Creating a beat with Korg iElectribe + free iElectribe samples

The Korg iElectribe is a beast of a drum machine. It was the first app that I brought for my iPad but for some reason I've never really got around to uploading anything about it on Voltage-Controlled.

Anyway, here's a short video of me constructing a simple drum beat using the iElectribe, I love the sound of this app.

I've also uploaded some iElectribe samples for you lot. It's only a small pack, it contains 8 one shot drum hits from the custom drum kit I used in the video.

You can get your hands on the samples here (.zip)

Hopefully I'll get around to posting a bit more about the iElectribe on Voltage-Controlled soon.

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Dubspot Animoog Tutorial part 1 of 3

Dubspot have some amazing tutorials on their YouTube channel which are very useful for producers of all levels. I noticed that they've uploaded the first in three tutorials covering my all time favourite iPad synthesizer, the Animoog by Moog Music inc.

I thought that the readers of Voltage-Controlled would be interested in an in depth look into the capability's of this awesome little synthesiser so I've embedded the first part of the Dubspot Animoog tutorial below.

Check out the Dubspot site for more cool tutorials and don't forget to subscribe to their YouTube channel here.

I'll post the second and third Animoog tutorials to Voltage-Controlled as soon as they are uploaded by Dubspot.

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FutureMusic sampling special 'making of' videos

FutureMusic magazine have uploaded two 'Making Of' videos to go along with their Sampling special edition. Part one is hosted by Cyclick and part two by Groove Criminals (Both regularly supply the free samples that can be found on the free CD that comes along with FutureMusic Magazine).

Part one focuses more in foundsound (eg, recording every day objects) where as part two talks about creative ways of getting cool sounds out of your synthesizers and drum machines. To be honest I preferred part two as I'm a huge synth nerd.

They're about 20 mins long each but you might find something interesting/useful. Watch part two if you just want to look at lots of cool synths.

Click here if you're interested in lots of free samples from Voltage-Controlled

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NodeBeat HD iPad screen capture demo

Here's another video of me playing about with the display recorder tweak on my iPad. This time the app I'm using is the NodeBeat HD app, which is a fun little generative music sequencer.

I'm hoping to get lots of these iPad display recorder videos up on the site, they're fun to make and it gives me a good chance to show off some of my favourite music making apps.

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What is ReCycle?

I love using .rex files in my music, it's an easy way to take your loops and create something completely different. ReCycle is a stand alone program by Propellerheads that lets you take your audio loops (say a basic drum loop) and chop them up into different segments that allow you to craft them into something unique that you can use in your productions.

Heres a short video by the folks at Propellerheads; it talks you through ReCycle, Rex loops and how you can use them to add something special to your music. I'd recommend using ReCycle to help make your audio loops a little more manageable and inspirational.

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iPad display recorder & DM1 drum machine demo

iPad demo videos have become a pretty big part of Voltage-Controlled over the last few months. I've uploaded quite a few videos that I've taken using the camera on the back on my iPhone. That's all well and good but the quality of the videos have obviously suffered, so I got thinking about how I could go about making my videos a bit better.

At first I thought about investing in a decent camera but Voltage-Controlled rakes in little to no money from ads and donations so I couldn't really afford it. I remembered someone telling me a while back that if I jailbreak my device I can use third party software to take screen captures directly on the iPad. I looked into it but found out that the iPad 2 that I was using couldn't be jailbroken on iOS5.

However, I heard a week or so ago that it's changed and I can now hack my device and install the screen capture software. So I did it, I jailbroke the iPad and brought a tweak called display recorder.

It's a pretty basic app but it doesn't record audio which is a shame. That's not too much hassle though as I can record the audio into my laptop using my Saffire 6 interface and then sync it later.

Anyways, I thought I'd try it out and upload a video to YouTube. Here's me messing around with Fingerlab's DM-1 drum machine, one of my favourite drum machines on the iPad. DM-1's available in the appstore for £3.99 but I think I picked it up a few months ago when the price dropped to 69p.

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Broken sample links are now working again.

I mentioned in the last post that some of the sample packs on Voltage-Controlled were hosted on the file sharing site MegaUpload. As MegaUpload was recently shut down the samples were made unavailable for you guys to download.

I've just finished re-uploading the lost sample packs to minus.com and they are once again available for you to download free of charge. The sample packs that I've had to re-upload are:

• Voltage controlled sample collection vol.1
• Free FoundSound percussion loops and one shots
• Punished 909 kit (MC-303)

Luckily I haven't been using MegaUpload for long so only three of the packs were lost but it's still a bit of a hassle have to re-upload them.

Just to make it clear, all of the samples available from Voltage-Controlled are copyright free. I created them so that musicians, sound designers, film makers, etc. can use them in their productions and creations for free of charge.

If you have any other questions or problems then please get in touch with me at DanWeatherall@Voltage-Controlled.com

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