Model 500

[diesel_powered]

I was pleasantly surprised to read the piece on Model 500 since Atkins is one of my heroes and it's rare to hear his name anywhere but being mentioned in a generalized article about that whole "Detroit techno thing"*.

However, the situation didn't really surprise me at all. Despite their roles in the advent of electronic music, Roland and Yamaha are both companies that still don't seem to understand how electronic music works. Both Roland and Yamaha create electronic instruments that aspire to be their acoustic counterparts. The 808 and 909 drum machines were originally designed to replace a live drummer and ended up being used by techno artists because they did a terrible job at it. Much like grunge and shoegaze with the Jazzmaster and Mustang, techno artists picked up all those machines not because they were good, but because they were widely available for cheap. It was a genre built on using machines for an unintended purpose. Even the Juno, beloved by Orbital and many others, started as more of an engineering exercise than a pop synth. Since then, Roland has made a few entries into creating machines specific to electronic production, but none of them have been well received.

Korg and Akai, however, are exclusively centered around electronic production. Korg has been releasing boxes that create the electronic noises du jour for many years now. Akai has been a friend of the hip hop community for quite some time as well. Consequently, it's no wonder that they would donate equipment. They represent the post-techno generation of music machines while Roland and Yamaha represent the pre-techno generation.



*Which annoys the shit out of me to begin with because just as mentioned in the article, "Detroit techno" gets a shit ton of lip service everywhere, but nobody seems to have any idea what it actually is or who was involved with it, hence the reason why Atkins is one of the only Detroit founders who hasn't moved to Berlin by now. It's not like these people are even close to celebrities around here and in my experience, the vast majority of Detroiters hate electronic music just like everyone else. They just like to name check it because it's something that makes Detroit unique, and even though it was never supported locally (and even suppressed in the case of the rave scene), at least it didn't collapse like the auto industry. At a recent laptop/video performance at my school, one of the performers remarked that "at least we didn't make anyone puke this time" to which I responded that statements such as his seem to reflect the state of electronic music criticism.

[John]

Much like grunge and shoegaze with the Jazzmaster and Mustang, techno artists picked up all those machines not because they were good, but because they were widely available for cheap.

we could have a whole conversation about what "good" means here though - like, when companies attempt to tailor an instrument toward a certain style, the sorts of happy accidents of people saying "what if I did this" are less common - you know what I mean?

/catholic dude who is all about the empowering nature of limitations

[diesel_powered]

Oh definitely. "Good" meaning "does what it says on the box" vs. "full of potential". Ironically, that's the problem with most of Korg's non-synth offerings. They're so concerned with making whatever sounds are popular that they leave little room for innovation. When their "Electribe" line came out, the Chemical Brothers were really making it big and the drum machine out of that line was pretty much a Chemical Brothers emulator.

[jebreject]

like, when companies attempt to tailor an instrument toward a certain style, the sorts of happy accidents of people saying "what if I did this" are less common - you know what I mean?

See:

[John]

anybody know what the "grunge" knob on that does - is it sort of a combo chorus/distort? that'd be my guess

[dieblucasdie]

It goes "yeeahhhrrrrrggg, ugggggghhh huh"

[Salkin Red]

the grunge knob dials in all these presets - the vibrato sound out black hole sun, the dreadful distortion of negative creep, the not-so-very-good-at-all guitar sounds of green river, the we-aren't-quite-as-metal-as-we'd-like-to-be grind of alice in chains - it's all in there...

(actually it just dials in the amoutn of distortion in a pedal that's only really useful for recreating atari teenage riot drum machine sounds.... so there we are again)

[diesel_powered]

What y'all need is the DISTRESSOR:

[John]

those aren't really useful in performance tho, they're for recording - not that you couldn't use them from the booth I guess but that seems like a lot of useless effort

[Antero]

The 808 and 909 drum machines were originally designed to replace a live drummer and ended up being used by techno artists because they did a terrible job at it. Much like grunge and shoegaze with the Jazzmaster and Mustang, techno artists picked up all those machines not because they were good, but because they were widely available for cheap.

Remains the case, though, that the 808 sounds awesome (that kick!  that clap!) and the Jazzmaster is the best guitar Fender ever made fuck the haters.

[jebreject]

(actually it just dials in the amoutn of distortion in a pedal that's only really useful for recreating atari teenage riot drum machine sounds.... so there we are again)

it is pretty great for harsh noise, and you can't really beat the price

but yeah, beyond that, it's even too ugly to make a good paperweight

[diesel_powered]

The 808 and 909 drum machines were originally designed to replace a live drummer and ended up being used by techno artists because they did a terrible job at it. Much like grunge and shoegaze with the Jazzmaster and Mustang, techno artists picked up all those machines not because they were good, but because they were widely available for cheap.

Remains the case, though, that the 808 sounds awesome (that kick!  that clap!) and the Jazzmaster is the best guitar Fender ever made fuck the haters.

Too bad it's rough to find either for under a grand these days.

[Almanzo]

What y'all need is the DISTRESSOR:

Second-best purchase I've ever made.

[diesel_powered]

Care to elaborate on that? Most of the talk I've heard about it makes it sound like a compressor only more gimmicky, but none of the people doing the talking actually own one.

[Almanzo]

Care to elaborate on that? Most of the talk I've heard about it makes it sound like a compressor only more gimmicky, but none of the people doing the talking actually own one.

There's nothing gimmicky about it, at least not like that other boutique compressor that does away with ratio and threshold altogether. It's just a great compressor with a particularly ear-pleasing colored sound and controls that go the extra mile - the attack and release on it are shocking after you've worked with something really stock and standard like an alesis 3630...you can practically turn a snare into a jon mcentire dry thump, all squeeze and quick release, or you can turn the exact same sound into almost nothing but room sound with a tight attack and a big swell of release.

But it all really comes down to the sound - it's one of those "anything sounds better run through it" boxes. Of course, you're starting to hear everything run through it on ever record ever, too.

[John]

I don't own one but I've seen/heard 'em used and I too can rep for that machine

[Almanzo]

I'm also sort of conflicted on the whole Atkins beggin' for free shit debate. I mean, those companies and their equipment are so comically removed from what they were during the era that they made the xox machines that there's almost zero logical connection between what they have now and what Atkins and May would be trying to replace/duplicate. I mean, we're talking about a style of music in which very particular machines must be used, specifically their real-time controls which cannot be recreated with the PCM samples that the newer products these companies make contain.

But what's even more interesting is that there's been an insane boom in the modern, boutique analog synthesizer world - there are more companies making more all-analog synths right now than ever in history. It's truly a new golden age. Atkins should be using this stuff, and though it's pretty expensive, it's exactly what he needs. The x0xb0x, for example, is a down-to-the-actual-same-resistors-and-NOS- transistors recreation of the Roland TB-303, and the kits are only a couple hundred bucks.

But yeah, it's the principle of the thing - people like Atkins should be taken care of by the people who have built reps on his back. He should be hooked up with endorsements, even if he just turns around and sells the stuff to get legit gear.