So the next couple of months I will be heading a cross the country. Just because I can. I can’t promise how much I’ll be updating here on the site because I don’t know how much internet access I will have. All I know is that I’ll be working on the album. And I promise a post about my trip when I get back.

The last year or so I’ve learned about the illuminati and to be honest it’s kinda interesting theories. If you even just go to youtube and type in ‘illuminati’ there are a ton of videos on the subject. I like to keep an open mind about things so I’m not going to say I believe it or not. You never know. Anyways here is my illuminati song and it’s a little different for me. Leave a comment if you like it or not, I like all feedback.

Download here (right click if you have quicktime)

John emailed me asking if I could spare a moment to vote for a contest he is in. I did and the response from him was grateful, appreciative. I respect that. You don’t even have to log in or sign up to vote, just click on the picture and you’ll see a button ‘vote’. So help another independent artist out and go to this link to do it.

Vote for John Dykstra

I can’t get enough of these songs. Someone on my twitter posted one of the videos and ended up finding all of them. There is tons of remixes and check out what some of the other videos from Carl Sagan. Interesting guy to listen to.

The Grammys = the old guard / old media propping up their puppets trying to convince the outside world (and each other) they’re relevant.
-Trent Reznor

Trent posted this on his twitter account when he was at the Grammy Awards and I 100% agree with this. I never cared about the Grammys but my interest was sparked a bit when they added the category Best Electronic/Dance Album. I am happy that Basement Jaxx and The Chemical Brothers won in the past but look at the rest of the nominations with live albums and compilations. What the hell is this shit.

To say the Grammys are a reflection of music today is akin to saying what airs on NBC defines America. It doesn’t.
-Bob Lefsetz

Apple announced the iPad today the long awaited tablet device that has been rumored forever. To be honest it’s a large iPod Touch/iPhone. People will complain that the storage isn’t large enough or that there isn’t a camera on there. I personally noticed that this could be used as a musical instrument/controller. For example on the iPod Touch/iPhone there is an App called ‘TouchOSC‘.

I’m hoping that the same guys create a version for the iPad. If you are familiar with Jazzmutant’s Lemur you know that TouchOSC on the iPod Touch/iPhone is basically the same thing on a smaller scale. It was never a problem until today because a bigger screen is what you truly need and wanted for something like this.

I personally think that Jazzmutant as a company is going to be slowly forced into becoming a software only company and should really think about developing an App for the iPad before guys that did TouchOSC or someone else might even jump in. At the price point of 1700 – 1800 usd for the Jazzmutant Lemur vs starting price of 499 usd of the Apple iPad, no one in their right mind would purchase the Lemur today unelse you like wasting money.

iPad is the most exciting potential music device of the year. Suck it NAMM, you fucking joke.

*Update

I do know that the iPad is completely functional with all iPod Touch/iPhone Apps. So therefore TouchOSC would work with the iPad but I think it just enlarges the app to fill the screen. I want new App to utilize the full screen.

Here is a hands on demo of the iPad:

Interesting idea for an album cover. When you open it.. it breaks a seal of an ink pack and therefore every album cover will be different. People are saying that this is an interactive album cover, I don’t think so. If you want a interactive album cover check out Moldover’s album (yeah same dude with the Mojo controller).

Pretty cool I must admit but ugly.

Korg Kaossilator Pro
Something new that Korg is pushing. It’s a complete joke. I use to own the KP3 and it was really cool at first but after sometime you’ll feel like its more of gimmicky thing. Lets quickly look at the two units.

Everything is the same but for a few things. It’s green instead of red. Instead of hold function they give you Gate Arp. And some minor software changes thats it. They should have just marketed this as ‘Old hardware Special Edition KP3 because we are too lazy to come up with the KP4′. I don’t know.

—

“Cakewalk launched the FA-66 FireWire Audio Interface for Mac and PC at NAMM. The FA-66 will be available in late April, 2010. Pricing is TBA.” Oh do you mean the Edirol FA-66 that’s available right now? At least Korg changed the color of their product.

—

Akai MPD26
Yay another useless Trigger Finger! Oh wait isn’t there another Akai product similar to this? of course.. the MPD 24. Lets look

Okay Akai must have had some inside info from Korg that new colors help. This has two less knobs and three extra buttons. For 199.00 I think I’ll pass and get Korg nanoPad and nanoControl for a total of 100.00.

—

Okay.. onto some kinda cool things from NAMM.

Moldover’s Mojo
Maybe this isn’t the greatest controller out there but I dig Moldover’s love for it and presentation. It’s being marketed as a DJ controller. But way too expensive to have it become successful. It’s like near 2000.00 at that price I’d much rather get a Jazzmutant Lemur. Here’s a run down of the features. And you’ll have to check out the video I include after.

Works with all MIDI compatible music software
Includes new Moldover template for Ableton Live
10 ultra-responsive touch strips
24 competition-grade arcade buttons
Rubberized knobs, rugged faders and burly toggle switches
Assembled in San Francisco CA by Andy from Pance Party
Sexy mahogany body by Livid Instruments
Scratch-resistant anodized aluminum faceplate
Environmentally sealed twist-lock USB cable included
USB bus powered electronics by Hale Micro
Class-compliant USB device (no driver to install)
Free copy of Moldover’s self-titled album included
Dimensions: 11.5″ x 18″ x 4″, 7.5lbs
“Will totally get you laid” (<-Awesome! lol)

—

Ableton/Serato’s The Bridge
They finally showed what they were going to bring DJing world to the next level. I don’t know it’s kinda whatever. Session view in Serato. I guess thats awesome if you refuse to leave Serato. But I’m pretty sure you need to own Ableton Live too. See the catch? I have turntables but I’m not the type of guy that needs to use vinyl to perform live. Just check out this video this guy explains it.

OR

If you have Ableton Live and Max for Live AND Ms. Pinky you could use this patch.

—

There is a lot of little things I could continue to post on like the return of the Moog Taurus III, Teenage Engineering OP-1, Arturia Origin Keyboard, The Eigenharp Tau and more. And there are a billion more things I could complain about with the useless midi keyboards, dj controllers and lame same old instruments (with new colors yay! ). I am no expert in this but I think I have a good understanding what’s up. Let me know what you think in the comments.

It may be not the greatest front finish on a guitar but the features that this beast packs is amazing and for the price it should. This is the third generation of robot guitars. The first that I have ever seen, so I’m quite impress with the automate tuning system they have. If I had the need of another guitar and had over 4000USD laying around I would pick this up. Check out the video it’s a great overview of the Dusk Tiger.

Intense video/movie about the font called Helvetica. I’m sure you have it on your Pc/Mac. This video gives you a inside look on where the font came from, examples how it first started to get use to today’s uses and as well a lot of opinions from artists.

*Hope you had a safe and good New Year! One thing I would like to mention that this past month I have been posting almost every couple of days which this year will be more of one or twice a week. Why? I need to focus my time more on my projects instead of blog posts. You know the more important things.