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Love.
I am not entirely happy in this overly digital time. Don't get me wrong. While I do love plugins and how much easier they make production for me. I love being able to stroll around the net and find Just The Right Plug, download the demo, buy it and having it installed and running within minutes. The more I think about it, the more ecstatic I become. It's just so damn awesome. Just to celebrate this fact, I'll go buy a new plugin right now.

But for the rest - well, yeah. Sure. I do like being able to download my favorite artists knowing they get more of my money now than before - and sure, there is a wealth of new music that I've never heard before and an even larger amount of brilliant music will never reach my ears. And sure - I'm not lying sleepless in the night agonized by the financial troubles that certain record companies are now facing seriously bad times. They should have been gone a long time ago and while I'm not Paul the Octopus, there is a real possibility the world is going to be better without them.

 
 
The Mess(tm)
Rebooting...
Never apologize. It's a sign of weakness.
-John Wayne

First of all. Sorry. I'm damn sorry. I've really been missing posting at regular intervals, but sometimes big stuff is coming your way and sometimes it's bigger than that. Two times bigger, to be exact. Move house & getting married. In other words, it's been totally insane.

At times like this, you don't prioritize. You simply shut off entire parts of your life just to be able to get along. The Band? Forget it. Concerts? No way. Even the latest news about the music tech world becomes totally irrelevant. But sooner or later pace is slowing down and you'll find yourself trying to get back in the saddle again.
 
 
Welcome to the Sampledome
Hardcore: sample CDs in audio
Instead of my usual rantings, I thought I would use this months column to discuss something we never seem to get enough of: samples. Although Plughugger isn't a dedicated place for reviews of new sample packs, samples is what gets reviewed a lot and the reason for this is simple: no matter how many gigabytes I got, I still want more. The confessions of an addict.

But managing any large amount of libraries causes brain-melt for most. Remembering where your favorite sounds are isn't always that easy - and if you like me got an insane amount of samples - getting lost is simple.
 
The Big Fat Fail 02/21/2010
 
Two Pokemons
Spot the boring Pokemon.
We've all been there. You or somebody you know, are are about to play a new track, and then the Spell of Protection must be uttered: "it's not finished", "it's just an idea", "obviously the production is rubbish", "it's an old version" etc and so on forever whatever.

Damn me if I haven't been doing my best for not making up stupid excuses that I'm not a Michael Jackson or a Quincy Jones or a Mick Jagger on stage. Nowadays, I can pretty much shut up while I let the listener take it all in. But it takes some focus to do that. And if I'm not paying attention - "it's not mixed yet" and the BASSISMUDDYANDTHEREISTOOMUCHGOINGONAND jumps out of my mouth.

 
 
Dell vs Macbook
Dell, I don't love you anymore
Like many other people I know I always get that irresistible urge each new year to make a few fundamental changes in my life. Sometimes it feels like I'm cheating, as the decisions I make usually have been boiling in my head for some time. Consciously or unconsciously. This year started off by me saying goodbye to PCs and Microsoft Windows.

 
The genre hell 12/18/2009
 
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Santa is not pleased.
Many wise producers have said that if you cannot put a label on the stuff you make, you won't be able to market it properly, which in the end probably means that you will have problem selling it.

While my 2007 project Deepjack didn't attract any interest from anyone except other artists, it did result in me getting a copy of Native Instruments Komplete as the best reader demo in Future Music. While this was an unexpected and wonderful surprise, the last phrase in the motivation perfectly pinpointed the problem of that particular project.

“Easily our favourite Electro Pop New Wave Art House Disco track of the month.”

So until Beatport to open up its EPNWAHD-genre and I finally can start rejecting Madonna to please please remix her, I would assume using more defined styles in music is a good thing, right? Stamp it minimal techno and you know what it is. Yeah. Sure.

From the perspective of a consumer I cannot help getting tired.

 
 
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Guru meditation.
A few weeks ago the core of my home studio went bipolar. Without going into too many details - during the last five years my studio has been build around a Virus TI, mainly because of its nifty plugin integration and built-in sound card.

The Virus and I already hooked up with the B-model and when the C-model came out I was one of the first to order a huge Darth Vader-esque keyboard version. When the TI series landed I didn't give it much thought and as I was moving to a new country the Virus Polar was the perfect solution - and not just that: it looked seriously good.

So right now, while my old companion now lives tucked away under a table in its own world of personal guru meditation, I've been wrestling with the questions: why Virus.

My personal relationship with the Virus is double in the extreme.

I am by no means a pop icon, nor an artist with any kind of fame. But I've sold my share of records and I've earned a few bucks as well, and while I don't know on how many productions I've used the Viruses - I know it's a lot.
The Virus is an extremely versatile synthesizer. Just by looking at its specifications it's quite clear that the Virus is a synth programmers wet dream come true.

No, wait. Stop it, right there.
This, is exactly the problem.