After 30 years, the final bell has rung and it's home time for Grange Hill... [more inside]
posted by fearfulsymmetry on Sep 18, 2008 - 29 comments

808 808 808 808 808 808 808 808 808 808 808 808 808 808080808
posted by fearfulsymmetry on Aug 8, 2008 - 49 comments

Matmos provides a song-by-song exposition of their synth-only* album Supreme Balloon, including explicit pics of the gear they used. Highlights include the Electronic Valve Instrument, the Coupigny, & everything else.

*Mostly - all sound sources were synths, some software controllers were used.
posted by univac on Jul 6, 2008 - 14 comments

Of course you know the rhythm box/drum machine has had a profound impact on modern music-making, but how much do you know about its history? Was the Rhythmicon the very first rhythm machine? Korg's DoncaMatic (great name, eh?) was one of the first commercial models. Up until 1979 they were all pre-programmed, but Roland ushered in the modern era with the user-programmable CR-78, and followed it up soon after with the legendary TR808. Go here for a fairly comprehensive overview of vintage drum machines (organized alphabetically, with photos and descriptions/background info). And here you can interact with a wide assortment of virtual [Flash] rhythm boxes of the 70's and 80's. (Knee-jerk Flash haters, go ahead and hate it, but this is one of the best uses of Flash I can imagine.)
posted by flapjax at midnite on Dec 27, 2006 - 26 comments

Bassline Bassline. Rock has its electric guitar, hip-hop has its turntable/mic, and electronic music has its Roland TB-303. One of the few single instruments that can claim to define the entire genre, its history is an interesting one: "Bassline Baseline is a video essay that investigates the invention, failure and subsequent resurrection of the mythic Roland TB-303 Bass Line music machine in the last two decades of the 20th century."
posted by afx114 on Jul 18, 2005 - 24 comments

Economics and Race: "Twenty-seven-year-old Harvard economist Roland Fryer grew up poor and black, in a family that was falling apart. His mother abandoned him. His father drank heavily and beat him. Fryer sold drugs and carried a gun. Then, at age 15, after he got pulled over by the police and then let go, he decided he wanted something different."
posted by yoga on Apr 1, 2005 - 8 comments

Vintage Synth Explorer - I'm an unquestionable electronic music freak, and this site makes me drool every time I read it. You can find everything from the Roland holy trinity - the 303, 808 and 909 to the most obscure little Korg Mini Pops 35. This site is just totally sweet. Yum
posted by ookamaka on Nov 25, 2002 - 21 comments