Metasonix TM-6 Filter

Samples and thoughts via Michael Weeks. Thanks Michael!

"Overall impressions of the filter: I don't have any experience with the TM-2 Filter, so I can't make direct comparisons. This is the same filter basically as what is in the new S-1000 Wretch Machine synth, but in a standalone case and with an additional CV input for Resonance. The CV controls are ALOT of fun, and the filter responds very well to every source I've tried through it.

It's character is DEFINITELY different, there is a sort of "huh, never heard that before" quality to the sound and the resonance, and the filter types really do offer up a rediculously wide (and, dare I say, close to conventional?) amount of tone shaping.

Overall it's been a blast having it here to do audio demos with - I love me some filters, and have abused a sherman filterbank for a number of years now. Overall this thing is a fun fun fun box with a very unique sound, but not as alien as some other Metasonix boxes. Worth demoing for an hour or so :D

Here's some audio demos of the Metasonix TM-6 filter (also up on the product page http://metasonix.com/index.php?opti...id=31&Itemid=62

Run a Guitar through it
http://thewretch.com/tm6_demos/TM_6_GuitarDemo.mp3
Ibanez artcore, run through the TM-6 using the Moog CP251 to send an LFO to control the CV

Run Drumloops through it
http://thewretch.com/tm6_demos/TM_6_DrumDemo.mp3
Drumsamples overdriven and run through the TM-6, tweaking throughout

Run a Synth through it
http://thewretch.com/tm6_demos/TM_6_SequenceDemo.mp3
Mam MB33 sequenced by Future Retro Mobius, overdriven through the filter and tweaked throughout

Michael Weeks
www.endmusik.com"

Video Synthesis Pioneer Nam June Paik Passes Away at Age 74

Title link takes you to his official site. Also do an image search for his name to see more of his amazing work. Click here for an article in Synapse that mentions his influence on Steve Rutt.

Samplebase Looking for Sound Designers

I know some of you can do this without blinking. Title link takes you there. Via Analog Industries.

Doppelgangers of the Synth World

I kind of knew there was a huge organ fan base out there with the likes of Michael Leicher. As Mathew states below, they are indeed just as insanely obsessive as us. What's interesting is Wendy Carlos made the move to organs. Title link takes you to the transformation of her studio. As an aside, there recently was an auction on the Seattle Craiglist for a Minimoog for $350 by a guy that stated he was more into organs. The post has been pulled and I haven't heard back from my inquiry. Anywhoo... More organ links below. Thanks Mathew!



"You should check out what Theatre Organ hobbyists are doing.

They're insane, like us. :)

http://theatreorgans.com/
http://www.artisan-instruments.com/riac.html
http://www.virtualorgan.com/RunScript.asp?p=ASP%5CPg0.asp
http://www.otheroom.com/namm/techno.html

FWIW, the only reason I know anything about this theatre organ
business is because it is Wendy's current obsession.

http://www.wendycarlos.com/wurlynew/rhwing.JPG

details here:

http://www.wendycarlos.com/wurlynew/index.html#before"

Roland SH-5 - New Flickr Shots

Title link takes you to more.

Vintage Georges Jenny's ONDIOLIN

You don't see these every day. Title link takes you to shots pulled from this auction. Notes below in French and then translated to English via Google. More on the Ondioline on 120 Years. Via Music Thing.



"Tres rare Ondioline de Georges jenny, premier synthe analogique, conception de la fin des annees 30 Modele probablement apres guerre, complet et d' origine, a remettre en ordre et en etat: celui çi s'allume mais les sons sont difficilement cernables; de plus , il semble y avoir un probleme avec le commutateur de volume au genou A SAISIR. . ."

"Very rare Ondioline of George Jenny, first synthe analogical, design of the end of the Thirties Model probably after war, complete and of origin, has to give in order and state: that çi ignites but the sounds are difficult to identify; moreover, it seems y to have a problem with the switch of volume to the knee TO SEIZE. ."

Moog Sound 2000 - New Flickr Shot

Silver Shiny Things on GetLoFi

I haven't put up a post on GetLoFi in a while. Title link takes you to one which includes this interesting looking DIY Synth which utilizes an 8038 waveform generator and some OP-Amps for filtering.

Evollulaby MEK Sample by Stefan Trippler

Title link takes you to a 1.9M mp3 of the Dave Smith MEK by Stefan Trippler.

Hugging the Moog

Too funny. Title link takes you to the original post. Grabbing it here just in case this one dissapears. It's too goog to lose.



"Hugging the moog.

So here I am.

A Brand new Moog synthesizer. It is black with lights, and bob moogs signature. (you make music with it, and weird sounds)

I am about to enjoy myself, and have friends over for a chill out. I then make a bad choice of eating mushrooms. Ya know, it always seems like a fun thing thing to do. Then all of a sudden, it becomes too much to handle. You start to get paranoid, and do stupid shit.

Well I am in the habit of doing a lot of stupid shit on mushrooms. For some reason, the logic of locked doors did not exist, nor did I realize that you could keep things in your apartment locked, and away from someones reach. Even though my friends left and I was still alone, I felt that it was very necessary to keep the moog next to me while I went to sleep.

So I go up stairs, grab my moog from the studio, and carry it to my bedroom. Both hands hugged around it like I am carrying a girl to my bed. I place it next to the bed on the floor between the window, and myself. So there I am sleeping with one hand touching the moog.

I wake up the next day, looking at my moog thinking WTF was going on in my head.

Mushrooms have to be the most sadomasticistic drug in the universe. It's comparable to jumping out of an airplane. At first you are like Wow, this is great..... we are going up into the sky, in a plane.

Then you look out ready to jump, and you do jump! squirt your pants, dribble some wiz, or scream like a fairy princess.

Either way you fall fast. Very fast. You panic. Then the chute opens, and that feeling of relief fills your body. The same relief you get from coming down on mushrooms. Knowing that you are going to be ok, and that introspective mind fuck is over.

:)"

Moog Voyager Emulating Moog Taurus 1

Michael Caloroso recently posted the following on AH. I aksed him if it would be ok to post it here for people not on AH and he said go for it. Here it is. Enjoy.

"Moog Voyager get pretty damn close, better than Moog Source. I cloned the "Taurus" preset on my Taurus I pedals. Simple dual ramp waveforms with unequal mix levels for minimal phase cancellations, just like the original. No waveshaping. mp3 and Voyager patch provided. Watch the word wrap.

http://www.retrosynth.com/~analoguediehard/studio/keyboards/moog_voyager/taurus-pedal-voyager.mp3

http://www.retrosynth.com/~analoguediehard/studio/keyboards/moog_voyager/taurus-pedal.syx

If you wanna hear meaty waveshaping in action:

http://www.retrosynth.com/~analoguediehard/studio/keyboards/moog_voyager/isthereanybody.mp3

MC"

Prophet V Video on Sonic State

Title link takes you there. The guy giving the demo uses a CME keyboard controller.

PSP Sequencer

Via CDM.



File Description
Ethan has released his PSPSeq. PSPSeq is a port of the basic synthesis environment he wrote for the ADSP-218x, with a simple UI. Details from the readme:

usage of PSPSeq

when none of the action buttons (x, o, square, triangle) are pressed, the
directional keys are used to move either one step left/right, or up/down one
track. pushing the analog stick to the left or right moves the active
step to either step 0, 8, 16, or 24; whichever is closer in whatever direction
the stick is moved.

when x is pressed, this enables the trigger and volume functionality. moving
the analog stick up/down increases and decreases the likelyhood that this track
will retrigger. a trig of 100 means that this track will always retrigger when
the sequencer reaches that hit, while a trig of 50 means there is a 50% chance
of a retrigger and a 50% chance of the hit not occuring. moving the analog
stick left/right decreases or increases the volume of this particular hit.

when triangle is pressed, this enables configuration of a single parameter for
the hit and the left/right panning of the track. moving the analog stick to
the left/right controls the panning on the track. note that panning is a global
parameter; all hits on a track have the same pan value. moving the analog stick
up/down controls the unqiue parameter value for each track. these parameters
are customizable for each hit on a track. these values are as follows:

BD0:
SFREQ: starting frequency of the squarewave bass drum

BD1:
SFREQ: starting frequency of the trianglewave bass drum

HH0:
SAMPHOLD: number of samples to hold before a new sample is outputted

HH1:
SAMPHOLD: number of samples to hold before a new sample is outputted

HH2:
SAMPHOLD: number of samples to hold before a new sample is outputted

HH3:
SAMPHOLD: number of samples to hold before a new sample is outputted

HH4:
FILTFREQ: cutoff point for lowpass filter. 0-100 indicates maximum
frequency range, DC to nyquist

HH5:
FILTFREQ: cutoff point for lowpass filter. 0-100 indicates maximum
frequency range, DC to nyquist

SQ0:
FREQ: frequency of square wave

SQ1:
FREQ: frequency of square wave

if a track already has one trigger point in it and the current selected step has
never had any trigger/volume data written to it, it will assume the
characteristics of the previous initialization in this track.

pressing the o button controls the tempo of the loop. moving the analog stick
to the right slows the tempo while moving it to the left increases the tempo.

installation of PSPSeq

the zip file PSPSeq000.zip contains two main subdirectories; 1.0 and 1.5. if
you are using firmware 1.0 copy EBOOT.PBP from this directory onto your memory
stick and execute it like you would any other PBP file. for firmware revision
1.5, copy the PSPSEQ and PSPSEQ% directories to the /PSP/GAME/ directory on
your memory stick.

Aliens Project Toy of the Month - Macbeth M5

Title link takes you there. Via the awesome Moogulator.

Korg X50 Video and Impressions on One Blue Monkey

Title link takes you there. Video link is right under the date, under the title.

The Muse

Title link takes you to shots pulled from this auction. Notes from the auction below. Via David. Thanks David!



"14 trillion musical note combinations

It has been claimed that the Triadex Muse was the first digital device for making music. The original Muse was designed by Edward Fredkin, now at Carnegie-Mellon; and Marvin Minsky ( http://web.media.mit.edu/~minsky/ ), now at the M.I.T. Media Lab; in the late 1960's.

The Muse is a music composer machine or digital
synthesizer and melody composer, involving early
logic modules in a unique circuit that allows the
possibility of 14 trillion musical note combinations.

Manufacturer: Triadex Inc., Brookline, Massachusetts
Inventors: Edward Fredkin and Marvin Minsky
Original Price: $249

The Muse is an algorithmic music generator: it uses digital logic circuits to produce a sequence of notes based on the settings of various parameters. The four small sliders in the lower-left control Volume, Tempo, Pitch, and Fine Pitch. The switches to either side are used to start and stop the sequence, or to step through it note-by-note.

Of the eight larger sliders on the right, four control the musical intervals used (labeled A, B, C, and D), and four control the theme (labeled W, X, Y, and Z). A rest can be substituted for the lowest note by flipping a toggle switch. The exact logic behind the composition engine is rather technical, and not exactly intuitive. The tempo clock can be slaved to that of another Muse, allowing for multi-part compositions.

Their patent abstract of this electronic music composer reads as follows:

In the apparatus disclosed herein, a note generator is controlled by a long term, quasi-periodic function which is in turn generated by applying digital feedback in preselected combinations around a digital register. The register comprises means for holding a plurality of bits of digital information in a given order, e.g. a shift register or counter, the held information being changeable according to a predetermined pattern in response to input signals applied thereto. Digital feedback is provided by applying to the register at least one input signal which is obtained according to a preselectable or adjustable code from bits of information obtained from various points in the register itself. The apparatus thus, in effect, composes music as distinguished from merely synthesizing sound.

It is not known exactly how many Muses were made, but they are very rare, and were not available in stores."