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I need some advice re: real-time stereo pitch shifting

hello y’all…  I am looking to buy a 2nd-hand hardware box that will allow me to input a stereo analog audio signal and get a clean pitch-shifted polyphonic octave-down.   I’ve been looking at eventide H3000s on eBay but they are just a bit too expensive for what may be a total boondoggle.

I don’t need uber-fidelity; 44.k sampling rate and 16-bit internal processing is fine.  Balanced i/o would be very good but maybe not a necessity?

And pls no speculation or armchair recommendations folks; I am just looking for suggestions from people who have actually used the suggested device personally for this specific task.  Thanks for reading – c.

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Mixtapes Uncategorized

New Years 2014 Mixtape

BlackPearlUsserySuziEntwhistle_RigorHow y’all doin on this cold+dark December day…  been toiling like a farmer at the PS dot com HQ, tryin to get another mixtape out the door before the bell tolls on ’13.  I am more excited about this mixtape than I have been in a while; some really great cuts on here.  I was v v fortunate to chance upon some really outstanding collections this past season (special thanks to D.S…) and the best of the best are captured here.  As always, if you see me, ask me for a CD of the mix- as always, transcribed fresh from vinyl via my trust Benz Micro cartridge.  Hope you all have an excellent NYE, and here’s to a better+brighter one-four.

1. The Equals “Police On My Back” from the comp The Best Of The Equals, EMI/Stateside (year unknown; presumed to be 1968).

2. John Entwhistle “I Wonder” from the LP Whistle Rymes, Track/Decca/MCA 1972.

3. Lee Clayton “Carnival Balloon” from the S/T 1973 MCA LP.  (no link available)

4. Sopwith Camel “Fazon” from the LP The Miraculous Hump Returns From The Moon, Reprise 1972.

5. Danny Cox “Hey Jude” from the LP Birth Announcement, Forward/Together Records, 1969. (no link available)

6. The Electric Prunes “I Happen To Love You” from the LP Underground, Reprise 1967.

7. Suzi Quatro “Michael” from the LP Your Mama Won’t Like Me, Arista 1975.

8. John Ussery “Must Have Been The Season” from his self-titles LP, Phonogram 1973.

9. David Wiffen “Climb The Stairs” from the LP Coast To Coast Fever, Liberty 1973. (no link available)

10. Earth Opera “Time And Again” from the s/t LP, Elektra 1968.

11. Longdancer “Too Much Too Soon” from the LP If It Was So Simple, Rocket/MCA 1973.

12. John Entwhistle “My Wife” from the LP Rigor Mortis Sets In, Track/MCA 1973.

13. 999 “Bongos On The Nile” from the LP Concrete, Albion/Polygram 1981. (no link available)

14. Brownsville Station “Rumble” from the comp Non-Dairy Creamer, Warner Bros Records 1971.

15. Black Pearl “Mr. Soul Satisfaction” from the s/t LP, Atlantic 1969.

16. Rare Bird “What Do You Want To Know” from the LP As Your Mind Flies By, ABC 1970. (no link available)

17. Stealers Wheel “Right or Wrong” from the LP Right Or Wrong, A&M 1975.

18. Redeye “Collections of Yesterday And Now” from the s/t LP, Pentagram/Bravo/Viva 1971.

For track notes + more of the greatest album art of all time, click the link below to READ ON…

Continue reading “New Years 2014 Mixtape”

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Remember those legends about ‘digital recording on VCRs’ back in the 80’s??

SonyPCM601ESDwdef1(image source)

As a kid, before the DAT deck was available, I vaguely remember talk about ‘so and so mixes his music digitally to a VCR’ and this just sounded like some black magic to me.  Well, as it turns out, this was done via a reasonably affordable series of SONY devices, the base model of which was the 501 ES.  The 501 ES was a duplex AD/DA convertor that could covert stereo analog audio to a single PCM stream that was then sent out as a video-bandwidth signal, to be recorded as single video signal on any VCR deck.  There were some real drawbacks, such as a 1/2 sample interchannel delay, and apparently it worked best in 14 bit, rather than 16 bit mode?  But none-the-less, this was a ‘real thing’ and back in those days, DIGITAL WAS BETTER and any way that you could GET DIGITAL was pretty much embraced.  

Now, SONY actually marketed this technology as early as 1978, but at that point it was extremely expensive and beyond the reach of a small studio or musician.  We ran an article on that first machine, the SONY PCM-1, a long while back.  You can read it at this link.  The PCM 501-es was much more of a prosumer product, though, so it managed to achieve much wider use.  I found a great article from a 1986 issue of MUSICIAN mag which explains, in great detail, operation of the 501ES.  It is by a person or persons named FREFF, and I reproduce it below for your edification.

Sony_PCM_501ES_1986_1PCM_2PCM_3

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Great Electro Pop Album made by 16yo DIY’r in 1980

PhilandAndy2web_1385465264_crop_550x583Thanks TW for turning me on to this…  fantastic music and a great story!  Read on…

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Computer Music: the 80s

PassPort_1985The personal computer is now ubiquitous in the music-making process; music made without a computer is now remarkable for that absence, but not long ago the opposite was true.  Here are some glimpses back to the era 1985-1990, when the tide was first beginning to shift.

MusicData_1984Musicdata (1984): a service that provided programming to musicians who owned computerized instruments, but did not want to engage with them on a technical level.  Where are these guys today?  anyone?

MacPlusAd_1988Apple Mac Plus advert c. 1988.  Now here’s a bold advertising claim that actually turned out to be true.

Decillionix_1984Decillionix of Sunnyvale CA made this $349 audio sample/playback kit for the Mac II in 1984.  Pretty advanced stuff for the price.  Any users out there?

Atari_stacy_1990The Atari STACY ‘laptop’ circa 1990.  Remember when ATARI was a viable third-party contender?

Passport_1985_adPassport music transcription software c. 1985

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Preservation Sound OPEN STUDIO : 2013 Bridgeport Arts Trail

AFApostcard_front_1100Nov 9/10 is BRIDGEPORT OPEN-STUDIOS and we will be opening up the Preservation Sound Shop !  Come by and say hi, see some great artwork in the building, and check out some of the recent mic preamps, hi fi amplifiers, and tube guitar gear I’ve been working on.  I will also be selling LPs from the collection… and toiling away on a few weird new projects, I’m sure…  Address is 1069 Connecticut Ave, Bridgeport CT.  10A  thru 5P Sat+Sun Nov 9 and 10.

Our building (31 artists) is one of only 3 large artist-studio buildings in the city that are having events… learn about the whole fandango here.

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Casio CT-630 Drum Samples : free download

Casio_CT630

(image source)

How are y’all doing today…  a whiles back I picked up one of these old Casio CT630 keyboards.  It’s an unremarkable full-size keyboard (with shitty midi implementation) that Casio made in the 80’s.   I can’t recall where it went, but I did manage to make samples of a couple of the better beats and whatever individual drum hits I could get in the clear.

Download ’em here and enjoy!  Casio CT630 samples

c.

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Gearhead (1979)

Gear_blotter_Acid_1978No further comment.

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1978: “Record It At Home!”

RecordItAtHome_1978Sometimes it’s the right move.  Also if yr gonna rock a shirt like that, might be best to stay in for the day.  whoa.

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Synthesizers Uncategorized

Polyfusion Advert c. 1979

Polyfusion_1979Several years ago I posted some of my collection of vintage Polyfusion documentation.  Although Polyfusion did frequently run small adverts in trade publications, I had never seen this full-page advert before.  Apparently, P/F also made guitar and bass preamps.  Wild, man.  Any Polyfusion users out there?  Drop us a line!