Bob Moog.com

Title link takes you there.

Synthi-E

Music Thing has a post up on a Synthi-E up for auction. I immediately when to grab the shots and then realized that I already had back on 8/19/05. See this post. I was wondering how long it would be before I saw one of my pulled auction shots back on the bay. This is the first! : )

Update via the comments:

"the auction is in fact the same seller (myself) as the first one listed, thanks (electroman)"

New Plan B Modules from EAR

Four new modules. Also, Analogue Haven is now the official US distributer.



The Model 14 Dual Voltage Processor
The Model 16 Spectral Multiplexer
The Model 19 VC Gate Delay
The Model 23 Dual analog Shift Register

Roland SH-5 Patch Sheet

Update: New patch sheet with numbers added around knobs for more precise editing.

Title link takes you to a pdf of a Roland SH-5 patch sheet made by Francois P. He'd been looking for a patch sheet for some time and finally decided to make his own and offer to others for use. Very nicely done I might say; and very cool of him to share. Thanks Francois!

Mungo Enterprises

Moogulator put up a post on Mungo Enterprises. Of all things they make an Ensoniq ESQ knob box that looks pretty impressive (picutured below). They also list a Sync box, TR606 Mods, MIDI Retrofits and Misc Projects on their site.

Roland SH-201 and Novation Remote 61

The Remote 61 is real. The Roland SH-201 we have yet to see. "Know the SH-32? Put a 49 keyboard, black finish and external audio input on it and you'll get an idea." Title link takes you to Music Things post.

Novation Remote 61

The Mutronics Mutator

Niall on AH put up a shot of the inside of his Mutronics Mutator. I realized I haven't put up a post on the Mutator, so why not. Title link takes you to the Mutator site with samples and more.


"The Mutator is a stereo analogue filter and envelope follower with full control facilities. It contains two independent voltage controlled filters similar to those found in analogue synthesizers, which can be used to treat any external sound source. Each filter can be controlled from its own associated low frequency oscillator (LFO) and/or its own envelope follower section, which extracts the envelope contour of an input signal and applies it to control the cut-off frequency of the filter."

Note that chip in the middle is an SSM2045. I checked Synthech and Sequencer.de to see what other synths might have used the chip. I only found it on Sequencer.de for the Solton SM100 used as a VCA/VCF. If you know what else the chip was used on, feel free to comment. Click here for a full shot of the above.

Update via the comments:
"Someone who was there at the time said...

Little-known fact:
Contrary to the information given by the Mutronics website, the Mutator was conceived, designed, and the first production runs hand-built and tested by a British guy called Nigel Bradbury who started Mutronics with London-based studio-owner Mark Lusardi in the mid 1990s.

With his partner and their new-born daughter remaining in their home-town of Oxford, Nigel worked on the Mutator in London for £50 a week, almost all of which was taken up by the rent for his grimy week-day accommodation and bus transport back home at the weekends. Eventually it became uneconomic and uncomfortable for him to continue spending so much time away from his family, and Nigel parted company with Mutronics with nothing but a second-hand Mutator (previously owned by Duran Duran, no less) to show for his hard work and creativity.

His part in conceiving and creating what is probably the best analog filter unit available remains unmentioned on the Mutronics website and promotional materials, and some people feel he was unfairly treated by his business partners. To this day he refuses to discuss this period of his life.

Nigel currently designs medical electronic equipment in Oxfordshire."

Update: more updates in the comments.

Fizmo Fixed and More on SYNTHWIRE

If you haven't checked out SYNTHWIRE lately make sure to drop by. Lot's of good posts have been coming in. XCerveau put up a post on the Moog 1130 Drum Contoller, Carbon111 put up a post on the Nord G2 Engine Controller, and he fixed his Fizmo! BTW, SYNTHWIRE is a community blog meant for you to post your stuff or other synth related stuff. If you want to start posting feel free to shoot me an email and I'll add you to the list. Invite link on the right pane of SYNTHWIRE.

The Thummer

Here's an interesting looking controller via Music Thing. Looking at the site I oddly found no mention of MIDI, only USB. See quote below. If that's the case, no using this to control my synths. : (



"Does the Thummer(tm)-Brand Jammer Produce Sound?

No, it does not produce any sound by itself. It must be connected to a personal computer (Mac, Wintel, or Linux) — via the prototype's included USB cable — to interpret its player's actions and generate musical sounds. This is very similar to an electric guitar, which needs a separate amp to produce useful sound. Future versions of the Thummer(tm)-brand jammer may include internal music synthesizers, but even then, the Thummer(tm)-brand jammer is so small that it has no room for high-quality speakers, so it would still require an external amp (or headphones)."

Thumtronics

Metasonix Wretch Samples

Michael Weeks of www.thewretch.com and www.endmusik.com just sent me links to samples and shots of the Metasonix S1000 Wretch. He is working on the manual for the Wretch and has a protype in his studio. Very cool of him to send this our way. Thanks Michael! Links and some info below.



"A full multi-part demo, with all synths the S-1000, and all drums
processed through the waveshaper and filter: http://thewretch.com/metasonix/S1000MultiDemo.mp3

Also in the directory - http://thewretch.com/metasonix/ , there are
several other demos of more extended tweaking, just single patterns, or
pattern chains, from a future retro mobius with live knob tweaking.
And there are some other demos of just the filter section, as it is the
same circuit being used in the TM-6.

And of course - mandatory synth pron - some nice close up arty photos
of tubes!
http://thewretch.com/metasonix/S1000Closeup1.jpg
http://thewretch.com/metasonix/S1000Closeup2.jpg
http://thewretch.com/metasonix/S1000Closeup3.jpg

take care,

Michael Weeks
www.endmusik.com
www.thewretch.com"

Oberheim OB-8k

Awesome. DVDBORN has a post up on the Oberheim OB-8k. If I remember correctly it was supposed to be a Gibson Oberheim midi controller with a Matrix-6 synth engine built in. The interesting thing is all of the Gibson Oberheim midi controllers at the time were the off-white cream beasties. What I envisioned was something like the Oberheim MC3000 with sliders but I never saw one. Well it looks like DVDBORN somehow found a shot. Title link takes you to the post with a much bigger version of the OB8-k prototype below. Amazing find.

Oberheim MC3000


Oberheim OB-8k Prototype (title link takes you to bigger shot)

Visual Analyser

Interesting. I'd love to have an oscilliscope but the price of one always set me back - you can buy a synth for the price of an oscilliscope. I just ran into Visual Analyser. I haven't checked it out yet, but it does look cool. Title link takes you there.



VA is a real time program which simulates a set of electronic instruments, Such as:

• Oscilloscope (dual channel, xy, time division, trigger)


• Spectrum Analyser with amplitude and phase display (linear, log, lines, bar, octaves band analysis 1/3, 1/6, 1/9)


• Wave-form generator with "custom functions", triangular, square, sinus, white noise and pulse generation (NO ALIASING)


• Frequency meter (in time and frequency domain) and counter


• Volt meter with rms and peak to peak display


• Filtering (low pass, hi pass, band pass, band reject, notch, "diode", DC removal)


• Memo windows for analysis and file saving of time and spectrum displays


• A TRUE software digital analog conversion (for complete signal reconstruction)