So I'm wandering through our beautiful city of Bath amongst the usual buskers when I passed a chap playing the craziest automated guitar device I've seen. Unfortunately I was in no mood for a hoe-down, so I carried on. Today, however, I noticed a clip of the 'Bandit' on YouTube and thought it deserved a mention - a feat of engineering you have to admit!

Has anyone else seen a busker with such ingenuity?

It’s funny how one’s musical aspirations become all frisky when you take on board the potential offered by a new leap in computer performance. Loads more number-crunching power means I can do loads more things more quickly. That’s the usual mind-set. And yet, while prepping a remix of a client’s heavy metal tracks the other day, I found myself reaching for the same old tools and using them in the same old ways.

I recall, way back when, the excitement generated by such programs as Cubase for Audio and Cakewalk Pro and their simultaneous audio/MIDI-handling capabilities, as mentioned in a recent FM retrospective on issue 7. And there was a new buzz to be had every time developments at Intel or Apple led to more powerful computers becoming available. This, accompanied by each new version of such programs as Logic, Cubase, Reason and the like, was enough to keep one’s ambitions continually ramping up, with ever more outrageous musical concepts becoming ever more feasible.

I’ll confess that I reached a fuse-blowing moment a few days ago, what with Cubase 4 to master and Live 6 to shake down in the usual magazine-deadline-looms-so-get-them-sorted-quick kind of way. That, along with porting all of my plug-ins from my now dead PC to my Mac and updating them to the latest versions, started to hurt my brains. Then came word of Apple’s plan to not only incorporate 3TB of storage into its next-gen MacPro workstations, but to use eight-core processors. Not dual or quad core – they’ve been and gone and done that already. Eight cores? Much as I like technology, things have been getting a little heavy lately.

Hence it was refreshing to dip into some heavy metal, all rendered as wave files, give it some light EQ and a splash of ambience, then just compress the shit out of it. No samplers, virtual synths, mixer automation or nowt, just straight-ahead rock music that uses a mere fraction of the Mac’s capabilities when mixing. The metal client said “cor” when he saw the amount of technology I could deploy and I didn’t have the heart to tell him that I was planning to use only a wee bit of it for the session. It did make me think, however. Often, the old tools are the best tools because they’ve been proven to work. The greater flexibility offered by many updates is sometimes not needed, although enhanced stability is always welcome. And one doesn’t always need an extra 2GB of RAM, a certain ROMpler library, the latest capabilities of a sequencer or the fastest processor available to adequately realise a musical idea. Keeping up with the latest technology is part of my job as a journalist, but as a musician I can afford to slow down and smell the roses. Technology, or rather the lack of it, need not hinder one’s aspirations. It’s a case of getting on and doing it with what you have, even if it does take a little more time and effort. News of new tech does create a sense of anticipation, but it shouldn’t be an excuse to put things off until you can afford to buy in.

Right, how much for another PowerCore?

Written by Karl Foster

The RAWWWK just wont stop, even when you're sat squeezing out a chocolate hostage, thanks to this guitar based toilet seat from JamminJohns.

Hmmm, what other bad taste musical items can you think of...?

Don't forget we have a MySpace page!

Become our friend and join the community www.myspace.com

FM

P.S. If anyone has any ideas for some fancy MySpace pimping and a decent background image then contact us with the relevant CSS or HTML!

M-Audio has just dropped off their latest MIDI controller, the X-Session Pro. We're expecting more DJ gear from the peeps at M-Audio with their new department concentrating on DJ orientated products. The X-Session is a basic two-channel DJ mixer with two faders for pitch and two for volume control. Powered over USB with class-compliant drivers, it's portable and cheap enough to be worth a look... Watch out for a mini review in the next Future Music Magazine.

Steinberg and Arbiter announce UK Cubase 4 Tour Dates Arbiter will be hosting Cubase 4 presentations at selected venues around the UK. Come and see an in-depth product demonstration, enjoy a few drinks, and ask the product specialists any Cubase related questions you might have.

Birmingham - Music Live (3rd - 5th November)

Manchester - Tuesday 7th November (6:30pm) - Lecture theatre, Manchester Art Gallery

Lecture Theatre Manchester Art Gallery Mosley Street Manchester M2 3JL

London - Wednesday 8th November (7pm) - Invision Suites, Great Russell St

Invision Suites Congress Centre 28 Great Russell Street London WC1B 3LS

For the Manchester and London dates please e-mail marketing@arbitergroup.com to confirm your attendance.

The Music Live demonstrations are open to all visitors.

For more information on times and venues please visit www.arbiter.co.uk

So, I got a call a few weeks ago from a chap who'd applied to the new licensed busking scheme on the London Underground (more information here). Anyway, there are certain rules and checks in place to make sure that the buskers are of a degree of quality before they're accepted on this scheme. Our friend went through all the form-filling and checks, only to be told that busking using a laptop wasn't considered acceptable, as a laptop can't be considerd a 'real' instrument under their T&C. Hmm, okay, so maybe a laptop isn't a 'real' instrument, but surely it's a perfectly credible way to create music? Would they have turned him away if he'd shown up with a Triton or OASYS...? We think not. So are laptops instruments? Are turntables instruments? CDJs? Synths? Where do we draw the line?

Exclusive review: Kaoss returns - the greatest hands-on effects box ever. Technique special: creative feedback and FX. Better bass, guitars and drums. The Big Chill: Spend 48 hours with Coldcut, Mr Scruff and Tom Middleton. Perfect podcasts: access the world's...

Looking to drop us a line or want to know how to get hold of a subscription? Want to book some advertising with Future Music? Here's all the information you'll need. ...