Visual Synthesis 1

Visual Synthesis 1 from GM on Vimeo.
"In this episode, we learn about the harmonic series, the spectral nature of the basic waveforms and examine the effect of filtering."

stg/soundlabs WAVE FOLDER

via stg/soundlabs

"EU modules prior to shipment"

Sequential Circuits Prelude Analog Synth

YouTube via downerczx.


images via this auction

"The Prelude is a very nice, warm sounding analog synth. It is a "bread and butter" synth with Strings, Piano, Organ and Brass sections. There is also an onboard Equalizer and Modulation section with Chorus/Flanger. There is an audio in for the onboard effects that allows you to run another source through the effects. An "Octave" switch moves the entire keyboard down an octave and the pitch bender can be set down for very low lows and up for high highs.

The strings sounds are very good and worth the purchase alone. The rest of the patches are also very nice. It's very easy to get a "Tarkus" sound from the brass section.

This synth works very well and is in good condition. The pitch bend slider is not working from the middle to the top, but works fine from the middle to the bottom. Cosmetically, there are two knobs missing from two of the switches, but the switches still work fine.

See Video Demonstation and Photographs of the synth below [above].

Back of Synth:
Input
Low Output
High Output
Volume Pedal Input
Fuse
Power"

Mighty Coupigny modular

via Fabrique
from Matmos:
"the 'Coupigny' modular synthesizer housed in the INA/GRM studios at RadioFrance in Paris and used extensively by some of the titans of
musique-concrete."

Update via Fabrique:
"It seems so as many composers in residence at GRM have recently requested to use it after it was unearthed by composer Christian Zanesi. Built in 66, it has been used by Parmegiani (La Roue Ferris), Bayle, Berio, Schaeffer... (in french) [and Googlish]

And it appears he also built a video effect unit used by Martial Raysse and other artists (Note : Francois not Francis might be a typo):

"1968 - Creation of the GRI (Groupe de Recherche Image) at the ORTF under the direction of Pierre Schaeffer. François Coupigny develops the "truqueur universel" (universal special effects device), which is used by Martial Raysse, Peter Foldès, and Jean-Paul Cassagnac for attempts at coloring the video image from black-and-white images."

http://newmedia-arts.net/english/reperes-h/60.htm

Another article that mentions Francis Coupigny:
"The two most brilliant technicians who worked with Pierre Schaeffer were Francis Poullin, in the early 1950s, who developed the phonogène and the morphophone, and Francis Coupigny, in the 1960s, who created the console and the integrated synthesiser."

http://www.furious.com/Perfect/ohm/inagrm.html"

Obscuresounds - Land of Milk and Honey

via Obscuresounds

mp3 here
"The track itself is meant to be a joke. The german lyrics are about "schlaraffenland". It then cuts away to an english chorus about a guy tripping out on mushrooms. The idea is that the guy is in this "schlaraffenland". If you look through the multitude of samples, the track also has the Pro-1 doing some underlying subs alongside the bass guitar (which is going through a fuzz pedal). There is also a Pro-1 (1:27) sound in the 2nd chorus on the right hand side... this was originally a simple up/down sawtooth, but I transposed it up a few octaves. You might be able to hear the Mellotron choir sound during the same chorus! The ARP 2600 (0:50) is playing on the right-hand side during the english chorus, and for the breakdown bit (0:48) for the machine gun kick-drum effect. I've also got the Octave CAT (1:11) working away on the weird blips, which is turn is going through a Watkins Copicat for that retro sci-fi effect. The CAT is probably my favorite synthesizer due to it's grimey filter, and the ability to mix waveforms/modulations as you're playing."
"The vocals are sung by two artists. The first is a german band called Carmen, who did a track called "Schlaraffenland" in 1982, and is sung by Carmen Thelen Gaspar. The chorus is sung by Adjeef The Poet (Ad Visser), who in 1967 released a track called 'Iekk! I'm A Freak'."

The Atari Hotz MIDI Translator

"The Hotz Box MIDI controllers were designed to be the fastest real-time MIDI controllers available and were specifically created to be a new class of Super-Musical Instruments, which would be the ultimate real-time input devices for the Hotz MIDI Translator software. Major Artists such as Yes, Fleetwood Mac and Kitaro have used Jimmy's controller's both live and in the studio. The Hotz Box and Hotz MIDI Translator software were the primary instruments used in Jimmy's new CD 'Beyond the Gates of Time'." "'I have seen three things in my life that I instantly knew would have a profound effect on the future; the personal computer, the mouse and the Hotz Translator.' Steve Wozniak--co-founder of Apple Computers" You can find more info on Jimmy Hotz Inventions. Note that it looks like you can actually purchase a Hotz Box and the Hotz Translator on his site. Also see this post. via synthwood

MPC 2500 monomachine electro jam

YouTube via RobbieNerve. via fischek.
"Doing a testrun with Akai MPC2500 for beats, Elektron MonoMachine for synthlines and some other gear. It's stuff I just programmed a few hours before ;)."

A True Rompler: Raw Digital Audio

YouTube via littlescale
"I wanted to make a device that plays back digital audio, without the use of any programming or a microcontroller or a computer. In other words, the most basic rompler, as a hardware-only device.

more info, schematics etc: http://little-scale.blogspot.com/2008..."

WMD Geiger Counter

YouTube via bigcitymusic
"This is the incredible sound smashing WMD Geiger Counter. We're just running a boring pitched kick drum into it. There are a massive amount of tones in this box. The hexa-decimal display on the top right tells you which wavetable you are using to digitally destroy your source. You can really obliterate whatever you put into this beast. We'll show you how you can control the sample rate redution via CV next video!"

NUSofting DaHornet Demonstration: This One Might Sting Ya!

YouTube via gearwire
"Can a NUSofting DaHornet software synth come close to the sound of the original EDP Wasp? That's what Bill Holland aims to find out in this demo while wearing a beard made of bees (off-screen).

According to Bill, it's not too far off, but watch this video and listen for yourself. There's been some buzz about this virtual synthesizer, but maybe that's just due to the bee fever sweeping the Gearwire office.

See more on Gearwire.com."

Doepfer A-192 CVM16 CV to MIDI with MaxMSP 5

YouTube via dkimcg. No audio in this one.
"simple test patch to read the CVs on the modular synth in the computer through MaxMSP 5. Can't wait to start using it in a Max patch!"

TipTop Z3000 modulated by PlanB Model15

YouTube via dkimcg
"See title.
I forgot most of what I was doing, but have a basic idea. See annotations for descriptions of what's going on.

New oscillator from Tip Top Audio, the Z3000. I think a dual camera setup would be better for videos like this, I'll try that next time.

Youtube's compression ripped apart the waves and made some of the sound messed up and sound like it's filtered or modulated or something. Try to ignore it. Maybe the stereo version sounds better."

Teisco 60F Vintage Synthesizer

via this auction

DOEPFER A-188-2 TAPPED BBD DELAY

via this auction
"A-188-2 is another module that is based on a so-called Bucket Brigade Device (BBD). If you are not familiar with BBDs please refer to the A-188-1. There you can find some details about this special type of circuits.

The main difference between A-188-1 and A-188-2 is the type of BBD circuit that leads to completely different module principles and sounds. The A-188-1 uses different single BBD chips with one signal input and one signal output only. In contrast the A-188-2 uses as so-called tapped BBD that has available six outputs - the so-called taps after the BBD stages 396, 662, 1194, 1726, 2790 and 3328. In the A-188-2 we use this special BBD circuit (MN3011) to obtain these module features:

The module has available two separate mixing sub-units. For both mixers the levels and polarities of each BBD output can be adjusted to obtain two different mixtures of the BBD outputs. A new type of potentiometers with center detent and center terminal is used for the BBD mixing controls to have a better feel for the neutral position. Each mixer has a wet/dry control at its output that allows choosing between the pure input signal (original), the BBD mix or anything in between. The two outputs can be treated as stereo outputs but it is also possible to use one of the outputs for other applications (details in the next paragraph).

The A-188-2 has a feedback section available that is very similar to the one in the A-188-1. But as we now have 6 different BBD outputs available 6 different feedback types are possible. The feedback input socket is normalled to the "396" output (not to "1194" as shown in the scheme, the front panel is correct). But by patching the feedback socket to any of the single output sockets another BBD tap can be used for the feedback to obtain different sounds. Even external feedback processing is possible (e.g. with a VCA for voltage controlled feedback). The feedback control has polarizer function, i.e. the neutral position is at the center. Left from the center the feedback signal is subtracted from the input signal, right from the center it's added (negative/positive feedback). Even for this potentiometer the new version with center detent is used.
A special feedback can be obtained if one of the mix outputs is used for the feedback function. In this case for each tap the positive or negative feedback share can be adjusted. This leads to multiple peaks and/or notches in the frequency response of the module.

For each tap of the BBD a separate output socket is available. These sockets can be used for changing the feedback loop - as mentioned above -, for voltage controlled mixing of the taps - e.g. with the voltage controlled mixer A-135 or other applications that require access to each single tap.

The A-188-2 uses the same high speed VCO (HSVCO) for the BBD clock as the A-188-1. The clock and consequently the delay time can be controlled manually (delay control) and by the two control voltage inputs CV1 and CV2. The sensitivity of CV1 is approximately 1V/oct. CV2 is equipped with a polarizer (a new type of potentiometers with center detent). The HSVCO has a clock output available that is normalled to the clock input socket. These sockets can be used to link different BBD modules and to run them with the same clock. But even other applications with frequency dividers (e.g. A-163) or PLL (e.g. A-196) are conceivable. A voltage composed of the manual delay control, CV1 and CV2 is available at the CV out socket, e.g. to control an external clock suppression filter as the A-188-2 is not equipped with such a filter (same as for the A-188-1)." more info on the Doepfer website.

Quasimidi Sirius

images at this auction

# Polyphony - 28 voices
# Oscillators - 2 osc: 128 synth waves, 365 drum and percussion samples
# Filter - 24dB and 12dB slopes, Hi and Low pass filters with resonance and overdrive
# Effects - FX1: reverbs, stereo delays. FX2: chorus, flanger, delays; vocoder
# Arpeg/Seq - 16 pattern arpeggiator / 7 track sequencer with tap tempo
# Keyboard - 49 velocity sensitive keys
# Memory - 384 patches (288 preset, 96 user), 16 vocoder patches, 20 percussion kits
# Control - MIDI (7 parts, 3 synth and 4 drums)

Roland Juno-106

images at this auction

Simmons SDS V Drum synthesizer

via this auction

"19" rack mount Simmons SDS V drum synth head only, includes bass drum, snare drum, three tom modules as well as master sensitivity & mixer module. Unit is 115vac powered, has xlr trigger ins, xlr individual and mix outs. There is a hi hat xlr in but no module."

HARMONY SYNTHESIZER made by A/DA

images at this auction

"It measures aprox. 9 X 11 1/2 inches and weighs in at a meaty 6 pounds, 11 ounces. The case is cast metal and is extremely well built. These are hard to find (only 800 were made around 1980)"

CIRCUIT BENT 1983 BONTEMPI MINSTREL

images at this auction
"The bontempi minstel analogue keyboard was built in 1983 and designed by guigiaro of turin,italy.he interestingly designed the volkswagen golf and the panda/punto for fiat. still functions just as bontempi intended,but now includes 13 modifications...

13 modifications
Custom metal control panel & Wood effect detailing
Chord modulation knob
Low pass filter knob
With on/off switch
(when in use the keys are disabled)
Rhythmic drum overdrive knob
8-bit crusher modulation knob
Arpeggio increase knob
On/off toggle switches:
Loose wire lo-fi
Snare cut
Bass drum cut
Bass enhancer
Feedback
Break down hold
White noise invader
Internal speaker has been removed to house modifications
Original features:
On/off
6 voices (organ,horn,oboe,strings,piano and harpsichord)
Effects: sustain and vibrato switches
Off beat l.e.d indicator
6 drum rhythms (waltz,tango,swing,slow rock,disco and latin)
Rhythm tempo adjust
Arpeggio/rhythm balance adjust
Master volume control
Arpeggio volume control
3 postition rhythm switch (off, synchro and start)
3 key modes (standard, bass&chords and single finger chords)
Pitch trimmer at bottom
Polyphonic 5/9 notes, depending on mode in use
1/4" aux line output
1/4" headphone out
12v dc in
Or
Powered by 8 'c' batteries (not included)
Comes with original box (ok condition) and original mains adaptor
Detachable key cover lid"

RC CIRCUIT BENT 1983 BONTEMPI MINSTREL ANALOGUE SYNTH

YouTube via djwidow420

Arp Rhodes Chroma Analog Synthesizer w Midi CC+

images at this auction

Serial # 21030348
For more info on the CC+ upgrade and the Chroma in general, visit the excellent Rhodes Chroma site.

Analog Synthesizer Modular Mixer With Filter

images at this auction
"Mix Mix Mix.
One little mischevious devil here.
...and a funky mix.
Mix Machine is a VOLTAGE-CONTROLLED 8-channel mixer.
It is also an 8-channel FILTER BANK.
It is made using 8 CEM3379 chips by Curtis Electro-Music!
Audio inputs = 8 of them!
Voltage-Controlled PAN = 8 of them!
Voltage-Controlled AMP = 8 of them!
Voltage-Controlled LOW PASS FILTER = 8 of them!
Voltage-Controlled Resonance = 8 of them!
Audio Outputs = Stereo or L = mono. This can be handy.
and a Master Volume knob. "Main Gain"
There are 32 Control Knobs!
They are labelled as Attenuations, but are in fact, Control Knobs.
There are also 16 extra unused jacks on the back.
They were not used in this design, but you could use them for your own mods if you like.
The Filters are 4-pole 24dB and can self-oscillate.
There are just so many possibilities here.
Turn up the Volume!
Turn up the Resonance knobs!
Hear the tones drone!
Filter your guitar!
or Drum Machine?
or Akai MPC sampler with multiple outputs! Filter it 8 ways, please.
Plug LFOs, Analog Sequencer, or Sample+Hold into Control Input Jacks.
Use with a MIDI-CV Converter for Programmed PANS and FILTER SWEEPS.
It has an internal power supply and comes with a cable for USA 117volts AC."
More info and samples here.

Roland Vocoder SVC-350

via this auction

EFM Wildcat analog modular synth board

via this auction
"This is a blank printed circuit board for an EFM (Electronics for Music) Wildcat modular synth. This is basically a diy modular synth on a single board. This auction also includes the special PIC (programmable integrated circuit) chip required for the midi to CV part of the circuit...

Here are a couple of good online sources of info about this board:

www.dontlisten.com/sdiy/wildcat/efm-wildcat.pdf
http://www.yusynth.net/Wildcat/index.html
I believe this is the rev1 board."

King Capitol Punishment Utopia Synth

images at this auction. Note this one is via Big City Music. Be sure to see this video.

"The Utopia Synth by King Capitol Punishment is an analog two oscillator noise machine with to modulation sources. There are range switches for each oscillator which can extend the speed of oscillation from almost sub-sonic to grinding high-speed FM. The modulators can be switched off. There is also a master volume control on the side of this little beast. Requires 9 volt negative center adapter, not included."

synthPond 2.0 Tutorial

synthPond 2.0 Tutorial from zach on Vimeo.
"A simple video tutorial showing basic uses of all of the new (and old) features of synthPond 2.0"
follow-up to these posts.
You can get synthPond here:

vintage synare 4 drum synthesizer

images at this auction


images at this auction

iOscilloscope

via Gabe Jacobs Productions

"iOscilloscope turns your iPhone into a virtual oscilloscope, one that will measure sound waves in real time. You may view the sound waves in Fast Fourier transform mode or Sonogram mode. Try to find all the different sound waves you can make :)"

You can get the app here:

buchla 200e filter groove

YouTube via hyperguy61
"a little riff coming from the buchlas. the 291e is sequencing along with the 250e. 7 against 5. the 144 is modulating the 291e filter , the 158 is the the sound you hear. the touch plate is changing the pitch of the 158. enjoy."

Buchla ring mod riff

"a variation of the filter mod patch. all audio from the 200e but going through the 111 ring modulator. the 123 is choosing pitches of the 261s mod and principle oscillators along with the keypad."

Buchla 200e and Genoqs Octopus

YouTube via hyperguy61
"A Buchla 200e and Buchla 100 being controlled by a Genoqs Octopus. It's a wonder i get anything done in my life. i could easily spend the rest of my days in front of these beautiful machines. sorry for the crappy audio...i'll post more when i figure out how to do it."

Buchla 200e little melody

"A Genoqs Octopus playing a simple melody on the Buchla 200e and a SFTMC era 100 system.A little more melodic that what i usually do."

Buchla 140

flickr by mono-poly
(click for more)

Beep-it

Beep-it from Michael Una on Vimeo.
"A demonstration of Michael Una's Beep-it optical theremin synthesizer, which outputs a square wave whose pitch is variable in relation to the amount of light striking a photocell mounted within the device.

These fine musical instruments are available for purchase here"

Torino Synth Clinic 2008 and a Synth Cake

via Francesco

"This [link] is a report of the first Turin Synth Clinic with some Foto. One of this are a Synth cake made by DanaeL (www.danael.name)"

In Googlish: link
"It ended a few days ago the first Torino Synth Clinic organized by Noisecollective. Si è trattato di un corso pilota per tastare il terreno, per capire quanta gente potesse essere interessata e per valutare se pensare per il futuro a qualcosa di più corposo... This was a pilot course to feel the ground, to understand how people could be involved and to assess whether thinking for the future to something more substantial ... beh, direi che i risultati ci sono stati e stiamo già pensando a nuovi corsi. Well, I would say that the results were there and we're already thinking about new courses. Per adesso eccovi un report della due giorni. For now here is a report of two days."