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We Are The Music Makers | Volume One by Various A mighty two-tracker of deepest dub techno and dubby electro. Highly recommeded.

We Are The Music Makers | Volume One by Various Snappy IDM breakbeats and electro with some nasty acid twists and turns. Recommeded.

We Are The Music Makers | Volume One by Various Crunchy, skittery, glitchy, and melodic IDM. Recommended.

The four Pulse EPs are amazing, I'm still caning them at parties and people come up to the booth with stars in their eyes yelling "WHAT!!! IS!!! THIS!!!". Indo Tribe's Owl (from Pulse Three) is my personal favourite. @purlieu do you know if the tracks have been remastered?

We Are The Music Makers | Volume One by Various Vince Clarke's first ever solo album. Looking forward to hearing the rest of it, out on November 17th.

Do you research gear you're interested in, and if you do, how do you do it? How do you make the decision to buy something or not? How do you compare alternatives? (These are sincere questions, I really want to know what's your approach.)

We Are The Music Makers | Volume One by Various Yay, Bandcamp embeds are working again, although they're a bit weird in the stream article previews. Thanks @Joyrex .

It's imperatively impressive how @Detuned has brought forth (again) many of the artists from an equally impressive era thirty years ago, where at the apogee were compilations like The Philosophy Of Sound And Machine and Objets D'Art. B12, Nuron, As One, Future/Past, Stasis, Kosmik Kommando, Terrace, Humanoid... all the DE:10 releases/compilations, not forgetting LA Synthesis' Agraphobia (Relapse) - all the while breathing fresh air into the sound, not just riding on the coattails of nostalgia. Absolutely one of the most important contemporary electronic music labels I can think of. Thank you for all the work, and the music.

@Joyrex could we please have the Bandcamp embed back in one form or another?

Polyend Tracker Firmware 1.7.0

If your comment was a general one, you didn't have to quote my previous comment at all, let alone in full - but as you did quote my comment, a long one, in full, it's difficult not to interpret that you're replying directly to me. Yes, I overreacted, and I apologize I flash-banged at your vagueness.

Do you mean that I compensate a lack of skill and creativity with equipment quantity? Or that I'm one of those poor people who suffer from GAS in the way that they think that if I just get that one more piece of kit I'll be able to do what I want? If you answer yes to either or both of my questions, you'd be wrong, and flaunting theoretical superiority in the vein of "it's not how big it is, it's how you use it." But it's also a skill to know how to choose the right tool for the job. I'm not deluding myself that owning a large number of instruments and other equipment makes me a better musician; I'm simply testing both the equipment itself and what it can do for me. None of it is magical in a GAS context, I just need to actually, physically try the instruments and other equipment out. I'm also teaching myself the ins and outs of different kinds of synths, different approaches to synthesis, different workflows and ways of controlling different aspects of the electronic music making process. I have a classical musical education, I play several traditional instruments, but electronic hardware instruments and other paraphernalia are still relatively new to me, but yeah, I could do a lot with just a Volca Drum, it's amazingly versatile for a box that small, and I love it, but I also love what the Hydrasynth has to offer. I've been working as a computer programmer for 30+ years, and I'm also a tech enthusiast. I make music with the equipment I have, but I also love delving into the depths of mod matrices, CC and NRPN tables and how to peruse them, how I can patch, sequence, and program the devices to do things that I find interesting. I'm also neurodivergent, so spending hours and hours tinkering is my idea of a really good time. You completely missed the point of my previous message and made what seemed to me a direct effort to show smug superiority by indirectly classifying me as musically unskilled because I have a lot of gear. I hope it made you happy.

Seems interesting, but it's software.

As many of you have noted, I've spent an inordinate amount of time and money researching and acquiring hardware for reasons I've already explained in the GAS thread. It's actually very hard to make an informed decision about any piece of kit without getting your hands on them, trying them out for haptics and affordances, things that are impossible to deduce from tutorial and review videos, which can give you the nuts and bolts, basic sounds, workflow, and other more abstract things. I need to get the unit in my hands, feel my way around the layout, see, hear, and feel the interactivity between me and the technology - how I gel with it and what it provides. Most people would have maxed out already - I have about 70 pieces of kit, from eurorack modules to bulky analog drum machines and desktop synths - and I think I'm very close to my saturation point, too; I think I'll start culling the superfluous soon, but there are some that I know I won't get rid of unless absolutely necessary. Up until now, I've been a maximalist, because my target environment is DAWless and I even record to a dedicated hardware device, currently 1010music's Bluebox - if I need three different monosynth sounds, I need to use three different monosynths. I'm addicted to sequencers, and I have more than I'll ever need, but one has risen above the lot: OXI One, with the addition of OXI Split (giving me 3x16 channels of MIDI) and OXI Pipe (eurorack extension that uses HDMI to get the CV/gate out/ins directly into the rack) - it's an amazing sequencer with features up the wazoo, and it's regularly updated with new bells and whistles. In Second place is Squarp Pyramid combined with Hermod, which can be connected with a simple USB cable to use Hermod as an eurorack extension w/ 8x gate/CV outputs and 4x CV inputs to Pyramid and everything done from there (although Hermod is a brilliant eurorack sequencer even without being subservient to Pyramid). I recently got my hands on a pre-built Westlicht Per|former, an open-source (both hardware and firmware) eurorack sequencer with layers of unique features in a combination that's rarely found in similar gear - but as I got it yesterday, they jury's still out. IDGAF about analog vs. digital, OG vs. clone, I'm looking for sound, feel, applicability, and fun. Sometimes the simplest pieces of kit are the most fun, because what you see is what you get - like a Vermona DRM MK3, or Behringer TD-3. Sometimes I want to get lost in the minutiae of absolute control, with an ASM Hydrasynth or Novation Peak - or even with something that's a combination of both hands-on and menu diving like Behringer's Deepmind 12D. I've sat in front of my computer fudging with DAWs, mainly FL Studio, and compared to dedicated hardware it just seems lacklustre - I think the experience could be heightened with a stack of AKAI Fire controllers or Novation's FLKey 37/48/61 - but currently I prefer the company of non-DAW pieces of kit. I think I should start to move from my (many) small pieces loosely joined philosophy towards (few) big things tightly coupled, meaning I should dump Volcas, Roland compacts, 1010music Nanoboxes, most Sonicwares etc. and replace them with things like Access Virus TI2 desktop, Vermona Perfourmer, and SOMA Pulsar 23 - to make less more. Recently I've been working with my modular setup, and having everything right there in front of you at hand's reach is just... right. The biggest hindrance to me culling the hoard is that having got to know all of the pieces I know each and every one has (sometimes unique within the set of what I have) potential, and letting go of that potential is hard. I know restricting yourself to a strict subset of equipment can spark creativity easier than going to a state of analysis paralysis via the paradox of choice (too many choices make people default to what they know or what is familiar to them) when the mood or need to extract music from the mind arises, so it's usually beneficial to have a defined subset of equipment that responds to most of the requirements of the things you want to accomplish. I'm still looking for that subset, and it's personally advantageous that I have enough discretionary funds to feed my personal test programn with regular infusions of new kit to try out. It could go towards worse things, like recreational drugs, but I currently prefer it that way. Sooner or later, something's got to give, and I'll let go of most of the things I know I won't use. But that time is not now, and I'll try to restrain myself and not overload the GAS thread with on-fire enthusiasm about new boxes that go plonk, thunk, bleep, whirr, or eki eki eki ta pang (unless I want a shrubbery).

Above Board Projects follows up their re-release of Megalon's Pandora's Box album with a Collected EPs series, part 1 already out on vinyl. Previews over at Juno. Highly recommended.

Here's a recent Resident Advisor article on Micay.

All of the first three have their grand moments, Scott/Alien, Cameron/Aliens, Fincher/Alien³. Jeunet/Resurrection is not bad, there are redeeming qualities to it, The Predator crossovers are passingly watchable, and I don't hate Prometheus nor Covenant, there's plenty of bulk sci-fi that's even worse, but in the continuity context of the franchise, they're not bad at expanding the universe. I have a long-time affinity to all things Alien, I think I have about 80 % of the comics ever published, and even some of the prose compendiums, so you could say I'm a fan, so I won't be able to hate anything that comes out of that particular universe.

One of my Torso T-1's plastic knobs broke (just the cap, not the pot); contacted Torso customer service, and they delivered a set of 8 spare knobs, free, DHL'd here in two days. I even said I had a second-hand unit, but they handled it regardless with 7/5 quality. Joy.

Out now.

I didn't even know about Micay until I heard him on the Industry OST (S1, S2), interesting series, great OST. I like this new album, too.

Modern Cathedrals has some of this, and now defunct Stroboscopic Artefacts might be worth checking out.

Mastering aside, it still blows me away how good these albums are, and I'm sort of envious towards people who get to experience them for the first time. Tracks like Psil-Cosyin are mind-meltingly great, pre-split Black Dog material is just superb, post-split I've been much more into Plaid than Black Dog. I also think that my penchant for electronic music with polymeters and syncopation originates from BDP/Plaid.

Bola. The 7th Plain. Nev. Beaumont Hannant. CiM.