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Mixes!

320kbps downloadable mixes, available in dub, drum & bass and house flavours. Try all three today!

Mixes by Snug

My keyboard has cancer

So I took my Novation X-Station with me to Ottawa for a gig last month. I traveled by plane, which is always a risk for gear, but I had it in a crush-proof, air-tight and well-padded Pelican case which I bought specifically for flying with. Nevertheless, upon returning I noticed that a few of my keys weren’t working.

With three shows on the very immediate horizon I was freaking out a bit. The X-Station is a key part of everything I do: I use it as both an audio interface and controller when using software live. I also use the synthesis engine a lot for live hands-on tweaky goodness.

Luckily, it was just a few keys in the higher registers that were broken, everything else was fine (audio interface, knobs, etc.). I can easily compensate for this, I thought to myself. WRONG! The first show went fine, but at the second show, on stage, as I went to play a note in a synth riff… silence! Ack! More keys ceasing to work on a daily basis. I dub this disease keyboard cancer!

The third show is this Thursday – it’s a live Ableton thing. I had all sorts of keys pre-mapped to trigger clips, but I’ve since had to re-map them to compensate for the broken keys. Now I need to borrow an Oxygen8 from a friend just in case the cancer keeps spreading!

On the bright side, I’ve rented a Roland Juno G to play around with while I get the X-Station fixed. I may do up a little review at some point.

Side note: I hope to God Porter airline’s insurance policy will cover this! You’re supposed to make any claims within a few hours of landing, but under the circumstances that wasn’t exactly possible!

Update March 29th:

We apologize if you discovered that your keyboard sustained some damage to the internal circuitry.

Unfortunately, as per our baggage liability clause, which can be found at www.flyporter.com, Porter Airlines Inc. assumes no liability for items such as, but not limited to, money, jewelry, silverware, negotiable papers, securities or other valuables, business documents, samples, keys, liquids, food and other perishables, computers, prescription drugs, photographic equipment, video equipment, cellular telephones, cameras, other electronic devices, artistic items, glass, musical instruments, equipment, sporting goods and any other fragile or perishable item. Therefore, we are unable to process an insurance claim.

However, we would recommend you contact your own insurance company, to determine if your insurance policy can help in replacing the keyboard.

No dice.

Time Travel out now!

Time Travel by Snug

EHX Deluxe Memory Boy - first look

Micah admires my blog!

I just wanted to share this lovely comment I received from Micah about my blog:

"I absolutely admire your blog.I can see you are putting a lot of effort and hard work on your posts, I'm sure I'd visit here more often. You may also want to visit my site. It's about impersonator, acrobatics, unicycling, mentalist and a lot more about other forms of entertainment. Just check it out... "

Oh yeah, and she was also kind enough to include various links to an Australian Entertainment directory. Thank you for your contribution, Micah!

My new love

Okay, well we haven't met yet, but we're being formally introduced in a few days at NAMM (okay, well I won't be there, but I'll be watching through the miracle of the internet)

(I've actually been gazing at this picture at random intervals throughout the day. That's not healthy, is it?)

With that out of the way, I present you with the reasons why I'm so excited about the Electro-Harmonix Deluxe Memory Boy:

• analog delay
• tap tempo
• modulation
• expression pedal input
• tempo subdivisions
• modulation shapes
  
• true by-pass (assuming I actually turn it off at some point)
  
• effects loop
  
• apparently, a price point of less than $200 USD
  

The only reason I'm running a digital delay right now is because I didn't feel like dropping $600 on the Memory Lane 2. Truth be told, I went with the digital Memory Man is because it has tap tempo and can do a fairly convincing modulated analog delay (minus the spaceship take-off). Unfortunately, I think it's just a couple weeks away from retirement.

More to come...

P.S. I still love you too Angie, even if you're not an analog delay pedal.