What’s new at Zystrix? Read on…
July 24, 2023
Welcome to Zystrix, the heartbeat of the
universe. Where creativity and free-thinking
have more value than conformity. This time
around I’d like to talk about Lucy Beach and her
photographic artistry. I’d also like to thank MIG
for the donation. There’s also a new animated
movie gif posted above about overestimating your talent, a new piano
tune by Dangerous Neighbors called Glimmer of Hope, a review of
two more free plugins you may enjoy: RF Drums by Ronan Fed and
the Overheat by Sampleson, and also a free dowloadable PDF of the
Michigan rendition of That Dog Don’t Hunt.
A New Photograph
I posted the new artwork above left from Lucy Beach of Grand Rapids.
It’s a photo derivative done in pencil, sunglasses and all. And not only
is she an artist but she’s also a great cook. Now that I look at it the
photo does seem like someone I’ve seen before. Doesn’t he play in a
famous band or something? Excellent. Thanks so much.
Dangerous Neighbors
This new piano piece from Dangerous Neighbors is called Glimmer
of Hope. It’s about 2 minutes 7 seconds long. This tune was
intended to reassure, offer optimism, and to remember to take heart
in a bleak situation. Click this link to hear Glimmer of Hope or go to
the top of the Dangerous Neighhbors page and hear it there along
with many other tunes.
More Free Plug-ins
What I’ve done here is gather and review a couple more outstanding
free plug-ins you may enjoy. Please support the folks who invent these
works of art and offer their hard work to the recording community for
your recording consideration. They are the real heros of the music
industry and they deserve your support. Salute.
RF Drums by Ronan Fed
This drum machine speaks with authority and power. It’s got lots of
options and controls and enough built-in sounds to keep a person busy
for a while. It blows away any of the
old drum machines it emulates like
the Linn and several by Roland.
And if that’s not enough you can
even load in your favorite samples
to build a personalized kit. It’s
called a rompler but it’s not really in
the purest sense because it doesn’t
sample, but it has the ability to play
back personalized Wav samples of
your choosing. Build and save your
favorite drum kit using your own
samples. Do you need royalty free
original drum and percussion
sounds? Download hundreds of
free drum, gong, and cymbal
samples by clicking here. And then
you can adjust the sample
amplitude, tuning, stereo image, and
add reverb and compression to the
sounds. And it’s even got 16 stereo
outputs. Wow. If there’s a better
drum machine than this (especially for the price) I haven’t heard it yet.
This one reminds me a little bit of the old Casio RZ-1 in that it can play
back your favorite samples, but RF Drums is far superior. This plug-in
is A-1 crème de la crème.
Click here to download the RF Drums by Ronan Fed.
Overheat by Sampleson
This review was also posted at plugins4free.
I’m not sure if the world needs another tube emulation but it
sure doesn’t hurt. Choice is always good, especially when it’s
great quality like this. There really isn’t much to this effect so
it’s very intuitive: pre-gain, drive, post gain, color, and low pass.
It’s very easy to dial in a preferred tube-type warmth. What
does it sound like? It has a
natural sound if used in a
prudent manner, although it can
go from smooth to the fuzzy
grunge of an old tube amp
begging for mercy by simply
using the color dial. On the
other hand, I can’t think of a
pre-amp it emulates although it
sort of sounds like a cross
between the H.H. Scott and the
Voice-of-Music (remember
them?) tube pre. You get the
picture, it does it’s own thing
and sounds great from tame to
flame. The low pass dial is
handy for quickly subtracting
high-end from a signal if that’s what you need. The pre-drive
sets the amount of gain going into the front end so the effect
itself is not over-driven. The drive dial does what it says – it
adds more or less of the tube coloration you choose from the
color dial and increases it to quite an inarticulate smear if driven
really hard. And of course, the post-gain dial is basically the
output volume. For superior tube-like sounds it definitely gives
you a little bit more of what you’re looking for. This is a
wonderful although somewhat individual sounding tube-type pre
and should be part of your recording engineer toolbox.
Powerful. Click here to download Overheat by Sampleson.
That Dog Don’t Hunt
(Michigan Version)
“That dog don’t hunt” is an old American saying that some
people claim originated in Texas about 200 years ago. You
couldn’t prove it by me, I have no idea, but there are various
regional variations and here’s the Michigan version. You can
also download the PDF of That Dog Don’t Hunt - Michigan
version by clicking here.
There was a Michigan farmer who lived way back in the woods
with his wife and 4 dogs. He scratched out a living planting and
harvesting and he would occasionally go hunting with his dogs.
The dogs had separate pens and also one large pen for putting
them all together to play. The dogs were all well behaved and
stayed in their yard if let out of their pens. One day the
neighbor came walking up the drive with a dog on a frayed rope
leash. The dog was very thin, dirty, and appeared very tired.
“Do you want another dog?”, the neighbor asked. “This is a bad
dog and he costs me money.” “Does he bite?”, the farmer
asked. “Oh no, he’s real friendly, but he doesn’t earn his keep.
I just don’t need him anymore.” “Hmm, well, a free dog. OK.
I’ve got room for another dog I guess. Sure, I’ll take him.” And
so the neighbor handed him the end of the leash, turned, and
walked back home. The farmer put the dog in a pen by himself
to keep him separate from the other dogs. He then untied the
leash from the dog’s neck. The farmer went in the house and
came back to give the new dog fresh water and food. The poor
dog had a voracious appetite and hurriedly ate everything in big
gulps. The dog then showed interest in the other dogs and they
in him too. When the farmer felt the new dog understood this is
his new home he let all the dogs out of their pens and, once all
the dogs got to know each other, they played and jumped in the
yard. The new dog was well behaved and fit in perfectly. Some
days later the farmer’s wife told him there wasn’t any meat for
dinner, there’s plenty of canned goods and root vegetables, but
he needs to hunt something from the woods for a main course.
The farmer grabbed his long gun, went outside to let the dogs
loose, and they all wandered out into the woods. After they had
walked out quite a ways a raccoon walked out in front of them
and the dogs started the chase. Soon the raccoon ran behind a
big tree but kept running away on the other side to fool the
dogs. It you weren’t paying attention you’d think the raccoon
ran up the tree. The dogs began running around the base of
the tree, caught the scent of the raccoon, and scrambled to
catch the raccoon now running off in the distance. The farmer
slowly ran almost a mile and finally caught up with the dogs who
were now barking and running end to end of a fallen hollow log.
The farmer looked down the end of the log and saw two eyes
glowing back at him. He aimed his long gun down the log and
fired. He then grabbed the long gun by the butt end and shoved
it down into the hollow log and out the other end fell the dead
raccoon. The dogs were yipping and happy and sniffing the fur.
The farmer put the large raccoon over his shoulder, put his long
gun over his other shoulder, and they all made the long walk
back to the farm house. The farmer handed the dead raccoon
to his wife and she used it to finish making dinner. That evening
they all ate until they were stuffed. The dogs gobbled all they
wanted, and there was plenty of meat left over to can and save
for another meal in the future. By then it was starting to get
dark outside. The farmer went out on the front porch to sit in his
favorite rocking chair and relax with his dogs. About that time
he heard some barking out in the woods. Looking way out into
the woods he could see the new dog still running around the
base of the big tree. Exasperated he just shook his head and
said to himself, “That dog don’t hunt”.
Don’t touch that dial…
Stay tuned next time…
And I keep promising I’m going to do a video to compare and
contrast two newer but popular guitar distortion pedals. I bought the
video gear and now I’ve got to learn it. And hopefully I’ll even post
the video on a famous video website. I hope you enjoy it.
I know I’m getting old because I went to an antique musical
instrument auction and three people bid
on me.
Knowledge art, and music for all…
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FREE BASS LOOPS SAMPLES DOWNLOAD
ROYALTY FREE BASS LOOP SAMPLES
FREE BASS LOOPS
Over 200 samples are included in the collection
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NOTE: This download size is approximately 369 Megs.
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Dangerous Neighbors
The SW Michigan Power Trio.
Free Rockin’ Music Downloads
The
music
for
the
next
book
will
be
out
in
2023.
Production
is
a
little
behind
but
there’s
a
sneak
peek
demo
of
how
it’s
supposed
to
go
for
the
first
tune
on
the
album.
This
tune
is
called
Sting
of
Death
and
it’s
the
backing
music
for
the
first
chapter.
Click here to download recent Dangerous Neighbors.
Download
tunes
from
the
80s
to
today.
Use
the
special
codes
on
the
Embalmed
for
Life
page
(see
the
DOWNLOAD
FREE
AUDIO
BOOKS
link
below)
and
get
free
downloads
for
the
complete
album
and
the
free
horror
audio
book
The Fluid - Embalmed for Life.
Click here to download various music from Dangerous Neighbors.
Download Free Synth Samples for
Intros, Interludes, and Endings
Listen to example #01 by clicking here (MP3 Sample)
Download FREE professional quality stereo sample packs that slowly
evolve over time. All samples are in 48K 24 bit WAV format and are
about 20 seconds long or more. If you like suspense, psycho, outer
space, or terror then this collection is for you. These range from
paranoia to sci-fi, cinematic gore to strange industrial horror, and
creepy creatures to insane laboratories.
Click here to download all the synth Intros, Interludes, and Endings.
DOWNLOAD FREE
AUDIO BOOKS
The Fluid, Embalmed for Life
There are Free Audio Book codes for Audible downloads (must sign up).
There are also free sample downloads of the book reading.
There are free downloads of music samples.
There is a free “Look Inside” download of the paperback.
There is a free glossary of the largest list of mortuary slang in the world.
The Free Dangerous Neighbors Album The Fluid, Embalmed for Life comes
included as part of the audio book and parts are available here as a free
download.
The paperback book is available for sale at Amazon dot com. I have no control
over these sales; because of the Amazon agreement I cannot offer complete
paperback or complete audio books here. I’m sorry for any inconvenience.
Click here for free audio books,
book reading samples, music samples, etc.
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