A break from Jandek: NIN SACD ARP bits
Just wanted to post a couple of things:
Nine Inch Nails' DOWNWARD SPIRAL album has been released in surround sound. The Super Audio 2-disc "Deluxe Edition" has the album in regular CD stereo, and in high resolution stereo as well as the 5.1 surround mix, then 70+ minutes of demos, non-album tracks, remixes, etc. In CD and hi-res stereo. A nice package. There's also a DVD-Audio version of the album for about half the price that uses the weird new "Dualdisc". CD on one side, flip it over and it's a DVD with videos for three songs, an image gallery of graphics for the album and a NIN discography with audio and video clips (can't wait until CLOSURE comes out on DVD next year!) The video stuff is exclusive to the DVD-A, the second disc of extra music is exclusive to the Deluxe Edition SACD. The surround mix is by Trent and doesn't spoil the spirit of the original album. It stretches the album sonically, but all the stuff you remember hearing is not hidden. Here's hoping all future NIN albums are mixed in surround. One last thought about this: This album was recorded digitally 10 years ago, and now it's available in a format sonically superior (theoretically) to the digital recording technology available at the time. What kind of resolution was this album recorded in, and what, if anything, was done to improve it sonically? Sorry, my head hurts thinking about it.
For those who know anything about making music with computers, you've probably heard about virtual instruments. Lately a lot of programs like Reason, Gigasampler and "plug-ins" for recording programs like ProTools and Performer create synthesizers right on your desktop that can be played from MIDI keyboards connected to your computer. Most recently, the virtual instruments that have been catching my eye and making the respective brows go up and down are ridiculously authentic recreations of the original Moog Modular synth, the Minimoog, and the Yamaha CS-80. Now the piece de resistance has been announced:
The ARP 2600 synthesizer was always my favorite analog synthesizer from the seventies. A self contained gargantuan with lots of sliders and switches, it resembed a modular synth in such a way that every control had a jack underneath it that allowed you to plug a cable into it and interrupt the pre-patched signal flow to change the sound any way your imagination drove it. This was extremely useful when altering external audio signals. Now Arturia, the company that makes the other virtual instruments mentioned earlier, has announced that they will be shipping the 2600 in virtual form soon. The Pavlovian bell has rung. I've been wanting a 2600 for decades, and now it's within reach. We'll see what happens. Pardon me while I get the lobster bib.
Nine Inch Nails' DOWNWARD SPIRAL album has been released in surround sound. The Super Audio 2-disc "Deluxe Edition" has the album in regular CD stereo, and in high resolution stereo as well as the 5.1 surround mix, then 70+ minutes of demos, non-album tracks, remixes, etc. In CD and hi-res stereo. A nice package. There's also a DVD-Audio version of the album for about half the price that uses the weird new "Dualdisc". CD on one side, flip it over and it's a DVD with videos for three songs, an image gallery of graphics for the album and a NIN discography with audio and video clips (can't wait until CLOSURE comes out on DVD next year!) The video stuff is exclusive to the DVD-A, the second disc of extra music is exclusive to the Deluxe Edition SACD. The surround mix is by Trent and doesn't spoil the spirit of the original album. It stretches the album sonically, but all the stuff you remember hearing is not hidden. Here's hoping all future NIN albums are mixed in surround. One last thought about this: This album was recorded digitally 10 years ago, and now it's available in a format sonically superior (theoretically) to the digital recording technology available at the time. What kind of resolution was this album recorded in, and what, if anything, was done to improve it sonically? Sorry, my head hurts thinking about it.
For those who know anything about making music with computers, you've probably heard about virtual instruments. Lately a lot of programs like Reason, Gigasampler and "plug-ins" for recording programs like ProTools and Performer create synthesizers right on your desktop that can be played from MIDI keyboards connected to your computer. Most recently, the virtual instruments that have been catching my eye and making the respective brows go up and down are ridiculously authentic recreations of the original Moog Modular synth, the Minimoog, and the Yamaha CS-80. Now the piece de resistance has been announced:
The ARP 2600 synthesizer was always my favorite analog synthesizer from the seventies. A self contained gargantuan with lots of sliders and switches, it resembed a modular synth in such a way that every control had a jack underneath it that allowed you to plug a cable into it and interrupt the pre-patched signal flow to change the sound any way your imagination drove it. This was extremely useful when altering external audio signals. Now Arturia, the company that makes the other virtual instruments mentioned earlier, has announced that they will be shipping the 2600 in virtual form soon. The Pavlovian bell has rung. I've been wanting a 2600 for decades, and now it's within reach. We'll see what happens. Pardon me while I get the lobster bib.
posted by Bill @ 10:37 AM
2 Comments:
At 12:26 AM,
Anonymous said…
What up Bill Camar a! I just finished up a ten hour work day and decided to kick back and do some surfing. So I grabbed myself a drink and stumbled across your blog while doing some research on guitar girl for a upcoming project I am doing. Well even though A break from Jandek: NIN SACD ARP bits isn’t what I was looking for I really enjoyed reading your blog. Your doing a great job and please keep up the good work. Lots of people do not keep their blogs up to date :0) There are some very interesting view points stated here. Anyways I am going to grab the bull by the horns and continue to plug away at guitar girl. I have already bookmarked your blog. You many want to visit me at guitar girl. You never know you might see something you like! Again great job.
At 5:52 PM,
Anonymous said…
All I can say is WOW Bill. The other half and I just got back from our friends house (well her friends house) and I needed a huge break. I am working on a project right now that is based on easy guitar song. I have literally been on-line for 2-3 hours doing research. Even though A break from Jandek: NIN SACD ARP bits really isn’t on the same page as easy guitar song I am certainly glad I came across your blog. There are a ton of great view points on this blog. Well I think I can here the kids screaming in the background. I put you in my internet favorites and I will certainly come back and visit. If you want to take a peek at my site you can find me here at easy guitar song. I update my site very frequently. Again, great job blogging and I will be back again soon!
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