Of Recordings

I was flipping through some pornography the other day, admiring some pretty guitars.  Specifically, the maple-top Taylor T5 caught my eye.  Of course, Grl’s 614CE is not exactly an eyesore either.  Then I wondered: what gear do I have that’s nice to look at?  The yellow-cone KRKs?  The padKontrol?  I love my kit, but it’s not pretty.

Guitarists can find an axe with any body shape, color, finish, and wood they like.  Synthesizers, on the other hand, tend to look functional at best and butt-ugly at worst.

Sonically speaking, classics like the MS-20 or DX-7 were revolutionary.  Visually, they look more like appliances than instruments.  I would love to get my hands on an ARP Odyssey, but it’s pretty unattractive.  At least oddities like the Wasp and the Fizmo are so ugly they’re cute.

What synths are beautiful?  Pics and ramblings after the jump ..

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A tiny snippet from an experiment with running a bunch of outboard gear through Buzz. Recorded last summer, but I just recently found the recordings.  I am rocking the microKorg, Aaron is rocking the Electribe, and we are both rocking the Stoli.

What’s the deal with all these inverted keyboards?

Korg are developing an MS-10 based groovebox for the Nintendo DS.

Recently, Korg seem to have made a point of releasing small, fun musical gadgets in addition to their usual megabucks workstations. Perhaps they have discovered that this is an excellent way to separate me from my hard-earned cash.

(Thanks to Darius for the pointer.)

Update: video demo and more details here.  Two notes from the video:

1. You can apparently use the DS touchscreen as an XY controller, Kaoss pad style.  (Or really, Wavestation style.)

2. You can apparently draw patch cables with the stylus, which is just plain badass.