#Transistor Sound Studio

[thejoyofviolentmovement]

New Audio: Monophonics' Kelly Finnigan Shares a Crafted Soul Ballad

New Audio: Monophonics' Kelly Finnigan Shares a Crafted Soul Ballad @monophonicsfunk @misterfinnigan @ColemineRecords @pavementpr

Kelly Finnigan is an acclaimed singer/songwriter, keyboardist, producer and owner of  San Rafael, CA-based Transistor Sound Studio. While Finnigan is perhaps best known as the frontman of the equally acclaimed West Coast-based soul outfit and JOVM mainstays Monophonics, he is also a highly-regarded solo artist, who has released two albums — 2019’s full-length debut The Tales People Tell and…

[fuzzkaizer]

Systech - overdrive

"Have you ever played a pedal that stuck with you forever, even though you knew in your heart it was totally weird, and nobody famous ever used it? For me, yeah, tons of them. But if I had to pick one that best fit these criteria, this one would be it. This is the Systech Overdrive. Before we dive in, let’s talk a little about where it was made.

There was a time when, of all places, Kalamazoo Michigan was an epicenter for musically related things. Apart from being a city referenced by Looney Tunes and the hometown of Glen Miller’s gal, Kalamazoo had the Sound Factory, which was a collective of sorts that featured guitar luthiery, a recording studio and electronic gear manufacturing. The facility sat front and center on Kalamazoo Avenue, smack dab in the middle of the city, and attracted visitors from all over.

Of course, if it was some random outpost of nobodies, the name wouldn’t carry any weight. However, the Sound Factory was shored up by three relatively heavy hitters of the early ‘70s. One such was Greg Hochman, Keith Emerson’s Moog technician. He was joined by Bryce Roberson, otherwise known as Uncle Dirty of Chess Records fame and a relatively unknown person named Charlie Wicks. If you’ve been reading this column for a while, you’ll recognize him as the man behind ProCo—the Ratfather.

Together, these three developed Systech, which itself was short for “Systems & Technology in Music, Inc.” That mouthful of a company was responsible for the Harmonic Energizer, a little-known yet highly influential effect that provided a deep filtered sound in addition to some crunchy drive and sharp resonant peaks. You might know it as one of Frank Zappa’s signature pieces. And while this Overdrive effect wasn’t that, it was derived from the Harmonic Energizer and shares a handful of characteristics.

Basically, if dialed in just the right way, the Harmonic Energizer will make short work of an entire speaker cabinet and anyone in the audience. This is because it was designed to provide a staggering gain of 55dB, enough to cause serious damage to your gear or hearing. The Overdrive was created to get some of those tones at non speaker-shredding levels.

If you’re thinking this unit is some kind of proto-Tube Screamer, think again. Because this was the early ‘70s, nobody had really decided exactly what “overdrive” meant. And though Maestro (coincidentally, also in Kalamazoo) had created one of almost every effect under the sun, pedal fever wasn’t quite here just yet, so Systech was essentially “winging it.” With that said, the Overdrive is actually a pretty aggressive fuzz sound. And to that end, the fuzz circuit is pretty unique. The entire affair contains two transistors—one a JFET input buffer—and one dual op-amp with a handful of other components. Even the topology is relatively simple, but the simplicity ends with the schematic.

The EQ control works unlike pretty much any EQ control you’ve ever fiddled with; as much an EQ as the whole unit is an overdrive. Instead of a simple tonal adjustment, the EQ control is actually an active bandpass filter, in the same family as a wah circuit. With a simple twist of a knob, you can adjust this filter from 122Hz to 900Hz. As you might imagine, the EQ control sounds relatively cocked-wah-esque, but the sound is much more aggressive than any wah on the market before or since. The reason has to do with the Q factor, essentially a bandwidth control. A wah’s Q is set by its 33K resistor and is much wider than that of the Overdrive, so the tone is a little more rounded. While a wah’s filter is a rubber mallet, the Systech Overdrive’s is a tack hammer. While the sound is curious, the thing really comes to life when you crank the EQ control, as it gives you a nice punch in the mids. You lose a little definition when you get to the bottom third, but man is it fun to play with.

“Distortion” is just what it sounds like, but curiously enough, “Gain” is about as close to a volume knob as you’re going to get. Much like Distortion, if you turn it all the way down it kills the entire signal, but it sits behind a final gain stage. If you have the guts to crank both Distortion and Gain, you’re richly rewarded with gobs of gooey sustain, but the flipside is that your amp is likely screaming “uncle.” Worth it? Your call. I say go for it.

Many people say Zappa used a Systech Overdrive, but alas, he did not. However, when you play it, you can definitely see the similarities between this unit and the fabled Harmonic Energizer. But as far as I’m concerned, it’s close enough for rock and roll."

cred: catalinbread.com/blogs/kulas-cabinet/systech-overdrive

[audio-luddite]

And then there is the other side.

My previous post mentioned Doug Sax a few times. He is one of the old dead masters. If you search for stuff you will find lists and interviews and very much stuff. One thing that will come up is his absolute preference for vacuum tube electronics. His brother was an engineer and built all the gear for his mastering studio and it was all tube based.

His tape machines, and his mixers and his lathe cutting head amplifiers all tube. Even his digital stuff had tubes apparently and his brother even built the A/D and D/A converters they used for their CD work. (Like KODO).

In one interview I found he stated that all transistor stuff is not very good. Hey that is his preference. He slags the quality of the hearing of anyone who preferred solid state. Not polite there. NO doubt which side of the line he was on. Of course this was in the 60s so yes the Vacuum was at it's apogee while people were still figuring out solid state.

He was a musician, a trumpeter, and played in orchestras. His search for sound quality was based on professionally calibrated ears. His mastering work was first rate (but there is more).

One list I found was all the major albums he mastered. It is an impressive list. One album on that list is Carly Simon's "No secrets". I have that one and think it is not great. Great cover photo though.

It is a classic and was her big hit album. To be fair I will pull it out and play it again. My impression so far was it was massively over compressed and did not sound that good. I do not play it much for that reason. There are good and bad pressings in LP manufacturing, and knowing Doug Sax was involved makes me wonder. But is it compression or a bad pressing? Every other LP I have mastered by DS is very good indeed. I suppose the album could have been made somewhere else and someone else remastered it I will see if I can find out.

Another thing is I bought and listened to this album when the ARC amp was in the line. Will it sound better with the Franken-Amp? That would be ironic.

[doctorbrown]

DOCTOBER '23 ⸺ 「 5 / 31 * ALARM CLOCK 」

November 7, 1955

01:23

Emmett didn't have the heart to wake the boy when he finally passed out, face-down on his living room couch and still fully clothed, shoes and all. He was only gone about twenty minutes—twenty-two, to be precise, according to the small collection of clocks hanging on the wall—to make up one of the unused and neglected guest rooms. He had more space than he knew what to do with, and the kid very well couldn't be sleeping on the couch for an entire week while he was temporarily displaced in this time due to the actions of his future self.

How could I have been so reckless as to send a kid through time alone?

So he left him there, hovering awkwardly over the boy for a moment before finally fetching a spare blanket from the closet and draping it over the exhausted time-traveller.

Marty's small collection of future gadgets were still on the chair where he left them, and it took all of Emmett's willpower not to start examining the strange items in greater detail, from the portable television studio to the device that looked like an odd transistor radio. You'll find out in time, he mentally chides himself, but the kid is still asleep and his curiosity is a powerful thing, so the next thing he knows, the radio is in his hands, much lighter than he imagined it would be.

He takes it with him into the kitchen, where he's set up multiple papers to begin his plans to modify the time machine. Normally, he would retreat to the garage to work on his project, as the environment there was far more conducive to the creative process, but he had reservations about leaving Marty alone in the house; what if the kid woke up, panicked, thinking this was all some horrible nightmare?

With so little time and the kid's very existence on the line, he sets to work, leaving the miniature radio on the table, which was now popped open, where a strange thin film canister labelled Van Halen, whatever that was, rested inside.

08:37

When he goes to check up on Marty again, a few hours later, the only difference between then and now was the position Marty was in on the couch and how tangled up in the blanket he had gotten himself. He looked just as sound asleep as he did when he first knocked out, and Emmett chuckles to himself—when was the last time he slept? He had serious doubts the kid would be awake any time before noon. Copernicus trots over, tail wagging, eager to check on their new houseguest.

❝Copernicus!❞ Emmett whispers as he puts his front paws on the couch, ❝Leave Marty be! He's had a hell of a day; let him sleep in unbothered. You can say hello when he wakes up.❞

Copernicus looks back between his master and his new friend, as if weighing out the amount of trouble he would get in for disobeying. Marty is new, exciting, and friendly, but—

❝Come on, boy! Let's get a start on breakfast.❞

Emmett sets the coffeepot on the stove with enough for two—does Marty drink coffee?—and fetches Copernicus' food bowl from the floor, yawning into the sleeve of his robe. This was not his first all-nighter and, if the existence of the time vehicle is anything to go off of, it will not be his last, either. He still has no real understanding of how the machine works beyond knowing that it does, and even if it will save him what will likely be years of struggle—thirty years, if he is to believe Marty's departure date is the very first test of the machine—he can't allow himself to break established history by obtaining future knowledge.

He sighs as the smell of coffee permeates the kitchen and promptly fills Copernicus' bowl with his favourite dry food.

Before he can set the bowl back down, a shout and the sound of something heavy hitting the floor causes Emmett to jump, sending dry kibble flying across the kitchen. He drops the bowl on the ground and hurries over to find Marty no longer on the couch, but on the floor, hair askew and wide-eyed and still hopelessly tangled in the blanket.

Copernicus is sitting on Marty's chest, tail wagging, and Emmett's eyes go wide.

❝H-Hey Doc. Copernicus kinda—❞

❝Copernicus!❞ Emmett chides, crossing the length of the room to pick up the dog and set him down on the floor. ❝What did I say about letting Marty sleep?❞

❝It's fine, Doc, really, I just wasn't expecting him to start licking my face, that's all.❞

Emmett kneels down as Marty starts to struggle against the blanket, brows furrowed as if to ask, may I? Marty nods, and he works on extricating the boy from his fabric prison. ❝Nonsense; you were exhausted, you need to sleep. I might have tried to wake you up when breakfast was finished, but that wasn't going to be for some time.❞

[torley]

Analogue Ordnance is a massive construction kit for science fiction weapon sounds, made entirely with hardware synthesizers, mastered entirely in the analogue domain, and with more variations per sound than any library of its kind. Absolutely no software plug-ins of any kind were used in its creation, except for its collection of ready-to-use designed sounds to show what can be done with the library’s constituent parts. Masterminded by sound designer Nathan Moody, this library’s unique sonic language delivers about five hours of material, pushed hard through op amps, transistors, tubes, and transformers. Boutique and unique, customized synthesizer modules were used in conjunction with mastering-grade studio hardware to create sounds that range from retro and cute to modern and devastating. Sounds are organized into mechanical, thump, body, tail, and charge-up groups for truly modular weapon construction. Each group has six to eight “banks” of related sounds, many with intensity (light, heavy) and duration (short, medium, and long) options. Nearly all sounds include 16 variations. In addition to the construction kit elements, some fully-designed weapon sounds are provided (using only the sounds from the construction kit), designed by Nathan Moody, Chase Steele, Axel Steichen, and Sergio Ronchetti.  But the flexibility doesn’t stop there. Reversing the sounds suddenly turns charge-ups into body elements, and vice versa. Each group has some frequency overlap with the others, so they can be mixed interchangeably outside of their labeled or intended uses with filtering and time/pitch manipulation. While the sounds are designed to be layered with themselves, this library plays very well with others, providing thousands of sweeteners to “tech up” any near-future gun or projectile-based firearm, magical attacks, superhuman abilities, or even user interface elements. Add some hardware to your warfare. From concealable stun pistols to orbital artillery, Analogue Ordnance provides a fresh injection of new source material for your sci-fi weapon designs.

[33bowls]

MQA DIY

This is about MQA DIY for all of you cultural creatives.

Posting here, as 33 has not participated much in online audio forums since the early ‘00s, as the atmosphere, even before the advent of MQA haters, trolls, and sock puppets, was a toxic stew of mis-information, to put it lightly. They are just the latest incarnation of that.

First off, except for observational knowledge or entertainment value, it is assumed that any DIY endeavors are predicated with a certain level of tech smarts, starting with which end of the soldering iron to grab.

https://a.aliexpress.com/_oCAjAXR

This USB card “only” does MQA unfolding, with appropriate green and blue LED indicators to authenticate, as in verify and indicate MQA and MQA Studio data streams. Unlike Golden Showers “this is not a review” Oatmeal, 33 does not have a terabyte of pirated files, so was not able to verify unfolding beyond the first, but with 33’s own master files, have verified first unfold does indeed unfold. Do you believe in radical honesty and transparency on a first data?

Two other important features of this USB card: it also reclocks the bits at the output, for minimal correlated jitter, and has the option of internal cleaner 5volt power independent of the USB buss.

The vast majority of MQA music files only need first unfold, as the masters of them were likely 88.2 kHz or 96 kHz, in part since the plethora of A/D equipment supports those sample rates, and, thanks to the grift that keeps on giving from Gates, Allen, and Ballmer, windows does not support driverless USB faster than that data rate. Wideband plug and play is mac territory, that windoze has yet to catch up with.

As to where to send these lovely bits, an obvious choice is the ESS 9039M, with internal MQA rendering. Be aware that ESS chips, being a unique H bridge output topology, are very sensitive to power supply issues. Any perturbations, including thermal tails in the power supply regulators will contaminate the audio signal. I suggest adding a PNP current boost to any regulator, which lowers output impedance and buffers the regulator from signal variations, which do not fully cancel out in the ESS chip’s balanced mode. There is still intermodulation induced by power supply variations. If you are not an OCD left brain measurement only kind of dude, I suggest that running the ESS chip in voltage out mode, and buffering that voltage signal with whatever buffer you prefer, even tubes, which will sound better than the usual monolithic opamp virtual ground current to voltage stage, but won’t measure, at lest in steady state conditions, as well. But, you know, sonics.

Other dac chip options are R2Rs from BB and AD, and even Philps. There are more than a few PCM 58, PCM63, TDA1541 still available. I mention these because, they have have a pure unipolar current output available, which lends itself to a passive I/V scheme, with a cascode buffer or just bipolar transistor holding the output close to ground, and the passive scheme of your choice. Fets, tubes, whatever you prefer. You know, sonics.

With these or other R2R chips, you can go for the ever popular NOS non oversampled mode. All other factors being equal which they rarely are, NOS tends to sound solid, but a bit flat dimensionally. If you prefer filtered, I suggest the BB DF1706 in slow rolloff 4x mode. This is a minimum phase filter with very little time dispersion, and in 4x mode, allows for first and second unfolded MQA, which results in 8fs and 16fs respectively. The BB 58 and 63 chips can handle that, the Philips 1541 should be NOS only, can only handle 4fs. Also, with these R2R dac chips, re-clocking the LE signal right at the chip with a separately regulated D flip flop, if setup/hold timing is good, will result in lower jitter and cleaner sonics.

This phenomena of flavoring to taste with different reconstruction filters on playback illustrates the importance of conjugate filters to exactly retrace the waveform that full path unfolded and rendered MQA uniquely does. The MQA unfolding done by this USB card feeding an ESS 9039M dac chip will do that. An irony is that with the advent of digital audio, one of the claims made was no more subjective futzing to adjust the playback sonics, as is done with analog, finely adjusting the VTA of different cartridges, record clamps, turntable isolation schemes, the works. Joke's on you, Mr. Digital.

What R2R playback schemes are missing is the final MQA rendering with exact conjugate filtering, but the loss is minimal to many ears, as most of the heavy lifting is already done in the MQA encoding process. You still get the de-blurred encoding with gently shaped dither that mimics the analog world in keeping information below the noise floor intact, and minimal noise modulation, along with source verification, aka authentication.

As alluded, thermal tails in either power supply regulators, or in the signal path are a bugaboo that is often overlooked. 33’s listening tests have indicated that a *LOT* of the perceptually significant sonic action is going on below -80 dB. Nuances and subtle textures do matter to the gestalt of the listening experience.

Also it should be pointed out that low cost chi-fi components such as this expose the misnomer about high licensing costs as just that, a misnomer. There is a whole world of opportunity out there besides Uncle Sam’s Playground, who do not have access to unlimited bandwidth; and recognize and enjoy the cleaner sonics that MQA provides.

Addendum:

This MQA USB card, the Nonwa, is compatible with TI//BB DF1706 filter, and NOS 28 pin plug in modules, when the mclk is set to 512 Fs, 22/24 MHz. Not all filters are happy with that, some want 256 Fs 11/12 Mhz. Now, what is cool is the mclk can be set to 1024 Fs, 44/49 MHz, and with an ESS dac chip mentioned above, you can operate the ESS in synchronous mode, without needing a 100 MHz clock. Just feed the mclk to it and enjoy even better sonics.

[charlesmwa]

Top 5 Guitar Amplifiers for Home and Studio Use in 2024

If you're a guitarist looking for the perfect amplifier for your home or studio setup, you've come to the right place. Choosing the right amplifier can make a significant difference in your sound, whether you're recording, practicing, or jamming. In this blog, we’ll explore the top 5 types of guitar amplifiers that are ideal for both home and studio use in 2024.

1. Tube Amplifiers

Tube amplifiers, also known as valve amps, are beloved by many guitarists for their warm, rich tones. They use vacuum tubes to amplify sound, giving a classic, vintage feel that's perfect for genres like blues, rock, and jazz. While tube amps can be heavier and require more maintenance, their sound quality is often worth the extra effort. They're great for studio recordings where you want a full, authentic sound.

2. Solid-State Amplifiers

Solid-state amplifiers are known for their durability and reliability. Instead of tubes, they use transistors to amplify sound, making them lighter and easier to maintain. They offer a clean, consistent tone that's ideal for home practice and recording sessions. Solid-state amps are also more affordable, making them a great choice for beginners or those on a budget.

3. Modeling Amplifiers

Modeling amplifiers are a modern choice that’s becoming increasingly popular. These amps use digital technology to replicate the sounds of various classic amplifiers. This gives you a wide range of tones in one unit, making them incredibly versatile. If you like experimenting with different sounds or need an all-in-one solution for home and studio, a modeling amp is an excellent choice.

4. Hybrid Amplifiers

Hybrid amplifiers combine the best of both worlds by using both tubes and solid-state technology. Typically, the preamp section (where the initial tone shaping happens) uses tubes, while the power amp section (which drives the speakers) is solid-state. This combination provides the warmth of tube amps with the reliability of solid-state amps. Hybrids are great for guitarists who want that classic tube sound without the maintenance hassle.

5. Portable Amplifiers

For those who need something compact and easy to move around, portable amplifiers are perfect. These small amps are designed for home use and are also great for traveling musicians. Despite their size, many portable amps offer impressive sound quality and can even be used for recording. They’re ideal if you have limited space or if you like to take your music on the go.

Conclusion

When choosing a guitar amplifier for home and studio use, it’s important to consider your needs and preferences. Whether you prefer the warm tones of a tube amp, the reliability of a solid-state amp, the versatility of a modelling amp, the blend of a hybrid amp, or the convenience of a portable amp, there’s something out there for every guitarist. Consider visiting local audio shops like VIP PRO AUDIO in Brooklyn to check out these amplifiers in person. In 2024, these five types of amplifiers are leading the way, helping musicians create great music, no matter where they are.

[rametarin]

Computers are really just the beginning, honestly.

We are fast approaching the point where it just won't be too very practical to keep reinventing the wheel every year for even better, more tightly packed transistors every year. Eventually we will get to the point of a minimum number of atoms for a minimum number of photoelectronic circuits and transistors that can fit into a cubic space.

After that, it's about whether we add a third dimension and how we arrange them on a board. But a standard will be reached that would let an individual person effectively have a supercomputer run on light (not electrons!) that can compute virtually anything you'd need in chemistry, medicine or physics.

The sort of power that previously required hundreds of millions of taxpayers to devote raw capital and resources to for institutions to handle and assign paid professionals to operate. The same sort of power that yesterday would've put the professing power of an entire news studio's hardware to shame, in the palm of your hands.

And not just accessible to the layman, but accessible to the layman on a minimum wage savings budget (we'll... ignore the current housing pricing crisis, for the moment.)

Really. Think about it. Just to make a stupid youtube video where you combine a bunch of fart sounds and audio and visuals used to require tens of thousands, maybe millions of dollars of specialized equipment, special ordered. Today, it's all yours for the cost of a few hundred hamburgers. You can literally make a video every bit as quality as anything Tim and Eric have ever made, even though you may not have anywhere near 1/100,000,000 the nepotism and cronyism involved in them getting their jobs and fame to be seen.

Once desktop computers and things like the Raspberry Pi and similar are more mainstream, you're going to see more hobbyist electronics and machine builders. The hobbyist focus will go back to making machines and tinkerer level electronics.

With that and cheap monitors of all sizes, you're going to just see so much neat shit get created in garages. Whole customized vehicles and shit.

[where-i-bitch-about-nashville]

so ive built mic pre’s with just about every Nashville related sound that is near to me, and there’s one for every decade!

50’s/early 60’s: RCA style tube pre (I really got Daven pots/attenuators, and RCA/Western Electric/Audio Dev Corp transformers — a small fortune in vintage parts to cobble together this fall!)

late 60’s: Melcor AML-27’s (sometimes sold branded RCA; Ge DOAs and MEC iron transformers)

70’s: API 2098 console pre’s as line booster cage cards (this is what Sal modded that is in operation at RCA studio B since it became the museum; Si DOAs and Jensen Ni-Steel transformers)

80’s: Valley People MP-1000 mic pres (these were made in Nashville but no close connection to me or my Nashville recording roots, but they were designed by Paul C. Buff, they’re transformerless, IC-based ‘hybrid’ op amps called the TransAmp #LZ, short for transimpedance amplifier and also

🏳️‍⚧️)… ooh i also got the 1980’s TOA RX-216 console from The Bennet House Studio when it became a BnB, it wasnt their main console, it probably mixed cue sends or was just used for its analog effects section but it has Japanese made transformers an NE5332 ICs all over it and sounds so lo-fi! It’s a fixer upper ;) maybe with ICs swapped for faster ones it will sound like a cheeseburger in paradise

90’s: if there’s a Nashville sound of the 90’s then it is probably something i dont want like a soundcraft plugged to a Digi888 interface

00’s: kinda the same as the 90’s, but all the really good sounds were the 70’s stuff in studios here anyway if they were buying/keeping/trashing gear based on what it actually sounds like and not marketing hype so… idk it’s probably an OctoPre into a Digi IO102 interface? nothing i have

2010’s: Miktek MPA-201, another made in Nashville special to me that I use for everything, it’s really a revisitation of the Neve 1073 preamp section. more 70’s stuff! (Si single class A big footprint can transistor, and AMI transformers with some awesome Ni-Steel and secret sauce alloys)

[gadgetsboy]

WWDC 2023: Apple's new Chip and Macs take Performance to Impressive new Levels

It's that time of the year again - WWDC 2023 has finally happened, and Apple wasted no time in giving Apple and tech fans a showcase of new and shiny tech. With that said, the Cupertino-based company finally revealed several new hardware, focused on giving users their computing needs - let's take a look! The MacBook Air goes Big First up is the latest iteration of the MacBook Air, which now comes in a 15-inch version. The highlight of the new laptop however is the M2 chip and 24GB of unified memory, which should be enough to power users' gaming and productivity needs. It also comes with the "standard" fanless design of the Air series. In addition to these hardware higlights, the 15-inch MacBook Air features a Liquid Retina display, alongside a new six-speaker sound system making it ideal for media and content consumption. The laptop also comes with spatial audio onboard, as well as a 1080p FaceTime camera, MagSafe Charging, and will ship with macOS Ventura. Apple says that the built-in battery will be able to last up to 18 hours of use on average. The 15-inch MacBook Air with M2 is available for pre-order today, starting at at £1,399 and £1,289 for education, and will ship out to customers on Tuesday, June 13. The M2 Ultra Makes its Entrance Apple also announced the latest chip, the M2 Ultra - this will power its more high-end computer models moving forward, including the new Mac Studio and the Mac Pro. Apple says that the M2 Ultra is built using a second-generation 5-nanometer process with Apple's UltraFusion technology to connect the die of two M2 Max chips for double the performance. The company boasts that this new chip brings improved performance for machine learning, video production, and overall power and speed. The M2 Ultra consists of 134 billion transistors, and will be able to support up to a whopping 192GB of memory capacity, in addition to 800GB/s of memory bandwidth. The M2 Ultra features a more powerful CPU that’s 20 percent faster than M1 Ultra, a larger GPU that’s up to 30 percent faster, and a Neural Engine that’s up to 40 percent faster. Apple states 24-core CPU of M2 Ultra consists of 16 high-performance cores and eight high-efficiency cores, which should prove to be more than enough for most productivity tasks. For example, the company says that DaVinci Resolve users will experience up to 50 percent faster video processing compared to Mac Studio with M1 Ultra. The GPU can also be configured with 60 or 76 next-generation cores, allowing for faster rendering of 3D effects using Octane on Mac Studio, for example. New Mac Powerhouses Revealed Apple also unveiled the new Mac Studio and Mac Pro, its two most powerful computers to date. The Mac Studio literally doubles its hardware capabilities for power users, packing the M2 Max and the new M2 Ultra chip inside. Apple says that the new Mac Studio is up to six times as powerful as competing Intel-powered Macs, and up to three times as powerful as the previous-gen Mac Studio. Beating inside is a 12-core CPU, up to a 38-core GPU, and up to 96GB of unified memory with 400GB/s of memory bandwidth. The Mac Studio is also equipped with Wifi 6E, and this hardware setup is rounded out by several connectivity ports including a four Thunderbolt 4 ports, a 10Gb Ethernet port, an enhanced HDMI port, and two USB-A ports. It also packs two USB-C ports and an SD card slot on the front to easily import photos and video. It's rather ideal for productivity thanks to six Pro Display XDRs, allowing for more screen real estate during resource-heavy editing sessions. Meanwhile, the new Mac Pro also comes with the M2 Ultra chip, in addition to PCIe expansion, up to 192GB of unified memory with 800GB/s of unified memory bandwidth, as well as a media engine that allows it to play up to 22 streams of 8K ProRes video. PCle expansion allows users to configure their workstation with digital signal processing (DSP) cards, and even serial digital interface (SDI) I/O cards for example. Apple adds that the M2 Ultra chip inside will allow the Mac Pro to run 3D simulations and video transcoding projects to up to three times faster. The Mac Pro also comes with support for up to six Pro Display XDRs, along with Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3, which come to the new Mac Pro for fast wireless connectivity. Additionally, the Mac Pro includes three USB-A ports, two higher-bandwidth HDMI ports that support up to 8K resolution and up to 240Hz frame rates, two 10Gb Ethernet ports, and a headphone jack for wired audio. The new Mac Studio and Mac Pro are available for pre-order today, and will start shipping on Tuesday, June 13. The Mac Studio starts at £2,099, and £1,889 for education., while the Mac Pro (tower enclosure) starts at £7,199 and £6,789 for education, while a version with a Rack Enclosure starts at £7,699 and £7,189 for education. Read the full article

[thejoyofviolentmovement]

Live Footage: The Sextones Perform Soulful "Without You"

Live Footage: The Sextones Perform Soulful "Without You" @TheSextones @nickrecordkicks @RecordKicks @monophonicsfunk

Reno-based soul outfit The Sextones — Mark Sexton (vocals, guitar), Christopher Sexton (piano), Alexander Korostinsky (bass), and Daniel Weiss are childhood friends, and as a result their musical chemistry is effortless and forms the foundation of the band’s longevity and creative process.  Over the years, the band’s members have also been able to channel their creativity into other acclaimed…

[glitterypirateblaze]

D750 crossover network board High frequency 2.1 channel

A crossover network is an essential component in high-quality audio systems that use multiple speaker drivers. It helps to divide the audio signal into different frequency bands, ensuring that each driver only receives frequencies that it can reliably reproduce. The crossover network operates by employing filters that permit only specific frequencies to pass through to the proper driver. A low-pass filter, for example, allows only low frequencies to pass to a woofer while a high-pass filter directs only high frequencies to a tweeter. This aids in the optimisation of each driver's performance and guarantees that the sound generated is clean, balanced, and distortion-free. A well-designed crossover network is essential for producing high-quality sound in any audio system, from high-end home theatre systems to professional recording studios.

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[audio-luddite]

All That Jazz

The best music to warm up a system for Jazz is Jazz. 3 sides of Keith Jarret LPs and now Pawnshop. It sounds more real. The Sax is clear and raspy. The drummer's sticks are wood. Oh and the crowd is quite resolved. Yes Ice in the drinks and all that cutlery rattling about. The applause sounds like hands.

I am a bit surprised at how different the Franken-Amp sounds compared to the HK Citation. I do not know if it is the design of the amp or the power difference. Yes people go on and on about the first Watt being the most important, but power translates to ease and I think clarity. The HK is first generation big transistor amp and is quasi-complementary with only 2 output transistors per side.. The Franken-Amp is second generation full complementary with series and parallel output transistor pairs on each phase that is 8 per side.

The HK needed more warmup to get in the groove, but the F-A is kicking its butt.

Right now we are on side 3 of Pawnshop. There is depth and a solid image left to right. The ARC Cl60 made a lovely warm haze over everything. The Piano is really nice. This is good.

I had the ARC in the rack for 7 or 8 months. I bought a few LPs over that time and I am hearing some for the first time.

Oh lets try that LP that Micheal Fremer liked even though it is digital on to vinyl. Lori Leiberman's "Truly". Close miking lovely vocals. The Bass Guitar has some real thump. I think most of the issues with the sound of digital versus analog happen in the studio. I have to say this recording has real presence. The performers are in my room, not just on the far side of the wall.

I have to line up my usual suspects for audition. Willie Nelson Stardust that's a good one, Oh and Emmylou Harris 1/4 Moon. Its going to be a busy evening.

[stepphase]

MacBook Pro 16 - Most powerful and best for the Brightest.

The MacBook Pro 16 for those who defy limits and change the world, a most powerful laptop Apple has ever made. The ultimate pro laptop.

Price 512GB : $2399 / £ 1,807.54 / € 2,025.94 / RS 1,76,220.10

Price 1TB: $2799 / £ 2,109.65 / € 2,363.63 / RS 2,05,602.36

The MacBook Pro with an immersive 16-inch Retina display, Incredibly fast processors, and a next-generation graphics with a largest battery capacity ever. A massive storage, and a new Magic Keyboard.

8 TB SSD storage - highest capacity in a laptop.

AMD Radeon Pro 5000M series graphics - Seamless playback and a super fast rendering.

64GB memory - smooth multitasking and a large files editor.

8 Core processor - power through intensive workloads.

16 inch Retina display - Awesome viewing experience.

6 Speaker sound systems with a studio quality mics - Super clean recording and a amazing sounds.

macbook pro

Retina Display - A beautiful and a big workspace for doing big work.

The MacBook Pro 16 inch, the largest Retina display ever in a notebook. It has 500 nits of brightness for bright whites and spectular highlights, delivering deep to precise photo alignment of liquid crystal molecules. Also has a P3 wide color gamut enables brilliant videos and image. Definitely, you will see your work in the best possible light no matter where you are.

Narrow-band-LED-powered back-light allow to represent the P3 wide color gamut for a brilliant color in videos and photos.

Oxide thin film transistor features 9 or 10 times faster pixel charging than traditional amorphous silicon TFT, also holds pixel voltage steady while in a low-frequency power savings mode, also enabling pin-sharp resolution and a longer life of battery.

Apple-patented metal layer in the TFT maximizes the transmittance of the pixels, also enhancing its color and brightness uniformity with reducing pixel cross-talk, that cause visual artifacts.

Mirror-like enhanced reflector sheet into back-light reflects over 97% or 98% incident light, that is allow MacBook Pro to 500 nits of brightness efficiently.

Processor and memory speed is amazingly a game changer.

MacBook Pro brings a new class of performance to the notebook. As well as Intel Core i9 processor that has a 8 cores and a 16 threads of processing power sustain higher performance and deliver 2.1 times fast performance of a quad-core. Also you are layering dozens of effects and tracks, rendering 3D models, testing code and compiling. So you will be doing it in no time flat.

Core i9 & Core i7

16GB DDR4

32GB DDR4

64GB DDR4

28% increased airflow and a 35% larger heat sink

Thermal architecture enable fast processing: Thermal architecture has been completely redesigned and also featuring larger impellers with improved fan blades for optimal airflow and a more heat-dispersing fins for effective cooling. It's resulting gain in cooling capacity allows deliver 12 watts more maximum sustained power.

Adobe Light-room Classic60% faster raw image import with an Smart Preview.Adobe Photoshop70% faster processing of well threaded filtersAdobe Premiere Pro55% faster 4K H.264 exportAuto-desk Maya2.1x faster arnold renderBlack-magic Fusion Studio95% faster render scene to diskFinal Cut Pro X11 simultaneous 4K multicam streamsLogic Pro X2.1x more Amp Designer plug-insMATLAB2.1x faster simulation of dynamical systemsNASA65% faster TetrUSS computational fluid dynamics performancePixelmator Pro70% faster ML-based image repairWeb-Kit Compile80% faster build time using XcodeWolfram Mathematica85% faster CPU benchmark performance

Processor speed

64GB of DDR4 memory efficient multitasking: fast 2666MHz DDR4 memory up to 64GB for fast and smooth performance whether you are loading hundreds of audio samples or editing billions of pixel images or even running multiple virtual machines.

Graphics - Bending reality with an amazing amount of power to carry around.

AMD Radeon Pro 5000M seires delivers the most graphic horsepower ever. It is a 2x faster then the previous-generation model, for faster rendering and seamless playback of ultra-high-definition video.

New: While working on graphics-intensive projects like high-end game or 3D rendering development, Also supercharge with the optional Radeon Pro 5600M. It's 40 compute units and a 8GB of High Bandwidth Memory, that runs powerhouse GPU to a new level of desktop.

Radeon Pro 5600M and 8GB HBM2Radeon Pro 5500M and 4GB GDDR6Blackmagic DaVinci Resolve Studio3.4x faster effects render90%Final Cut Pro X3.4x faster timeline render performance2.8xFortnite2.6 faster game peerformance2.0xMaxon Cinema 4D3.5x faster render with ProRender2.5xTotal War: THREE KINGDOMS3.1x faster game performance2.3xUnity Editor3.2x faster demo fly-through2.1x

Graphic speed

3.5x faster than a Radeon Pro 560x

394GB/s memory bandwidth

8GB HBM2 memory

40 compute units

Keyboard

The new magic keyboard features refined scissor mechanism with 1 mm travel for a responsive, quiet and a comfortable typing experience. And it's Touch Bar has apowerful shortcuts in front and center. Also Touch ID provides fast authentication. It's Escape key will allows quick switching between views and modes. And its inverted-T arrow keys enable fluid navigation, even if you are navigating spreadsheets, or flying through lines of code or gaming.

1) Touch Bar on Top-Left side: Saving time and keystrokes.

2) Touch ID on Top-Right corner: that helps for secure logins and purchases.

3) Touch Pad on Bottom-Center: with a Multi-Touch gestures.

Audio - Mic and Bigger bass

The Six-speaker sound system has room filling wide stereo sound you have never ever heard from a notebook / laptop. That has a dual force-cancelling woofers that reduces system vibration for a clearer and a natural sound with a half-octave lower range to the bass. It's studio-quality has three-mic array rivals professional third-party microphones that creating super-clean music or podcasts recording.

Storage

8TB of SSD storage with 3.2GB per second sequential read speed. No matter where you are, that is just enough to take your video and photo libraries with you. Additionally, massive files load and also with a super-fast speeds, which is enough for apps launch in a blink.

512GB

1TB

2TB

4TB

8TB

Battery

100-Wh lithium-polymer battery that powers the larger display and also delivers a higher maximum sustained power which provide a longer battery life 11 of hours. which is enough for video playback and a wireless web browsing. It is just like work more and less charge.

Apple MacBook Pro T2 Security Chip

That is includes a secure enclave coprocessor's powers touch ID and also provides the foundation for encrypted storage and a secure boot capabilities. As well as consolidates many discrete controllers, audio controller, the system management controller and SSD controller.

Thunderbolt 3 - versatile and powerful port

The Thunderbolt 3 combines ultra-versatility with a ultra-high bandwidth of the USB-C industry standard to create one revved-up universal port. That integrates charging, data transfer and video output in a single connector 40GB per second of throughput for twice the bandwidth of Thunderbolt 2. Additionally, equipped for ports, as well as you can do all of them from either side. Also Existing devices easily connected with a adapter or cable. And the Thunderbolt 3 is reversible, so you can plug in however you want because its always on right side.

Size and Weight

Height: 0.64 inch / 1.62 cm

Width: 14.09 inches / 35.79 cm

Depth: 9.68 inches / 24.59 cm

Weight: 4.3 pounds / 2.0 kg

In the box?

16‑inch MacBook Pro

96W USB‑C Power Adapter

USB-C Charge Cable

Configure to order on Apple.com

2.4GHz 8-core Intel Core i9, Turbo Boost up to 5.0GHz, with 16MB shared L3 cache

32GB or 64GB of 2666MHz DDR4 memory

first AMD Radeon Pro 5500M with 4GB of GDDR6 memory

second AMD Radeon Pro 5500M with 8GB of GDDR6 memory

third AMD Radeon Pro 5600M with 8GB of HBM2 memory

1TB, 2TB, 4TB, or 8TB SSD

Contact us to let us know if we are missing something in our page and thank you for your visiting. I hope you will visit again.

#Stepphase #technologies #technology #tech #technews #techworld #techtrends #smartphone #apple #techupdates #futuretechnology #newtech #techgeek #technologynews #technologythesedays #smarttechnology #technologylover #technologytrends #technologyblog #gadgets #smartphone #gadget #marketing #digital #india #technologyisawesome #amazing #repost

[natromanxoff]

My phone call interview with ‘Queen’ bass player John Deacon in July 1998:

John was a very nice fellow to talk to and gave his account about finding the Deacy Amp circuit board and then what happened with putting the amp together and using it as a practice amp, and then taking the amp to band practice with Freddie, Brian and Roger.

By the way, John Deacon did not tell me that he changed the Deacy Amp’s front end – this came from something that Brian had told me during 1998 at Allerton Hill when we began pulling apart and examining the Deacy Amp. Brian said that he thought they had changed something in the amp to help it cope better with the signal coming in from the treble booster. We do not know whether this happened or not, and when I asked Brian again about this in 2007 he laughed and told me that he couldn’t remember. In the piece I wrote for Brian’s website www.brianmay.com about the Deacy Amp, I included this information based on what Brian had previously said, but I suspect now that nothing may have been  changed in the front end input stage.

In the phone call with John I asked him if he had ever made Brian a treble booster in those early days of Queen, because for many years it has been reported that he had. John told me that he had not made a treble booster for Brian.

From my notes on the phone call with John Deacon 22nd July 1998:

John said that he found the amplifier section in the back of a skip which was sitting on the side of the street in London, and that he noticed the wires dangling over the edge of the skip and picked it up before it was thrown out. John said that he was studying for a degree in Electronics at the time and was always tinkering with electronic bits and pieces, and that the circuit board looked interesting to him when he first saw it. He thought that the transistor amplifier might have come from a cassette player or a radio. John thought at the time that he might possibly use it as a small practice amplifier – he played guitar as well as bass. John thought that this had happened in about 1972 and that he was already playing with Brian at this time.

John said he already owned the hi-fi bookshelf speaker box which he then modified so that it housed the amplifier circuit board inside with no controls at all on the outside of the box. John liked the simplicity of only having a jack socket to plug into with the amp’s volume set internally at full, although he said that initially he probably had a volume control hanging on the outside somewhere. The amp had a warm and pleasant sound although John said that it was always partly distorted and would never sound clean.

John told me that through some chance he showed the amp one day to Brian when he  brought the amp along to band practice, and said Brian was immediately interested in the amp’s possibilities especially when he used his Red Special guitar and treble booster with it. John said that with the Red Special and treble booster, the little amp offered a pleasant pretty type of saturated distortion which was utterly unique and very different to the ‘cutting harder sawtooth transistor distortion’ found in many effect pedals and amps of the time.

John remembered that the sound engineers who they worked with liked the way the little  amp behaved in the recording studio where it would produce a ‘consistent response’ as he termed it, whereas the engineers found it more difficult to capture on tape the excitement and dynamic live sound of Brian’s Vox AC30 amps. However John quickly mentioned that all the work and discussions with sound engineers was never his area of interest, and therefore he was never privy to detailed information in this area.

When I asked John about whether he had made a treble booster for Brian at this time in the early/mid 1970s, he told me that he had not.

- Greg Fryer

[crypticsalutations]

Hello my lovelies 🥀

I come bearing a promised gift! Another mysterious surprise conjured from the depths!

This time it is a wonderfully detailed four part interview with Jonathan Lemon, one of the brain children behind the hypnotic and timeless tracks of Jesus Couldn't Drum!

In this informative introduction, we discuss Jonathan's journey into the music making world, recording their first single, and song title mix ups! We hope you thoroughly enjoy it! 🔥 Track: Jesus Couldn't Drum's Beat the Dog Stay tuned for Part 2, coming on August 11!

Cryptic Salutations: At what age did you first feel compelled toward the arts? Did you know from the get-go that you would make music or did you dabble in other mediums before that?

Jonathan Lemon: Good question. And thank you for letting me indulge myself in my favorite subject! “Compelled” is a great word, because I think a true artist will create, no matter what obstacles are pushed into their path, like a day job, family responsibilities…. sleep! That’s why most artists are flat broke I guess. In my case (and let’s not kid ourselves, I’m no “true artist”), I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t drawing or fiddling around with stuff to see how I could break it and then fix it again.  After my parents died, I found a box in the attic that contained all my drawings and comics that my mom had stashed away proving that even at a few months old I was able to achieve the unimpressive task of scribbling with a pencil. The music came once I discovered reel-to-reel tape recorders and the old, discarded gramophone player my dad liberated from somewhere, along with his collection of 78s. We would spend hours recording things and cutting them up, playing things backwards and at the wrong speeds. I was always surrounded by vinyl and a tiny tinny transistor radio which I would fall asleep listening to. I also endured free classical piano lessons at the state school I attended which I detested for the most part. The teacher was a wildly eccentric and entertaining Canadian man. When I told him I was quitting lessons because I was the proud new owner of a monophonic synthesizer he said, “it’s about time’!  Peter Pengwyn, my partner in crime here, had a similar experience with a clarinet. I think there’s an important distinction between art and technique.  For long periods of my life, I have lacked technique. For example, I’ve never really considered myself a musician.  But I used sound in an artistic way to express something primal. You can have technique without art. You see a lot of it on social media…. People who can make incredibly photorealistic images, but there’s no personality or statement. It’s undeniably impressive but there’s no application of artistic integrity. It’s the struggle to create art that makes it good. I guess that’s a way of saying I am a tad pretentious, and probably why I exclusively listen to Chilean hip hop these days.

CS: Through what circumstances was the ‘Even Roses Have Thorns / Everyday Occurrences’ single recorded? Was the group picked up by a record label through show promotion? You mentioned the song title mix up, we would love the full story behind this.

JL: Back in 1981 we were both 18, and I was a brand new art student who thought he was gonna be the next Bruce McLean, and Pengwyn was working in a record store which was probably the coolest job in Watford where we lived. We had cobbled together a basic home studio from working a slew of uncomfortable and degrading jobs. I think the whole spirit of the project was one of bohemian expression, rather than any attempt at fame and fortune. We just wanted to avoid being the least interesting people at parties.  There was a widely accepted post-punk ethos of DIY experimentation at the time where the social rage of the late seventies in Britain had subsided and curiosity at the possibilities of low-cost music production were emerging. But the Thatcher/Reagan years weren’t much better.  People will tell you how great it was to have all that money flying around from selling off public assets but believe me, most people saw none of that. And remember, this was a time before people really used computers, and digital recording was a decade away and MIDI was the latest thing. Anyway, we used that primitive setup to record a few songs which we would then put on demo tapes and send them to record labels.  WE probably spent more time on the covers and arguing about what the songs should be called. We hadn’t really performed live at all since we were really shy little boys and very self-conscious, and we didn’t have a manager or anyone telling us what to do. One day a customer walked into Our Price Records where Pengwyn was working, and mentioned he was starting up a record label. That person turned out to be Steve Carter from Lost Moment. Pengwyn gave him his demo tape, and the next thing we know, he’s booked us into a recording studio in Luton, which was a mixed bag because being a lifelong fan of Watford Football Club it would mean going into enemy territory.

That first single was recorded in one long day at Pyramid Studios, run by the late Mick Ilka. I don’t recall how we got there (neither of us had a car) nor if it was a weekend or why we weren’t at school/work.  But I do vividly remember being led into a brick building on (appropriately) Cheapside Street, behind the Arndale Shopping Center. It was an extraordinary maze of corridors and stairs that lead up and then down into a soundproof room where we were confronted by a red antique mixing desk that was pretty antiquated, even for the eighties.  It used to belong to Jimmy Page who’d had it custom made, and it was unusually curved in a “C” shape so you could spin around on a chair and access all the panels without standing up. There was also a chunky 8 track machine that used 2” tape. We had absolutely no idea what we were doing but we immediately took a liking to the engineer, Brian Pugsley, who became a lifelong friend. He was extremely patient with us and made the whole record sound much better than it could have been.  He’d worked recently with The Sugarcubes in Iceland and some of the other bands on the incredibly hip and happening One Little Indian label, and he struck us as probably the most interesting and kindest person we’d ever met. I think we started off by programming the studio’s LM-2 LinnDrum which took us way past lunchtime since we’d never seen one before.  Then we slowly added the overdubs, one at a time. The synthesizer wasn’t able to save preset sounds so we had written notes on where to adjust all the knobs to, and the sequencer was very binary and you had to program the music in with just two buttons. Almost certainly vegetarian pizza arrived at some point because we were (and still are averse to eating dead animals). Around 10pm, we eventually had something resembling a song and poor Brian was getting ready to leave when we informed him that we needed a B-side.  That’s why the second track sounds so basic…. just a drum machine, guitar and vocals. Probably no more than two takes.  It was really rushed. But ironically it was that song that Mick Ilka noticed and liked enough to offer us a publishing deal and got us asked back to record an album. And if I recall correctly, that was the song that was supposed to be the A side.

The label mix up isn’t a very interesting story.  I suppose it just wasn’t obvious which title goes with which song since neither title is in the lyrics, so someone (wrongly) assumed that the well-produced track was the A side.  

Just a quick note about Watford back then.  It was (and still is) a bland and gritty industrial town just outside of London. Most people our age went to pubs and clubs and would brag about fights, alcohol consumption, and sexual conquests. We were definitely on the most sensitive side of the spectrum and avoided mainstream culture in general, and stuck with the more learned bookish bohemian crowd on the more extreme fringes of society. It was a lonely existence back then.