Driscoll Modular

Update: Some comments with additional info from Ken below. Click on comments at the end of this post.

Wow. Josue Arias sent this to me. You can put this on the list of the rarest of the rare. I'm not one to benchmark rarity against, but I've never seen or even heard of one of these before. The only thing that comes up on Google is this site with a brief reference of the Driscoll. The Analog Heaven archives come up dry as well.

Josue refers to the Driscoll as a Driscoll/Serge modular. He states, "the 'serge' part is just because the similar modules in it (Slope generators, Random voltages, cv processors, Analog shift register,...) and because my system even have a serge 5 stage sequencing programmer!, but driscoll designed the same functions than the serge modular using another electronic aproach and design, so is not a clone(!)"

The Driscoll was built in the 70s by Australian composer/designer/engineer Julian Driscoll. Josue, believes the original Driscoll was a 10-12 panel system.

As for the sound?
"The sound for this synth is incredible, its really "organic", it sound like creatures more than electronics : ) I have it next to my 4 panel serge and I really like the driscoll sound a lot more."

http://www.cyndustries.com/bugmusic/17.mp3

"All the water drops/woodblocks/marimba/rithms, comes from the driscoll. I think it show the organic qualities. I`m ataching you a couple of photos but they are from my old studio"

Wow. Thanks for sharing this Josue.

Update:
Josue gave me the ok to post the following thread. Thanks Josue!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I`ve found some of the conversaions I had with australian composer
Warren Burt, He used the Driscoll and even it have a CD now for sale
made with it!:

"Hello Mr. Burt,

I`m Josue Arias, a musician and sound engineer from Madrid(SPAIN)
I just got the old Segemodular tape from 1983, and I`ve found you have
a nice piece there called "You want, maybe, something a little intense
diatonic?"

CLICK FOR MORE »

Korg MS-20 - New Flickr Shots

Awesome shots of the Korg MS-20 via Flickr.

Modded Roland TR-606

Update: More on Analogue Haven. Mod doc here.

On the'bay. Wow. It almost looks photoshopped to me. Hrmmmmm... If it wasn't on auction, I don't know if I'd believe it. Nice though. : )

From the auction:

If you think this is just another TR606 with a couple of tweaks then you are wrong..!! This is the most modded TR606 on the planet and it has to be seen and heard to be believed. It has had the following upgrades and mods:-
All switches have been replaced with new parts (They get unreliable with age, this acts and feels like new)

All Led's have been replaced with blue Leds, and Led's have been added to each voice too, so you can see as well as hear which drum is sounding.

It has a full Analogue Solutions tonal mod (costs £140 inc vat), this adds the following extra controls:-

BD; Tune1, Tune2. SD; Tune, Snappy, Noise Decay. LT/HT; Tune, Sweep. CY; Mix (between 2 sound sources), Decay. HH; Tune (affects CY too), OH Decay.

It has individual trigger outs for each voice and longer gate outs too (with selectable voltage), these were added so that it will drive Analogue Solutions and similar Drum modules.

It has individual outputs for each voice in addition to main output.

It has trigger buttons for each voice added, so that individual sounds can be auditioned without the drum machine running.

It has a fine tempo control added for emmm fine control of tempo..!!

Both the internal clock and accent are available as external triggers so that they can drive envelope gates for filters, VCA's, frequency shifters etc on modular synths.

It has Midi clock input added so it can be slaved to an external sequencer or Cubase, Logic etc.

It has a large capacity Lithium memory backup battery added so that you don't have to worry about loosing patterns if the batterys go flat - this should last about 10 years.

The drum volume controls and the dinsync socket have been moved from the TR606 panel to the expander panel to make them more intuitive.

It has a built in power supply with a 230v IEC connector, mains lead is included.

It has a high quality 12 channel stereo mixer with pan controls added, use this with internal voices via patchcords or use it with external triggered drum modules.

It has an 8 way multiple included too (ideal if using this 606 as part of a Doepfer modular setup).

It is in perfect working order and comes with a bound copy of the TR606 manual. It does NOT include the original vinyl carrying case because it's now too big to fit into it..!!

The panel itself is standard 6U size so it will fit into a rack, however it includes a custom made wooden case with rack rails so it can be free standing too.

EMS Putney Sample

Right click here and save. This came in via chaircrusher aka Kent Williams on AH. I asked him if I could post it and he gave the ok. Thank you Kent! This is an amazing showcase of the EMS Putney.

"I just got an Electribe ES-1 sampling drum machine on Ebay, and this is my first 'test' track with it. I ran the EMS Putney mono into the ES-1, and messed around a bit generating noises and sampling them.

I then recorded a couple of takes of the ES-1 with Putney sounds sequenced, messing a bit with effects, I also recorded the Putney live, and some more conventional drum sounds. Then I did some editing and processing in Acid.

The loop at the beginning is the ER-1 in 'beatslice' mode on a Putney sound.

I need to figure out how to maybe get things a little more varied, and less 'in your face' all the time, but it was a fun exercise, and should give you a really good idea of what a Putney can sound like."

Kurzweil Borg

Via Gizmodo. No VA1 for us, instead...

A Borg

Tokyo Synthesizer Hunt - New Flickr Shots

Wow. Huge set of shots in via bdu on Flickr.

The shot below looks like something from one of my synth dreams.

If I wake up I wonder if this post will be there.... : )

Moog on the Moon

Jonathan Lutz posted this on AH. Looks interesting. If anyone knows more or can actually make this in Philly, please feel free to comment.

"The Franklin Institute presents this spectacular analog synthesizer show featuring an out-of-this-world visual journey on the Fels Planetarium dome. Includes tribute to the late Bob Moog, inventor of the famous Moog Synthesizer."

Update via AH:
"Mark Jenkins is flying in tonight from the UK. 2/3 of my band Xeroid Entity (I'm unavailable Saturday night) will be at the concert. Orbital Decay from Quakertown, who have played many times on my radio program (Galactic Travels, WDIY, Allentown) as well as on Star's End (WXPN, Philadelphia) and at the Soundscapes and the Gatherings concert series, will be there. All three bands played at the fantastic new Electro-music festival last June. (See http://electro-music.com for details.)It's a Moog tribute concert in a planetarium.

1. There will be analog synths.
2. It's being held in a planetarium.
3. The musicians are top shelf.

Conclusion: If that isn't enough to get you to go to this, then you must be living in Timbuktu. ;-)

Cheers,

Bill Fox - http://soundscapes.us"

Miniorgan - Realistic Concertmate Rhythm Box

Trip. Never saw this before. Title pretty much says it all. It's a rhythm box made in 1981. Not sure if it's analog and/or whether it uses any design or components from another manufacturer like the Realistic MG-1 did with Moog. Click here for more on Miniorgan.com, a site worth checking out in its entirety and on it's own.