For those who think the TO is a bit pricy, the perfect solution is only one youtube video away! A smart Japanese guy made the impossible possible. Reduced to its basic features [well, that's what we all love about tangible interfaces] he built a brilliantly simple version of the original instrument, thus helping us discover this pioneering device from a totally different design angle. Bad news: the first 100 units are sold! Thanks Lutz for the news hint.

Picture found at: www.flickr.com

Time for the final part of Love Your Tenori-On folks! This last issue should be something special and so I have completely ‘anatomized’ one of my TO tracks, collected all necessary programming hints and tips together with the entire TO LED structure, so you can start to re-program this track step by step on your own.

The track I’m talking about is Cash Flow from 7 Days Microsleep, interestingly the track with the highest download numbers, according to overall statistics from the past weeks. The track seems simple but the underlying sequence structure is exactly the opposite. It’s a complex piece and ultimately a track with some random sequences difficult to re-program just by pure listening. So here you go!

Before we start with all the details, here is the basic TO setting for this track,…BPM: 60, Reverb Type: Plate 1, Reverb Param: 65, Chorus Type: Chorus 2, Chorus Param: 20. As you can see (and hear) later, using panpot is quite important. The more complex a track is, the more you should utilize this function - but that’s certainly not a special TO trick :).

Important: if you program this track, switching back and forth between random and score modes, the TO might loose its sync which can lead to some general strange sync behaviour. In this case there is only one thing to do: stop the TO, switch to a score mode layer and set the locator back to step 1, by pressing any LED in the first column.

> Start with Block 1
left) Random Layer: 8, Loop Speed: 4, Sound Length: 300ms, Sound: 14/8
[Make sure to program the LEDs exactly … more » »

Picture found at: www.dancetracksdigital.com

Let’s do something different this week! Instead of explaining things over and over again, why not turning the story upside down? I’ll provide a new TNA file - right, that’s a block file! - and you just explore the track on your own. Good idea? You probably know the TO better than I anyways,…

The track of the week is Fake City, the last of the four tracks on Living Near The Valley. The sample bank is the same as in the last 3 episodes [load it into TO sample bank 1!]. You see, everything should be very straightforward. Here you go:

Block File: FAKECITY——–.TNA
Sample Bank: NORMANFAIRBANKS.TNW
Don’t forget the credits, if you release music using this sample file. Thank you.

Any question? Feel free to send me an email or to leave a comment.
L A S T part, L A S T track - next week!

PS: Sorry for I don’t do the TO video special many of you’re waiting for. Guess I’m too shy.

Picture found at: www.wiretotheear.com

Time for part 6. Al, can you please play the jingle? Thanks Al, you’re great. We’re staying with Living Near The Valley - and this week’s feature is Your Glossy Flesh. Actually, a nice title, isn’t it?

Forget everything I’ve said about structuring your blocks to keep control. This track is an example how you should NOT do it. The blocks are not ordered at all which is a problem for your live performance. We all have moments in our life where strange circumstances just keep us away from fixing things. I guess I have programmed this track exactly in such a moment. The only orientation [for me] when playing live provides the ‘clear’ button because the R [from CLEAR] ends exactly one block after the middle of the grid - which is obviously block 9. This is helpful when you need to go from block 3 to 9 in a fraction of a second.

Why all the hassle? You need to do this block switching orgy in order to produce the main harmony of the track which does not fit into the 16 steps of the sequencer. This applies for the verse as well as the chorus. It’s comparable a bit with The Freedom Loop but you’ll definitely need to be a bit … more » »