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I don’t know exactly why, but lately the sound of my Mac’s startup chime is really starting to bother me. I recently bought a new Imac and Macbook Pro and while they are two of the most beautifully designed machines on the market today, with all the most innovative new features one could ask for, they still had that same old chime when starting up that I’ve been hearing since I bought my old Mac Quadra back in the early 90’s. I know it’s not a big deal, but maybe it might be a good idea for Apple to update the sound to a more 21st century sound that would better suit their new product line. After all, when I hear that chime, I think I’m back at a time when the first George Bush was president! 

Yesterday, I was doing a bit of research about the Korg Wavestation and came upon this interesting bit of trivia at wikipedia and it got me thinking about all this again. “The sound of the Wavestation is familiar to users of the Apple Macintosh, since the startup chime that has featured on every mac since the Quadra 700 to present day was created by Jim Reekes on a Korg Wavestation. Reekes said, “The startup sound was done in my home studio on a Korg Wavestation. It’s a C Major chord, played with both hands stretched out as wide as possible (with 3rd at the top, if I recall).”

Now I have nothing against Jim Reekes and his classic chime. It has certainly served us well through the years.  However, I just thought that maybe it’s time for a change. How about something like THIS or THIS ?

OK..OK..just kidding. I know Steve Jobs would never go for that. Besides, that would get old very quickly. But seriously, maybe something like THIS or THIS would go over well. They are couple of ringtones that I created awhile back which I think might work. 

I’m sure someone out there can come up with something better. Maybe some sort of contest to pick a new start up chime would be a good idea. I know there are many creative musicians and sound designers that could come up with a bunch of cool choices for Steve and the gang at Apple to choose from.

What do you think? Good idea? Want to participate? We can’t guarantee that Apple will even consider changing the chime (this is our wacky idea) and there are not even any cool prizes, but we thought that it might be fun anyway. Send your chime to us “HERE”. Obviously it has to be something very short. 2-3 seconds max, so try and keep your creations in that ballpark. After we get a bunch we will post them online and who knows what will happen. Maybe your original chime will be used in the next generation of Mac’s to hit the market!

Great to see that the Fab-4 of the jazz/rock/fusion world getting together again for a tour. Truly one of the important groups to come out of the 70’s with a sound that just blew everyone away. Four virtuoso musicians playing in high gear was enough to turn heads for both rock and jazz fans alike. I was lucky enough to catch one of their shows at The Beacon Theatre, back in 1976 and it was one of those concerts that you don’t forget. 

Was searching around youtube for some video and found a great vintage clip of a live performance of “Sorceress”, from the classic “Romantic Warrior” recording. Chick Corea’s live set up was certainly state of the art for 1976. You could see that he was having some problems with the Mini Moog and that old ARP is “just barely” in tune, but he still sounds amazing! Yeah, that’s the way it was back then. Don’t ya just love that old analog gear?

More info on the 2008 tour and much more at the: Return 2 Forever ‘08 Web Site

The Winter NAMM 2008 show opened today out in California and it looks like it’s the usual onslaught of new goodies for all us music gear junkies. Hundreds of new hardware and software products all bidding to be the one that stands out above the rest and becomes that “hot new product”.

The new Akai MPC5000 looks pretty sweet with that analog synth built in. Over 300 Virtual Analog synth presets included in the presets. Over 40 all new effects and Expandable up to 192MB RAM. This is not your fathers MPC! The popular MPC series has sure come a long way since Akai released the original MPC60 bank in the early 90’s.

 
www.akaipro.com

Roland always does winter NAMM in a big way and this year is no different with the release of over 40 new products! The new Fantom ” G-Series” keyboard workstation must be getting a lot of hands on it right about now. Three models are available - 61 and 76 note models and an 88 note model with Roland’s weighted PHA II “Ivory Feel” keyboard. Advanced sound engine, bigger sequencer, more effects and a graphic user interface with extra-large 8.5” wide colour LCD and mouse connectivity. Looks like this this one could be a big seller for people looking to update their old Fantom’s or for someone jumping into the workstation market for the first time.

www.roland.com

For the DJ that has everything Numark announced the TTi turntable which will record directly to your iPOD. This new turntable includes a Universal Dock for iPod, USB audio interface, a metal platter and pitch control, making it, say Numark, one of the most versatile turntables ever produced. If I were a DJ, I would be giving this one a good look. It’s pricy for a turntable at: $449. US, but it looks like it will do everything except make you a pot of expressio to keep you going when your up all night D’Jaying at the club!

 www.numark.com

Sonic State usually does a great job covering the NAMM show with lot’s of cool video. You can find everything at; www.sonicstate.com

As you probably know by now, all of us here at Kid Nepro are big fans of Korg’s musical instruments. We have been supporting their products since we first purchased their Poly 800 synthesizer back in 1985. 

A lot has happened since then in the world of electronic instruments and the products that they are releasing today are truly amazing. Of course everyone is talking about the new M3 and their flagship Oasys keyboards which are on the high end scale of things. However, the products that they are selling on the low end are just as innovative. One that I’ve recently discovered is the “Kaossilator”. An incredible little device that sells for under $200. It has lot’s of cool synth, drum sounds and sound effects along with an easy to use loop recording feature. Great for the teen who’s ipod is now old news or that next up and coming DJ who wants to start making beats.

There have also been a lot of interesting demos posted on youtube about the Kaossilator, but the one I enjoyed the most is this dude from Japan who calls himself “Jetdaisuke”. Complete with baseball cap, sunglasses and lot’s of cool stuff on his shelves to look at. Looks like he’s been busy since he has over 500 videos posted. A star is born!

 We lost one of the great ones a couple of weeks ago when Oscar Peterson passed.  I was searching around You Tube for some videos of Oscar and found several interesting ones from various points in his over fifty year career. However, the one I found most interesting or I should say “off beat” is a recording of “Honky Tonk Train Blues” that features Oscar and Keith Emerson that was done in 1976. You can see that Keith was a bit out of his league with this one, but it makes for some fun viewing. 

Bob Dylan’s comment a couple of weeks ago about how “technology sucks” got me thinking about a few things. He’s absolutely right when he say’s “You listen to these modern records, they’re atrocious, they have sound all over them,” he added. “There’s no definition of nothing, no vocal, no nothing, just like … static.” Dylan said he does his best to fight technology, but it’s a losing battle. “Even these songs probably sounded 10 times better in the studio when we recorded ‘em.”

You would think that with all the wonderful tools that we have to work with these days that the CD’s being released today would have an amazing sound. Yet they don’t. Why is that?

The problem the over use of compression. It is designed to increase the “Loudness” of the cd. but you lose dynamic range. It is a well known complaint that the unhip bastards that run the market dont seem to get. You no longer get quiet and loud passages, just medium loud all the time. I’d say it’s more like the musical equivelent of putting the contrast on your monitor past the normal value and so far it up it’s like looking into the sun. You just can’t stand to look/listen to it for that long at all without your eyes/ears imploding.

When you use all that compression then the music doesn’t have a chance to “breathe”, because everything is coming at you at about 130dB, all the time. The real blame for this can be placed on the music executives more than anyone else, because they think louder=stands out more on radio=more sales. Of course, the sound engineers and producers hate doing it, but those clueless music company bosses are supplying the paychecks.

There are exceptions. I just picked up the new U2 CD “How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb”. Not only is the CD filled with great tunes, but it is well recorded and mastered and sounds amazing. This is a perfect example of a band that has control over their product and cares more about how things sound then how many records they sell. Maybe Dylan should do the same thing. I’m sure his CD’s would sound better if he made sure that whoever was mastering it did it correctly.

I came across a great article that explains things perfectly. You can find it Over Here