Deep Signal Studios Blog

I'm getting into Tidal Cycles, which is a live coding midi sequencer platform. Many of the tutorials just describe using a single port midi interface so it can be difficult to understand what is the code and what is a variable if you are just starting out.

If you have more multitimbral synths and sound modules than you have multiport midi outs for, then you might use a midi patch bay.

Old Mac Pro Tools Sessions

In order to open old Pro Tools session files (from Mac OS8.x, 9.x, OSX 10.0-10.4, Pro Tools versions 1 to 5 with SD2 files ) in modern Pro Tools you need an old version of Pro Tools and save it, over several PT versions. Not everyone has access to old Mac computers that can run multiple old versions of Pro Tools. That is where we can come in to convert the old Pro Tools session files for you.

Ever since the chiptune music genre became a thing in the mid 2000s may independent developers have been creating software and hardware that either emulate vintage video game sound chips, use old stock sound chip in new synths, or even use the original game system hardware and building out sound chip triggering features. These would essentially turn a video game system into a midi controllable synthesizer in the form of custom carts and/or controller inputs. At Deep Signal Studios we have called a number of systems such as:

A lot of vintage synth, sampler, drum machine, and sequencer owners are discovering that it is possible to replace floppy drives with floppy drive emulators. They come in a few different version, being HxC and Gotek. HxC came along first and had developed a more commercial business model and Gotek is the cheaper alternative that is supported by a few open source projects for the DIYer. These are new devices that connect to the floppy drive ribbon cable and host a USB flash drive or SD card which can contain hundreds of disk image files.

RTP-MIDI, AppleMIDI or MIDI over Real Time Protocol is a way to send midi over a network in real time. Most of the time it is used to send midi within a local network to either hardware or software instruments but it can also be used to send midi over the internet. However, the timing is not always perfect. In my experiments, connecting to over the internet back to another local computer I experienced occasional lags, which got worse as I visited new web addresses that were data heavy like a YouTube video, but the lag went away a few seconds after the video got started.

Dan Alvarez is an Emmy award-winning composer and producer based in the San Francisco Bay Area in California. He was taught music technology by Malcolm Cecil (producer of TONTO's Expanding Head Band, Stevie Wonder, The Isley Brothers, Gil Scott-Heron) and then went on to work with Denny Jaeger Synclavier II, as well as a sound designer for Michael Jackson's Thriller album), guitarist Jason Becker, synth pioneer Pat Gleeson (with Herbie Hancock), and Gary Malkin (Unsolved Mysteries theme and score).
Bibio is Stephen Wilkinson from Wolverhampton in the West Midlands, England. His works from 2005 to 2009 consisted mostly of acoustic guitar and tape manipulation which can be described as tape-warbled, half-remembered, nostalgia-inducing folk. Although it did not contain any obvious synths (the software Super Sollider was used very sparingly as synth and audio processor), it was heavily influenced by the feeling of Boards of Canada. One obvious element that influence Bibio from BoC's music was his use of their tape warble and saturation effect. BoC would then go on to be influenced by Bibio by incorporating acoustic guitar in The Campfire Headphase.
We compared the sound similarities and functions of our Jupiter 8 with the new Roland Boutique series synth the JU-08.
Deep Signal Studios held their first pop-up studio in Los Angeles (the) Handbag Factory. Attendees brought their own laptop, headphones, and audio interfaces to track vintage synthesizer parts for their songs by playing midi sequences or live keyboard playing. This workshop was a unique opportunity for producers to use highly-sought after vintage hardware synths for music productions. Thank you to everyone who attended. Everyone had a good time and it was great to meet so many talented producers in the LA area.

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