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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

No….not my waistline. We are now in the hardware biz!

The sound company who brings you the worlds largest selection of patches and samples has now added one of the largest inventory’s of used music equipment to our web site.

We now have listed hundreds of hardware items for sale including; Keyboards, Computers and Computer Accessories, Drum Machines and Sequencers, Guitars, Basses, Amps and Effects and tons of Audio Gear. Everything you need to put together a home studio, live rig or just add that one piece of gear that you’ve been looking for.

Most items come with a three month warranty except items marked as “consignment”. Consignment items all have a seven day check out period. Most items will come with a copy of the manual. Photos are available upon request.

Most hardware items can not be ordered via our online order form. If you would like to place and order for anything on our hardware list or have any questions about an item please contact us via e-mail or phone and we will be happy to help you out. Unlike e-bay we back up our gear with a three month warranty and we will be around to help if you have any questions or problems. All equipment is checked out by an expert service tech before being put up for sale.

Yes, this is big news for us and we are very excited about it. We are looking forward to working with all of you to help find the music gear you need. If you have any suggestions or comments please contact us.

More Info At The HARDWARE Section of The Patch King Website

We have updated updated our downloadable AIFF and WAV file database with 100 new files including: Producers – Drum & Bass, Digital and Analog Pads, Funk and Electric Guitars, Vintage Synths, Effectron – Sound Effects and more.

Included are new sounds from our recently released Hip Hop/R&B Mix for the Yamaha Motif Series.

Sounds Compatible with all software samplers or any hardware sampler that reads aiff or wav files. $5 per file package with as many as 30 samples in a package. Buy 6 and get two free. You can download your sounds within hours of ordering. Click on the “Download Sounds” link from the Patch King home page.

More Info At The Patch King Website

I’ve posted our first article in the Midi Tips category titled “Sysex Made Simple”. Sysex is short for “system exclusive”. A term well known by some and a mysterious hi tech lingo to others.

We wanted to use the blog as a way to answer our most frequently asked questions in detail so I’ve started things off with probably the most popular question….“What Is Sysex and why should I care about it”?

Click HERE to learn all about sysex

Welcome to our first Podcast. We thought that adding a podcast to the Kid Nepro site would be a great way for our customers to stay in touch with all the latest developments going on in the patch kingdom including updates on our new releases and audio demos, music industry news and generally what’s going on in the world of music.

Join Proton as he plays some demos from our latest release for the Yamaha Motif and talks about, music industry news, classic rock, politics and lot’s more.

We hope to produce a new podcast on average of once a month so please subscribe to our podcast or mailing list and we will contact you about our new releases or when a new podcast is available online. Customer feedback is very important to us so feel free to post any comments at our blog or send us an e-mail with your questions or comments.

Click Here to listen to The Patch King Podcast

Click Here to link to our RSS Feed

You can subscribe to our Podcast at: https://www.kidnepro.com/blog/?feed=rss2

Now you can get three of our most popular WAV CD-ROMS within hours of placing your order. We have now expanded our downloadable sounds database to include three of our best selling WAV CD’s.

1- The Kings Collection Volume #1 – mixes sounds from multiple sound libraries. Everything from Orchestral Strings and Brass to Funk, Acoustic and Rock Guitars. Also includes everything on our Drum and Bass CD. Over 25 custom drum kits containing ever 1000 single shot drum samples.

2- Midi Mix – contains samples from over 25 of the best synthesizers released over the past three decades. All sounds are sampled from our custom made sound libraries and then layered together to create unique textures not found anywhere else.

3- Effectron Sound Effect Collection – All the sound effects you need in one complete package. It’s loaded with crowd noises, jungle effects, sounds of nature, guns and rockets, heartbeat, machines and the most requested sound effects. Perfect for composers doing TV or film work or producers that need that special effect on their track.

Just pick the WAV format and FREE e-mail delivery at our online order form and we will set up a download and you can be working with your new sounds the same day!

More info and MP3 demos can be found at; Kid Nepro’s Sample City.

Many of you may know Kid Nepro from the sounds that I make for synths and samplers. This blog has given me the opportunity to write a little more about some of my other interests so I started the “Classic Rock” category.

Rock music from the 60’s and 70’s is one of my passions. The music that I make has been heavily influenced by music from that era and I wanted to share some of my thoughts about it. As a teenager I was lucky enough to attend several Fillmore East concerts before the classic rock theatre closed in June of 1971. I was actually backstage at the last public performance and got to meet several rock icons including the legendary Bill Graham. It was one of those moments I will never forget. Many years later I wrote everything down and created a web page about that night and how it influenced me in wanting to become a musician.

You can find it Over here

Click Here for a taste of the music from that weekend.

If you were lucky enough to be have been at any of the Fillmore East or West shows during that time I’d love to hear about it. Feel free to post your stories in the comments section.

BTW: In case you have not checked it out yet be sure to visit Wolfgangs Vault for some of the best music never heard!

Kid Nepro is now offering a special bundle package on our five CD-ROM collection for Native Instruments samplers. Get all five CD-ROMS with over 7000 samples and over two gigs of sample data on one easy to load DVD for $250.

The sample collection includes;

1- Drum & Bass – contains over 1000 Single Shot Drum and Percussion Samples arranged in 25 custom drum kits from Nepro’s MPC Series, ASR and SP1200 Sound Libraries. Basses include 100 Multi Sampled Bass Instruments from the Prophet VS to MKS80 as well as HIP HOP, R&B, Electric, Acoustic, Sub Basses and more. Also included are 100 Bonus Drum Beats from Kid Nepro’s Triton & Karma Rhythm and Beat Collections as well as Orchestra and Horn Hits, Techno Percussion and Assorted Hits and Bits.

2- Killer Keyboards – Includes a wide assortment of classic keyboard samples. Rhodes and Wurlitzer Electric Pianos, Electric Grand Pianos, Hammond B3, Farfisa and Pipe Organs, D6 Clavinets, Harpsichords and a MIDI mix of layered keyboard textures.

3- Vintage Synths – New samples from some of the most popular vintage synths ever made. Classic sounds from the Prophet-5, Prophet VS, OB8, Matrix-12, Xpander, Jupiter-8, MKS80, Synclavier, ARP2600, Fairlight, Mellotron, Voyetra-8, DX7 and much more.

4- Midi Mix – contains samples from over 25 of the best synthesizers released over the past three decades. All sounds are sampled from Nepro’s custom made sound libraries and then layered together to create unique textures not found anywhere else.

5- Kings Collection – mixes sounds from multiple sound libraries. Everything from Orchestral Strings and Brass to Funk, Acoustic and Rock Guitars. All the Sound Effects from their Effectron Library and hundreds of Rhythm & Beats from their Triton and Karma Rhythm & Beat CD.

Sounds are also available as Downloadable Files at only $5. per download package. Order online download delivery and have your new sounds the same day.

Complete information, soundlists and MP3 demos can be found at the Patch King web site;

www.kidnepro.com

Volume 5 – Hip Hop/R&B Mix – 50 New Multi Samples, 4 New Drum Kits and 128 New Voices.

We wanted to try something new with our fifth Motif soundbank so we decided to dig into their large collection of sounds and import several new multi samples into the Motif sample RAM.

Fifty new .wav samples were imported from our Akai-MPC and EMU-SP1200 sound libraries. Classic samples geared for Hip Hop and R&B tracks including kicks, snares, hi hats as well as several horn, guitar and orchestra hits. No RAM expansion is needed for the Motif to be able to access the new samples.

The new .wav samples were then used to create four custom drum kits and 128 new voices. The voices combine the new multi samples and factory samples and as well as the Motif on board effects and ARP patterns. A mix of new drum beats, basses, leads, guitars, strings and pads and a wide variety of keyboard sounds that are aimed at keyboard players, producers and DJ’s creating Hip Hop and R&B tracks.

Kid Nepro is running a special on all our synth sounds this month. Buy one and get one free so you can get any two Motif sound banks for the price of one. Check out the “May Sound Sale” link for more info.

Complete information, soundlists and MP3 demos can be found at the Patch King web site;

www.kidnepro.com

Looking for some cool ringtones that you can download? You’ve come to the right place! Downloadable ringtones are just a click away.

Kid Nepro (AKA: The Patch King) has updated our ring tone collection for mobile phone users. The collection contains now contains 150 digital samples (Real Tones) in MP3 format created from The Patch Kings library of patches and samples.

The ring tone library has two main sections;

1- Bells – The bell sounds are melodies created from Kid Nepro synth and sample libraries libraries including sounds from the Roland D50, Sequential Prophet VS, Korg Triton, Karma, Wavestation, Yamaha DX7 and more.

2- Rhythm & Beats – Include a wide variety of musical styles ranging from MPC and SP1200 Hip Hop, Techno, Rock, Pop, Jazz, Reggae and Classical Themes.

Download our ringtones to your computer or directly to your mobile phone. Only $1. per ringtone! More info and demos can be found at:

The Sample City Section Of Our Web Site