and how to go about it. In the event, it won't be a lot of money, maybe $150-$200 at the most? But the possibility exists that this will be necessary, and when you submit a track, doing so shows a tacit acceptance of this fact.
4. Here's what you're really looking for, isn't it? The musical guidelines. We're going to avoid a genre label here, and just set the style as whatever can loosely be defined by the term "abstract electronic music." When I'm listening to all the submissions to determine the best group, I'll be listening for two things: first, does the track add to and improve our collective experience? I won't dismiss a trance or dubstep or whatever track out of hand, but the stricter the limitations of the starting point, the less likely this will fit in with the whole. Second, technical craftiness is worth bonus points, because it's me doing the selecting, and that sort of thing impresses me. If you just throw a bunch of pre-made loops in FL Studio and mix to taste, I'll be able to hear that, and the songwriting better pick up the slack. Likewise, if you did something new that pushes the boundaries of our field, I'll know when I hear that, too. If you work to impress here, you'll be well-served, and whether or not the result makes the cut, everyone will be better off for having made the effort.
5. The release will be sold via Bandcamp. Initially, it will be vinyl only, get the download when you buy the vinyl. Once the supply of vinyl is exhausted, then it will be digital only, no repress. First in, first out for money, so if you are chosen and have to kick in to make the release, you'll get paid back first. Once all expenses are met, 100% of the proceeds will be donated to a charity that the ten chosen will collectively decided on. The release will be a CC A-NC-ND 3.0 license, but you, the artist, will retain all copyright to the track.
I think that about covers the highlights. All submissions must be received by
So, you have a month and a half. Go forth! When you're done, hit me with it.
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NAMGLA Day Three & Home Again... |
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Submit Thyself... |
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NAMGLA, Day One... |
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NAMGLA, Day Two... |
