MidiBass 303 - the ultimate 303 midi retrofit

Someone asked how to copy pattern on a Roland TB303. The general recommendation was unfortunately older than old school - pen and paper. There is a way you can step through the pattern you want and copy the new pattern referring to it, but most thought pen and paper were easier and more reliable for reference. However punkdISCO pointed out Colin Fraser's MidiBass 303. Title link takes you to more including a sample.



"The problem is that if you want to keep hold of your favorite patterns, but your memory is full and you want to create some more, it can be tricky and time consuming to accurately transcribe your patterns for re-entry at a later date...

To solve these problems, I have developed the MidiBass 303 midi interface.
This interface provides both midi output from the 303 internal sequencer, and midi input to drive the 303 synth section, along with midi clock in and out."

Analog Tea - Elka Synthex Sample

Elka Synthex from Matteo Santori. Right click and save Title Link. Start with a low volume and adjust as usual - protect them ears. : ) This patch particularly reminds me of a more delicate patch I made on a Sequential Circuits Multi-Trak. This one has a lot more bite. : )

Roland Factory Reset Procedures

In via montly-catalog on AH. Title link takes you to a text file with the reset procedures of a number of Roland instruments including the TR-909. Unfortunately there is no reset for the 808 and not all Roland synths like the Jupiters are listed, however quite a few are including some that are specifically called out to not have a reset procedure.

ROLAND TR-909
HOLD TRACK #1 AND PATTERN #1 AND POWER ON.

Noise

Ever wonder what makes up the different types of Noise offered on synths? David Hillel Wilson, curator of the New England Synthesizer Museum and host of Synth Museum posted the following on AH. Title link takes you to the Synth Museum website.

"OK Here is the theory. White noise has every possible sine wave all at the
same volume.
Unfortunately, since the Human ear hears frequencies logarithmically, the
pure randomness
of white noise sounds high pitched to us. Since we hear twice as many
frequencies in any
octave as we do in the octave just below it, to create a noise that "sounds"
right requires
that the amplitude of the noise drop off at 1/2x per octave, or 3dB/Oct.
This is the definition
of Pink noise. Further low-pass filtering can make red noise, while high
pass filtering would
make blue noise. There are, to the best of my knowledge, no exact
definitions for colors
of noise other than white and pink. The "Color" idea comes from optics:
Light containing
all colors in equal strengths is seen by the Human eye as "white". If we
remove the higher
frequency (shorter wave length) lights, the color literally shifts to pink,
hence the name."

David Hillel Wilson
Curator
New England Synthesizer Museum

Wendy Carlos

David Kristian posted the following in the comments section of my post on Raymond Scott below. I thought it would be worth posting separately. Thanks David! : )



"Notice the 7 or 8 Eico Model 377 tube oscillators (sine and square)about three rows down from the cart with the scope. That same make of oscillator also appears in some photos of Wendy (then Walter) Carlos' setup circa Switched-on-Bach.

http://130.58.92.218/webstuff/Phys22/wendycarlosstudio60s70s.jpg

I picked one up at a garage sale a few years ago and used it on a few tracks. It's nothing special in terms of precision, but it sounds very nice and warm.

There is a manual available on this site:

http://bama.sbc.edu/eico.htm"