I have been interested in VSTs and other synthesized sound tools since I started using Ableton Live about 6 years ago. They have helped bring a richness to my songs. The very best VSTs use processes like “acoustic modelling,” and  are expressive and complex, mimicking Rhodes electric pianos, Hammond Organs, string sections, guitars, brass, woodwinds, [...]

One of the coolest annual festivals to hit our city is the Manifesto Festival. Hip-hop is the touchstone that unites many of the hundreds of artists and performers who participate. As I post we are in right in the middle of it! It takes places over 7 days from Sep 20-26 and there are a [...]

I have been using Ableton Live since I got version 4 about six years ago on a little shopping spree at Toronto’s Long and McQuade. It’s fantastic software. It allows for incredible flexibility, whether in recording or playing midi, or in live performance. I just got an email promoting a unique contest, targeted toward youthful [...]

Oi! Tudo bem? It’s been a long time since I said/wrote that, but I think it’s time for me to publish/release “Mikooshka’s Best of Brazilian Music” collection via a podcast. It could be more a of a “mixtape” flavor as I intend to include all kinds of classics, and make it a selector or collectors [...]

RiP: Remix Manifesto is a really cool project by a filmmaker named Brett Gaylor.  It looks at issues of intellectual property in the age of rampant piracy and a digital culture obsessed with notions like remixing and mashups. Brett talks with musical icons from the present/past (Girl Talk and Gilberto Gil). Watch a 6 minute [...]

Radio Coco–Featuring Ulysses Castellanos by mikooshka It would seem I can’t resist trying out some new kind of collaborative / social networking music sites and one that I joined a year ago but haven’t used much is Sound Cloud.  SC has a very simple tagline: “We Move Music”. Some of the cool features they have [...]

Around the world, culture and traditional life is under attack from the forces of progress and commerce. The Kalahari Bushmen and their struggle are documented in the book Heart of Dryness: How the Last Bushmen Can Help Us Endure the Coming Age of Permanent Drought by James G. Workman. In the book, the Botswana diamond [...]

The final version of the HD video was uploaded to YouTube last night. It was a big file: 250 mbs. I feel asleep with the computer whirring and the little blue light of the USB wireless adapter flickering away under the desk. It took about 2-3 hours to upload on our “light” high-speed connection. The [...]