The next time you have an extra 6k lying around you might want to pick up one of these Moog guitars. It is pretty amazing, and Lou certainly seems sold on it. The guitar has unique sustain and muting features which allow you to create some really amazing soundscapes. What sets the Moog guitar apart from other guitars? I’ll let their marketing team explain-

-The first and most basic difference is that the Moog Guitar is able to MUTE the strings, actually physically stopping the strings’ vibration.

-The Moog Guitar in the FULL SUSTAIN mode is more powerful and responsive than anything on the market. The Moog Guitar also has governors on every string that prevent excessive buzzing. It is a very strong and even sustain on every string, on every fret. The Moog Guitar can sustain full six-note chords easily.

-When in any mode (Full Sustain, Controlled Sustain, or Mute) you do not have to sacrifice one of the pick-ups for the functionality of the innovations. This means there’s always sound coming from both pick-ups. The ability to pan mute and sustain control between pick-ups (with the included foot pedal) is the source of Harmonic Blending.

-You’re always in control of the Moog Guitar. When Controlled Sustain is engaged, you pick and choose what strings are being given energy (by playing them!), without having to mute the other strings with your hands. There is no spill-over of energy to unwanted strings.

Moog Guitar- Official website

Sure it looks cool, and it costs like $1200…but what can YOU do with it! It appears the wise Yamaha people marketing the Tenori-on instrument have dropped a few of them on some of the music communities experimental pioneers, and videotaped the results. Here are a few videos featuring some of the results. It will be interesting to see what happens as people start hooking this up to external sound sources and such as demonstrated in the video over at CDM.

Jim O’Rourke-

Fourtet-

John Herndon (Tortoise)-

More videos and info about the Tenori-on- Official Site

Times are changing. Definitely. Celemony is a company started in 1997 by Peter Neubäcker together with his wife, Prof. Dr. Hildegard Sourgens, and software developer and Technical Director, Carsten Gehle, which is based in Munich. They created a program that can analyze audio and edit the individual notes, and also transcribe the notes into music notation and MIDI. While this is not new since several notation programs can this, they have recently found a way to analyze an audio chord and transcribe the individual notes within the chord. Those same notes can be edited within the chord to change the harmony of it.

This is a pretty cool rig that visually demonstrates how a drum machine works. The placement of the bearings controls the drum samples of the Roland TR-808, and there is a small CRT underneath which displays current time and state of the beat. This great project and many others were created by Peter Bennet. You can check out his other projects on his website.

With clients like Mike Patton on your list you must be doing something pretty interesting in the realm of experimental music gear, and Adachi Tomomi certainly is. Tomomi creates a range of synthesizers and theremins and other wonderful boxes housed in plastic tupperware containers which actually give them a pretty cool appearance. I particularly like the description for the Tomomin so I’ll post that for you to enjoy.

Tomomin is most famous instrument ADACHI have made because ADACHI had manufactured and sold it for many musicians. Mike Patton, Omoide-hatoba and some other musicians have used it. Tomomin is simple monophonic oscillator has strong sound. It is possible to cover all hearable range by 1 knob operation. Of course the name of the instrument refers the historical great electronic instruments “Theremin”. Now, ADACHI stops making it, maybe it will start again.

Tomomin Synthesizer II
Demonstration of self-made sound generator with 2 of C-MOS IC 40106. With external wires for touch. Originally it is stereo sound.

Adachi Tomomi- Instrument Page
Adachi Tomomi- More Great Videos

So a buddy of mine had sent me a link to the Korg Kaossinator recently, and I started poking around for links to Kaos pad guitar mods…Let me tell you there are some really bad videos on Youtube, just because you CAN do it, doesn’t always mean you should…and just adding a new effect toy to your guitar will not turn you into Jimi Hendrix. Finally I stumbled upon this video from Shortscalegeardemos which is pretty good. He takes a while to get some good noise out of it, but proves that with some weed and this set up, you could probably waste at least one evening driving your neighbors fucking insane. The video description almost scared me off without listening to it…
“I rawk the hell out, showing you how to be awesome with A kaoss pad mini.”

Yow! Check out this damn cool Tesla coil guitar amp! The distortion is a bit choppy, it has a nice…electric sound to it, and just imagine this on stage as the ultimate mad scientist light show…Suck on that, shitty 80’s hair metal ballad band, Scopeboy rules you.

The great thing about a small company like Metasonix is they have complete creative control over their products. If you’re tired of that bland Marshal or Fender amp check out the new Fucking Fucker (named after an evil cartoon villain). The amp features some silly artwork, and some badass tubes, all of which you can learn more about on the product page which features some nicely written informative copy (”No, you moron, it’s not available in combo form. Head only. Speakers are available from other suppliers”). While you are over at Metasonix check out the Scrotum Smasher effects box. I still want one of those dammit.

BONUS! Here is a demo audio of the Scrotum Smasher and how it can smash a drum machine-

Take your band online with this virtual 909. You know what the 909 is, and chances are you can’t find or afford one so here is an opportunity for you to relive that built up desire to create some great dance retro beats on one of the most notorious drum machines.

FL909 attempts to simulate the original sound of the Roland TR-909. This drumcomputer hits the market 1984 and was a long time the state of art in house and techno productions. Shift-Click the Step-buttons for accent triggers. more info…

So my pal Aric was disappointed to report that the mini midi drum kit we reported on here had been removed from Youtube, and indeed I can’t find any info on it anywhere. When I was searching around I did discover this little gem of a video. This guy has a pretty fun little Dwarf Metal drum kit going and he rocks it out a full velocity!