Introducing … the polyphonic theremin!

The newly announced Tempest digitally controlled analog drum machine from Dave Smith instruments looks amazing. I was fortunate enough to speak with Dave Smith himself at their namm both this year. Very nice guy … he even answered my question about how they still manage to acquire curtis chips for production. They apparently have them fabbed custom in batches to make it still possible to use in their new designs. Back to the tempest … it has 6 drum voices with 2 analog oscillators and 2 digital oscillators per voice. The OLED display looks beautiful as well. Watch the video below!

Came across a picture of this artwork … Awesome! The idea is that you would have to walk across the pedals while walking into the gallery, making random pedals turn on and off with a loop playing through them.

I have to say, I don’t often get excited or impressed when Korg, Roland or Yamaha release a new rompler. But, this new Kronos looks amazing. Seems to be the first of it’s class with really nice graphics.

One of the best software 2 track editors out there is DSP quattro from the small Italian software company I3. It’s sometimes overlooked but rivals expensive systems from sonic solutions, etc. I recently had the chance to use it for mastering an album and was amazed at the advanced CD mastering and cross-fading features. It is also handy for applying effects in a mastering chain. It’s just really, really great software. The main engineer Stefano is a great guy to boot!

Analog synths through the Strymon El Capistan!

Ouch! Not like he can’t afford to replace this stuff but some of it will be hard to come by … like the original Way Huge Aqua Puss. Found via twitter

Cool guitar, great voice. Gretsch’s newest endorsee.
Check out her website:www.lyndakay.com