electronic music without the computer
DAWless Blog
-
Arturia Microfreak Review
Well I finally found some time to learn the Microfreak’s sound design. Until now I had mostly ARP-ing the Presets and tweaking the low pass filter of course! And so now, diving into the Mod Matrix, I can see why this synth receives so many plaudits, Arturia have stuffed this synth full of features, but…
-
Synth Stands
While dedicated synthesizer stands are ideal for full-sized keyboards, laptop stands have emerged as surprisingly effective and versatile solutions for smaller synths, drum machines, and grooveboxes in desktop studio setups. Their primary benefit lies in their ability to elevate these compact devices, bringing them closer to eye level and improving ergonomics. This simple elevation can…
-
Arturia RackBrute Hack
I picked up a used Arturia RackBrute a while back to pair with my MiniBrute 2s and dip into the modular world. I got a good price… but it only came with 2 of the fixing screws. No problem I will grab some bolts from the garage and figure it out, except it turns out…
-
New DAWless EP
Hey, I recently released a new EP under my nom-de-plume, The Data Lakes of techno style tracks that were all recorded on a DAWless setup. Available now on Spotify, Youtube, or other streaming platforms via ditto https://ditto.fm/lasting-formations (see end of article about publishing your music!) When creating electronic music, sometimes I use DAWless, sometimes I…
-
Roland TR-8 Repair
I picked up a bargain priced TR-8 with X0X expansion on the used market. To be good to be true, right? Right! Whilst the unit sounded great, I found that half of the drum pad keys were getting stuck. I gave it a quick spray of switch cleaner, which was only a temporary fix before…
-
DAWless Setup for Beginners
Are you intrigued about making music without staring at a computer screen? Maybe you read about “dawless” setups or watched clips on youtube of folks pushing buttons and twisting knobs to make a sound that you would like to recreate? So how do you begin? Thats what this guide is for! Gear featured in this…
-
Drumbrute Impact Review
Legacy The Arturia Drumbrute Impact is a popular and affordable analog drum machine. A while back I had the larger original Arturia Drumbrute, it was easy to use and tons of outputs, but it had a large footprint and most importantly I did not like the sounds all that much that it produced. Here is…
-
The Data Lakes New Album
Hope Breaks is the new album released this week by The Data Lakes. Some folks use DAWless to make entire albums, and in the past, I made a few EPs Treading Water and One Up that were about 90% DAWless. This collection of tunes though were mostly produced within Ableton, however there are a few…
-
PreSonus Eris 3.5 Review
Until recently I was using an old Denon Hifi as my main monitoring solution in my home studio alongside a variety of headphones. The system was proving unreliable, so I looked around for a compact and budget monitor speaker solution, and the name PreSonus Eris 3.5 kept coming up in the searches. I knew that…
-
Roland J-6 Review
The Roland J-6 Chord Synth is part of the AIRA Compact series, a line of portable and powerful instruments designed to bring classic Roland sounds to the modern musician. You can check out our reviews of other synths in the series like the Roland Aira T-8 Review. view the Roland J-6 on Amazon Quality Sound…
The Data Lakes – Hope Breaks
Hope Breaks, the first full length album by The Data Lakes out now!