Introducing The Synthesizer Academy

"If you're looking for a good synthesis tutorial or two, the folks over at the MMTA are putting together a new site called The Synthesizer Academy. Each Monday a new lesson will be posted. Topics will cover everything from what a synthesizer is, to making fancy patches, to building your own system. You can subscribe to the RSS feed if you want to be notified when new lessons are posted."

The site is spearheaded and hosted by Scott Rise of Division 6. You might recognize the modular in the pic. It's George Mattson's monster custom EML modular. See the Mattson EML label below for more posts. George, of course, is the man behind Mattson Mini Modular. Other members of the MMTA include Eardrill, flight of harmony, The Harvestman, Malekko, Synthwerks, 4ms Pedals, and yours truly.

Animoog Voyage

YouTube Uploaded by experimentalsynth on Mar 19, 2012

Moog Noir

"An extended version of my previous Animoog/Voyager video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFW8Yyvrc-A [posted here]

Watch it to learn more. Watch this one to hear more. Watch them both to do more :)

www.experimentalsynth.com"


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Salamander Modular Synthesizer Dual Analog Voltage Controlled Filter UAF147

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"Salamander Modular Synthesizer dual analogue voltage controlled filter module-UAF 147. It is in museum quality condition and functions and tunes perfectly. Everything electronically and physically is in perfect condition. It is one of 20 made in San Francisco, California in the late 70's/early 1980's.

This module includes two voltage controlled analogue filters that are generated from an exact E-MU Modular sealed VCF modules. The surrounding circuitry has been greatly expanded and the best possible parts were used in constructing the Dual VCF module by SMS. All of the knobs and switches are military grade (as in literally). This module comes from the full SMS system that can be seen in the video below. I overtook the modular when I became the sound designer and producer for Asphodel Records/Recombinant Media Labs from Naut Humon. Nothing, and I mean nothing, sounds remotely close to what this module can do.

The bandwidth is so high that I used the SMS to modulate and generate video signals for several installations. From a tuning and musicality standpoint, there is nothing that rivals the absurdly over built quality of the system.

The buyer will have to design their own power supply to run this module. Don't miss a once in a life time opportunity to add one of the rarest synthesizer modules ever made to your modular. All the connectors are standard 1/8" which will interface directly with all Eurorack modulars and similar gear."

"A bit about the studio from which this comes from ... Asphodel Records/Studios and Recombinant Media Labs was San Francisco's cutting edge and award winning production, recording, and performance/research facility. We worked both with artists internal and external to the record label. Some of the clientele has included Academy and Grammy Award nominated M.I.A., members of Nine Inch Nails, Lou Reed, Kode 9, Speedy J, Blixa Bargeld, and many many others. The facility was home to many talented professionals who were the users of the equipment we are selling."

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Salamander Modular Synthesizer Dual Analog Voltage Controlled Oscillator

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"SMS Dual Voltage Controlled Oscillator
1 of 20 in the world
Containes E-MU modular sub module blocks
Museum Working and Aesthetic Condition

It is one of 20 made in San Francisco, California in the late 70's/early 1980's. This module includes two voltage controlled analogue oscillators that are generated from an exact E-MU Modular sealed VCO module. The surrounding circuitry has been greatly expanded and the best possible parts were used in constructing the Dual VCO module by SMS. All of the knobs and octave/semitone switchers and joysticks are military grade (as in literally). This module comes from the full SMS system that can be seen in the video below. I overtook the modular when I became the sound designer and producer for Asphodel Records/Recombinant Media Labs from Naut Humon.

Nothing, and I mean nothing, sounds remotely close to what this module can do. The bandwidth is so high that I used the SMS to modulate and generate video signals for several installations. From a tuning and musicality standpoint, there is nothing that rivals the absurdly over built quality of the system. The buyer will have to design their own power supply to run this module.

Don't miss a once in a life time opportunity to add one of the rarest synthesizer modules ever made to your modular. All the connectors are standard 1/8" which will interface directly with all Eurorack modulars and similar gear..."

"A bit about the studio from which this comes from ... Asphodel Records/Studios and Recombinant Media Labs was San Francisco's cutting edge and award winning production, recording, and performance/research facility. We worked both with artists internal and external to the record label. Some of the clientele has included Academy and Grammy Award nominated M.I.A., members of Nine Inch Nails, Lou Reed, Kode 9, Speedy J, Blixa Bargeld, and many many others. The facility was home to many talented professionals who were the users of the equipment we are selling."

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RED Roland SH-101 with Mod Grip

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Korg 770 - Analog synthesizer

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"The Korg 770 is a dual oscillator mono synth from 1976. It has an external input so you can use it as a Filter or Ring modulator, along with the LFO you can get some really interesting sounds. This unit has all new capacitors about 60 in all. The pots and switches are fine and all the keys work. The unit powers up and makes all kind of sounds. The wood sides are not the original plywood, the new one's are solid babinga. This wood is used in guitars and looks great. The 770 has serial # 770008 that makes this one of the first ten made."

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Octave Cat SRM

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Jamming in bleep!BOX

YouTube Uploaded by Discchord on Mar 19, 2012

"Was in the mood to do a little acid jam, and the new update to bleep!BOX made that very easy to accomplish! Be nice, I did this in only my first hour of playing with it. Read the full write up here: http://discchord.com/blog/2012/3/19/bleepbox-update-jam-video.html"


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Video 376

YouTube Uploaded by TheSynthFreq on Mar 19, 2012

IDOW Modular of the Week - Vo1t

Hi everyone. Some of you might have missed this weeks IDOW winner. I goofed and put the post up last night without the pic. I did update the post this morning but thought I'd put a new post up to make sure it gets the attention it deserves. This is a spectacular shot. Be sure to view it full size. The image comes from Vo1t. Be sure to check out the site, and see the official contest post here for additional details. Apologies to Vo1t & the IDOW team.

New I Dream of Wire Gear Pics

New synth prn is up on the IDOW Facebook Gallery. Scroll down to the bottom when you get there.

Pictured: Big City Music showroom & Aries Modular at Big City Music.

Waldorf Lector Demo

Waldorf Lector Demo part 1/2 (Synthesizer section)

YouTube Uploaded by ESSEKNOB on Mar 19, 2012

"s-knob.blogspot.com

The Waldorf Lector's synthesizer section... not only a vocoder!
Drums made with Waldorf Attack (the Waldorf Edition VST)"

via Piero Peet

General Elektriks - David Lynch Moments (Arte_One Shot Not_2010)

YouTube Uploaded by lleicoob on Feb 11, 2010

"General Elektriks - David Lynch Moments (Arte_One Shot Not_2010)"

Roland SH-101 solo at :41. This one in via Xavier.

Pablo Penas [Corsynth] @ Störung Festival 7 [Corsynth]

Pablo Penas [Corsynth] @ Störung Festival 7 from Störung on Vimeo.

"Pablo Penas at Störung Festival 7 [21.04.2012, Barcelona]
**Workshop from 3.30pm to 7.30pm (in Spanish & English)

Workshop: Sound Modular Experiments
Modular synthesizers are the origin of the synthesizers we use today. Understanding how they operate is to understand how most of synthesizers in the market work, both software and hardware. This workshop will build on the most basic concepts such as control signals, functional units, etc. to venture into more complex patching techniques that will allow the participants to experience the creative freedom obtained with the management of these systems. Know the rules and then break them.
Corsynth is the modular project of Pablo Penas, based in Galicia. An adventure starting on 2011 with the aim of making a small contribution to the world of modular synthesizers. The idea behind Corsynth is to manufacture useful and functional modules that enable the user to expand the sonic possibilities of their systems.

storung.com
corsynth.com"

Ableton DJ Template Pro: Walkthrough [For Akai APC40]

DJ Template Pro: Walkthrough from Will Marshall on Vimeo.

"This is a walkthrough of my DJ Template for the Akai APC40. It provides an overview of all the core features, but does not go into detail.

To download the template, visit WillMarshall.me"

Install and setup video here.
Follow-up to Live Looping for the APC40

Ethero 2 Live Demo

Ethero 2 Live Demo from Michael Aldridge on Vimeo.

"This is just a quick demo of Ethero 2 running live on my iPad 2.

The video shows a couple of the preset scales in the app. The synth sounds are from the Moog Animoog which is running in background-audio mode and being controlled via virtual MIDI ports.

Ethero 2 will run on iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S and iPad 2.
MIDI is sent over virtual ports, WIFI and via the Camera Connection Kit. Of course, your mileage will vary with the use of virtual MIDI ports as there's quite a lot of processing going on. It works best on the iPhone 4S and iPad 2 (and I guess 'the new iPad', but I can't test that... yet!)"

You can find Ethero 1 on iTunes here (description below - not sure if Ethero 2 will be a separate app or upgrade):

ethero - glidepro

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"Description

*ATTENTION*
To all users with retina-display devices, an update has just been posted to the App Store that will improve performance!

Ethero is the iPhone’s answer to the etherophone, or Theremin as it’s better known. The Theremin is one of the earliest electronic instruments ever created and it’s now famous for it’s signature eerie sound.

The traditional Theremin is usually controlled without any physical contact, with the player using each hand to control both the pitch and the volume of the sound. Ethero works in a slightly different way, but it still attempts to emulate the real instrument!

Ethero takes the amount of light coming into the device’s camera and translates it into a sound frequency. So, waving your hand or another object in front of the device camera will change the pitch of the sound. The more light coming into the camera, the higher the pitch.
To control the volume of the sound, simply touch the screen of the iphone and move it up and down the screen.

There are a couple of other useful features of Ethero...

- a simple calibration facility. To get the full frequency range of the instrument even when in poor lighting conditions. Press the cog icon, hold your device still then press the tick icon. If you want to reset the calibration, just press the cog icon again and press the cross icon.

- an LFO (low frequency oscillator) which adds that trademark eerie ‘wobble’ to the sound. Press the ‘LFO on’ button to switch it on, and again to switch it off.

- a lock to chromatic frequencies. This makes the instrument easier to play if you’re just getting used to it, as only frequencies on the ‘usual’ chromatic scale are played and the ‘glide’ from the sound is removed. Press the music-note button to switch to chromatic mode, and again to switch it off.

Hope you enjoy playing Ethero, but do make sure you don't turn the volume up too loudly. Protect your ears!

If you have any problems or ideas, just head over to http://michaelaldridge.info/ and drop me an email."

Frantic Party Mix (FrantaBit Pedal Review....)

Frantic Party Mix (FrantaBit Pedal Review....) from Rodrigo Constanzo on Vimeo.

"FrantaBit bit-crushing pedal in a review turned into techno jam....

Shot and edited by Angela Guyton

rodrigoconstanzo.com
ironether.com
angelaguyton.com"

monome

Live at the Graham Foundation, Madlener House, Chicago, IL, March 10th, 2012 ; presented by Lampo.

Update: the original video for this post (via kwf on Vimeo) appears to have been removed from Vimeo. Above is a playlist of the event from seijinlee on YouTube.

"KEITH FULLERTON WHITMAN
SAT MAR 10 8pm
Graham Foundation
Madlener House
4 West Burton Place

At long last, Keith Fullerton Whitman makes his Lampo debut. To mark the special occasion, he offers the U.S. premiere of "Rhythmes Naturels," created at the legendary INA-GRM studios, plus a live modular synth improvisation.

Alors, last October Whitman spent a week in Paris, commissioned to develop a new piece for François Bayle's Acousmonium, an 80-speaker sound system designed in 1974 for the Groupe de Recherches Musicales. Pierre Schaeffer formed GRM, a studio and collective, in the late 1950s to encourage the development of electronic music. Members included Luc Ferrari, Iannis Xenakis, Bernard Parmegiani, among other lions; in the late 1960s Bayle became its director. For a whelp like Keith, the residency was "a life-long dream come true." And, he says, "The piece turned out exactly as I hoped."

Here, he'll do his new work in a 4-channel mix. Here, he talks about the residency, etc.

Keith Fullerton Whitman (b. 1973, Bergen County, N.J.) is a composer and performer obsessed with electronic music, from its mid-century origins in Europe to its contemporary worldwide incarnation as digital music. Currently he is working towards implementing a complete system for live performance of improvised electronic music, which incorporates elements from nearly every era. He has recorded albums influenced by many genres, including ambient music, drone, drill and bass, musique concrète and krautrock. He has recorded and performed using several aliases, of which the most familiar is Hrvatski. Today most of his work is recorded under his real name. Whitman lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts."

Eardrill Sequencing

YouTube Uploaded by djangosfire on Mar 19, 2012

"An analog 'sequencer patch' I came up with using mostly Eardrill Modules.

The patch is a quick demo to show it's possible to use an Eardrill "Slew" ModuleModule as a basic voltage source. This was done by patching the the Slew Out into it's In - then "jump-start" the feedback loop using an outside voltage (in this case, I used the Dlfo).

Once you have a steady voltage, you can send/split it to a bank of attenuators (I used a Verbos 254v this this time) for "tunable sequencer stages" - which are in turn sent to an Eardrill "Source Selector" module.

Now add the Pendulum Ratchet as a clock source, and you have a fully functional 4x step analog sequencer with loads of patch programmability.

One other thing I did for fun, was use a Buchla 255 as a pre-set bank of sequence transposition voltages."

Roland JUPITER-80 Trio Performance

YouTube Uploaded by rolandmedia on Mar 19, 2012

"Jetro da Silva, Scott Tibbs and Steve Fisher perform their original composition, 'The Grey Mile.'"

Tempest first MIDI hook up to my TD-9KX2

YouTube Uploaded by luchomolinarixxx on Mar 19, 2012

"Dave Smith / Roger Linn "Tempest" analog drum machine MIDI controlled by a Roland TD-9KX2. Real time performance of the first attempt to rock it ouT!... =D"

Doepfer A-106-5 SEM VCF Module

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See Perfect Circuit Audio (RSS) for tons more. Too many to list here.

Doepfer A-106-1 Xtreme Filter module

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See Perfect Circuit Audio (RSS) for more.

Doepfer A-190 MCVS MIDI to CV module

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See Perfect Circuit Audio (RSS) for more.

YAMAHA CS-20M SN 1061

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Programmable analog synth with 2VCOs.

abertronix (RSS)

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Logan / Hohner String Melody II

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Minimoog Voyager Old School with Original Box

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Roland TB-303 with Innerclock Systems Sync Shift Mark2

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Yamaha CS50

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SEQUENTIAL CIRCUITS PROPHET 600 SN 4009

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Oberheim/ECC OB-8 Patch Hunt Valume 1 Data Cassette

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SpectrumH TimbreWorks Matrix-6 Data Cassette

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1985 OBERHEIM MATRIX 6

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"The Matrix 6 is a very popular synthesizer today because it offers access to the legendary sounds and power of the Matrix 12. It is an analog synthesizer with digitally controlled oscillators. The Matrix 6 is also like the Xpander but with 6 voices of polyphony and slimmer programming. Each of its 6 voices has a pair of DCOs, a low pass filter, 2 VCA's, 3 envelope generators, 2 LFO's, and 2 ramp gens for a variety of complex analog pads, basses and sounds."

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1974 Sound Setting Charts for Moog Minimoog

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"1974 Booklet of Sound Charts for Moog Minimoog Model D

A 32 page booklet from Moog Music by Tom Rhea that features various sound settings for Moog's Minimoog synthesizer Model D. Utilizes Minimoog faceplate diagrams with marked positions and numerical settings. Plus, additional notes and comments.

Sounds include: Electric Guitar, Bass/Treble - Balalaika (Mandolin) - Shamisen (Chinese Plucked Instrument) - Harpsichord - Electric Piano - Violin - Viola - Cello - Bass Viol, Bowed - Bass Viol, Plucked - Piccolo - Flute - Recorder Family - Clarinet (Bass Clarinet) - Oboe - Bassoon (English Horn) - Trumpet - Horn - Trombone (Jazz) - Tuba - Xylophone - Temple Blocks - Drum Roll - Bass Drum - Tinkling Bells - Emerson, Lake and Palmer's Aquatarkus, From Tarkus - Emerson, Lake and Palmer's Trilogy - Emerson's Fat Bass From Brain Salad Surgery - Emerson's Steel Drum From Brain Salad Surgery - Rick Wakeman's Catherine of Aragon - Good Sound - Goom - The Moog Sound - The T.L.R. Sound - Moon Chord - Hindemoog - Hommage A Badings - Ring Modulator Effects - Vree Oo Bleep-Bleep - Running Rhythm - Night Creatures - Jet Plane - Surf - Thunder - Wind - Exploding Bomb - Gasoline Engine - Heartbeat - Siren - Whistlers - Steel Drum - Routing An Instrument Through The Minimoog - 10 black diagrams"

Vintage 1974 ARP Solina String-Ensemble SE-IV SN 0098308

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"Made in Bodegraven, Holland.

This Excellent one-owner unit is fully functional. The owner kept this in his home studio - it has not been gigged or moved out the house and it shows.

Joy Division, Jean Michel Jarre, Kraftwerk, Pink Floyd, Stevie Wonder, Gary Wright and almost everyone else who recorded with synthesizer in the 70's used this legendary keyboard.

The sounds it incorporates are violin, viola, trumpet, horn, cello and contrabass and it has exceptional sounding chorus."

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Moog Prodigy with Audio Input Mod

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"Audio Input Mod: We [Syntaur] have added an audio input circuit, to allow the wonderful Moog filter to be used to process external audio. But instead of drilling holes in this piece of vintage gear, we have done it in a way that is 100% non-destructive and reversible. The audio output jack has been changed to one (identical in appearance, see Photo #5) that allows plugging in a standard insert cable (one stereo jack branching to two separate mono cables, commonly used for inserting effects in mixers). When an insert cable is plugged in, one cable lead is the output signal, and the other is the audio input. If you do not need to use the audio in, a standard 1/4-inch cable can be used as normal."

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ROLAND System 100M 191-J

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System-100M 3 of the 110 - SN 061260, 272073, 750176

System-100M 140- SN 163113

System-100M 150 - SN 001421

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A6 Alesis Andromeda Synthesizer Intensity

YouTube Uploaded by gstormelectro on Mar 19, 2012

"http://gstormelectronica.blogspot.com/

All original programmed sounds are by G-Storm Electro.

You may begin to feel some side effects: sleep deprivation, sudden inexplicable loss of time and missing appointments, difficulty breathing, skipping meals, excitability and rapid heart-rate. I have the strong feeling these sounds are just scratching the surface of what the A6 is capable. The selected programs represent approximately a decade of programming this beauty. This demo runs through a full range of different sounds condensed into a short time span so please don't expect a full-on Grammy winning performance here.

Index of selected sounds, and my tracks that used them...
0:15 D-Fifths. Super-thick Analog Pad. RE: Aerial
0:22 Vintage Monster. Analog Pad.
0:33 Mega BassTrigger. RE: Spaced Out Beauty
0:40 MemoryBass. MemoryMoog Stacked Bass sound.
0:52 Cutter Bass. In your face bass.
0:58 Analog Retro. Arpeggio/Sequence.
1:13 Sweep Revenge. Ominous 6-Voice synth stack sweep.
1:20 LFO Sweepmatic. Sweep Pad w/ LFO. RE: Miranda By The Sea
1:35 Pearlite. Driving sequenced mod insanity.
1:59 Luscious. Analog Pad Stack. RE: Thermion.
2:12 Intensity. Detuned Lead synth w/ pitch rise. RE: Thermion.
2:30 Magic Of Light. Psychedelic synth texture.
2:54 MotionControl. Superb Arpeggio/Sequence. RE: Miranda By The Sea.
3:08 Choir Phaser Pad. Synthetic Choir w/ heavy reverb.
3:21 Brutal Fuzz. Hard Bass w/ delay. RE: Aerial
3:28 OB Stringtime. My variation from a Factory Patch.
3:35 Sawtooth. Bread-n-butter sawtooth synth patch.
3:41 SuperEnsemble. CS-80/Vangelis type delicate string synth lead.
3:56 Interstellar. Heavily modulated analog lead. RE: Aerial
4:10 Complicated. String/Choir Soundtrack Ensemble w/ heavy reverb.
4:20 Hall Strings. Dense string soundtrack set w/ heavy reverb.
4:35 Slow Pad. Smooth Jupiter-8 style pad.
4:46 Dark Strings. Hard bow strings. Sorry the clipping was coming from my mixer.
5:01 Watery Tart. Pad w/ sound FX.
5:24 Stellar Portions. Epic Pad drenched in reverb. RE: Descendant, Aeria"

1979 Oberheim "Power of Polyphonics" Ad

via Retro Synth Ads where you'll find the write-up.

Oberheim Four and Eight Voice synths.