News Round Up: 11/12/15

One nOb to fine-tune any parameter, the story of Thomas Bangalter’s Roulé Records, the Casiotone preset that revolutionised reggae, and help house veteran Colonel Abrams. 

nOb Fine-Tunes Any Parameter. Designed with media authors of all kinds in mind, nOb is an endless knob controller that allows you to smoothly and precisely fine-tune any parameter during demanding production tasks. It delivers out-of-the-box compatibility with any operating system and software package. Check out the promo video above, and donate to the Kickstarter project here.

Kerry Chandler gives away ‘Get It Off’ as free download. Kerri Chandler shares his first track, ‘Get It Off’, as a free download. Grab it here and read our in-depth interview with Kerri here, in which he tells the tragic story behind the making of the track.

Machine Love: Voices From The Lake. The latest of RA‘s Machine Love series, in which they “unapologetically geek out with a producer about their studios,” invites critically acclaimed Italian techno duo Voices From The Lake to reveal the tools and techniques behind their completely improvised live sets. Read the full interview here.

How Boiler Room Began. “Rapid expansion, considerable disruption, and no small amount of backlash generated.” The Guardian tells the story of how Blaise Bellville‘s Boiler Room became a global sensation, streaming webcam DJ sessions in east London to the world’s computer screens, and changing live music forever. Read it here.

Daft Punk’s Forgotten Record Label. Cuepoint charts a history of Roulé, founded by Daft Punk‘s Thomas Bangalter in 1995 and run by their associate Gildas Loaëc, which disappeared after only 14 remarkable releases, including the French touch classic by Stardust – ‘Music Sounds Better With You’. Read the full piece here.

The Casiotone Preset That Revolutionised Reggae. Engadget tells the story of Casio‘s Casiotone MT40, which, released in 1981, accidentally started reggae’s digital revolution after being used on King Jammy and Wayne Smith‘s ‘Under Mi Sleng Teng’. Sleng Teng, a preset pattern found in the MT40 digital keyboard, changed the reggae scene forever, and influenced a generation of dancehall artists. Find the full story here.

Help House Veteran Colonel Abrams. House legend Marshall Jefferson is encouraging the dance music community to come together to support a GoFundMe campaign, which has been set up to help another house veteran, Colonel Abrams, who has “fallen on some really hard times due to health issues and a financial setback which has forced him into some housing challenges.” Watch Marshall Jefferson’s appeal here, and donate here.

Bright Sparks Documents Historic Synth Pioneers. A new documentary film, accompanied by a concept album by I Monster, celebrates the pioneering individuals and companies of synthesiser history, who laid down the groundwork for the classic synths we all enjoy today. It focuses on Moog, Buchla, ARP and many other companies, with interviews with some of their key personnel. Watch the trailer above and buy the film here.