::: Primary Color Thangz :::

XBS Loves this record. Its one of those one-dollar-freebee-practically-brand-new-vinyl delights that only the old record store can offer.

The Deele : Material Thangz .
Album : Material Thangz .
1985
Produced By Antonio ” L.A.” Reid .
Associate Producer : Kenneth ” Babyface ” Edmonds

On another note this was originally issued on SOLAR records, that’s Sound of Los Angeles Records. SOLAR was founded by Soul Train’s Dick Griffey and Don Cornelius and was responsible for acts like: Dynasty, Lakeside, Midnight Star, Klymaxx, Calloway, The Deele, and Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis.

XBS is so infatuated with the 80’s urban territory sometimes that we even get worried!  It’s finding great electronic sounds in a catchy, fun, and well put together package that we love.  The records from back then come off of the turntable like an explosion.  Love the Simmons, Love the Bar Kays style breaks and Love the outfits.  So Crayola, so Future Shock, and SO Androgynous!

Also sprinkled with those great funky Prince-isms evident in all electro funk of the 1980-1985 time period.

::: IF :::

::: Future :: NOW NOW NOW!!! :::

Happy Nu Year!

XBS figured we could end on a nice up note with the universally known center of awesomeness, Carl Sagan…

…yummmmmmmy BRAINS!!!

Love the Quincy Jones, Love the Chaka Kahn!!

:::

This one is DSX/OB-8, Mirage, Roland Jupiter 6, Arp-2600, Simmons SDS-V and Linndrum…

Oh yeah, Vocoder by Korg VC-10. A prelude to more fun!

Thanks and C U Next Year!

::: IF :::

::: DSX :::

Well, XBS was thinking about it and realized that we have our first ever sequence made on the DSX.  This was done right after we did the Electron Gate upgrade.  This replaces the old volatile RAM system witha a Static MRAM system to negate the need for a battery…

I later figured out how to calibrate the DAC system for the CV Gate outs on the back.  They have a polarity switch for +/- gates and a simple trim that adjusts the scale for all 8 CVs simultaneously.  pretty simple actually provided no components are bad.  There is supposedly an Oberheim calibration cassette that you can load into the DSX memory that has programs instead of sequences to test the functionality of the unit.  I haven’t found a copy yet but it must exist somewhere!

The Poly parts are the Oberheim OB-8 ( of course ) and the JP 6 via midi…

The bass is ARP 2600 and the mono synth lines are on a SCI P-1 I believe ( it was a while ago ).

Its got a LinnDrum and the Simmons SDS-V chasing it!

I was surprised when i got the DSX going and it actually worked!  I figured i’d make a song right away before something went wrong!  The scaling on the CV outs was a little out of cal so i didn’t do ant real leads or move too far out of ‘in tune’ range!

::: IF :::

::: It’s Passion :::

XBS loves getting new Vinyl.  Especially if its really old and was never played!  We just scored an original Mirage Records copy of It’s Passion by The System  for one dollar and it RULES!  This reminded me that there have been no XBS posts on The System yet.  It’s a travesty!!  XBS will do more we promise!  XBS will post that performance from MIAMI VICE at some point as well…

XBS owes a lot of art time inspiration to this band.  More than making some fun jams back in the day, they also inspired our love of Oberheim and the pre midi sequencing capabilities of  ‘The System’.

So, The DSX is the sequencer and it can control a DX or DMX drum machine and one Oberheim poly at the same time.  It can do 10 tracks of polyphonic ( 16 voices ) to an OB X, Xa, SX, or 8  via ‘computer interface’ and 8 CV / Gates on the back panel for mono synths simultaneously ( US scaling and polarity ( invertible! )).  It could record up to 6000 notes, record patch and controller type changes on a dedicated data track, and do real time transposition and track track muting!

So much fun!

Our OB-8 has midi so the DSX can actually control anything in the studio!  We upgraded the brains with some help from, you guessed it, Paul at Electron Gate!

http://www.electrongate.com/dmxfiles/products.html

::: [[START]] NERDY DANCING ZONE :::

::: [[END]] NERDY DANCING ZONE :::

We’ve been saving that dry hump macintosh gif for ever, now it has a raison d’etre…

Here’s an awesome jam from the first System record. Note they have a PPG in the video for no reason i can guess other than they are dancing in space!!!:

David Frank  is a Special and Visionary dude.  Thanks dude!

::: IF :::

::: Peace be a Computer :::

Well, XBS can’t wash the Doris Norton out of our brain.  It started with  Artificial Intelligence,  That Meth Tetris love child of a Casio SK-1 and an Apple II. It’s just litered with dog bark samples, Roland J-106 arpeggios, time code leaks, and Sysex tape dumps.  Doris Norton is what XBS describes as a great Litmus Test artist.  People either love it or hate it.  And both for all the right reasons!  ;-D

This track has been a fave of mine this fall and it seems to not be leaving rotation any time soon!

::: Love the vocoder. Love the crazy future NOW! :::