14-Aug-08: Manual Updates

• The manuals have been updated extensively. Click here to view.
• Newcastle Astronomical Society to the downloads section.

01-Apr-08: ZEIT Retro Rack: First Pictures

The first of the ZEIT Retro-styled rack units was delivered yesterday. Here are a couple of pictures before it was sent off to be screen-printed.

... and before anyone asks... these are not April Fool's Day pranks... :)

29-Feb-08: Wooden End Cheeks

Custom Synth have just sent us some rather nice examples of their wooden end cheeks for synths and sequencers. The quality is excellent so we're going to add these to the list of custom options.

Check out more of Custom Synth's excellent work at http://www.customsynth.co.uk.

24-Jan-08: Ion Future Forever Best downloadable album 2007

The ZEIT demo album, Future Forever, was recently voted one of the best downloadable albums of 2007 over on the ElectroAmbient Space web site.

To listen to samples from Future Forever, just click on the Listen legend on the menu. You can download Future Forever from Magnatune and MusicZeit download services.

24-Jan-08: First Custom Sequencer Delivered

Robert Schmeltzer took delivery of the first custom-built ZEIT sequencer this week.

Robert's machine was a standard blue/white desktop enclosure fitted out with a mixture of white and blue LEDs and matching blue/white buttons.

These pictures show the machine installed in Robert's studio. Most folk agree that this instrument looks 'mighty fine'

24-Jan-08: Problems contacting Infection Music?

User's may experience some difficulty contacting ZEIT designer, David Hughes directly. This is a fault with our e-mail provider, BT/Yahoo. A fault has been reported and BT/Yahoo have promised a resolution in 24 to 48 hours.

However, the Contact form appears to be working normally so we would be grateful if customers could use this method if they need to contact David urgently.

15-Jan-08: Problems with the .co.uk domain

We have just discovered that our web page infectionmusc.co.uk is currently unavailable and has apparently been broken since November 2007. The infectionmusic.com domain name is working perfectly, as are the other domains such as SkinMechanix.co.uk and Infection Media, which are subsets of our main web page.

I checked with the registrars Names.co.uk this morning and, according to their customer service section, the fault lies with UK Domains, who were bought out by Names.co.uk in December 2007. Apparently, UK Domains took the money for the renewal of our account (paid on 21st October) and subsequently failed to pay Nominet, the UK's web page registrar. Apparently, this did so in the full knowledge that this would result in the cancellation of our infectionmusic.co.uk domain. They have apparently kept the money too.

Funny. I thought that this sort of behaviour was illegal.

According to Names.co.uk, the infectionmusic.co.uk domain will be restored in 7 working days though it looks like it's starting to recover as I type this.

01-Jan-08: Shipping again...

We've resolved the production difficulties discussed in previous updates and we're shipping sequencers again!!!

07-Dec-07: Update

An update is long overdue so here's the latest news.

As some of you may be aware, we ran into some serious production problems earlier in the year, specifically with the CPU board that controls the sequencers. Our hardware guy was unable to resolve these issues and subsequently quit the project. Thankfully, with the help of a local electronics company, Sloan Electronics, we were able to determine the cause of the failures and production has resumed. Special thanks are also due to Tony Algood of Oakley Sound, who provided invaluable help and guidance during this difficult period.

So, we're now in the happy position of being able to ship product again, with 4 machines due to be dispatched before Christmas.

My thanks, as ever, go to my existing customers who have shown commendable patience over the past few months as one shipping deadline slipped after another. These faults were not of our making and, as you can probably imagine, we were just as angry and disappointed as you. However, we're hopefully back on track and in a better position than ever to continue into the New Year.

18-Sep-07: ZEIT Desktop Retro: Pictures posted

Here are a couple of pictures of the amazing Retro-styling for the ZEIT Desktop sequencer. Frankly, these pictures don't do this instrument justice. The "Wow!" factor is very high today!!! :)

I've also repaired some of the broken and invalid links which turn up, for instance, when you do a Google search on these pages or from sites that link to pages that are no longer available.

28-Aug-07: Atem Details posted

The basic specification of the forthcoming ATEM Step Sequencer have been posted. Click on Sequencers and then Atem Rack for full details.

ATEM is a reduced functionality version of the ZEIT Step Sequencer. It features a smaller form factor (5U as opposed to 12U) and doesn't have ZEIT's Transform and Composer functions but is otherwise fully compatible with ZEIT.

Naturally, the price will be corrospondingly smaller too. Further details will be announced in the next week or so.

09-Aug-07: Web Updates 2

The major update to the web pages has been completed. There may be some bugs, the odd broken link and one or two tpying wristakes. If you find something that doesn't look right, please get in touch using the Contact form.

The Thinking Metal web site will under go a similar facelift over the next couple of days.

04-Aug-07: Web Updates

The web pages are undergoing some major changes to bring them up to the current web standards. Some of the font sizes in these pages have changed and the pages themselves may look a little messy whilst we reconfigure the site.

We're working on the issue and normal service will be resumed very shortly.

12-Jul-07 : FAQ

A couple of minor revisions to the FAQ and the manual appendices with respect to software upgrades. Would any users please make sure they read and understand these changes before attempting to upgrade their machines.

03-Jul-07 : Price Reduction

Due to the low value of the dollar, the retail price of the rack-mounting and desktop versions of the ZEIT Step Sequencer has been reduced from £1199 to £1099 until 03-August-07.

Contact Infection Music for further details.

15-Jun-07 : More pictures

The pilot build of the first production level desktop sequencer has been completed.

07-Jun-07 : Demos/Downloads repaired

Some of the links to the demonstration pieces were broken during a recent upgrade. I've fixed them and added a couple of new pieces too including a demostration of ZEIT performing Tangerine Dream's beloved ratchetting effect.

05-Jun-07 : Desktop enclosures arrive!

Well, they're finally here and they look superb. Here are some (better quality) pictures of the desktop sequencer enclosures.

23-May-07 : Desktop Enclosures

The ZEIT Desktop enclosures are finally here. They look fantastic!

These are just a couple of quick snaps so you can get the idea. I'll post some better pictures tomorrow.

22-Apr-07 : Bare-faced plug

This is a bare-faced plug for the new Ion album, Future Forever.

Ion is a new project that began life in the long, hot summer of 2006. I used a mixture of rackmounting and desktop ZEIT sequencers to compose the album and it was one of the exhilarating experiences of my life. I've never written so much music so quickly and ZEIT pretty much hit the spot every time.

The Ion project is a bit of a departure for me. Most people who have heard my approach to making music know that it's pretty much foot-on-the-floor, pedal-to-the-metal, full-on electronic power tracks with only an occasional nod towards slower, more romantic moods and feelings. Ion kind of cuts off at a tangent and is an attempt to get back to basics, to shift the emphasis away from keyboard chops and screaming solos and towards a more symphonic and, dare one perhaps suggest, a more mature and maybe even a more relaxed state of mind.

Future Forever is heavily sequencer-based, more so than any of my other albums. I wanted to really push myself and ZEIT and came away feeling rather smug and satisfied. Whilst I am kind of biased, I do think that ZEIT really is the bee's knees.

You can hear a collection of samples from Future Forever on the Ion homepage or from the Listen Whilst you Surf feature on the front page. The album is also available as a download from the on-line shop.

26-Feb-07 : New Video Posted

Beta-tester Chris Green of Bionaut has posted a short demo video of his recently delivered, ZEIT Sequencer over on YouTube. Click the image above to see the vid.

25-Feb-07 : New Sequencer Forum

The Yahoo Newsgroup, Infection Instruments will close at the end of March 2007. Problems with spam and on-going difficulties with Yahoo's mailing policy have meant that this forum has been little used for months. Consequently, we have decided to look for a better method of communicating with our customers.

An alternative forum, Step Sequencers has been set up on http://sequencer.informe.com. It's free to join and is rapidly developing into a well-used and very popular meeting place for anyone interested in sequencers and sequencing.

30-Jan-07 : Software revision 01-11BR released

Software revision ZeitRack0111br.zip is now available to all beta-testers from the software update page.