Free sample set of an 808 on a cassette

New Zealand-based Goldbaby have quietly become the coolest sample factory in the world. They get vintage gear, play it through more vintage gear, then sample it in super high resolution. Their commercial products include Tape 808 and Tape 909 (Vintage drum machine into valve Ampex 1/2" tape machine, into 24bit samples), a range of old Roland drum machines sampled onto a MPC60, then re-sampled) and Vintage Home Keyboard Breaks which is classic breakbeats replayed on old casio keyboards. In the exceptionally fine Free Stuff section, you'll find a 606 which has been through the Ampex treatment, an 808 recorded on cassette and various impulse responses (including an MPC60)...

Belkin iPod XLR recording system looks phenomenally hot

I love the 'UA does a multimeter' look of this Belkin Podcast Studio, supposedly just $100 with build in mic, built in speaker, dual XLR (no word on phantom power). Not clear whether it has a built in d/a and just records data on the iPod, or whether it uses the iPod's own recording system. Don't hold your breath for this, because Belkin like to announce early and release late (they announced the Tune Studio a year ago, and it only appeared for sale in June). (via Boing Boing Gadgets)

Ebay of the Day: Magnetic Record Player / Recorder

Wow this looks kind of crazy, it's quite expensive with a starting bid of $750.00 but intriguing all the same. The seller says "YOU CAN USE AGAIN ALL TIMES IF YOU WISH , BECAUSE WORKS LIKE A TAPE". The pics clearly show the disks labelled 'Magnetton-Platte' so yeah I'm assuming its a magnetic disk recorder, which, I have to admit, I previously didn't know exsisted. Theres another one detailed on this site with some info and I assume that the device on ebay is based on the same principle. Via Mangalore at the new Human Shield blog.

Legendary producers

I just found myself writing the words "legendary producer", and stopped myself. According to the first 100 results in Google, the following people are 'legendary producers': Dave Bascombe, Clive Chin, Youth, J Rawls, Rick Rubin, Phil Spector, J Dilla, George Martin, Tony Visconti, Arif Mardin, Joe Boyd, Steve Lillywhite, Frank Filipetti, Ski, Phil Ramone, Dr Dre, Stephen Street, Nile Rodgers, Rhythm Masters, Jim Dickinson, Kramer, King Jammy, Tom Dowd, Joel Dorn, Jack Clement, Clive Davis, Larry Smith, Trevor Horn, Jerry Wexler, Junior Vasquez, Orrin Keepnews, Flemming Rasmussen, Jimmy Jam, Owen Morris, Steve Levine, Leif Mases, Quincy Jones, Chris Tsangarides, Tony Platt, Brian Eno and John Beltran. I decided to just write "producer".

There are 146,000 references to "legendary producer", 184,000 references to "legendary hero", 96,300 to "legendary guitarist", 7,400 to "legendary engineer", 1,500 for "legendary blogger" and just 11 for "legendary guitar tech".

French C64 Vocal Synth

Tom has kindly handed me the keys to Musicthing again so I'm back after a rather extended absence to post some more crap. I'll start with an appeal for help from Stamba over at the CBS forums. He's found a rare French speech synth cart for the C64. In his words: 'Conclusion ? IT BLASTS ALMOST all other c64 vocal synths of this period.. Commodore Magic Voice is maybe the worst.. Currah Sound Speech is average.. but this Techni Musique one reach modern (2007! vocal synthesis) !' Yeah I think I want one aswell. The demo sounds a bit like the speech in the arcade version of Gauntlet with that garbled digital rasp we all know and love. As with most of these things, info is hard to come across so if anyone knows anything please leave a comment.
UPDATE: Theres more c64 music stuff over at Stamba's other site. Check it out

Make an album in 12 hours using only $12 worth of gear...

That's the challenge of the Crate Digger Death Match. Actually, you can record the thing on gold-plated 2" tape, but the sound sources can't cost more than $12. Thats your Casio VL-Tone out, then.

Ever heard a recording and thought it was a live band?

In his book White Bicycles, Joe Boyd writes: "I have seen people enter pubs and bars where the Buena Vista Social Club CD is playing and look around for the source of the music; they seem startled to be entering a 3-dimensional acoustic space..." Is this really possible? I've often walked into rooms, thought there was a band playing and been right. I don't know if I've ever heard a CD and thought it was a real band. So what signals am I picking up? What makes live music sound live, and recorded music sound recorded? I wish my ears were better...
(Pic: Egrem Studios, where BVSC was recorded, via Indriani)