As good as you remember?

Nostalgia. Ah, the good old days of... We were talking to a friend of ours recently about whether many famous things are well remembered because of nostalgia or because they're really that good? Specifically, we were discussing synthesizers like the Roland SH-101. There are synths like the SH-101 that are highly prized but don't seem to really be that great of an instrument. Sure, they have their good points but don't really live up to the hype. The gist of our conversation was about whether these well remembered pieces are really that great or do they just have a great(nostalgic) reputation. It's sort of like when an artist that you've been following for years comes out with something new and you say, "It's good, but not as good as their early stuff". Is the "early stuff" really better or do you just have nostalgia for it? It's really relevant nowadays with all these things from our childhood coming back.

As far as music gear goes, it's interesting to see people paying really inflated prices for certain famous pieces when there are often 'better'(cheaper) alternatives that just don't have the same name recognition. It's something to think about as things like The A-Team and GI-Joe continue to make comebacks. What do you think- are we living in the past too much or were things really that much better in '82?

A Unique Artist On A Fantastic Voyage!

Since many of you who are reading this are fans of electronic music, synthesizers, etc. we thought we'd talk about an artist who is doing some really cool things with a Moog Voyager. Roger O'Donnell has released a number of interesting recordings the past few years, many of them focusing on Moog synthesizers. In fact, two of his albums, "The Truth In Me" and "Songs From The Silver Box", were done entirely on the Voyager. Both are really interesting and highly recommended. "The Truth In Me" album was very inspirational for us as we initially planned our all-analog concept. His latest album, "Piano Formations", is equally well done focusing on "all-piano" pieces.

It's great to see an artist doing such great material, whether or not it's getting played on the radio or whatever. It's very encouraging to independent artist like us. We hope you'll check out his website or hit up iTunes for one of his albums!

Macbeth M5 Filter Demo

Please excuse the poor video quality- the audio sounds great, though!

Here a demo video of the different filter sounds available on the Macbeth M5. There's a wide range of sounds available between the Lowpass and Multi-mode filters.

The Original Little Fatty Strikes Back!

Less Is More?

Over the last few years, we've been trying to streamline our music more and more. We felt that the density and complexity of some of our early material clouded the good songs underneath. It seems like something that artists in all fields have to struggle with in todays computer age. The limitless options available in the digital realm means that anything is possible. Sounds good, so what's the problem? It always seems like limitations(either real or self-imposed) actually make you more creative and inventive. For example, just because Photoshop allows modern artists to do nearly anything doesn't mean that things like poster art, logos, advertising materials, etc. have actually gotten better. In fact, look back at classic poster art, vintage ads, etc. and see if todays art really is better just because 'anything' is possible or if, maybe, limitations helped produce more interesting work before(we thing so!).

We could go on for hours about all this but the point is, we're continually searching to find the right balance between using todays technology to our advantage without stifling our creativity. Like we said at the top of this, we're trying to focus on the pure elements of our songs and not muddy them up with unnecessary production. Hopefully, we've achieved that to some degree and we hope to even more in the future.

Let us know what you think about this idea and how it pertains to your own art, projects, etc. We'd love to hear how you deal with this 'issue'.(if you think it is one!)