Boss DB-90 Metronome

Practicing the Bb melodic minor scale was more fun this morning.  I powered up my recently acquired Boss DB-90 Dr. Beat and began to play my scale exercises.   A techno groove from the DB-90 accompanied me as my mallets danced along the rosewood bars.   This metronome is a far cry from my tick-tock, pendulum-swinging tempo keeper from my college days and way ahead of my DB-66 from the last decade of the last century.  Every percussionist NEEDS a metronome and this one is packed with features including drum patterns that can be manipulated, subdivisions of the beat, storage of tempi in a playlist--and more.  I am diggin' the DB-90.   A bit on the pricey side--but worth it.

Remix with Beatlab

Percussionist John Homan (an early Percussion For Worship devotee--here's a photo of part of his church setup) recently used Beatlab to concoct a short ambient "mashup."  John took some fragments of my handpan composition, "As The Night Sky Sings," and used sounds from Beatlab to make a remix version. 

Percussionists might want to check out John's work and learn about the Beatlab capabilities.  It might just spark your creativity! 

http://www.beatlab.com/#!/matrices/308309

This link takes you to a recording of the original recording which John sampled:

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/66750338/AsTheNightSkySings.wav

Just in case you are looking for some material to use for remixing on Beatlab, here's a link to an original song by me and Jonathan Malone.  Just guitar and vocal--recorded using click so it should be a good candidate for remixing.  Let me know if you use it.

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/66750338/HowBeautifulShines.wav