Adam Dworak aka DJ Destruction writes to let us know he’s finished a video review of the ZERO8:

Via the DJ Destruction blog.

About halfway through, he gets to some hands-on demos with the internal effects and controllers, which demonstrates some of what makes the ZERO8 unique. Thanks for sharing this one, Adam!

Adam’s rig — the mixer, a DJ app (Virtual DJ), and use of the internal mixer and effects — qualify him as what is likely the target audience for the ZERO8. And you can see he’s pretty happy using it in that way.

We have heard some dissent, though, from people who wanted to use the ZERO8 for live laptop performance with Ableton Live, or with DJ sets that push the envelope a bit into the live performance area. In fairness, that may not have been the ZERO’s target audience, but as it is a target audience for CDM, I’ll be interested to see what gear can fit the bill.

Also, I don’t like to bring up anecdotal evidence, but do any ZERO owners out there know if Korg was able to resolve the “hiss problem” we heard readers complaining about?

What about the alternatives?

For various reasons I remain interested in the Ecler line. I don’t think it’s immediately comparable to the ZERO, but its focus on combining MIDI control and mixing features make it very interesting to the Ableton crowd. That’s nothing against the Korg kit, but in this emerging category, it may be closer to what this niche wants. I hope to look more at that soon. See our previous story (which also includes commentary on the Korg, so I’m not the only one making the comparison):

MIDI + Mixing: Ecler EVO4 DJ Mixer Specs, EVO5 Update

How do you make the Moog legacy of instruments accessible — assuming you can’t afford a studio full of vintage gear? One choice is to model the instruments virtually, as developers like Arturia have done. That provides real-time control, but models may not be perfect, and if you want more than one instrument, you really need more than one model. Others have reimagined some of the Moog sound designs on more modern instruments, as Craig Anderton did recently with Cakewalk’s Rapture.

IK Multimedia, working with veteran sample house Sonic Reality in collaboration with Moog Music, have taken the “museum” approach — put samples of everything in a single box. And what an ambitious collection they’ve got, as we noted when the product was announced. But can you win over even someone who owns some of the real gear? We put that question to our own Lee Sherman, who’s been diving deep into the tool. Mindful of the tradeoffs, he’s got some insight into just how useful they were able to make that sampled content.

SampleMoog can’t help but be greeted with some degree of skepticism. Even virtual analog synths like Arturia’s Minimoog V don’t go all of the way in reproducing the Moog experience. How can something based on samples even come close?

Yes, it’s time to see (tongue-in-cheek, anyway) just how Fisher Price stands up to the competition in the crowded DJ gear market (thanks to producer Ean Golden from DJ Tech Tools for sending this our way):

The ground breaking MBRP-101 from Fisher Price is the best all in one music playback solution for mobile and club djs that need affordable and reliable performance. Visit http://www.djtechtools.com/?p=202 for more info and release dates on this exclusive release.

World Famous Dj Mei Lwun (5 time dade county YMCA battle champ) was kind enough to review the unit for us. Check him out at:
http://www.mei-lwun.com/

Brilliant. Of course, this being CDM, I fully expect:

• Commentary on the terrific tangible interfacing aspects of this design (seriously — look at the tactile quality, the module for storing records, the accessible interface, the minimal design, the bright colors)
• Someone to use this live
• Someone to hack this into a usable DJ controller — maybe adapting it to Ms. Pinky control vinyl, or putting sensors into the plastic tone arm

Brings back great memories as I used to play with this as a kid at day care. Oldskool Fisher Price was the greatest.

Beatrix Jar is Bianca Pettis (Beatrix) and Jacob Aaron Roske (JAR). The duo teaches workshops on Circuit Bending and performs live with an eclectic set of gear including an AM radio, bent Speak ‘n Spells, drum machines and samplers.

I met up with them in Minneapolis last week to discuss their new album Golden Fuzz and their approach to musicmaking. They’re an enthusiastic twosome, finishing each other’s sentences and eager to illustrate their ideas by firing up a piece of gear and making some excellent sounds.

Golden Fuzz may be the most accurate album title I’ve seen all year. It’s a shimmering mosaic of beats and samples layered with a smattering of live vocals, samples, circuit-bent toys and AM interference. The tracks flow and build organically with a distinctly human element. A jazz-like approach and bent electronics interact with crisp beats and found samples in a way that tells a dreamlike story, impressionistic and a little funky. It’s a bold and refreshing approach to digital musicmaking, taking chances and letting elements of unpredictability and in-the-moment decisions guide the process along. This is a fun, lush album that draws from a wide and rich palette of sounds, and I recommend that you check it out.

They’ve got a great live/work space in a building populated entirely by artists, writers, dancers and the like. It happened to be Jacob’s birthday while I was in town and they invited me over to discuss art and music, and have some food, drink and an impromptu jam session.

My review of Apple’s Logic Studio (including Logic Pro 8) is now live at Macworld.com (it’ll also be in the January 2008 print issue).

Summary:

Pros: Single-window view speeds editing and setup; MainStage program ideal for playing instruments and effects live; powerful, easy-to-access editing and take management tools; bundles Soundtrack Pro but halves the price; no more dongle; can sync with others via .Mac or Bonjour.

Cons: Some MIDI features are still obscure; MainStage doesn’t integrate with Logic or ReWire.

Or, to put it more simply: take away a dongle, slash the price, and make Logic easier to use, and you’ve got a winner.

Logic Studio: All-in-one music creation package is easier to use, more playable

I do hope competitors are taking a notice of what the Logic team at Apple has done with the interface.

Us Americans are wimps. Scandinavians know how to test music gear. As a metal soundtrack pounds away in the background, a Shure SM58 gets subjected to some serious torture testing, including:

• Being used to hammer nails
• Dropped a couple of meters
• Frozen
• Dunked in water
• Driven over by a car

And then something really nasty happens involving Heineken and a microwave.

After more than a year of relatively trusty service and a country-spanning tour, my BCD2000 has finally become too flaky for performances. I’ve been looking at the various DJ-style midi controller options, and was down to about 5 options when I was asked to play a set on short notice at a relatively big festival this weekend. So I made a snap decision and picked up a Numark Total Control, choosing this over the NuVJ because it has a couple of extra sliders and knobs.

This is a NuVJ, my second choice MIDI controller from Numark

As a class-compliant USB MIDI device it installed fine. I loaded my VJ software of choice, Resolume, mapped the jog wheels to scratch video, and scratched.

The video went bonkers.

As I’m located outside the UK, I’ve been unable to get a TENORI-ON for review. This may be just as well; I’ve got a custom Monome project that’s filling up a bit of my time. Nick has an extensive, detailed video review for Sonic State, since we don’t:

Review page from our friends at Sonic State

(Late in posting this, I know; behind as I’ve been on the road — thanks to all who sent it in.)

A number of revelations emerge regarding how the design works:

• TENORI-ON is truly set up to work as a 16×16 beat sequencer. You can have multiple 16-beat sequences, and you can change length, but the hardware-only approach means you’re given a pretty rigid musical structure.
• MIDI output is limited to note information.
• MIDI input is limited to notes, as well.
• The only non on/off controller is a roller on the bottom of the unit that affects note length.
• The unit does sample, but think 1-second 1-hit samples.

Nick seems pretty balanced in the review, coming down somewhere in the middle (well worth watching the whole thing). Despite these limitations, the cumulative experience does seem greater than the sum of its parts. Whether that experience is worth the price may depend: for those wanting a tailored, game-like music interaction with the device, TENORI-ON could appeal. For those wanting more flexibility, though, it could be a major disappointment.