Hope by Failed Muso

My latest ditty...



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Behringer

Behringer.

What's the first thought that came into your head after saying that word ?

Cheap, mass produced crap ?

Ripped off intellectual property and blatant plagiarism ?

Excellent value for money ?

Budget but good ?

If it wasn't for Behringer, I'd never had got a chance to start exploring my musical talents on my restricted budget ?

I'm pretty sure it would be one of those, and probably one (or both) of the first too, I bet.

Wherever I look on this big ol' internet, I find "purists" slating Behringer for their (lack of) quality or their bare faced cheek in producing something that "is so obviously a rip off of product XYZ". And at the same time, I find stuff about how affordable and how surprised people were with their gear.

Now, my experience with Behringer is fairly limited so far, but I have to say it's been good. The only bit of Behringer gear I currently own is a set of HPS3000 headphones that have lasted me a good 4 or 5 years and still work and look like new. that's more than can be said of the very expensive Senheissers they replaced !

What has prompted this post is the fact that I have just ordered Behringer's latest toy, the UMA25S...




(more on this when it arrives !).

In my search for an affordable solution to my mobile music making conundrum, I stumbled across this and at £79.99, it seemed too good to miss ! Of course, people have been saying to me since that it will only last a few weeks, or it's performance will be so poor that I will be chucking it across the room. All based on their pre-conceived idea of Behringer and it's "quality", as many of these people have enver even owned Behringer gear. They just believe the hype.

It is true that in their early days, they did indeed produce some questionable products of questionable quality, and it seems that label has stuck as it always tends to do.

I've worked in retail in the past and know all too well what boxshifters are. Create some crap, dress it up, pile it high, sell it cheap. Turnover is that good and profits are that healthy that they far outweight the number of returns.

But it seems that Behringer are definitely not box shifters. They seem to be a company who are progressive, forward thinking and above all, committed to producing quality products at the best possible prices, focusing on the largest segment of the music making market, the cash strapped home and amateur musician.

How do I know this ? Well, it's clear from reading the many and various articles on the company and their ever increasing sales, innovation and manufacturing expansion. Whilst reading about them, I discovered the following two part video diary made by Australian Music Magazine, Audio Technology (think SOS but with a beer and a BBQ !), whilst on a tour of Behringer's China facility.

It's contents surprised me, as well as the guy who made the video diary itself, it would seem. Whilst Chinese factory production seems strange to us in the west, Behringer certainly seem to have taken a lead on utilising their skills and work ethic. I found it very compelling viewing.

See for yourselves...

Part 1



Part 2



I think it's great to see a company with so much enthusiasm doing so well and challenging the existing hierarchy. And how many other manufacturers feature a product specific forward written by the company's owner and founder (who also remains head of R&D) ?

Uli Behringer is making his mark. (yes, that is his own LinkedIn page !)

Jaded Sea by Lee Thomson feat. Failed Muso

The beginnings of an online musical collaboration between myself and Lee Thomson. Lee wrote the song and I created an arrangement and backing track in Propellerheads Reason. I am working on being able to track Lee's vocals and guitar online so I can come up with a proper mix. Watch this space.

This is just my instrumental backing. Check out the two video's after this one for Lee's original video and her clip of her singing to this track. Remember, this is early days so quality is understandably basic.

Written by Lee Thomson
Arranged and performed by Rob Puricelli.

©2008 Lee Thomson & Rob Puricelli.

Is this the scariest synth video ever !!??!!??

A Yamaha GX-1 being delivered through the window...[via cnxww893]



I, for one, would be crapping my pants !!!

Top stuff !

Yamaha CS1x Demo - Part 4

And finally, the last part of my run through of some of my favourite sounds from the Yamaha CS1x...



Not sure what to do next. Maybe the Korg Prophecy. Let me know if you have any preferences.

Yamaha CS1x Demo - Part 3

As promised, Part 3 of my basic demo of my Yamaha CS1x...



One more to follow to wrap the CS1x up.

Mattel Synsonics Demo

Another in my series of basic (and I do mean basic !) demos of some of my favourite bits of gear. Here is the Mattel Synsonics, a piece of gear I lusted over as a young boy, thinking it would be my ticket to super mega stardom as the most supreme drummer of all time. Sadly, my pocket money couldn't stretch to it, and my parents figured that I'd be far better served by a Subbuteo set, as a career in table football was much better :-s

I eventually found one of these in mint condition on eBay and promptly snapped it up. Sadly, after almost 30 years of waiting, I was slightly underwhelmed, but I'm sure it would've blown my mind back in the day.

Apparently, Kraftwerk used these at one point.



Enjoy.

Yamaha CS1x Demo - Part 2

Ok, here's Part 2 of my CS1x demo....



I figure there'll be two more parts to come :o)

Yamaha CS1x Demo - Part One

I thought I'd do a series of posts over the coming week, showcasing some of my favourite sounds from my keyboards and stuff in the studio here. So, we kick things off with the first part of my CS1x demonstration. Once again, I warn you about my complete lack of keyboard playing skills.



There will be a few more from the CS1x, and then expect to see similar stuff from the Yamaha DX27, SU-10, RM1x, Korg Prophecy, Alesis Fusion, Mattel Synsonics, Akai MPC's 500 & 1000, S6000 & Z8 and Roland SC88-VL and PMA-5.

Slaves To The Rhythm

At long last, Trevor Horn's 2004 concert in celebration of his 25 years in the industry, and in aid of The Prince's Trust, is finally available in the UK on DVD. Having been previously available only in Japan (I'm guessing for copyright issues), there is now a Region 0 release and mine is already on order.

Clips have been on YouTube for some while, teasing and goading me, but at last I will be able to savour this in all it's live, 5.1 glory.

Here's a couple of tasters...

Elka X-605 - For Sale

Well, as you may have seen earlier this year, I acquired an Elka X-605 Combo Organ. After much deliberation, I have decided to sell it on. I have two main reasons for this. Firstly, It is a rather large and hefty beast whose functions and sounds I already have in bucket loads in other, more convenient instruments, such as my Alesis Fusion and Akai samplers. Whilst some might argue on the side of authenticity, I would counter that with the fact that the Elka isn't quite a Hammond or other such organ classic and therefore is much easier to replicate digitally.

Secondly, I need the funds as I plan to purchase a new camera, something I have been trying to do for some time.

As this is surplus to requirements I am putting it on eBay UK and hoping she goes for a reasonable price. If you are interested, this item is in Suffolk, UK. I will not be offering shipping of any kind due to the immense weight of it. It will be collection only. The starting price will be £99.99. The only "problem" with it is that it does not have the legs nor the swell pedal. It does, however, come with the service schematics. Other than that, it is in perfect working order.

Interested parties should contact me via the eBay auction or via email.

See this post for more pictures.

Here is a video demonstrating it's perfect working order.

Out There by Failed Muso

Just another quick sketch of a piece I'm working on. Similar to my last one, it uses Ableton Live as the sequencer. This track features Native Instruments' Absynth and FM8 as well as Arturia's CS-80V. Percussion is a loop that comes with Live called "Out There" and the drums are provided from another MIDI loop direct from Live.



© 2008 Roberto Puricelli © 2008 Failed Muso All Rights Reserved.

Stevie Wonder & TONTO

More than just an instrument, TONTO helped Stevie define the progress of electronics and synths in modern music.

Stevie Wonder - Papa Was A Rolling Stone with Talkbox

Fonky !!!!

I love this man, and this was his golden age.

Replicas [cover]

Blimey, I've got video diarrhoea !!

Ok, I programmed this a while back but thought I'd perform it "live", so everything you hear is programmed by my own fair hand and the lead line is played absolutely live by me. Trust me, with my obvious talent shortage, that takes some doing !! ;o)

The tune, albeit a brief version, is Replicas by Tubeway Army / Gary Numan. It's based more on the live version than the album version.

Everything is done on Reason. It's not the most exciting video in the world. Just me triggering various parts on Reason and then trying ever so hard not to fuck up the lead line !

Enjoy...

Just like a London Bus, none for ages and then 3 at once !!

Here's a little something I put together tonight, inspired by the Blade Runner patch I was dickin' about with earlier. It's just a video of the sequence as I triggered it from Ableton Live. This demo features the Nostalgia VSTi for the D50 patch, Arturia's CS-80V for the Blade Runner "horn" patch, one of Live's own loops for percussion and the Alesis Fusion doing some Emulator II Strings.

Enjoy.



© 2008 Roberto Puricelli © 2008 Failed Muso All Rights Reserved.

And another video !!

The same Blade Runner melody, this time on the Alesis Fusion using a specially created patch by Fusion Club member, Electrique...

At last ! A video of me playing !!

Well, it has often been requested, yet never delivered. Until now !

Recorded to launch Failed Muso's very own YouTube channel.

I simply don't have the keyboard skills of someone like Shepitology and so have shyed away from ever displaying my [lack of] keyboard skills. Sequencers were invented specifically for people like me ;o) Anyway, beered up as I am (Mmmmm...gotta love Heineken. Any beer manufacturer that has a museum with authentic smells of piss is top in my book !), I have just recorded this as I was dicking around with Arturia's CS-80V. I'm sure the melody is familiar.

So, may I present myself, using Arturia's CS-80V, hosted by Chainer, with my Akai MPK49, performing the melody line from Blade Runner's Main Titles, by Vangelis.

Really, don't get too excited....



:UPDATE:

I have now transferred a tutorial on the MPC500 that I had on my own personal channel...

Scrubs - Overkill

Isn't it bizarre how your mind works, especially when you give it the internet to feed off of. Ok, I was just checking out Riemann's Cut (you know, I still haven't figured out what that means) which is one of my favourite personal blogs, mainly because the blogger is much like me in his opinions and outlook on life, and I noticed this post about how he figures the lead singer of The Feeling, Dan Gillespie Sells, sounds like Roger Taylor of Queen, and I responded in the comments that it might turn out like another Sting Vs Colin Hay (lead singer of Men At Work) moment. For those of you old enough to remember, Sting allegedly decided to sue Colin because he felt that Colin was mimicking (read "ripping off") Sting's faux "jamaican" singing accent. How true that ever was, I don't know, but it was worth a giggle, nonetheless.

Anyway, I just happened to look for Colin on Wikipedia, which then lead me to his appearance on hit US comedy "Scrubs" and then I found the appearance on YouTube and remembered how much I loved that scene. Simply one of the best TV show/music tie ins ever !

Enjoy...