Jeff's own Back-to-School Essential Gear

As any teen fashion mag or geeky gear forum would do, I will join everyone in making a unique list of things you just have to have as you go back to school, or to work. Or neither. Whether you are a crazed gear OCD head, or a minimalist who has that one almighty vintage piece that symbolizes your very existence, there's sure to be something on this list for you:

In no particular order:

M-Audio MidAir 25

$249.99 MAP


For those who yearn for free-spirited production, perhaps recording a melody from the quad, or for that quick bassline enroute to lunch, this has been made for you. I'm quite sure the techies who first utilized MIDI decades ago never thought all their hard work would eventually consist of no external connections whatsoever, besides a 9V adapter and USB/MIDI connections through the transmitter module. I think much of the music industry was stunned that M-Audio could pull this off, but they won't be more stunned than your dorm mates when you break out into a keytar solo and crowdsurf out the window.





Ableton Live 6

$499.99 MAP (download) $599.99 MAP (boxed), free and low cost upgrades ranging from $99-$249 for previous Live owners


For those who want to be ahead of everyone else. I am a bit ticked at Ableton for announcing the release of Live 6 just a few days after I bought Live 5.2 (therefore I must pay $99 for the upgrade). In any case, Live 6 has been talked about alot, with its new features like video support and the new Sampler instrument. What makes Live different from most other DAWs is its unique capability to produce a song start to finish, all in one intuitive environment. It is hard to explain in words really, just how it is so different. I'd recomment watching some of the videos on the Ableton website to check out what it is like, and download the demo to see for yourself.




Roland GR-20
$595.99 MAP with divided pickup, less without


For those guitarists who always wanted to secretly have a sax solo or do orchestral work- without putting down their axe. Every Full-Sail dropout at Guitar Center will tell you how great this thing is, which is true, but don't take their word on everything. Roland pulled this one out of nowhere- shows you what a huge amount of crazy R&D will get you. Simply put, this is a MIDI capable guitar synthesizer, that can transform your clean tone into a plethora of sounds. I will personally attest that it does live up to its glory, but only with the GK-3 pickup. The regular pickup is not as good, so pick the GK-3 which allows for more expansion of sound modules.

A Helpful Rodent?

As the market for hardware MIDI controllers explodes into the massive home studio revolution, there was also a mouse, ailently making its' way to controller fame. Except this was a completely new kind of controller- a software MIDI controller. Of course, many hardware synths, controllers, even DAWs have controlls on screen that can be manipulated. But this is a pure breed of software, and rodent. Meet midimouse, a simple why-didn't-we-think-of-that XY software controller for just about any MIDI parameters. It is plainly a 2 parpameter assignable pad on the screen controlled by mouse or trackpad movements. the large size can expand to the entire height of the screen, and can even fit rectangular spaces with the click of a button. The many different 'skins' midimouse uses are grreat tools, from the cross hairs screen showing the X and Y MIDI values, to the bubbly trail of blue dots that chases the pointer around the pad.

One of the only preferences, yet a good one, is the controller value difference when the mouse is being clicked or not clicked. This could make for instant changes in just about and effect or synth parameter, gate, wet/dry, track levels, etc. Easing into Ableton Live, I brought up a string loop and added a simple Multiband Filter. For effects, Live already displays a small assignable XY pad, yet accuracy isn't very high and tediousness is. Using the standard Cutoff Frequency and Resonance parameters for each of the axes, I was able to easily control it with a huge, 8"x8" pad on my laptop screen. Awesome.

Did I mention it's free?

Circuit Bending Part III

A lot has happened since the first two posts, I have reached new levels of creativity and ingenuity in this DIY art form. Or as some may say, I've just tried to make something useless work. In Circuit Bending Part II I only wrote a brief summary of what I did with the Casio ML-1. Check out these pictures to get a better idea of the inner workings of this crazed instrument.

Also, there are pictures of the homemade oscillator I made with a friend. After he was impressed with my initial 'creation', we decided to make a simple sine wave generator. Researching for schematics of these circuits online and using a unique electronic software program allowing the user to draw in circuits and run them, we decided on a diagram using a 555 timer chip, a few resistors, and a capacitor. A 555 chip (all integrated circuit chips have a numerical code) is a programmable timer that converts the incoming voltage into a constant output of frequency. Using the proper resistors, a frequency in the audible range can be obtained. Probably not the most exciting thing, but you somehow feel accomplished when you made a box that can change pitch. A potentiometer allows for variable resistance of the voltage, and therefore alters pitch. We used 2 single pole switches to select 2 different type effects we were able to get by bending our 555 circuit. A plastic roker switch was made an I/O switch for the 9V battery power, and a 1/4" output allowed for connection of headphones.


Homemade 555 oscillator



Still thirsty for more bending, I purchased a Casio PT-87 off eBay to explore and see if older toy keyboards were similar in circuitry design. When I unsheathed the board from the plastic, I wasn't surprised: it was strikingly similar to the ML-1, just with a smaller sound chip (only 8 sounds on it, ML-1 has 25). I enjoyed the sound of it, and was content with leaving the sounds untouched. ALthough I had no use for the ROM cartridge slot, as those are very rare and I didn't want to look for one. I did want to be able to use it in the studio more though, so I added an output. Not TS or TRS however. XLR. Female. Stolen from a broken mic cable, I drilled out a hole large enough for the XLR plug to fit sung and for the ROM slot cover to close all the way. A harmelss bend, but a functional one in the least.


Casio PT-87



The ease of circuit bending can be exemplified by the vast scale of the toy instument market in the late 80s and early 90s. Keyboards, guitars, orchestral instuments, even talking calulators and learning toys were huge among kids. Years after, benders are taking the industry in a new direction. Vintage gear of this fashion is so easy to find- my mother bought a Casio PT-100 she found at a garage sale. Users have outgrown the toys, or their kids grew up, or they're tired of the kids making so much noise, they sell them. Don't believe me? Check out ebay, theres every kind of toy keyboard imaginable, including ones that already are circuit bent.

So the PT-100 I received came with much excitement- I had heard how this particular model was great for alien synthesis. The item seemed to be in good condition, even came in the original box. Turned on once, and the sounds worked as normal for seconds at most. Then came silence. Even test bending it all over the PC board did nothing but 'pops'. It does have a nice 3" speaker, useful parts and a nice enclosure going for it though.