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Kanye West's new album 'Donda' arrives on a remix-it-yourself gadget
engadget.com ^ | August 25, 2021 | J. Fingas

Posted on 08/25/2021 8:13:12 PM PDT by Berlin_Freeper

Kanye West is no stranger to dabbling with technology (he discussed a Teenage Engineering collaboration in 2019), but now there's a device you can buy for yourself. The rapper and electronics design firm Kano have introduced a Donda Stem Player that, as the name implies, lets you remix music from Kanye's upcoming album Donda (plus your own tunes) using song stems.

The puck-like gadget reportedly lets you isolate song parts and control aspects like bass, drums, samples and vocals. You can reportedly split "any" song into stems. We've asked Kano how this works, but it's unlikely that it will perfectly separate song elements — that's a difficult feat for a full-fledged PC, let alone something as portable as this.

The Stem Player also includes familiar tools including effects, four-channel audio mixing, live sampling and real-time loop and speed controls. You navigate much of the interface through four touch-sensitive "light sliders" with haptic feedback and customizable colors, and you can save and share your creations with othrs.

You can pipe audio through the built-in speaker, Bluetooth or a 3.5mm headphone jack through a variety of lossy and lossless formats (including AAC, AIFF, MP3 and WAV). You'll have just 8GB of storage to work with, though — minus the bundled Donda stems.

You can order the Stem Player now for $200. That's not a trivial outlay if you're eager to tinker with songs, but it's relatively affordable as far as electronic music-making devices go. Just be aware that it's really just one part of a larger creative toolset, not your ticket to stardom.


TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Computers/Internet; Music/Entertainment
KEYWORDS: kanyewest; trumpcares; whocares

1 posted on 08/25/2021 8:13:12 PM PDT by Berlin_Freeper
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To: Berlin_Freeper
The album was initially set to be released on July 24, 2020, but was later delayed indefinitely. Multiple sources, including Def Jam, announced a July 23, 2021 release date; the album remained unreleased on that date. Release dates between August 6 and August 15 were speculated, including being listed on the music services iTunes and Apple Music.[3][4][5] These dates were later revised to August 20,[6] and later changed again to August 27,[7] with the latter date also announced by West's manager, Bu Thiam.[8]
2 posted on 08/25/2021 8:15:09 PM PDT by Berlin_Freeper (President Trump: "It's a great vaccine, it's a safe vaccine and it's something that works.")
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To: Berlin_Freeper

If it can remove Kanye from the mix it might be worth the money.


3 posted on 08/25/2021 8:15:30 PM PDT by jdsteel ("A Republic, Madam, if you can keep it." Sorry Ben, looks like we blew it.)
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To: Berlin_Freeper

How does one “mix” an electronic drum machine and some guy yelling obscenitues and “kill whitey?”


4 posted on 08/25/2021 8:24:40 PM PDT by freedumb2003 (The democrats have just replaced KKK with CRT. /Kevin McCarty 7/6/21)
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To: Berlin_Freeper

I’m a fan.


5 posted on 08/25/2021 8:25:31 PM PDT by CondoleezzaProtege
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To: Berlin_Freeper
‘What if DONDA never comes out?’

‘What if DONDA was the memories we made along the way?’

‘What if we keep getting DONDA release parties until the end of time?’

6 posted on 08/25/2021 8:29:29 PM PDT by Berlin_Freeper (President Trump: "It's a great vaccine, it's a safe vaccine and it's something that works.")
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To: Berlin_Freeper

Who? Never heard of him.


7 posted on 08/25/2021 8:38:24 PM PDT by Veto! (Political Correctness Offends Me)
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is this really necessary??...


8 posted on 08/25/2021 8:44:51 PM PDT by basalt
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To: Veto!


9 posted on 08/25/2021 8:46:40 PM PDT by Berlin_Freeper (President Trump: "It's a great vaccine, it's a safe vaccine and it's something that works.")
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To: basalt

Lighten up,it’s Chat.

.


10 posted on 08/25/2021 8:52:08 PM PDT by Mears (.)
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To: CondoleezzaProtege
Of Kanye or the stem software?

Frankly, the release of stems isn't anything new. Many bands have been doing this for a while. You can find isolated stems on YouTube.

With GarageBand on macs, you can do this all yourself if you have the stems. Putting it all in an app is clever.

Kanye isn't my cup of tea but he stayed pretty loyal to Trump. I don't know if it was a gimmick but he probably facilitated the conversion of many people to freedom. I'd rather invite him to my barbecue than Romney.

11 posted on 08/25/2021 8:53:09 PM PDT by DoodleBob (Gravity's waiting period is about 9.8 m/s^2)
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To: CondoleezzaProtege

Me too, particularly the music he’s released since becoming a follower of Jesus. I pray that he continues growing in his faith.


12 posted on 08/25/2021 9:15:23 PM PDT by Theo (FReeping since 1998 ... drain the swamp.)
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To: freedumb2003
some guy yelling obscenitues and “kill whitey?”

I don't know which guy you're talking about, but it's not Kanye.


13 posted on 08/25/2021 9:35:35 PM PDT by AnotherUnixGeek
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To: Veto!

HE’s worth over a billion dollars. FWIW


14 posted on 08/26/2021 4:14:14 AM PDT by EEGator
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To: AnotherUnixGeek

I know Kanye is on the “good” side but rap is rap.

Street poetry usually with usually (but admittedly not always) evil messages.

NOT music so there is nothing to “mix.”


15 posted on 08/26/2021 5:42:00 AM PDT by freedumb2003 (The democrats have just replaced KKK with CRT. /Kevin McCarty 7/6/21)
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