Building the perfect live rig can be a daunting task. In this month’s field guide let's discuss how a 25-year-old workstation can add real-time control to your next live set. I have been a proponent of mobile music devices for many years. In fact, in the early '90s, I remember saving up my money to purchase the Yamaha QY10 before it came out. I spend weeks reviewing the brochure and eagerly waiting for its release. It was truly a revolutionary device, allowing users to co

The Korg NTS-1 is a powerful synth and effects processor that is extremely easy to assemble and can fit in your pocket. It features a ribbon controller and an audio input similar to Korg's Monotron series, but that is where the similarities end. The NTS-1 is an all-digital synth designed around Korg's logue-SDK, allowing you to create custom oscillators and effects or load ones currently available for the minilogue xd and prologue. But the modern features don't end there.

Dave Schmidt, aka Sula Bassana first entered the stage in 1986, as keyboard player of the electronic duo Solaris. Since then, he has played in numerous bands, played on many recording projects, and travelled around the world performing. Today, he also runs his own record label and releases solo albums. On Nostalgia his latest album, you can hear many instruments from his extensive collection of vintage gear. Besides drums, guitars, and basses, Dave has a huge collection of

Andrew Ostler of the modular synth company, Expert Sleepers, released Rolling Like a Bullet on June 15th of this year. It is a beautiful combination of tape loops and modular synthesizer that just ebbs and flows so perfectly along that you are just lost in the experience. Although this was his first foray into analog tape loops, Andrew has been involved in live-looping performances for quite some time. This project was born out of his desire to "fill the gap" in his experie

Semiotic Displacements by Latome2 is an interesting experiment with ambient soundscapes and cinematic passages. The opening track DisPLaceMEnt, starts off with a jazz-oriented chord progression and washes of noise in the background that fade in and abruptly stops over and over again. It is very unsettling with its odd timing and intermittent bursts of sound. It is very dense, as layer after layer is added as the track plays, creating a lot of interesting textures that keep