Watch dat label: Opal Tapes

Subject pretty much says it all. Good weird electronic music from Britain, like the Baby Jesus intended. Here's their Bandcamp.

The release that got me into them was Mundo Harsh by Ñaka Ñaka. This track could be an outtake from SAW 85-92 (after the jump):

Plugit, STEP IT UP HONKY

Our posting frequency is dwindling. Call to arms, motherfuckers.

Right now SonicCouture, this company that does mostly weird sampled instruments, is having a two-for-1 sale. Plus with any purchase you get their 303 plugin. Not bad to get 3 plugs for $80. I'm seriously considering this one. Because I really love pads (maybe everyone knew that already). And that shit sounds ridiculously awesome (listen to the samples). The main dude who's still actually doing this with an ensemble, Stephen Scott, is coincidentally from Corvallis (where Oregon State University is seated). They also have a glass instrument collection with an instrument that samples a homemade version of Harry Partch's cloud chamber bowls, and 3 different-priced versions of Gamelan instruments. Brian. To get the deal you have to enter a promo code: SCXMAS09.

OhmForce just made another of their plugins, a synth, freeware. Go cop that shit. Looks to be far more useful than Frohmage, which has its place, but that place is somewhere inside a hooker's asscrack after the champagne has dried but before the condom gets stuck.

I also have been fucking around with Sonalksis plugins lately. Pretty sweet, especially this guy. It's one of those plugins (like Waves' RComp) that when in doubt, you can throw as an insert pretty much anywhere, and you've got to struggle to come up with (subtle) settings that make something sound worse.



I also have been testing out the tips in this SOS article for working in Live, and it's re-energized my workflow to some extent, or at least, it makes me feel like I'm getting results faster when trying to come up with arrangements or pattern variations. I figure you can always line up some pattern changes with the beatbox method they mention to legato-switch between clips, then dump all the MIDI to another track as a clip and edit it, to help fine-tune those moments where the pattern change doesn't meld quite so well (e.g., two identical hits on either side of a pattern change). Gunna try that tonight and see how well it works. The group tracks stuff and added native devices in Live 8 are definitely worth it, if anyone's on the fence about upgrading.

Glitch babies - leave some tips on working better, faster? I think we could all agree that we should be making more music faster, while not compromising the quality. My latest one is just printing shit and not caring so much. You can save versions pre-print, of course, but just fucking bouncing it down usually helps you make decisions faster and not labor over every goddamn detail (which you can always do later, after inspiration leaves you and you feel like reorganizing something).