Apollo Studio Changes

Last week I got back from holiday and I wanted to get back to my music, but I'm having serious jet lag troubles. I'm very tired and I can really focus unfortunately. I'm sure it will pass in a few days, so I started doing some little studio changes. I recently sold quite some stuff to be able to get some new synths soon. One of the things I did was sell most of the stuff from my mobile modular rack. I only kept the Semtex XL that I put in the modular desk now as you can see. And on the spot where the mobile 19" rack used to be I could now finally put my ARP 2600. So now it has a decent spot where I can play on it and it is also next to my modular desk so that I can patch it to the other synthesizers. I had this in mind for a long time already, but just didn't find the time. Well now it is there I'm quite happy with it.

I also found a new spot for the Blofeld module. I removed the front cover from the Arturia Origin and that just gave me enough room to put it on front of it. So now it is finally on my desk within reach. I'm sure this won't be the final way I set my desk up, but for now it will do. The next major update will be the addition of some new synthesizers. From the stuff I sold I'll buy a new Korg Kronos and a new Roland Jupiter 80. I have ordered them a long time ago, but I'm still waiting for them. I hope to get them soon and then I'll let you know right away of course :)

Alesis iO Dock in the Studio

Yesterday I picked up an Alesis iO Dock from I4 Muzique in Eindhoven (NL). I think this is one of the best Ipad gadgets out there. I was struggling a bit with the RTP midi over Wifi and really wanted some decent midi adapter. Well here it is :) It has midi in and out and also audio in and out on decent jack connectors. It even has a video out. Another thing is that this thing also acts as a charger at the same time. You can easily slide your Ipad in and out and it is very stable. I can highly recommend it for serious Ipad users who want to use it in the studio. I think you can also hook up and USB midi keyboard if you want to play on some synthesizer that is running on your Ipad but I haven't tested that yet. The midi works great so now I can really start using my favorite App called Midi Touch.

Special CD Delivery to US Fan Mike

I am in contact with quite some fans over the Internet and I really like the feedback I get on my music in this way. One of those EM fans is Mike Valant. He bought all my CD's and just before we went on holiday he asked me if I could send a Dutch Masters CD to him. I knew that he lives in Florida and we were going that there, so I suggested that I could take it with me to the US to save him some shipping costs. On our trip from Kissimmee to Key West we passed his house and we decided to not post it on the mail, but to deliver it in person. Mike prepared a very nice lunch for us and we had a really nice talk about music. I asked Mike if he would like a preview of my upcoming Apollo album and he was delighted. I'm still not finished with the music and I apologized a couple of times for things that I still needed to finalize, but he liked it a lot already as it was :) We stayed at his house for about 3 hours and then we had to drive on to the Keys otherwise it would get to late before we got there. We had a great time over there and just before we left we made this picture. When we got back home I got an E-mail from Mike that he couldn't wait to get a copy of Apollo in his hands :)

Refuge en Verre Review by Artemi Pugachov

I received this review of the Refuge en Verre album I did with Ron Boots in my mail. It was done by Artemi Pugachov. I thought it would be nice to share it with you. Enjoy:

This is the first collaborative project of two Dutch electronic artists Ron Boots and Michel van Osenbruggen aka Synth.nl. Both musicians have unique rhythmic / melodic styles, so their influences meld together well to create a work of classic melodic Dutch EM (the "Eindhoven School"). These tracks were performed while both musicians stayed in Belgian Ardennes with their families, so the music has a bit of a pastoral quality to it, without resorting to complete new age relaxation vibe. The title track slowly builds with bass pulsations, floating pads and a wonderful melodic synth solo. It's relaxed, warm and comforting. I like the synth work on this track - everything is in place - the tasty pulsations, the high-flying solos and the warm pads. Some restrained piano notes lend their airy charm to the soundscape. "La Roche-en-Ardenne" kicks in with melancholic pads and a relaxed rocking rhythm. Then a wonderful synth melody appears - rich, symphonic and emotional. Nice stuff that will leave all fans of melodic EM speechless. "Orage d'ete" has an ambient intro loaded with the sounds of nature (do I hear a distant thunder?) and moody pads. Some synth melodies appear as well as some nice flute and sax. This is quite pastoral and reflective. Later in the track a few tribal-like percussion instruments appear but the track remains essentially an ambient effort. "Coucher du Soleil" opens with moody male choirs and some tasty synth effects. A sequence appears and then a rhythm and a rippling synth solo. This track is a bit sad and melancholic. "Contemple du Ciel" begins with mysterious pads and radio voice samples.
A wonderful bass sequence then appears and an electronic tr-808-like rhythm drives this relaxed track forward. I like the way melodies are combined with rhythms on this track. "Rosee du Matin" is very Vangelis-like, with its fat CS-80 style leads and an overall symphonic approach. Really nice and maybe the best track on the entire album. "Combat des Coqs" begins with sounds of roosters but soon a rippling sequence appears. It is supported by a stomping rhythm and a guitar lead. Rocking drums appear and drive the track along. I am not sure if the guitar is real. It sounds like those trademark licks played by Frank Dorittke (at least it is in a similar style) but no guitar player is credited in the liner notes. Anyway, this piece is the most rocking and wild of the lot. "Soleil Levant" arrives with tasty pads and a well-programmed sequence. A slow rhythm then starts, the whole reminding me a bit on Gert Emmens circa "Obscure Movements in Twilight Shades". However, once the solos arrive, you know you're listening to Ron Boots. The sound is very characteristic. Michel adds fine melodic touches as well. A great finish to this pleasant melodic EM album. Recommended.

You can find more information about the album on this URL http://www.synth.nl/Refuge

Synth.nl Mobile Studio in Action

If you think I'm not doing any music while I'm away you are wrong :) I can't go without my music. Here is the mobile studio I carry around when I'm out on a trip. I run Cakewalk Sonar on my notebook with some soft synths mostly Rob Papen's stuff, I use an Edirol UA-25 sound card with my AKG K-271 headphones and an Akai MPK mini keyboard. Everything is USB powered and runs right on 110 and 230 Volts. On this set I can make music anywhere in the World. I start the projects with soft synths and can use the midi data later to play on my hardware synthesizers when necessary and add some external effects etc. At the moment I am working on a track about the Gemini space missions inspired by our visit to the Cape Canaveral Air Force Base last week. I already did a track about the Mercury Project in the past. You can listen to it here if you like: http://www.synth.nl/music/samplers/schallplattexii. Enjoy!

Synth.nl visits Cape Canaveral Air Force Base

As I wrote before in the previous post on our visit to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida we went on a special tour that also included the Cape Canaveral Air Force Base. On this base are several historic sites such as the launch facilities where the first American Satellite was launched the first American manned space flight and so on. In the picture on the left you can see a Mercury-Redstone rocket on its original launch pad where Alan Shepard launched as the first American in space. The mercury project later on led to the Gemini project and that eventually went into the Apollo program. On this spot you could still see everything as it was back in 1961 when this all happened.

It is nice to see everything on the outside but we also went into the launch building and all the equipment in still in there. It is amazing to see all the old equipment and hear our guide tell how it all was back then. They really had no idea what was going to happen when they launched the first man into space and they just improvised as they went along. Back then they already decided to launch over the Ocean so that if anything went wrong they could let the rocket explode over the Ocean in stead of over the land causing possible civilian casualties. It was also interesting to see how all this knowledge was brought in by a German engineer called Dr. Werner von Braun who just before developed the V2 rockets for the Germans in WWII. There even still was a V2 rocket engine in one of the buildings there.

Here is a view from the window of the launch complex. As you can see they were actually quite close. There was only 300 meters between the rocket and the building. Now-a-days during Space Shuttle launches the minimum safe distance is around 5000 meters, but of course the rockets are bigger as well. The windows you see are actually made out of 3 layers of bullet proof glass to prevent anything from coming trough and the whole building was build like a bunker with blast doors and all. In the picture above you can also see the clocks hanging over head showing local time, count-down, hold-time and Zulu time.

And here is a picture of the Launch Computer. It have been very sophisticated back then, but the logic in there probably would fit 100 times in your mobile phone now. Next to the Mercury launch pad was also the pad where the first American Satellite launched. After this we also visited the Gemini facilities and also the spot where the Apollo 1 crew died in a tragic accident during a plugs out test. And even now there are some active launch pads on the Air Force base where they still launch all kinds of satellites, but we were not allowed to make pictures of those of course ;) All in all I really enjoyed this tour and it really has a magical feel to this early space exploration stuff. I can really recommend taking this tour when you are at the Kennedy Space Center. You will just have to book it up front since there is only one tour a day and they fill up very quickly. I hope you enjoyed this and I'll happily tell you more about it if you are interested. Just let me know. I'm glad I have seen this as it is all part of the whole Apollo and Space Race history.

Synth.nl visits Kennedy Space Center

As you know I'm in last stage of finishing my upcoming Apollo album. I have been throwing a lot of 3D stuff at you the last period, but here is some real stuff coming. We decided to take a trip to Florida USA where I am at the moment and yesterday we visited the Kennedy Space Center for some final inspiration for the album. I really like to get in the mood for a project like this and I thought there would be no better way than this. Here is a picture of me under the big NASA logo after the entrance.

We booked a special tour called 'now and then' that also visited the air-force base where the Mercury and Gemini projects took place. I will post a separate blog item about that, because it was very special. But on the tour we also saw a lot of the launch pads that are still currently in use and we saw the Vehicle Assembly Building that I just made in 3D. So it was nice to see it for real and get a sense of the size of it. Imagine the size of this thing with a complete Apollo rocket standing in it. In the left corner of the picture you can also see one of the crawlers that were used to transport the Saturn V rocket to the launch pad and just recently was still used to transport the last Space Shuttle to its final destination. We just missed this last launch by the way by a couple of hours :(

Even though the visit to the Air-force base was spectacular, the highlight of the tour was a visit to the Apollo/Saturn V Center. They have the original launch control center of the Apollo 8 flight in there and they made a real launch scenario with it. Everything is automated and while experiencing the launch on a big screen you can feel the vibration and see the whole control center light up and acting long. An awesome experience for sure. I filmed the largest part of it so maybe I can even use this footage somewhere in my promo film later on, since it is quite authentic. After this presentation you are guiding into a big hall where the inspiration got even better.

In that hall is a real Saturn V rocket up for display. It is hanging over your head and the size of it is enormous. It is even way too big to get into a picture. You can see all the stages of the rocket separately and also there is a separate model of the LEM and Command Module. Awesome too see. At the main Kennedy Space facility there is also the rocket garden with a Saturn 1b model, that is a little smaller. All in all I can't wait to continue work on the project now and that was exactly the purpose of this visit :) After the Apollo stuff we also watched some more recent Space Shuttle related things and the last thing we did was a ride on the Space Shuttle Launch Simulator. Awesome :) It really gives you a feel what a real launch is like. If you are ever in the Florida area I can really recommend a visit to the Kennedy Space Center.

Apollo 3D Project (Part 12)

I created a new scene again for the Apollo 3D project. This time it is the NASA Vehicle Assembly Building where they assembled the complete upright Saturn V rocket on top of the mobile launch pad including the launch tower. NASA still uses this building until today. When the rocket assembly was done the doors would open and they could roll it out on top of a special transporter called the 'crawler'. Most work for these scene went into the parking lot by the way. I hand places all the little cars one by one in their parking space. I just thought it made the scene way more alive than with an empty parking lot.

Here is a close-up of the crawler I just talked about. NASA actually has two of them that were custom build for the job. They are enormous and travel and a maximum speeds of 2 miles an hour. When the crawler drives up the five degrees ramp on the launch pad it uses a special laser guided system to keep the whole platform leveled horizontal to prevent the rocket from tipping over. Also this system is still used until today to transport the Space Shuttles from the Vehicle Assembly Building to the launch pad. It takes 30 people to operate this vehicle by the way.

And here is another close-up I made of the launch tower itself. You can clearly see the arms that both hold fuel and electrical lines and the top one was used to get the astronauts in just before the launch. At launch time first of all the arms would sweep away from the rocket. The only thing I'm still figuring out is how NASA removes the crawler from user the launch pad eventually. I have seen pictures where the mobile platform stands on some kind of stands, but the whole procedure is not really clear to me yet. So if you know, please enlighten me ;)

And here is one final shot where I combined the moon surface scene I made with the LEM model that I made before. I think this one looks quite convincing now. This one looks ready to animate now, but maybe I should also throw in an astronaut and a flag and maybe some tool. Ah well... we'll see about that. Enough for now I guess. I hope you have enjoyed these series so far and don't forget that you can click the pictures to view a larger version of them. More coming soon!

DonQuixote on RoboCast Podcast #49

The DonQuixote track that I recently released was played on RoboCast Radio Podcast #49. You can listen to or download the show on this URL:  http://robocastradio.podomatic.com/entry/2011-07-13T06_08_24-07_00.

I'd also like to point out again that you can buy the song in my ReverbNation store if you like on this URL: http://www.reverbnation.com/store/index/artist_281496

Enjoy and thanks for your support!

Apollo 3D Project (Part 11)

I'm still working on the Apollo 3D project. I needed some nice moon surface surroundings for the landing and EarthRise scenes that I'm planning. So I looked really hard for original material. It turned out that a real 3D scan of the Apollo 15 landing site existed, so I focused on that one. You can actually download it as a free 3DS model, but I started out with a picture that was taken by the same Japanese SELENE (Selenological and Engineering Explorer) Lunar Mission that scanned the Apollo 15 landing site. They brought back a huge pile of 3D data from this mission that was used to create the most details maps of the Moon up to date.

And here is a render of the 3DS model that I converted to Cinema 4D. I had a lot of trouble getting that done since it is very big and I needed a PC with a lot of memory and a 64 bits version of both applications, but I got it now. Even though it is a very detailed model it is still taken from very far away. So to make it usable for close-up's I incorporated another 3D model of some lunar craters into it. If you click the picture and look closely you can see a square on left that has a slightly different color on the left. I did that intentionally so that you could see it.

And here is a close-up of that same scene from a different angle. You can see the craters I added in the front. This will make an excellent spot I guess to land a LEM. The mountains in the back also make it perfect to picture a nice illuminated Earth in the distance for a nice Earth Rise scene. Maybe I'll also add some rocks to the scene later to make it even more realistic, but for now I'm very happy with this model that has taken me a very long time to create.

And here is a final close-up of the craters themselves. I think they look just great :) It is great to use real moon scans in stead of some imaginary scenes that I used before. OK enough for now, but I thought it would be nice to share these with you. And don't worry I'm also still working on the music in the mean time. I'm really finalizing the tracks together with my friend Hans. But since the release date for Apollo is set for the 1st of October we don't have to rush that much which is a nice thing of course. We can take our time to make it all as good as we possibly can for you. OK more soon!

Apollo Release Date Set!

I know I have kept you waiting for a long time, but I'm almost done with the Apollo album now. In the mean time I discussed the release with my record label Groove Unlimited and we decided that we are going to release the album on CD at the Electronic Circus Festival in Germany. It will be held in Güthersloh on the 1st of October 2011. I will have a stall there were you can buy the album from me first hand. You can find more information on the festival on this URL: http://www.electronic-circus.net/

I will also be present with a stall at the E-live festival on the 15th of October in Oirschot, The Netherlands where you can also get the album directly from me. More information on that festival on this URL: http://www.e-live.nl

I hope to see you on one of these occasions :) I'm looking forward to the release and until then I'll be working on it for sure. I'll keep you posted on the progress.

Synth.nl Interview with Sonic Immersion

Recently I did an interview with Bert Strolenberg from Sonic Immersion, a very good website about electronic music with lots of reviews and interviews. Bert asked me some very different questions and it was a lot of fun to answer them, so I hope you will like reading it. You can find the interview on his website on this URL: http://www.sonicimmersion.org/interview.php?letter=S&interview=90508. Be sure when you are done reading to bookmark his website and read some more on it. It is a treasure of information and Bert is a very good reviewer in my opinion. Enjoy!

Single Releases on Synth.nl ReverbNation Store!

Again I have some very good news for you. For the very first time you can buy all the single tracks I released so far on several compilation CD's. They are available as MP3 download from my ReverbNation store, so you can also buy them directly from me. I might release them on CD as well in the future, but that can take quite some time. So go for it now :) Also my other albums are in the store available as complete album download or indiviual track. I have provided them in the highest possible MP3 quality for your optimal listening pleasure. The single tracks to look for are: SynthWelle, Synthology, NachtWacht, DonQuixote and Mercury.

Here is the link to the Synth.nl ReverbNation store:

http://www.reverbnation.com/store/index/artist_281496

Please note that the prices are in US dollars. I hope you enjoy and thanks for the support!

Synth.nl Visits Le Mans 2011

In Juni 2011 I visited the 24 hours of Le Mans race together with my friend Hans Landman. We had a great time. This movie is a compilation of some of the footage I shot during that weekend. I made the intro 3D animations in Cinema 4D. The music is taken from my debut CD 'AeroDynamics'. The track is called 'Turbulence'. I hope you like it. You can find more information about the album on http://www.synth.nl/AeroDynamics

Apollo 3D Project (Part 10)

I thought it was time to update you again on Apollo. On the music side I'm really making progress now. I'm still working on the details of some the tracks, but some are already completely finished and ready for mastering. Only in two tracks I still have some work to do. I'm also still working hard on the 3D project. I did another scene the last week that was quite complex. The whole docking scene. Here you see a picture of the third stage of the rocket.

The first thing I had to do is get everything into scale. The third stage model, orbiter and lander were all in a different scale. Then I had to re-texture them like I had to do on all models. And then finally the animating part. First the doors had to open on the third stage, then the orbiter flies away and unfolds its antenna dish. From a safe distance then it turns around towards the opened up third stage and docks with the LEM (Lunar Lander) that is inside the third stage. You can see that in the picture on the right.

And then the Orbiter pulls the LEM from the third stage and the fly away again to a safe distance. In the mean time the third stage floats away into space. To make things more exciting I shot the whole thing from 4 different camera views and did some camera movements as well. Slowly but surely I'm getting the hang of that. In the mean time I'm constructing a teaser movie that holds some short sound clips of ALL the track of the album and show some quick shots of the 3D animations. The whole movie will be about 5 minutes long. I'm not happy with it yet. I need to make a few more scenes. And then I will put it on YouTube for you to get a grasp of what both the music and video will be like. When the album is out I will make a longer version of this video. But it all takes A LOT of time to make. So please be patience with me more just a little longer.

NachtWacht and DonQuixote on Klangarten #20

On the latest KlangArten podcast #20 Brammi played two of my tracks. He played the new 'DonQuixote' track I made for the SchallPlatte 13 sampler and also he played 'NachtWacht' from the Dutch Masters sampler CD.

Since the show is a podcast you can still download it and listen to it when you have time. You can find it on this URL:

http://www.klangarten.de

Groove lowers prices on Synth.nl CD's !

I have some great news. As of today Groove Unlimited (my record label) has lowered the prices on all its own label CD's. So that includes all my albums. Here is the original text from the news letter:

Dear Groove costumers. As of today almost all Groove Unlimited's own releases have a new sales price. As of today they are only € 13.75. So we have reduced the price with over 2 UKP or Euro's and over 3 USD per CD!! We have also reduced a lot of other prices in the catalog. And many of Grooves older releases are only € 9.99. This way Groove Unlimited is not only the best in service but also the cheapest store to get many of the Electronic music that is available. If you have bought a Groove CD in the last month (May 2011) you get an extra 5% reduction on your orders in June and July!! We have adjust all prices for people who have CDs in stock. We still want to give the best service tat is available for you, our customers!!

You can find my CD's incl. the collaboration album I did with Ron Boots on this URL:

http://www.groove.nl/jump2.php?artiest=synth.nl

Thanks for the support!

SchallPlatte XIII Released Today

Today the new SchallPlatte XIII sampler CD was released by the German Electronic Music Club Schallwende. It was released at the yearly Grill Fest they organize in the Gruga Park in Essen Germany. They made a CD this year where all member musicians could send in a track. A jury then selected 12 tracks from a lot of entries. So I am very happy that my track was selected. The theme for this album was literature. The Theme for this CD was literature this time and I chose the book fully titled: 'The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha' but I think everybody knows the main person as Don Quixote, the guy that fought wind mills on his donkey, because he thought they were giants. The book was written by Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes and was published in two volumes a decade apart (in 1605 and 1615). This CD is not for sale by the way. It is only distributed among the members. If you want this CD you will have to become a member I guess. You can listen to my track on this url: http://www.synth.nl/SchallPlatteXIII

Apollo 3D Project (Part 9)

The last week I worked some more on the 3D work for the Apollo teaser video. One scene I had to make was the Orbiter and LEM docked together. I used the occasion to work some more on the materials as well of the orbiter that I took from the LaunchPad scene I did before. I think it looks much better now actually. The downside is though that I'll have to re-render all the scenes I did before. But ah well I don't doubt that I was going to do that anyway since I leaned a lot already in the mean time again.

Here is another nice shot of them docked together. As you can notice I left the background black. I did that intentionally. On all photo's from outer space that NASA provides you don't see stars. So I guess it is more realistic this way even though you miss some reference to your position when you animate these scenes. Camera movements for example are less easy to experience. But it does make it look more mysterious as well and that is good :)

Then I realized something else when I was animating the docking scenes. When the orbiter docks for the first time with the LEM. The LEM is still inside the third stage of the Saturn V rocket and has to be extracted. So I have to do that scene as well. And I reversed the scene I had made to make it an Undocking scene in stead of the Docking scene. That was easy enough to fix. The animation turned out quite OK I think even though I haven't done any retro rocket action yet
.

I also have to do another docking scene that happens when the crew returns from the surface of the Moon back to the Orbiter. But then the LEM will have lost its descend stage. So that is just a matter of deleting that. Should be a piece of cake now. OK enough again for now. And yes I'm STILL working on the music too :) Don't worry. I know it is taking up a lot of time, but I think the result is getting nice already :) Just a bit more tweaking around. I'll keep you posted as always!

Punch, Rob Papen and Synth.nl

This evening I visited I4 Muzique in Eindhoven where Rob Papen introduced his new Punch plugin. Rob gave a nice demonstration of the product for quite some people that showed up there. It is a drum / percussion oriented plugin that uses samples, but also synthesized drum and percussion sounds. I liked it very much. It was nice that by accident by the way that I read about his demonstration on Facebook today and I happened to have nothing else planned this evening. Of course I took a copy of his product home to support Rob, since I like both the person as his work. All his plugins are top notch. It was nice to talk to Rob again and Marc from I4 took this picture. I tried to smile I guess ;) Well it was very late already and I was quite tired. As you can see I even pulled my Rob Papen T-shirt from the shelve for the occasion ;) If you don't know Rob's plugins yet I would say go check them out on his website http://www.robpapen.com