Reborn Blog - Indie Band from York, United Kingdom.

Gary Numan - Live - O2 - 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Griff) — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 10:46:00 +0000

Went to see him at Leeds O2 Academy last night. In preparation, I bought his latest 3 albums as I only really know his more famous tracks.

I was somewhat disappointed, the production on Exile is terrible, Pure is better, but get;s a bit repetetive. The new album Jagged has excellent production and there's some good tracks, but again begins to feel a bit repetetive. (sorry to any die hard fans, just my opinion)

So all in all, I was actually a little aprehensive about seeing him live, I was worried it might be dull/repetetive or just generally disappointing.

How wrong was I? It was a GREAT show, massive energy considering it's mostly downtempo stuff. They kicked off with the synth classics, then 3/4 of the way through, Gary and his front man ditched their synths and strapped on some Gibson Les Pauls to play along to the tracks from his last two albums.

They did all the classic essentials, Cars, Down In The Park and Are Friends Electric, they were all spine-tinglingly good, especially Friends.

If you have the chance to see him on this tour, then I'd say SNAP IT UP! You won't regret it!

Placebo Album Release Date

noreply@blogger.com (Griff) — Tue, 12 May 2009 16:17:00 +0000

I'm sure you're all wondering when Battle For The Sun is going to be released.

Well, wonder no more, you can keep an eye on the countdown right here on my Battle For The Sun release date page!

I for one have reserved a special edition boxset. (Oooh-lah-dee-daa!)

MSSIAH Cubase Device Panel - No Presets

noreply@blogger.com (Griff) — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 09:16:00 +0000

Here is a version of the MSSIAH Cubase Device Panel with the MIDI Presets option removed.

MSSIAH-Monosynth-Panel-V2.0.3.no-presets.xml

I've done this because the presets were more of an annoyance than anything else. As previously documented : the speed of the snapshots being transmitted was too fast, meaning that whenever a preset is applied it's never quite the same twice. What made this unusable is the fact that Cubase resends the preset information whenever you hit "Play" or "Record". Damn annoying!

I've posted up on the Cubase.com forum, but so far not even a reply! I guess no one wants to help. I think I'll get a proper VSTi builder so I can build in a delay for the CC information.

Watch this space! :-)

MSSIAH MIDI Device Panel for Cubase SX3

noreply@blogger.com (Griff) — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 17:56:00 +0000

I realised early on that interacting with my newly purchased MSSIAH cartridge wasn't going to be easy. In the old days I used a portable TV to see what was happening on the C64, but the last thing I need in the studio is another big box taking up space. I briefly looked into connecting a flat panel VGA screen, but quickly discovered that it's not possible without some incredibly expensive outboard equipment.

I did discover however that the later C-revision of the Commodore 64 (C64C) had a fully compliant S-Video output on the back. So perhaps an external flat panel TV with S-Video input would work. Although that quickly led me on to another idea - a USB capture device! In a nut shell, the C64 plugs into the USB dongle, which plugs in to the PC, and I see the C64 display on my screen using some capture monitoring software called DScaler.

It was with some disappointment that I found out that when in MIDI mode, the MSSIAH blanks the screen, so you can't see what you're tweaking. NOOOOOoooooo ! I'm sure this is done to save on CPU cycles, but goddamn it's annoying!

All is not lost! The MSSIAH supports the use of four external potentiometers, also known as pots, or just plain old "knobs" to everyone else. These can be configured in MSSIAH to control any four controllers, as most people will only be tweaking the filter, this fairly usable.

Upon closer inspection of the manual, I found the MIDI controller table in the last few pages. With my first few bits of MIDI kit, this confusing table went largely ignored, as I'm sure is the case for many people. But if you want to get into the details it can make life a lot easier, by being able to build your own patch lists, or by knowing which controller signal to adjust in Cubase to make adjustments to your sound (or let's be honest, to correct a bit of over ambitious knob twiddling).

It also means, that if you've really got a lot of time to spare, or are waiting for your USB Capture device to arrive, you can build a MIDI Device Panel for Cubase. So that's what I've done! I think you'll agree, it looks pretty flipping good too! Click on the image to the left to see a screen shot of my Cubase MIDI Device Panel for MSSIAH MonoSynth in action.

This has gone through a few changes while I was developing it, mainly due to the eccentricities of the Cubase Panel Designer which turns out to be functional, but fairly uninspirational and full of bugs.

You'll see that all of Monosynth's main adjustments for I mentioned in my last post are here. I've also added the ability to save presets. This means you can build a repository of your favorite C64 sounds. I'll be honest; there is a slight problem with this side of things which means that whenever you load a preset, not all of the values are loaded. I think this is because Cubase fires all of the controller info over in one go, and MSSIAH just can't interpret all of that information quick enough, and misses some things. This means that if you move from one patch to another, you often end up with a sort of hybrid of the two sounds. You actually end up with some interesting sounds sometimes, but I'd much rather it worked. If anyone knows how to slow Cubase down, please leave a comment on how to do this! In the meantime, of you click on the same patch two or three times, eventually you get something which more closely resembles the sound you stored in the preset.

I've made my work freely available for download here. You should right-click, then SAVE AS the file. To use it in Cubase, open up the MIDI Device Manager and click Import Setup, then browse to the file.

You can use this as a basis for your own MIDI panel, but if you do, please give me credit for all my hard work! A simple reference to www.rebornonline.com will do! Either a link from your website download page, or by putting www.rebornonline.com on your graphic....or both if you're feeling particularly grateful!

C64 MSSIAH Music Applications

noreply@blogger.com (Griff) — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 17:13:00 +0000

Following on from my previous post, I'll now discuss the clever applications which are burned into the ROM chip inside the MSSIAH cartridge from 8bitventures.

Sequencer
If you fancy some all in C64 composition, then there is a Sequencer. This primarily uses a pianoroll type interface to allow the user to build music just like in Cubase or Logic. You can have 32 user presets or choose from 64 build in presets which are all inspired by the 8-bit music you used to hear on 80s computer games.

You can also switch the sequencer into MIDI mode, which then means you can trigger the sequencer channels externally. Either from another sequencer, or playing live from a MIDI controller keyboard. Polyphony is limited to three notes, but there is a clever little hardware hack called the SID2SID which doubles this to six notes. The SID2SID does require you to harvest a SID from another working C64, which is a shame. But if you want 6 notes, then this is the sacrifice needed.

I've yet to try the sequencer as my main use for the MSSIAH is with the next application, the Mono Synthesizer.

Mono Synthesizer
The clue is in the name, this is a 1 note polyphonic monosynth. This is where you get to see just how amazing that SID chip is. You have full control over the internal parameters of the SID which include things you only expect on a "real" monosynth.

Oscillators - At the heart of every analogue synth! There are 3 waveforms + noise. The waveforms can be combined with each other with ring and/or sync on oscillator 1 making for 32 combinations. Oscillator 2 can choose from the 8 combinations of sine, saw, pulse and noise. You can adjust the mix between the two oscillators as well as indepedent adjustment of the frequency (tune) and pulse width. There is also a fine tune on oscillator B, which along with pulse width is usefull for layering same/similar waveforms for that phat sound.

VCA - (Voltage Controlled Amplifier) : Attack, Decay, Sustain and Release. The usual ADSR you find on a real synth. All finely tunable to customise your sound. There is also control for the slide time which is a nice touch.

LFO - (Low frequency Oscillator) : Waveform, frequency, amount (depth), destination - either frequency or pulse. This brings real depth to the sound scape possible with the MSSIAH.

Filter and Filter Envelope - The bread and butter; cutoff and resonance are here. There is also a very useable filter envelope with env amount as well as the usual attack, decay, sustain and release (ADSR). The filter on the SID is what really makes it for me, if the Amiga had a filter like this, there's no knowing how much better my tunes would have been. Plus I'd probably still be using it now! It was the desire for real filters which led me away from the Amiga and onto real synths.

There are a few other parameters, but that's it in a nutshell.

Bassline

This is a blatant design rip from the very familiar TB-303. This is here for those of you who love the 303 step programming. Personally, although I can use the 303 step sequencer, I've never really found it that inspirational. I think coming from the 16-bit tracking backround, it's a bit limited!

The sound controls here are more simplied than the monosynth, and again this is due to this being a copy of the 303 interface. So you have tune, cutoff, resonance, envelope, decay and accent. It's worth pointing out that the SID doesn't sound exactly like the TB-303, but if you have the later vesion of the SID chip, the 8580 (found in the C64C), then it's no too far off. The manufacturers describe it as a blend of SID and 303. But I personally think it's closer to 303 than SID! As with the MonoSynth, if you put your output through some outboard DSP (I'm particularly thinking distortion and tempo delay), you're in for a real acid house treat, or turn the delay up higher and for for that Goa Trance sound! In fact, this will give you the essenetial sounds required for ust about any kind of electronic music and is well worth a look.

Amazingly, the bassline can be synched to MIDI clock or like the other apps, can be switched to MIDI mode for external triggering.

Drummer
Another design rip from Roland. This is based around the familiar 909 interface, one which anyone should be able to get to grips with. The interface is where the simalarity ends, the drummer is all about SID drum sounds meaning there are bleeps and bloops aplenty for you retro music makers. You have tune, level, tone and snap on each of the eight instruments along with some limited filter and LFO control. I've not used the drummer much myself and don't envisage it being used in more than a handfull of the band's songs. It's all in the monosynth for me.

Wave-Player
The final feather in the MSSIAHs cap. I really, really don't envisage me spending any time with this application at all, but I'll explain it a little for those who are interested.

You'll remember in my last post that the SID isn't capable of digital playback, that is : sampling. Well, some of those aformentioned C64 musicians (who, were by their very nature, excellent coders too) discovered that if they played back a severe volume change it resulted in an audible click. This was due to a flaw in the original SID (the MOS6581). Some bright spark then realised that you could play back those clicks very quickly to convert a binary source as audio - essentially sample playback! This was sadly fixed in the later 8580 SID, so I'm not sure (having not tried it) if this application actually works on a later model C64C.

Commodore C64 MSSIAH - Retro 8-bit SID sounds

noreply@blogger.com (Griff) — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 16:06:00 +0000

I was lucky enough to receive a Commodore 64 for Christmas one year, I think it was 1989. The C64 had already been around for quite a few years, and my second hand "breadbin" came with literally hundred of games, how chuffed was I? I did once give music making a go on the C64, but it wasn't very impressive (plus I wasn't talented or patient enough back then)

A few years later I sold it in order to get a Commodore Amiga A500. It was the Amiga which first got me into music production via the amazing Tracker series of software (ProTracker, SoundTracker and NoiseTracker). The Amiga could play back 8-bit digital audio through 4 audio channels at the same time, something pretty amazing at the time. You made music by sequencing short audio samples and playing them back at different pitches to build up your song. Pretty intimidating, but after a few hours you kind of get the hang of it.

To round this flash back up, I eventually moved on to PC tracking, then MIDI sequencing with Cubase, which as you all know uses hardware MIDI modules, or VSTi "Virtual Instruments".

So, how amusing it is that I've now gone full circle and am back to the C64 again. Why? Because of a little chip inside which we all lovingly call SID.

SID is a very basic sound chip, it's not (strictly speaking) capable of digital audio playback, it simply has two oscillators on board capable of making beeps and boops. The creative and programmatic genius of the coders at the time resulted in some pretty great sounds and catchy soundtracks. The likes of Rob Hubbard, Ben Daglish and Martin Galway will always be some personal heros of mine due to their amazing compositions which still sound good today.

The fact that the Commodore 64s SID chip was, in essence, a real mono synth, it what makes it so interesting today. The final SID chips produced were recently snapped up by entrepreneurs behind SID based hardware synthesizers, such as the SIDStation. This means that to make a SID based synth today, you have to harvest SID chips from a real C64 and use them in a kit such as the MIDIBox. This means that C64s are become quite a popular purchase from EBay.

It seems a shame to steal the SID from a working piece of history, so it's very exiting to learn that there is now another option : the MSSIAH.

In a nutshell, the MSSIAH is five music applications and a MIDI interface all inside a single ROM cartridge which plugs into the C64 expansion port. Being ROM means that the MSSIAH menu loads within 2 seconds of powering on the C64 and the applications themselves take less than 15 seconds to load. So no waiting 5 or 15 minutes for a floppy disk or cassette tape to load!

I'll explain some more about the MSSIAH in my next post.

Reborn will gig in 2009 if it kills me!

noreply@blogger.com (Griff) — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 09:28:00 +0000

I was going though all the recorded material for Reborn. And you know what? Most of it is flipping awesome. Easily our best material ever, and no one is getting to hear it. Well, we had planned for the last 18months that we would be gigging in 2009, but we also planned to have finished and released tacks by the end of '08, which so far is looking unlikely!

So what's the problem? Well, it's a logistical problem in part, also a free-time problem, and a motivational one! We've got plenty of tracks on the go, but none finished (as in, mixed and mastered) as it's only once every blue moon we're all in the same place long enough for the magic to happen.

So my new years resolution (yes, I know it's only August) is to get the band gigging as soon as possible in 2009. I think a couple of acoustic sets would go down well too, and the new material will adapt well to acoustic.

So what can you expect? Well, alot more of the same! Techno-Grunge still abounds, but we've grown up a bit, and the music is a little more skilled and deeper. Since our new equipment is working so well, you can expect more live electronica happening too. If we can make it work technically, we may also get ourselves a live drummer to compliment the electronic drum machine and chopped drumloops which characterise our sound. As there's live bass guitar and piano thrown into the new songs too (yes piano, I shit you not) you can also expect alot more shuffling around on stage and frustrated/confused sound engineers. It's gonna be wild!

I know we've been saying all this for over a year, but really now it's serious. We just can't let this stuff go unheard. So get subscribed to the blog (or book mark this page) and keep watching for updates.

Keep on moving ;-)

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Reborn's Studio Amp Mixer

noreply@blogger.com (Griff) — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 09:38:00 +0000

I've had this mixer since my Rave Generation days, it's served me well. It's very long in the tooth now. The turntable and both tape decks are screwed. It's missing two fader knobs, the DJ/STUDIO/HIFI switch is crackly and the speaker sockets are really intermittant.

Sadly now, the front phono sockets are faulty, so I can only get an input using the 1/4" jacks, which requires use of the "trim" pre-amp which causes alot of distortion.

But, I can forgive all that as it's 23 years old. I can't belive this puppy was £299 back in 1985, I dread to think what that is in 2008 money!

Anway, here's the ad, sit back and enjoy !

Live Jamming with Traktor, Access Virus and RM1x

noreply@blogger.com (Griff) — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 13:34:00 +0000

This could be a sign of things to come. We had a pretty good jam with all the gear running at once. Sadly BPM synch between Traktor and Cubase SX doesn't seem to be possible.

The problem is that Steinberg decided to ditch the "sync to midi clock" feature after VST5. Which is total madness. That means that Cubase has to be the master unless you can supply MTC. Now none of our outboard gear supports output of MTC, so we're stuffed!

The choices are to either go back to Cubase VST/32 V5.1r3 or get Ableton Live. Seeming as we have 3 legit copies of VST, I think I'll just install that on the laptop instead!

Congratulations to Steinberg on fucking up Cubase again! I also hear that the latest version of Cubase, Version 4 (no I don't understand the numbering either) has ditched support for Direct X plug-ins. It wasn't made public till after the release either. What a spark of genius! That's right, your £3000 worth of DX plugs won't work anymore. Even more reason to stay on SX, or by the looks of things, roll back to VST !!

Guitar legends you may never hear of.

noreply@blogger.com (Griff) — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 14:25:00 +0000

I've come across some really gifted guitar players in my time, there's loads out there and sadly many of them won't ever get the fame and recognition of Slash, Clapton, Cobain and the like.

Once such artist and friend of the band is Martin Ledger of the Bogus Brothers. I've seen the guy play, and he ticks all the boxes of being a total guitar genius, including the learning of more obscure strings instruments like the mandolin (which he mastered in a matter of months). I suspect if he saw what I'd written here, he'd probably be a little embarrassed. But this is my blog, so he's just gonna have to take the compliment :-P

Anyway, my point is that even he was impressed with a video clip I sent him of Pat Metheny. Who is one of those guitarists I'm reffering to who most people will probably have never heard of. Certainly in the UK it's even more unlikely as he's the wrong colour and can't rap, unlike Dizzee Rascal who is untalented and as previously declared; a total cock.

This guy Pat not only mastered other stringed instruments, but bored with mastering that challenge decided to invent his own! It's a 42 (count them) stringed guitar, named the Pikasso. Although to call it a guitar is a bit ambiguous as it's more like a guitar, bass, sitar and harp all rolled into one.

Here’s a clip of the guy in action with his multi-stringed guitar.

New Toy! Access Virus Classic.

noreply@blogger.com (Griff) — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 08:23:00 +0000

As fans will know, Reborn are all about fusing synth/electronica with traditional rock guitar. Something quite commonplace now, but back in '99 when we started, it was unheard of. Choosing the right equipment is paramount, and we've had a fair amount of gear. Our staple synth for some time was the Yamaha CS2X, but this soon departed to be replaced by some rather tastey virtual synths. A brief u-turn resulted in the addition of a Yamaha RM1X, which while good fun, hasn't been all the CS2X has been. I've been experimenting with a few virtual synths, but nothing really comes close to a real synth in the studio. The old CS2X was a wavetable synth, so not really a true "analogue" synth. This was a bit of a disappointment when Walker and I started to get into the details with the CS2X, and is part of the reason why we weren't too upset to see it go. That said, full blown analogue synths can be quite a handfull. So some moderation is required!After some (alot) of deliberation. I decided to get a decent analogue/virtual analogue synth. This means you functionally get an analogue synth, but you have presets and memory to save your patches. I read a few reviews, and checked out Harmony Central, and it seems the best by far are the Virus synths from Access. These take the form of a desktop/rack module, or a small 2 octave keyboard, or a full size keyboard.

Functionally, the Virus range has changed very little since it's inception. There have been a few base versions, namely the Virus A, Virus B, Virus C and latest is the Virus TI. The TI is the first to show signs of real innovation since the Virus A, and now features direct Synth to Sequencer interaction via a VSTi. They call this "Total Integration". This is pretty damn clever and means you have the best of both worlds, a hardware synth which uses no CPU, but a VSTi meaning it's easier to mess with settings and record changes on-screen.

All that said, the TI is just too damn expensive, so I set about finding a second hand Virus. While on my travels I also considered the likes of the Korg Triton, Alesis Andromeda and Novation Supernova. But after hearing some audio clips of each synth, and checking the specs. It seems the Virus is much more geared towards that "Reborn" sound.

I finally found a rather crisp and clean Virus Classic for sale. The Classic is essentially a re-release of the Virus B with a different paint-job. If you shop around you can get these from as little as £250 for a scruffy one, or £450 for a clean example like this. That's one hell of a saving over the original RRP of £999.

I'm still waiting for delivery, but will be posting up some audio clips as soon as I can get my grubby hands on it!

Finally! Some new music which is GOOD!

noreply@blogger.com (Griff) — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 20:10:00 +0000

Possibly some of the best ideas to come out of the UK music scene for a long time!

What happens when you mix rock roots with drum and bass? PENDULUM!

Have a listen and see for yourself. This is Pendulum's latest single "Granite".

Oh, and the video is pretty good too!

Nirvana – Still as influential as ever

noreply@blogger.com (Walker) — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 13:35:00 +0000

It was refreshing to hear Zane Lowe’s masterpiece show the other night featuring Nirvana’s Nevermind. This was the album that changed my life back in 1991 and to listen to many of today’s bands and artists talking about Nirvana including Dave Grohl was very interesting. It proves what a true masterpiece the album was and how it is probably responsible for influencing a lot of the music we have had since, and even to this day.
You can listen again at:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/zanelowe/masterpieces_nirvana.shtml

Good work!

Korn – The best band this decade?

noreply@blogger.com (Walker) — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 11:36:00 +0000

To put forward my case I’ll start from the very beginning, over 12 years ago. Korn’s debut studio album was released, rather un-creatively titled Korn. With their career officially off the mark and out into hands of the masses and with tracks such as the timeless Blind and quirky Shoots and Ladders its fair to assume fans had high hopes.

I can only guess that most fans over the following five years had just about written off the band before the second studio album release Life is peachy. Oddly their third album Issues came in the same month, however I personally think this was a blessing because Life is peachy is by far their worst album, I have favourite tracks off all of their albums except this one, and with Issues concealing some of Korn’s darkest and most intense tracks it probably saved their ass.

Now we are taken into the new millennium and in 2002 their forth album Follow the Leader hits the market. This would be the first Korn album I picked up and bought, it was this album that I discovered the band and would never look back.
The first four tracks to this album are just pure and simply awesome and still sound fresh and original to this day. It would be hard to believe that the album as a whole could progress after such a solid beginning but with experimental rap offerings with the help from the likes of IceCude, Hip Hop bass line teasers, mean guitar riffs and the truly brilliant dynamic vocals from Jonathan Davis the album is a master peace.

With the band on a creative roll, later the same year their fifth album Untouchables came along. Interestingly I struggled with this one but it featured a handful of accessible tracks, Here to Stay getting commercial radio play and featuring on World Wrestling. It wouldn’t be for a few years later that I realised one of my favourite Korn tracks of all time was on this album, maybe a hint that they were ahead of their time.

2003 brought there sixth Studio album, admittedly at the time I was suspicious of what to expect after my disappointment with the previous but ultimately overwhelmed and relived. Take a look in the Mirror is probably their best, most solid album, track after track of heavy guitar riffs and vocal hooks. It’s dark, mean and kicks ass. Right Now, Here it comes again and Deep Inside are just a few to mention but there isn’t a bad track on the album and features Did my time, the title sound track to Tomb raider 2 plus a bonus track, a Metallica cover!

Korn had proved to me that they stood the test of time, after playing Take a look in the mirror to death it made it irresistible to listen to all their older albums and revive that (now officially self proclaimed) Korn fan.

In 2005 we had a Greatest Hits album and Seventh Studio album See you on the other side contained a few treats and some bonus dance mixes that would rival any super star DJ. And in 2005 a couple Live, rare and unplugged offerings suggesting the band had had their day, but a respectable one at that.

2007: And then…..I here that Korn have done MTV Unplugged and soon after released their eighth studio album. Admittedly the thought of Korn doing Unplugged made me very nervous. But, sticking to there philosophy of trying out ideas I was nicely surprised they’d pulled some of it off. Kicking off with a Latin version of Blind and introducing a couple of guests including Amy Lee and some Japanese Drummers, there are some really nice moments.

Their new album however, again not the most creatively titled untitled contains some of the most genius tracks I think I ever heard. Bitch we got a problem using exceptionally cool synthesized licks, Evolution sticking to Korn’s trade mark power choruses and verses packed full of rhythm, the album gets of to a winning start.
And then it comes to the track Hold On. Now let’s get one thing clear, I am a fan of music from a massive array of genres. I know music is ultimately down to taste but I like to think I have a pretty good idea. Taking into consideration Korn’s career, and thier moments of pure brilliants, one would think they had peaked along time ago.

Hold on is probably the one most single peace of pure and utter genius I have ever had the pleasure of listening to. With a couple of clicks of the drum sticks the trade mark Korn sound pours through the speakers and without any nonsense in kicks the punchy verse riff soaked with rhythm. Naturally the vocal melody perfection from Jonathan Davis completes the beginning. The Chorus has the head nodding appeal that even the Churchill dog would applauded. Into the second verse and in sneaks some random experimental analogue noises. Korn have somehow reinvented them selves yet without loosing their sound. This track is fresh, dynamic, perfection and pure fucking genius. And I dare say, the band has truly peaked.

It maybe unfair to single out a band as being the best but is Korn the best band of this decade? With eight studios albums under there belt, each containing experimentation, creativity and not a guitar solo in sight. Maybe not, but they sure as hell are one of them.

The Best Techno Artists (Who you may never know)

noreply@blogger.com (Walker) — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 12:41:00 +0000

I’ve being following a recording label for over eighteen months now, which has opened up a whole new little world of techno artists that most people would never know about. I know that I wouldn’t have discovered them myself if it wasn’t for total chance while on a trip to Berlin early 2006. I can’t help but to be always on the look out for new and interesting music (its in my blood), so when I heard some ‘refreshingly awesome techno’ thumping out of the impressive PA system, in some cool and edgy bar deep in Berlin, I couldn’t resist inquiring.

Thanks to the wonderful internet I was able to pay a small fee and download the Album back in the UK, and obviously find out exactly who was involved.

The label Audiomatique (http://www.audiomatique.com/) and the key artists involved being Martinez, Trentemoller and (since discovered) Jeff Bennett of Pokerflat Recordings (http://www.pokerflat-recordings.com/).
If you’re interested in discovering some alternative techno music then search for the following tracks as a starter and take it from there:

Physical Fraction - Trentmoller

Prana - Trentmoller

Twilight - Martinez

Have Fun!

Propellerhead Reason 4 - Upgrade Fiasco

noreply@blogger.com (Griff) — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 13:44:00 +0000

Well, after several days messing around transferring our licences over to the new Propshop account, it then turns out that we can't upgrade our copy of Reason. Not becuase it's the older Version 1. But because it's an "NFR" version. These are versions which are shipped out to journalists, traders and bands/producers to help promote the software, and this is what we have been using for the last 6 years. We've been very impressed with Reason, and it's proved usefull on many occasions, but we've never felt the need to upgrade till now.

The new version of Reason has a new modular synth, a groove mixer and more interestingly for us (since we ditched the CS2X) , an arpeggiator! So it's quite upsetting to find that even through we're prepared to fork out for the upgrade, Propellerhead won't permit us to do so. We can however, if we wish, pay full price for the full version (some 400EU!). Sadly, this it way out of our budget for software. And it does lead me to think that it's actually alot of money for any band, so that basically means it's marketed for the full time musos and producers who can get the software for free!

Nice move Propellerhead! You just earned yourself £0 from all bands like us. Surely it would make more sense to have some kind of banner exchange? Or promotional contract where bands using the software get discounts in exchange for wearing Propellerhead t-shirts on stage? That's just two ideas off the top of my head, so surely there must be another option?

But that would be sensible now wouldn't it. So, no new toys for Reborn. Will just stick with Version1 thanks very much.

Griff's Telecaster Pics

noreply@blogger.com (Griff) — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 15:54:00 +0000

OK, so I though I should some pics of the actual guitar rather than just some generic pics off t'interweb. What you're looking at here is a Squire Fat Telecaster, with a Seymour Duncan HotRails in the bridge, and a 59 Model in the neck.

The strings currently fitted are 10-52 Fender Stainless "350". But normally I sue Ernie Ball "Skinny Top Heavy Bottom" which are the same size, but a bit easier on the frets. The Fenders sound great but are a bit abbrasive on the poor fret wire. I've also stopped using the Fender strings on the Jag-Stang as you could actually see the wear!

Also worthy of note is the saddles. When I first started gigging with this guitar, it would break strings with regularity. It was a constant source of frustration, and often the reason why you would see my playing the Ja-Stang a the end of a gig. (and also why you would often see the Telecaster flying accross the stage).

I soon realised that the strings were snapping at the saddle, so I had them filed and grooved by a luthier. It didn't help much, so after a bit of investigation I came accross the Graph Tech saddles. Now, not only do these things look cool (being black graphite) they self lubricate and in theory, microscopically mould to the string. The end result is that I haven't broken a single string since I fitted them. They're also really comfy for blocking.

Another modification I've made is to the switchgear. As I rarely switch pups, but regularly alter the tone and volume, I switch the plate around. It also means it's alot harder to accidently switch pickups when you're jumping around the stage. It's an idea I saw and blatently robbed from the Fender Custom Classic Telecaster. Now that I've got better pickup balance I might well reverse the plate again...we shall see!

The final mod (which was actually the first) was to change the jack socket. It's a real weakspot on the Telecaster. The normal/vintage jack is held in place by a flexed piece of steel which pushes against the sides of the cavity. It's a rubbish design becuase if you stand on your guitar cable, it will sometimes pull the socket right out, and there's no way in hell it will go back in the middle of a gig, it's screwdrivers and pliers time! So a quick visit to Stewmac, a couple of days on a DHL plane and I had a nice new Electrosocket. This is a machine lathed piece of aluminium which is screwed in place. There's no moving it now!

End result of all these things is a Telecaster which is a real workhorse. It's robust, reliable and sounds better than any off the shelf Fender.

Erics Guitars - Fret Buzz

noreply@blogger.com (Griff) — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 19:24:00 +0000

I decided to use the power of the web to learn about eliminating the fret buzz that my jag-Stang seems to have picked up over the last few years.

This is pretty educational and useful to any guitarist who wants to set up their own guitar (rather than pay some half stone guitar tech to do it)

It's pretty funny too. FRET BUZZZZ !!

Courtesy of Erics Guitars

Drifting Video Clip

noreply@blogger.com (Griff) — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 11:29:00 +0000

I found this while looking for drifting video clips on my other blog. It's of a piece called Drifting (presumably).

What can I say, this guy is seriously gifted.

Telecaster - Replacement Bridge Pickup

noreply@blogger.com (Griff) — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 09:21:00 +0000

Following on from my previous post, where I fitted a new Telecaster neck pickup : That's been the setup pretty much since 2002 till now, but I've always been unhappy with the bridge pickup since fitting the Duncan 59 to the neck. It's a common situation and not entirely unexpected. Many people recommened changing both pickups at once, otherwise the guitar can become unbalanced. And this is exactly what happened. Setting my sound up for the neck pup,I found that when switching over to the stock bridge pickup, the sound was thin, quiet and totally useless. Conversely, when setting up for the bridge pickup, I found that switching to the humbucker made the sound thick and wooly, and distorting in all the wrong places (mainly the bass range).

As a result, I've pretty much been using just the neck pickup all the time, but recently I've been craving some lighter tones from the bridge, so I made the decision to finally get the bridge pickup replaced.

Again, I wanted to stick with Seymour Duncan. There are many choices of direct replacement. Including stacked single coils, as well as single coil sized humbuckers. Outside of that, you can replace the bridge plate with one from somwhere like StewMac (Stewart Macdonald) which accepts a full size humbucker.

I didn't fancy routing out the guitar, and I knew I wanted a humbucker, so this gave me two choices. The Little '59 or the Hot Rails.

The Little 59, as the name suggests, is again based around the PAF pickup, but in a single coil sized package. It has to be said, it looks pretty damn cool! It's attraction was that it should pair off nicely with the existing 59 in the neck, and still keep some of the original telecaster twang. It was very higly recommeneded on the Telecaster Forum and on Harmony Central.

It's a little known fact that for a couple of years, Kurt Cobain actually played a Telecaster at most of his concerts, and his Tele was fitted with a Hotrails. So this was natrually my second option.

The reviews for the hotrails were not so favourable. Many people say it was too harsh and you loose the telecaster sound, this put me off to start with, but I soon started to think that I actually didn't care about loosing the telecaster sound, and was it really a good idea to have a similar pickup in the neck (Lil 59)? The more I thought about it, the more I realised that keeping some dynamics in the setup would be a good idea, so I bought the hotrails.

What can I say? What a great idea what was! I have a lovely clean sound from the neck, which responds well to crunchy overdrive, and I've got a totally shred-tastic ceramic humbucker in the bridge. With some rectifier style overdrive, this thing sounds like death! I LOVE IT! It's the ideal Telecaster pickup for grunge or metal.

The total unforseen bonus is the combined setting, when both the neck and bridge pups are selected, you get the most fanstastic clean sound, which turns into a Stevie Ray Vaughan type sound with a bit of overdrive. I'm absoloutly over the moon.

This cheapy Tele is fast becoming my preferred guitar !

Telecaster - Replacement Neck Pickup

noreply@blogger.com (Griff) — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 09:07:00 +0000

I've been playing my Candy Apple Red Telecaster for about 5 years now, and it's had a few modifications along the way.

It started life as an off-the-shelf Squire Fat Telecaster. It was resonably priced and ideal as a stage workhorse which I wouldn't be too bothered about damaging. However the stock pickups soon started to show their weaknesses.

Being a "Fat" Telecaster, this guitar came preloaded with a full size humbucker in the neck position, this gave a really warm sound, and most importantly, it responded well to overdrive and distortion, but I soon started to detect the muddiness and set out to find a new pickup.

I did shop around for a bit, but I quickly decided it just HAD to be a Seymour Duncan pickup. but which one? Well to be fair, being in the neck position, I wasn't spoiled for choice and following some recommendations and reviews, I settled for the '59 Model Humbucker. This is modelled around the PAF pickup found in the original Gibson Les Paul and SG. It's got a really great sound when clean and chugs along nicely when I stomp on my Guv'Nor II distortion pedal.

Welcome to our Blog!

noreply@blogger.com (Griff) — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 08:17:00 +0000

Well, we thought it was about time we started a blog to keep you all up to date on band activities, recordings, gigs and suchlike.