DS-10 Update, a few more details.

Update 8/1, demo video:

My DS-10 Has Arrived. Not going to bother describing the feature set entirely, as I’m busy using the DS-10 right now and theres tons of information and videos already out there, but I thought I’d drop a few tidbits of info that I found pleasing:

The pattern management and solo/mute features are very similar to the way Electribes work. You can ‘Lock’ the selection of a new pattern to wait for the first pattern to finish playing. This makes coming out of mutes and solo performances easier to come out of because it frees up your hands.

Each stored session is a collection of a project’s patterns (PTN) and all the current settings of the 2 synthesizers, 4 drum parts, patching. etc. The FX are also similar to the Electribes.. each of the 4 drum parts can all have individual effects [chorus, delay or flanger] and then there’s a global fx chain that can be mixed in various ways [syn1, syn2, syn1+syn2, all (including drums), off]. All of the FX can be sync’d to the BPM or runfreely. All basic synth parameters, vol/pan, cutoff/resonance, note/gate can be recorded in realtime. Further modulation, to a decent degree as on the MS-10 is available on the patchbay page.

There’s also a Song mode where you can string a ton of patterns together. You have several save slots, but not only can u save a project but you can also store presets for all the drum parts and synth parts seperately to be used in any project.

The Drum parts are actually all full blown synth parts, with the lack of a release on the envelope and the ability to tweak the parameters in realtime (though their patch bays are also there like syn1/2 so you can automate w/ lfos still). All the patching options are also still there. The sequencer for the drum parts by default is the matrix sequencer like you see in all the pictures and videos, but you can alternately use a piano roll sequencer. This really opens things up as you could imagine.

AKG K-701 Headphones

Finally got a hold of a new pair of AKG K-701′s.  My old Sennheiser HD570′s (discontinued little brother to the HD650′s) had finally deteriorated to the point that I had to replace them (and my HD600s were broken). I mix on monitors as well, but my apartment setting(s) have pretty much relegated all my late night sessions to headphones, so I need the best I can afford. Google them if you don’t know about them but want to know more, there are enough sites that already cover their specs and quality.

Apparently, these things have a break in period of about 200 hours.. but right out of the box they are easily the best can’s I’ve ever stuffed my head into. The Sennheisers’ I’ve owned over the years hid a lot more from me than I previously thought, they were a bit too sweet in the mid-ranges and not honestly clear enough in the highs. I cannot speak for the HD650′s though.. I’m sure those are some amazing reference/production headphones as well.

I can’t explain how clear the high’s sound on these headphones.. I can hear a clarity now that I’ve never heard before outside of expensive monitors. I’m not suggesting headphones are replacements for monitors.. but I would definitely say that a quality set of headphones like these, or the HD600/HD650′s, or Grados’ headsets, would blow away a budget or low priced set of monitors.

The obvious side effects of sticking to just headphones though: speaker bass response, because of the cones, especially in consumer products, will always be better. That’s not saying the bass or details of the audio will be better or worse, but the actual RESPONSE will show up on monitors/speakers in a way that’ll reveal them in the mix according to how most people will hear your music. For example, I’ve got a track I was working on late at night that sounded great on my headphones, but the next day when i checked out the mix on my monitors it was disturbing to find out that a mid bass tone repeated throughout most of the song was dominating and killing the song (badly). Another obvious side effect would be natural panning. Panning instruments hard left/right on headphones can sound and feel unnatural when your are producing which could lead you away from respectably mixing your stereo-field and levels.

Open-air headphones are much better in dealing with the panning issue than closed headphones, because you get some natural sound bleeding out from the headphones around you,  you can work at training your ears to adapt to this sort of thing so your mix is solid, but that takes years of experience and besides.. they’re still no 100% substitute for monitors. AKG made a wild (and expensive) set of headphones a few years ago to address that issue.. if you can honestly call them “headphones”.  The speakers are supported in the open and positioned away from the ears, while aiming towards them. Take a look:

By the way.. the K-701′s packaging is really nicely done and is fun to open. ^_^

Kaossilator 16-step

Eventually I need to slow down with the Korg posts, but this is decent enough to share. As I mentioned previously I recently got myself a Kaossilator for a price i couldnt pass up…and I’m glad I did. There’s quite a few tricks to using the thing to speed up creativity like using the arp/gate patterns to automatically quanitze individual drum hits/ and drum synths, etc. (see the charts below, click for larger versions).

To the point: while exploring my KO, I discovered a boot-up mode by holding random buttons while powering the unit on. I googled a bit and found out ppl @ Korgforums and Youtube have already discovered this but the information seemed pretty buried so I thought I’d pass the info along myself.

When powering on the unit, hold down the TAP/BMP and Rec/Play buttons simultaneously and wait for the screen to boot up. DLY will read on the screen then release the buttons. Hold down Rec/Play and press the TAP/Bpm button again (Length setting). You can now change the overall pattern length to 16 steps and record some parameter automation like loop length and tempo, which can’t be recorded in regular mode. Recording acts differently as well, for example.. you can let go after laying down some sounds then make some changes on the length and tempo and the changes will be recorded.

You gain some you lose some. Overdubbing can no longer be undone via Fix and Cancel. In 16-Bar mode you can only delete the entire loop or keep overdubbing. Instead you have Erase and Clear. Erase works like it does in regular mode and so does Clear. Also, you can Pause the playback but if you stop it in order to sync something with the downbeat (pause/begin record on trigger), it will overwrite what was previously there.. not a big deal really.  Check out the video below the charts for a great example of the sorts of things you can do in this Mode by tripleninesquared.

    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buaFeNpb0A0

Korg DS-10 update

NCS Product Update – July 25, 2008
«©NCSX» An initial shipment of AQ Interactive’s highly anticipated KORG DS-10 Synthesizer software for the Nintendo DS arrived today and preorders will begin shipping this afternoon. Please note that the remainder of our shipments are expected to arrive next week.

Update: I’ve pre-ordered a Japanese version of AQ Interactive’s Korg DS-10. Apparently the DS-10 has got a bit of a raw deal in Japan in that it is now exclusively going to be sold through Amazon.jp. People are having an odd time figuring out that move, espcially in a region where for quite a time they couldn’t keep Kaossilator’s on the store shelves long enough to meet the demand. Speaking of the Kaossilator, I got caught up a little and managed to find one for such a good price ($125) that I had to pick it up, plus it looks tons of portable improv fun.  I’m especially encouraged by the fact that it has one-hit kits and some drum synths instead of just relying on drum loops.

There’s still going to be a english language release in the States but that has been apparently set back to October and will be sold in stores where-ever available, not through Amazon. Apparently the gaming distributor XSEED has gained the rights to distribute the DS-10 in North America, so it sounds like a done deal.

Anyways, as soon as I learned of the new import date and that in Japan iwas exclusive to Amazon.jp (you cannot order through Amazon.jp in North America) I decided I could wait no longer and immediately ordered myself a Japanese copy which should be up for Sale offically on the 24th. No delays are expected. I’ll keep my fingers crossed.

Here is a fully detailed image gallery of the DS-10 from DSFanboy.com:

http://www.dsfanboy.com/photos/korg-ds-10/912601/

Check out this cool video/interview with the Creators of the DS-10:

http://gamevideos.com/video/id/19545