Music: Celebrating 20 years of the ‘Humpty Dance’

Videos: The Future of Musical Instruments

The intersection of music and technology is a wild, fascinating frontier. Ever since the first computer-synthesized sounds were created, people have struggled and succeeded — to varying degrees — to reshape how we think about musical instruments.

Today, thanks to innovators such as Ray Kurzweil and Robert Moog, we have a wider range of digital music machines than the inventors of keyboard instruments could have ever dreamed.

To read more, go HERE.

Watch the video below!

Videos: Check out the “LinnStrument!”

Inventor Roger Linn is famous for creating the drum machine as we know it today, so there’s good reason to be excited about his latest creation. It’s a multi-touch surface not all that dissimilar to an iPad. Take a look at the video here to see for yourself.

The instrument — which Linn calls the “LinnStrument” — can take input from all of your fingers, so you can form chords in addition to sounding individual notes. Each space is pressure sensitive to allow for maximum range of expression. Sliding your finger vertically adjusts the timbre while horizontal motions change the pitch.

Read more about it HERE.

Watch the video below!

Videos: Check out the Gen6 Product Launch Video

The Gen6 lineup includes the Gen6 MiKo QC6, the Gen6 NeKo QX6, the Gen6 MiKo LXD and the Gen6 NeKo XXL. The entire new Gen6 product line offers more power, more sounds and is more affordable.

Check it out below!

PRESS RELEASE: Open Labs Unveil Gen6; the Newest Line of Products

Open Labs, a recognized leader in innovative Music Production Stations based in Austin, Texas, debuted their newest line of Production Stations today, Generation6. The Gen6 lineup includes the Gen6 MiKo QC6, the Gen6 NeKo QX6, the Gen6 MiKo LXD and the Gen6 NeKo XXL. The entire new Gen6 product line offers more power, more sounds and is more affordable.

All products in the Gen6 lineup feature processors from the 2010 Intel® CoreTM processor family and are based on Microsoft’s Windows 7 for true Open Platform Capability. The Q series lineup includes the MiKo QC6 and the NeKo QX6, which offer over 10,000 sounds, full DAW capabilities, a 15” touch screen interface, DVD/CD burning and internet capability and a 37 or 61 keyboard form factor.

The L series lineup, which are the pinnacle of Music Production Stations, include the MiKo LXD and the NeKo XXL. Both production stations offer over 15,000 sounds, full DAW capabilities, a 15” touch screen interface, DVD/CD burning and internet capability and a 37 or 61 keyboard form factor. The L series offers incredible control over production with the Alpha 2 controller, the bankable Mix Edit and the drum pad interface Bump MP. The NeKo XXL also raises the bar in audio by offering 24bit/192khz recording.

“We are very excited to be launching the most powerful Musical Production Stations we’ve ever produced,” said Victor Wong, Chairman and Co-Founder, Open Labs, “with our migration to Windows 7 we have spent months testing and retesting our proprietary software products as well as the most popular third party software and hardware products. We can assure our customers the same level of musical flexibility that they have grown to expect in our Production Stations and with our new offerings we can expand in ways which we have never been able to before now.

“Our software offerings will continue to flourish and our platforms will grow more robust with each release. This is a major transition for Open Labs and our ability to serve our customers and their musical aspirations,” said Wong.

The Q series Open Labs Music Production Stations come with Open Labs Gold Support Services which include: a one-hour “Get to Know Your Machine” session, two hours of technical training and warranty for parts and labor for one year. The L Series come with Open Labs Platinum Support Services which include the same level of Support Services as Gold Support in addition to seven hours of technical training.

The Gen6 MiKo QC6 is available for $3,799 USD and the Gen6 NeKo QX6 is available for $3,999 USD. The Gen6 MiKo LXD is available for $4,799 USD and the Gen6 NeKo XXL is available for $6,999 USD. All Open Labs production stations can be purchased directly through Open Labs at http://www.openlabs.com or through an authorized reseller listed on the Open Labs web site.

About Open Labs

Headquartered in Austin, Texas — at the crossroads of music and technology– Open Labs develops and markets cutting-edge studio and musical instrument technology. Since 2003, Open Labs has been the recognized leader in providing musicians and producers of all genres, with high-performance portable instruments that combine all the equipment found in a professional music studio with unsurpassed live performance capabilities. A-List artists currently using Open Labs products include: Timbaland, Jonathan Davis (Korn), Morris Hayes (Prince), Jesse Carmichael (Maroon 5) and Jimmy Nichols (Faith Hill) to name a few. For more information on Open Labs, please visit http://www.openlabs.com.

Videos: Open Labs user “Mugzy” makes a quick beat!

Jose “MUGZY” Claudio, proud new Open Labs owner, makes a quick beat with the MiKo EC5. Check it out below!

To hear more of Mugzy’s music, check it out on his Myspace page.

Videos: Timbaland’s ‘Morning After’ Ft. SoShy

New Artist: Please Welcome Open Labs Endorsed Artist Shintaro Yasuda!

Please welcome the newest Open Labs endorsed artist to the roster: Shintaro Yasuda!

Shintaro Yasuda is an up and coming young musician and producer at the age of 18, Shintaro Yasuda from Miami, Florida, is quickly starting to make a name for himself. Born in 1991, Shintaro started playing piano at the age of four and quickly developed virtuosic skills. Since then, Shintaro has picked up on many instruments including guitar, bass, percussion, saxophone, clarinet, and voice. With his strong love and passion for music, Shintaro has been performing all his life from being in various types of bands and productions to performing solo.

Since then, Shintaro has gained interest in various genres and styles and not only has been able to successfully perform, but is now producing them. Shintaro has currently been hard at work using his Open Labs NeKo Lx5 to produce music for various artists and television shows. While working, Shintaro is also in process of relocating to Los Angeles, California where he will be on top of many new and important projects.

To learn more about Shintaro and check out his YouTube channel, go to http://www.youtube.com/user/ShintaroYasudatv.

Videos: Keep Making ‘em Because They Work!

‘I feel like the bitter old man sitting on the porch, saying, ‘Back in my day, music video was the most exciting medium to be involved in,’ ” says Samuel Bayer, who directed, among many other hits of the nineties, Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and Blind Melon’s bee-girl video. “MTV was a cultural barometer, stylistically influential. Whether the director was Michel Gondry or Spike Jonze or Stephane Sednaoui or Mark Romanek, people talked about videos in a way that has disappeared.”

On August 1, 1981, MTV audaciously played “Video Killed the Radio Star,” and for a little over two decades, the cable network just about did that, becoming music’s most powerful tastemaker. MTV not only made songs into hits, it launched the careers of directors, many of whom became as identifiable to music fans as Scorsese and Kubrick are to cinéasts. At their high point, these three-minute videos were as ambitious as mini-movies, with budgets that could run as much as $7 million (e.g., Romanek’s “Scream” for Michael and Janet Jackson).

[...]

But then a funny thing happened: In the last couple of years, music videos came back. “It’s a little bit like the evolution of a species,” says Gondry. “Videos found a new niche that’s habitable for them: the Internet.” And, truly, they have evolved, into a much more aggressive species. The online ecosystem is so overpopulated that the more oh-my-God bizarre a video is, the better the chance it will go viral…

To read the rest of the article, go HERE!

Videos: iPad Gets Microwaved

Just for fun…check out the video below.

Watch at 3:30 to see the action start and about 6:30 to see the action really get great!