GEAR:
 I love synth & audio gear :)
I have mostly Roland gear...i am not sure why, i never planned to have mostly Roland gear after 20 plus years of being a Synth Freak....i just end up selling things other than the Roland stuff...
This post is the first of my posts about my gear collection....

                                         my Boss DR-202 + Roland D2 + Roland MC-909 :)

 Synthesizer.Freaks @ FaceBook

SYNTHESIZER FREAKS @ FACEBOOK

Synthesizer Freaks @ FAceboOk
Seven years ago I was recovering at home from a surgery after a workplace injury. Boredom led me to stop watching endless movies and TV show reruns, and create a FaceBook Group dedicated to my favorite pastime, Hardware Synthesizers and Samplers, Midi gear etc....
This past day the group past the 8000 member mark!
Wow, there are alot of Synthesizer Freaks out in the world today, especially compared to when i first caught the bug 30 some odd years ago.
So here's to "Synthesizer Freaks" and here is to all the great companies like Roland, Korg, yamaha and MOOG, Synthesizers.com, Buchla, EMU and all the others that i have not mentioned!

SoniGen Modular Synthesizer

http://www.sonigen.com/

I've recently discovered a most useful and engaging ''virtual modular'' software synthesizer, for free!
Sonigen let's the user add modules and design patching between these modules to create sound and process audio routed thru the system.
I've restored an Acer notebook which i bought in 2009, so it can be the host for my copy of Sonigen.
Since Sonigen is a ''stand alone'' application there is no need for a host DAW like protools, logic or cubase.
With a USB/audio midi interface connected to the notebook, Sonigen becomes a connected part of my midi synthesizer system....basically it's a new piece of hardware.
In the past I have restored older computers just to run one or two synthesizer and/or sound production applications...My old iMac G3 is still functional to this day...with less than 6 applications installed it is a useful device within the home studio. Today it is a digital multiTracker, specifically Logic Audio.
 I highly recommend ''SoniGen" for any synth-lovin freak....it's also available in vst-i format so you can run it within your favorite DAW.

teknology

Casio released a pair of pro series keyboard synthesizers early in 2011, this was the first ''pro'' quality music gear the company has created since the 1980's.
I proudly owned a casio rz-1 digital sampling drum machine for at least ten years...at 12 bit and with rather limited sampling times, the device forced its programmer to work within the limitations of its technologies inside...the end result was often more than anyone expected.
Technologies that have been considered ''obsolete'' just because the nature of caplitalism.
  Iam typing this on a new technology, a tablet; my new acer iconia a-210 to be specific.
I am a late bloomer in this tablet fad, trend, phase, whatever it is, I just didn't think I wanted to have a giant phone.
But after a year of using my Nokia x-7, a 4'' touch screen done I was less negative about the uses of owning a tablet.
First, I bought a $99 seven inch ''Craig'' tablet running android is 4.0, and that was that.
I quickly filled it with synth manuals, books, apps & used it everyday along with my trusty Nokia done.
Then one day I saw this Acer tablet on sale for $299 at a nearby store. I bought it, and cashed in my buyers points i had saved which gave me an additional hundred dollar discount.....
I am still getting used to my new technology and it is far higher quality than the plastiky ''craig''tablet, and with spec's similar to a notebook the Acer tablet could perform tasks that were out of reach for the smaller ''Craig'' device.
Even still, I plan to continue using both tablet's. The Acer being the primary unit and the smaller one being the tablet I use outside, while biking, hiking, camping or whatever. The ''Craig'' has a 1.3ghz CPU and 1 GB of RAM compared to the Acer a210 which comes with a 1.33ghz quad core CPU and 1gb of RAM, but those numbers don't say much, the Acer seems to do and run anything I put in front of it, while the smaller ''Craig'' has processing lags at times.
The one positive advantage the ''Craig'' tablet has is it's able to play flash, with flash-11 installed all the free video the web has to offer can be played. The Acer does not play flash and seems to have followed Steve jobs and apple iPad with an absence of flash video content.
At least my Acer aspire-one 725 AMD chip notebook can still do anything I ask it to.
The funny thing is that my most up to date computer system includes Acer AMD notebook, Acer 20" cinema display and an Acer iconia a-210 tablet....I am grateful to be able to play with these gizmo's and every 3 years afford to buy new ones in a bid to stay current with technology....
Edison's lightbulb was designed to do more than glow, it was designed to stop glowing after a certain amount of time, and that ''planned obsolescence'' is still at the root of our western consumer driven society...I would embrace a technological slowdown, which could force corporations to make highest quality products that would last a decade and remain useful in the online experience.

celluloid kerouac

I first read 'on the road' in and about 1990 when i was a young man of 20.
My girlfriend gave me a copy of the book and thus, planted the seed that would
grow and offer me answers to questions that frustrated my young mind about
freedom and the pursuit of it.
My experience is not special because this book inspired many people in the same way.
After learning of the production plans for this movie i have waited patiently for a few years
to see what a film adaptation would be like.
I recommend this film to anyone who has read the book, but to people who haven't read the book
I recommend that they read the book first.
The film is only good as a companion piece to the masterpiece novel.
Perhaps a 10 hour mini-series would be better for realising 'on the road' on the screen.
Regardless of my opinion, it was a good movie and i am glad i have a copy so i can watch it
again someday.

commodore 64

Recently it was the 30th anniversary of the iconic and best selling home computer, the Commodore 64.
I began my computer experiences with the commodore PET computer which occupied my high school's ''computer lab'', and one christmas when i was 14 my parents bought a commodore ViC-20 home computer, which we upgraded the next year to a Commodore 64.
I was still using a c-64 as recently as 1998 when i lived on manatoulin island at my friends 60 acre property...my system was running Geos operating system and i played ''skate or die'' for hours.
The ''sid'' chip was the first synthesizer i learned to play with thanks to my c-64 and a myriad of drum machine and synthesizer software.
my favorite was a synth that you programmed within the Geos OS with the joystick...
i'll never forget that feeling of excitement when i would pour through a large box of unlabeled floppy disks full of games and software....each disk would reveal it's contents once i loaded it and the suspense while waiting to see what incredible new game was waiting to be discovered by me.
some people began with the apple II's and other's it was the commodore 64, in fact something like 10 million homes had a ommodore 64 .
i left my massively expanded commodore 64 system and unreal collection of software at my friends cabin/house on manatoulin island, which burned down under 2 yrs ago...back into the ashes it goes, my beloved commodore 64.

seeking inspiration to save my soul....

Tired as heck....

I am so tired today. The early morning shift at my job was aweful. I needed 9 hours worth of energy to finish 6 hours of work! I feel ripped off.
I didn't even carry a bag of my things and move it to my new apartment when i rode my bike here after work.
I am just glad I already have a wi-fi/Lan internet connection at my new place. I am finding something to watch, and just finished a nap, an unplanned nap.
I am still very tired.
My Mother created alot of really nice Art. I find comfort when i stare at the few items I have.
This was the creation of my Mother's that helped me recharge and relax after I finished work this morning.
Thankyou Mom.

June 1st, 2012: I am climbing out from the basement up to the 17th floor....

I am climbing out of the basement and UP to the 17th floor in downtown Kitchener....I couldn't be happier....the LOUD pair of pretty young girls who moved into the house above my basement pad seemed to decide that they didn't want me, the "old guy in the basement" living there anymore, so they threw parties for five days straight during the second week of May!
I suffered from extreme sleep deprivation, and still remained slightly calm until I snapped and called Mike to ask for help and he picked up my most valuable studio gear and synth's and guitar and the myriad of FX pedals and processors and Digital Sampler's and I can't leave out my beloved Roland CDX-1 Disc-Lab, Digital Multi-Track Sampler Workstation/Mastering Processor/Cd Recorder.
And so, here Iam preparing to move, I gave 30 days notice to the basement pad's landlord and paid my June rent at the high rise with my new room mate Steve, the drummer in Mike's band: Helen Keller (i think that's their name?)
There's more to come since we have a wi-fi internet connect set up on the 17th floor. My room is perfect for setting up a wicked studio, with room to sleep on a blow-up mattress with my new "6 pound" super thick sleeping bag!
Within a week I hope to be up and running and put an end to my neglected online life.
-ToneKnob

I have to remember to buy new tubes for my crusty vintage combo amp!

my bedroom studio

french toast octave FUZZ by danelectro

omg i love this pedal!
plugged into this transforms my guitar tone into a searing synthesizer tone that never leaves me disappointed.
i've read online that the french toast pedal is a copy of the vintage Foxx tone machine, and since i've never used that, i can't offer a comparison.
All i know, is that fuzz is the shit, and this pedal takes fuzz to a distant planet and back again!!!
for under $60 this pedal is unreal....i would have paid double, if it was housed in a more solid metal case, like my older danelectro FabTone...i guess the cost effective(cheap) plastic knobs and case will help danelectro compete in the global market....i don't mind if i need to buy another one as a back up...

Past Collaborations....

In the middle of the first decade of the 21st century i had been struggling to discover my place within the world and what i should do with music, and my home studio gear collection was top notch, everything needed to produce anything music & sound related waz set up in the spare room next to my bedroom.
I worked at setting up an online presence for my music production alter-ego: DextroSoundLab
At some point i posted an advertizment on an Ontario,Canada based musician resource web site called "overhear.ca" where i was looking for a collaborator.
A few people answered, but only one woman was serious and she caught the bus from Toronto and arrived in Kitchener, where i was lingering around the bus terminal wondering 'who' this musical woman was....and eventually i approached a dark haired beautiful woman who had seemed to be waiting for someone...and indeed, she was waiting to meet me.
Her name is Lilia Loria, and she was in Toronto on a visitors visa visiting her sister...originally she was from Dubai, UAE.

She later made a music video with this song, and i discovered it on youtube a few years after i had last seen her.

I used my Roland D2 groovebox & m-audio keyboard controller & Phatboy midi controller for all synth & drum parts, and captured her vocals with an Apex Tube condenser microphone, and a Focusrite twintrack pro recording channel strip....For effects i was using a Korg kaoss pad-2, and an Alto alphaVerb multi-fx for delays and ambience.
It was recorded to 1/4 inch multi-track tape on a Fostex E-8 eight Track recorder, and mixed down to digital master through an Alesis 3630 compressor/Limiter and burned to disc with an HHB Cd Recorder.

Thrift Store Scores...

While searching through a nearby thrift store in Waterloo, Ontario, which i made an effort to search through on a regular basis paid off for me on many occasions.
On one such occasion i discovered a Sansui AX-7 rackmountable mixer with built in analogue spring reverb plus Hi-Z inputs for plugging electric guitars in as well as microphones.
The device is amazing, the routing that is available on the back leaves the user with unlimited potential.
It has 4 mono channels and like most console mixers you can route the reverb to each channel individually.
The knobs are metal, and high quality, and the overall built quality is outstanding.
I discovered via a google search that the AX-7 was made during the late 1970's, and found a home within the audiophile's hi-fi system.
The multitude of RCA jacks on the rear enable the user to use this as the command hub for simplifying a complex line-up of hi-fi components.
I use it as a front end to my Roland CDX-1 Disc Lab, my multi-track digital recorder/Sampler.
The CDX-1 has 2 channel input capabilities, and the Sansui AX-7 helps route a 4 channel sub-mix into the CDX-1....with the option to process some or all of the 4 tracks with analogue reverb.
Basically it's a space saver for jamming in the bedroom with a roland groovebox or two and electric guitar.
Thanks to vintage hi-fi gear, this home recording hobbyist can have a good time!

PAX px-8 echo chamber:
My friend Mike found this 70's era tape delay unit in the garbage someplace in Waterloo....he later gave it to me.
Thanks to a google search and an effects database, as well as suggestions from another old friend i was able to discover that this unit used 8 track tape cartridges.
with a little hunting in thrift stores i was able to buy 5 tape cartridges for $5, brought them home, installed the tapes, and discovered that the heads on the device were dirty....i then cleaned and tried again, a little better, but the echo sound was really distant.
I am probably going to try and find a tech who will be able to fix this delay unit.
The tape based analogue delay will provide a unique effect to any sound source fed into it.
i just can't see myself throwing a perfectly good audio device in the trash, it will be a muission to complete.
more to come later....

Spring : Rebirth & Resurrection

Part of my Bedroom Studio.....i miss having a dedicated home studio 'room'....a luxury i probably won't enjoy until i realize my place in this world.

my newest addition to my studio

Sampling Synthesis is so much fun and the essence of freedom within sound design....my line up of sampling devices includes the Boss RC-20XL Loop Station pedal, Roland MC-909 Synth/Sampling & midi workstation & the Roland CDX-1 DiscLab Digital Multi-track/Sampling Workstation......
And now a new addition, the Korg Micro-Sampler !!!! a 3 octave keyboard/Digital Sampler created unlike any other sampling device on the market today or yesteryear.
I am not going to reiterate all the details that are on the korg website, i am just going to say that within minutes i had sampled some drum sounds and a guitar feedback drone sound and was triggering each looped sound with the keyboard.....instead of having a matrix of rubber pads, this device has the keyboard, and samples and/or Loops can be assigned to individual keys for triggering.
Since my Roland CDX-1 disc lab's sampler section is basically the Roland Sp-808 sampler with 8 rubber velocity sensitive trigger pads, i found this Korg unit to be
something completely different.
It is also designed for performance situations, which is ideal for me, since i record my improvisational performance of prepared sample material....sequencing the loops and sounds on the fly.
For now, i will hide from the winter cold and get to know where the korg micro sampler fits into my bedroom studio, and may post an update in the future.

FUZZ

i don't know what it is about the FUZZ effect that i can't get enough of, personally i own around 20 different FX boxes, mostly overdrives, distortions and pure FUZZ.
-electroharmonix big muff pi(russian '90s model)
-electroharmonix double muff
-mxr blue box (octave/fuzz/distortion)
-danelectro FrenchToast(octave fuzz)
-danelectro Peach Fuzz

i generally use overdrives and distortion pedals along with FUZZ's like:
-danelectro 'ocd' DRiVE
-danelectro metal
-boss sd-1 super OD
-boss ds-1 distortion

And like most tone freaks i also chain some wah into the mix;
-dunlop gcb95 crybaby wah
-electroharmonix Q-tron envelope filter
-EH stereo polyphase (LFO & envelope controlled phaser)
-digitech wah modeller
-Boss VF-1 (24 bit digital multi-FX_)

some people swear that you need to place your wah before the fuzz, but i have found that placing the wah after the fuzz is how i roll.

todays blog is just a time waster for me, a personally inventory of sorts i guess, either way, i can go on and on about the FUZZ, and it opens up a floodgate of ideas, "how to maximize the fuzz"
enough is enough,
ttyl