MATRIXSYNTH: Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Hot Chip

I recently received an email from Felix Martin of Hot Chip. I was flattered to find that he reads this blog. I heard of Hot Chip in passing but hadn't checked them out until now. Good stuff that really grows on you. Watch this video a couple of times and you'll see what I mean. You can also check them out on MySpace and thier official site. Felix and the rest of the band are very into synths and keys. They use a number of them including a Casiotone MT-70, Fender Rhodes Mark II, Teisco 60-F, MicroKorg, Roland SH-101, Moog MURF, Elektron Machinedrum and Akai MPC1000. Check out the Teisco in the video. I never realized they were that small! Also, love the red balloon scene in the video. : )

"we are appearing on the jools holland music show this friday on BBC2 if you are able to tune in, playing all the stuff mentioned above. also, the Over and Over video features some of the gear but is very obviously mimed!"

Felix goes on to say, "I have studio in london as well which is filled with odd old synths, including a modified Pro-5 that used to belong to the BBC symphony orchestra - will take some pictures soon and send them in"

Can't wait. Thanks for sending this in Felix.

Infernoptix

Click play button to launch. Ok, I might be stretching this one as "Everything Synth" but a computer drives it so, I'm guessing you can control it somehow via MIDI and your synths. Just be sure it's your outdoor studio.

More videos. Title link takes you to Infernoptix.com with more info, images and videos.

BTW, remember the rave kids killing their eardrums up against the speakers in their little trance dance worship of the bass?... Well, just keep these up high if you plan to use 'em...

The Dream of "I": Instruments - Doug Wyatt

Now this is pretty cool.

Title link takes you to a page on the instruments used by Doug Wyatt on his The Dream of "I." What's great about it is you can click on an instrument and hear it played solo followed by in the track. It's an interesting exercise in that you actually get to hear how a particular synth sounds solo vs. in the given track. Some just sound odd until you hear them in context. Great stuff. Make sure to track back and check out the rest of Doug's site while there.

Update via the comments:
"Doug Wyatt is also the main developer behind OMS at Opcode, back in the OS9 days, and also CoreMIDI/CoreAudio at Apple on OSX. Brilliant guy, and responsible for making some essential tools for sequencing and audio on the Mac."

MODULATIONS

Throbbing Gristle, Moog and more. Via Sequencer.de. Update: You can pick up a DVD here

MODULATIONS Vol. 1

MODULATIONS Vol. 2

MODULATIONS Vol. 3

MODULATIONS Vol. 4

You can pick up a DVD here

Mod - New Flickr Shot

flickr by Jyoti Mishra. Click here for more.

Oxford Synthesizer Company OSCar Shots

Title link takes you to shots also saved here. BTW, this is up for sale for 1400 euro by Dennis Vershoor. email if interested.

Wooden Casio

Shot pulled from craigslist. Circa 1982 according to the listing. Anyone know what model this is?

Update via the comments:

"Jexus / Polaranta said...
It's CT-403 :)"

Distortech studio party may 28 2006

Via Suit & Tie Guy.

I aksed Suit & Tie Guy what was left of the 909:
"ha. a craptastic behringer submixer used to sum the 101 and 303 and overdrive the fuck out of them. i mean, his name _is_ Distortech, right?

I'm a bit amused with the video because it's like, this is where real rave is at now: a small party at someone's studio with some cheap disco lights from Target.

so on one hand it's kind of silly because we have these crappy lights and it's quite obviously a project studio in an ancient storefront but on the other hand it's really cool because we're having a blast just like it was 91 and the hoover just hit us or something.

that night i heard some of the most bizarre heterodyning coming outta that tiny little mixer. the 101 and 303 may or may not have had any kind of tuning relevance to one another, which definitely contributed to the effect."

EMS Soundbeam

Shot pulled from this auction. Note it is different than this one, although the video in the auction is the same. Also note that the Soundbeam logo is the same as the logo in these updated Soundbeams. If you know more about this, feel free to comment.

According to the EMS History page the Soundbeam was designed by Richard Monkhouse (Digital & Video design:1972 - 1975), however it was not manufactured until after Edward Williams took over EMS assests in 1984. According the site EMS (London) folded in 1979, their assets were bought by Datanomics who owned them from 1980 to 1984, followed by Edward Williams when the Soundbeam was made.

via Torsten Keppeler.

DIY Dub Club Sensible Systeme

Title link and image takes you to a video on DIY Dub Club. Also track back to the root for more.

via Sameli

Synth Mangler

Title link takes you there. Via Analog Industries.

- Two Soda Meiser-style fuzz's in one box
- Each has its own volume control, hiss and chaos modes
- Two seperate in's and out's for the fuzz's to be used seperately
- Run both fuzz's together (in series) with the flip of a switch
- The Joystick controls the intensity of both fuzz's