Games in Concert

Excerpts from Floor Jansen’s Blog of the band After Forever:

We have been asked to do a show at Games in Concert on November the 15th…..These songs are specifically written for computer games…..we hope to see you at Games in Concert!!!

Music for this year’s Games in Concert will be from Duke Nukem, Donkey Kong Country, Super Mario Galaxy, Final Fantasy VI, and Bioshock

Here is a video of last year’s Games in Concert for Metal Gear Solid (Live Orchestra)

What a cool concert! If only I lived in the Netherlands!

If you need more information on Games in Concert here is a link to the website.

Alesis Fusion Shortage

There is a crisis shortage of Alesis Fusions. They are no longer being manufactured, and websites like Musicians Friend and Zzounds is not carrying the keyboard. A search on ebay pulls up only one listing…..only a 6HD. Unfortunately, early on the reputation for this keyboard suffered, and so did demand, as the price started becoming liquidated a year after its release. In its final days you could get a weighted 88 key for only $999 new or $700 on ebay.

Is this the final death of the fusion? Will alesis ever make anymore!!???? They better!! I still use mine as an all in one studio without my computer. The 8-input hard drive recording, and many of its sounds are excellent, despite some technical glitches. I hope they bring back the best sounds of the board into a new product that has a better sequencer, while keeping the 8-input hard drive. It could also use a casio style sampler in its song mode.

On another note. Tascam’s FireOne, 2-channel audio interface, with jogwheel has dropped in price considerabley. For those of you with a mac, or a firewire interface, you can get this thing for only $115. It has headphone out, 2 mic pres, a guitar jack input, controllable buttons, MIDI!!! AND line ins. Thats a nutty deal! The jog wheel can even flash to the beat of your music and it comes with a version of ableton live. I would love to review one of these, as it looks like it has more function than Mackie’s more expensive satellite product ($199).

Anyone notice that Mackie is starting to cater to people with lower budgets? Hmmm…a bad music equipment economy means good deals for us!

People Like US / X-files Mashup

http://www.peoplelikeus.org/dnload.htm

Make Sure you check out the People LIke Us download page. It is worth it to buy their CDs or donate!!

Science!! Wood Density DOES Affect Sound Performance in String Instrument

If you’ve ever looked through guitar community forum posts you’ll come across the topic of which wood sounds better. A lot of people have been saying that it makes no difference, while expert ears stand by their claim that the type of wood does. Well a new study has shown that wood density does affect the sound quality! Since the study was done on the violin, an instrument with a resonating cavity, it could be applied to acoustic guitar. I’m willing to take the leap forward and say it does have some affect on the sound quality of a solid body electric guitar. So density does affect sound performance!

The Secret of the Sweet-Sounding Stradivarius Link

Ariel Pink

I just love this video. Ariel Pink is hilarious.
A reminder: The auction on this website ends in 4 days. Link.

Boycott Phonica Records

Music is either supposed to be for fun or creativity. But Phonica is a cultural sewer drain for music. Phonica Records supports artists who blatantly rip works from lesser known acts. Phonica keeps the money without crediting the original artist. 40% or more of their music are just “re-edits” and are sold for profit, states this article in The Guardian. Put quite blatantly, Phonica sucks.

What can you do??? Get the word out and say “Boycott Phonica” on your blog. You can check their database, and also Search Youtube to see if someone posted a re-edit of your mix, which Phonica could be selling. Report content abuse on Myspace to get your content removed if necessary. You might be getting ripped off $$$ and not know it yet.

If you felt like you have been wronged by Phonica, or know anyone else who has, please post in the comments with your artist & song details. I will repost your story and let the world know. Chip Collection is fighting back for the recognition of original creators. With your help the right artists can make a stand. WE are the fame and money in the new internet age of music, not these edit-posers.

Get the word out and Boycott Phonica! Only dick holes play their music nowadays.

Roland Releases the Juno Stage & GW-8 Workstations

Finally, full size keys on the Juno Stage Synthesizer! I think they fixed a fatal flaw that concerned people on the Juno-G (short keys). But wait, does it have record-in anymore??? The pianos sound nice.

Also the GW-8, another workstation, that is probably lower priced than the fantoms, closer to the incredibly boring Korg TR series.

I’m not sure what the big difference is between these two. Ones is supposed to be a cool synth, and the other is a “standard” workstation, but they are probably just slightly different sound set chips?

Anyways, both look pretty interesting so far!! Its always nice to see new workstations.

Chip Collection for Sale?

I haven’t posted news in the blog as often as I’d originally envisioned. I’ve let the site run on autopilot the whole time, with minimal updates, mostly whenever I really felt like speaking my mind. If there is someone out there that wants control of The Chip Collection Blog & its attached online sample store, then this auction is for you. The bid is set below what I had it valued, and for something I’d be comfortable letting it go for. Even If no one is really interested, the site will go on like I normal!! I’m still into music/synths and I love this website. So I will continue if nothing happens. Thanks!

Click below to view details at the Site Point Auction:

Update:

Min Bid lowered to $8,000. Buy it Now for $14k.

Korg Nano Contollers

The controllers have a transport section. Nice!!!

All USB, theres a 9 channel fader, and a drum machine / XY pad. Seem to be priced very well, but then again, its not like it has actual keys there.

Video from Sonic State. Nice to check out.

Tesla Coil Plays Jean Michel Jarre. What?!

You can file this under waste of time, or awesomeness.
I didn’t know you could tune electricity to play music!

By ArcAttack, an AV-DJ group:

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