Blog

February 16 2020

343 Labs partners with Scratch DJ Academy

Hi, 343 Fam,

We have an exciting announcement, something we have been working on for some time and are proud to finally share with you all. 343 Labs will be partnering with NYC’s biggest DJ school, Scratch DJ Academy! This is an amazing opportunity for us, considering Scratch is one of NYC’s pioneers of electronic music education. Scratch was co-founded in 2002 by Rob Principe and DMC’s late Jam Master Jay. They are one of the world’s leading providers in DJ education, teaching over 50,000 students annually from all 50 states and 35 countries in their New York, Los Angeles, Miami, and eight satellite locations. When forming a partnership the question always arises, how can we both benefit each other, and how can we benefit our communities? We believe these questions are both answered with the amount of potential and opportunity both have to offer, with Scratch DJ Academy as one of the forerunners of DJ education, while 343 Labs specializes in music production. With our partnership we aim to consolidate the NYC electronic music education scenes, bringing together artists, producers, and DJs through our respective networks, and creating programs for the next generation of DJ Producers, where lines between DJing, performance, and production are increasingly becoming blurred. On August 1, 343 Labs will be moving into the Scratch DJ Academy space at 32 Cooper Square, sharing their facilities in downtown Manhattan, and plans for the future include creating an education program that will allow our students to study music production, performance, and DJing all under one roof. We at 343 Labs are extremely excited for this opportunity and the possibilities we can create for our students and the electronic music education scene in New York City and beyond. We look forward to welcoming you at our new home at 32 Cooper Square, where we will continue to hold weekly events and classes. Look out for our launch event in September and please come visit us any time!

Max & Nacho
Founders – 343 Labs

4_ableton-spaces_banners_blog.jpg__800x400_q85_crop_subsampling-2_upscale

February 16 2020

Ableton Spaces Recap

Ableton Spaces took place July 13th in Brooklyn, NY. Spaces was an all day Ableton conference that featured a number of different presentations, discussions, and performances focused around but not limited to the topic of Ableton Live. Artists that were featured at the event included Stud1nt, Nick Hook, Ebonie Smith, Ski Beatz, and Half Waif. The conference took place at The Music Hall of Williamsburg where presentations were held on stage while workshops and refreshments were served in the downstairs lounge area. The downstairs area was set up with Push controllers as well as a modular synth setup that was synced up to Live using a new feature called CV Tools. The day began with an engaging panel that included Jesse Terry, co-creator of Push, Stud1nt and Ski Beatz. It consisted of each artist playing a song that was made using the same sample and was provided by Ableton. Afterwards each artist broke down their workflows of making each piece which varied quite a bit from each other. The next presentation of the day was a highly informative presentation about the latest mixing and automation features of Ableton 10.1 and many of the new features available on the Ableton Push controller. After a break for lunch the afternoon was kicked off by another panel that included Nick Hook, Ebonie Smith, Stud1nt, and Coleman Goughary from Ableton which covered a variety of topics such as how to stay relevant in the industry and what to do when you feel like you’re out of inspiration. To end the day there was a performance by the Half Waif which feature a powerful demonstration of Live can do in the performance environment. Throughout the day there were meetups taking place at various times focused on specific topics such as software development and education. During the educators meetup we got the chance to catch up with all different types of teachers, developers and music professionals that use Ableton Live as an educational tool to teach music. As expected the quality of the event was as high as the other events Ableton has been holding for many years such as the annual loop conference. We hope to see more events like this coming to New York City in the near future.

synths+analog+vs+digital+with+343+colors

February 16 2020

Digital and Analog Synthesizers

A synthesizer is an electronic instrument that uses electrical signals to mimic the natural sounds we hear in physical instruments. It works by rapidly changing the voltage amounts in a circuit. These voltage changes (oscillations) repeat the same pattern and are referred to as waveforms. The artist shapes the sounds of the synth by controlling the structure, size, and speed of these waveforms.

Analog vs. Digital
An analog synth uses only electronic circuitry to generate and manipulate the sound. The MiniMoog Model D, Prophet Rev2, and the Yamaha CS-80 are all popular analog synths.
A digital synth is a standalone computer that recreates the physical circuitry model of an analog synth. Popular digital synths include the OP-1, Pocket Operators, and the Roland System1.

Many analog synth enthusiasts like to argue that a digital synth can never accurately replicate the sounds of it’s analog counterpart. Although, some synths use a hybrid of both analog and digital by using analog circuits and then employing digital technology to process the signal.

No matter what your preference is, analog vs digital, every synth has it’s strengths and weaknesses. To a synth enthusiast, most classic synths are easily identifiable by their signature sounds.