Gear 5
New Gear Report: Novation Circuit
If you visited Novation’s website in the past couple of weeks, you may have seen a teaser image like this: Well, Oct. 1 is here, and so is Circuit. What is Circuit? The literal answer is a comprehensive grid-based synth, drum machine and groovebox all in one. Novation sees it as the answer to musician’s eternal […]
New Gear Report: Moog Mother-32
Moog’s latest synth, the fully-analog, semi-modular Mother-32, is here! Ideal for synth neophytes, the Mother-32 requires no patching, but has that functionality if desired. Its 32-step sequencer can be instantly shifted in octaves or steps, and there are a slew of tonal and rhythmic adjustments to make via the low- and high-pass ladder filters, attack, decay, pulse […]
Fender Acoustic Pro and Acoustic SFX Amplifiers
Looking for the right acoustic guitar amp can sometimes be a daunting task. With so many controls and complex configurations, sometimes all you want to do is just plug in and get to playing. Thanks to the new Fender Acoustic Pro and Acoustic SFX amps, the simple controls and powerful tone you’ve been wanting has […]
Need To Downsize Your Kit?
Above: Terry Bozzio’s not-so-compact-kit. Image Credit: Wikipedia OK, so you want a new kit but you hate big, bulky drums. As much as small drums make me cringe, I get it. You don’t want to go through the trouble of having to try and fit a drum set that comes with a 22″ or 24″ […]
Shootout: Black Lion Audio Micro Clock Mk3
What difference does a word clock make? Read on to find out. For this shootout, we recorded acoustic guitar with the Black Lion Audio Micro Clock Mk3 vs. no word clock, and piano/vocal comparing the BLA Micro Clock Mk3 with its predecessor, the BLA Micro Clock Mk2. What Does a Word Clock Do, Anyway? Digital […]
Nine Reasons to Love the Launchpad Pro
Our friend Adam at Novation recently shared with us some reasons the new Launchpad Pro sets the standard for grid controllers. A few folks in the office already have Launchpad Pros and love them, so we didn’t need any convincing! If you haven’t tried one out yet, read up on what Adam says below, or check out […]
Get the Tone: The Berlin School of Electronic Music
They say the enemy of good art is the absence of limitations. We’ve heard this in the past, with artists like Tangerine Dream and Manuel Göttsching, who by necessity, used workarounds to real life technological limitations as ways to create their own brand of music. How? By taking simple techniques and applying it to the musical tools they […]
Shootout: IK Multimedia iRig MIC Studio & Shure MOTIV MV51
So far, 2015 seems to be the year of the iOS/USB microphone for mobile recording. Two of the latest iOS/USB mics to arrive at zZounds are the IK Multimedia iRig MIC Studio — a new addition to IK Multimedia’s iRig line of made-for-iOS gear — and the Shure MOTIV MV51, part of Shure’s MOTIV family […]
Get the Tone: Tony Iommi
Unofficially recognized as the “Godfather of Heavy Metal,” Tony Iommi’s influence on the evolution of distorted electric guitar tone over the past 40+ years cannot be overstated. Iommi, a pioneer of the detuned guitar technique, used immense amounts of gain to convey to the audience the sounds he heard in his head. These tricks and […]
