A Last.fm group posting has revealed the pricing of the upcoming Yamaha Tenori-On, an unusual grid-based instrument and MIDI controller, as well as how the product design came together and will be produced. Found via Cris O’Shea (Pixelsumo), the posting has the following revelations:

• Price will be GBP 599 in the initial run.
• The initial run will have limited availability in UK record shops and online for the next few months. (This much we knew.)
• Full production and a price cut are apparently due in the future, full production run, possibly some time next year (this is news).
• AA batteries are all you need for power.

The price is likely to be a disappointment to many who had hoped for a more affordable product. Ironically, despite the Yamaha name, the initial production run is a practically hand-made affair. It sounds as though Yamaha is being rather conservative with this limited run before jumping in. Mind you, we don’t expect official announcements from Yamaha until next week’s launch event, so stay tuned. I doubt any of this will stop people from snapping up the first run, especially if its numbers are as limited as they sound.

Forget about the price for a moment: the best part of this post is the gallery of behind-the-scenes images from the Tenori-On’s design and production. The project remains a DIY affair at this point, and it reveals both the inner life of this instrument, and the potential for other unusual musical creations in the future.

Tenori-On in Development [Flickr Set by Rupert’s Lunch]
Tenori-On Discussions on last.fm

alternative controllers, alternative interfaces, design, DIY, Electronics, hardware, physical computing, tenori on, Yamaha

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© Peter Kirn for Create Digital Music, 2007. | Permalink | 6 comments

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Ed.: Our friend Wallace wanders in search of truly transcendent software use, and he’s taking the leap to GURU. Expect a review soon, but here’s why we’re interested — especially with a welcome update arriving free. -PK.

FXpansion has released the long-awaited Guru 1.5 update, which fixes numerous outstanding bugs and incorporates almost 100 new features. What’s amazing is that they’re offering this update for free to existing users. Again, this is another case of a company that could have slapped a major new version number on it and charged at least a modest fee for the update to existing users, and it’s evidence of FXpansion’s generosity and commitment to their customers that this update is being offered for free.

Among the new features:

• Expanded audio export options, with options to render pads, tracks, engines or full mixes, with drag n drop to the host application or even back inside Guru for further mangling. I can see this being seriously useful for loop slicing and mangling
• Expanded slicer functionality with greater precision and a new velocity implementation
• Adjustable randomizer with options to control the amount and depth of randomization
• New sample options for reversing samples, new layer modes and pre delays for fine tuning
• Improved file browser functionality
• Expanded sample library
• Windows Vista & multi-core support
• Expanded keyboard support so every function in Guru can be almost completely controlled without the mouse
• Widely expanded MIDI implementation, with much more control over UI elements
• Drop-out free audio engine, allowing for seamless transitions between kits while previewing

In short, not a whole lot of radically new functionality, but the workflow enhancements and expansion of existing functionality make this update a must-have for existing users, and will likely be enough to tip the fence sitters. I’ve used Guru on a friends machine, and while I really dug it, it just seemed to be missing a few things here and there. With this update, they’ve addressed all those problems by listening to their users on what could (and needed to be) improved. Consider me officially off the fence. When Guru was first announced, it held the promise of becoming the ultimate software beatbox. With the 1.5 update, Guru has officially arrived.

New in 1.5

AU, beats, drum machines, fxpansion guru, Mac, Mactel, plug ins, software, universal, updates, vst, Windows

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Sampling and remix culture is the future, right? Not if you ask a lot of music lovers at the moment. The guest for the CDM Random Rant of the Week is our friend Liz. It’s an issue I suspect has troubled some readers here, especially as music technology is equated to the sample/remix culture (especially if you believe Wired Magazine and we’re in the age of mash-ups.) Sure, tracks sampling other tracks is nothing new, but the legal battles over hip-hop aside, is there a backlash brewing? Do people want to hear something original, after all? And can Kanye, erm, speak truth to power with both the President of the United States and mysterious French electro duos? -PK

…Do[es] anybody make real shit anymore?
Bow in the presence of greatness
Cause right now thou has forsaken us
You should be honored by my lateness
That I would even show up to this fake shit
So go ahead, go nuts, go ape-shit
Especially on my best stand, on my Bape shit
Act like you can’t tell who made this…

“Stronger,” ft. substantial elements of Daft Punk’s “Harder Better Faster Stronger”

Before I clicked on the link I’m about to share with you, I was a hardcore, devil-fist-throwing Daft Punk mega-fan. After the link jump at the end, I had to reluctantly join the melancholy ranks of jaded music fans who’ve seen through the hype to the source, eventually admitting that what I had admired was blatant plagiarism.

(...)
Read the rest of Random Rant: Daft Punk, Daft Plagiarists? (605 words)

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© Liz McLean Knight for Create Digital Music, 2007. | Permalink | 27 comments

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31st August 2007: Sony Creative Software has announced Vegas Pro 8, the newest version of its nonlinear editing (NLE) software. Vegas Pro 8 provides professional editors with precise control over complex DV, HDV and XD...

31st August 2007: VertexDSP has released version 2.0 of MultiInspector, a free upgrade for registered users. Enhancements: MultiInspector now incorporates an FFT analysis mode with the following features: FFT sizes ...

sass12 Stories between the deep and shallow end track list: 01. tunng- stories 02. dave DK & holger zilske- midi shower 03. tracey thorn- it's all true (martin buttrich dub) 04. tom clark- meteor in the eis (guido schneider remix) 05. pheek - tew tew 06. cybertron- clear (troy peirce remix) 07. phage & daniel dreier- elevator 08. minilogue- orglar A 09. franco cinelli- c3d 10. ben hoffmann- dunkelrotes filmmern 11. limaçon- imp 12. tundra- the rivulet 13. someone else & miskate- yeah right 14. agnés- controvesial advantage (ripperton game and match remix) 15. lee van dowski & quenum- iceice 16. tim xavier- deception de real (camea & insideout remix) 17. the architect- feel my heat 18. panpot- lancelot von camelot (barem remix) 19. it- women in toilet (stefan goldmann macro version) 20. cronk family enterprises- a quiet rebellion 21. illana- 5.05 22. señor coconut- behind the mask (ricardo villalobos remix) 23. up, bustle & out feat. blanquito man- zuzuku's people (lightning head version) 24. andres- you're still the one - Source Site:http://sassafras.podomatic.com

sass12 Stories between the deep and shallow end track list: 01. tunng- stories 02. dave DK & holger zilske- midi shower 03. tracey thorn- it's all true (martin buttrich dub) 04. tom clark- meteor in the eis (guido schneider remix) 05. pheek - tew tew 06. cybertron- clear (troy peirce remix) 07. phage & daniel dreier- elevator 08. minilogue- orglar A 09. franco cinelli- c3d 10. ben hoffmann- dunkelrotes filmmern 11. limaçon- imp 12. tundra- the rivulet 13. someone else & miskate- yeah right 14. agnés- controvesial advantage (ripperton game and match remix) 15. lee van dowski & quenum- iceice 16. tim xavier- deception de real (camea & insideout remix) 17. the architect- feel my heat 18. panpot- lancelot von camelot (barem remix) 19. it- women in toilet (stefan goldmann macro version) 20. cronk family enterprises- a quiet rebellion 21. illana- 5.05 22. señor coconut- behind the mask (ricardo villalobos remix) 23. up, bustle & out feat. blanquito man- zuzuku's people (lightning head version) 24. andres- you're still the one - Source Site:http://sassafras.podomatic.com

31st August 2007: Blue Cat Audio has released version 2.0 of its all-in-one dynamics processor Blue Cat's Dynamics. This new version brings undo/redo support, presets export/import as well as user interface enhancement...

31st August 2007: Rayzoon Technologies has updated Jamstix to v2.0.15. Changes since v2.0: MIDI import now truncates beginning silence greater than 80% of a bar length. MIDI Import can now handle 'Addictive Drums' M...

31st August 2007: Cakewalk has released an update patch, v1.2.215, for the VST version of Dimension Pro. Changes: This patch fixes an issue where notes would stick when using Dimension Pro in Cubase 4.