the deli LO C A L M U S I C & G E A R
Austin Issue #8 Vol. #4 Spring 2018 thedelimag.com
FRIGS
ATX STOMPBOX + SYNTH EXPO! The Chuggin’ Monkey, March 16 & 17
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I think I’m starting to miss a powerful record industry. In this issue’s main feature (on page 6) we quote Jack White saying, “Since rock ’n’ roll’s inception, every 10–12 years, there’s a breath of fresh air, a new injection of some sort of punk attitude or something like that, a wildness, things get crazy.”
LO C A L M U S I C & G E A R
Austin Issue #8 Vol. #4 Spring 2018 thedelimag.com
We’ve been covering the music scene since 2004, and—aside from some oneoff bands and live performances—we don’t exactly remember “crazy” or “wildness” applied to a rock movement.
EDIToR IN ChIEF / PUBLIShER
Paolo De GreGorio FoUNDER
Charles NewmaN ART DIRECToR Kaz Yabe ( WWW.KAzYABE.CoM ) ExECUTIvE EDIToR
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TenTs Table of C on p.6 Fresh buzz ain? Rock explode ag p.8 Feature: Will p.12 FR IG s ar p.14 bands + Ge 18 dals at naMM 20 w p.24 best ne Pe it hib ex ox stin stompb p.27 Pedals @ au po ex stin synth p.31 synths @ au
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From our NYC vantage point, we saw Brooklyn’s “Indie Rock moment” in the aughts, which produced a handful of very talented acts. We also saw the DIY scene thrive for a while, but nothing comparable to what happened in 1955 in the US, in 1967 on the West Coast, in 1977 in the UK or in 1991 in Seattle. The grunge “explosion” was 27 years ago— did we skip a 10–12 year cycle? In the current, appalling political climate, the time seems ripe for a new rock explosion, yet not much is happening. Compared to the past, one obvious ingredient is missing: a healthy record industry. In reality, all those “rock explosions” were marketing stunts meticulously planned and promoted by insiders, aware that the whole industry had a lot to gain from those breakouts. But today, most of the “music money” goes in the pockets of Spotify, Apple, YouTube and Amazon, distracted giants that are not reinvesting in music the way the record industry used to. They aren’t because they know it’s a crazy risky business, and they are just in it for the money—Wall Street doesn’t like risk. The fragmentation of the music scene only works to their advantage. Perhaps, it’s time to do something about it, all together. Paolo De Gregorio Editor in Chief
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Fresh Buzz | New Artists from The Deli’s Cities Photo: Bronwyn Wal
ls
Photo: Mert Gafuroglou
S u re S u re
Ka tie Von Sc hle ich er
Bo deg a
NYC based singer-songwriter Katie von schleicher came out with a poignant and plaintive album with the not-so-poetic title Shitty Hits. From the very beginning, the record treats the listener to unusual, yet elegant melodies, supported by an unexpectedly noisy production. The results are spectacular. The perfectly controlled, vaguely industrial clangor keeps coming in the following tracks, together with Katie’s incredibly beautiful vocal lines, forging a record that’s as unique as it is enjoyable and moving. Perhaps these songs aren’t hits, but they are definitely art. (PAoLo DE GREGoRIo)
hovvdy are the slacker music aficionados
Philly’s quartet queen of Jeans sounds as elegant and casual as its name suggests. “More to Love,” the first single from the band’s upcoming LP Dig Yourself, marries a melancholic, vintage melody with twangy guitars and a breathy, doo-wop, backing-vocal loop. But it’s lead singer Miriam Devora who steals the scene. The assertive sophistication of her lead vocals is reinforced by the polish of the harmonious backing chorus. Simmering in smooth rhythms, the song opens lines of intimate communication—a rare feat indeed. (MIChAEL CoLAvITA)
“I wasn’t born in Texas, but I got here as soon as I could.”. Raised in LA, molly burch found her audience only after moving to Austin. In a short span from the release of her debut LP, Please Be Mine, Burch was able to land a record deal, build a national audience, and garner gravitating comparisons to Patsy Cline, Nina Simone, and Billie holiday. While nostalgia permeates her romantic melodies, her subtle experimentation on tracks like “Fool” and “Please Be Mine” proves that her music is contemporary and unique. (LEE ACKERLEY)
LA’s art-pop quartet sure sure caught our attention in 2016 with their inventive pop. Their new material expands their reach with tracks like “hands Up head Down,” where they let their funky selves free with a slinky groove that recalls the sumptuous prog-pop of Genesis and Steely Dan. Their music benefits from these odd sonic contrivances, but never does the band lose the opportunity to deliver a catchy, earworm chorus. Their brilliant production proves they’re intent on writing songs that are flat-out fun without undermining anybody’s intelligence. (JUAN RoDRIGUEz)
that’s been generating buzz locally just for their live shows. on stage, the quintet is a fluid sea of movement darting along to pointed rhythms and shouted post-modernism. on March 1st they finally premiered their first single, a staccato post-punk piece called “how Did This happen !?”, produced by Parquet Courts’ Austin Brown. The band’s art/post-punk influence is apparent with vocalist/guitarist Ben hozie half-speaking half-shouting monotone lines full of attitude. What’s Your Rupture? is set to release the group’s debut album this summer. (CAMERoN CARR)
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H ov vd y
whose records embody Austin’s soul. having described their own music as “pillowcore,” Charlie and Will choose to dive into a solipsistic dream, that shimmers like some kind of acoustic shoegaze. Single Petals, from their 2018 sophomore album Cranberry, is a suburban love letter, chock full of neighborhood imagery, family bonds, and everyday beauty. While the over-saturation of indie music in Austin continues, hovvdy differentiates themselves by savoring the moment rather than rushing to the chorus. (LEE ACKERLEY)
Molly Burch
bodega (ex Bodega Bay) is a new NYC band
Photo: Jessica Lim
Quee n of Jeans
World touring artists from: P-FUNK, PRINCE, BOOTSY COLLINS
Funk-NEO-Soul-Rock N Roll FREE! Live April 6th 4-6PM, Rock N Soul DJ party, NYC
April 6 7:30-8:30PM Generation Records, NYC th
April 7th 4-6PM The Record Collector Bordentown, NJ
Band. Album Release Party.
Free Pizza, Funk goody bag, Prizes T-shirts with vinyl purchase.
April 8th 1-3PM Rough Trade Records, Brooklyn
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Feature | Record Industry
1955
will roCK eXPloDe aGaiN?
rock ’n’ roll is born in the us
The mother of all things rock was called rock ’n’ roll and consisted in a sped-up, louder and electric version of rhythm and blues, a genre played by African-Americans. Adopted by white players, like Elvis Presley, Buddy holly and Jerry Lee Lewis, rock ’n’ roll resonated with the first generation of baby boomers and became the soundtrack of their most turbulent parties.
1977 Punk
As psychedelia slowly morphed into baroque mainstream pop played by trained professionals, a new generation of working-class, angry musicians found inspiration in the overlooked, gritty DIY bands of the ’60s, like the Stooges and the MC5. In 1977, the term “Punk” became the buzzword for a highly controversial anti-establishment phenomenon, thanks largely to the Sex Pistols’ debut LP Never Mind the Bollocks.
I
in search of rock ’n’ roll’s lost urgency by Chris thiessen & Paolo De Gregorio illustration by JP Peer
t is no secret. Rock and roll is not in its heyday, and that’s probably an understatement. You know things are bad when some of the top rock luminaries of this millennium are publicly sharing their less-than-rosy outlook for the genre. Last year, Brandon Flowers, frontman of alternative rock heavyweights The Killers, commented on the state of the genre to The Big Issue: “It doesn’t look great. 8
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1967 Psychedelia
It was the peak of the psychedelic era, a countercultural movement aligned with anti–vietnam war protests and fueled, at least in part, by mind-altering substances. Remarkably, 1967 is the year Jimi hendrix, the velvet Underground, Pink Floyd and the Doors released their debut LPs. It also saw the arrival of the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, the Rolling Stones’ Between the Buttons and the Beach Boys’ Smile.
1991 Grunge
The word “Grunge” had been used since 1985 to describe a not particularly successful subgenre of alt-rock developed mostly by bands signed to Seattle’s Sub Pop record label. Nirvana’s Nevermind brought the genre to the mainstream in 1991, expressing the insecurity and apathy of a new, introspective generation, and perfecting the signature loud-quiet-loud production style developed by earlier alt-rock acts like the Pixies.
But I don’t know that that’s necessarily anybody’s fault but the bands’ either. […] The sexy side of rock ’n’ roll has been handed over to rap and hiphop. And that seems more fruitful and fresh and forward-thinking than rock has been for a while.” Just recently, Jack White shared Flowers’ sentiments in an interview with KRoQ: “Rock ’n’ roll needs an injection of some new young blood to really just knock everybody dead right
1955
now… Since rock ’n’ roll’s inception, every 10–12 years, there’s a breath of fresh air, a new injection of some sort of punk attitude or something like that, a wildness, things get crazy.” White must agree with Flowers on the fruitfulness of rap as well: his label, Third Man Records, just signed its first rap artist. But don’t just take the word of a couple of rockers who have already “made it.” The numbers confirm rock’s downturn as well. Nielsen reports that, in 2017, for the first time ever, R&B and hip-hop overtook rock for the biggest overall market share. In fact, in streaming avenues, R&B and hip-hop hold almost double the market share of rock and its subgenres. of the top 10 physical albums sold in 2017, only Metallica’s Hardwired…To Self-Destruct is classified as rock. An in-depth look at the top vinyl sales explains why rock’s market share is sticking around at all. Within the top 10, two albums are by the Beatles, one is by Pink Floyd, and one is the Guardians of the Galaxy soundtrack, a compilation of ’70s rock. The problem is clear: New rock records aren’t selling. But hey, sales aren’t everything, are they? Many immortal rock records, after all, were not blockbusters. True, but critics are not too keen on rock’s direction either. Rock artists are hard to spot on some of most influential year-end best of 2017 lists. Pitchfork, NPR, and NME each named one rock title in their top 10 lists in 2017, and all were by different artists (King Krule, Big Thief, and Wolf Alice, respectively—and calling King Krule “rock” is a stretch, anyway). however, all three of these publications agreed that Kendrick Lamar, SzA, and Lorde belonged in the top 10 of the year. As we all know, it hasn’t always been this way. From the late ’50s until the early ’90s, rock ’n’ roll was a juggernaut, a force that seemed unstoppable. It was in pretty good shape until the late aughts with the creative explosion of indie rock and, later, with that true moment of “emancipation” represented by DIY in all its shapes and colors. The clear feeling, though, is that, in the last few years, nothing truly powerful and new has happened in rock music—and things that can’t renew themselves are destined to fade away.
of disease is afflicting our favorite musical genre. Just open any page from Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk by Legs McNeil, and it will jump at you: Both the famous and the unknown musicians described in that book were “all in.” Music was their only option other than starvation or desperation-induced overdose. The term “sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll” is actually not enough to describe their lifestyle; “destitution” and “mental instability” should be in that group too. Jimi hendrix told Rave magazine in 1967 that, when he was discharged from the Army, in Clarksville, Tennessee, with only a few dollars to his name, “All I can do, I thought, is get a guitar and try to find work here.” And he began playing every gig he could just to survive. More recently, the Flaming Lips’ Wayne Coyne worked for 11 years as a fry cook at a seafood chain before his band got its deserved break. Many other rock stars, including Tom Petty and henry Rollins, had abusive parents and complicated childhoods. Even more sadly, the wonderfully talented musicians who suffered from either depression or some kind of mental illness are too many to count (we’ll just mention Syd Barrett, Jim Morrison and Kurt Cobain).
1967 The troubled lives and uncompromising attitude of rock music’s heroes conferred a primal urgency and an insurgent edge to it that other genres lacked, and that resonated with many young listeners time and time again. This quality, a defining characteristic of rock ’n’ roll, seems now almost entirely absent. “Rebellious” genres like punk, garage, and grunge are still around as revivals but—like all forms of mannerism—have lost their impact and core purpose. Metal’s subversion has always been more formal than substantial; in recent decades, the genre has also fragmented into a myriad of subgenres and survived at the margins of the collective consciousness (and geography), which has limited its disruptive power. Indie rock, still the latest “child” of the rock family, is almost exclusively produced by educated, inward-looking white twentysomethings with little appetite for vocal protest or self-destruction—and a more or less comfortable life waiting outside the rock band world. Proof of indie rock’s mellowing is the fact that the term has come to encompass mostly acts that don’t “rock” at all.
1977
So, is rock ’n’ roll heading toward oblivion, like so much of the popular music of the past? or does it just need, as White believes, “an injection of new young blood” that can reinvigorate it and unchain, once again, its subversive power? Maybe before we prescribe a medicine we should give this patient a prognosis, and there’s really no need to call the doctor (or even to get too creative) to figure out what kind
More worryingly, though, the overwhelming feeling is that something is working against a new golden era of rock ’n’ roll: In these days of social unrest and inequality, there are plenty of angry and poor people, but, for some reason, the ones with musical talent don’t seem interested in expressing their outrage through rock, or at least not in a way that’s new, exciting and authentic. (of course, there are a few excepthe deli Austin 2018
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“the troubled lives and uncompromising attitude of rock music’s heroes conferred a primal urgency and an insurgent edge to it that other genres lacked, and that resonated with many young listeners time and time again. this quality, a defining characteristic of rock ’n’ roll, seems now almost entirely absent.” tions, in particular in the post-hardcore realm, but not powerful enough to create a breakout wave of quality acts like the ones produced by punk, psychedelia, or grunge.)
1991
In 2018, there is no “rock movement.” Not even the politically earth-shattering 2016 elections appear to have triggered a relevant, organized grassroots response. What’s left of rock ’n’ roll, today, appears as an amalgamation of individualistic efforts without much of a unifying purpose. Stripped of the drive to fight for (or against) a specific “something,” this music ends up operating in the interest of the status quo as pure entertainment (party and poppy music) or escapist art (both dreamy and cerebral rock). The lack of commitment to a cause also extends to the personal level: For most rock musicians, rather than a permanent, make-it-or-break-it life choice, being in a band has become some kind of ritual passage.
hip-hop has had something specific and powerful to fight for. It has responded with protest music like Joey Bada$$’s 2017 album All-Amerikkkan Bada$$, Common’s Black America Again, and the unofficial BLM anthem, “Alright,” by Kendrick Lamar, to name a few. These artists voice the hurt and anger of people who are fed up with injustice and ready to fight for a change, much like rock artists used to. Springsteen said in his 2016 autobiography, Born to Run: “[...] in the States, the power of rock music as a vehicle for these ideas has diminished. A new kind of super-pop, hiphop, and a variety of other exciting genres had become the hotline of the day, more suited to the current zeitgeist.” But how can rock ’n’ roll, in its original acceptation, climb back to relevance, then? For any “socially subversive” musical genre, the key to success is to find a perfect mix of stirring music, message, and (let’s admit it) looks that resonates with as many dissatisfied young people as possible. Assuming that today’s rock consumer is still capable of getting aroused by protest music (big assumption), the real challenge is that musicians can’t make this stuff up: You need to have the whole package instilled in your blood through unparalleled talent, a wagonload of character, good looks, and...a history of misery as inspiration and “authenticity seal.”
20??
The situation is drastically different in the hip-hop scene, where, for many artists, music has been a means to a life away from poverty, gang wars, and drug dealing. Many of the great rappers, from Snoop Dogg to Notorious B.I.G. to Jay-z have talked about their troubled, drug-dealing pasts. “At some point, you have to have an exit strategy,” Jay-z told Vanity Fair. For some, it’s “some sort of barbershop or car wash,” but for others like Jay-z, it was hip-hop.
Today, rappers’ “exit strategy” can be producing unprecedented amounts of music to try to make it out. For example, since 2011, the rap trio Migos has put out 20 albums, EPs, and mixtapes. on top of that, they’ve been featured on tons of other songs—somewhere around 50 just in 2017. Fellow Atlanta rapper Future put out Future and HNDRXX in backto-back weeks, in addition to his Super Slimey mixtape with Young Thug released later last year. It’s gotten to the point where some type of output can be expected every year from the top players as they push for something new that people—particularly young people—can latch onto. These rappers’ personal experiences of struggle also translate into a more convincing and relevant push for social change. In the midst of movements like Black Lives Matter, 10
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It’s impossible to say whether there will be a rock renaissance similar to the psychedelic wave of 1967 or the punk explosion of 1977 anytime soon. The social and cultural context is completely different, and the record industry—which was crucial in fostering and promoting those movements—is in disarray and not in a position to take any risks. however, the current social and political environment has the potential to be fertile ground for a new wave of rock. The morally repugnant, inequality-breeding political situation in the U.S. might be exactly what a “rock ’n’ roll doctor” would order. The protest movement already has a reactionary and corrupt target. What it is still waiting for, though, is some “young blood” with the right mix of genes who can transform this ugliness into powerful rock music that will be remembered by future generations as urgent, poignant, and compelling. d
A Balanced Equation
Merging the Ibanez Tube Screamer with KORG™ Nutube™ Technology The pairing of Ibanez’s Tube Screamer with Korg™ Nutube™ technology, produces an amp-like overdrive with natural tube compression, exceptional dynamics, and improved sensitivity.
NTS FEATURES: KORG™ Nutube™ loaded | Drive, Tone, Level & Mix controls | True Bypass SwitchingMade in Japan | Power supply: 9 Volt battery or External DC 9-18 Volt AC adapter
Feature | Cover Artist
DIY, UNCONSTRAINED How FRIGS Built A Sound from The Freedom of Home Recording. Written by Cameron
I
Carr / Photography by Jennifer Warne
Noise rock indie rock
t’s the end of the day. The shop owner counts the till, clears his counter one last time, shuts off the lights, and locks the door. Minutes later, a rumbling starts. It builds to a clamor and then: music. Above the store, a spacious Toronto apartment with no neighboring spaces above or beside it, only the shop below: Duncan hay Jennings and Lucas Savatti live in it. once it’s closed, FRIGS begins.
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This fortunate housing circumstance forms the backdrop for the production of FRIGS’ full-length debut Basic Behaviour, providing a space for writing, rehearsing, and recording uninhibited by the usual concerns of time and money. The band exploited these diminished restraints to refine their occasionally chaotic postpunk, which often ventures into noise rock explorations and features groove-inspired rhythms from the underground punk of the ’80s. Roughly half of the album was entirely recorded in this space, while the other half comes from the kind of rapid-pace studio sessions only skilled and prepared musicians can pull off. “We had all the time in the world to explore any idea that we thought about while recording [in our apartment],” hay Jennings says. “half the album has that as its creative process but then we also have the other half which was recorded in like two days, or something like that, at Union Sound and we just had to kind of bang the songs out.” The group—whose current lineup consists of Duncan hay Jennings on guitar, Lucas Savatti on bass, Bria Salmena on vocals, and Kris Bowering on drums—initially began home recording sessions with Edan Scime Stokell, who played drums in FRIGS at the time, leading the engineering. The approach yielded 2016’s Slush EP and established a practice of trying new ideas and unusual sounds within the confines of the makeshift apartment studio. Scime Stokell again led the home recording for this album while Ian Gomes engineered the later sessions at Union Sound. on Basic Behaviour, these expansions of sound have become a part of FRIGS’ overarching aesthetic, going beyond the initial freedom of the home recorded material. As opening track “Doghead” introduces the album the song seems to tear at its own edges, begging to untether itself from within as the reverberating clang of a distant guitar or some other noise oddity unsettles a rhythm that’s barely had time to become familiar. on “Waste” the band embarks on a cavernous crawl through malaise with an ever-quickening pace, eventually giving way to guitar noise and violent spoken word. By the album’s end, the seven and a half minute “Trashyard,” a traditionally formed arrangement has been largely abandoned in favor of conversations in feedback and ethereal noise. “We definitely wanted to just explore what we’re capable of doing ourselves,” hay Jennings explains. “Everyone in the band has a really strong musical voice and everyone has their own ideas about how things could sound and how things should sound, so we did really treat this as if there were no creative boundaries.”
While the band members can easily differentiate between songs from the two recording locations, the distinction is less clear to an outside listener, as jagged rhythms and gnawing dissonance contort the sense of stability throughout the album’s 10 tracks. The contrast between ease and unease fits to the group’s music, which structures songs by carefully assembling interlocked rhythms and then, unsentimentally, pulling them apart. Unconventional sounds dot the entire album, generally in supportive flourishes rather than brash strokes. The balance between stability and instability is perhaps best exemplified by the performance of vocalist Bria Salmena. her voice wavers between dark-eyed melodies on mid-album slowdown “Gemini,” impassioned howling in the climactic moments of “Doghead,” and occasional ventures into spoken word like the ending of “II”—all joining together as “Trashyard” brings the debut to a close. “We really wanted to strike a balance, at least with our debut record, in terms of Salmena’s vocal delivery,” hay Jennings says. “She wanted to kind of showcase the fact that she’s capable of doing both.” Basic Behaviour offers a thorough image of contrast. The difference in approaches used to create it, the angular collision of instrumentals, the flow between somber and menacing. As the first full-length statement from the band, the record is an image of their sound and the place that made it. “Looking back in 5 or 10 years’ time, it will be nice to have recordings that we did here,” hay Jennings says. “It’s nice that they got to see the light of day. They represent an interesting time for us as a group when we were able to just roam free creatively in our own space and just do whatever the hell we wanted.” d
Duncan’s Pedalboard: electro-harmonix holy Grail Nano / boss Ce-5 / boss Dm-3 / electro-harmonix freeze / zveX box of rock / moog mf boost / boss tu-3
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bands + Gear
read the full features on Delicious-audio.com
strymon flint / eventide mixinglink / voodoo lab Pedal Power 2 Plus / mXr Phase 90 / mXr a/b box / mXr Carbon Copy / zveX fuzz factory / fulltone soul-bender / ehX freeze / boss tu-2
Photo: CJ harvey
caroline rose New York-based songwriter Caroline Rose has reinvented her sound on her sophomore LP Loner. Dawning an ironically sporty aesthetic, Rose delivers poignant tales of loneliness and disillusionment with a cigarette in hand. Contrasting the Americana sensibilities of 2014’s I Will Not Be Afraid, Loner combines elements of ’70s punk and straight ahead pop. (ChARLEY RUDDELL) You are your own producer, it sounds like a lot of new toys (as in gear) were used in the making of Loner—what were the tools that left their mark on this record? That’s true, but it’s only half true for Loner. I wanted to experiment and be able to expand my palette on this album, so I enlisted the help of a co-producer for that reason. I ended up working with this great artist Paul Butler in San Francisco, who taught me a ton. we also hear a fair amount of synths in the record, what did you use and how did you “meet” them? Paul and I did a session at Panoramic Studio in Bolinas, CA where we just plugged in all the synths and drum machines and old pieces of gear and just made weird sounds. A lot of the hooks I recorded on my own gear, especially on the Teenage Engineer14
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teenage engineering oP-1
indie Pop
ing oP-1, which might be my favorite instrument ever. There’s an Arp odyssey, Jupiter 6, Juno 106, Moog voyager, some DSI and Sequential Circuits synths, Yamaha E-70, MS-20, all the classics. We also experimented with some Buchla modular stuff and got some *very* strange and interesting sounds that snuck on there. You mostly play guitar live, tell us about your relationship with stompboxes. if it’s love, what was your first love and what’s your last? oh man, well I adore everything Eventide makes. The Mixing Link is my favorite utility-type box because it literally does everything I want and need in a pedal. I have two of them. I also own the Pitch Factor and would desperately love to have an h9. Everything Strymon makes, and I am ALL about the Chase Bliss stuff coming out. what else do you have on your pedalboard these days? The Chase Bliss Warped vinyl is all over the record but it’s actually used on my guitarist Abbie’s pedal board right now. I love Chase Bliss pedals So much because they’re incredibly smart, sending and receiving MIDI, yet super compact. I prefer MIDI-controlled pedals because I can save all the settings on a foot controller, but of course they’re three times the price. For my MIDI-controlled pedal boards I use the Source Audio Soleman Controller.
The Beaches alt rock
Named after the area in Toronto in which they grew up, The Beaches are just about ready to explode. Their debut album Late Show is a rippin’ tune with sensible, catchy melodies and a ’60s stoner voice that’s almost in Grace Slick territory. Guitarist Kylie Miller took a minute to talk to us about her pedals. (KRIS GIES) the sound of the beaches is very guitar driven, do you get your signature distortion from the amp or pedals? I’d say a bit of both. We recorded Late Show at Giant in Toronto (which is Jimmy Shaw from Metric’s studio) and we were so lucky to have a ton of his rad gear at our disposal. Amp wise, we used a ’68 Transition Era vox AC30 and a ’55 Fender tweed Tremolux with vintage overdrive pedals to achieve that classic ’70s rock sound. We didn’t want to overcomplicate the sound of the record by getting overly fancy with pedals. It was important for us to sound human, and to not hide behind effects. was there a specific pedal that kind of changed your life? Yes. For me it was definitely the Bit Commander by EarthQuaker Devices. It’s this amazing octave fuzz pedal that can make your guitar sound like a monster (in the best way). Did you learn any important lessons about tone during the recording of Late Show? Definitely. Jimmy is an actual wizard when it comes to getting the best tones. What I learned from him is to have patience when finding tones, and to understand that every part on every song is going to be different each time. Sometimes it takes one second to find the right sound, and sometimes it takes multiple tries. It’s important to play around with the pedals, amps, and guitars and to experiment a little during the recording process—for a guitar player it’s one of the best parts after all! Does gear have the power to inspire you? I’d say so. For me the coolest part of the experience was getting to play Jimmy’s ’55 Les Paul Junior every day. I joked when recording the album that after it was finished I’d buy it from him. That has yet to happen but that dream is still very real. Kylie’s Pedalboard: electro-harmonix big muff / tC electronic flashback X4 / earthquaker Devices bit Commander / subdecay spring theory / arbiter fuzz face Clone / boss tu-2 / boss es-5 effects switching system
what (else) do you have on your pedalboard right now and how do you use it? This is my board! I use a BoSS Switcher, which has made my life so much easier, especially being on the road and playing shows every night. It’s nice to use something that is dependable. My go-to pedals are the Arbiter Fuzz pedal and the vintage modded Big Muff. the deli Austin 2018
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bands + Gear
read the full features on Delicious-audio.com
[Top] vocal Pedalboard: alesis multimix8 / electro-harmonix 45000 / boss DD-3 / eventide mixinglink / electro-harmonix holy Grail Nano [Bottom] Pedalboard: boss tu-2 / moog mf trem / fulltone full-Drive 2 / boss DD-3
Photo: Chris Corona
walker lukens one of the most creative singer/songwriters to claim Texas as home, Walker has put in the time to get where he is. Eclectic pop diddies exude from his pores, and at the recent Float Fest he proved to have one of the hottest live shows in the Austin music scene. (LEE ACKERLEY) Does gear inspire you? Tell it to the Judge is full of electronic sounds, what were the synths that left a mark on the record? half of this record was written on an old piano, I prefer writing on the piano these days. I also started a lot of songs with this rig. I use a Shure Beta 57a into a Ehx holy Grail Nano, into a BoSS DD-3 into the Electro-harmonix 45000. I read an interview years ago with Bradford Cox about how he ran all his vocals through a BoSS delay pedal, so I went and bought one. It really blew me away. Like, all vocals sound better through delay. I realized all those old rock records have slap delay on them. I spent a number of years trying to write Willie Nelson style folk and country songs. Acquiring that loop station and figuring out how to use 16
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alt Pop alt rock electronic
it in a more interesting way than singer-songwriters around me who looped their guitar is how I got to where I am today. The looper presented a really good challenge for me as a songwriter; make something compelling when you can basically only bring the groove in and out. Jim Eno deserves most of the credit for synth choices on this record. his studio is full of vintage synths. It’s amazing. on ‘Never Understood,’ there’s a Farfisa, a Memory Moog, and a Korg Lambda… That’s what I can remember anyway. There might be more. on ‘Don’t Want To Be Lonely.’ It’s one Juno being sent through several different delay pedals. what do you have on your pedalboard these days? My favorite pedal is my JhS Colorbox. holy shit it is awesome. It replaced the Fulltone Fulldrive. I use it as my boost most of the time. I flip on the hi-pass filter and use it during the chorus of “Don’t Want To Be Lonely.” My Minifooger boost and delay are both sick at the moment, but I leave them on most of the time and adjust the gains based on the room I’m playing. Carrying large amps around is for the birds. I play out of a Fender vibrolux kit amp.
bands + Gear
read the full features on Delicious-audio.com
voodoo lab Pedal Power 2 Plus / earthquaker Devices rainbow machine / ProCo rat / electro-harmonix holy Grail Nano / boss sD-1 / boss tu-3
Your sound is very fuzz-driven, tell us about your evolution in the fuzz pedal department. I was attracted to distortion and decay from the get-go go simply because I recorded all my first sounds/songs onto cassette tapes and the dirty breaking up happened naturally. Using pedals to recreate that texture and tone was the next step. I started with a regular old BoSS DS-1 because I borrowed it from a friend. I prefer to keep my fuzz pretty warm and meaty but use a RAT to get some shrill hits on certain songs. Also, our bass player uses fuzz (DBA Apocolypse) too, because there should be no restraints on fuzz.
melkBelly alt rock Noise rock math rock
The music of Chicago’s noise-rock band Melkbelly incorporates elements of industrial sludge, shoegaze and math-rock to create a burst of deftly controlled chaos. Their 2017 LP Nothing Valley features delicious references to the unforgettable Bostonian bands signed by 4AD in the late ’80s/early ’90s (read Pixies, Throwing Muses, and The Breeders). what events, people, records and feelings inspired your latest record Nothing Valley? Driving through the southwest on a tour leading up to the record, staying in toad-infested motels, frustration and anger with the current political climate, Kate Bush, Fleetwood Mac, Built to Spill, Lightning Bolt... 18
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what else do you have on your pedalboard right now and how do you use it? BoSS SD-1 (for crunchy meat), Ehx holy Grail (gives me a larger room sound and adds drama), the RAT (screams louder than me to get the point across when I cannot), Rainbow Machine (fills the void with drunk sounding white noise and makes strange, high solos sound even stranger and higher). Did the recording of the album bring the discovery of new lessons about the recording process? We did a lot of routing of drums and bass through physical mixing consoles to capture the grittiness of their preamps. Producer Dave vettraino has a lot of tricks and is always up for experimenting with us. I learned something from the film Gerhart Richter Painting, where the artist would spend an entire day on a painting and then not look at it for weeks before continuing to work on it. It’s important to practice that approach I think. Let the thing you make be what it is for a bit before tampering with it again.
WARP TIME The Tensor -
with live reverse, tape stop effects,pitch shifting, time stretching, and hold functions you can combine in creative ways. Slow down, speed up and rewind in real time. Stretch or compress time with no pitch change. Loop, overdub and slice phrases up to 4.8 seconds. Latching and momentary modes to inject pitch jumps, glitches or reverse solos. Intelligent randomization, USB MIDI, and expression pedal input to explore new sound.
bands + Gear
read the full features on Delicious-audio.com
[Top] Native instruments reaktor Prism [Bottom] Native instruments massive
nnamdi ogBonnaya Nnamdi ogbonnaya’s Drool is an avant-hip-hop experience. It’s an intelligent experiment in synthesizing a self-reflexive earnestness with hyphy energy, a spectrum reflected in ogbonnaya’s own vocal range. Though experimental, the record is extremely addictive and feels like what hip-hop should be evolving towards, echoing ogbonnaya’s own maturation as an artist. (AMANDA oGEA)
Drool is an electronic record. what are synths that were instrumental in its making? I used the Native Instruments Maschine software and hardware along with a midi keyboard to do the majority of this album, and it comes with a few awesome synths. This Massive synth and Reaktor both have great sounds—I’m honestly just beginning to tap into their abilities.
You’ve been a one-man band, recording and producing your music, since 2013, does it ever get lonely? I don’t usually think of it as lonely at all! I think the whole process is very therapeutic for me and has proven to be a good way for me to get things done. I’m definitely interested in doing more collaborative songs and recordings to expand my perspective and hopefully create more interesting things with other people.
Your vocals are very effected, do you have a specific set of effects you employ to get those sounds? A lot of the effects on the vocals just come from several layers of vocal tracks. Most tracks are layered twice and sometimes I will record octaves up and/or down of the same melody, and try to blend them all into one voice and also panning them to get different stereo spreads. occasionally I do use the Kerovee pitch alteration plugin on background vocals to throw in some weird robotic sounding voices. I also am a fan of the Sh-1 effects by Sweetboy. The reverb especially!
Your latest album Drool is a rare example of avant-hip-hop, what inspires your experimentations? life, people, randomness, other records? ...Gear? I think it’s just an amalgamation of all of my influences. All my likes, dislikes, fears and desires usually come out in whatever I’m making. I’ve always been intrigued by things, music and musicians, especially, that weren’t necessarily in the norm or necessarily popular. Anyone that has taken a risk to create something new or unique is inspiring. 20
avant-hip-hop electronic
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is there a person that’s been important in perfecting your recorded sound? Almost everything I’ve learned about recording has been from youtube videos and random online forums I stumble across when trying to get to the bottom of a problem! hahaha. The internet is the best teacher sometimes!
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DO A DOUBLE-TAKE The new DOD Rubberneck Analog Delay has double the features with the cool new double-wide chassis. The Rubberneck boasts over a second of warm and musical 100% analog repeats you crave. Double concentric knobs give you independent control of the modulation rate and depth as well as gain and tone of the delay. The double footswitches allow for unique extended features like momentary control of the dizzying pitch sweep of “Rubbernecking.” Feedback loop send/return, remote footswitch control, and true bypass make the Rubberneck Analog Delay the must have delay of the year.
©2017 HARMAN
bands + Gear
read the full features on Delicious-audio.com
Photo: Gabriela osio vanden
casper skulls indie rock Post Punk
Casper Skulls’ latest LP Mercy Works showcases a softer sound than their abrasive post-punk influenced beginnings. The record’s overall vibe is reminiscent of the post grunge alt rock of the ’90s, with Neil Bednis’ charismatic spoken word providing an original, edgy signature, and Melanie Gail St-Pierre’s soft vocals triggering the tracks’ welcome melodic openings. (KRIS GIES) there’s a lot of distortion in your record. Did you use stompboxes to create it? Neil: on the record most of my distortion is from pedals. Depending on the song it’s either the ProCo RAT or BoSS Adaptive Distortion. melanie: I used to only like getting overdrive from the amps until I got the Ehx Soul Food. I would use a foot switch for the amp but I’ve come to love the Soul Food more. Most of the distortion I used on my guitar during recording was either a BoSS DS-2 or zvEx Box of Rock. fraser: Something about the DigiTech Bad Monkey has always worked well for me on bass, and it has worked well for us in the past for guitar stuff. 22
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[Top] melanie’s Pedals: ibanez echomachine / boss tr-2 / boss frv-1 /
boss Ds-2 / ehX soul food / boss tu-2 [Middle] Neil’s Pedals: boss Da-2 / ibanez tube screamer / zveX box of rock / fulltone supa-trem / strymon el Capistan / ehX holy Grail Nano [Bottom] fraser’s Pedalboard: Xotic eP booster / Digitech Digidelay / mXr micro amp / Digitech bad monkey / tC electronic Polytune
was there somebody outside the band who was instrumental in forging the band’s recorded sound? Neil: Josh Korody who recorded the record was a huge part of getting our recorded guitar sounds. he swears by the zvEx Box of Rock when we record with him. That pedal is on a ton of the guitar overdubs. I bought one recently just for the sole purpose of recording.
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Best New Pedals at NAMM 2018
i
s there a rigorous way to determine what were the best products among the new pedals presented at NAMM 2018? We doubt it, firstly because “Best of” lists are and always will be entirely subjective. Secondly, it’s worth noting that NAMM “Best of” lists tend to be skewed toward pedals that sport intriguing new features rather than those that “sound great,” simply because it’s downright impossible to tell what sounds good in an insanely noisy environment like NAMM. however, it is possible to create a chart that shows which stompboxes got the best response from experts in the field, simply by aggregating the opinions of the pedal pros who tried a lot of them at the Anaheim convention. Although this approach isn’t 100% foolproof (it’s impossible for any human being to go through all the new pedal releases!), we think it’s the most sensible. To that end, we sifted through the NAMM stompbox picks selected by five gear sites and gave every pedal one point each time it was selected. The sites are:
stefan from Affino.com BestGuitarEffects.com Delicious audio’s eric merrow music radar tone King
#1 (4 Points) JHS Pedals Bonsai Just a few weeks ago, in our pedal blog Delicious audio we pointed out that the Ibanez Tube Screamer is still a huge-selling pedal in all its many incarnations. JhS Pedals came up with the idea of creating a pedal, called the Bonsai, that faithfully replicates the nine classic versions of the mostcloned pedal on the planet. This was the only pedal that was selected by four of the five aforementioned sites. 24
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#2 (3 Points)
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Alexander Pedals
Colour theory spectrum sequencer
This pedal combines a versatile eight-step sequencer with a powerful effects processor, creating rhythmic combinations seldom heard outside of a rack of synths.
B
Chase Bliss Audio
thermae Pitch shifting Delay
Digitally manipulates an analog signal path created by 4 re-issued versions of the bucket-brigade delay chips. This creates the ability to change delay time in interesting intervals which allows for innumerable harmonizing options. Intervals can be sequenced through automatically, or triggered manually.
C
Chase Bliss Audio
Condor analog eq / Pre / filter
An EQ swiss army knife with a 100% analog signal path and digital controls and parametric boost/cut mids control from 150hz to 5khz with 3 “Q” settings. The Bass boost/cut
G control has 3 intensity settings. Low Pass Filter with 3 settings: normal, slight resonant, very resonant. A switch transforms it into an overdrive, and Ramping/hold functionality creates LFO filter tremolo effects.
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Empress
zoia modular Pedal
zoia is a compact, stereo grid of musical anything. You can use its modules to construct instruments, effects, and utilities, including deep controlling features like MIDI i/o, Cv & clock in. It can also save patches as supermodules to speed up creation, and create modules randomly. New modules will be introduced over time.
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Gamechanger Audio
Plasma Distortion
This pedal adopts a new method for achieving signal clipping. Instead of using LED circuits, transistors or vacuum tubes to produce overdrive, the Plasma transforms your instrument’s live signal into a series of continuous high-voltage discharges within a xenon-filled tube. In essence – you are playing a bolt of electricity. This produces an extremely heavy
read more about pedals on
#10 (2 Points)
DeliCious-auDio.Com
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L distortion with a unique character.
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Keeley Electronics aria Compressor + overdrive
Few things sound as good as compression and overdrive, and the Aria lets you craft endless sounds with its effect order switching and highly versatile controls.
G
Neunaber
XD-1 eXperimental Drive
This is a prototype of a new, two-channel drive to be released later in the year. It won’t be ready for a while, but a lot of people raved about it at NAMM.
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Rainger FX reverb-X
With up to 6 seconds of reverb on tap, the Reverb-x features a post-reverb overdrive circuit giving a whole new dimension of sound possibilities to the user. From clean to gritty, or full-on overload, this pedal offers a huge variety of reverb possibilities, while keeping the input signal unchanged. The Reverb-x includes a noise gate to keep noise to
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a minimum – or to create dramatic gated effects.
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Death By Audio
Deep animation
A crazy design that responds to how you play, enveloping and filter sweeping and overdriving. It reacts to how hard you hit your strings, exaggerating or adding just the right amount of movement to punch through the mix. It can also be controlled by an external trigger.
J
Electro-Harmonix
super looper 95000
6-track looping station which functions almost as mini on-the-fly studio. Each track features an individual volume slider and panning knob for live mixing and manipulation. The 6 footswitch control Loop Up and Down, Stop/Start, Record/overdub, Undo, and Track toggle. Fully Midi-capable.
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Epigaze Audio
ascension reverb
A unique stompbox with three different modes (hall, Shimmer and Trem+Reverb) featuring also an intriguing drone generator, whose vol-
o ume is controlled by the side knob. The latter plays organ sounding notes in any of the 12 (western) keys, creating a tasteful, “ambienty” sonic carpet under the player’s performance. The drone’s key can be changed using the central footswitch.
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Mooer
Preamp live
Preamp Live lets you load up to 12 of the company’s acclaimed Micro Preamps for total tonal versatility. It has three banks, each with four channels that are selectable with the footswitches on the unit. Set and save volume, Bass, Mid, Treble, Gain and Boost (Pre or Post), and use the master controls to adjust volume, Presence, Fx Blend (with the built-in effect loop) and Cabinet Simulation.
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MXR
sugar Drive
This is a mini-Klone! The drive knob in this circuit blends the clean guitar signal with the overdriven one as you turn it up, while the circuit’s headroom in increased through what is referred to as a “Charge Pump.” A switch lets you choose between bypass or MXR’s buffered bypass.
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Seymour Duncan silver lake
Fully programmable reverb workstation, combining high-quality reverb algorithms with unique dynamic control and powerful tone shaping options for a deep sonic experience – whether you need subtle sounds or a wash of massive ambiance.
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Walrus Audio
fathom reverb
Featuring four modes (hall, Plate, Lo-Fi and Sonar, which is a reverb with added octaves for that famous “shimmering” effect), Walrus Audio’s Fathom Reverb is a stompbox packed with features that can deliver both classic and edgy sounds.
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WMD
Geiger Counter Pro bit Crusher
256 new wavetables! (512 wavetables in total) / Wavetable “Morphing” / 16 foot switchable and MIDI switchable Presets / Proprietary vST for control via computer / Easy to save and duplicate presets / Full MIDI control over all parameters / 2 assignable Cv inputs / Dry/Wet Mix the deli Austin 2018
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VIBE // TONE // RELIABILITY
Designed to be light, comfortable, and easy to play, the S2 Series from PRS Guitars has great tone and instant vibe. See a PRS dealer near you to try one or check them out online www.prsguitars.com/s2series
The Pedals of the
austin stompbox exhibit 2018
March 17-18, 12pm (11am on Sat) to 6pm FREE! Top floor of The Chuggin’ Monkey (219 East 6th St.)
Overdrive
6 Degrees fX amplitude eleven • Super flexible 2 Channel Class A overdrive. • Blue Channel has 2 gain stages acting as gains 1 - 2 on some vintage amps, producing crunchy tone with a natural tube-like clipping. • RED channel is a 4-gain stage high gain channel that gives you saturated drive for both rhythm and lead. • G.A.S. mode delivers Germanium fuzzy clipping texture.
earthquaker Devices westwood • overdrive pedal with a powerful EQ section (20dB of cut and/or boost at 80hz and 2khz). • Designed to work with low wattage amps, pushing them into anything from cutting, edge-of-breakup rhythm tones, all the way to articulate, singing lead tones stacked high with pleasing even-order harmonics and sweet sustain.
ibanez Nts Nu tube screamer • The first Tube Screamer with an actual tube in it (a Korg Nutube vacuum tube). • Even more versatile than the original, with a mix control for blending your dry tone with the overdriven sound.
Fuzz
one Control honey bee • Sounds and reacts like small vintage combos with nicely worn tubes and speakers. • volume knob controls the overall volume without changing the distortion. • Drive control varies the distortion complexity and saturation. • Middle knob adjusts the ‘nature’ of the EQ.
Distortion
animals Pedal major overdrive • A fuzz designed by Skreddy Pedals with a “brown sound” flavor, kinda like a tube amp that has a variac on the power supply to reduce the voltage slightly. • Clear tone, focused, and balanced with a beefy low-mid and a buttery high end. • Punchy and cutting attack, with just enough compression to be chewy and in the pocket.
massive fX illusionist fuzz • Super heavy fuzz with Germanium and Silicon diode clipping. • versatile blend tone knob and an “Octavio type” effect mixed in that works great on any fret. • Works particularly well with single coil pickups. • Blend knob to go from classic Fuzz tones to “Scooped Mid” EQ for heavier bass, defined treble and more metallic tones.
mythos Pedals Chupacabra overdrive/fuzz • Built around the CD4049UBE chip. • A simple gain pedal is designed to replicate the tones of the first few zz Top records. • Does everything from pushed tweed breakup to balls-to-thewall rockin’ fuzz.
ProCo rat 2 • Designed to produce a sound that is radically different from any other distortion. • Very flexible, it can produce distortion, sustain, fuzz, overdrive, and can also be used as a boost for solos. • It excels at arena rock rhythm tones and soaring leads. the deli Austin 2018
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The Pedals of the
austin stompbox exhibit 2018
March 17-18, 12pm (11am on Sat) to 6pm FREE! Top floor of The Chuggin’ Monkey (219 East 6th St.)
delay/echo
Dawner Prince Electronic Boonar Delay
DOD Rubberneck Analog Delay
• Faithful digital recreation of the legendary Binson Echorech multi-head delay. • Same analog signal path as the original but with high voltage driven FETs as tube emulators and a DSP unit recreating the magnetic memory drum based effect. • it allows you to switch from Repeats to Swells through a second footswitch.
• Over a second of analog repeats with tap-tempo, subdivisions, and tails. • Double concentric knobs give you independent control of the Mod. Rate, Depth and Gain and Tone of the delay. • Double footswitches allow for extended features like user customizable momentary control of oscillation and the dizzying pitch sweep.
MODULATION
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Outlaw Effects Eldorado Echo
Wampler Ethereal Delay and Reverb
• A digital delay pedal with Repeat • An intuitive ambient pedal blending two delays and a plate and Time controls. reverb. • Three modes: Normal, Dark and • Second delay can be layered Reverse. on top in 3 different rhythmic • It features a delay time range patterns. of 100ms to 1.2 seconds and a Save mode that allows you • Trails button option to let it sing after pedal has been switched off. to lock in settings and return to them at any time.
Reverb
Fairfield Circuitry Randy’s Revenge Ring Mod
Mod Kits DIY The Suspended Chime
Old Blood Noise Flat Light Textural Flange Shifter
Fender Marine Layer
• A musical ring modulator with a low-pass filter. • Together with the Mix knob, the filter helps tame the ring modulation’s grating edge. • Features expanded control voltage (CV) capabilities.
• Build it yourself, not the easiest one from Mod Kits DIY’s line! • Two effects in one pedal—chorus and chorus/delay. • A blend knob which allows you to go from subtle to lush chorus effect in either set up.
• Generates original sounding effects from flanging. • Three modes: Detune (shimmering pitch shift), Resonate (highly resonant multiflange), and Echo (reverb-like delay). • Tilt footswitch momentarily maximizes Rate or Shift controls.
• Multi-mode reverb featuring Hall and Room and Shimmer effect. • Reverb tails aren’t interrupted when the effect is switched off. • Useful LED backlit knobs.
the deli Austin 2018
The Austin Stompbox Exhibit returns for its fifth year! This time we’ll be in the middle of the party, on the upper floor of The Chuggin’ Monkey, a bar right Downtown on East 6th St.! That way your beer won’t be too far from your pedals! The event is free (the beer is not!) BRING YOUR GUITAR!
AMBIENT/EXPERIMENTAL
booster
Hologram Electronics Infinite Jets
Montreal Assembly 856 for ZELLERSASN
Red Panda Tensor
JangleBox J-Boost
• Tracks the dynamics of your playing, samples individual notes and chords, and then reinterprets them as new sounds using two independent channels of infinite sustain. • It offers 4 separate sampling effects in one: Blur, Synth, Glitch, and Swell.
• Looper and sample sequencer. • Samples are taken of different parts of a loop and played back in various rhythms and at different pitches. • Any parameter can be controlled by an external midi device.
• Gives you live reverse and tape stop effects, pitch shifting, time stretching and hold functions you can combine in creative ways. • Slow down, speed up and rewind in real time. • Stretch or compress time with no pitch change. Loop, overdub, and randomly slice phrases up to 4.8 seconds.
• Flexible boost + EQ, created to be the perfect companion to any JangleBox compressor. • Can be used as clean boost, treble boost, bass boost or even a mid boost. • Distortion-free circuit is designed to deliver pristine tone and clarity.
The Stompbox Exhibit Sponsors PRS Guitars
Founded in 2015, Paul Reed Smith has cemented its reputation for high quality guitars with an unmistakable look. Just before NAMM 2018 they unveiled two new Limited Edition products: DW CE 24 “Floyd” (a signature model with Between the Buried and Me guitarist Dustie Waring) and S2 Studio, which brings the versatility of a single/single/hum platform to PRS’s S2 Series (pictured). The company also manufactures amps and recently presented the balanced and articulate Mark Tremonti signature two channel amplifier, powered by 6L6 tubes.
MONO Pedalboards
Already an industry leader in the instrument case realm, MONO’s first line of pedalboards have been an immediate hit. Available in five different formats, the MONO boards are cut from a single piece of 3mm anodized aluminum, and feature cut-outs optimized to facilitate any kind of custom wiring. MONO offers these boards in either a flat or ten degree incline, and each one is shipped with 3M dual lock for attaching the pedals to it. The boards come with a sturdy padded soft case and are available in black or silver.
DR Strings
Founded by Mark Dronge, son of Guild Guitars founder Alfred Dronge, in 1989, New Jersey’s DR Strings re-introduced handmade round core string making to the general market. Although the process requires a lot of skill and time, the company felt it was worth it because the difference can be heard. The idea paid off, and today DR is a market leader in the string manufacturing field with dozen of string models that fit every player’s needs. the deli Austin 2018
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The synths of the
March 16-17, 12pm (11am on Sat) to 6pm FREE!
austin synth expo 2018
Top floor of The Chuggin’ Monkey (219 East 6th St.)
Arturia – MiniBrute 2
• A semi-modular evolution of the super-successful MiniBrute, featuring unexpected features: a second VCO; a second LFO; new VCO and Filter frequency modulation possibilities; modifier-related modulation destinations; a brand new, loopable AD envelope. Its CV/Gate patch bay lets you reinvent and restructure it.
Eventide – Euro DDL Delay
• 10 seconds of pristine delay at a sample rate up to 192 kHz. • Soft saturation clipping, low pass filter, feedback, insert loop, relay bypass, and +20 dB boost are all analog. • Can do looping, and has reverse and tap tempo functions.
• Elektron’s two new synths sport a new, small footprint and a slightly more colorful look than usual. The Digitone is the company’s take on FM synthesis, and features eight voices and a classic subtractive synthesis signal flow. The Digitakt is a drum machine with sampling capabilities, a digital and highly flexible sound engine, a live-friendly sequencer, and dedicated tracks for controlling external MIDI gear. They are both compatible with Overbridge for seamless computer integration.
Elektron – Digitakt
Kurzweil – SP6
Elektron – Digitone
• A powerful yet light digital piano/synth with fully-weighted hammer-action keys created with composers and gigging musicians in mind. • Excels at realistic grand pianos, organs and string sections, but it also features the synth engine of Kurzweil’s acclaimed synth VA-1. • 4 Knobs, 1 Switch, 2 Wheels, 2 Dual-Switch Pedal Inputs, and 1 Continuous Control Pedal Input allow for real time control over key parameters. • External software editor allows for deeper editing on Mac, PCs and iOS devices.
Nord – Electro 6
• An ultra-portable version that brings a new level of versatility to an already established hammer action keyboard. New features include doubled polyphony than previous models, a new streamlined interface, expanded memory for the Sample Library, and the B3, Vox/Farfisa and B3 Bass sounds from Nord’s C2D Combo Organ.
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Novation – Peak
• 8-voice polyphonic analog synthesizer propelled by three New Oxford Oscillators per voice. • Each oscillator features traditional waveshapes plus access to 17 digital wavetables. • 16-slot modulation matrix plus 16 direct assignments accessible directly from the front panel. • Features also multi-mode filter, built in effects, arpeggiator and CV input.
Pioneer DJ TORAIZ SP-16 Sampler
• A sampler and step sequencer created with DJs and producers in mind. It features analogue filters by the legendary synth designer Dave Smith (the same found in the Prophet 6). It’s a powerful tool both in the studio and on a stage, thanks to its 16, multi-colored, velocity sensitive touch pads.
Novation – Circuit Mono Station • More than just a controller, it features the engine of the Novation Bass Station II embedded in the body of a Circuit. • Three sequencer tracks and 32 velocity-sensitive RGB pads. • Monophonic and Paraphonic modes. • Adaptable modulation system with four-by-eight modulation matrix enables complex alteration and routing.
Digitone Master of the digital method
Eight voice polyphonic digital synthesizer The sound of steel monoliths and flickering neon signs. Icy, metallic perfection. Magnificent desolation. Through the unique and accessible take on FM synthesis, Digitone is a prime source of new sounds and timbres. Down the rabbit hole we go. Visit Elektron.se for full specification, sounds, and more.
Studiologic – Numa Compact 2X
• A slick, light and flexible keyboard that packs 3 sound engines: a tone wheel organ model derived from Numa Organ, the Sledge sound synthesis and 1GB of samples memory. Oh and—of course—it’s also a controller. Audio over USB and built-in speakers round up the features.
Teenage Engineering PO-33 K.O! Micro Sampler
• A playful and fun pocket sampler with 40 second sample memory and builtin recording microphone. Sequencer, 8 melodic sample slots, 8 drum slots and 16 effects let you create fully produced tracks while riding the subway. You’ll literally get a kick out of the graphics!
Yamaha – Reface CS
Yamaha – Reface DX • The reface series represents Yamaha’s recreation of their classic keyboards and synth design in portable format. The CS is inspired by the iconic CS-80 analog synth, while the DX is the child of legendary FM synth DX-7. These products also feature new modern features the original lacked, like onboard multi-effects, phrase looper, built-in speakers and a more streamlined editing.
A new breed of semi-modular analog synths are arrived. MiniBrute 2 unleashes practically infinite monosynth power with a great feeling 2 octave keyboard. MiniBrute 2S lets you create evolving sequences using responsive performance pads. Choose your weapon!
Next-generation sequenced monosynth
Circuit Mono Station is a paraphonic analogue synthesiser
• Monophonic and paraphonic modes with glide control
that originates from the Bass Station II, with three sequencer
• 16 scale types
tracks that benefit from the 32 velocity-sensitive RGB pads
• Three distortion modes
found on Circuit. The synth has two oscillators that can be
• CV, gate and modulation outputs for controlling hardware
individually controlled.
novationmusic.com/circuit-mono-station