New music gadgets!

I’ve been designing a laptop based “live” music rig for quite some time now and it’s finally starting to come together. In the process I’ve picked up some new toys for this effort and I pretty much have everything I need at this point.

I needed a controller, preferably with 76 keys as I like to stretch out from time to time and it would also allow for the possibility to play other styles of music outside of my usual electronic and ambient work that I do, should the need arise.

After some research I decided to pick up a CME UF70.

It really seems to do the job. It has a great action and all the features I really need. The manual is horribly written but it gives me enough to figure things out on my own. Honestly though, I can’t imagine that someone new to keyboard controllers wouldn’t get frustrated with the documentation that comes with this instrument. Also, I should note that I’ve heard some bad things about the USB drivers. I don’t plan on connecting it via USB so that really isn’t an issue for me. As I spend more time with it I’ll post more about my experiences.

And the other cool little toy I decided to purchase was BleepLabs Thingamagoop. At it’s core it’s pretty much just a noise maker. It’s essentially a very basic analog style synth with some interesting controls, including a photosensor and some knobs and switches that allow it to emit some truly unique and mostly unpredictable sonic strangeness. With all this wrapped up in a silly (but oddly appropriate) package, I just had to have one. You can read more about them at http://bleeplabs.com/thingamagoop/.