Cowboy and the Vocoder by Redmartian

The track is now available here: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/redmartian9

"The song was recording using the MMM for bass and vocoder carrier. The lead is a jupiter-6 and the drums were done using a Sequential DrumTraks. The lead and vocoder (Roland SVC-350) parts were played manually along with the bass/drums which were sequenced using midi via Logic."

Some of you might remember Cowboy and the Vocoder from these previous posts.  The story behind this track has a somewhat intersting and quirky history.  Cowboy was VoiceEncoder's dog.  VoiceEncoder is known for his vocoder videos and demos that became somewhat of an obscure synth meme.  His demos actually came up in a recent conversation I had with someone.  VoiceEncoder would often feature his dog Cowboy in his videos.  Cowboy would just be lying on a bed somewhere while VoiceEncoder talked to him through a vocoder.  Sadly Cowboy passed away on Monday, March 23, 2009 (click through for a tribute post).

The second half of what makes this track special is that it is one of the first tracks predominantly featuring the Mattson Mini Modular (it might actually be the first) [Update: according to Redmartian, "it was the first 'song' on the MMM. I did a few musical demos and orchestrated lute pieces, but this was the first 'pop song'."] It was composed by Redmartian as a tribute to Cowboy.  The lyrics are a dedication to Cowboy and the videos he was featured in.  Below are two videos for the track.  The bottom video was taken at the 2009 PNW Synth Gathering and features the Performance Music Systems Syntar in place of the Jupiter-6 for leads.   The Syntar was the first fully contained keytar synthesizer created by George Mattson, the man behind Mattson Mini Modular.

Cowboy and the Vocoder and the MMM

Uploaded on Nov 5, 2008 redmartian·73 videos

"A song written for a dog who likes to listen to the sound the Roland SVC-350 vocoder. This song features the MMM as well as a Sequential Circuits Drum Traks and a Roland Jupiter-6. (I don't have a Poly-800 .. sorry cowboy).

Here are the lyrics:

Do you know Cowboy
and the SVC-350?
Do you know Cowboy
and the Roland Vocoder?

Hey there Cowboy
I see you there
Lazy gazing
Gazing lazy
Whos my sweet boy?
You know its you.
I like to vocode and you do too.

No Poly-800 to drive the SVC
So I use an MMM as my carrier wave
No Poly-800 but Cowboy doesn't mind.
We all know its the Roland SVC-350 vocoder time.

Audio version can be found here:
http://redmartian.com/napster/Red_Mar...

Don't hate the dog or the vocoder."

Cowboy and the Vocoder and the MMM

YouTube via redmartian.

Note this is via redmartian and not AnalogVocoder1 (click for the reference).
"A song written for a dog who likes to listen to the sound the Roland SVC-350 vocoder. This song features the MMM as well as a Sequential Circuits Drum Traks and a Roland Jupiter-6. (I don't have a Poly-800 .. sorry cowboy).

Here are the lyrics:

Do you know Cowboy
and the SVC-350?
Do you know Cowboy
and the Roland Vocoder?

Hey there Cowboy
I see you there
Lazy gazing
Gazing lazy
Whos my sweet boy?
You know its you.
I like to vocode and you do too.

No Poly-800 to drive the SVC
So I use an MMM as my carrier wave
No Poly-800 but Cowboy doesn't mind.
We all know its the Roland SVC-350 vocoder time.

Audio version can be found here:
http://redmartian.com/napster/Red_Mar..."

Update: The ending might not be safe for work.

Cowboy Enjoying His Song While Licking Himself

YouTube via VoiceEncoder
"Cowboy enjoying his song while licking himself!!!!

Thanks to 'redmartian' for his song "Cowboy and the Vocoder and the MMM".

'redmartian's' footage is taken from my video "Cowboy and the Vocoder".

This footage is from me 'AnalogVocoder1'."

Pacific Northwest Synth 2009 - Red Martian

YouTube via matrixsynth.

This is my video of Red Martian's performance. More details here.
http://redmartian.com
http://mattsonminimodular.com - MMM and Syntar
http://www.division-6.com - Midified Skulls
http://acidlab.de - Miami

Note this is the last of my videos from the PNW Synth Gathering this year.
click here to see all posts in the series.

Cowboy and the Vocoder and the MMM

A tribute to the dog Cowboy who passed away.

YouTube via redmartian. Note this is via redmartian and not AnalogVocoder1 (click for the reference).

"A song written for a dog who likes to listen to the sound the Roland SVC-350 vocoder. This song features the MMM as well as a Sequential Circuits Drum Traks and a Roland Jupiter-6.

Here are the lyrics:

Do you know Cowboy
and the SVC-350?
Do you know Cowboy
and the Roland Vocoder?

Hey there Cowboy
I see you there
Lazy gazing
Gazing lazy
Whos my sweet boy?
You know its you.
I like to vocode and you do too.

No Poly-800 to drive the SVC
So I use an MMM as my carrier wave
No Poly-800 but Cowboy doesn't mind.
We all know its the Roland SVC-350 vocoder time.

Audio version can be found here:
http://redmartian.com/napster/Red_Mar..."

And the first track from this post:


FIRST PRODUCTION MATTSON MINI MODULAR DEMO NUMBER FOUR from RED MARTIAN on Vimeo.

"Here is a fourth demo which features a LP and HP triangle wave arpeggiation nearly through out and a quick EG three oscillator bass. The drum kit is the same as in the other demos with no pitch changes or other processing, just dry sounds out of the VCA. There are two leads one is just two oscillators (saw) and the second has a square and a saw with the saw slight modulated by an LFO with high resonance on the filter.

The bass and arpeggiation were played and quantized in logic. The leads were recorded as played."

Red Martian ROLAND SVC-350 VOCODER

via this auction

"Rackmount unit, one of the best sounding vocoders ever made
Controls operate smoothly, unit works great
USA 120v
owned and used by a non-smoker
Free shipping in the USA, $75 to elsewhere
Used on Red Martian - Your Computer (1993) and Cowboy and the Vocoder"


RECORD PLAY LISTENING OF ACETATE DUB COWBOY AND THE ROLAND VOCODER - RED MARTIAN
YouTube Uploaded by redmartian on Mar 5, 2010
Some of you might remember this one.
"Listening to Cowboy and the Vocoder (1 of 10) acetate dubs. b/w MMM demo number four.
The record is a thick aluminum disk with a coat of dub lacquer. It was a heated cut on a modified 1949 Presto cutting lathe using fairchild and ampex equipment for the mastering and RIAA curve."

RED MARTIAN - YOUR COMPUTER [1993] - ROLAND VOCODER

Uploaded by redmartian on Nov 8, 2008

"Recorded at Hot Traxx (Garland, Texas) in 1993. Yes, I brought everything into a heavy metal recording studio in the back of an El Camino (thanks to Brian Rogers). Here is the equipment list:
- Roland SVC-350 Vocoder
- Roland Alpha Juno (bass line)
- Sequential Circuits Prophet T-8 (additional bass and solo)
- Sequential Circuits Six-Trak (lead)
- Sequential Circuits Prophet-600 (lead)
- Ensoniq Performance Sampler (ERROR 144 - REBOOT?)
- SDF-3 running BSDI BSD/386
- Telebit Trailblazer TB+ plus (calling 'adaptex' over UUCP)
- Pascal Blin (Official French Guy)
- Drums sampled from Kraftwerk's Computer World record
- Vietnamese vocal by Hoang Oanh from Hon Vong Phu

The Telebit was sampled live in the studio because I did not have a SCSI interface on the EPS. The song was supposed to be released on an 'Analogue Heaven' compilation that never materialized and sat on DAT until 2004 when I remastered it and added Pascal Blin's vocal to fill in what I felt were empty spots. Pascal did not know what the words meant but was very concerned about pronouncing them correctly."

RIP Cowboy

I just did my YouTube run and my heart sank when I found the following two videos. There are very few things that hit more than losing someone you love - person or pet. Pets have your back unconditionally, it's as if their sole purpose in life is to love you and let you know how much of a hero you are to them. My sincerest condolences go out to VoiceEncoder. We can tell that you treated him well, vocoder lectures and all. Cowboy was one lucky dog.

Cowboy: In Memoriam

YouTube via VoiceEncoder
"Cowboy Relaxes and Enjoys Brooke Anderson's Interview With Hugh Jackman.

RIP Cowboy..I loved you and will miss you greatly and dearly!!!! You gave joy to me, my sister, and her three children...Rhett, Riley, and Simone!!!

Early afternoon between 13:00 - 14:00 Monday March 23rd, 2009.

Good-bye my dear old sweet friend and companion of mine...I'll miss you so very-much!!! Once again, I've loved you and will miss you!!! Good-bye."

Cowboy: In Memoriam 2

"Cowboy licking and than scratching himself."
KORG Poly-800 and Roland SVC-350

Be sure to see these posts featuring Cowboy as well as this one that inspired Red Martion to do the following track on Cowboy featuring the Mattson Mini Modular:


YouTube via redmartian.

Note this is via redmartian and not AnalogVocoder1 (click for the reference).
"A song written for a dog who likes to listen to the sound the Roland SVC-350 vocoder. This song features the MMM as well as a Sequential Circuits Drum Traks and a Roland Jupiter-6.

Here are the lyrics:

Do you know Cowboy
and the SVC-350?
Do you know Cowboy
and the Roland Vocoder?

Hey there Cowboy
I see you there
Lazy gazing
Gazing lazy
Whos my sweet boy?
You know its you.
I like to vocode and you do too.

No Poly-800 to drive the SVC
So I use an MMM as my carrier wave
No Poly-800 but Cowboy doesn't mind.
We all know its the Roland SVC-350 vocoder time.

Audio version can be found here:
http://redmartian.com/napster/Red_Mar..."

Pacific Northwest Synth 2009 - Red Martian Performance

SYNTAR MMM and MIAMI LIVE SYNTHESIZER PERFORMANCE PNW SYNTH DIY 2009

YouTube via redmartian http://redmartian.com/.

Watch the skulls in the background.
"Here is a live performance of the MMM demo number four featuring the stack of MMMs behind, the Syntar (the father of the MMM) and the new AcidLab MIAMI in MIDI mode. The bass line, arpeggio and drums were sequenced in Logic. The Skulls were triggered via Logic (the percussion tracks) using Division-6's MIDIFY."

COWBOY (RIP) AND THE ROLAND VOCODER LIVE AT PNW SYNTH DIY 2009 FEATURING THE SYNTAR, MIAMI AND MMM

"This is dedicated to that old dog COWBOY who used to listen to his master's vocoder. The bass and some melody are handled by the MMMs behind. The Syntar is the carrier wave for the Roland SVC-350 vocoder. The Syntar also plays a sort of melody. The MIAMI is sequenced in MIDI mode from Logic. At the Pacific Northwest Synth DIY 2009"

Be sure to see this prior post for reference and lyrics. The third video is the studio recording of this track.
See demo number four in this post for the first track.

click here for all PNW 2009 coverage.

Cowboy and the Vocoder

YouTube via AnalogVocoder1.

Roland SVC-350 with KORG Poly-800 as the carrier.

"Cowboy and the Vocoder. Cowboy NOT paying any attention to the vocoder. Talking, NOT singing, just playing one note per syllable."

RECORD PLAY LISTENING OF ACETATE DUB COWBOY AND THE ROLAND VOCODER - RED MARTIAN

YouTube via redmartian.

http://redmartian.com/ via this auction

"Listening to Cowboy and the Vocoder (1 or 10) acetate dubs. b/w MMM demo number four.
The record is a thick aluminum disk with a coat of dub lacquer. It was a heated cut on a modified 1949 Presto cutting lathe using fairchild and ampex equipment for the mastering and RIAA curve."

RED MARTIAN: RETRAILING (Featuring Ichabod) - Release Event in Seattle Tomorrow!

Published on Sep 18, 2015 Redmartian

Red Martian is having their album release event at the Seattle Living Computer Museum this Saturday. You might remember their recent performance there where they covered Kraftwerk. The track above was composed on Ichabod when Stephen Jones of Red Martian was helping George Mattson test Ichabod during its construction. Note Ichabod will not be at the event as it currently resides with Billy Corgan of The Smashing Pumpkins, but you are sure to see a great live performance with synths.

Video Description:
"A new album of 13 electronic pieces. The first 100 will be given away as gifts at SRGE: Arcade Armageddon September 19th, 2015 at the Living Computer Museum. Red Martian performs at 8:30pm on the main stage.

Track listing:
[Tracks 09 and 10 were composed on Ichabod, 03 on the Syntar, 04 on the MMM, and 07 on the Solaris.]

01 cowboy and the vocoder [see this post - great track with a sad story]
02 nedan omloppsbana
03 närmar snöblandat regn
04 av död (delorean)
05 retrailing
06 flytta hav av is
07 känner mig så låg
08 風の谷のナウシカ
09 utan hjärta *
10 bedövande en översvämning *
11 ひょろり
12 se io m'accorgo
13 ett vykort

improvised live on the custom Mattson Mini Modular named Ichabod."

Cowboy and the Vocoder Too

YouTube via AnalogVocoder1. follow-up to this post. "Cowboy "listening" to me using my Roland SVC-350 Vocoder with my Korg Poly-800 Synthesizer as the carrier input."

CLICK FOR MORE »

My Vocoder

YouTube via VoiceEncoder. Hmm.... His voice sounds familiar. :) Go Cowboy!
"Roland SVC-350 Vocoder using Korg Poly-800 Synthesizer as the carrier input."

My Vocoder 2


Roland Vocoder and Korg Synthesizer

"Roland SVC-350 Vocoder and Korg Poly-800 Synthesizer"