Well, I took back the Axiom Pro 61 midi keyboard/controller. I had some success with integrating Ableton Live with the keyboard, but ultimately, this keyboard controller (to the tune of ~$500) didn’t live up to my expectations. It had no “brains” or “guts” inside. No internal sound banks, not even a collection of sounds that you could install on a computer to trigger (like Reason or Native Instrument samples). It’s just a nice semi-weighted 61-key piano surface with 8 faders, 8 knobs and 8 pads to control Ableton (or other software).

In the end, it just failed to work well for me. Admittedly, I’m at a beginner’s level with Ableton, but the bottom line experience was that, even after a month of dedication to getting the Axiom Pro/Ableton Live relationship to work, it wasn’t really going anywhere.

“I’m sorry, Axiom Pro, but this isn’t really working out.”

Fortunately, the recovery period is very short for failed software/hardware relationships. I just had a great 30 minute conversation with a Shure mic rep who happened to be at Guitar Center when I was returning the keyboard, who also is a DJ and musician in Chicago. He heard me explaining the situation to the GC guys and told me how he’s composing and arranging grooves. He uses Native Instrument’s “Maschine” with Ableton to make music, keeping the Ableton software relevant, but replacing an empty shell keyboard controller with a equally priced hardware/software groovebox with tons of sounds and added resources.

Direct link to stand-alone video (uncropped)

He confirmed that the technology out today is amazing, but there are so many options that it can get very confusing trying to figure out what products to invest in. I was totally going back to getting a used Akai MPC 1000, which I’ve been craving for a long time, but I’ll have to seriously consider NI’s Maschine, instead.

Maschine comes with 5 gigs of awesome sounds and integrates with a laptop or other computer. I was surprised to learn that Maschine is not resource heavy, so he said I would be able to use the NS7 and Maschine together on the same laptop (which I thought was incredible). Sweeeet! It functions as a sequencer, a sampler, an arranger and effects array. And it can connect with my existing full-weight 88-key keyboard. No need for more keyboards….done.

Time to do more research…

http://djharrylove.blogspot.com/2009/03/aftermath-producer-focus-paying-homage.html

The DJ behind Little Brother…

This is where my head is at right now. I am converting my Fortress of Musictude into a DJ Jazzy Jeff production studio for 100% pure creativity, expression and recording power. I just need to figure out a few things, like how to tie together all my music pieces. Ableton Live would seem to have to be in the middle of it all…

They’ve got great new digs (read the article from Dane101). I appreciate that the UW-Madison, and John Wiley in particular, recognized the campus radio station’s value to the community and their need for support. Congratulations and keep the music pumpin’!

50 years ago today, Berry Gordy Jr. secured an $800 loan to start Motown Records. The rest really is history…

And if you haven’t seen it yet, be sure to watch Standing In The Shadows of Motown. The movie tells the story of the amazing backing musicians who were responsible for recording those famous Motown hits.

“By the end of their phenomenal run, this unheralded group of musicians had played on more number ones hits than the Beach Boys, the Rolling Stones, Elvis and the Beatles combined - which makes them the greatest hit machine in the history of popular music.”

– From the Standing In The Shadows of Motown web site

I’m an instrumentalist. My mom is a classical pianist. When I was growing up, I hated the 1980’s electronic drums and synth sounds that began replacing real instruments. But that attitude had to change. Technology never looks back. Through the 90’s, the art of the DJ mixer evolved with sampling technology. Entire albums were developed using elements of literally hundreds of clips from recorded songs. Clyde Stubblefield’s “Funky Drummer” beat eventually became the most sampled drumbeat example of this movement, symbolizing the whole evolution of hip-hop.

I learned to embrace the technology. I still haven’t tried DJing–it’s simply too removed an art for me to believe I could do it justice. I’d rather let the great DJ’s be great DJ’s and focus my energy on making and recording great music the way I know how. Nonetheless, if there was one item that I should have bought years ago for my studio, it would be the Akai MPC2000. It is the M-16 of every great DJ soldier. And speaking of great DJ’s, Pete Rock IS one of my very favorite DJ/Producers that does the kind of magic that I wish I had the time to learn to do.

This YouTube clip is a wonderful display of how it’s done. Enjoy!

My bandmate, John Mesoloras and I agreed to swap gear. He offered to take a couple of my stereo mic pre-amps I’ve had around for a few years in exchange for his MOTU 828mkII that I can use with my Powerbook laptop for some high-end mobile recording and live MIDI synth work.

There’s a lot I still don’t know about this piece of gear, but John swears by it and it will really be a great addition to the Mac laptop. Pretty cool! And it won’t cost me a thing (at least directly out of my pocket). John and I are audio geeks with enough equipment that we’ve agreed to share our gear to make a mega-studio as needed.

I’ll keep you posted on the MOTU developments…

** This was a blog posting from July ‘05 that I thought I’d move to groovology.com **

It’s about 92 degrees outside and 98% humidity and the Vibe Syndicate band is chillin’ in the studio laying tracks for a new album. We have been here setting up and recording all Sunday afternoon and evening.

We’re in the large studio space at DNA Studios, voted the 2005 Best Recording Studio by the Madison Area Music Awards. John Mesoloraus, our bassist, has been engineering the project, proving he’s just as comfortable running a Pro Tools session as he is playing a funky bass guitar. We’re trying to get solid takes of the drums, bass, guitar and organ/keys. We’ll do the horns and vocal track later at one of our own studio spaces.

It’s a lot of work trying to get it right, though the quality of the recordings we’re getting is terrific. There are only 20 minutes left in our 10 hour first day. It took four hours to set up and we’ve managed to get “keeper” takes of four or five songs. Tomorrow we’ll do another 10 hours and hopefully have at least 12, if not 14 songs in the vault.