<![CDATA[]]> http://anasyn.co.uk/blog/ EN Sun, 07 Apr 2024 11:09:00 +0000 Incomedia WebSite X5 Evo <![CDATA[Integra-7 USB wireless adapter alternative - update 2024]]> imblog This post is to provide a bit more information about the Integra-7 USB wireless adapter as it has been discontinued by Roland.

The original Roland wireless adapter was called the WNA-1 that seems to have had several iterations including;
WNA1100-RL (NetGear model number WNA1100)
ONKYO UFW-1

I searched various suppliers but the only new ones I could find were from Sweetwater in the US and they did not ship to Europe.

I contacted Roland's Integra-7 support ( a big shout out to Ludvig ) who explained that both the Roland adapters used the Artheros AR9271 chipset along with a few adapters that other Integra users had reported success with.

The final one on the list was the Alfa Network AWUS036NHA which was showing available to order from Amazon at a reasonably low price.



This adapter does work well with the Integra-7 and I can now use the Roland Ipad editor without any issues.



It is significantly larger than the originals, however because it ships with a long USB cable it can be positioned in an alternative position using the supplied sticky pads/clamp.

Below is an image showing the Integra connected to the Ipad app using the Alfa






]]> Sun, 07 Apr 2024 11:09:00 GMT http://anasyn.co.uk/blog/?integra-7-usb-wireless-adapter---update-2024 http://anasyn.co.uk/blog/rss/00000000D <![CDATA[Connecting a Roland Integra 7 to Presonus Studio one 5]]> imblog
I found the process to get Studio One 5 connected to the Roland Integra 7 completely unintuitive and time consuming as there seemed to be very little information about how to do this on the web.
As always I am sure there are better ways of doing this, but it worked for me and hopefully this guide can be used to get you started.



I first connected an Arturia Beatstep into the midi in on the Integra using a 5 pin midi cable. I could hear sound and the midi input activity light was lit on the Integra.
I disconnected the Beatstep and plugged in the midi out from my Presonus 18/24 audio interface expecting everything to work. Unfortunately I could not hear any sound and the midi activity light was not lit.
I reconnected the Beatstep and everything worked ok but again...... not when the audio interface was connected.

I use a Komplete Kontrol mk2 keyboard controller to input midi notes into Studio One which is connected over USB.
I use this to input midi into Studio One (using an instrument track). The resulting recorded midi can be played back out through Studio One's midi out port and play external synths, eurorack gear or drum machines etc.
Once again this did not work with the Integra.

The solution was to connect the Integra to my PC using the USB port.
The Integra midi driver should load automatically if you are online. If not you can download the driver from the Roland website (in the Integra support section) and install it manually.

Next go to the setup menu on the Integra, scroll down to USB Driver and change to VENDOR (MIDI+AUDIO) shown below



Next move across to the MIDI settings tab and scroll down to USB-MIDI Thru and turn it off, shown below



Next go into Studio One and declare the Integra 7 as a new external device.
The settings below are the ones that worked for me.



At this point I could hear sound from the Integra and the USB led was lit up on the front panel.



Hope this helps

]]> Thu, 21 Mar 2024 15:47:00 GMT http://anasyn.co.uk/blog/?connecting-a-roland-integra-7-to-presonus-studio-one-5 http://anasyn.co.uk/blog/rss/00000000C <![CDATA[Using a DAW to send midi clock / sync to your Moog DFAM]]> imblog The midi capabilities of my beloved Moog Drummer From Another Mother ( DFAM ) are somewhat limited to say the least ;-)
The directions below are an easy & very basic work around using existing modules in my eurorack enabling sync to many other modules including the DFAM.

My DAW is Studio One but this will be the same for most.

In a new (or existing) song create a new instrument track
In windows press {ctrl}+{shift}+{p} to insert a new pattern into the instrument track
Set the output of the track to send the instrument track midi data to your recording interface (in this case a Presonus 1824)
midi out port. Mine is set to a midi output called Subicon. I am sure you will have your own DAW midi out's setup differently.
(Note that in Studio One you don't need to assign a VST to the instrument track).



Connect a midi cable from the midi out of your recording interface into a eurorack midi converter (I am using a Polyend Poly 2)
indicated by the green arrow (bottom left)



At this point you can just patch one of the Gate outputs from your midi converter into the DFAM.
However as shown in the picture below I have connected the gate 1 output into a Doepfer A160-2 Clock divider (green arrow).
This was designed to be a clock divider for lower frequencies, very useful for alternate rhythm duties.




The output from the Doepfer A160 is then patched into the ADV/CLOCK input on the DFAM



Back in the DAW insert some midi notes into your pattern on the instrument track and press play.



You should be good to go!
It does not matter what midi notes you paint in for this setup as these are only providing a sync / clock pulse to the DFAM
This is also nice as you don't have to keep cycling through the DFAM steps every time when restarting the track.
Before pressing record, let the DAW play a few bars of midi prior to ensure everything is in sync.


]]> Tue, 16 Jan 2024 15:46:00 GMT http://anasyn.co.uk/blog/?how-to-clock-a-moog-dfam-using-a-daw http://anasyn.co.uk/blog/rss/00000000B <![CDATA[65 Days of Static - Live in Manchester ]]> imblog
I went to see my favourite band play live a few nights ago at the New Century Hall in Manchester U.K
The mighty 65 Days Of Static played here during the 10th anniversary tour of the equally mighty Wild Light album.

The show was divided into the first half playing Wild Light with the second half featuring songs from many of their other albums. The unrelenting wall of sound created by the band was epic with song after song crushing whatever spaces remained between the stage and my ears.

I have a few clips recorded to my phone but nothing to do it justice.
Technically the performance was exquisite but a special shout out to the drummer who somehow managed to keep everything rock solid.
The two stand out songs for me were Blackspots ( that intro sequence is just sublime )

and of course Retreat! Retreat! from The Fall Of Math album.

Other classics the band played for us included Crash Tactics off We were exploding anyway and Asimov from the No man’s sky album with Debutante, Install a beak in the heart that clucks time in Arabic and Radio protector to name a few.
 

Anyway, an astonishing band and brilliant night, thank you 65DOS!!

 
If you have not had a chance to listen to this band, a great place to start is with the Wild Light album. Below is a YouTube link. I would recommend a good pair of speakers / earphones for an appreciation of what is going on in these songs.
   
 
Here is a link to the band playing live at the Exit festival in 2019
 

There are still a few shows left to play in Europe if you can make any of these dates......you really should !


]]> Wed, 20 Sep 2023 15:43:00 GMT http://anasyn.co.uk/blog/?65-days-of-static---live-in-manchester-15th-sept-2023 http://anasyn.co.uk/blog/rss/00000000A <![CDATA[The power of bad ideas]]> imblog Another 2 years have evaporated very quickly and the task of preparing a new collection of something's has been outsourced to Distrokid. With no fanfare, these have been collected into a virtual buffer somewhere on Apple's servers waiting release onto ITunes.
It usually takes a few days for this process to complete, presumably because Drake, Taylor Swift etc are higher up the priority queue. This gives me a couple of weeks to update the website with more ramblings and artwork pictures for said something's.

After much deliberation (no, seriously) I collected them all under a title " The power of bad ideas ".
This seems to reflect some thoughts that have occurred to me while struggling to contain these something's and reconcile global events over this time............ but more on that later.

]]> Mon, 21 Aug 2023 10:11:00 GMT http://anasyn.co.uk/blog/?the-power-of-bad-ideas http://anasyn.co.uk/blog/rss/000000009 <![CDATA[Presonus Studio1824 and ADA8200 ADAT 8 channel input expansion]]> imblog This entry is about how to connect a Behringer ADA8200 to a Presonus Studio 1824 audio interface. In this case I wanted to add 8 extra inputs from the individual outputs of my drum kit. This photo shows the individual audio direct outs from a Roland TD-50 drum module




These are plugged into the front panel of the Behringer ADA8200 ADAT audio interface shown below




This is the rear layout of the Studio 1824 audio interface with the ADAT in / out ports highlighted within the red square



and this is the rear of the Behringer ADA8200



Note the digital I/O sockets highlighted in red and the Master / Slave Sync selectors highlighted in blue

You will require 2 "Toslink" optical cables often used for surround sound AV systems and are available at good music stores to connect the two units together.
Simply connect the ADAT out of the ADA8200 to the ADAT I/O in of the Studio 1824 interface with one of your Toslink cables.
Connect the ADAT in of the ADA8200 to the ADAT I/O out of the Studio 1824 interface with the second Toslink cable.

The clock signals for the ADAT connections can be carried by the Toslink cables so we don't require an extrnal clock reference.
Set the Sync option highlighted by the blue square on the ADA8200 to Master and select your sample rate. I use 44.1 KHz so I set to that.

Switch on the ADA8200, Studio 1824 interface and start your computer.
Open a new song in Studio one and navigate to the Audio I/O Setup page
You should see something similar to the image below



All your available inputs will be listed along the top of the grid and you can see the 8 ADAT inputs here on the top right hand side
Your labels in the left hand column will likely be different to mine depending on how you already have your Studio 1824 configured.
In my case I plugged the bass drum output from the TD-50 module into jack 1 of the ADA8200, snare drum into jack 2 and so on.
These can all be renamed as you choose. When you add a new track to your song these input labels will be available for you to choose from in a drop down list.

Here is a photo showing the 2 Toslink cables connected to the Presonus Studio 1824 ( shown in red square )




Here is a photo showing the cables into the ADA8200. Unfortunately the sync selector switch setting is not very clear.




If you do have problems, first check the ADA8200 front panel SYNC led's MASTER and LOCKED are both on ( highlighted in blue square ).



This indicates your issue is likely within the configuration of your Studio one software and the ADA8200 is talking nicely to the Studio 1824 audio interface.
Be aware that as you increase the sample rate above 48KHz you will reduce the amount of individual channels that can be recorded at the same time.

]]> Sun, 23 Apr 2023 10:26:00 GMT http://anasyn.co.uk/blog/?presonus-1824-adat-8-channel-input-expansion http://anasyn.co.uk/blog/rss/000000008 <![CDATA[Synthfest UK - 2022]]> imblog
I visited the show a couple of weeks ago which was the first one since Covid.
Lots of uber expensive stuff on show and there seemed to be a lot more hardware to play with this year than at previous shows.

It cost more to park the car for 2 hours than it did pay for a ticket to enter but there was a lot of very cool vintage stuff on show and I highly recommend it if you get chance to go.

Here is a link if you are interested https://www.synthfest.co.uk/
]]> Fri, 21 Oct 2022 14:31:00 GMT http://anasyn.co.uk/blog/?synthfest-uk---2022 http://anasyn.co.uk/blog/rss/000000007 <![CDATA[Zen & the art of mixing]]> imblog
This is a brilliant book that doesn't actually cover any prescribed how to mix technical information.
It covers just about everything to do with mixing and it turns out I have been doing it all wrong....no surprises here then!

It is extremely funny and provides more about how to get in the right mindset when it comes to dealing with your mixes.
I got the audio version for listening in the car and it comes in at just over 9 hours long.

The chapters on Arrangement and Focus were fascinating as was the mastering section, particularly if you don't have thousands of dollars to throw at your recordings.

The book is full of humour, the guy is obviously super experienced and it was great to hear some honest and quite controversial views regarding AI mastering and software assisted processes.
]]> Thu, 06 Oct 2022 20:17:00 GMT http://anasyn.co.uk/blog/?zen---the-art-of-mixing http://anasyn.co.uk/blog/rss/000000006 <![CDATA[The mastering show podcast #85 with mixerman]]> imblog
I heard a great episode of the mastering show podcast a couple of days ago featuring an interview with Mixerman aka Eric Sarafin.

It was a very pragmatic and open (some might say controversial) discussion why he thinks if you don't make money from your music you shouldn't pay for mastering and why anything above -10 LUFS is a joke........amongst many others.
I am just about to get his book "Zen and the art of mixing". I hope for great things, I really do.....

Below is a link to the podcast


https://youtu.be/7decKIIcNec]]> Sun, 18 Sep 2022 13:51:00 GMT http://anasyn.co.uk/blog/?the-mastering-show-podcast--85-with-mixerman http://anasyn.co.uk/blog/rss/000000005 <![CDATA[Misadventures in modern recording]]> imblog


I thought it would be a good idea to start a list of updates / misadventures Anasyn has endured while recording some more something's down here in the basement. I look back with incredulity that the something's on just one photon coalesced onto chunks of repetitive sine waves that somehow came to pop into existance.

The "how's and why's" are unimportant, popping into & out of existence is the nature of all things eventually, I suppose. Meanwhile a second set of something's is currently under construction with unintended consequences for all involved.

The inconsequence of these sinusoidal collisions cannot be understated so I will leave any introductions here, at the start.
]]> Tue, 06 Sep 2022 13:10:00 GMT http://anasyn.co.uk/blog/?misadventures-in-modern-recording http://anasyn.co.uk/blog/rss/000000004