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.

Grammy Winner Gives Mixing Advice, New KRK Rokits

Link to the Video with Greg Ladanyi

PreSonus has uploaded a video series featuring Grammy-winning producer Greg Ladanyi on providing advice on mixing, producing, recording vocals, and more.

Go there and get tips to producing vocals and mixing etc.

New KRK Rokits are here. They are curved so you can mix in the wind tunnel.

KRK Rokit Link

Any one know if this line is any good to mix on compared to others in the same price range - M-audio etc. ? They have always had the appearance of being higher quality, especially with the material used for the cones.

Audio Tool Rocks: The Online TB-303 & 909 Emulator

Audio Tool is an emulation of two Roland TB-303s, a TR-909, and a bunch of the roland/boss stomp boxes. It is very reminiscent of the classic program Propellerhead Rebirth, but without the TR-808 and better graphics.

Audio tool is simple to use and includes rewiring/audio routing on the same screen that you make your music on, which makes more sense than Propellerhead Reason’s double screened rack system.

I believe they are using java/flash to run the program in the browser, but it is as easy to use as any flash app. They did an excellent job making it, even if it has been done before. Missing is a way to save your songs but you can’t complain because its better than Rebirth in alot of ways.

Its fun.
Go start making some electronic music NOW!

Link: Hobnox Audiotool

4/5 Rating
Sound quality is excellent.
Fun.
Needs a save feature, even if it is a demo.

Thanks Noizone!

Tone Collection Guitar Reason Refill ($20)

The Tone Collection Reason Refill Pack ($20) has been added to the store.

The Tone Collection is a Guitar Based Refill for producers and enthusiasts who need that special guitar punch in their music. From Death Metal, Marshall Amp, and back to clean Stratocaster, you will find what your looking for. This Reason Refill attempts to do what Amplitube does, by providing preset tones that help you shape and mould the provided guitar sounds. Various presets range from aproximations of Gerry Garcia, to Jimi Hendrix. 80s style phasers and dark atmospheric tones are also there to keep you creative. Reason 3.0 & 4.0 Compatible. Standard patches will work with version 2.0. Its only 20 bucks, with download and paypal.

Listen to demos and check out the Refill in the Chip Collection store.

Behringer Guitar Review: Metalien Pack

Final Rating: 8/10

The Behringer Metalien is an awesome guitar for the price. It looks very good at first impression and sounds great when you plug it into your mixer/amp. It is the best looking guitar in the behringer lineup. The black on black color scheme and sharks teeth inlay emulate expensive Ibanez guitars. The price for this setup is amazing and I would recommend this package for anyone starting guitar, curious about guitars, or anyone who needs a guitar sound in their music thats not fake & sampled. This is a REAL guitar.

Sound:

It sounds nice, and pretty clean. The two single coil pickups sound the humbucker sound even better when raised / adjusted with a screwdriver, an easy task. In the right hands, and with the supplied overdrive on the Behringer amp, you can get it to “scream.” I am sure there are better pickups out there, but I would say this guitar sounds fine. The strings are okay and seem like they need to be played a bit to break them in. I was happy to find that this guitar did not need any adjustments as to string height etc, and that the playing action was good (no buzzing). The whammy bar is a basic design, but works. I play most of the time with it taken off, but its fun to mess with. Again, some ibanez guitars don’t even come with a whammy… The tone, volume, and pickup switches are very solid feeling. Its nice to have ALL the features of the expensive guitars, and a nice clean sound for $150

Looks / Feel:

The Metalien looks great on first impression. Its all black and has a great shape and the finish is a cut above many other expensive guitars. On closer inspection, however there are some things that I would mention. The finish on the pick guard panel has a kind of plastic over it that can bubbles near screws. Thats a minor complaint. You can kind of fix it by pressing down near the screws. I didn’t investigate to see if you can remover the plastic or not, but this is a minor issue. Also, the frets on the bottom edge seem a little rough but you won’t ever touch this part of the guitar due to the angle. The shark tooth inlay is amazing!! This guitar basically looks like a copy of the Ibanez, even down to the hardware, and it really is a quality guitar for the price. Go ahead and compare for yourself. Overall I’d say the design, and finish are an “A-” Very good! Looks expensive.

Side by Side Comparison: Metalien ($150) Vs. Ibanez ($240, No Amp, Tuner etc.)



Extras:

The supplied Behringer guitar amp is fun to mess with. Its not good quality at all, but the overdrive button is really fun. Again, an overdrive button is something you won’t get on the more expensive ibanez metal pak. If you don’t have distortion pedals and just want to rock, the overdrive is a nice touch. The gain on it is super hot, so be very careful to your ears. Its just a practice amp so I can’t say much bad about it. I would not use it as a preamp to a mixer, but I would mic this amp because it sounds dirty and cheap in a good way.

The practice DVD will get you up to speed if you’ve never played guitar before. You’ll be playing chords hopefullly on your first or second session.

Note * I would replace the guitar strap if your near 6 feet tall or so, it seems a little small.

The tuner is very very good. I found the cable it came with to be very decent, and thats got to be better than the Ibanez Metal Pak’s cables I’ve heard about busting after little use. The picks are nice. The carrying case is also very basic, but will keep it protected from scratches.

For $150 you can’t go wrong. Its the most fun you can get for this little amount of money. If you need a starter guitar, or a guitar sound in your music, this is a must have. It looks more expensive than it is, and sounds good. Once you pick it up you will be very excited and will enjoy how much fun it is to play guitar.

Tips:

The one reviewed does not have the USB module installed. I felt that the USB is kind of pointless, and that the phono jack was more versatile. I can plug it into a real amp, or a mixer, or an audio interface, or even an array of pedals. With usb, its computer only. Since the guitar is analog anyways, I thought the USB option to be limiting. I would also recommend trying out Amplitube with this guitar even though it doesnt come with it in this package. The sounds you can get are even more fun. I would say its a personal choice to go USB or Metal Pack, because they both cost the same ($150), but you can’t go wrong with a practice amp thats always waiting for you to pick up and play.

Spotlight: Ontology SampleSwap Forums

SampleSwap!!
Free professional quality audio samples. Zero advertising.
This AIFF/WAV collection is currently 4.8 GB (12,372 sounds)

Check it out their Forums

They also have a great production tips section!

312 Key Synth

In case you missed it from Digg, here is a 312 key synthesizer! Its worse than a typewriter and comes with yamaha style speakers built in. I’m speechless.

The Chromatone CT-312 keyboard

Read some more at technobab…some weird tech site anyway!

VIDEO: See the super mario brothers demo of it on YouTube

Holy crap!

The neat thing about the keyboard is that chord shapes are the same in every key.

Another article From Engadget all the way back in 2005 which looks like it was via MusicThing Old but awesome. I’d love to get one if they are available for purchase…can’t find any links.

Portable Music Player Concept.

MP3/CD Player. - DOPE!

Pulled from the feed:


It looks more like a lights out puzzle than a music making device Could be cool if they keep it wireless!
Tenori-On from Noizone.com

Computer fronts rock band with “Where is my Mind by the pixies”

*video deleted for boringness and being posers*

they are ruining the fun.
This was alot cooler back in the OS9 days with Vocal Writer !

BUT they have a new product called MAGIC VOCALS coming out in 2007?
The guy who wrote vocal writer is the original singing mac voice, and Vocal Writer is still awesome in my opinion. It makes me want to refit my B&W G3 with an intel processor, and load up Vocal Writer for no reason. But I guess we will have to leave it to these “rock” bands who are way late to use the game of the singing mac voice. I will let those posers do it. Before vocal writer you had to sequencer every syllable from simple text Which I know some chumps still did even though vocal writer was out…
Long live VocalWriter.

Metal News:

After Forever Tour Dates.

Floor Jansen is the complete opposite of the singing mac voice.

Coming to USA in October!!

Seekpod Mp3s of After Forever….but just buy their new album.

Rewind to 2005 - Beseech Abba Cover Song! Gimme Gimme.

———————————————————————————————

Browsing the web I found this blog:

CHIP CHICK
http://chipchick.com/

XOMG

Please e-mail her and tell her to “Marry the chip collection blog”. Also say that its really important. Thankz! I will post any responses here if you send them in.

Listen to Booka Shade

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Booka_Shade

Listen to a really sweet electronic track by Booka Shade!

Korg TR Quick Review

After having the mixed feelings and ultimate sell off an Alesis Fusion HD6, I acquired the Korg TR to see how it stacks up in controlling my studio.
Its alot nicer than it looks in the pictures. People may complain of plastic construction, but thats only the end caps!!!! The front face is black metal & high quality knobs and buttons.

The Korg TR is very solid, but it’s sounds won’t inspire you by itself. You will probably want to connect it to a PC with a larger sound library, or some external gear. This board will serve as the basis for music creation & composition, however. Out of the box the knobs are set to control basic external gear parameters very well, like RES, CUTOFF. These control knobs even worked with Reason without any setup. Any time saved not setting up obscure midi parameters is a good thing. Once you get your channels, and programs set, you can save it as a song template and use it every time you start a new song.

The sounds of the Korg TR leave something to be desired. If your sound is completely electronic or sort like Jean Michael Jarre, then you will like it ALOT. It has amazing organs, and electronic strings, but you will be hard pressed to find any gritty guitars or other sounds onboard. Even through tweaking the rom it can be difficult to make it sound mean, unless you are going to be doing it with a synth program. The category button is set up nicely to find a particular sound you are looking for, although scrolling to select programs inside the sequencer mode is a mixed bag. It doesnt matter however, because you can use the category button inside Sequencer mode. This is unlike the Alesis Fusion’s inability to do so, and its a good thing. The drums are pretty decent for hip hop and some electronic music. As far as rock, they come off as a little cheap. I am not sure Korg has ever been good at drums, so you will be better off loading up something in Reason again. Some of the kicks are very very nice and bassy though. Nothing faboulous, even though the sound quality is very high. The high point of the rom is its synth sounds. They sound better than older yamaha stuff, which always had a catlike meow sound to them. Overall the Korg has more of an “ahhhhh” type of quality to every sound. It is more soothing. I think this has to do with whoever was in charge of creating the rom, however long ago it was.

Sequencing is solid & very easy. You will be able to start making songs in no time. Loop features are very nice to set up. Menus are easy to navigate once you get the hang of it. It is a good compromise between touch screen, and an even smaller menu based screen. Combis are also flawlessly easy to put into sequencer mode!! You could probably create a keyboard split of all your gear, save it as a combi, then import it into sequencer mode and have easy control. With the TR88, this would be ideal!!

EFX: They sound amazing, but you only get a single effect to apply to ALL of the tracks. Not even per-track, so choose wisely. Let me specify this: You can only have one effect, and then have the ability to turn that effect off or on for each track. You also get mastering effects, but thats applied to your entire mix. SO if you want to add amp distortion to one sound, then add reverb to another…you cant. It is hard to change the quality of the onboard sounds too much, but most of them sound acceptable, and can be tweaked with the RES, HPF, and cutoff functions to make them blend in you mix. I think judging this board based on what effects it has is not a good idea since it does have assignable outs, and you can just set up something in your computer during monitor/mixing to apply effects.

The build of the board is way higher than it looks in any picture. Its actually very nice, and the buttons are nicer than I expected. The keys are a little nicer than an Alesis fusion, but are nothing special.

Overall this is an amazing piece of equipment to use in your studio for composing and controlling all your gear!! The USB to PC also makes it a good midi controller. I would recommend this board if you found it used and the price was right. Make sure you get an SD card (it has no internal memory for songs). You can use this to trigger samples on your computer, so if you don’t gig, then the lack of sampling features is no big deal….even then the sampling upgrade option could be applied later if you feel you really need it.

Conclusion: Average sounds except for Synths & Organs, easy integration into your studio, and its fun to play. Great as a controller & techno machine. Worth the money.

Sound Quality: 9
Musical Expression & Voices: 6.5
Build: 8
Key Action: 6
Sequencer / Menus: 8

Alesis 6 HD Review

Update: You can purchase this one from me on ebay. Completely Tested & insured w/ case. Only $564

BUY IT NOW ON EBAY $564

Here is a picture of the case it comes with.

Yea its a little late! BUT the prices on ebay for these suckers are drifting sub $600 and so I got one. The full 88 key version is going for 700-800+ if your lucky.

Read my first and second impressions below. They were written at different times.

First impression:
I got my Alesis Fusion HD6 today. Thank god, because I’d be so bored on this saturday. Man this kicks ass! Most of preset roms are okay, and some are actually very good. The only bad thing is the drums on it are shit, and I’m not sure if you can put alot of filters on them. BONUS: The guy who I bought it from has the entire Mo Phatt Module sound collection loaded up LOL. So I have an entire hip hop module on there. Bad things: The keyboard is crap. Worse than my JX-8p if you can imagine. I should have gotten the 8 HD….although…the 6hd is majorly heavy. I can’t imagine owning an 8 HD. I wouldnt be able to move it myself. As far as the known bugs about this machine: I think the technical issues won’t bother me at all as long as it holds up. However, this is a players board. I just keep clicking into a new sound and get lost in playing melodies, when I forget I’m making a song. The sequencer is good for people who improvise. Like really good. It has this cool locator function so you can keep recording in the right spots. If you step sequence then you’ll have a problem. The knobs on it are tall and silver smooth like a 70s hi-fi radio. Best knobs ever. The buttons are kinda calculator though. It has these awesome “tape flute” sounds, like a mellotron or something. Anyways, the sounds are good enough to make complete songs for me. Its like got alot of synthy stuff. Don’t think you going to go on this board and create patches by hand. ….even though alot of guys are saying thats what the keyboard is for….It blows for that. you just gotta get presets and use those.

The keybed is kind of crappy.

Basic hard disc recording is very nice, and the quality is good enough.

Second Impression:
I think I am going to sell the keyboard I just got. Its a perfectly good board. I just can’t find any darker or moody inspiration off it. Normally thats fine and I can work around it, but I can’t even tweak it how I want in song mode to make it fit my mood. I can usually take bright or lifeless sounds and make them good (Like the Yamaha RM1x)….but the FX are buried, and its too slow to select voices (I probably have thousands on here). I spent like 20 minutes when I got stuck in the load screen trying find the right banks, then find a good sound that fit my mood. Its also extremely annoying that the presets are at widely varying sound levels. People are wrong about this board when they say it is for tweakers. The most important functions are buried, like track volume!!!, and half the buttons they put on there to control functions don’t even get used. Its for pure playing performance and enjoyment. The voices are really fun and its fun to play. You can also record really good songs, really really fast, only if you don’t care about getting the voices just right. Don’t count on it for remembering ANY of your knob tweaks! I would be content if I just played it everyonce and awhile. Its not really the technical bugs that bothered me. Its just the sounds and how fast I can get to them, then modify them. Its really important to get the mix just right. So I should probably go for a MOTIF…or KORG Triton Extreme. I need something that will fit the mood I am in. I don’t know if Korg has any darker sounds….. If I didnt want to make music I would keep this thing though. Its really fun, and I can’t stop playing the presets. As soon as I step away from it I feel like going back on for another hour. Its addictive, but not good for unique artistic expression. I can’t show anything off that I made on it, and if I really tried, really really hard, I might be able to…but I don’t have enough time on the earth to go through its methodology and make myself 100% content on it.

CONCLUSION: Extremely Addictive. Sounds a great. I can play it for hours and hours. The sequencer is even a lot better than everyone is complaining about. BUT I can’t get through the menus fast enough to tweak the sounds to fit my mood. You’d think it would be fun to tweak your mixes and sounds just right on this, but it can’t do it. I don’t have the time to mess with this board for tweaking sounds. The way they have it set up is not intuitive, and thats someone who knew the ins and outs of the yamaha RM1x sequencer.

Its a mix between being a specialty keyboard for people needing top notch sounding electronic sounds, and a super-advanced toy with more features than any board out there. You can’t beat it for anything in or below its range and you can’t go wrong to try it out. Electronic music producers should have one. It sounds really good.

Rating B+

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