We are pleased to annonce the opening of our new online store. http://www.s9sonline.com. All Sector 9 Studios new releases will be available digitally at our new store first, as time based exclusives. We will be releasing more actively, with regular singles from our artists every month. The new store is hosted on Sector 9 Studios servers, we we continue to accept paypal for payment, and now have gift certificates available. All MP3's are $.99, are 320K bit rate, and are created directly from the master audio recordings. In stock previous Compact Disc releases are available as well. As a grand opening special all items are on sale for a limited time at 10% off. Please visit our new store at s9sonline.com

Sector 9 Studios latest releases

Cellmod : Option One
Option One is a breathtaking ride through several dimensions of Trance. Taking on the challenge of tackling Epic Trance while infusing it with a wide array of Progressive elements, this release will make extended visits to your playlist. Intelligent structures combine with hard hitting beats, and animated synths to create incredible atmosphere while remaining dance friendly. Cellmod's excellent proficiency with melody and outstanding production shine through like a beacon in the darkness.

Plague Sequence : Discarded Technology
Dark Psy rhythms, injected with Progressive Trance structures, and intricate percussion, Discarded Technology stimulates your aural senses. Built for both dance floors and listening, this release grips hold of your interest and never lets go. With 9 tracks that mutate into subtle atmosphere, changing, melding, demanding your attention, you owe it to yourself to find the Discarded Technology.

New Single from Plague Sequence Oct. 21 2008

Novamancer, A new single from Plague Sequence will be released soon on the Sector 9 Studios Online Store. This track strikes a delicate balance between Psytrance and Progressive Trance. Well placed glitches give it a futuristic feel. Novamancer sets an ominous mood cold stark future, with underlying warmth and a hint of hope. Very intelligent sound that fits both for home listening and on the go, or at a club. The production quality on this track is uncanny. Available at the Sector 9 Studios Online Store on Tuesday October 21, 2008 in 320K MP3 Format. s9sonline.com

Yep, we've moved from London to The Netherlands. Currently in Amsterdam.
Feels good to be out of London already. Looking forward to some Dutch parties.
Bits of my studio are still in London and will be coming over in the next weeks, and some bits are still in Australia, but I've still got the core of my kit here.

A new PS track will be unveiled soon on Sector 9.

And don't forget to keep checking out Shiv-r!

The second full-length album from The Crystalline Effect, entitled "Identity", will be released soon by Advoxya Records.

Audio samples now available at myspace.com/thecrystallineeffect!



Tracklisting:
01 Blue Sea
02 How I Get Out
03 Ialundra
04 Researching Us
05 Life Has Failed You
06 When The World Ends
07 When You're Asleep
08 Five Ways To Run
09 One Time In Life
10 Radio Waves
11 Right
12 Reseaching Us (Lee Bulig remix)
13 When The World Ends (Endif remix)
14 Nothing Warms This Room (Tazman Module remix by Impact Pulse)

Okay - the CD is now available!  Shiv-r is the new dark, industrial project from Pete Crane (The Crystalline Effect/Plague Sequence) and Lee Bulig (Stark/Neon Womb).

Tracklisting:
[1] Parasite [5:37]
[2] Fractured Light [4:56]
[3] Control [4:31]
[4] Parasite (Virul3nt mix) [4:47]
[5] Control (Kong mix) [4:18]

Format: CDR (black thermal print, not inkjet - same format as used by labels like Alfa Matrix and DSBP for somecurrent releases)
Packaging: Card wallet
Mastering: Kolja Trelle/Soman @ Koltron Studios, Germany
When your order is received, you will be sent an e-mail with a link to 320k mp3s, so you can listen to your purchase before it arrives in the post. Keep in mind this isn't automated - you'll have to wait until your order is seen by a human being!
Samples: Myspace, VampireFreaks and Shiv-r.com.
Purchase: Here.

We are also in the process of sending this to distributers Infrarot (Germany) and Storming the Base (North America + the digital realm of iTunes, Amazon, etc), so you can always get it from them at a later date.

Lee Bulig (known for his projects Stark and Neon Womb) and myself (from The Crystalline Effect and Plague Sequence) have been collaborating and we are now able to lift the veil of secrecy from our new project: Shiv-r.

Shiv-r is a musical symbiosis and promises to be our darkest and most unique project yet.

Shiv-r.com is a central part of the project and is based on a regularly updated blog-format. Lee Bulig will be posting on things like life in Bangkok and body modification and I'll be posting on life in London and music-tech.

A maxi-single will go to pressing in the next few weeks, but in the meanitme check out the website, listen to the tracks, and let us know your thoughts.

Shiv-r @ myspace

Lee Bulig (known for his projects Stark and Neon Womb) and myself (from The Crystalline Effect and Plague Sequence) have been collaborating and we are now able to lift the veil of secrecy from our new project: Shiv-r.

Shiv-r is a musical symbiosis and promises to be our darkest and most unique project yet.

Shiv-r.com is a central part of the project and is based on a regularly updated blog-format. Lee Bulig will be posting on things like life in Bangkok and body modification and I'll be posting on life in London and music-tech.

A maxi-single will go to pressing in the next few weeks, but in the meanitme check out the website, listen to the tracks, and let us know your thoughts.

Shiv-r @ myspace

Storming The Base is now carrying The Crystalline Effect - Hypothermia, as well as all of Advoxya Records' releases.

Check out the site for some awesome specials. If I may give a recommendation - they're currently selling Headscan's Pattern Recognition album for $10USD! This is my favourite album of the past 3+ years. And Headscan's singles are going for $3! So now you have a few extra items to throw in the cart with Hypothermia ^_^

Soon to come - German distribution news....
-Pete

I just finished God of War: Chains of Olympus and I must agree with 90% of the reviews out there that state that this is one of the best games for the PSP.  At so many points I forgot I was playing a handheld.  The cinematic approach to gameplay really sucks you in, and the top notch up-tempo score really keeps things moving along if you play with headphones. 
The quick response of the controls makes gameplay very satisfying.  You feel very much "in control" of your character, "Kratos". 
Initially I wasn't sure about the Ancient Greek theme of this game, which has never been one to float my boat, but the story was so well done and executed with gorgeous cinematics that I was drawn right in.  
The level design and gameplay basically feels like Lego Star Wars with some extra button-matching minigames, not that there's anything wrong with that. 
The only downside to this game is the incredibly short length of the campagn, which took about 2 evenings to get through.  Still, I believe there are now some challenge modes of sorts that I am yet to look into, which may or may not lend some replayability to the game. 

I also saw some good reviews about Monster Hunter Freedom 2, which professed to be as much like an MMO as possible, which apealled to me.  I could seriously imagine sinking hundreds of hours into this game, which is grind-tastic.  However, it feels clunky to play and the graphics are a bit artifacty.  Combat, which comprises most of the grinding I assume, feels horrible.  I guess I shouldn't compare it to the fluidity and responsiveness of God of War but given that I just played it I couldn't help it.  Moving around is frustraring too - the stick is used to move but the d-pad is used to move the camera, making it impossible to manipulate both at once.  It's like going from eating steak to eating cereal, in terms of gameplay and graphics.  I don't think this game is going to get me hooked at all. 

The last game to mention is Final Fantasy VII Crisis Core.  After seeing ads on the London Tube for this game, I knew it had to have a huge production budget.  This game also gets reviewed as favourably as God of War.  I've only had an initial look so far but it looks incredible.  The cinematics are the best I've ever seen on a hand-held, and definitely better than anything from a PS2.  Gameplay initially feels as nice as God of War, but with alot of extra depth and possibilities.  Camera control is done via the L&R bumpers, which feels great.  The levelling system is taken care of via a "lottery" system, which seems a bit in poor taste to give young kids a taste of gambling, but apparantly there is an experience system behind it, so it's not really random.  Visuals are the best I've seen, and the hairstyles, outfits, cityscape settings and trademark giant swords seal the deal.  It really makes me want to start a Japanese Visual Kei band!  I can tell I'm going to play the sh1t out of this game. 

Coming later in 2008 will be Korg's new contribution to the MIDI controller market, the Nano range:

I'm sorry but I find these utterly hideous!  They are the least cool musical accessories I've ever seen.  I generally love white pieces of electronic equipment, such as the Virus Polar and the Waldorf Blofeld, and a combination of white & blue sounds so cyber and futuristic that it really should work.  So why is it that these Korg Nano controllers look so un-cool? 

Maybe it's because I prefer the gritty realism of Blade Runner to the polished white plastic aesthetic of Star Wars.  Maybe it's just that these controllers look so un-musical and hence uninspiring.  Either way, I'm happy with my Novation SLZero. 

More info on the Korg website.

Audiophonics is a small Swedish company currently developing a piece of software that automatically composes music, based on certain user-set paramaters. 

"Imagine everyone having freshly made music, customized to perfectly fit the different moods and situations they might encounter throughout the day - the Soundscape of the Future."

They are currently seeking users to fill a Reference Group pool in order to develop their product.  I signed up!  If you'd like to as well, go here. 

I'm very interested to hear what they use for instrumentation of these pieces.  It looks to me like the end-product will be a piece of software for small devices such as mobile phones, that generate music based on what you want to listen to, and use some sort of in-built polyphonic soft-synth for the sounds.  This is just an educated guess - they could have something completely different planned! 

The first piece of music software I ever used was a program on the Mac Classic called Band In A Box.  You could enter in a chord progression, select a style from a drop-down list (unfortunately there was no "grunge" much to my chagrin, as this was circa 1994), hit play, and it would output MIDI to an external device (in our case a Yahama MU5).  This made a great little backing track to practice guitar over. 
Similarly, when it comes to video games, I love the ones that automatically generate maps.  This made Diablo so addictive and replayable for me. 

Audiophonics' software is probably an implementation of these basic principles, for a much more commercial and less musical market.  Regardless, let's see how their automatic compositions sound!