tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17816762708585423112012-04-16T04:41:06.546+01:00Groove Criminalshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13550192594459138023noreply@blogger.comBlogger120125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1781676270858542311.post-6468654462640846282012-01-31T08:02:00.002Z2012-01-31T08:06:26.792Z

Groove Criminalshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13550192594459138023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1781676270858542311.post-11380832431364205412012-01-25T11:42:00.002Z2012-01-25T11:49:02.638Z

We can only apologise but by some obvious mistake we (or the back of MR Hoodee's fat head) have made the cover of this months Future Music magazine. To add insult to injury we're also featured inside and are on the DVD as the nice folks from FM popped down to film us at GCHQ before Xmas.As soon as we get a min we'll sort a link or upload to the footage of MR H blabbing on but for now you can

Groove Criminalshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13550192594459138023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1781676270858542311.post-24928951133856488152012-01-10T14:15:00.006Z2012-01-10T14:42:59.797Z

WotchaHappy new year and all that, another year's sneaked up on us when we weren't looking and kicked us up the arse before beginning to sprint away again.We were kept busy leading up to Xmas making a little gift for our mates at FXpansion to give away over the festive period - a circuitbent expansion pack for their sampling drum software monster Geist.We've a fair collection of bent drum

Groove Criminalshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13550192594459138023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1781676270858542311.post-39353472989022319862011-10-26T16:21:00.004+01:002011-10-26T16:50:26.503+01:00

We've just finished putting together a set of classic digital synth samples for a forthcoming issue of Future Music magazine concentrating on a couple of synths from the (in)famous Yamaha DX range - a Dx7 (Mk2D) and it's smaller cousin a DX100.Oddly enough this was the first time we'd really used either of these synths and although we knew broadly what to expect sound and programming -wise, we

Groove Criminalshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13550192594459138023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1781676270858542311.post-32598847954005249882011-09-27T14:22:00.004+01:002011-09-30T10:11:32.033+01:00

Afternoon.Just finished a large set of bass samples for a forthcoming Computer Music and whilst searching out some more unusual sources for lowend rumble came accross this 1U module hiding in a friends loft.It's a Professional Midi Bass module by 360 Systems (I know, I know we'd normally avoid anything with 'proffessional' written on the front as well as they are inevitably not but in this case

Groove Criminalshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13550192594459138023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1781676270858542311.post-50370154878954506312011-09-09T12:32:00.005+01:002011-09-09T13:39:52.442+01:00

Perhaps the most vital element to try and get right when dealing with hip hop in any of it's varied forms are the drums; both in sounds and programming.A quick glance over this blog will show that we're lucky enough to be sat on quite a horde of hardware drum machines, both vintage and modern, including a few hip hop classics including the Oberheim DX and DMX. Both of these machines are punchy

Groove Criminalshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13550192594459138023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1781676270858542311.post-48658723807813676132011-09-09T10:43:00.010+01:002011-09-09T12:31:06.425+01:00

Ok enough waxing lyrical, you want the gear porn right? ;)Well the first thing we wanted to make sure we did when taking on the classic hip hop expander commission was to make it as authentic as we could and at a basic level this started with the samplers.We knew we wanted to use old skool hardware samplers wherever possible before feeding everything into the computers to add some of that highly

Groove Criminalshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13550192594459138023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1781676270858542311.post-58920459985015563642011-09-09T09:50:00.003+01:002011-09-09T10:37:59.815+01:00

Wotcha.Yes we know, another couple of months radio silence.We have an excuse. No really.Amongst the usual monthly sample goodness we cook up for our friends at Future Music and Computer Music magazines (look out for FM issue 245's set of 'Juke' samples, we had some fun with those), we also have been working on a classic hip hop expansion pack for the Geist sampling drum software from our mates

Groove Criminalshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13550192594459138023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1781676270858542311.post-17985905124440307392011-06-24T14:20:00.005+01:002011-06-24T14:32:22.140+01:00

One of the duties we don't particularly enjoy that's involved with making the monthly samples for Future Music is having our photo taken every other month for inclusion in the samples page of the mag. Of course everyone ducks out on those days leaving MR Hoodee to take it on the chin ;) Anyway, here's a couple of shots from this months shoot with the talented Mr Ecki behind the lens. No

Groove Criminalshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13550192594459138023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1781676270858542311.post-77121854035791036282011-06-20T20:32:00.002+01:002011-06-20T20:39:41.444+01:00

Just before we call it a day, we're just about to start on a month long commission for..urm, well we can't actually say for whom or what we're doing but it involves us going back to our musical roots....More info as and when we can let it slip but we're quite chuffed, a touch challenged and a bit nervous about the whole thing to be honest . All of which is good ;)Til next time.

Groove Criminalshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13550192594459138023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1781676270858542311.post-80947189419974938232011-06-20T19:50:00.006+01:002011-06-20T20:20:58.459+01:00

Evening.Quick update on the what gwan/self promotion front. Please don't adjust your set...Just finished a set of analogue bass samples for DMS taken from the synth collection here at GCHQ. The list of beauties we grappled with in the name of low end bliss appears, er, below.Moog Little Phatty (Tribute)Roland SH101Roland Juno-60Yamaha CS01Yamaha CS05Jomox MBase 01Waldorf pulseNovation bass

Groove Criminalshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13550192594459138023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1781676270858542311.post-63226444119622350012011-06-14T14:30:00.003+01:002011-06-14T14:56:10.373+01:00

So trying to make up for a 4 month dry spell with some quick fire posts (sad we know) we thought we'd post some links to some of the rather fine projects we've been rather chuffed to be a part of over the last few months.First up we were please to get our filthy wobble on (ohh err) for our friends at Sample Magic to contribute some samples for their rather splendid Dubstep sample library. We've

Groove Criminalshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13550192594459138023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1781676270858542311.post-27681115840168002962011-06-14T13:51:00.004+01:002011-06-14T14:28:59.804+01:00

4 months! Bloody hell that's bad even for our rather lame selves.OK, no excuses (although we have been very busy ;) but rather time for a speedy catch up on all things Groove Criminal.GCHQ v2 is completely up and running now and after a few months we've settled in nicely and it's really being to feel like home. To be honest it's a home away from (well within MR Hoodee's) home as it is because we

Groove Criminalshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13550192594459138023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1781676270858542311.post-69616513267600527422011-02-16T20:23:00.000Z2011-02-16T20:23:01.809Z

Groove Criminalshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13550192594459138023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1781676270858542311.post-39171281018637895582011-02-07T08:15:00.001Z2011-02-07T08:34:06.717Z

Groove Criminalshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13550192594459138023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1781676270858542311.post-31089106895562804282011-02-05T12:29:00.005Z2011-02-05T14:58:57.566Z

Happy new year! Okay a little bit...okay...a lot late but we still hope 2011 is finding you fit and well. Big things gwan here over Xmas as finally the beat lair, GCHQ v2.0 was finished and we moved the quite frankly frightening amount of audio tat we had stored in and got comfy in what we hope will now be our permanent home.As you can see in he end we still had to pack it in a little bit but

Groove Criminalshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13550192594459138023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1781676270858542311.post-20571636813438995152010-11-16T11:28:00.002Z2010-11-16T11:38:55.764Z

Because we work to quite tight deadlines time wise each month, sometimes we fluff our plans completely and fail to get our mitts on bits of gear we've got our eyes on in time for the samples we want it for...err does that make any sense?Anyway, the above Flame Clockwork was one such toy we wanted to use for the recent set of control voltage samples for FM234. Even thought we missed the deadline

Groove Criminalshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13550192594459138023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1781676270858542311.post-58383263096452248042010-11-16T11:21:00.003Z2010-11-16T11:28:29.176Z

Ok, so it might not look much now, and it was full of a roofers swear words last week trying to work out how on earth the roof he put on was leaking (so spooky as it's like every other studio we've had)...But this in a few weeks (touch wood) will be our new home. Obviously still a lot to be done but even so, beginning to get just a little bit excited about finally having a permanent base of

Groove Criminalshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13550192594459138023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1781676270858542311.post-49945843944829912542010-11-05T16:09:00.002Z2010-11-05T16:45:41.946Z

Ahh the theremin, quite probably one of the most difficult things to play we've ever come across, of course it might well just be us. The above beauty is a Moog Etherwave Plus we managed to blag for this set of samples for two main reasons; one, we thought it'll be fab to have a go on one (it is) and two, it comes complete with CV outputs for pitch, volume and gate. This means it can be used as

Groove Criminalshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13550192594459138023noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1781676270858542311.post-79166349681707995322010-11-04T12:02:00.003Z2010-11-04T12:45:04.136Z

Next up in our CV fun day set of samples was our extensive range of Moogerfoogers. Regular readers will know we love these little beauties so really needed no more encouragement for a play. Because of all the extensive CV in/out options it's quite possible to chain the 'foogers together to create a very basic modular synth. The sound source was provided by a waveform from the CP-251 or Osc

Groove Criminalshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13550192594459138023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1781676270858542311.post-18433692967859658122010-11-04T10:51:00.004Z2010-11-04T11:58:20.395Z

We had some great fun with this months samples for Future Music (issue 234). Theme was control voltage and analogue synths which gave us some great new and rather unique toys to play with. Some of which unfortunately we've got to give back (boo) .First up is a couple of creations by our resident genius (and not of the manic laughter category...well not all the time) Andy. The rather fab box above

Groove Criminalshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13550192594459138023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1781676270858542311.post-24538283865744214202010-11-04T10:31:00.003Z2010-11-04T10:43:10.261Z

Another month flys by and yet more blank silence from us, by hey you know the score by now ;). Unfortunately silence is a rare commodity around here at the mo, as i type this a roofer is thumping merry hell just the other side of the wall! The building works (and ultimate creation of GCHQ v2) are going well but it does mean working and posting is becoming increasing difficult - but worse things

Groove Criminalshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13550192594459138023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1781676270858542311.post-3760924785779156592010-09-21T12:44:00.006+01:002010-09-21T13:52:05.768+01:00

"ahh come in Mr Bond, I've been expecting you..."There's a good reason Mr Hoodee's sat doing his best Gold Finger impression in the above shot (taken by Ecki on our last FM shoot) and that's it was the last time GCHQ (v.1.2) was seen in all its slightly cluttered glory. Yup after nearly 3 years (see the blog entry for Jan 2008 here) in our 'temp' home, we've had to pack up and in preparation for

Groove Criminalshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13550192594459138023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1781676270858542311.post-80903040986426480252010-09-21T12:02:00.004+01:002010-09-21T12:34:20.184+01:00

Just a quick few thoughts about the latest set of samples we've completed for Future Music magazine (issue 232). The theme was the soundtracks of the great John Carpenter, so lots of sparse synthy drones, minimal drumbeats and analogue 3 note basslines wrapped up in some tasty spring reverb.It was an enjoyable collection to work on and made a nice change to be almost entirely hardware (and

Groove Criminalshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13550192594459138023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1781676270858542311.post-52774816761487094782010-08-29T15:24:00.003+01:002010-08-29T15:38:20.629+01:00

Another piece of rather fab kit that features some more traditional drum sounds in the analogue percussion samples is our Vermona DRM1 MK3 drum rack. We'd lusted after one of these for a while and can honestly say when we got hold of one last year, were not dissapointed (not sure why we didn't blog about it at the time).Featuring plenty of scope for hands on knob twiddling , we especially like

Groove Criminalshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13550192594459138023noreply@blogger.com0