Monday, 4 March 2019

Keith Flint

Just heard the news that the Prodigy's Keith Flint is dead at 49.




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One of the pioneers of electronic music.

The Prodigy only just toured Australia and by all accounts, the tour was a huge success.
The band's fusion of techno, punk, break-beat and acid was one of my earliest electronic music influences.

Lam Howlett  founded the band back in the early 1990s and he picked Flint to be the bands frontman. Flint scared my parents with his menacing live performances and goulish makeup....and that was part of the attraction. Hopefully this isn't the end of The Prodigy. Howlett's music is synonymous with late 1990's British Electronic music. Along with Fatboy Slim, Orbital and the Chemical Brothers they were the soundtrack of the late 1990's dance culture.

49 years old is way too young.

Moscow pics 2

Some old pics of a trip to Moscow .. back in 1998.

sT Basils






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kREMLIN tOWER

Wedding outside the Kremlin







KGB HQ

The Red Gate









 Peter the Great Statue







 vIEW from my homestay overlooking the Moscow river & Gorky Park.
The Russian Spaceshuttle can be seen through the trees




For more travel postcards click here:

230r - build pics

These are not official build notes.
Just pics to help me trouble shoot any probs should they arise

I'm lucky enough to own a vintage one.
https://djjondent.blogspot.com/2014/06/buchla-230-envelope-follower-tracker.html

This is what a vintage 230 looks like:

The 230r is not a exact copy but functionally works the same.
This new build will find its way into my live performance case I think.

Some pics of the virgin PCB



Trimpots & diodes








Friday, 1 March 2019

SOMA Laboratory - ETHER

SOMA Laboratory presents ETHER

We all know what a radio is, how to use a simple receiver and tune into our favourite programs. But what if we go further? Instead of eliminating unwanted frequencies, we learn to use them all, discovering the world of noise humans created unintentionally, which we didn't even know exists. Sometimes it may be fascinating, sometimes scary. Are you ready to explore it?
 Soma Laboratory proudly presents its newest device – Ether. Engineered by Vlad Kreimer, this small piece of gear contains a lot of creative potential in a portable and sleek design.


You can easily carry it in your pocket and, when ready, turn it on, plug in your headphones and plunge into the electromagnetic world around you. Simple as that. But beware, once discovered, this world may become your obsession.
Thanks to its high sensitivity, Ether allows you to hear the electromagnetic soundscape in any of your surroundings. Take it to the crowded city center, to a subway car or anywhere you wish. Use the built-in antennas or, with its special input pin, changing encountered metal objects or even yourself into an additional antenna. 


Ether allows you to hear and record things that normally are beyond our perception, yet are still omnipresent basically everywhere we go? It's been like a parallel dimension or a ghost world, accessible only to the chosen few. Until now.

Ether creates a whole new range of possibilities for field recording artists. Microphones pick up what we can already hear, this device simply goes beyond our senses. And it's simply great fun for individuals who want to take it on an electromagnetic ghost chase, alone or with friends.

You can also use it on stage to track down your movements when playing all sorts of electronic instruments, adding a noisy layer to your performance, perhaps even picking up signals from the audience's cell phones and other technical equipment. 

Ether is very sensitive to any kind of digital circuitry that’s in close proximity. This is why itdoesn't have an SD-card recorder. You also have to make sure to keep other electronic devices that you carry (phone, laptop, recorder) at least 30cm/1ft away to avoid interference.

To record ETHER, you need to use an audio cable of at least 1m/3ft in length to connect it to a device like a ZOOM recorder. Even with a long cable, ETHER can sound differently than when using headphones.  

Ether is designed to be inspiring, easy to use and affordable. It will be available for a net price of 120 euros.

You can find more information about Ether on Soma Laboratory's website: https://somasynths.com/ether/