MATRIXSYNTH: Friday, February 1, 2008

XR20 at NAMM 2008

YouTube via AkaiProVideo. via Nusonica.
"THE PERFECT PORTABLE BEAT MACHINE.
Inspiration can happen anywhere. The XR20 is loaded with pro-grade, industrial-strength drum, percussion, bass, synth, sound effects, vocal and instrument hit sounds and has the ability to lay them in a groove wherever and whenever you're ready.

Over 700 pre-loaded sounds, and an integrated effects engine for Reverb, EQ and Compression put you in full control of your beat production. A microphone input is even included for mixing vocals with your patterns. Brilliant backlit pads provide visual cues for added beat precision.

The XR20 features sounds of standard and electronic drums, single (one-shot) hits, bass and synth sounds to easily create your maximum mix in minimal time."

MTI Auto Orchestra

flickr by thingstocomerecords(click for more)

full size

Vintage Digital Drum Machine

flickr by thingstocomerecords

full size

Anyone know what this is?

Update: be sure to check out the comments. Some info via Jan-Hinnerk: "The pic shows a Dr. Böhm (ahhh…those umlauts!) Digital Drums. Boehm (let's use this spelling for the sake of sanity) was a German company offering a range of electronic organs, both in assembled and kit form. In the 80s they ventured into (a) synthesizers and (b) digital drums, the first result being the Digital Drums. I can't remember exactly, but to my best knowledge the Digital Drums appeared in 1984 on the German market. It came with a variety of preset patterns plus offered you to program your own rhythms in realtime. A friend assembled one in kit form and made some mistakes on handling the ROM chips for some sounds, e.g. the handclaps sounded like someone hit his knuckles together, but apart from that it sounded very realistic for its time. I used it for my first 4-track-recordings in summer 1985. Big, chunky machine – really nice."

Oberheim OB-12 by syntezatory.prv.pl (1 of 2)

YouTube Jexus.

"2000 Oberheim OB12. All sounds programmed by WC Olo Garb. Video editing by WC Olo Garb. ||| Syntezatory.prv.pl Videos: showing you not what a synthesizer can do, but what a man can do with a synthesizer."

Oberheim OB-12 by syntezatory.prv.pl (2 of 2)

YouTube via Jexus.

Follow up to this post.

"2000 Oberheim OB12. All sounds programmed by WC Olo Garb. Video editing by WC Olo Garb. ||| Syntezatory.prv.pl Videos: showing you not what a synthesizer can do, but what a man can do with a synthesizer."

NAMM 2008- AnalogSuicide.com and the Clavia Nord C1..

YouTube tarabusch
"http://www.analogsuicide.com
http://tarabusch.com
http://www.nordusa.com
Tara Busch takes a peek at the Clavia Nord tonewheel/transistor organ clone, the C1."

CASIO SK-1 through MOOG Minimoog VCF

YouTube via retrosound72

"two bestseller together... ;-) Casio SK-1 low-cost sampling keyboard through Minimoog VCF with different filter and "LFO" (OSC3) settings"

Aliens Project Toy of the Month - FLAME Talking Synth

The Alien's Project Toy of the Month for February 2008 is the FLAME talking synth. You can find samples at the bottom of the page.

MOOG Little Phatty Filter In

click here for the audio on SoundClick. via Christian on AH.
"It's just a straight drumloop ran into the phatty."

Korg 900PS Manual Added to the Korg Kornukopia Site

You can find it in the manuals, service documents & schematics and sounds section of korganalogue.net.

Update via Paul of punkdisco:
"If anyone wants to hear what one sounds like, listen to our All Available Space track. It's the main octave line that runs from start to finish. I once spent half a day with a butchered wire from my MS20's CV outs, randomly poking it into anything keyboard related on the 900PS. I was hoping to discover where I could add CV/Gate ins. From memory, I got the pitch working but not the gate (might have been the other way around). CV on a 900PS would be fab! Huge thanks for this Ben.."

FnsideSynthesis04: FM Synthesis Pt1

Be sure to see the write-up on Sonic State.

Synthesizer

flickr by wooster_synth (click for more)

"Synthesizer based around a MFOS Soundlab."

full size

via sequencer.de

KORG X50 Camouflage

"For a limited time Korg is making available a special camouflage version of the X50. Now add some cool style to your rig while you get the great sounds and features that only an X50 delivers. There are very few of these available in the US so act now to get this sure-to-be collector’s edition version." Click the image for a full size shot.

ARP 2600 Demo Series Introduction

YouTube via AutomaticGainsay
"Marc Doty tackles the ARP 2600. This is the introduction to an extensive series which will demonstrate the functionality and sound of the ARP 2600 synthesizer."

Roland RS-202

images via this auction
"The Roland RS202 string synth was the successor to the largely unsuccessful RS101.

It used the standard method for creating lush, swirling string sounds of the time - take a simple organ 'divide down' sawtooth oscillator as the basic sound source for unrestricted polyphony and throw the whole thing through a chorus unit. Add simple vibrato, a choice of registers and and a simple attack/release envelope shaper and you have the perfect recipe for rich strings.

That the Roland RS202 could deliver silky string sounds is undisputed - it sounded gorgeous and I remember being full of envy when a friend of mine bought one and let me play it (and I borrowed it whenever I could!). It was simple to operate, a joy to use and as soon as you played it, a unique sound just dribbled out through those rear panel jacks! The RS202 wan't quite as 'mushy' as other, competing string synths of the time and it had its own sonic identity.

The RS202 came in its own flight case (the principle reason for my friend buying it... he was gigging and touring extensively at the time) and it had a simple front panel. It had controls for tuning and master volume and various large rocker switches that allowed you to select different string sounds: Strings I and Strings II (an octave up from Strings I). Like other string synths of the era, there was also a brass sound that could be selected and, like other string synths of the era, it was next to useless! No.... it was the string sound(s) that defined the RS202.

At the heart of the RS202's string sound was Roland's 'ensemble' or chorus effect. For whatever reason, Roland got this just right not only on the RS202 but also in the chorus effects pedals that they (and their subsequent subsidiary company, Boss) were to release. This rich ensemble effect was enough to guarantee the RS202's success.

However, unlike the competition of the time, each key also had its own envelope shaper so that each note articulated properly. This was a huge improvement on other such string synths at the time and made the RS202 far more playable and expressive - it's just a shame that the sound's attack was limited to just two preset values determined by the setting of a single grey rocker switch labelled 'SOFT ATTACK'. By way of compensation, there was at least a totally variable 'SUSTAIN' (i.e. release) control so all was not lost. The other grey 'TONE' rocker switch allowed you to select two different timbres for the string or brass sound.

The RS202 was also 'bi-timbral' with different sounds for the bottom two and top three octaves respectively and flexibility was enhanced by the fact that the lower and upper sections were (almost) completely independent of each other thus you could have solo 'cello in the bottom half of the keyboard and a lush string ensemble in the upper half of the keyboard. Or you could have combinations of lower and upper brass and strings and so on according to the settings of the five identical rocker switches for each lower / upper section. Two sliders allowed you to balance the two sections. However, whilst being flexible for the 'power player', for someone who just wanted a uniform sound across the RS202's 5-octave keyboard range meant setting the separate lower and upper sections identically which was potentially a problem for live use. That said, the layout of the controls was such that this was not difficult to achieve.

On the surface, then, the Roland RS202 was unique in the market at the time and potentially looked unstoppable.

Except that the Roland RS202 did have some serious competition in the unlikely form of the MX202 from American manufacturer, Multivox. However....

Not only did the RS202 and MX202 share almost indentical numeric product names, it would appear that the resemblance didn't end there. Apart from a few minor differences, the front panel layout was almost identical in every respect and was only differentiated with the use of slightly different switches and control caps. Furthermore, the underlying circuitry in the MX202 was also almost identical to the Roland RS202's. In short, the Multivox MX202 was pretty much a carbon copy clone of the RS202 and Multivox had ripped off the design almost component-for-component! However, somehow the two managed to have a different sound.

Roland, of course, won out in the end and are still here to tell the tale. But Multivox... who?

What's on offer here is the genuine article. Hollow Sun contributor, Paul Marshall has (once again!) gone to extreme lengths to provide detailed multi-samples of this Roland classic. With long, luxurious samples taken every major third across the original's F-F 5-octave range, what we have here is a truly authentic representation of what is arguably Roland's finest string synth. There are two sounds - straight 8' Strings 1 and the two registers Strings 1+2 (16' and 8') layered in octaves."

Alesis HR-16 on Seinfeld Pilot?

via jk

CLICK FOR MORE »

MFOS Mini-Controller (+/9V to +/-15V)

"Features
* The MFOS Mini-Controller has a twenty nine note stylus keyboard (C - C - C to E)
* It can be used to play your Sound Lab Mini-Synth or 1V/Oct modular.
* The MFOS Mini-Controller supports four CV outputs (2 with portamento 2 without portamento) My prototype (shown) only used two.
* There is one trigger output and one gate output.

* Just the coolest thing EVER!

Quirks
* Rare, rare (did I say rare) mis-sampling that grabs the raw buss voltage. Remember you are jabbing a PC trace with a piece of metal (slightly bouncy). But even so this thing is just too much fun to play with."

More info here.

MusoTalk 118-NAMM Report 2008-Solaris,Doepfer,Future Retro

YouTube via musotalk
"weitere Informationen auf www.musotalk.de -Versteckt im oberen Stock der Halle,neben den Gitarrenanbietern erspäte ich die " Deutsche Insel" in der auch John Bowen mit seinem Solaris Unterschlupf gefunden hat. Zu sehen gibt es den Solaris, neue A 100 Module von Doepfer, der Halbmodulare von Furture Retro, und einen exotischen Stepsequenzer."

ARP Odyssey + SCI Pro-One + Roland Juno-60 + TR-606

YouTube via retrosound72

"bassline: ARP Odyssey, triggered by the SCI Pro-One internal sequencer and sync with the TR-606 drum machine sweeping metallic sound: SCI Pro-One through EHX Small Stone
pads and strings: Roland Juno-60
drums: Roland TR-606"