187: Why You Don't Need Another Plugin This Black Friday

This time on Audionautic, we're looking at people who are modifying synths, samplers and effects pedals, bringing old software back to life and building features that the original manufacturers never included.One of the things that makes this interesting is how AI coding tools might help more people get involved. You don't necessarily need to be an experienced programmer to start exploring an idea, although getting something working properly can still take plenty of time and effort.We're looking at DOOM OS for the SP 404MKII, custom firmware for the M VAVE FM 1 and Elektron Model Cycles, the Zoom effects pedal modding scene, and Re Rebirth, which brings a classic music making tool into the browser.We'll also get into the bigger questions. How much should we be able to change the gear we own? What happens when manufacturers stop supporting something that still works? And could a bit of tinkering save us money, keep old equipment useful and help us make things in our own way?Most of all, we want to know what you'd do if you could change anything about your current setup.Thanks to our Patrons who support what we do:Audionauts: Abby, Bendu, David Svrjcek, Josh Wittman, Paul Ledbrook, Matt Donatelli and Stephen SetzepfandtLars Haur - Audionaut ProducerJonathan Goode - Audionaut ProducerJoin the conversation:💌 [email protected] 🐤 Twitter @Audionautic📸 Instagram: @audionauticsounds📡Discord: https://discord.gg/jPbMKgJhDSunwarper: https://sunwarper.com​​​​​​Kh3rtis: https://kh3rtis.com

This week on Audionautic, we're joined by Survey Channel to talk about his latest release, Macrozones.We're getting into the ideas behind the album, the production and sound design, how tracks develop from their initial ideas, and the role that artwork and personal experience play in bringing a release together.Listen to Macrozones:https://surveychannel.bandcamp.com/album/macrozonesThanks to our Patrons who support what we do:Audionauts: Abby, Bendu, David Svrjcek, Josh Wittman, Paul Ledbrook, Matt Donatelli and Stephen SetzepfandtLars Haur - Audionaut ProducerJonathan Goode - Audionaut ProducerJoin the conversation:💌 [email protected] 🐤 Twitter @Audionautic📸 Instagram: @audionauticsounds📡Discord: https://discord.gg/jPbMKgJhDSunwarper: https://sunwarper.com​​​​​​Kh3rtis: https://kh3rtis.com

This week we're taking a slightly wider look at something that's been happening around Elektron and modified firmware.The immediate question is about sharing firmware mods and the tools and instructions needed to use them. But that opens up a much bigger conversation about ownership.If you buy a piece of hardware, what are you actually entitled to do with it?Can you modify it? Reverse engineer it? Share your discoveries? Keep an old machine alive after the manufacturer has stopped supporting it?And then there's the other side. Firmware isn't necessarily yours, modifications can brick hardware, support becomes complicated, and manufacturers obviously have intellectual property they want to protect.Somewhere in the middle you've got the music-tech community, people who have always hacked, modified, repaired, extended and generally poked at things to see what happens.So this week we're going Round Robin on the whole thing.Where should the line be between protecting IP and letting people experiment?And are we reaching a point where you don't really own a modern instrument in the same way you used to?Thanks to our Patrons who support what we do:Audionauts: Abby, Bendu, David Svrjcek, Josh Wittman, Paul Ledbrook, Matt Donatelli and Stephen SetzepfandtLars Haur - Audionaut ProducerJonathan Goode - Audionaut ProducerJoin the conversation:💌 [email protected] 🐤 Twitter @Audionautic📸 Instagram: @audionauticsounds📡Discord: https://discord.gg/jPbMKgJhDSunwarper: https://sunwarper.com​​​​​​Kh3rtis: https://kh3rtis.com

We're doing another round of Show & Tell.We've each brought along a few tracks that have caught our attention recently. New discoveries, old favourites, things we've stumbled across, or just songs that we've found ourselves going back to again and again.We'll listen to them together and talk about what grabbed us, what we're hearing in the production, the sounds and decisions that caught our ears, and whether any of it has made us want to try something ourselves.No particular genre or theme. Just music we're enjoying and things we find interesting.What have you been listening to lately?Thanks to our Patrons who support what we do:Audionauts: Abby, Bendu, David Svrjcek, Josh Wittman, Paul Ledbrook, Matt Donatelli and Stephen SetzepfandtLars Haur - Audionaut ProducerJonathan Goode - Audionaut ProducerThis week's show features music from:What Has Not Yet Been Named - Corrado Maria De Santis out on @shadyridgerecords https://corradomariadesantis.bandcamp.com/album/what-no-longer-is-and-what-has-not-yet-been-namedRising Fall - James Murrayhttps://quietdetails.bandcamp.com/album/islands-alightHOLMIUM - White Dunehttps://whitedune.bandcamp.com/album/rare-earthLevothyroxine Lament - STYLIANOS OUhttps://stylianosou.bandcamp.com/album/moodtoxicosis01 No Human Being A27 [Work In Progress] - P.R.O.B.E.Shttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuT0XSVT0ZkJoin the conversation:💌 [email protected] 🐤 Twitter @Audionautic📸 Instagram: @audionauticsounds📡Discord: https://discord.gg/kBxXb8pjaSunwarper: https://sunwarper.com​​​​​​Kh3rtis: https://kh3rtis.com

Steinberg is celebrating 30 years of VST by bringing back a collection of its classic early plugins, so we've downloaded them and we're going to see what they're actually like to use today.We'll be demoing the sounds, having a play with the instruments and effects, and talking about what these early VSTs were actually useful for.But rather than just looking at them as pieces of music-production history, we're interested in whether the limitations of these old plugins might actually be interesting today.Do simple instruments make you work differently? Have modern plugins become too complicated? And are there sounds in these early VSTs that we'd still happily use in a track?We'll be putting them through their paces and seeing what still holds up after 30 years of VST.The Synthesis COOP has a new LP out, check it here:https://tscoop.bandcamp.com/album/the-synthesis-co-op-volume-oneThanks to our Patrons who support what we do:Audionauts: Abby, Bendu, David Svrjcek, Josh Wittman, Paul Ledbrook, Matt Donatelli and Stephen SetzepfandtLars Haur - Audionaut ProducerJonathan Goode - Audionaut ProducerCheck out the new release from Sunwarper here:https://sunwarper.bandcamp.com/album/signal-fragmentsJoin the conversation:💌 [email protected] 🐤 Twitter @Audionautic📸 Instagram: @audionauticsounds📡Discord: https://discord.gg/kBxXb8pjaSunwarper: https://sunwarper.com​​​​​​Kh3rtis: https://kh3rtis.com