New Surround From Rob Reed (Magenta) - Chimpan A "The Empathy Machine" available now (CD/DTS DVD-V)

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Neil Palfreyman

1K Club - QQ Shooting Star
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I know this forum has a lot of fans of the surround releases from Rob Reed's various projects; Magenta, Sanctuary and Kompendium. You may not know that he has another "fusion" project with vocalist and song writer Steve Balsamo called "Chimpan A", the first eponymous album of which was released way back in 2006. For those that haven't heard it; it's quite hard to pigeon hole the style! Rob says that the only rule for Chimpan A is that everything is allowed, so I guess it's progressive in the true sense of the word, but includes everything from rock, folk, dance, electronica, classical to street poetry/spoken word, all fused together, sometimes in the space of a few bars!

Anyway, he's been threatening a follow up for ages, and has just put album number two, "The Empathy Machine" up for pre-order. It was gong to be his "usual" special edition CD/DVD with DD and DTS 48k for the 5.1 mix, released in physical format on the 10th April. But, in response to the situation in the world right now he's decided he wants to get something positive out quickly, so he's making high resolution, uncompressed versions of both the stereo mix (wav) and 5.1 surround mixes (flac) available when any of the physical editions are pre-ordered.

Once again, I've been play testing the surround mixes for this project, and can tell you that it's right up there to Rob's usual exceptionally high standard, but I would add that something about the fusion style of Chimpan A makes it work particularly well in surround!

For more info on Chimpan A here's a promo and an interview.
More information and prices and how to pre-order are here. My understanding is that an e-mail to a Dropbox will be sent on completion of order processing.

On a personal note from me; I'm obviously feeling what everyone else is right now. I wish you all good health, both physical and mental. The human race will get through this and, who knows, we may find some un-looked for silver linings along the way, so stay positive!
 
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My story: Didn't see any mention of a 5.1 mix but ordered CD/DVD from Tigermoth Productions anyway, and immediatly got an e-mail with a link to stereo wav files which I have downloaded and begun to listen to, so I'll wait for the physical discs to arrive as and when, I sort of hoped with a DVD it would have surround which is the Rob Reed/Magenta way.
EDIT: just looked on that link again and there are Flac files which were not there before, I'll get them now.
2nd EDIT: I can now confirm having downloaded and tested them that the Flacs are the 5.1 files:)
 
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My story: Didn't see any mention of a 5.1 mix but ordered CD/DVD from Tigermoth Productions anyway, and immediatly got an e-mail with a link to stereo wav files which I have downloaded and begun to listen to, so I'll wait for the physical discs to arrive as and when, I sort of hoped with a DVD it would have surround which is the Rob Reed/Magenta way.
EDIT: just looked on that link again and there are Flac files which were not there before, I'll get them now.
2nd EDIT: I can now confirm having downloaded and tested them that the Flacs are the 5.1 files:)

Well, that sure seems odd you got the email with link, but Duncan and I did not. You ordered the new one? The one that says April 10 release date?
 
Yes I ordered from Tigermoth, and the link to DropBox came on an email.
Chimpan A : The Empathy Machine CD/DVD Ltd Edition -Pre-Order* - Tigermoth Productions Ltd
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So, another thing I just noticed. I registered first, then ordered the disc. Immediately got the email from tiger saying I purchased, got email from Paypal saying payment was made. Only I go back to tiger and try to login, and it tells me I need to confirm my registration and that they sent me an email. I did not receive any registration email from them. Nothing in my trash, nothing in my spam.
 
So, another thing I just noticed. I registered first, then ordered the disc. Immediately got the email from tiger saying I purchased, got email from Paypal saying payment was made. Only I go back to tiger and try to login, and it tells me I need to confirm my registration and that they sent me an email. I did not receive any registration email from them. Nothing in my trash, nothing in my spam.
Yea, actually I got an e-mail saying I had ordered before I had even signed into PayPal which I thought was a bit wierd, not sure about the other chain of events, I think I confirmed after I had finished the transactions.
 
LOL! Now it says my account has been disabled! haha...what a cluster.
I only received a confirmation email as well. I replied to it (and added [email protected]) noting that I was anxious to hear the flacs, and they arrived! But I have to download the tracks one at a time--it's not like I don't have time! Hope it works for you! Stay Surrounded Comrade!
 
I only received a confirmation email as well. I replied to it (and added [email protected]) noting that I was anxious to hear the flacs, and they arrived! But I have to download the tracks one at a time--it's not like I don't have time! Hope it works for you! Stay Surrounded Comrade!
Clement, I just received the dropbox email too! Yay...

You don't have to do 1 at a time. When you first open the link, and yes, you see all the individuals......don't click them. Look up in top right corner and just click download. It will download them all. Then you can just keep which version you want (wav or flac) :)
 
I only received a confirmation email as well. I replied to it (and added [email protected]) noting that I was anxious to hear the flacs, and they arrived! But I have to download the tracks one at a time--it's not like I don't have time! Hope it works for you! Stay Surrounded Comrade!
Don't you have a DOWNLOAD button top right of the page? that one dowloads them all in a zip.
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And, the usual high quality audio from Robert. It sounds great...

foobar2000 1.5.2 / Dynamic Range Meter 1.1.1
log date: 2020-03-19 12:28:03

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Analyzed: Chimpan A / The Empathy Machine
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DR Peak RMS Duration Track
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DR12 -0.12 dB -18.07 dB 6:58 01-The World Through My Eyes
DR11 -0.24 dB -18.17 dB 8:04 02-It's So Real
DR13 -0.56 dB -17.99 dB 10:04 03-Stars
DR13 -2.06 dB -20.73 dB 8:00 05-Speed of Love
DR12 -1.55 dB -20.99 dB 8:11 05-The Calling
DR13 -0.32 dB -19.75 dB 7:43 06-The Scream
DR14 -0.42 dB -19.27 dB 9:55 07-Jack
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Number of tracks: 7
Official DR value: DR13

Samplerate: 48000 Hz
Channels: 6
Bits per sample: 16
Bitrate: 1620 kbps
Codec: FLAC
================================================================================
 
I know Rob only set up the Dropbox late this morning (UK time), 'cos that's when I got the .flac files back to him! ...so I'm not surprise there are a few "teething problems." ;) Bear in mind they're a *very* small outfit, so please e-mail [email protected] if you have any issues, but be patient! It's well worth any (short) wait!

BTW I should have made it clear in the initial post that the physical releases are indeed a pre-order for April 10th release. Sorry - it wasn't my intention to deceive. Rob's decided to make the files available immediately on order (or at least as soon as they process them) so that people don't have to wait! I'll correct the original now.
 
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