Peff's Online Journal - Stuff going on in my life.

TXT:: I've been busy with stuff...unfortunately, Polar has been delayed until I finish. I may put the unfinished version on the computer controlled ftp. It's probably no secret what I'm up to ;-) Yep you guess it...I'm playing with my new system!

While I've been fooling around with stuff, I ran across a cool little finder feature in the help center. The horizontal application switcher bar (like a task bar on windows). This isn't like one of those apps which gives you a taskbar simulation on MacOS. So feel free to download the script and use the app bar switcher. There's a compiled executable and the uncompiled applescript in the stuffit. Click on the image to download the archive:

TXT:: Got a new system...yep I sure did - even though OS X isn't coming installed on new G4s. I just picked up a nice warm fuzzy Power Mac G4/450 dual processor. I thought I was going to pick up a little cube for Mom, and trade her for her single 400, but while shopping I was talking to this guy who said that two that he has at work, actually cracked :-( It's some kind of strange design flaw. If you lay a cube down on it's side and jar it a little too hard, the acrylic layer will crack... So I said to myself...screw that idea.

I'm also a little peeved with Fry's Electronics. This is the first time they've given me such a difficult time when making a purchase with a check. Apparently my check for the new system was approved really quickly without a request for a password verification from a manager, and the sales people freaked. So the store manager relays a message through a sub sales department manager saying that they will "deliver" the computer in three days when the check clears. I replied. That's 5 days you mean, it's Thursday today. I was a little pissed since the manager could see the record of what I've purchased from them. If I wasn't so distracted by the attractive derriere on the Russian sales girl, I would have really been pissed.

Yes, I ended up paying for the system on my credit card and now, I'm a happy camper...except for reinstalling all the damn software.

TXT:: Opening day of the World Series 2000...Go Yankees! Sorry Mets fans, but I have a personal bias for the bronx bombers. Corrine and Don Larsen (Pitched the Perfect Game in the 1956 World Series Game 5 for the Yankees) are old family friends. Even though I'm not a huge baseball fan, it's hard not to be caught up in the hysteria of the subway series. I'm a former New Yorker, so this World Series is a little bit nostalgic, and it's quite surreal to see Don out there throwing the First Pitch for this historic game.

RBM:: Dammit...More sample changes to Polar.rbm! I think I've been spending too much time on it - however, it's sounding pretty damn good. The Demo song is really taking shape now.

TXT:: The left Genelec has been acting up, it sounds like a bad solder trace or something but I couldn't isolate the problem. Every once in awhile, the tweeter would go out and the woofer would go out of phase. If I tapped on the monitor, the tweeter would crackle and the problem would occur. There are probably some bad capacitors, but it was obviously something on the circuit board.

I ordered and received a new amplifier circuit for the monitor then popped it in. The Problem is solved, but I think the Left monitor is slightly brighter than the right one now. It was really annoying because a heavy push of the low frequencies would vibrate the monitor enough to cause the monitor to crackle. Now I can crank them back up :-)

RBM:: I was futzing around with Csound and came up with a few tones that simply must go into polar. I'm also replacing one of the kicks with a new TR-909 sample that came as the recommendation from Case... These changes are rather minor and wont effect things too much. The demo is almost done :-)

TXT:: Well, I had a nice time meeting up with Casey and his wife, Tania. The Joan of Arc show was interesting. I was a bit confused and it turns out that Casey wasn't performing, he was doing sound reinforcement for the band. However, Tania, did perform with some backing tracks that Casey produced. Also performing was Oval (from Berlin, Germany) who had an interesting set using a powerbook, waldorf Microwave II/XT and E-mu Launch Pad controller -- Oval did some seriously hardcore wacked out textural abstract stuff.

I learned something new this weekend. There seems to be a bunch of PowerBook Jockeys out there doing live performances (i need to get out more). The PB Jockey in Joan of Arc, Jeremy Boyle, gave me a copy of his CD, Songs from the Guitar Solos. It's an interesting listen but the production technique is pretty innovative. He's taken parts of solo guitar from rock legends and pieced them together in various ways into different compositions.

As i'm typing this, i'm rendering and listening to various Csound compositions. I finally picked up a copy of Dr. Richard Boulanger's, "The Csound Book" which comes with the application and tutorials and example files. This doesn't mean i'm going to start doing hardcore Csound work, I was just curious to see what it's all about. From a brief look, this has to be the most powerful synthesis system on the planet, but it's probably the most difficult to use. I'm hearing some amazing stuff though, and the DSP possibilities seem pretty much limitless. Something very interesting is that the Csound team worked with Analog Devices - probably in the development of the popular SHARC chip. You learn something new everyday.

MP3:: Sometimes Things just don't go quite right when i make tracks. I'm sure a lot of fellow musicians know exactly what i mean. So for $#!ts and giggles, i've posted up a bunch of "B-Side" tracks at the bottom of my MP3.com page. These are track ideas which never really manifested into complete works. Quite a few were just extemporaneous musical jams where i had various pattern sequences jamming at the same time while i mixed and tweaked them - others are fairly elaborate arrangements that were more or less exploratory projects. Anyways, it's good for a laugh to see what it sounds like when things go badly for me!

RBM:: Polar (a1).rbm is now available from the Computer Controlled FTP server. This is the old old old version i started months ago. The Interface is unfinished and the sample set is different from the version which will be submitted to the official propellerheads archive.

The official Polar.rbm has been posted to a select few users while i finish up the demo song. Thanks for the feedback!

PLUG:: My friend, Casey Rice, will be in the SF Bay Area this coming weekend performing in the group Joan of Arc at the Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco. I'll probably be there to catch the Friday Night show, and possibly the Saturday Night Show at UC Santa Cruz. So If you don't have plans, mark your calendar and come to the show which starts about 10:00p.m. Oh and Casey if you read this, bring some wet weather gear it might be raining when you get here (but you're from chicago, so you know what real cold feels like)

TXT:: My ears are recovering from getting blasted by the Blue Angels yesterday. A friend of a friend invited me out on their yacht to cruise the SF Bay and watch the U.S. Navy Air Acrobatic team perform over San Francisco. Because of the weather conditions the Angels performed really close to sea level. A few of them flew within 100 meters and the roar from the jet engines was ear piercing. I didn't expect them to fly so close, nor did I bring my ear plugs. Thanks Jason, Rick & Mel - the trip was a blast!

For People who are new to using ReBirth, here's a great page with a detailed introduction to using the application: OnlineDJ

RBM:: The old sample set for polar will go online this week. This is the one with the distorted 909 sample set. The Interface is partially complete, and the sample set is completely different from the latest version that will be submitted to the offical ReBirth Mod Archive. Check back here or scan the Computer Controlled FTP server.

MP3:: MP3.com has been giving a fellow ReBirther, emil nitrate, some grief about the samples in one my mods--specifically, xt4c.rbm. I've e-mailed them and they requested that I fax in a licensing agreement. So I've drafted up a little licensing agreement for future reference if this matter occurs in the future.

If anyone else has problems with the sample police at MP3.com, e-mail me. Please note that some of the mods do have, "questionable" samples, and I wont endorse the use of these mods for a song. I need to hear the mp3 (not just the RBS file) before I commit to this. Also, you need to be registered with Propellerheads software. Get your serial number and set up a profile on their website. Sorry to have to be this way, but I'm just protecting my liability should legal matters arise.

MP3.com has been hurt enough with their own stupid mistakes with the MY.MP3.COM and Beam-IT software. It's justified that they take every precaution to not violate any more intellectual property laws. Respect their boundaries! In turn, They will respect your participation and protect your songs should someone try to plagiarize your work!

I finally received a package of swedish fermented herring, surstršmming. Thanks again Jonas - i'll let you know if it explodes. The cans are really bulging and look like they're going to blow any second.

RBM:: I've settled down and started a demo track for the mod. The last few graphics changes have been made and now it's just a matter of recompiling the mod with the demo song. I've been tempted to make some drastic sample set changes to the 808, but i had better not. All the people helping me along with testing it have downloaded in excess of 60 megs of rbm files and It's about time to finish it up.

TXT:: I'm just excited to hear that my neighbors (sorta), the Harrison Brothers, Alvin and Calvin, won gold in the 4x400m Relay!

RBM:: Divine_Radiance --- you were right. the 909 needed a little bit more of a kick :-) It's still not a techno sounding sample set, but i tweaked the eq and harmonic content of the kick drums and the basses to give a little more umph on the low end. Thanks

TXT:: The Computer Controlled Hotline server went down again...Damn unreliable unix build. I've emailed [email protected] to get the sucker rebooted. The FTP is still working fine though.

Anyone who has music posted on MP3.com knows about viewer e-mail spam. Every artist and station manager there gets tons of it. One of my guilty pleasures is posting up all the spam on a station. It's not neecessary to download any of this music, just check out the ridiculous messages some people send me.

TXT:: I've been given access to set file permissions on the computer controlled ftp server, so now I can serve up stuff off of there to this site again-- fun stuff like the following quicktime movie :)

WAV:: More samples now online. The remainder of those Theremin Samples (not the entire 700 megs) and some stuff I created using a Juno-106 and the sherman filterbank. I thought i might be able to use the juno samples in Polar.rbm, but they just didn't work.

MP3:: Here's that MP3 i mentioned before where i spent 10+ minutes tweaking one TB-303 pattern and one TR-909 pattern - big file 9,904K! It's long and kinda Boooooorrrrrriiiinnnngguh :-/

trancelooped.mp3 (9.6Mb)

Also, I received an e-mail from Don Slepian, a friend who has finally put his music up on MP3.com. He's a fantastic player and a serious eletronics guru. Some of you may remember (or may even still use) the old Ensoniq Mirage 8 bit sampler. Don is the man who published those circuit modifications to decrease the noise level on the output. He has some other really wild modifications for the Mirage - including the stereo Mirage! He's really ahead of his time when it comes to a lot of this electronic music stuff--so if you're interested, visit Don's MP3.com page to get in touch with him.

Hmm did i hear someone Balk when i said 8 bit sampler? Beleive it or not the Mirage really has a PHAT sound for a digital sampler and it's great for getting those crunchy Lo-Fi sounds in your production.

TXT:: I just flipped on the olympics (rebroadcast for the PST Zone) and caught the women's gymnastics and what did i hear - some kind of techno remix being used to perform floor exercises for a Romanian Gymnast! I couldn't tell if it was ReBirth but from the swing of the hats and the compression of the kick, it sounded like a real TR-909 loop under a big band swing tune (popular, but i don't know the name).

Could this be a new trend? I sure hope so - Perhaps a little drum 'n bass in Salt Lake City or Athens:-)

Addendum: Another Gymnast used the drum 'n bass-ish version of a certain Movie or TV show theme (MI2? The Saint? -- ack my memory is off, but i think it was Orbital's version of the theme to the Saint)

TXT:: I've Added those navigation bar buttons - yeah i know, it's kinda boring... I've been putting off rollovers for as long as possible. I thought those style sheets would work but there are just too many variables when it comes to windows fonts.

RBM:: Thanks to Jackplug, I've found the perfect last sound for Polar. a wum wum Roland Square Wave bass with some fuzzy filtered distortion and slow LFO modulation.

TXT:: Projects in the real world have been distracting me from finishing up the damn mod. Some is work related, but the big one is finishing up projects i've blown off for almost a decade. Better late than never i suppose :-/

TXT:: Over the past few days, I've had the opportunity to view the website on various Windows machines. I realize now that the Navigation bar just doesn't work consistently on every machine with every browser - so i guess i'll have to convert it to a graphic/rollover thingy.

RBM:: I think I had better just release Polar before I make any more changes. It's very close, and even though i'm not totally satisfied with it, I think it's pretty good. -- then again maybe not. BT's expect an RC4 in the near future. Amen Kick on the 909 SD4 slot and some new 808 samples-- jack, you'll like these changes.

RBx:: UltraTweak™ RBS patterns are now available! These song mode loops tweak the Waveform switch around on 16th and 32nd note intervals and create some timbral enhancements to the 303 bassline patterns.

TXT:: The Text Navigation Bar (look up) has been changed. All ReBirth Related information is now on the RBx page. A complete set of Ultrapan™ RBS files is archived there, along with the ellusive PlaySamp.rbs which has a dead link on the computer controlled website.

TXT:: New Bulletin Board added to the site. I've always wanted to implement this feature, and finally, i've done it. Hopefully there wont be any severe problems :)

Damn...only 300 megs left on the hard drives.... Time to burn some backups...All that recording of new samples sucked it up...oh and that little trance excursion i took on friday - over 10minutes of stereo audio data of me tweaking the 303 and 909 in realtime. I don't quite understand the concept of 'Trance' so I kept asking a few people in Chat to explain it to me. All i can say is that trance takes a certain amount of skill and talent which i seriously lack. Apparently there's no clear cut definition of the style since each artist seems to create a new derivation of it.

REASON:: Man, if you haven't seen the new Redrum Close up on the propellerheads site - go there NOW! This makes me think of chucking the old MPC-3000 out the window... (Not!) I really dig this new feature that Tage Added to the site, the Reason Watch which shows the progress of the project:

RBM:: Polar is beyond beta 11 now. I think it's just about done. I'm still waiting for feedback from people. If you have it, please post up comments on the board. Thanks!

Addendum: Polar [v](rc3).rbm is on the CC hotline server for the beta testers. Please do a close comparision between RC2 and RC3 and let me know which you like better. The samples are identical, but there is a subtle difference in the dithering on the drums and a slight amount of ambience has been mixed with most of the samples.

TXT:: Before anyone assumes anything about this journal entry, Please DO NOT ASK ME FOR RB CRACKS.

years ago Someone had told me that I was mentioned in a so called "Addon Pack Text File". I have recently come acrossed it (I use Macs so to me, radium is a radioactive element on the periodic table discovered by the Curies ;-)

Anyways, Thank You guys for crediting me in the .nfo file. That was very considerate!

RBM:: I'm still at Beta 6 with Polar. I tried to tweak some of the samples, but the results didn't work out quite right so beta 7 didn't make it up. The first of two demo clips of the New Polar Mod sample set is online. Note that the drums are ReBirth Patterns - not loops incorporated into RB Patterns:

TXT:: Picked up a new Apple Pro Mouse for Mom's G4 today (actually i received it - they were back ordered). It's quite nice! A huge improvement over the old "Puck". It's pretty amazing how they did that with the optical sensor :-)

I'm still waiting to see OS X running on a G4 with all my favorite Audio Applications before i even consider upgrading and retiring my old 8500.

RBM:: The Niftywerks Computer Controlled FTP is back online :-) Mods are available for download along with all of the other files on the server. Please queue your transfers and don't hog up all the bandwidth. (like asking this will really make a difference...) The server is assigned a new location:

Polar (Beta 6) is up in my drop box on the hotline server. If you have access, please check it out - or not since (Beta 7) should be up in about 6 hours. All of the snares have been redone and I've added some Fairlight (vintage digital sampler - no i don't own one, i just have the samples) Choir samples into the 808 - these add nice ambient textures which complement the drums.

RBM:: Polar graphics are almost done. I've spent a better part of the weekend immersed in the graphics and now i'm going back over all the little details. The 909 samples are pretty much locked in, but the interface looks a little bland. It needs some adornments. I need to go back over the 808 sample set. Thanks to everyone for giving me feedback on the samples. I've been taking all recommendations to heart and making several drastic changes.

New MP3 audio samples of Polar will be online soon featuring the new sample set.

RBS:: Introducing Ultrapan™ Stereo Effects for ReBirth RB-338! I posted up Ultrapan™ 303a to the Propellerheads song archive. This is the hack which pans the top 303 hard left to hard right on 32nd note intervals. Feel free to copy and paste this hack into your tracks. At very high tempo, it creates a cool stereo effect. Future Ultrapan™ song patterns will be available for each of the pan controls in ReBirth. I'll also post some rough explaination of how to hack this yourself, but there are no guarantees since RBS files are sensitive when it comes to their data. Also, ultrapan hasn't been tested in a full ReBirth Song yet. So I'm not sure what will happen when the file becomes heavy with data. I do know that ReBirth Cannot handle a large file - I tested this out a long time ago where every control is tweaked on every step for 999 bars. ReBirth 2 choked :(

RBM:: Picking up where i left off on polar has been going pretty smoothly with one exception - The few people who've had a chance to preview it have certain comments about the sample set - so i'm changing it. You can especially thank JackPlug for making me stop while i was in the middle of doing graphics. He wanted me to hear his amazing track, Nocturnal! So I took a break and listened. After hearing this track and getting some comments from others, sound set will be delayed indefinitely. Thanks for the feedback guys!

As far as progress goes, all of the knobs are done - a major task! I didn't like the way the 303 keyboard interface was looking so I've redone it and need to complete the buttons and lamps and titles.

TXT:: I've got a new e-mail account set up now. The old ones are still active (and probably will be forever or until the web decides to die out) [email protected] . So...you can update your address book or not

This site has been moved to the new box which also hosts the computer controlled ftp/hotline server -- there should be a significant improvement on speed.

RBS:: I've been looking inside RBS files and experiemented with some interesting code level hacks. Once i get around to putting together a little package, I'll make these song mode effects available. Users can cut and paste these effects into their RBS tracks. -- but not until i've made a few tracks with them first :-p

TXT:: My cat is really funny. She jumped up on the desk and started tweaking knobs :-) I have a new assistant. I managed to cap some video of this funny occurance. I'll compress it and make it available when all the servers are working properly again.

I cleaned up the files on the site...man that was a pain. I didn't realize how much crap i've uploaded into the server and how disorganized it had become.

The Mouser Electronics Catalog came today, and I ordered some things that i need to do make some Mods on the Theremin. Actually i have most of the parts, i just needed some connectors so that the modification can be easily removed. I also finally ordered some more XLR connectors and some shrink tubing :-)

303:: I've changed the 1 pattern chart. I heisted the official Roland Logo and the original TB303 Label from the manual and applied it to the chart. It looks pretty slick now. I've also added Pattern Group/Pattern Section details.

MP3:: New Track (actually a remake of an old track) went online. "Profane" is Hell's foyer cut in half. The second half of that track really bothered me. Now it's just industrial sounding ambient grinding wierdness. Portions created with the Polar Mod (still in development)

TXT:: Spent the day hunting down rogue tags in the site. I've decided to reroute traffic to the new pages anyways. AOL Browser doesn't recognize the centering behavior the way NS and IE do, but i figured out the problem on that one. BBEdit to the rescue!

Hopefully people will drop me a line with screenshots on what's messing up on what browser. The funniest one has been Larry B's Netscape 5 shot with the Times Roman font coming up in the navigation frame :-)

Browsed the site in 16k colors to see what gifs didn't match the background color. I think i fixed all of those

W.de: You are right about the green thing. I've changed the background colors to a lighter shade. I'm getting the feeling that it's a little too pale now--damn old PowerBook screen is not color accurate. The color banners were too stark, so i changed their tones to be less obtrusive as per your recommendation. Thanks

LB.cz: I tried to recreate some of the old pages from the previous sites. There's a link to each of the nostalgia pages now. That too was a good idea. Thanks!

WAV:: I guess Bjorn has been busy with stuff and hasn't had time to put those Theramin Samples online yet at analoguesamples.com. I've put a few of the archives on my webserver for those of you itching to use them :-)

303:: Late Night/Early Morning Addendum! emphatic's Project 303 submission has been added to the archive! AIFF and REX formats.

TXT:: The site is coming along...Thanks for all the help from everyone (especially those windows users) who have been helping me troubleshoot the funky HTML rendering on various browsers. All i can say is that I'm disappointed with netscape :-(

TXT:: I'm making some decent progress with the new site. Thanks to everyone for the feedback, and to Digacx for the HTML advice!

MP3:: Live Knob Tweaking Alert! This is a little impromptu piece I threw down while fiddling with the vocoder and stuff. A Drum Pattern from the MPC is modulating the vocoder and a TB-303 pattern is modulating the filter cutoff (pcf type of effect) while I played some dramatic chords on the Juno-106. Then the fun begins when i start tweaking the knobs around to alter the timbre of the sound. This was all recorded in one pass.

TXT:: This site is slowly going through a transformation. If you haven't already noticed, I've implemented some style sheets and such. I'm working on a new design, but I like the efficiency of the current design. Still the site needs some new life. Click on the Image in the Top frame to see some of the new ideas :-)

TXT:: Computer Controlled Hotline Server is back online. You can access the new server for chat and RBS & RBM transfer at the following address:

The FTP server and other services are not online yet. Thanks to everyone at Niftywerks for their support with the underground ReBirth Mod scene!

MP3:: Okay, I received yet another toy :-) a Moog™ Etherwave Theremin from Big Briar! It's a very unique musical instrument and quite difficult to play. You can hear the noise I made with it the moment I plugged it in:

Right now i've got is running through a vocoder and generating some really cool effects. I've also opened it up to check out the circuitry. The cool part is that it came with some schematics for building customized modifications for the theremin - i'm looking into adding CV outputs to control other devices :)

Some advice to other Theremin users: adding a Filter device like the Moogerfooger pedal or similar device with an envelope follower adds a lot of character to the rather plain sound of the Theremin. Distortion/Overdrive pedals add some interesting character to the sound as well. You can hear what I mean in the audio example above.

I've also digitized some samples of the theremin and submitted them to Analoguesamples.com. The 16bit 44.1Khz WAV files should be online in a few days. Feel free to use them in your productions :-)

LNK:: I've added a list of Links to all sorts of stuff each related to this site or my studio. [Click Here]

TXT:: More DOWNTIME! The Niftywerks - Computer Controlled - Hotline and FTP server will be offline for another week or so. The Server is being upgraded and all the files are being transferred to a new box. Currently the box is hosted on the Niftywerks Office in Portland, Maine. The new server will be shipped out to a colo site in Atlanta, Georgia. Hopefully there will be fewer problems with server reliability, and people will still be able to transfer their ReBirth Mods and chat via Hotline.

Sorry about the inconvenience. Check back here for updates on the server status :-)

TXT:: DOWNTIME! I've dismantled everything to install a new workstation desk. So Things will be down for awhile. It's a cool desk though. I should have some images when it's finished :)

Keyboard:: The Online support files are Missing the the JPG images mentioned in the article. Until the Keyboard Online files are updated, you can download the Mod Component ZIP archive which includes the 12522.jpg and 12565.jpg images for use with ModPacker. Use Winzip (PC)or Stuffit Expander (MacOS) to extract the files - but you probably already know this :-)

Keyboard:: The Article is actually posted at Keyboard Online along with the support files. So you can read it now and listen to the example RBS files :-)

MP3:: I took the new edit of e-priori, and exported various parts to audio files. I then imported the AIFF files into Pro Tools and took a crack at a new mixdown of it. This is the 317 BPM version I recently posted.

Some details about how i did this: Since there are several different types of samples used, I created different RBS files for different parts. One file is drums, one is the top 303 melody, one with the second 303 melody, one with the Wavetable samples, one with the upright bass samples, etc. Most parts were converted from stereo to mono.

Instead of rendering the delay effects on the 303 lines, I copied and pasted the line to a second track then offset the audio by a dotted quarter note. The first 303 line is similar except I used 2 copies of it rather 1. Each of the second tracks is offset to different steps (dotted half and dotted quater note). The drums were compressed a bit, and eq'd. The upright bass is compressed, and i added some reverb to the pad sounds. The wavetable track was duplicated and offset by 17ms (this creates a cool little chorusing effect without DSP) and panned the tracks L and R.

blah...blah...blah... you can still tell it was created on ReBirth, but the mix is a bit cleaner so you can hear each element more distinctly. There are some things i need to fix though. Bad Zero Crossings are causing pops and the intro wavetables have a funny glitch when the PCF cutoff makes a sudden shift.

I finally picked up a copy of the July 2000 issue of Keyboard, read through it, and low and behold they made some edits (suprisingly very few) but there's a typo in the first line which was a mistake of the editors--NOT MINE! It should read, "Propellerheads ReBirth." It was, however, my mistake for leaving out "Propellerheads Software" to begin with. There are supposed to be support RBS files available, however the Keyboard magazine website wont be updated until tomorrow. They even used the graphics I made up for the meter charts!

What? You Still haven't checked out my article on ReBirth in the July 2000 issue of Keyboard Magazine!!!? no big dealio, I haven't either :-)

TXT:: o.i.n.k. (Mr. ReConstruct Mod) got me to hook into Rocket Network. It's the networking software where Logic Audio users or Cubase Audio VST users can collaborate on projects together. We're tinkering around with a little project using ReBirth Beats and some 303 lines i tossed in on the fly. If you want to check out what we're up to, download the Rocket Logic Audio and Rocket Controller software. If you're having problems e-mail o.i.n.k. since it's his job to fix to help you get set up :)

The project we're collaborating on is in the Public Techno Studio on Harmony-Central, and it's called "dumb beat". Actually some others added some pads and stuff to it and it's sounding pretty cool :-) Perhaps the propellerheads will make Reason Rocket powered as well - now that would be cool :-)

TXT:: I've just been informed that Keyboard Magazine has published my article with 10 Hot ReBirth Tips. I haven't seen it yet (no subscription). I added some of my best tricks in there :-) Including suggestions on writing 32step patterns, 3/4 meter songs, the "Plucked 303" ala Can of Vibe trick, pitch tuning, and several techniques using the delay.

303:: All of the TB-303 loops have been ReCycle!'d. I've tested them out and some sound glitchy because I didn't slice them on precise zero crossings. The TB-303 waveforms are pretty dramatic and I opted to slice them between notes rather than on zero crossings. Next time, i'll try something different to get them less glitchy. I've also added a new pattern/sample/REX archive from Koen "F-NUL" Heldens from the Netherlands.

RBS:: I made some changes to the Red Stripe Mod Demo track, e-priori. I decreased the tempo down to 317bpm and fixed a few funny sounding drum hits in the patterns. I also tweaked some of the levels that seemed a little too hot. I almost forgot how much fun ReBirth is with all this other stuff going on. It's available on the RBS page here or on the Propellerheads Song Archive.

Attn: Jackplug, I've picked up work on that RSDNB file again. So who knows I might have something finished soon--unfortunately it's spawned a few new ideas for the Redstripe Mod :-)

303:: Niklas Hjelm Smith's First Project 303 Pattern has been transcribed to the TB-303 and tracked. I'm used my custom Neve D.I. input to record this one. It gives a little more coloration to the sample which is not quite as bright as the other samples, but a little more musical sounding. This 303 sample is the first to be introduced as an REX file for Cubase users. This will also be handy for Alkali Users and REASON users through the Dr. REX module.

Addendum: Ok, so i managed to finish both of Niklas' Project 303 submissions as well as a few other REX archives today :-) Enjoy!

MP3:: I received a New Remix of Visions Peace of Mind Remix from mp3.com artist DJ Savage. I dig the effect that he did with Buchla Flute sequence. This remix is has a definite sonic collage feel, and there are some nice moments in it. I wish the timing was tighter, but the audio quality is quite good :-)

These creations are all placed on the Visions Remix Page. The samples are still available for anyone interested in trying their hand at remixing the track. I might even give it a try myself... Actually i figured out what I didn't like about the original. The drum groove quantization template I used didn't work with the variations i made with the drums. I need to go back and either re sequence certain drum parts or move them around in Pro Tools.

TXT:: I think i finished up that Remix for Zapruder Red as well. After setting up the monitors again, I listened and found a bunch of problems with it. The sub bass (from the Red Stripe Mod) was throwing some dissonance into the mix so I had to resequence/retrack the audio with the sub bass tuned to the rhodes piano textures. I'm pretty happy with this project. It turned out better than I thought. Everything was tracked into Pro Tools 5.0.1 (the update arrived a few weeks ago). I spent about a month coming up with drum patterns for the remix. Then I did all sorts of twists and turns with the patterns by cutting and splicing them in Pro Tools. It's quite handy for quickly editing narrow slices, drill effects, and reverse loops. :-)

On a bad note. I've been listening to tracks i've posted when I wasn't using my Genelecs. Damn some of them suck. I apologize for making people listen to that crap. I guess that's one of the nice things about rebirth. You don't have to worry about all those little things you can't control.

TXT:: I finally got my monitors back yesterday, so today I can really celebrate my independence from crappy home stereo speakers! Damn those Finnish took forever to do the repairs. Actually it was repaired in the US, but they ordered parts from Finland. I guess everybody over there is obsessed with Football (soccer) and too busy to get anything done.

Since i sent the monitors in, i rearranged my workstation configuration and had to make a couple of new cables for the monitors. I couldn't find any Neutrik 1/4" Phone plugs, so i had to opt for some switchcraft unbalanced ones. The monitors use XLR (F) pin 2+. I used Canare Cable - i have about 100m of a 200m spool left. You never know when you need a custom cable :)

Note to self: Order some more Neutrik TRS 1/4" plugs and some Neutrik XLR M&F connectors.