The Prodigy‘s Firestarter – the first single from their album, The Fat of the Land – is 30 years old.
Firestarter, released in March 1996, was the group’s first track to feature the late Keith Flint on vocals. The track – and Flint’s appearance in the music video – were so striking that it went to #1 in 16 countries.
The song was written by Liam Howlett and Flint, but songwriting credits include several others – including The Breeders and The Art Of Noise – because of samples used.
Flint took his life in 2019, at the age of 49. In their first tour after his death, the group turned their Firestarter performance into a tribute to Flint.
KOMA Elektronik has introduced Kassiopeia, a 4-channel DC interface that lets you control motors, solenoids, LEDs, fans, lights and more using MIDI or CV/Gate.
Kassiopeia lets you control motors, solenoids, fans, LEDs and lamps using MIDI or CV/Gate. Each channel can send short triggers, which can be used for things like triggering percussive hits, or continuous voltages, for doing things like controlling motors.
It was developed in collaboration with composer Hildur Guðnadóttir and her band Osmium, incorporating ideas from the modified Halldorophone, used in the Joker soundtrack.
Osmium uses custom robotic string instruments controlled by solenoids, motors, and physical triggers powered by Kassiopeia. The devices rhythmically strike, bow, or vibrate the strings during live performances.
Kassiopeia lets you:
Trigger solenoids to create percussive rhythms on any object.
Control motors and fans to shak, vibrate, or bow strings.
Control lamps and LEDs for an immersive performance.
Build kinetic sound sculptures that interact with the physical world.
Power-starve devices for glitchy, unpredictable results.
Kassiopeia is available now for $369 USD/€298. Compatible DC motors and Solenoids are also available.
Erica Synths has introduced Konstrukt-8, a new DIY modular drum machine.
Each of its eight DIY modules comes with a detailed build guide and can be explored on a breadboard first, letting you trace every circuit design decision before assembling the final instrument.
Features:
Konstrukt-8 includes four fully analog drum voices:
Kick Drum. A resonant bridged-T network produces deep, punchy kicks.
Snare Drum. A burst of filtered transistor noise layered over a tuned resonator creates a crisp snap.
Hi-Hat. Six dissonant square-wave oscillators are mixed, filtered, and overdriven to create metallic percussion.
FM Drum. Two interacting oscillators form a versatile percussion voice capable of kicks, toms, bells, and cymbal-like sounds.
A four-channel drum sequencer lets you tap in rhythms that loop automatically. Under the hood, shift registers store the pattern as a circular sequence of binary data.
All voices feed into a four-channel mixer with per-channel FX sends and a master insert, allowing you to shape the entire beat with external effects or the built-in distortion and compressor.
Two effects modules complete the system: an analog bucket-brigade delay (BBD) with flanger and delay modes, plus a diode-based compressor with sidechain capability.
Erica Synths says that the project is of ‘intermediate’ complexity.
The Konstrukt-8 drum machine is available now as a DIY project, starting at €490 for the full DIY set.
