Myspace loses its music. Massive X is finally here. Amsterdam has a new inclusive booking agency. Doepfer drops four new modules.
RIP Myspace music. Early this week, reports shot across the web that Myspace — once the internet’s hub for musicians — lost 12 years of music, or some 50 million songs by 14 million artists. The songs were lost “accidentally,” Myspace said, “as a result of a server migration project…We apologize for the inconvenience.” Any photos and videos stored on the website before 2015 were also lost. Launched in 2003, Myspace was the largest social network in the world until the rise of Facebook. It was acquired in 2003, then again in 2011 by Justin Timberlake, and once again by Time Inc. in 2016. There is an argument going around it was a deliberate mistake..more here.
Berlin’s new radio. Berlin is getting a new internet radio station on April 1st with the launch of CCTV Radio. Founded by Simon Kaiser of TRADE Berlin, the “open-minded” station said it will feature livestreams on Facebook and YouTube, “broadcasting Berlin’s (and beyond) diverse musical landscape online,” while radio hosts will also give “regular workshops in the community space.” Workshops will range from production and DJ classes to merchandise screen printing techniques to musician visa how-tos. For more info, head to the CCTV Radio Facebook page.
Massive X. Native Instruments have dropped details of Massive X, the long-awaited follow-up to 2007’s Massive. NI said the synth update will be available this June, and feature a “radically overhauled interface,” with 125 new wavetables within a pair of oscillators, a pair of phase modulation oscillators, three Insert FX slots, and a new comb filter. But there’s tons more. The NI blog has everything you need to know.
New York’s new club. NYC is getting a new techno club with BASEMENT, opening this May. Described by the owners as an “industrial catacomb… making it ideal for techno,” BASEMENT sits underneath the main hall of Queens’ Knockdown Center inside a network of brick tunnels that were once used to heat the building, which was originally constructed in 1903 as a glass factory. Bookings will come from all corners of techno, including Rebeka, DVS1, Vatican Shadow, Volvox, Aurora Halal, Etapp Kyle, Fiedel, FJAAK, Function, Shlomo, and more. For full details, visit BASEMENT on the web.
Dam’s new booking agency. Amsterdam is getting a new inclusive booking agency, which aims to empower “new and independent artists to ignite the fire.” Called Delia, in a nod to Delia Derbyshire — an electronic music pioneer of the 1960s — the agency will represent artists globally who make and play “weird and wonderful electronic music,” while curating a roster that “promotes inclusivity and represents some gems of the truly talented underground acts on the scene,” founder Sharri Morris said. Early signees include NTS host Kristina, Glasgow’s Ribeka and Berlin-based Katiusha, as well as a Balamii Radio regulars Claire Voyant and Elle Andrews and others. Find out more about Delia here.
Doepfer’s quintet. Germany’s Doepfer has introduced four new polyphonic modules for the Eurorack — the A-111-4 Quad VCO, A-105-4 Quad Poly SSI VCF, A-132-8 Octal Poly VCA, A-141-4 Quad Poly VCADSR, and A-190-5 Polyphonic USB/Midi to CV/Gate Interface. The A-111-4 features four precision VCOs with output mixers and a master control unit; triangle, sawtooth and rectangle waveforms, and 10 octave frequency range. The A-105-4 follows subtractive synthesis sequence, and has four identical 24dB lowpass filters, as well as inputs and outputs for frequency, frequency resonance, audio level, control voltage frequency modulation, and several others. The A-132-8 is an octal Voltage Controlled Amplifier, aimed primarily for polyphonic applications. It features four pairs of daisy-chained VCAs — one for each voice, including a a linear control scale pair, and, an exponential control scale pair. It also features two Default Gain controls, and a CV inputs range of +10V. The A-141-4 is a quad voltage-controlled envelope generator. Like the A-132-8, it’s also aimed at polyphonic applications, featuring four ADSR-type voltage-controlled envelope generators with exponential curve shapes. And finally, the A-190-5 is able to address up to 4 analog voices, has Unisono, 2-voice, and 4-voice operating modes; MIDI input / output and a USB port. That’s hardly all, however. Visit Dopefer on the web for more info.
Pedal Crush. For anyone who’s ever wanted to explore the world of pedals, but thought they were only for guitar players, author and tech expert Kim Bjørn has a new book he says will set things straight. Pedal Crush: Stompbox Effects For Creative Music Making promises detailed instructions on topics like dynamics, gain, modulation, time delay and more, and also features interviews with key players. “DJs, and keyboard players to even harpists, horn players and the like can greatly benefit from exploring stompboxes to enhance their musical expression,” Bjørn says. If you’d like to read, head here to watch a video about the book with Bjorn, and be notified when the book’s Kickstarter begins.