This Week in Music Tech: Moog Minifoogers, the BlueBoard, Will Saul’s Found Sounds, and More
Moog announcing the launch of its Minifooger series was perhaps the biggest news to arrive […]
Moog announcing the launch of its Minifooger series was perhaps the biggest news to arrive in the gear world this week, but there is still plenty more to catch up on in the latest This Week in Music Tech—including reviews of new Novation gear, a look at the Blueboard Bluetooth MIDI Pedalboard, a discussion on found sound with Will Saul, and an in-depth look at techno’s evolving, hardware-driven live sets.
Earlier this week, XLR8R‘s gear department reviewed a slew of new Novation products, including the company’s Mini suite of compact controllers (pictured above) and a reboot of its classic Bass Station analog synth. Our full review of the Launchkey Mini, Launchpad Mini, and Launch Control MIDI controllers can be read here, while our complete thoughts on the powerful Bass Station II synth can be found here.
Moog officially announced its forthcoming Minifooger series of FX pedals this week. The new collection of FX will be available for under $200 each, making these some of Moog’s most affordable products. The five new stompboxes—the MF Delay, MF Drive, MF Ring, MF Boost, and MF Trem—are shown in action in the demo video above.
IK Multimedia released its iRig BlueBoard Bluetooth MIDI Pedalboard this week. The compact, $99 controller transmits its signals over Bluetooth and is made to be used with any MIDI-accepting app. The ridiculously cheesy promo video above explains the process and various uses of the BlueBoard, but we recommend finding better uses for this cheap, ultra-portable foot controller.
In the latest edition of its Found Sound series, Dummy enlisted Aus label head Will Saul (a.k.a. Close) to highlight a found sound used in his track “Wallflower.” A combination of recorded keys and pens being dropped on a metal surface, slowed-down, and ran through a ’50s-era plate reverb resulted in the audio shared in the player above. Dummy‘s full interview with Saul about the process behind this sound and his approach to using field recordings in his productions can be read here.
Attack Magazine shared an intriguing article this week, covering the rise of hardware-driven live sets within the world of techno. Speaking with outfits like A Guy Called Gerald, Skudge, Juju & Jordash (pictured above), and others, the article discusses the setups of each group and what philosophies drive their performances. Attack‘s full article can be read here.