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Review: Random Factor's 'On The Air' EP is a hugely sought-after classic by those who know. It came on Ralph Lawson's ever-reliable 20/20 Vision and now, as it turns 25 years old, he has decided it is the right time to get it remastered and reissued. 'On The Air' is first up on this fine EP from Carl Finlow and it has serene synths that bring to mind Detroit techno soul over pulsing bass and slick drums. 'Lockdown' has a raw vocoder vocal over punchy drums and twitchy synth stabs and 'Undercurrent' is another weapon that has more than withstood the test of time as it bumps along on funky drums and is overlaid with more playful synth patterns. 'Disconnect' is a crunchy and 8-bit closer with pixelated synths and screwy acid lines. Superb.

Review: The dynamic duo Octave One starts off 2024 with a new EP that features new versions of two of their own classics and a brand new song. 'Price We Pay' has two remixes featured here, with the both being massive main stage crowd pleasers. 'Mirror Image' is a slick downtempo track that shows the pair's creativity for making great dance music. Last, the new version of 'A Better Tomorrow' is updated to be more futuristic and spacey. Messages From The Mothership Volume 1 are a great sign of things to come as Octave One explores more of their long and impressive discography.

Review: Unchained is the longstanding solo project of Nathaniel Davis. Gabbeh is his latest offering to the world, a suite of blissfully introspective tracks that envelop the soul in a blanket of soft, delicate moods, their sole purpose to comfort aching heads. Remarkably, dedicated fans will know you can trace the artist's lineage to noise mix tapes on CD-R, although more recent excursions into Bossa nova influenced tones perhaps help bridge the gap between then and now. Recorded at home over a three year period, from 2020 to 2023, Grenoble, Switzerland, played a big part in end results here. "I think certain songs reflect, in ways, Grenoble's natural surroundings. 'Drac' is named after the river that flows from the mountains down to the city - 'Dru' is the name of a well-known peak near Chamonix," Davis has explained. That as may be, nevertheless there's something more transportive than that here - songs feel as though they would be at home anywhere green, slow and thoughtful.

Review: At least one person has described Scythe's work as "expertly modulated space blues and isolationist architectures." First emerging from the ether (or at least that's how we like to think of it) through a series of clandestine cassette releases on Low Company in 2019 and 2020, Head X'Change almost feels like the culmination of all that has come before. A weird and truly wonderful place to spend time. A collaborative project between David West and R.A. Jones, elements of kosmische intermingle with a kind of earthy ambience, DIY electronics leading into white noise moments or new age melodies. At times it's so joyfully opiate you wonder if there's any way of getting back up off the pillow. In other moments, there's tension, eeriness, and uncertainty. Once you're in, it's a wild ride indeed.

Review: Colin Dunkerley, aka the artist Lapsed Pacifist, navigates the world as a sound engineer by day and leaves little time for his own music. He has plenty of accolades for his work from a niche audience for his productions under the alias Negative Neutron but for years wanted to pursue a more dark ambient route. Finally, he has made time to indulge his own music-making endeavours and now presents Hypatia, an album that materialised over an extended period. It features field recordings and audio loops processed through his modular setup and takes inspiration from Marco Polo's imaginary cities and rather mirrors Dunkerley's creative journey as it evokes memories of cold, distant places and the emotions they stir.

Review: The present face of IDM is here heard occupied by dream duo D'Arcangelo and Karsten Plum, whose latest joint effort for Acid Avengers bowls us over with its acid tweezings, pangs, twingings, twangs, thrums and flits-past. The pH scale skyrockets to the point of insanity on Pflum's side, with 'Hornfish Acid' and 'Aroe Acid' jointly corroding the full length of the Earth's core with their snippy but incisive sizzles and 'ows, until we reach a forbidden underworld uncannily reminiscent of Oz - except the faces of the protagonists are horribly twisted into a yellow, illegal-raved rictuses. D'Arcangelo's 'Gawain' does equally as much with its eerie sprung-verbed chroma-chords and muted but moving melodies; so too does 'Walker Two' raise the tempo to silly speeds, coming as a veritable velociraptor of Druqks-y breaks and drill bits, all let loose from the barrel at a surely illegal rate of fire.

Review: A year after dropping his acclaimed album 'Billy Valentine And The Universal Truth' with Flying Dutchman and Acid Jazz Records, Billy unveils a fresh take on a soul classic. Recorded at LA's prestigious Henson Recording Studio, alongside producer Bob Thiele Jr. and a stellar band including Larry Goldings, Pino Paladino, Jeff Parker, James Gadson, and John Philip Shenale, he introduces three new tracks. His rendition of Gil Scott-Heron's 'Lady Day & John Coltrane', debuted on Gilles Peterson's BBC6Music, mesmerising live audiences. This special edition 7" includes a unique edit of 'Home Is Where The Hatred Is', not previously available on vinyl.

Review: The now ten year old 'Acid Test 09' sees a special tenth Anniversary Edition repress with a new vocal mix of the track 'Test 3'. The original EP, released in 2014, saw acid nomad Tin Man team up with techno dreamweaver Donato Dozzy for three slices of deep acid and dubby, bleepy ambient; this special anniversary version adds a surprise new vocal mix on the A2, with either Dozzy or Tin Man himself gracing the beats with a set of carefree, moony phonic impressions, lyrically concerning the object of his affections looking oh so good on the dancefloor. We already know and love the rest; it's up to you to put the new addition to the test.

Review: ***B-STOCK: Sleeve damaged but otherwise in excellent condition***


Robert Owens is absolutely one of the voices of his generation. He has lent his tender tones to more classic tracks than you could possibly mention and he continues to do so nowadays with a wholeness generation of producer who want a touch go his authenticity. He has recently achieved another career milestone with a superbly poignant new single that comes with sublime remixes. DJ Spinna's re-flip adds his usual sense of soul and Adeen Records label head Camille then brings some South African Amapiano vibes. Nico Lahs takes it on with a heavy house groove and Scott Hess brings some classic acid jack to his version.

Review: UK mainstay Subb-An makes a welcome return with this fresh new EP on Aesthetic. It finds him in great form with opener 'Seeing Colours' heading off down a nice liquid minimal route with crisp tech drums and twinkling synths up top to bring the magic. On the flip side is 'Plants', a rather serene and sublime cut with more rolling drums and plenty of deft synth designs that bring a certain celestial charm to the fizzing leads. Snad's remix then shuts things down with a more driving sense of tech house rhythm to complete a tasteful EP of heady sounds.

Review: Back in 1991, PT House's debut album Big World introduced Soweto rapper Nelson Mohale (who was later known as Dr House) to South Africa's burgeoning house and kwaito scene. Collaborating with producer Danny Bridgens, known for his work with Yvonne Chaka Chaka and Margino, the newly formed pair fused US and UK hip-house influences with local flavours and always imbued their music with a positive outlook for the future. Now reissued for the first time on Afrosynth Records, the small but well-formed four-track record remains a bold testament to their vision and has more than stood the test of time with its vibrant energy and forward-looking spirit.

Notes: 104hp wide with two 3U rows and a 1U row.
Powder coated aluminum construction
VESA mount compatible (100mm x 100mm)
Plastic handle for easy mobility
Metal feet can be installed to support multiple angles of jamming.
Secure latching lid with enough depth to keep your patches patched

Expandable

Lid - when you're ready to add more space, the lid can be expanded to be another 104hp x 7U. You can add another set of rails, power supply and power jack and double your available space. (Kit available)
Metal feet - The metal feet can have a pair of rails and rack mounted power added to support another 3U row of 104hp. (Kit available in future)

Connectivity

Audio jacks - set of four jacks for stereo in and stereo out.
MIDI jacks - DIN jacks to support IN, OUT, and THRU MIDI.
USB power - can be used for a lamp to light your case or to charge your phone while recording your set.

Dimensions
557mm x 334mm x 169mm
74mm depth for 1U and bottom 3U row
52mm depth for middle 3U row

Power
+12V - 3A (with plenty of allowance for in-rush current)
-12V - 3A
+5V - 3A (shared with USB power)
36 shrouded power headers

In The Box
Main case
Lid
Metal feet
Power adapter 20V at 6A

Notes: Expand the lid from your case to be another powered rack. This set includes:

Rails
Handle and handle supports
Powered bus board
Case wiring
AC/DC power adapter
All hardware and thermal tape to complete the conversion

Review: An exact dozen Bollywood musical gems, expertly curated to reflect a multitude of styles and sounds within the full spectrum. Tracks from movies such as Blackmail, Apradh, Junglee, Priya, Bhoot Bungla, and Sholay all make appearances, many of which are names that should be familiar to fans of 'world cinema' - for want of a less lazy label - even if the soundtracks themselves are not. Spanning the later mid-20th Century, everything here was recorded between 1958 and 1984, and as such Bollywood Nuggets can be taken as a window on how tastes and demand changed during that time, while certain totems remained. Featuring artists such as Mohammedd Rafi, Kalyanji & Anandji, P Susheela & SP Balasubrahmanyam, and RD Burman, it's a fantastic overview and a fascinating deep dive.

Review: Alex Puddu is a versatile multi-instrumentalist, composer, and producer renowned for his collaborations with luminaries like Edda Dell'Orso and Joe Bataan, and here he presents a debut double single that is sung in Italian. With tracks 'Pullover Grigio' and 'Texas Blonde,' he introduces a fusion of Italian funk-pop from the late 70s and early 80s and melds the with the pop and indie melodies of contemporary Italy. Also drawing on influences from soul to disco, Puddu's unique production style shines through with its most tender chords, seductive vocals and sunny sounds.

Review: Jonny Drop working with Andre Ashong is not a collab you might have seen coming, but it is one you will be glad has happened. Puzzle Dust is reportedly an album that was four years in the making and it comes on a lovely blue slab of vinyl. Musically it is a work that fuses soul and psychedelia with stripped-back broken beats, dusty drums and lo-fi rhythms peppered with earthy percussion. At times sunny and upbeat, at others stoned and horizontal, Ashong's hazy vocals colour the tracks with his signature smoky soul. A fantastic coming together of two diverse but quality artists.

Review: Alleviated's Larry Heard reissue series has previously brought us the rough and tough acid of Gherkin Jerks and, more recently, the intergalactic downtempo grooves of his largely overlooked Alien LP. Here, they revisit one of Heard's later aliases, Loosefingers, dusting down and reissuing tracks from 2003's Glancing at the Moon EP. All three tracks are deep, warm and melodious in typical Heard fashion, with the title track delivering a sultry blend of wide-eyed chords, darting electronics, Latin-influenced percussion and tactile keys. "Deep Inside" delivers a hazy, sun-kissed take on soulful house - all jazz bass, sensual chords and gentle vocals. Best of all, though, is the tougher, synth-heavy "Lamentation", which rolls along at a near techno-tempo and is blessed with thrilling bleep melodies.

Notes: ***B-STOCK: Box opened, but product is in excellent condition and in perfect working order***


The 'Mega Milton' is a smorgasbord of handy all analogue utilities in just 8HP that will greatly extend the functionality of your Eurorack system.

It includes a stereo line input converter for incorporating line level external sources into a Eurorack system, a fixed 4 input mixer with breakout attenuator for combining signals, a gated slew limiter for adding slides to sequences, a sample and hold with analogue white noise with a myriad of uses such as generative melodies or producing percussive textures and finally a buffered mult for droop free signal distribution with handy LEDs to monitor.

All sections are normalised to help with typical use cases such as generating random CV from the sample & hold section, a smooth random source from the slew output and breaking out a standalone attenuator from the fourth mixer input.

The 'Mega Milton' provides essential classic synthesizer building blocks for patching in any Eurorack system.

Ideal For

Incorporating stereo external sources easily into your Eurorack system.
Signal attenuation and basic mixing in a small space.
Building percussion sounds from an analogue noise source.
Producing clocked random to add interest and variation to patterns and sounds.
Adding gated 303 style slides to patterns.
Creating and Manipulating patterns with Sample and Hold.
Buffering and monitoring voltage across multiple VCOs or other destinations with no drop.

Tech Specs

Supply: +12V 70mA / -12V 70mA
Size: 8HP
Depth: 32mm

Review: Analogue is the Greek label which takes no prisoners in its pursuit of pure techno perfection and that's abundantly clear on this latest Various Artists drop, as Dax J kicks into gear with the searing, pummelling intensity of 'Ares'. It's a proper fist-shaker which sets you up for the hi-octane rumble of Kaiser's 'Kal' and ANFS' industrial jackhammer 'Amete'. That leaves Jerm to clean up with another weapons grade sheller driving ever-downwards in the ultimate ticket to peak time submission. This is techno in the toughest sense of the word - a very specific sound executed perfectly.

Review: The classic 1977 album Aja by Steely Dan gets a deluxe reissue treatment from Analogue Productions, reminding us once more of its stellar jazz-inspired arrangements, complex harmonies, and impeccable composition. Known affectionately as a 'studio is an instrument' album, Donald Fagen and Walter Becker were meticulous and uncompromising at the time of its crafting. It's for these reasons alone that Aja remains a masterpiece, in which titles such as Peg, Deacon Blues and Josie resounding again with blues-pop-rocky flair.

Review: The debut solo album by David Crosby of Crosby, Stills & Nash fame, If I Could Only Remember My Name is an ironic title for an artist first striking out on their commercial own. But despite its faux-amnesiac title, this freak-folk opus is actually a striking claim to, not a loss of, personal musical identity. Following the success of 1970's Deja Vu with Stills & Nash, Crosby sought to expound on that album's methodology - hard psychedelic drugs, brushes with insanity, copious studio time - to produce a crisp, profound and multifaceted vision on the intersection of blues, folk and collective music-making, with every legend from Neil Young to Joni Mitchell to Graham Nash in tow. The highlight has to be, above all, 'Tamalpais High (At About 3)'.

Notes: ***B-STOCK: Dent on the side, product in perfect working order***


Like a greatest hits of recent Analogue Solutions synths, the Ample combines sound elements from the Fusebox with jack patch points, a patch pin matrix, plus sequencer and CV touch pads from the Generator, creating something new and unique.

Supplier's Notes:
Ample combines the best elements of several of Analogue Solutions' recent products.

The sound elements of Fusebox
Jack patch points of Concussor Eurorack
Patch pin matrix of Vostok
Echo from Dr Strangelove
Sequencer and CV touch pads of Generator

It shares all this yet still has its own sound!

Ample can be as complex or as simple as you want it to be

This synth has been given a large and diverse number of controls, that along side the patch sockets, will give even the best and experienced synthesist endless possibilities.

This synth presents the controls in a user friendly and familiar synth layout that, together with this manual and other resources, enable even the new guy to get great sounds.

Synth - Percussion - Audio Processor

Ample is a compact analogue synthesizer. Analogue - as in really analogue. Aside from the MIDI chip (which has to be digital), everything else is totally analogue using real transistors and op-amps. There are no CPU stabilised and quantised circuits, no DCOs, no digital LFOs and no digital EGs, as found on other so called analogue synths. The circuitry is based on designs dating back to the mid-1970s. So Ample has a genuine old sound.

Circuits included

3x Analogue Oscillators

There are three analogue VCOs - each providing a wealth of features and modulation choices. VCO3 can easily be utilised as a LFO.

2x Analogue Low Frequency Oscillator

LFO2(/Sync) has a triangle wave output. VCO3 can be used as an LFO and has Saw, Triangle and Square wave modulation signals.

Analogue Filter

Ample uses a four pole 24bB per octave low pass filter.

Analogue Amplifier

The VCA can be set to THRU so it is always 'open'. This allows Ample to be used as an effects processor.

2x Analogue Envelopes

There are two EGs - each having full control over ATTACK, DECAY, SUSTAIN, and RELEASE.

Modulation

Great thought has been placed into modulation route choices, allowing a wide range of sounds to be produced, including percussion and 'modular' sounds further extended by patching with the jack sockets and pin matrix.

MIDI

MIDI is intentionally kept simple - so you can concentrate on making new sounds and making music - not getting tied up with SYSEX programming.

You get the all important control over filter cut-off using MIDI Velocity.

Patchable External CV Control Sockets

Ample has many input and output audio and CV sockets - to allow the synth to be effectively re-wired to make new sounds.

The sockets also enable it to be easily used with Eurorack and other modular systems. They can be patched together.

Sequencer

Ample has a vintage style 16 step sequencer.

Touch Keys

There are 6 touch keys that each output a set voltage. Use this to play the pitch or as modulation signals. A great tool for inspiration!

Pin Matrix

A neat way to patch the synth.

Echo

Nice lo-fi echo / delay.

Review: Aniara's output has always been brilliantly designed for club deployment but could never really be considered as mere tools. The artists who appear on the Swedish imprint have a cultured sound and a knack for crafting maximum impact from minimal elements. Enter Mattias El Masouri who does just that with the sublime 'Time Dilation In Ultraviolet'. It's a hypnotic deep house cut with real drive that's down to the deft broken kick drum patterns, pulsing synth and heady pads that swirl above. 'Inre Dimension' is a 13-minute plus sonic daydream with paddy drums, drumming pads and perfectly airy hi-hats that anchor you in the heart and now as your mind wanders.

Review: Aniara's white label number four delivers more techno goodness direct to the dance floor. The A-side features two of Arkajo's most compelling dance-floor tracks, with both offering a propulsive groove and warped and dubbed-out basslines. On the flip side, Dorisburg and Efraim Kent (who are here making their debut on Aniara) present the darker vibes of 'Data Smuggler' which rides on broken beats and has real menace in the airwaves. It complements the A-side with a more deep mood and hypnotic rhythm that will be pure dancing bait.

Review: Adlas has a compelling signature sound - its quick and punchy but also seductive and funk. The opener on this new EP for Answer Code Request certainly fits that bill - Headland' has nice analogue drums and elastic bass down low with rich, smeared synths up top. 'Oscillation' gets deeper and rides on a rolling beat that rocks back and forth with ambient synths up top and a sense of mysticism in the air. 'Bluff' gets back to bumpy beats and dubbed low ends with some static-charged pads and 'Static' is the deepest of the lot - a subaquatic deep techno trip for the heads.

Review: London-based quartet Uniri takes a unique approach by composing as a collective and bringing in new-beat aesthetics while steering away from traditional jazz band and "bedroom production" concepts. Founded by Chiminyo, Uniri, meaning 'one unified dream,' came to life in his private studio, inviting jazz peers Amane Tsuganami, Al Macsween, and Luke Wynter for spontaneous collaborations. The result, Infinite Reflections, delivers a psychedelic, rhythmic journey infused with cosmic synths and hip-hop beats. Embracing a global trend in jazz fusion, Uniri's debut album promises an innovative aesthetic akin to artists like Flying Lotus and Ras G.

Review: Magic Number is Ross Hillard, a downtempo and orchestral composer whose engineering and bass playing can be heard on an array of releases, most notably for the likes of his own house favourites including Louie Vega, DJ Spen, Kerri Chandler, Lay-Far and Atjazz. Now debuting his first record on the latter artist's eponymous label, Badly Written Songs sounds like a slice of humble pie, but it's actually well-thought out title: in Hillard's own words, "(it's) a tongue-in-cheek reference to how transient electronic music can be." Thus, writing songs in this genre might not have been the most sensible and sustainable idea - but we all love house music, so we put everything into it, hoping that people don't discard it too soon. True to an engineer's tastes, the album is ultra-dynamic and bright throughout, serving up a consistent guest-vocal steeze reminiscent of Charles Webster or Herbert's gravitas.