Friday, 9 April 2010

New "Three Oh Three" Album coming soon!! / Gear roundup

I've just completed the Brand new Three Oh Three album. I'm pretty much following up the vibe of the first album.
Like the first album "Liable Mutt" I'm going with the anagram idea again, this time using anagrams of "Geeky" music tech words/phrases for the track titles.
The album Title itself will be called "Cable mounds" [which is an anagram of "Second Album"].
Keep Checking this blog and my twitter page for further information and the release date of the new album.

Track list for Cable Mounds by Three Oh Three:
1.No Turn Into Acid
2.Arms Under
3.Elevating war
4.Bearskin Tart
5.Monetise
6.Sweeter Flip
7.Neon Scare
8.Zesty Shrine
9.Sitter
10.Machined rum
11.Software Pills
12.Favor Mew

For those of you that are confused about the difference between "Three Oh Three" and "SKatterBrain" Here's a simple Explanation......

Three Oh Three is a project of mine involving making music using only hardware synthesizers, Sequencers, Drum machines, Effects, Etc.
It's dirty, under produced and very LoFi.
Basically It's Me geeking out with my "toys".

SKatterbrain on the other hand is a little more serious. It's mostly computer based electronic music, I still have a little fun with the Hardware stuff but its mostly making loops, SFX, Drum sounds, Etc.

Also, I've had a few requests over the last year to put up a list of my hardware gear.
So here's a rough guide of some of my toys [not all of them, I have to keep some stuff secrete]. =]

Korg MicroKorg [Reverse Key Special Edition]:
Arguably one of the Best selling synthesizers of all time and it's not hard to see why. The Microkorg was the First Hardware synthesizer I brought and it's still my "Go-To" synth, It's extremely easy to use and has a Fairly good sound to it.

Freeform analog technology FB383:
I found this at a second hand place for just £15 [bargain], it was labeled as "Hi-Fi accessory". The 383 is of course a rackmount clone of the legendary Roland TB-303. The sound is very close to the original but there is no sequencer, however it can be controlled by MIDI. It has all the controls of the original 303 plus the option to blend between the two waveforms [square and sawtooth]. The 383 also allows you to use the filter section to process external audio. The downsides are the build quality [It feels a bit cheap] and the filter has to be triggered via the MIDI input.

Roland MC-303:
Got this from a friend last year because I was in need of a sequencer to control the FB383. There are a lot of bad reviews of the MC-303 but personally I don't see what's so bad about it, It took me a little while to learn how to program it properly but it's not let me down yet.
The built in sounds are top quality, they're not for everyone I suppose but it's extremely useful.

Yamaha TX81Z:
Rackmount 4-OP FM synthesizer [similar to the DX7]. It's tricky to program but that's expected from any FM synth. Build quality is good and it can produce some stunning FM sounds.

Korg R3:
I don't use this as much as the Microkorg but the synthesizer engine is much better, the built in effects are good quality too. It's a bit bigger than the Microkorg but feels a bit plasticy. The R3 is better for creating pad and polysynth sounds....And Its retro looks are quite cool too.

Zoom G1 Multi Effects Pedal:
£30 New. It's Cheap, Its Nasty and it looks terrible. But It's useful, I use it mostly for the hall reverb and the pitchshifter. The ring modulator is good for making noise but there's no controls to it. It's made of plastic but I've dropped this thing like a million times.

Boss DS1:
Classic distortion pedal. I have two of these [one has an angry face drawn on it], I got one given to me when I brought the TX81Z along with a Danelectro metal distortion. It has basic controls; tone, volume and distortion. Really good for getting some dirty acid sounds from the 383.

Electroharmonix Nano Metal Muff:
Nice little analog distortion. It's a bit noisy though.

Korg Mini Kaoss Pad:
It has some nice effects in it and the synth sounds are quite fun to play around with [they're pretty useless though]. It has an aux Input and output which is a bit annoying when looking for cables [But It's designed to be used with DJ equipment]. I don't use this half as much as I should....

Danelectro Wasabi Foreword/Reverse delay:
Cool little pedal, I use this mostly for the Reverse delay. It's good for ambient trails and glitched stuff. It's made of metal and it's pretty heavy....

Roland DR50 Mic:
I use this for recording found sound and ambiances.....and the occasional mic'ing of instruments of course.

Stylophone:
This cost me £12, It's fun to play with the pitch control underneath. Works nice as a dub siren [It's a bit fiddly though]. The built in speaker has an audio input and it sounds horrible [In a good way] when overdriven.

Anyway, That's about it. I have a few other instruments [Guitars, Keyboards, effects, Etc.] but It's not really worth writing about.
Keep checking back for news on the new Three Oh Three album and remember to go and download the new SKatterBrain album [www.dan303.bandcamp.com].

As always you can follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/dan303


-Thanks, Dan.


Monday, 5 April 2010

Drums By 303. Free drum samples.

Clean and Vocoded one shot drum samples.
The drums were taken from the roland MC303 groove box and vocoded using the built in vocoder on the Korg Microkorg.

This pack contains:
37 One shot drum samples [Clean]
37 One shot drum samples [Vocoded]
2 NNXT patches [Clean and Vocoded] for use in Propellerheads Reason 4
1 Cominator Patch For use in Propellerheads Reason 4

Download "Drums By 303" HERE


Thursday, 1 April 2010

Free Korg R3 polysynth samples

Multi sampled polysynths taken from the Korg R3 Synthesiser.

This pack contains 5 multi sampled synthesiser patches taken from the Korg R3 synthesiser.
Each patch has been pre-loaded into reasons NNXT sampler and ready to play.
All sounds were made from scratch. [No factory presets are used]

The multi sample files [.WAV] are also included so that the sounds can be loaded up into a sampler your own choice.


This pack is completely free so feel free to share this online as much as you want to.

Download this pack HERE [.RAR]


Plastic Reality by SKatterBrain out now

The SKatterBrain Album "Plastic Reality" Is now available for Free download on My BandCamp Page. Head over now and Check It out, Hope you enjoy what you hear and I'm looking forward to your opinions and comments.


SKatterBrain "Plastic Reality" Tracklist:
1. Come Prepared [intro]
2. Plastic Reality
3. Absence of life
4. Alias
5. The one blue field
6. Otherwise known as death
7. Between dimensions

There's now also a Facebook page for SKatterBrain so you can become a fan HERE.


Wednesday, 31 March 2010

The new SKatterbrain album "Plastic Reality" will be available tomorrow [April 1st] via my Bandcamp page. Don't worry its not an april fools joke. I look forward to hearing everyones comments and opinions.
Anyway I'll post a link up here tomorrow when it's up and ready.

-Thanks, Dan.


Tuesday, 23 March 2010

SKatterBrain "Plasitc Reality"

Plastic Reality is the title of my new album which I will be releasing under the alias SKatterBrain very soon. The album has a dark undertone and takes high influence from psytrance, Goa, ambient and electronica music.
The album is now complete and ready to be released via Bandcamp. There is no set release date as of yet but be sure to check back in a day or to to find out the actual release date when you will be able to download the full album from my bandcamp profile.

Below is a rundown of the tracks and a picture of the album cover.


1. Come Prepared [intro]
2. Plastic Reality
3. Absence of life
4. Alias
5. The one blue field
6. Otherwise known as death
7. Between dimensions

Remember to check back in to get the full release details or follow me on twitter for more updates.


Monday, 22 March 2010

Korg Microkorg samples [NNXT, WAV]

Multi samples taken from the Korg Microkorg Synthesiser.

This pack contains 7 multi sampled synthesiser patches and one pack of EFX taken from the Korg Microkorg synthesiser.
Each patch has been pre-loaded into reasons NNXT sampler and ready to play.
All sounds were made from scratch. [No factory presets are used]

The multi sample files [.WAV] are also included so that the sounds can be loaded up into a sampler your own choice.


This pack is completely free so feel free to share this online as much as you want to.

Download this pack HERE [.RAR]