Thievery Corporation takes us inside their musical empire in Washington, DC, and it’s a completely different side of our Capitol than on your high school field trip. As we tour the DC underground, Thievery brings us inside their custom studio (aptly named the Thievery Consulate), as well as their bar and bistro, an homage to Marvin Gaye.
Plus, Amanda Palmer summons her fans via Twitter for a surprise show announced only one hour before it begins, and Delta Spirit gives us a unique unrehearsed performance aboard a San Francisco trolley.
Current Music Presents: Embedded is a six part special that puts you on the ground and behind the scenes with unrivaled access to your favorite musicians. We’ve traveled the world, going beyond performances to bring you the most intimate and unfiltered moments in artists’ lives. When others stop the cameras, we capture the real story of today’s top musicians.
Artists and producers spend countless hours fine-tuning and mixing music to get it exactly how they want their fans to hear it. But the vast majority of headphones can’t accurately reproduce the intricacies produced in the studio. Studios, simply put, can. With precision-engineered, advanced speaker design, powered amplification, and powered noise cancellation, you hear music the way today’s top artists and producers want you to hear.
There’s no doubt that Beats by Dr. Dre Studios look amazing. But what makes Studios really special is the part you’ll never see: The speakers and drivers. It took three years of thorough research and development to create the most incredible headphone speaker ever built. Constructed of advanced materials, they deliver unprecedented audio accuracy and clarity. Combining extra-large speaker drivers and a high-power digital amplifier, Studios deliver a previously unheard combination of super deep bass, smooth undistorted highs, and crystal clear vocals. It’s a level of audio reproduction that you absolutely have to experience to fully grasp.
Today’s digital audio recording technology gives music more detail than ever before. Unfortunately, the details get easily lost in today’s noisy world. We’re talking about the ambient noise on the street, on the bus, on the plane and, well, just about everywhere. Since the best listening experience isn’t just about what you hear, but what you don’t, Studios feature Monster’s Powered Noise Canceling technology. It actively cuts external noise, so you experience all the rich details that your favorite artists want you to hear, not the music-disturbing drone of the outside world.
Though we’re much more these days, Monster built its reputation developing and manufacturing ground-breaking audio cable technology, so obviously Studios come with the best headphone cable available. Advanced Monster™ Cable headphone cable with Quadripole™ 4 twisted pair construction reduces signal loss for balanced sound and extreme clarity. Plus, corrosion resistant 24k gold mini-jacks that maximize signal transfer.
THE NEW PORTABLE RACK FROM SEFOUR IS ANOTHER SIMPLE BUT EFFECTIVE DESIGN. WITH A BUILT IN HANDLE FOR EASY PORTABILITY. THE RACK IS ERGONOMIC TOO WITH TILT ADJUSTMENT. YOU CAN POSITION THIS UNIT EXACTLY WHERE YOU NEED IT FOR ULTIMATE COMFORT.
AVAILABLE IN GLOSS BLACK AND CAPABLE OF STORING 8 U’S, THIS VERY STRONG AND STABLE U RACK IS THE PERFECT HOUSING FOR YOUR PROFESSIONAL EQUIPMENT.
THE HANDLE AND TILT ADJUSTMENT ARE BOTH FEATURES NOT AVAILABLE IN ANY OTHER RACK IN THE WORLD AND FEATURE IN THE OFFICIAL DESIGN REGISTRATION.
WAVEDRUM – Unprecedented sound, response, and performance
Sonically richer, programmable, and intensely sensitive, this 2nd generation WAVEDRUM is bursting with more than enough power and expression to create its own musical legend. The extreme dynamic range challenges the response of an acoustic instrument. WAVEDRUM responds instantly to any and all playing styles, from subtly-nuanced tapping and stroking to aggressive, rhythmic assaults. From traditional acoustic percussion instruments to unique sounds previously impossible to obtain, WAVEDRUM serves up an enticing treasure trove of sounds. With WAVEDRUM, you’re always in control. Instruments that normally require special techniques to play, such as tabla, conga, etc., can be played with ease. Create your own unique performance style, filled with unparalleled levels of expression and originality. Built to travel, the compact and lightweight WAVEDRUM is ideal wherever your musical dreams take you – from casual playing through to a full-on recording session or a live concert performance.
Open the door to new musical journeys
The new Korg WAVEDRUM delivers inspiration and satisfaction to creative performers seeking new realms of expressiveness and sounds. Moving beyond traditional drum and percussion sounds, WAVEDRUM also provides totally new and unique sounds that are not available in the real world, and offers new ways of playing to achieve new levels of musical expression. Imagine changing the pitch randomly with each hit, or playing melodic phrases simply by choosing a musical scale and applying pressure to the head. Imagine no more, WAVEDRUM does it all. While opening new doors, WAVEDRUM is faithful to its roots. Traditional hand-drum techniques, such as adding pitch and tonal changes to a strike by pressing the head, have been previously unobtainable on an electronic instrument. No longer. WAVEDRUM can process and respond to these intimate performance gestures as no other instrument can. These same techniques provide a wealth of performance possibilities. For example, WAVEDRUM can produce sitar and tambura sounds at the same time. You can produce tambura sounds alone by hitting the head, adding the sitar sounds by applying pressure to the head before hitting it. Applying further pressure can change the pitch of the sitar within the selected scale. Only WAVEDRUM is able to offer such astounding versatility.
Acoustic percussion instruments produce sound naturally, in direct response to a physical impact, be it gentle or abrupt. WAVEDRUM, although an electronic musical instrument, creates sound exactly the same way. The head and rim pickups are directly used as a sound source to be processed by the DSP (Digital Signal Processing) algorithms, and they also trigger the PCM sound engine. Together with the pressure sensor under the head, the WAVEDRUM responds to each and every subtle finger and hand motion (hitting, rubbing, scratching etc). as well as to the traditional hand drum techniques of open shot, slap shot, heel and toe, mute, etc. Of course, the WAVEDRUM responds not just to your hands, but to other playing materials as well, such as sticks, mallets, and brushes. The rim has two types of notches, small and large, and these can be used to elicit a tremolo-type effect by scratching with sticks, etc. Combining the rim sounds with the head sounds can create an even richer, more original performance.
DSP synthesis and PCM samples combine for endless sonic exploration
The WAVEDRUM contains 36 DSP algorithms to conjure an abundance of synthesis methods; analog, additive, non-linear, physical modeling, etc. Using these building blocks, you can create various instrument sounds, natural sounds, or purely synthetic sounds – in addition to WAVEDRUM’s own unique voice. The PCM sound engine – the other important part of WAVEDRUM’s sound creation system – contains 200 sampled sounds; 100 for the head, and 100 for the rim, with velocity-switching capabilities. Certain algorithms allow you to combine a specific DSP method and a PCM instrument to the head, and assign a different combination to the rim. This method of controlling multiple sounds within a single program delivers a fantastic playing experience, rich in sound. In other algorithms, the velocity and tone of the strike are used to control the PCM sound, creating a responsive interaction that far surpasses any sample-playback device, one rivaling that of an acoustic instrument.
Planet-wide percussion
WAVEDRUM begins with a foundation of traditional pop/rock drum sounds such as snares, kick drums, tom toms, and more. WAVEDRUM also opens new vistas of sound, delivering a wealth of percussion sounds from many eras and cultures around the globe and throughout time. Ethnic percussion instruments, although seemingly simple in structure and performance, are capable of expressing the complex emotions of a culture. These include popular percussion instruments such as cajons, congas and tablas; metallic instruments such as cowbells, and triangles, along with rare ethnic percussion sounds. With WAVEDRUM, you have instant access to instruments such as the udo, a clay pod percussion instrument; the jegog, a bamboo gamelan marimba from the island of Bali; a talking drum from Africa, gongs, and many other instruments that often require special playing skills. Not strictly limited to percussion sounds, WAVEDRUM includes stringed instruments such as the sitar, koto, and berimbau as well. For every sound, WAVEDRUM adds its own new modes of expression, in addition to faithfully re-creating the original sounds.
Enjoy 100 preset programs; create 100 programs that are all your own
The 100 preset WAVEDRUM programs range from high-fidelity emulative drum and percussion sounds to a world of new and unique sounds. There are a range of parameters available for editing and tweaking to create new sounds to suit your own music or style of playing. In addition to making changes to pitch, decay time, loudness, reverb, delay, and curve (intensity) of the pressure sensor, you can completely alter the sound by, for example, changing the head material parameter from skin to metal. The combination of DSP and sampled sounds can also be changed to create totally new sounds from scratch. These new programs (up to 100) can be stored in the user area. The WAVEDRUM also has a Live Mode, which can store up to 12 favorite programs (from the preset or user programs) for selection instantaneously during performance.
Jam-along functions for added fun
Sure, you can enjoy the WAVEDRUM just by playing the sounds alone, but the dynamic and interactive WAVEDRUM adds some special features that provide jam-along abilities for fun or practice. Practice your paradiddles or simply wail away along to 100 loop phrases from various musical genres. Using the AUX input, you can mix in the signal from any audio source – CD, MP3 player, or even an additional WAVEDRUM. The options are endless.
NATIVE INSTRUMENTS TRAKTOR KONTROL X1 MIDI CONTROLLER
Native Instruments today announced TRAKTOR KONTROL X1, a highly functional performance controller that gives DJs immediate hands-on control over vital aspects of their performance. Designed by the team behind the groundbreaking TRAKTOR DJ platform, the compact KONTROL X1 offers an unprecedented level of integration with the latest TRAKTOR generation for maximum performance and ease-of-use, and can also efficiently control any MIDI-compatible DJ software on the market.
TRAKTOR KONTROL X1 provides DJs of all styles and genres with a highly efficient and intuitive way to control loop, cue, effect, track selection and transport functions of their system. The unit accommodates the two most common digital DJing paradigms – it ideally complements a typical timecode-controlled TRAKTOR SCRATCH setup consisting of a hardware mixer, turntables or CD decks, and also excels as a self-contained controller for DJs who play beat-gridded tracks with the TRAKTOR software and mix externally. Two X1 units can also easily be combined into a four-deck setup that controls all decks and effect units of TRAKTOR PRO or TRAKTOR SCRATCH PRO simultaneously.
The functionality and layout of TRAKTOR KONTROL X1 was carefully engineered and fine-tuned based on extensive artist feedback and usability testing in order to combine a versatile feature set with maximum ease of use. The unit is equipped with precise and durable high-quality buttons, knobs and encoders, complemented by dynamic colored backlighting for additional visual feedback. The X1 integrates with the TRAKTOR software through a dedicated high-resolution protocol, resulting in a level of precision and responsiveness beyond what regular MIDI-based controllers can provide, and allowing for true plug-and-play operation with no setup or specific configuration required.
TRAKTOR KONTROL X1 has been specifically designed for heavy-duty usage in performance environments. Its compact casing is both robust and lightweight for high portability, and the special vertical form factor makes the unit fit seamlessly within a typical club setup. The optional high-quality carrying bag for the X1 doubles as a versatile stand that conveniently raises the controller surface to match the height of typical DJ mixers.
Beyond TRAKTOR, the KONTROL X1 can be used to efficiently control any MIDI-compatible DVS, DJ software or music performance application. The optional MIDI mode of the controller can be engaged on the fly via a dedicated button on the unit. The X1 also comes with a carefully designed set of parameter assignments for the Serato Scratch Live™ system, matching the relevant features of the software to the controller in an ideal way without any individual setup effort. A special Serato Scratch Live™ overlay for the X1 is also available.
TRAKTOR KONTROL X1 also ships with TRAKTOR LE, a basic version of the TRAKTOR PRO software that provides two decks with essential looping, effects and mixing features, turning X1 into a complete entry-level solution for digital DJing. Owners of TRAKTOR LE can upgrade to the full-featured TRAKTOR PRO software for a special discounted price at any time.
There’s never been a better time to get what you want. Built on more than 60 years of innovation and expertise, Crown’s XLS series of amplifiers sets the standard for performance and value. From its cutting-edge technology and design to its world-class reliability and performance, the XLS series gives you world-tour sound without the world-tour price – all backed by the best warranty in the business. And now for a limited time, Crown is making the XLS series even more affordable by offering powerful cash rebates on all XLS models. Experience the XLS series and you’ll hear what innovation sounds like.
Affordable Analog Mixers Feature Attractive Specs and Design
TASCAM’s M-164 series is a new line of analog mixers, combining great analog specs with cutting-edge digital technology. The M-164 is a 16-channel mixer with 6 mic inputs, great-sounding EQ and a striking design with built-in meter bridge. The M-164FX adds digital effects like reverb, delay and chorus for polished mixes without adding external processing. The M-164UF is the first compact mixer with a built-in USB 2.0 to deliver all 16 outputs to a computer for live or studio recording.
“TASCAM started the home studio revolution, and TASCAM mixers were top sellers through the ’70s and ’80s,” said Paul Jenkins, VP of Sales and Marketing for TASCAM. “These latest mixers not only have the great-sounding audio performance TASCAM is known for, but new digital technology that allows each channel to be recorded individually to a computer through USB. TASCAM has been an innovator in high channel counts over USB 2.0, and the M-164UF is the latest example.”
The M-164 series have a range of features for both live and studio recording needs:
16-channel mixing
6 XLR microphone inputs with phantom power and hipass filter
5 stereo line inputs
3-band EQ on mic channels
2-band EQs on line channels 7-10 and main output
RIAA phono preamp on channels 9-10
Unique design with built-in meter bridge
Sub and Main output busses
Two aux sends
The M-164FX adds:
Stereo effects processor with 16 presets for reverb, delay, chorus and other effects
The M-164UF adds:
Stereo effects processor with 16 presets for reverb, delay, chorus and other effects
USB 2.0 audio interface providing 16 outputs to computer and stereo return from computer at 96kHz / 24-bit
Akai Professional, the name synonymous with music production, announces the LPD8 laptop pad controller and LPK25 laptop performance keyboard controller. The LPD8 and LPK25 will make their debut at Akai Professional’s booth, number 400, at the Summer NAMM Show held at the Nashville Convention Center, July 17 – 19.
The LPD8 and LPK25 are USB-MIDI controllers for musicians, producers, DJs and other music creators. Each model is less than 13 inches across and weighs less than a pound to easily fit into a laptop case, backpack or messenger bag for extreme portability.
The LPD8 is based on Akai Professional’s MPC line of iconic music product stations. While the smallest model, the MPC500 is quite portable, many producers prefer to work with software on their computer and the LPD8 gives their laptop the controls they prefer over a mouse and keyboard. The LPD8 has eight blue light-up pads that are velocity sensitive for programming rhythmic or melodic parts. The pads can also send program-change information to software. The LPD8 also has eight assignable Q-Link knobs to which users can assign virtually any parameters in their software for hands-on control.
The LPK25 is a scaled-down relative to the MPK series of keyboard performance controllers. The diminutive keyboard is made up of 25 miniature, velocity-sensitive keyboard keys with synth action. The LPK25 contains an arpeggiator, which steps through chords automatically, assisting musicians with creating quick melodic ideas. Sustain, octave up and down and tap tempo controls round out the LPK25’s easy-to-learn layout.
Each controller works plug and play with Mac and PC and requires no software driver installation or wall power for operation. Both the LPD8 and LPK25 have four memory banks for programming and recalling settings appropriate to different software programs they use.
“Today’s music is in constant evolution, and that requires the tools for music creation to evolve similarly,” said Adam Cohen, Director of Business Development, Akai Professional. “The computer has entrenched itself as the new core of the music studio, and we are now seeing more live performance with computers than ever before. The LPD8 and LPK25 are the perfect extensions of the computer for making music in any setting.”
Although Lexicon made its name with high-end digital reverb units, it’s branched out in recent years. The Ionix range of three desktop-friendly audio interfaces is the company’s latest offering – they’re all designed to sit between your computer keyboard and monitor.
New from Lexicon is the Ionix series of audio interfaces, which comprises four products that should appeal to DAW users of almost all levels and budgets.
First off is the FW810S, an eight-input, ten-output rackmountable Firewire device with a bit of a difference. On board, each input channel has a full Dbx hardware channel strip, comprising a mic preamp, EQ, a gate, a compressor and a limiter. There’s also a bundle of Lexicon reverbs, which lets you get decent sounds out of the box without relying on pricey plug-ins or additional outboard gear.
The FW810S’s front panel hosts gain controls for all eight input channels, plus separate knobs for controlling the headphones and main outputs. There’s also a bank of LEDs that give visual feedback on the status of the dynamics processors and the input levels, while a pair of combi jack/XLR sockets give easy access to two of the inputs. The remainder of the input ports are on the rear panel, also on combi jack/XLRs, with balanced outputs on quarter-inch jack. MIDI and stereo S/PDIF inputs and outputs also feature.
Also in the Ionix range are three desktop (non-rackmountable) audio interfaces, which use USB 2.0 to connect to the host computer. All three are cleverly designed with a slanting front panel, on which reside level meters and controls for adjusting the level of the inputs and outputs.
The most basic and affordable of these is the U22, a simple two-input device. The mid-range model, the U42S, can record six inputs simultaneously (two analogue and two digital), while the U82S is capable of recording eight analogue and two digital inputs simultaneously.
All three U-prefixed models have a MIDI input and output and stereo line-level and headphones outputs, with the U42S and U82S benefitting from S/PDIF connectivity, dedicated instrument inputs and an additional headphones output.
