Since starting on classical guitar around 2000, Diego has become a multi-instrumentalist at heart, but specializes in keyboards and electronic instruments. A sometimes member of various At the Drive-in-adjacent El Paso-based bands, Diego fell out with the scene/sound and does his own things now. He’s worked as a staff writer for the zZounds Blog and a product specialist at zZounds for well over 10 years. If you ask Diego’s significant other, his true talent is cooking.
What’s the Matter with Musical Meter?
Welcome to Beat Connection, a series dedicated to promoting modern and vintage dance styles the only way we know how…by providing you a musical starting point to help you create that beat. In our previous post, we outlined a very important concept to think about when composing music: tempo. Today, we take one more step […]
Moog Subsequent 37 CV Revealed at Moogfest 2017
With Moogfest drawing near, rumors of a new creation from Moog have been swirling. Today, we’ve learned about their newest synthesizer: the Moog Subsequent 37 CV. Handcrafted at Moog’s headquarters in Asheville, NC and limited to only 2,000 pieces worldwide, the Subsequent 37 is the result of Moog expanding on the popular Sub 37 Tribute Edition paraphonic analog synthesizer by […]
Understanding Musical Tempo
Welcome to Beat Connection, a series dedicated to promoting modern and vintage dance styles the only way we know how…by providing you a musical starting point to help you create that beat. In our previous post, we showed you what constitutes a song, providing you a basic structure you can use to arrange beats into songs. […]
The Elements of a Song
Welcome to Beat Connection, a series dedicated to promoting modern and vintage dance styles the only way we know how…by providing you a musical starting point to help you create that beat. Last time we showed you the way around grid notation – essential info for understanding your way around drum machines and recording software. Today, we go forward […]
Beat Connection: The Beat Composer’s Cheat Sheet
Welcome to Beat Connection, a series dedicated to promoting modern and vintage dance styles the only way we know how…by providing you a musical starting point to help you create that beat. Today, we go back to the beginning. In plain terms, we’re outlining how what you see in a drum machine translates to what you’ll find in […]
Jaki Liebezeit and CAN: A Look at Krautrock’s Human Drum Machine
With the news of Jaki Liebezeit’s recent passing, what better time than now to take a look back at his influential body of work? Let’s begin where it began. “Communism, anarchism, nihilism” — those were the powerful words rumbling through Jaki’s head in 1968. Christening the band CAN — a move away from their original name Inner Space — […]
The Record Player’s Guide to the Turntable
What’s more surprising than the revival of the vinyl record market? The revival in people not knowing what a record player or turntable is, what the things on it do, or how they work — or that record players and turntables are, in fact, the same thing! If you fit this description, don’t fret: we […]
Leonard Cohen Dead at 82
If we know anything about these times, it’s that sacrifices — whether earned or unearned — are coming. Leonard Cohen’s whole life was one moved by sacrifice. He was the first of his generation of Polish-Jewish immigrants to look for a better life in Quebec, Canada. Born into a middle-class family in 1934, his upbringing […]
Knobcon 2016 Recap and Gallery
Here are a few things you’re likely not to read often: thousands descended last week on the great city of Schaumburg, Illinois for a three-day convention full of unique synthesizer companies and aficionados. I may be overselling the event itself, but Knobcon holds a legitimately unique scene you won’t see anywhere else. So, what is Knobcon? Here’s a definition from […]
