Electroplankton

YouTube via salzmanufaktur
"Playin' around with Electroplankton. It's developed by Toshio Iwai. In collaboration with Yamaha he created the Tenori-On."

synths

flickr by Sidereal

full size

"Free beer if you can identify both. K and I broke out all the keyboards today for some reason."

CGS Wave Multiplier

flickr by stickjones
(click for more)

full size

Second Sequential Improvisation!!! Synthesizers.com DOTCOM

YouTube via angelometz. follow-up to this post.
"This thing rocks. Very powerful and intuitive. This is a 2 voice patch."

Yamaha DX11. Some sounds!

YouTube via henrig17
"Here is some sounds from my Yamaha DX11 Keyboard. It has always been over shadowed my its big brother the DX7 but should not be under estimated! (more waveforms, 8 part Mulitimberal...) "

LDB

YouTube via larsby
"LDB is a drumediting java midlet. That is you can run it on your phone (if your phone can run midlets). Most of LDB's features are easily recognized from other similar programs and hardware drum machines.

This is a walkthrough of the features and at the end there is a live demonstration.

It can be downloaded for free form http://www.shuriken.se"

Korg Synthesizers History by Vanderson

YouTube via grooveproject
"simple slideshow with some favourite Korg synth models. Music track by Vanderson www.myspace.com/vanderson_pl"

Circuit Bent Speak & Read DRAGON

via this auction
"FREAKENSPEAK DRAGON

Up for auction is a circuit bent Texas Instruments Speak and Spell, His name is FREAKENSPEAK, and he lives up to that name. This unit is similar to the Speak and Math, or the Speak and Spell units.

This unit is a FREAKENSPEAK DRAGON with moveable wings,arms,legs and tail.


Here is a list of the circuit bent features:
- Moveable wings,arms,legs and tail.
- 2 Super bright green LED's on the sides of the unit, great for live performance.
- 2 bend/glitch switches that bend and twist the words in different ways depending on what mode you are in and how many of the switches you have on. You can get endless bent sounds and words with these 2 switches. When you turn on a bend switch and you are in the right mode,you can get the unit to ramble on endlessly.
- 1 tone switch that puts out a steady tone that you can change to a lower tone by pressing the keypad. There are 3 or more different tones that you can get using this switch. You can use any of the pitch controls to "play" the pitch of the tone.
- 2 loop switches that will "catch" or "Freeze" a bent or normal sound and repeat it so you can play the pitch of the loop with any of the pitch controls.To advance to the next loop, just flip the loop switches off/on. No need for an extra "Loop advance" button. You can use both loop switches at the same time to create amazing combination loops.
- 1 Pitch change photo sensor that you can wave your hand over without touching it to change the pitch of the sound or loop, just like playing a theremin. This is one of the best feature of the FREAKENSPEAK. You can also use a lazer pointer or flashlight on the photo sensor for a cool effect.This is a great feature for live performance.
- 1 high/low pitch range switch, you can go from the highest pitch to the lowest pitch with the flip of a switch and control the pitch by using the pitch range pot.
- 1 pitch change ball for body contact, the pitch of the sound goes down depending on how much of your hand is touching it. The large pitch ball gives way more control of the sound than 2 little contacts.You can also touch the holographic front label to lower the pitch even more.
- 1 pitch change pot with ball knob to vary the pitch of the sound up or down. The ball knob is easy to grip and turn and adds to the cool look of the FREAKENSPEAK.
- 1 pitch change front panel lowers the pitch more when touching the pitch change ball. One of the coolest features is the added pitch control that touching the holographic front label gives, you won't find this feature on any other bent unit, or as many ways to control the pitch and loops. It is gold color, not green like in the picture.
- 1 Audio output 1/8" plug to send the signal to an amp or effects or to your computer line input.
- 1 Power adaptor input plug. Power adaptor not included (6 volt , 200 mA, center pin positive)but it will work with 4 "C" cell batteries too.
- 1 Reset switch to turn the unit on/off or to reset it if the unit crashes.
- 2 Cool holographic eyes that give the FREAKENSPEAK it's unique look. You can still see the display clearly thru the holographic eyes.
- 1 FREAKENSPEAK users manual describing how to use the circuit bent controls."

Creamware Minimax

via this auction

"The Minimax ASB (“Authentic Sound Box”) is a tone module — no physical keyboard — whose layout mimics the Minimoog, albeit on a slightly smaller scale. It isn’t just a controller, as all the sound electronics are built-in as hardware; the Remote software included with the package (more on this later) is for editing only. After the knobs and switches, the next thing you notice is the wood side panels. Yes, wood, as in “comes from trees.” Just below the front panel is where it becomes less traditional: There’s a 3-digit/7-segment LED display, and 14 old-school switches (with LEDs that indicate status, just like an old Prophet or Oberheim) for selecting presets, setting up MIDI, editing effects, and the like. I thought that the slightly smaller size might be a problem, but in practice, there’s more than enough room between switches that you don’t have to be ultra-careful when you move them — you’re not going to bump into something else. The Minimax’s architecture is the same as the Minimoog’s, which means it’s the same as 4,759 other synths, hard and soft. Three oscillators (#3 capable of serving as an LFO) feed a mixer, which also accepts an external signal input and white noise. A Minimax ASB “bonus feature” feedback switch connects the synth out back to the external in, so if you turn up the input control, you can get some highly resonant and unusual sounds. The mixed sound goes to a 24dB/octave lowpass filter and amp, both controlled by ADSR (attack-decay-sustain-release) four-stage envelopes — although the release is keyed to the decay time, and enabled only if the “Decay On” switch is activated in the Controllers section. ................Specifications Hardware synthesizer Virtual analog Circuit Modelling Number of Voices 12 44.1 kHz (internal oversampling) 32 bit 32 bit Audio Paths Analog Inputs: 2 x 1/4 inch (6,3mm) unbalanced Analog Outputs: 2 x 1/4 inch (6,3mm) unbalanced MIDI: In, Out, Thru USB: Full Speed USB rev 1.1 Power Input: 12V AC/DC"

Waldorf Pulse

via this auction

Waldorf Pulse
Yamaha FS1R
Yamaha MEP4
Roland Super JV
Kawai K3m

MOOG Rogue

images via this auction

"Midi Modified Moog Rogue by: Diabolical Devices/ Class A Electronics,llc

This Moog Rogue has been professionally cleaned and serviced as well as modified with the following features.

Midi Input: control VCOs on any MIDI channel 1-16

Individual VCO/Modulation outputs: seperate 1/8" outputs have been added for OSC1, OSC2, Noise,
LFO triangle, LFO square, and Random Modulation. These can be used to interface with other analog keyboards. Blue Power LED. There is a working 24 VAC power adaptor included"

A Synthesist's Guide to Acoustic Instruments

via Loscha

Side1.mp3
Side2.mp3

Update via Loscha:
"I've re-uploaded the mp3s. The disc is in Mono, so, I've made the mono, and trimmed the tops and tails.

Written my Howard Massey, Alex Noyes and Daniel Shklair. Published in 1987, the book gives it's reader a good insight into how sounds are made up, attacks, spectral components and such. These patch examples in the book are for CZ-101, Dx7, and generic subractive systems. They are presented on the Flexi as, well, realistic. But,
only realistic in terms of that these are the sounds that you, the end user, would end up with if you were to follow their book! The book presents typical ranges, polyphony in use, if the note can slide or trill, etc. A sort of how to guide for people without access to these instruments. It's not just about synthesis, it's about
playing technique, and how that translates into realistically recreating the style of the instrument in Synthr format.

The LP features an Acoustic sound, followed by the result from following the patches and techniques in the book.

The introduction from Dr John Chowning:
One of the most exciting experiences for musicians is in learning about the medium beyond "Playing the notes in a musical way." This book, designed for those who play and program synthesizers, is insightfully written. Here, the nature of the micro-structure of sound is clearly revealed and with it much of the magic of music. - Dr John Chowning, CCRMA, Stanford University."

"one hand" box

via Califaudio where you can find a video and the story behind this shot.

via manuel:

"I'm doing a set again on stickam tonight, with machinedrum only (wanted to play with a few synths but then noticed I'd have to prepare more). It's gonna be live at 12:00 pm GMT+1, so it should be 6 pm EST. The URL is http://bl0rg.net/~manuel/live.html."

This is on now.

Update via wesen in the comments: "
hey everybody, the show is finished, but there is a video of it here (the last 40 minutes). I'll put the mp3s online tomorrow. thx to everybody who showed up, nice seeing you :)"

Homemade Sixtrak Wood Sides

you can find more here.

via djthomaswhite

"Home made wood sides for my Sequential Circuits Sixtrak synthesizer. A bit thicker than the original but I like how they look. Maple with a wipe-on poly stain/varnish coat."

Sequential Circuits Prophet-5 and Poly Sequencer

images via this auction via AH:
"This Prophet 5, ser.#5049, was purchased directly from Sequential Circuits and has lived its whole life in a non-smoking professional recording studio environment in the SF bay area, under the protection of the original owner. Save for one or two nicks in the wood paneling, this instrument is in perfect condition. The MIDI option was installed by a Sequential design engineer. The original protective plastic facing is still intact. The hardshell case was custom built for it at the time of purchase. It too is in new condition. The rare, companion Sequential Poly-Sequencer works only with the P-5, and only when MIDI is disabled (via a switch on the back panel). Original manuals for both P5 and Poly-Sequencer are included, both in pristine condition. hear it here: http://www.tapewarm.com/Litwin_att94C.mp3 all done only with the P5 and poly-sequencer!! pretty cool, huh!!"

Some spontaneous sounds

Stefan Trippler on the MOOG Voyager:

http://www.trippler.net/files/mp3/os1a.mp3

"I have a Voyager OS here since a few days, unfortunately only temporarily. Impressive machine, sounds, looks and feels great. I suppose though that I need to practice a little until I'm timingwise completely ready for the OS philosophy ;) Drums from Spectrasonix Stylus"

Stefan definitely has his own style. I was curious to hear what this one would sound like. Great as usual.

Sampling the sampler

More Fairlight CMI on dvdborn.

Roger Powell Clinic

flickr by E-sus
(click for more)

full size

"Roger Powell conducting Moog synthesizer clinic April 1975."

Rendering of the MOTM-730 VC pulse divider

via My Synthesis Technology MOTM Analog Modular Synth

"The STEPPED output is an 8-level rising sawtooth (starting at 0V and going positive). The 4/O/5 switch is the step size. It is not calibrated, but "close enough for rock". The 2 prototypes were within 4mv of 'correct'. You can always use a FM attenuator to 'dial in' if you want.

Production/delivery in late August. Just doing all the CAD work now and handed off, still concentrating on getting the backlog shipped. I made quite a dent this week, shipped 17 orders and finished the MOTM-420 kits. Next up: MOTM-190s."

moog 960 sequencer (www.synthorama.com)

YouTube via emssynthi100

"moog sequencer cabin with two 960,961 and one 962 modules. the cabinet used to belong to tangerine dream modified by project elektronik. i just got them and dont know much about the mods"

Roland JD-800 + Yamaha DX-7 + Oberheim Matrix-1000 + TR-707

YouTube via retrosound72

"vintage synth demo track by RetroSound

sweeping pad sounds: Roland JD-800
sample/hold bass sequence: Oberheim Matrix-1000 (played with the DX-7 II)
digital fx sounds: Yamaha DX-7 II FD
drums: Roland TR-707


Unfortunately it came by the youtube sound compression to a few unwanted digital noises in the sound."

Korg Z1 | demo (2 of 2) by syntezatory.prv.pl

YouTube via Jexus. follow-up to this post.

"1997 Korg Z-1. 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.

Note that in some patches I use aftertouch (the force applied while depressing the keys as a modulation source) - that's why the sound changes even though it seems that nothing is really being done to the synth in terms of control."

First Sequential Improvisation

YouTube via angelometz
"The Q960 sequencer arrived today! Incredible machine. Very complex. My first atempt at sequential improvisation."

Groove Electronics Oratron

images via this auction
"# Description -
Really about as rare as youre ever going to get, this, so far as im aware, or anyones been able to tell me, is the *only* oratron in existance.

The story, so far as i gather, is that Groove Electronics (maker of the various midi interfaces, but more famously, the Stinger) got so far as advertising the Oratron in the music press of the time, and then promptly went bust!

This is what ive been told (although noones actually been able to furnish me with a copy of any advert - id be interested to see one, if anyone has one?) but it sounds about right.

This one was a factory prototype (i assume) accquired by me from someone who accquired it from Johnny Marr. He, im told, was given it, as he used to live by the Groove HQ when all this was going on. Again thoug i have no proof! : (

# Item specifics
What it is is a vocal synthesiser, based around the General Instrument SP0256 chip, which, I'm lead to believe, is somewhat different from the usual 'speech chip' type of approach.

When opened up, you can clearly see groove's usual method of doing things - a modified m2cv board (as per the stinger, which i also have one of : ) and an additional custom board with the synthesis chip on it.

The top interface has grooves usual "binary plus one" programming procedure, allowing midi channel to be set, etc. but hints at some other more interesting functions such as sequencing individual phonems into phrases, which ive never got to work (it may be me, it may have failed, or it may have never been inplamented at all!) There are some stored phrases though, which ive never been able to edit or overwrite - such things as "Welcome to Groove Electronics", "I am not a man, i am an Oratron", some others, and a curious one, which, i guess may have been some private joke of the time "Can i pop your lemon?"

Midi triggering of phonems is entirely functional, with the machine responding nicely to the bend wheel, and this is how ive used it. I should provide some samples really, but, in description, dont think of the sort of glitchy cut-up sound youve heard from so many circuit bent speak and spells. Think much more gutteral 'throat-singing' type effects. But, yes, i should try and record some and post it... "

x0xb0x tb-303 clone

images via this auction.
"# Description -
"The x0xb0x is not just another MIDI-controlled TB-303 clone. x0xb0x is a full reproduction of the original Roland synthesizer, with fully functional sequencer. The sequencer can be programmed just like the original 303 (ok its actually a little easier, we think) and can be used to control other synthesizers via any of its various output formats. 128 banks of track memory and 64 banks of pattern memory are stored in onboard EEPROM, no battery-backup is needed! " (www.ladyada.net)

# Item specifics
Assembled by www.thebeast.co.uk (hence by someone who knows some stuff about 303s... ; ) this x0xb0x is spotless.

It was built with all the correct components (ie original 2SC536F etc, not cheap modern substitutes!). Its fully tested, fully working. Tuned as per 303 service docs, and the most recent firmware uploaded. The usb is tested and working, connection to the c0ntr0l ap. 100% functional, etc. etc.

About as close to perfect as ever comes up for sale, this machine has not been messed with or modified in any way."

PLAN B ELF Series Pricing

via Peter Grenader of PLAN B

"The pricing of the ELF products have been finalized:

Model 23 Analog Shift Register: $165
Model 36 Leveler: $60
Model 37 LFO: $160
Model 38 ADSR: $130
Model 38A ADSR Expander: $55
Model 39 Wave Splicer: $100
Model 40 Headphone Preamp: $75

They will be shipping in late June, possibly early July depending on
the ramp-up time of the first production lot.

The Plan B site will be updated to include product pages for the ELF
series within the next week and preorders will be available through the Noisebug site within the next two weeks."