The Detroit Techno House

New gear from Elektron looks to be very interesting. “Ableton in a box” is what it is being called. Sounds like Aphex Twin in a box to me. All about titty twisting samples. No price or release date but I’m sure it will be well above a G note.

A few months back wilderness made a post about a Gakken synth that you build yourself. While this unit is quite easy to put together, there are many more kits that you can get that require a decent amount of electrical knowledge. Pictured above on the left is the xoxbox, a tb-303 clone that you put together yourself. This is definitly the best sounding clone out there and at way less than half the price, you can have your own tb-303. If you want to get crazy with it, you can even modify it yourself and get a completely unique machine. Another cool DIY synth I found was the Voice of Saturn. This one is really nice because you can add on other Voice of Saturn kits like a sequencer and a filter. If you want to be a punk bitch, you can also buy these products pre-assembled from Curious Inventor With all the crazy expensive gear out there, it is a very viable option for the adventerous musician. If your willing to learn some basic soldering skills and don’t mind a headache or two, you can really build some amazing things. And think, if you can do this then why not build your own cables and fix your own broken equipment. With the economy being so bad, try saving yourself some money while gaining some electrical knowledge.

For all us digital DJ heads out there, this new update of Serato should be extremely exciting. In the last version of the software we saw the introduction of the SP-6 sampler. Although this was a great new feature, it left most of us wondering of a way to play whole tracks in the sampler and effectively mix them. Well with this new update you can do all that and more. There is now a pitch slider, key lock, and cue points which are all midi controllable. You can also send an instant double of a track to a sampler track. So I can use the tables to mix two tracks, send one to the sampler while I’m mixing, load a third track to the turntable, and have three tracks mixing together. Sweet! Now I don’t have to buy a third turntable. I think this is a big step for Rane, because Tracktor definitely had them smashed in the multipe deck catagory. Now you can mix up to eight tracks together. I can now see the direction where the Ableton/Serato partnership might be heading. Imagine those six sampler banks to be six ableton channels that will all sync together. Check out the official video for more on this new update.

So last month Tom Oberheim announced at the Red Bull Music Conference in Boston that he would be releasing a new Oberheim SEM with updated electronics. The original was his first creation done in the 70′s. It was meant to be an add on to other synths so you could layer the sounds and get some real fancy creations going. The SEM was simply a module with no keyboard – two analog oscillators, a 2-pole multimode filter, ADR envelopes, and an LFO. Many artists have used this in there recordings including Van Halen and Detroit’s own, Underground Resistance. Here is a video of Tom explaining this re-issue of an analog classic.

Rane has recently made an announcement of a new interface for Serato users. Sorry, no new software yet, although a new version with a sampler and a rumored third table easter egg is currently in Beta mode. The SL3 improves upon the SL1 by switching to USB 2.0, improving the dynamic range to 104db, adding 24bit converters, Galvanic isolation preventing computer noise, an aux input for live mix recording or controlling external sources with the control records(fucking A?), an aux output for routing new version 1.9′s sampler into a mixer channel, high grade phono preamps, and a new streamlined look to make hooking it up easier. Oh, and you get carrying case with it to. The aux input and output is what Rane is really pushing. There are numerous possibilities with these including the ability to route the mysterious third deck easter egg into a third mixer channel or recording the output back into your computer. I wish Rane would have shed some light about their fusion with Ableton, but I guess this will keep us Serato junkies happy until then.

This new midi controller from Akai is sure to please the Ableton Live community. The clip launch section that makes up the core of this machine makes it much easier for live sets and recording tracks in the live view. Retails for $399.99 Check out this video for a more in depth look.

Let me start by saying that I absolutely love Ecler.  I bought a Nuo 3 a year or so ago and have been more than happy with it.  The sound is excellent, the knobs are fat, effects send/return can be used in pre or post fader mode, the layout is solid, and price is the most reasonable of any mixer.  You feel you get more than what you pay for.  One problem with the Nuo series though was that the crossfader did not have the cut like it’s Hak sibling even if replaced with an eternal or innofader.  Everyone thought this would be fixed with the Nuo X.0′s.  It wasn’t, until Ecler took some advice from www.skratchworx.com.  Anybody who has any Ecler Nuo X.0 can take there mixer to a service shop and have a tweak installed so your Nuo is one of the best scratching machines out there.  Also all the new Nuo’s will have this problem fixed.  One catch.  It will only be a scratch beast if you are using the Eternal Fader by Ecler.  No innofader or anything else.  Who cares though because the Eternal is one of the best and arguably the best.  Fuck Yeah.  I just need to sell my 3 and get a 3.0 which I have been wanting to do anyways.  If you  want a new one with the tweak pre installed you need to look for these serial numbers….   

Okay so this machine has got to take me to another dimension or something.  It doesn’t, but what it does do seems only a little less cooler.  Basically it is a USB midi controller that you can use for Traktor or any other DJ program.  The platter has two touch sensitive areas that can manipulate the audio similar to a CD turntable like a CDJ.  The top area allows you to perform back cueing while the sides control pitch bending.  The pitch control on the bottom right of this thing is touch sensitive and claimed to be very accurate.  I wonder about this though.  There is a touch pad similar to a laptop mouse pad on this unit that can be used like a Korg Kaos pad or as a cursor.  It has a ton of knobs and push buttons for all your triggering and tweaking desires.  It also has 4 rotaries, one in each corner, that each have a selection switch in the middle.  I would assume you could use these for browser searching and deck dropping, or effects.  The sweetest thing about the OTUS is that it is two decks in one.  There are two sets of outputs to connect to two different channels on your mixer.  With a push of a button you can switch between decks on your program using the OTUS like two units.  Oh yeah! It also fits perfectly on top of a Technics 1200 turntable and locks in place to avoid slipping.  What I would do is set the OTUS on the right of my mixer and use it for mixing between tracks and then have a turntable on my left that I would use for vinyl and scratching.  The OTUS should be coming out very soon.  It is hard to find a definite release date.  It should be under $900.