Monday, 16 January 2023

Portable tape recorders

Portable tape machines have been around for decades, and they are still popular today. 
Sony, Nagra, Uher and Marantz have been some of the biggest names in the business for many years. These companies have produced some of the best portable tape machines on the market, offering high-quality sound recording capabilities in a compact package. 

With their portability, these devices can be used to capture sound on-the-go or even in remote locations. Whether you’re a professional audio engineer or an amateur musician, these portable tape machines are sure to provide you with excellent sound recording capabilities.

Here are some suggestions for portable tape machines which are great for recording 
your electronic masterpieces.
basically there are 2 types : Cassette vs Reel2Reel


Marantz PMD series
This is a PMD 221
It has 3 heads and records in MONO


tHIS IS A PMD430
3 tape heads , stereo.
Has variable pitch and bias controls.



Sony TCM 5000EV 
3 heads, 2 mic ins, line out, headphones out. Tone , speed, VU meter.


This is a Sony TC-D5M
Great machine ... poor man's Nagra ?
Sadly no way to change the pitch

Another portable sony is the Sony TC - 3000SD

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This is a UHER 7000s
Still pretty cheap to get
Multi speeds, stereo,
Uher is a german brand founded in 1952

Another Uher
This is a report monitor 4000
This has 3 heads ... so you can turn this into a tape echo

Nagra

This is a Nagra III
Probally the cheapest today, but be careful as they are getting old and are hard to service.

I don't own one but I think these use 7inch or 5 inch tape reels
A 7″ reel can hold from 1200 up to 2400 feet of tape, resulting in playing times of approximately 32 minutes and 64 minutes, 
respectively, at 7.5ips.

Above is a Nagra 4.2
three speeds: 38, 19 and 9.5 cm/s (15, 7 ½, 3 ¾ ips)
 separate recording and playback heads
powered from either an external supply (ATN-4) or internal batteries.


Saturday, 14 January 2023

Arturia Beatstep Pro with Korg MS20 / MS10

 The beatstep pro is a cheap and excellent device to sequence all your old Korg Gear.


Here is part of my current Korg setup


The two SQ-10 sequencers are tricky to clock.
The one on the right clocks nicely from a SQ-1 (though the rate is a bit fast), 
but the left one takes a little more encouragement.
I'm not sure why they are different.

These are the Beatstep pro settings I came up with that clock both the SQ-10s
They seem to require a old fashioned analog clock.
(1 step). 
This is great for Eurorack gear, but much of the more modern Korg devices  such as the SQ-1
prefer 2ppqn

As far as polarity .. both a positive and neg trigger worked,
But I think old Korg is all about shorting triggers so I left it negative for now.


So in order to clock both SQ-10s, I used a 1step setting (in the Sync section).



This however led to any volca gear and the SQ-1 running at twice speed.
Luckly the Korg MS-50 has a clock divider.


Note, that if you do use the 1step setting you may not be able to trigger your Volca drums via midi.
the 2ppqn setting seems to be needed for that to work.

Zoom MS 70CDR pedal - adding a new preset

 The MS 70CDR zoom pedal is great but menu diving is a bit cryptic



















Here is how to add a new effect chain





1. scroll to an empty slot using the middle button
2. press the left button (store) to change name .
use the 3 dials to choose the letter, its position and slot number



3 Ive added JoN0y
 



4. exit

5. enter the effect selection menu by holding the 
left or right button for 1 second



4. you will see this screen
use the left/ right/ up down to move between the menus and press the middle to enter



4. use up/down to select a effect
I'll select stereo delay
press the main middle button 


The stereo delay is now added

5. pressing the left and right buttons will scroll through the effects




6. repeat to add more effects.

in summary,
a. Hold left/right  buttons for 1 sec to enter effects menu
b. use the up/down to scroll through the effects
c. then press the middle button to select.
d. use left/right buttons to view your effects chain.



Sunday, 8 January 2023

 Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith
The Weary Traveller Bar, Sydney Sunday night 8th Jan, 2023



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Great way to finish the night.
Ramen 




Saturday, 7 January 2023

Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith - Strictland House

 Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith
A call to the morning.
A very early start - 3 am 
But worth it.

Old Strictland House, on Sydney Harbour.

I used to get dragged here as a child for the odd antique fair with my parents.
The house itself was shut.
Sunday morning, 8/1/23








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Buchla Music easel,
SEM
OP-1
Arturia Key-step



Thursday, 5 January 2023

Scales - Elektron favourites 2

The Elektron Syntrakt has some scale presets.
Its a good excuse to explore them and brush up on some music theory.
Unless otherwise stated, the root note is C
It's good to focus on the root note and make it clear which scale you're working on.
Starting or finishing on the root note is useful (though not essential).

There are 7 different modes in music:
Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian, Locrian.
(I've discussed Ionian & Aeolian in a past post).


• DORIAN
(a less "sad" minor scale)
T S T T T S T
I think its really good for deep & progressive house.



C Dorian







E- Dorian 
(Doors" riders on the storm)

A- Dorian
Bassline of Around the world, Daft Punk

D Dorian
New Order - Blue Monday

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• PHRYGIAN 
S T T T S T T

C Phrygian










A# Phygian - - Favourite of Apex Twin





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• LYDIAN
T T T S T T S











• MIXOLYDIAN
T T S T T S T












• LOCRIAN
S T T S T T T


Probably the least often used of the 7 modes.

Björk's "Army of Me" 

It is the darkest and most minor mode due to so many of its notes being flattened.





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The Major & Minor Pentatonic scales are very popular for writing melodies.
These both just consist of 5 notes that I think sound good together.


• PENTATONIC MINOR
C- Minor Pentatonic








A Minor Pentatonic = A, C, D, E, G

• PENTATONIC MAJOR
C- Major Pentatonic
 C, D, E, G, A







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• HIRAJOSHI

This scale just sounds great.








The Aeolian pentatonic scale, also known as Hirajoshi scale.
has 5 tones


tonic (1), second (2) minor third (b3), fifth (5) and minor sixth (b6).
(This is a fav of my mate Mitch)

C, D, D#  ---- G, G# 

I like this variation:
C, D, D#  ---- F, G, G# - A#

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• MELODIC MINOR










• HARMONIC MINOR 
“Sweet Dreams” by Eurythmics (key of C)
  C, D, Eb, F, G, Ab, B

“Smooth” by Santana feat. Rob Thomas
“Gangstas Paradise” by Coolio







• WHOLE TONE










• BLUES










• COMBO MINOR










• PERSIAN











• IWATO










• IN-SEN














• PELOG










• PHRYGIAN DOMINANT









• WHOLE-HALF DIMINISHED










• HALF-WHOLE DIMINISHED










• SPANISH










• MAJOR LOCRIAN











• SUPER LOCRIAN










• DORIAN b2













• LYDIAN AUGMENTED









• LYDIAN DOMINANT










• DOUBLE HARMONIC MAJOR











• LYDIAN #2 #6











• ULTRAPHRYGIAN
• HUNGARIAN MINOR
• ORIENTAL
• IONIAN #2 #5
• LOCRIAN bb3 bb7