Search dance music

Notes: Another update for WMD's clever dual VCA, this time a little bigger to give more control. Digital control of CV and attenuation gives lots of creative options. Third time's a charm.

Supplier's Notes:
WMD have done several designs of this circuit over the years, the first one had no knobs, the second was too small, the MKIII is finally how this circuit should be packaged. This module does some really cool stuff and is super useful in any system.

The Digital VCA lets signal through like a normal VCA, but the CV and attenuation level is controlled digitally. This lets us do things like wait until there is a zero crossing to change the amplitude, resulting in clickless amplitude changes.

The Trigger mode causes the VCA to only update when a trigger is received. The addition of a noise circuit for each side let us do a very quick and easy sample and hold that never droops. With no input, 5V is normaled to the attenuator, so you get a 0-5V sample and hold. In Bipolar mode, you can get -5 to +5V.

Both sides have bipolar VCA mode (polarizer), which lets them invert the signal when negative CV comes in. Also known as ring modulation. With the zero crossing detector, this can produce some super wild wave shapes.

Features

Dual VCA Design
Unipolar or Bipolar Operation
DC Coupled Analogue Signal Path
Low Distortion / Low Noise
VCA Closes Completely
Zero Crossing Detector Mode
Trigger Mode
Two Independent Noise Sources
8 bit CV resolution
Great for Fast Envelopes and Sine Bass Sounds

Specifications

Power: +65mA, -45mA
Width: 8HP
Depth: 35mm with cables
Height: Eurorack 3U (128.5mm)
Board Height Behind Panel: 112mm
CV/Signal Input Impedance: 100k
Output Impedance: 1k
UPD in 3.3V Threshold Schmitt Trigger
ZCD produces 15us 5V pulse
5V CV to fully open VCA
Linear VCA response
20Vpp signal handling

Notes: If guitar is your passion, you need freedom and flexibility to explore all of its sound possibilities. The Zoom G3n Multi-Effects processor removes any creative barriers in your way.

The G3n is a versatile multi-effects processor that lets you defy genre with the most realistic stompbox, cabinet, and amplifier emulations Zoom has ever created. Its high-quality sound, portable design, 80 second Looper, and intuitive interface make it the perfect addition to your pedalboard. To put it simply, the G3n offers all the sounds and tools you need to improve your tone and sound greater than ever.

Boutique Pedals, Legendary Amps, and Superior Effects:

The G3n is pre-loaded with 70 expertly crafted and assembled DSP effects (68 effects, 1 looper pedal, and 1 rhythm pedal), plus 10 of the most realistic amp/cabinet emulators Zoom have ever created. Zoom have loaded the G3n with essential guitar sounds like overdrive, distortion, compression, EQ, delay, reverb, flanging, phasing, vibrato, and chorusing. Unique multi-effects such as Seq Filter, Reverse Delay, HD Hall, and OSC Echo are also included.

Create Complex Signal Chains:

Use up to seven effects and amp/cabinet models simultaneously, chained together in any order you like. It's like having hundreds of fully loaded pedalboards all in one compact and easy-to-use device.

Accurate, Realistic Amp and Cabinet Emulation:

Choose from five classic amp models and adjust the sound exactly as you would with the knobs and switches of the real thing - and then pair your amp with one of the five new cabinet emulators to complete the sound. Plus, you can download even more faithfully recreated amp/cabinet combinations such as Fender Bassman, Hi-Watt Custom 100, Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier Orange Channel, Fender '65 Deluxe Reverb, and Orange Graphic120 - available now with more being released every month.

75 Custom-Crafted Patches and Counting:
Recreate essential guitar tones and pioneer new territory with 75 custom-designed patches created exclusively by Zoom guitarists. Use these patches to emulate the iconic sounds of Eddie Van Halen, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Carlos Santana, Michael Schenker, and Brian May or explore something completely brand new.

Fast and Intuitive Editing:

The G3n's switches and knobs give you enhanced control and have the responsive, hands-on feel of a standard stompbox. The G3n combines three LCD displays to show whole effect-chains at a glance, making it easy to add, delete, or change the order of effects quickly. Plus, you can store up to 150 of your custom effects-chains as patches.

Practice and Perform:

There are 68 built-in rhythm patterns included with the G3n, making it the perfect practice rig and enabling "one-man band" performances. An onboard Looper (which can be used with the rhythm patterns) allows you to record and overdub phrases up to 80 seconds long through the effects of your choice. A built-in chromatic tuner lets you bypass the currently selected patch while tuning, or mute the signal altogether.

Inputs and Outputs:

The G3n can be easily integrated into any live performance or studio rig. In addition to a standard guitar input, there's an auxiliary stereo input for connecting smartphones or music players. It also includes a dedicated headphone jack for practice and dual outputs for mono or stereo L/R connection to guitar amps, PA systems, and audio interfaces. The Mic On/Off feature lets you optimize the G3n for use with a real amp and cabinet (Mic Off) as well as optimize for playing through a PA system or recording direct with amp and cabinet emulators (Mic On).

ZOOM Guitar Lab Software:

The free ZOOM Guitar Lab Mac/Windows software enables you to manage your patches and download new effects and amp/cabinet emulators. It includes both a Patch Manager for effects chains and an Effects Manager, with a simple graphic user interface that provides point-and-click control over re-naming or re-ordering your custom patches.

Review: This massive anthology box set compiles all five volumes of the Stereolab Switched On series: 94 non-album tracks and sought after deep cuts by the group. Beginning with the original Switched On compilation LP from 1992, the series that ensued - though entirely comprised of deep cuts - still makes for a comprehensive jaunt through the Anglo-French auteurs' oeuvre, which never once lets up on quality. Every track here could've appeared on a full-length, so it's a testament to the band's work ethic that they simply had this much material to follow up with. Warp's comprehensive new 8xCD includes experimental highlights such as the original weirdo-chanson 'Plastic Mile', an Autechre remix of 'Refractions In The Plastic Pulse' and the stripped back 'XXXOOO', among many other gemstones.

Review: Smoked-out Texan psych troupe Khruangbin have picked a pretty apt moment to release this recording of their live show at Villain, Brooklyn. For starters, it's summer 2020, and if it weren't for a global pandemic there's a good chance a few of us would be recovering from the night before to a late-afternoon, or better yet early-evening performance from this lot at some festival or other. Secondly, because of said health crisis, we're all starved of the unique qualities that come from a band playing in the flesh. Dinner is definitely served here, then, via generous helpings of Laura Lee's bass-laden grooves and gorgeous, intoxicatingly airy vocal delivery. First laid down in 2018, when Khruangbin were touring in support of their second album, while 'Con Todo El Mundo' provides the majority of musical moments here, really 'Live At Villain' is a self-contained record - an hour or so of the band's typically magical and engrossing stage stuff, captured for keeps.

Review: 'The Essential Radio Birdman' compiles the most integral, anthemic and hard hitting of the Sydney proto-punk n' roll heroes' definitive first three albums (long out of print and costly to accumulate), and delivers them on newly pressed wax.

Underrated and ahead of their time, the writing partnership of Michigan born guitarist Deniz Tek and vocalist Rob Younger, led to a spree of surf rock leaning cynical, witty barrages that not only still stand the test of time, but deserve a major reappraisal with regards to the extent of their influence.

Review: For fans of minimal wave and DIY electronic pop, Oppenheimer Analysis's self-released 1982 debut cassette, New Mexico - little more than an extended demo cassette - has become something of a collector's item. While it has been reissued digitally since, it never received a vinyl release. In tribute to Martin Lloyd (the other half of the duo, alongside Andy Oppenheimer), who passed away recently, Minimal Wave has decided to make New Mexico available on wax for the first time. While the sound quality is appropriately dusty (it was badly recorded in the first place, of course), the music remains magical - bubbling, evocative, left-of-centre leftfield pop created with home-made synthesizers, modular hardware and little else. It's no wonder many consider it a classic album (even if was never officially released first time round).

Review: Mad About Records officially reissues super rare private press Quintessence's 1981 LP. Surprisingly for the level of talent and production / recording wit that it flaunts, Quintessence was one of many original jazz LPs to remain in private circulation and thus completely wanting of the public ear. Led by Ron Ancrum, with George Sovak, David Gaedeke, Winston Johnson and Steve Muse, the band nonetheless recorded an exceptional slice of artistic pie here, bringing Rhodesy, tritoning sundowners to the then already well-fleshed milieu of 80s jazz, an unmistakably bulbous and gaudy sound to which Quintessence do much justice; our favourite here by far is 'In My Apartment', a tssking blue-jazz suite for boughed double bass and noir piano.

Review: The long-gestating follow up to 1992's initial instalment, Black Aria II would finally arrive in 2006 after years of discussion from Misfits/Samhain horror-punk visionary Glenn Danzig, and further his exploration into the cavernous realms of modern classical dark ambience. Conceptually based around Lillith, the first wife of Adam, the material here is far more minimalist and starker than its gothic predecessor, while utilising a more varied array of instruments on top of the pre-established organ and strings, with more Eastern sonic influences to conjure a mercurial vision independent of the preceding volume. Complete with eerie chimes, chants and esoteric lamentations, the project marks one of Danzig's most intriguing works when compared to, say, his Elvis covers compilations, and offers a transportive, biblical, haunting narrative delivered almost exclusively via instrumental atmospherics and insidious gloom.

Review: There was a big fuss made when Aaliyah's music finally made it to streaming services late last year, which shows just how in demand it remains over a quarter of a century after it first hit record stores. Her self titled long player was an early and frankly just about unbeatable blueprint for r&b that has more than stood the test of time. With guests posts from Static From Playa and Timbaland she opened up on all manner of subjects from rejection to love, personal anxiety to better times. The slick production still sounds fresh, as does the timeless vocal work.

Review: Since the unveiling of their decrepit debut EP Granular Transformation at the end of 2020, Californian doom-tinged tech-death brutalists Apparition have become a hushed name and recommended extremity amongst the caverns of audible ugliness. Following on from 2021's insidious and unsettling full-length LP Feel, the band return with Disgraced Emanations From A Tranquil State; a monolithic opus set to eclipse any of the muted hope of their previous material. Dissecting forms of early psychedelic proto-doom, but with the sole intention of re-channelling those fuzzed out sonics into abyssal swathes of complex, heaving dread, this isn't your beer-chugging, whiplash-headbanging gross out death metal (while there's always a place for that). Rather, this is a cosmic realm of Lovecraftian variety, designed to enthral, impress, touch, harrow, and haunt in equal measure. Arriving courtesy of Canadian extreme metal peddlers Profound Lore, no refunds will be offered for those lost to the abyss.

Review: English alternative-garage psyche rockers (and that barely comes close) Spacemen 3 had a serious reputation for their live shows. Inducing the kind of trance-like states in their audiences we more commonly associate with the endless spirals of dance music, for some the trio are godfathers of shoegaze, writing the book on that epic guitar opera long before people really knew what to call it, helping set the tone for the more exploratory side of 1980s rock. Simply put, they were a group you'd feel lucky to have experienced live, and even this five track opus of mind-melting rhythms, discordance and pent up energy is a pretty incredible thing to behold. Recorded live at Melkweg, Amsterdam, and originally released in 1989, once you've lost a few minutes in the refrains, builds, and crescendos you'll understand the cult status of this release - thankfully now repressed.

Notes: FM3's iconic generative music box gets an update for 2023. Simple to use, but capable of creating unique, evolving soundscapes. Available in a range of colours.

Supplier's Notes:
The classic loops of the original FM3 Buddha Machine evoke instant nostalgia for a slower, more simple world.

Born before the iPhone era, this iconic device has weathered two decades of pop culture and fashion trends, yet remains defiantly, heroically unique.

Its enduring simplicity cloaks an extraordinary power: the ability to transcend time. It is both a sonic portal to a hands-on analogue past and a bridge to a digital ever-present.

This is not just a re-issue; it is a revival and refinement of a sonic manifesto that unfolds softly, gently and organically, resonating with the subtle rhythms of life.

The Buddha 1 2023 edition from FM3.

Available now in 5 colours: Red, Orange, Green, Blue and limited-edition Pink. Features upgraded sound quality and user experience.

A louder speaker and 2 new individual side buttons make the device control more direct and intuitive.

Notes: FM3's iconic generative music box gets an update for 2023. Simple to use, but capable of creating unique, evolving soundscapes. Available in a range of colours.

Supplier's Notes:
The classic loops of the original FM3 Buddha Machine evoke instant nostalgia for a slower, more simple world.

Born before the iPhone era, this iconic device has weathered two decades of pop culture and fashion trends, yet remains defiantly, heroically unique.

Its enduring simplicity cloaks an extraordinary power: the ability to transcend time. It is both a sonic portal to a hands-on analogue past and a bridge to a digital ever-present.

This is not just a re-issue; it is a revival and refinement of a sonic manifesto that unfolds softly, gently and organically, resonating with the subtle rhythms of life.

The Buddha 1 2023 edition from FM3.

Available now in 5 colours: Red, Orange, Green, Blue and limited-edition Pink. Features upgraded sound quality and user experience.

A louder speaker and 2 new individual side buttons make the device control more direct and intuitive.

Notes: The classic loops of the original FM3 Buddha Machine evoke instant nostalgia for a slower, more simple world.

Born before the iPhone era, this iconic device has weathered two decades of pop culture and fashion trends, yet remains defiantly, heroically unique.

Its enduring simplicity cloaks an extraordinary power: the ability to transcend time. It is both a sonic portal to a hands-on analogue past and a bridge to a digital ever-present.

This is not just a re-issue; it is a revival and refinement of a sonic manifesto that unfolds softly, gently and organically, resonating with the subtle rhythms of life.

The Buddha 1 2023 edition from FM3.

Available now in 5 colours: Red, Orange, Green, Blue and limited-edition Pink. Features upgraded sound quality and user experience.

A louder speaker and 2 new individual side buttons make the device control more direct and intuitive.