AH Bay Area 2008 official date

"http://www.fdiskc.com/ahcali/
Saturday, October 25th 2008 at the TechShop in Menlo Park, be there or
be square.

We'd like to have a Moog Foundation raffle as we have for the last few
years, so if anyone wants to step up and handle the
tickets/collection/etc for that, please contact me.

Actually, if you're planning on going, I'd like it if you signed up
for the AHCali list (link in url above) and RSVPed there, so we have
some idea the size of the crowd we'll have.

-Brandon"

Mirror of the Creator

flickr by djthomaswhite
(click for more)

full size

"Buchla Lopass Gate Clone Revision 2.0 has arrived for testing!!!"

natural rhythm music

Casio CZ-101

images via this auction

x0xb0x - Best Roland TB-303 Synthesizer Clone

images via this auction
Features:
* Pure analog voice circuitry
* Critical analog components including:
o 2SC1583, 2SC2291, 2SC945P transistors
o 2SK30AO and 2SK30AY JFETs
o AN6562 and BA6110 Op-Amps
o LA4140 Power Amplifier
o 1% Thin-film resistors
* Calibrated with high-end oscilloscope
* High-quality Lexan overlay
* Clear back panel
* Un-modded (original sound)
* Contact us for x0xio I/O and Overdrive kit
* Other features:
o MIDI Play
o PC hookup (software included)
o EEPROM for 128 banks of track memory/64 banks of pattern memory
o Computer download and upload of saved tracks/patterns
o Upgradeable firmware (preloaded latest v1.05. Will be upgraded to sokkos at customer's request)

Input/Output:
* DINSYNC (in/out)
* MIDI-in
* MIDI-out
* MIDI-thru
* CV (⅛")
* Gate (⅛")
* MIX-in (¼")
* Headphone (¼")
* Line-level out (¼")
* USB for computer interface & control

WERSI Bass Synthesizer

images via this auction

"This is a vintage synthesizer from the German company, Wersi. As you'd expect from German engineering, Wersi is the BMW of synthesizers and organs.

FEATURES & CONTROLS
36 keys cover the C below a bass guitar open E string up to the B on the 16th fret of the G string without using the glide control. Push buttons select 2 bass guitar synthesized tones: 1) bass guitar, 2) damped bass guitar. Then there are eight synthesized pipe organ tones: 3) 16' sawtooth wave, 4) 8' sawtooth wave, 5) 8' square wave, 6) 16' sine wave, 7) 8' sine wave, 8) 4' sine wave, 9) 2' sine wave and 10) 1' sine wave. Any or all voices can be combined together. A pitch control on the rear panel 'tunes' the unit to different reference frequencies, if desired (say, when your guitarist thinks he's SRV and tunes his guitar half a step low).
SOUND
As mentioned, the bass guitar sound is excellent. Add in some of the deep, growly pipe organ sounds of the 16 and 8 foot pipes with a rotating speaker effect and you can mimic some of today's sounds easily."

CONNECTIONS
There is a high and low output, both TRS 1/4" and a 'pedal' input to control this unit from bass foot pedals. See photo of rear panel. Of course, a power cable is required and I will include the rather unique one that came with the unit."


The Wersi Bass Synthesizer YouTube via AutomaticGainsay

"The unit in the video is a Wersi prototype of this model; it looks smaller and has different switches and knobs, but the sounds are the same.

Moog Rogue

via this auction

cellar

flickr by dr.photon

full size

"Moved the machine down to the basement while waiting for some electrical work to be finished up in the studio"

A bit steam punk.

Event Arranger

flickr by dr.photon
(click for more)

"Beginnings of John Blacet's Voltage Controlled Clock with Event Arranger from the Feb '78 issue of Synapse magazine."

Interesting. I didn't realize Blacet went that far back. Anyone know when they started as modular company?

full size

Synth: AFG vs SH-2 vs Massive.

via VAC where you'll find the sample. "Sh2 pulse, saw, and sine with sub osc. Afg pulse, saw, and sine with sub osc. I used the rs 60 env, i plugged the afg into the polivoks, set the polivoks and the sh2 with the same env settings to the filter etc. Runs through the doepfer vca a131. on both the sh2, and afg, i left the filter wide open. I think they both sound good, but i prefer the sh2, it has this fatter sound i think. more smooth. What do you think? I recorded these through my mackie onyx mixer, and into my rme fireface 800 into logic 8."

Korg MicroPreset M500 MS10 MS20 PRESET

YouTube via tretretretretretre6

"The Korg MicroPreset M-500. Classic 70s analog synth. The first section has no effects/processing. The second part with the phaser has reverbs on all channels."

images via this auction

"A classic Korg synth which has gained popularity for its big sound, it's small footprint and it's ease of use. A great synth when you need to include fat analog basslines and crisp filters in your live set or in your studio. Comes with original preset cardboards. These have sounds like 'Steam Locomotive' and 'Morse Code'. You recall these sounds by following the instructions and the markings on the cardboard. "Steam Locomotive Use the MICRO-PRESET for enjoying the sound of a running steam locomotive. Move the TRAVELER knob slowly to the left, and Micro Preset reproduces the sound of a steam locomotive entering a tunnel. Move the MODULATION RATE knob for speed control." Exatcly the kind of sound you were looking for in the 70's when steam locomotives had long gone. A great synth for steam locomotive fans to recall those old days of coal and steam, and a great synth for those of us who has never heard a real steam locomotive. Now you can enjoy it in your own home, without all the smoke. This is a serious instrument and very fun to use. It has white and pink noise, and you can switch the keyboard five different octaves, to get deeb bass notes, screaming leads and high bells and whistle noises. Run the white noise throug a phaser and you're suddenly in what 70's outer space sounded like, and bring on the old steam locomotive and you're in Hitchaikers Galaxy territory. It comes with original manual. Also included is an old Korg product catalog of 1983. Did you realize that the Poly 800, the PS3200, the MS 10 / MS 20 were all beeing sold back then? And did you know that there was a remote control for the PS3200, the PS3060? Well, here is the proof."

Hands on Synthsound

via seqencer.de where you'll find order links.
German Synth DVD
Details in Googlish:
"Never again sounds from the pole - with "Hands On Synthsound."

Synthesizer, whether hardware or software, for many musicians are unknown nature, often destined to end their days Factory play. It is now closing!

In this Videolernkurs learn in over 150 lessons everything you need to successfully create your own synth sounds have to know. Besides useful bases for sound production while we explain all the important elements of construction and popular synthesizers and light show numerous examples of sound with various synthesizers the official compilation of sounds from all major genres. All topics are the aspiring sound designers so conveys that knowledge in any conventional synthesizer (subtractive synthesis / hardware and software) is transferable. Even those who do not have a synthesizer, can supplied with the demo versions for PC and Mac right away and "mitschrauben."

Author: Moogulator
Synthesizers and sound synthesis specialist Moogulator is the author of several trade publications (formerly Keys, Beat, today synthesizer magazine), musician and synthesizer operator of the database in the network (Sequencer.de). Which he has regularly conducted workshops synthesizer helped in the conception of this Lernkurses. It is a slightly looser style and other help, the engineer slang for musical goals in the escape to beat and to stimulate join.

From the contents
• oscillators and waveforms
• Spectra and overtones
• voice and formants
• Working with envelopes
• ring modulation
• Frequency Modulation
• Sync sounds
• Waveshaping
• filter types and their application
• modulation sources and targets
• Working with effects
• synthesizer building in practice
• Creation of Bass, Lead, drum, percussion and Padsounds
• outlook for further sound synthesis techniques
• bonus lessons, including Mixing and to Wavelab

Suitable for owners and users of
• synthesizer (hardware and software)

The Tutorials offers this DVD for PC and Mac:
• More than 15 hours of video tutorials
• razor sharp video in full resolution
• Integrated Lesson Descriptions
• Set your own bookmarks
• Search function to quickly find desired topics

System requirements:
• Windows PC from 1.6 GHz, min. 512 MB of memory
• Mac OS 9, min. 512 MB of memory
• min. 1024 × 768 screen resolution,
• sound card and DVD drive

Authors: Moogulator, Gavin Lucas
Duration: more than 15 hours
Price: 59, - € incl. [D]
ISBN: 978-3-9811987-8-2

From 15:09 to your dealer or in our shop."

Android FX - iPhone App

YouTube via jetdaisuke.
"http://webdog.be/archives/081003_2006...
ロボットボイスのテルミンみたいなものです。タッチしてグリグリするとサイロンみたい な音声が出て楽しめます。ライヴの飛び道具なんかに良さそうです。でも、それだけです ね（笑）"
Googlish:
"Theremin - An Electronic Odyssey of a robot-like voice. Touch and grinding against the SAIRON enjoy some sort of voice. I live in the good of the missile. But I do it (laughs)"
You can get Android FX here:

Korg Wavestation SR StereoVocoder1 Demo #1

YouTube via hoeppc
"Hello,
this is a Wavestation SR playing the StereoVocoder1 effect on its own without sequencer and external FX.

I use four rhytmic wavesequences as modulator beeing x-faded via vector-synthesis ('joystick-ac'-midi-cc-slider), a choir-waveseq as carrier (chord).

Internal clock (100 bpm) is used to sync the waveseqs to. I'm also having a Midi-Switch to send a Note (A-0) triggering the beat-loop (tune-slope = 0). So I am able to play live with both hands. The Filters are controlled via MIDI-1- and MIDI-2-cc (sliders).

Btw. I used the small two-line display for all editing work which, in my opinion, is a faster way to achive results than SoundDiver or MidiQuest."

Day 277#

flickr by TyeBoi

full size

KORG DS-10 Synthesizer - Four Units

YouTube via XSEEDgames. "Four Units Nintendo DS Wireless Communications"

my 1st Session with doepfer

YouTube via eicheph
"Rhythm Track is from Ableton Live.
Synth sound is from Doepfer.

A100BS/2 without Multimode Filter Module.
and I installed Analogue Systems RS-120 COMB FLITER module.
I'm a big fun of Comb Filter and got to do this."

Sequential Circuits Studio 440

YouTube via WISSJE. "coming soon...."

NPC tutorial #1

NPC tutorial #1 from peterflat on Vimeo.
"this is the first in a series of videos that attempt to explain some software i wrote called npc. npc is loosely based on the akai mpc and uses any of the hardware available at monome.org. npc is also short for non-player character in advanced dungeons and dragons."
via The Stretta Procedure where you will find a couple of screen shots of NPC.

DEPECHE MODE KEYBOARDS AND OTHER TECH STUFF

Aleksandar wrote in with this link to a website that lists the synths Depeche Mode used throughout the year.

Excerpt:
"Concerts during 1981:
1 Moog Source synth
1 PPG Wave 2.0 synth
1 TEAC A3440 Tape Machine (w/ D.B.Y. Unit)
1 REVOX A77 Tape Machine
+ some other stuff

Some shows in the beginning of 1982 (See You Tour):
Martin: PPG Wave 2.0 and a Yamaha CS-5.
Fletch: Moog Source
Alan: Roland Promars ( it's a monophonic JP-4, without the arp. and less keys. It also has CV/gate in and outs.)

In the article named "The New Sythesizer Rock" (Keyboard Magazine 1982) the following equipments were listed: ARP2600, Moog Source, Roland Promars, Roland SH-1, Roland MC-4(early digital sequencer), Korg KR55 ( preset drum machine) Roland TR808 (programmable drum machine)

A Broken Frame Tour:
Alan: Roland Jupiter 8
Martin: PPG Wave 2.0)+ a small keyboard thing (! Martin's small keyboard had "Fairlite" (compared to the 100.000 USD Fairlight CMI sampler) written on the back of it:)). The small keyboard could actually have been Yamaha thing (Yamaha 5), which guys used when they started playing synths.
Fletch: Moog source"

Audiocubes arpeggio in Ableton Live by Fractal

YouTube via jeremjerem. via the Percussa blog.
"A very quick example(all improvisation...) of new features of the lovely cubes!
Note control(here in Ableton Live with Plasticz ,arpeggio and Effectrix)"

Audiocubes arpeggio "Simpler" in Ableton Live by Fractal

" A quick improvisation...
1 funky sample ,the arpeggio of Live and : The Cubes !(ok and a little bit of me ;) )
Poor video but i have put all my money on my cubes lol

If you want, my myspace:
http://www.myspace.com/fractaldeath

Art beside cubes :
http://www.famouswhendead.com

Audiocubes Percussa :
http://blog.percussa.com/
http://www.percussa.com/

Bye ;)"

blofeld SOUND DESIGNER

http://jemap.ifrance.com/
Googlish:
"blofeld Sound Design is an editor for the synthesizer blofeld of Waldorf.

L'éditeur est un fichier exécutable autonome sous Windows. The editor is an executable file in Windows. La version actuelle est 0.79. The current version is 0.79.

Il ne s'agit pas d'une émulation du synthétiseur, mais d'un éditeur qui échange des messages midi avec le synthétiseur. This is not an emulation of synthesizer, but a publisher who exchange messages with the synthesizer.

L'éditeur permet de contrôler et afficher de très nombreux paramètres à chaque écran. The editor can control and display many parameters to each screen.

La version 1.04 du système d'exploitation actuel du blofeld n'autorise pas le contrôle par midi de certaines fonctions du menu Utility (Store, Compare, Recall, Init, Randomize), ni l'accès individuel aux paramètres du menu Global. Version 1.04 of current operating system does not blofeld of control by noon on certain menu functions Utility (Store, Compare, Recall, Init, Randomize), or individual access to Global Settings menu.

Pour être conservé, un son édité depuis le blofeld SOUND DESIGNER doit être sauvegardé directement sur le synthétiseur via la fonction Store du menu Utility. To be retained, a sound edited since blofeld SOUND DESIGNER must be saved directly onto the synthesizer via the Store menu Utility.

Les développements futurs envisagés sont: Future developments are planned:

* sauvegarde / chargement des configurations multi sur ordinateur ; saving / loading configurations on multiple computers;
* accès aux paramètres du menu Global ; Access to Global Settings menu;
* clavier et pads contrôlables par souris ; keyboard and mouse pads controllable;
* import / export de fichiers sysex Waldorf ; import / export files sysex Waldorf;
* version vst ; vst version;
* aide française et anglaise intégrée ; using French and English integrated;
* traduction anglaise du présent site ; English translation of this site;
* liste des sons avec différents tris (banque, catégorie ...) ; list of sounds with different sorts (bank, category ...);
* émulation de la fonction aléatoire Randomize, avec sélection de tout ou partie des paramètres et choix de l'amplitude des modifications aléatoires ; emulation function Randomize random, with selection of all or part of the parameters and choice of random amplitude changes;

Cette liste n'est pas exhaustive. This list is not exhaustive. Les développements ne suivront pas forcément l'ordre de la liste. The developments do not necessarily follow the order of the list.

Certains développements n'aboutiront peut-être pas. Some developments will come maybe not. D'autres nécessiteront peut-être des applications séparées. Others may require separate applications."

Different Skies 2008 Daily Media Log

images of this years' event are currently up here. There is a video section, so hopefully some will come.

via Dr. Tomorrow who pointed out this shot of an iPhone running through a Mini. Hopefully no one called during the event. :) Hmm.. Actually that might have made for a pretty interesting performance. Have members of the audience dial in.

edp wasp scares small child

YouTube via babytog. via Waveformless
"even electronic wasps can sting apparently....."

D/A A/D doom lab

image sent my way via Alex

dadmakesnoise

Also see this post for the Mini Case Synth with mp3 also sent in by Alex.

Arturia Ships Origin

"Origin is the most powerful synthesizer on the market.

As a matter of fact, it goes beyond the traditional definition of synthesizers. It is a hardware DSP system that houses several synthesizers in one machine. Some of these synths come from the past, such as the Minimoog, some are totally new and innovative.

Loaded with modules extracted from the best synthesizers of all time, Origin lets you combine these modules and take advantage of the additional possibilities put onboard. The result: a new type of sound accessible through an extremely intuitive interface.

Main features
* Create your own synthesis patch by connecting independent modules. These modules are either innovative modules we introduced (such as Galaxy) or taken from the best synthesizers ever made (such as the Moog Modular, the Yamaha CS-80, the Roland Jupiter-8, the Minimoog, the ARP 2600, the Sequential Circuits Prophet 5 and Prophet VS).
* Alternatively, use an existing synthesizer recreation: the Minimoog, the ARP 2600*, the Jupiter-8* or the Prophet 5*
* Superb audio quality with TAE® engine in a hardware chassis. 24 bits/44.1 kHz supported.
* High-Quality Real time Effects: Phaser, Chorus, Delay, Reverb, Distortion, Parametric EQ*, Bit Crusher*.
* 500 presets created by a selection of international sound designers
* 16/32 step advanced sequencer allowing you to program three sub-sequences at a time and to perform live.
* Multi mode allowing you to play 4 instruments at a time, for example a Minimoog, a Jupiter-8*, a modular patch and an ARP 2600*.
* Creative Macros, advanced LFO’s, innovative modulation sources, different Joystick modes.
* Advanced Preset browser.
* Analog Audio Connectivity: 2 audio ins, 10 audio outs.
* Digital Audio: SPDIF out, USB 2.0
* Built-in expression pedal and footswitch control inputs
* MIDI : In, Out, Thru or USB 2
* Up to 32 voices of polyphony
* Also a MIDI controller offering 33 encoders, 21 potentiometers and 1 joystick
* Ergonomic hardware design and quality manufacturing in France and Germany.
* Origin lets you open dedicated software on your Mac and PC in the form of Origin Connection an ergonomic application allowing to archive preset, exchange data, upgrade firmware.
* 160 pages manual in English."

More info including video, audio and images here.

AES08SF: Exclusive: Cakewalk Goes Hard - In a BIG Way - Synth Included

This includes the Phantom VS - 128 note polyphony Phantom class synth plus expansion slot.
see Sonic State for the write-up.

YuSynth Fixed Filter Bank

flickr by djthomaswhite
(click for more including other modules)

natural rhythm music

Synth DIY Woodwork

flickr set by djthomaswhite
(click for more)

Homemade Juno-106 Wood Sides
"Here is a view of my home brew wood side panels for my Roland Juno-106. They are from Maple and just gorgeous in with the natural finish! (or so I think)"
natural rhythm music
Homemade Sixtrak Wood Sides
"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."

Phantastron Processing Voice

YouTube via sheepslinky. You are welcome. You can thank Music Thing and Deviant Synth for this one.
"The mic is being fed through the Phantastron pentode tube circuit. Thus, it controls pitch, sync or distortion depending on the settings."

DSI MoPho Feedback Loop (Dave Smith Instruments)

YouTube via bigcitymusic
"Run one audio out into the external audio in. Make a weird patch. Push the button."