Happy Cinco De Wiardo?

This one popped up on the Wiard list via doc.

"Hi All

if nobody else is gonna mention it... i will...

By his account....
On 5 May 1999 a guy in Milwaukee decided that he'd pick up where his mentors left off in Analog synthesizer design, and he began operations as the "Wiard Synthesizer Company"
That was a full decade ago!
It seems like yesterday that i was on his porch with my trade-in Aries wonder why a fellow would wear a fez like that so early on a Saturday morning. i left with a 'the filter', a sequantizer, and a silver paneled envelator in my backseat and a unquenchable hunger for more.
Happy Anniversary Wiard! and many happy returns
Viva los Wiardos!
-doc"

BTW, Happy Cinco De Mayo folks!

Update: Hey! Wait a second! I'm seeing the site up on Feb 06 of 1998 on the Web Archives. Oh well, leave it to the Wiardos. jk :) Anyone out their know the actual date and/or year Wiard formed?

Update via doc on the Wiard list: "Hi Matrix
Like most temporal milestones.
ie: the discovery of 'America', Groundhog's day, Christmas, & National Frozen Potato Week.
The 5 May anniversary of Wiard is more a matter of convention than documentary evidence.

My own journal records this on 19 Nov 1998:
"looks like some guy up in Milwaukee got to the moon first with voltage controlled filter mode without using a crossfader, chk it out"

So there must have been something on the air before May '99.

But Grant has always celebrated Cinco de Mayo as the day that Wiard "began operations".... usually with a BBQ. But then, folks in Milwaukee don't need much of an excuse to get outside for a little R&R in May because that's just about when the glaciers recede enough to find the grill again (and the lawnmower)

i'm pretty sure Mike Firman got the first production Wiard...if that's so.... Mike? when did Grant build that for ya? (or maybe it was a 'beta')

They still haven't decided when Easter is either!!!!
;'>

-doc"

May 5th must be when it all crystallized and there was not turning back. :)

circuit bent zenith transistor radio

YouTube via 3rdness. "My great movie."

Roland Juno-106 rear warning

flickr by ficusrock
(click for more)

full size

KORG MS20 with Phill Ress Midi to CV converte

via this auction
"includes a Phill Ress Midi - CV converter which will allow you to connect the MS20 to a Midi Studio!!!!! (keeps the Korg in its original condition unlike other midi fits). There are many different wave shapes to be chosen, tuning facilities for the individual oscillators, white noise generator, resonance filter and ordinary seep filter, amplitude envelop controls, portamento, pitch bend plus much more..."

ARP Axxe Vintage Synth Keyboard

via this auction

keybdwizrd - MiniKorg 700s Demo #1

YouTube via keybdwizrd.
"The MiniKorg 700s vintage analog synthesizer (1974)."

UNIVOX Mini Korg K-1 (700) Analog Keyboard Synthesizer

via this auction

3LpgThingie

YouTube via sduck409
"A short video of an annoying patch I've been messing with. Lots of modules used - 3 motm 300's being cross-modulated, getting pitch cv's from the klee sequencer; main clock is the blacet binary zone; clock is being divided by the cgs pulse divider, various odd pulses are kicking several motm 800's which are firing into 3 lpg's, which are shaping the vco's sound; then there's the wogglebug, which is set to this eerie singling clocked setting I found, running through a motm 190 vca controlled by a long ramp wave, then running into a motm 410, feeding stereo outs. Audio captured in cubase, reverb added."

Creating a song with the Korg MS-20

YouTube via deused
"I thought it might be interesting for some of you to show you a video of me making a song with the MS-20

All the sound you hear are being made by the MS-20 , including the drum sounds.
I used a Doepfer MCV4 midi to CV converter to control the MS-20 with Logic Pro.

Hope you like it!!"

monotonic labs: Type N37 Synthesizer Demonstration

YouTube via monotoniclabs

novation bassstation

YouTube via SupermarketSurvivor

Balanced Modulator from Buchla Music Easel

flickr by abovenyquist

full size

"On the breadboard - and yes, it really worked. :)"

Akai MPC 2000XL and E-Mu SP1200 Flash Drives

"Introducing the worlds first USB flash memory drive shaped like the Akai MPC 2000XL, one of Hip Hop’s most classic drum machines / samplers. This is the long time favorite Sampler of producers such as Dr. Dre, Pete Rock, Just Blaze, Lil Jon and more! Akai’s powerhouse drum machine has been immortalized as a 4 GB USB flash memory drive. Every nuance of the Akai MPC 2000XL has been captured in extreme detail! These unique devices are perfect for Hip-Hop beat makers, producers, and enthusiast on the go. This is the only portable data storage solution that screams “Hip Hop”."


"Introducing the worlds first USB flash memory drive shaped like the E-Mu SP-1200. Its Hip Hop’s grittiest 12-Bit drum machine / sampler. This is the long time favorite sampler of producers such as Ayatollah, The RZA, Large Professor and more! The SP-1200 drum machine has been immortalized as a 4 GB USB flash memory drive. Every nuance of the E-Mu Classic has been captured in extreme detail! These unique devices are perfect for Hip-Hop beat makers, producers, and enthusiast on the go. This is the only portable data storage solution that screams “Hip Hop”."

Pre-orders for June 12 here. via Zero via Gizmodo.

Hard Soft Synth 2

You can find more images and the details in Spanish on KostenlosKultur. Googlish here. "HardSoftSynth2 of Gijs Gieskes we built a few weeks ago in xxxxx and I managed to encapsulate within the casing of a headphone amplifier that I bought in Flohmarkt by another 3 euros day." See this previous post for links, a video of the Hard Soft Synth V2, and a clock cat.

MicroKORG Tabletop Mod

You can find more images and the details in Spanish on KostenlosKultur. Googlish here.

CL Scams - Buyer Beware

See this post for common eBay scams.

A few CL scams were reported on the Analogue Heaven mailing list today. I thought I'd put a post up for new buyers. Always be careful out there. What I found interesting about the scams was when I think of Craigslist, I think of local pick-up only. I would never buy something from CL unless I was able to pick it up and try it out in person. I wondered what the seller might do if I were to state I'd like to pick it up and/or test it out. The following is an actual reply a list member, Mati, received from a seller:

"Hello,

My name is Sandra Cooper and I am now in London UK, the reason why I listed this ad in your local area is because a friend told me that I would get a better price and faster deal there than here in London and I am more than happy to ship it to you for free.
The item is in perfect condition barely used for a few hours so I wouldn't mind calling it brand new. Obviously we need a safe way to complete this deal without worrying about the safety of your money or my item.
The best way I could think of is to use a shipping company that will also act as an escrow service and found one with quite a good name.
I chose to use TNT WorldWide Transaction, a subsidiary of the well known(at least here in europe) TNT.
Using their services your money will be safe with them until you receive and check the product and I will rest assured that I'll get paid if you like and decide to keep the item. Also the company will provide you with 5 to 7 days to test the item and make sure you're making the right decision.
Please let me know what you think so I can explain to you the transaction steps in detail.

Thanks for your time,
Sandra."

The images in the listing were pulled from a valid Ebay auction.

A rule of thumb for Craiglist is to simply not buy unless you or a friend in the area can pick up and test the item in person. Make that clear to the seller, and if it's a scam the seller will most likely back out. And of course be careful meeting up with people. You never know what's out there. I'd pick a public place with outlets to test the gear. Bring headphones. Note Ebay is full of scams as well, review a seller's feedback, ask the right questions and be very careful. Also I try to filter out multiple scammers on the Ebay links on this site. If you catch any feel free to let me know and I'll review them for removal as well, but be careful, there are first time sellers out there and not everything suspect is a scam.

Update via Paul on AH:
"Hi all. Don't want to beat a dead horse, but there are a few methods by which you can suss out the type of scams we've been seeing on CL:
1. Do a google search on some of the text in the posting. I did that on the recent 909 scam and it returned clone ads in HongKong and Athens. I searched for the string "This is the one and only Tr-909. Nothing beats it! I had one a long time ago that wasn't as nice as this one." and google found some of the ads.
2. Another way is to use the jaxed service: http://jaxed.com/cgi-bin/mash.cgi?cat=mus&itm=roland&loc=&fil=tr-909&ys=&ye=&submit=++++go++++
I just tried it now, and it shows the same 909 ad in over 30 cities now! These people are more spammers than scammers, it seems. They spray ads like bullets and hope they hit someone. Small chance anyone here will be taken for a ride, but it's nice to have some tools to help spot these kinds of scams.
Again, sorry if I'm out of line here, but if it prevents people from posting about a great deal on CL the next time this happens, it will have served its purpose."

If you have any tips feel free to comment.

A Mini Waldorf Largo Review and Samples

via Boele of SCD on the Waldorf list, posted here with permission.

"Yes, Largo is approaching :D

Largo looks like Blofeld/uQ in terms of parameters, but it can sound quite different and has some very fine additional features.

First of all, it has all the wavetables Blofeld has, including the Upperwavetable, the matrix, the 4 envelopes, 3 LFOs, 2 filters, FXs etc. all known from Blofeld/uQ. Also the arpeggiator is there.

In addition, the first two oscillators have a sub-oscillator with selectable foot and level settings.

The phaser FX has been improved a lot. It sounds *way* better than the one on the Blofeld (personal opinion).

There is an added Fuzz FX in the FX section which also sound pretty good.

My personal favorit: the step LFO (only LFO3). you can set a value for each of the maximum of 16 steps and you can also smooth out the steps a little if wanted. Last but not least, you can set any number of steps while the LFO speed is maintained.
Now when you sync the LFO to MIDI clock you can imagine the funny things you can do. I really love this feature and hope to see it back one day in Blofeld.

The delay has gotten extended delay time up to three seconds. Very usable for ambient sounds :)

There is a global equalizer and also a bass boost knob to finetune the overall sound of Largo.

You can create four layers of sounds and send them to various outputs if wanted. Waldorf also developed some smart bank/preset loading/saving routines. (maybe some other betatester can spread a bit more light on this? I didn't use it yet).

All in all, I started to like this piece of software a lot. Not bad for a hardware guy :) 90% of the parameters are approachable by MIDI CCs so with a good controller it feels like hardware anyway.

Is there nothing to complain about? Well, maybe only the missing PPG filter. Not sure if Waldorf intends to add this in a future release. But even without it Largo gives so much sound fun.

The above is just my own personal view on Largo, developed during testing. It will hit the market in the very near future as far as I know.

Check it out!

Boele"

And via Stefan Trippler:
"If it's of any help, the Largo demos I already posted on the list were made
on a Pentium Dual Core 2,4 GHz

http://www.trippler.net/files/mp3/tanzindenmai.mp3
http://www.trippler.net/files/mp3/messie.mp3
http://www.trippler.net/files/mp3/lullaby.mp3
http://www.trippler.net/files/mp3/murmur.mp3

In terms of the sound character: when I made these demos I had only my own weird sounds available that always have a little too much overdrive, FM or modulations of any kind. The Largo can also make nice sounds ;)"

Update: More info on the Moog Source DIN Sync In

see the update in this post.

KURZWEIL K-2500 XS Parts

via these auctions
not the best shots, but interesting.

In order:
"KURZWEIL K-2500 XS "MASTER VOLUMEN, ASSIGNABLE CONTROLLERS FADERS, SOLO, MIXDOWN, MIDI FADERS BUTTONS USED BOARD MODEL ASSY 121076"

"KURZWEIL K-2500 XS "MAIN PANEL CONTROL BOARD MODEL ASSY 121069 COMPLETE ALL CAPS AND ROTARY INCLUDED"

"KURZWEIL K-2500 XS "HEADPHONES, (R & L) MIX, (R & L) A, (R & L) B, (R & L) C AND (R & L) D AUDIO OUTS USED BOARD MODEL ASSY 121065"

"KURZWEIL K-2500 XS "CC PEDALS/BREATH/SWITCH PEDALS/SCSI THRU PORTS IN/OUT USED MODEL ASSY 121074 BOARD"

Evolution of a controller

flickr set by joshua_schnable
(click for more)

"I recently acquired (and then painted) an Evolution X-Session UC-17 controller. It's a nice retro-ish color ('almond'), and has new knobs (the soft-touch kind) courtesy of Mouser."

some additional notes from Joshua of chromedecay:
"1. This is a custom-painted Evolution UC-17 X-Session controller. I used Krylon's Fusion paint ('Almond') for it.

2. It's sitting on top of my Yamaha p-80 piano. It's not attached to the piano or anything.

3. I replaced the stock knobs with soft-touch black knobs with grey indicators. NOTE: I ordered ones with the wrong orientation from Mouser on my first try. If you want to replace the knobs on your X-Session, this is the Mouser part number of the ones that should work: 550-40086 (mine are here in a couple of days - I'll post to comments if they work out ok) . The X-Session has 6mm "d-shaft" stems, with a "south" orientation."

rexerRd200

YouTube via abertronic. via this auction
"demo of Rexer (guyatone) rd 200 Vintage digital delay" with Casio.

Thalassa Modular Madness Buchla Style

YouTube via Thalassa77

Roland MC-4 Step Sequencer Micro Composer MC4

via this auction

"This unit can sync to or generate DIN sync, so syncing it up to a laptop, TR-808, TR-909 or TR-606 is no problem at all with the proper DIN converters. I used it with a Roland SBX-10 to sync to Ableton so I could capture the loops I was making with the MC-4 sequencing my Arp 2600 and SH-101."

VFD Springmodulator

flickr by LoFi Ninja
(click for more)

full size

Update: video here

gattopardo studio

flickr by Squarenoise
(click for more)

Update: Another PPG Wave 2.2 Typo and some Tips

see the second update in this post. Again remember to check posts for red Updates throughout the day. The red stands out and should be easy to spot scrolling quickly down the page. Always click on the Older Post link at the bottom of each page and do the same. Each new day starts with a red date header, so it's easy to see where new days start as well.

Remember you can submit stuff via my contact info on the bottom right, or in the comments of any post. The rule is you have to be able to ID the synth in a post. Posts are about the synth first, music second, so if you want to promote your stuff in a vid or the like, be sure to show your synth. Also I try to spread things out so the site doesn't get overrun by one person, so send me your best and I'll link to the rest.

Finally, auction posts are welcome. Anything goes on MATRIXSYNTH-B and good pics, rare items, interesting facts and the like go up here on MATRIXSYNTH.

Update: and of course check out the forum's WTB and WTS for more.

Please post PPG comments in the PPG post linked above. Comments on the tips and what goes up are welcome here.

Carbon111 Studio Revamp

You can find the details and more images at carbon111.blogspot.com.

RADCASTle Documentation

You might remember the RADCASTle from this video. Docs and images are up here.

RADCASTle stands for "Really Awesome Digitally Controlled Analog Synthesis Tool, limited edition"

"The analog boards were purchased from Ray Wilson of Music From Outer Space. The team developed custom boards to interface the various analog synth boards with a PIC microcontroller through digital-to-analog converters."

instantACID

download at cliplead_