The DSI Tempest is almost here...

All you lovers of drum beats and Analog/ Digital combos can rejoice that the much sought after Dave Smith Instruments Tempest is almost here!

The release date of this soon to be legend has been clicked back a few times, but it looks as though we've just about made it-- I've most recently heard it should be just about ready in another week.  If you haven't heard about this thing, be prepared to be talking about it for the next twenty years-- this is just about as classic as it's going to get.  Dave Smith, who helped pioneer polyphony in synths and created the Prophet 5 and Pro One, teamed up with Roger Linn, who created the LinnDrum and other classic drum machines.  Mixing these two together is a recipe for awesome, as they're both incredible innovators in music technology.  Great drum machines seem to be dying down, and analog drum sounds are becoming even rarer, but the Tempest is going to change all that.  Not only does it feature analog oscillators and the warm Curtis filter found in the other DSI products, but it also includes 2 digital oscillators per voice as well.  Not only that, but it also has samples of Roger Linn's older drum machine creations.  This represents such an important step in music tech because of the beautiful marriage of analog and digital sounds, which compliment each other so nicely, as we could see in the DSI Evolver and PolyEvolver.  This is pretty much the perfect piece of equipment if you're looking for a high end drum machine of today-- but enough gushing, watch the video below.

Hopefully we'll see this thing shipping in another week or so-- I'm sure the last little bits are just tiny software issues ironing out and are worth the wait.  After this, who knows what's next for DSI?  They have synths in pretty much every price bracket... perhaps we'll see a keyboard version of Tetra, or something even grander...

Frankmusik Interview: On Do It In The A.M., Erasure, and the perfect Pop Record

Frankmusik is a really exciting artist for me to be able to interview.  His music helped kick start my initial interest in electronic music and the 80s revival.  His track "3 Little Words" off his record Complete Me, along with its awesome retro-feel video was the start of my own personal music evolution.  Not only was "3 Little Words" great, but the rest of the record was an awesome collection of beautifully mixed vintage and new elements, as it featured old-school chip tune style sounds, as well as borderline show-tune piano all expertly crafted. To this date, Frankmusik has inspired many, but no one else has come close to his unique style of beautiful vocals over warm synths, catchy hooks, and classic piano.

Of course, when I heard FM had moved to L.A. for his next record (if I recall correctly, I remember him tweeting in 2009 how if Complete Me wasn't a hit, he wanted to move to L.A. and make a pop record) I was a little concerned.  In my opinion, he'd have to change drastically for US radio.  Was the singer selling out?  My concerns grew when his collaborations with Far East Movement, who are very much in the rap/pop realm of the US currently, landed him on Jimmy Kimmel Live.  Was FM trying to be the next US pop star? Would he trade his awesome original niche for a taste of some stateside fame and boring electropop?  I voiced these concerns via Twitter and that's when FM first got in contact with me.

A little over a month ago, I chatted with Frankmusik about his new record, Do It In The A.M., but didn't get enough information at the time for a proper interview.  After seeing him in Philadelphia, he promised to finish up some follow up questions I had sent him via email.  The first set below are from our chat over Skype, and the second half is from our email correspondance.  I've edited the Skype chat a bit to make it more readable and taken out some dialogue, but there was no edits to the words.  Enjoy!

The Sanfernando Sound remixes Kites & Starlings

KITES - The Disappearance of Becky Sharp - The Sanfernando Sound REMIX by The Sanfernando Sound

The Sanfernando Sound, a guest on the blog a month or so ago, has been recently been keeping his hands full with some awesome remix work.  The most recent is "The Disappearance of Becky Sharp" by Kites, released just a couple days ago.  I'm not familiar with Kites, but they seem to have a great nostalgic feel to them-- a perfect coupling for the talents of The Sanfernando Sound.  This is his second remix for Kites, the first being "A Flower Is All That Remains" shown below.

My personal favorite of the new remixes is of Starlings' "Dark Arts" which is, again, a great retro-sounding track with a whirlwind of classic synths that makes my feet want to shuffle in my chair.  Check out all the great remixes and be sure to watch out for the official release of the remix to "Dark Arts" on October 10th.

STARLINGS - Dark Arts - The Sanfernando Sound REMIX by The Sanfernando Sound

Kites - A Flower Is All That Remains - The Sanfernando Sound REMIX by The Sanfernando Sound

Synth Magic's LUCEifer: Awesome Free Poly Moog Emulation for PC

Synth Magic has just showed off a new freebee for all you PC users out there-- sadly I'm a mac user, so I can't be playing with this, but this demo sounds so good I HAVE to show it off.

Judging by the sounds of the YouTube clip above, this one is going to be a hit-- it offers a great emulation of the very famous PolyMoog-- all the sounds are straight Gary Numan and other 80s classics.  Much of the clip even reminds me of Blade Runner and Terminator.  I'd love to hear what you guys think, so be sure to give a shout to me or praise Synth Magic on Twitter for his awesome work.

You can download this VST for free here.  Be sure to check it out!

Monday Mix

Below are some recent great tracks that have come through in the past few weeks.  Check them out, and be sure to check out the artist's SoundClouds by clicking their usernames.  Some of the tracks are FREE as well, so be sure to download!

AIMES - 'Sorry Bout Ur Fame' 2011 Summer Promo Mix by Aimes

+ AIMES's record on Beatport and iTunes

Lightwaves - Midnight Sky by lightwavesmusic

Frankmusik Live at the Theater of the Living Arts, Sept 8th 2011

It's been just about 2 years since I last saw Frankmusik live-- the first time FM played as a last minute guest for the Perez Hilton tour and opened the show for 3 other artists.  At that time, Complete Me, his first record, had only been out for a month or so.  The performance was a stellar track by track type set, featuring some beat-boxing.  Much has changed since that show.  FM now lives in LA, and has his upcoming sophomore release Do It In The A.M.. So how did last night's performance compare to 2009's?  

Synthesizer Exhibit in Berlin

Got a very cool email a couple days ago from Germany about a synthesizer exhibition.  I don't know much about the event, but I've read it's actually ending tomorrow, but if you're in Berlin I highly recommend checking it out while you can it ends the 10th, so make sure you check it out!  You can see some pictures here.  There's also more information at that link.

The synths come from the mighty Synthesizer Studio in Hamburg.  You can view their website here.  The site lists some records done at the studio (which I'll now have to check out) as well as all the awesome gear-- I'd love to hang out at that studio.  Be sure to check out that site for more information.  Why can't we have more great synthesizer institutions in the US?