MATRIXSYNTH: Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Elektron TurboMIDI TM-1

Title link takes you to a few more shots of the Elektron TurboMIDI TM-1 sent my way via Justin. There's also some shots of a Roland System 100 104 sequencer in the set. I posted them previosly.

"At this site you will find a running log on the progress of the design/construction of my KS-01 Synthesizer, sound samples, schematics (more to come anyway), module layouts, and links to other DIY'ers, Module and System suppliers, and music created by DIY'ers." Title link takes you there.

Sneakthief's Henry/Stites SN-Voices DIY Modular

Title link takes you to more shots pulled via this electro-music.com thread.

Update: Sneakthief put up some samples on the thread. I added them to the title link share as well.

TB-303 PRO Kit

Remember the TB-303 PRO. Here's a few shots of what the kit looks like via this auction. No title link.

Analog.no

Title link takes you to analog.no, home to a number of resources including an MKS-30 MIDI upgrade, Polysix MIDI upgrade, Envelope performance times for a few synths, a list of cutom Roland ICs, simple mods and a list of patches for various synths.

The Last Gnat Special

Here's a rarity. The last Gnat Special being auctioned off by Adrian Wagner. Unfortunately it's a non working unit:

"Here we have the last not working Gnat Special from the last of the stock from Wasp Synthesizers Limited: the company I opened 24 years ago after the demise of Electronic Dream Plant. There were only 30 unit of this particular

wooden model ever made!

The unit does not work when plugged in so I am selling this as component spares, to a collector or to some enterprising engineer who feels like having a go to fix it. Hence the low start with no reserve!

Even though it does not work, the overall condition (including the touch sensitive keyboard) is very good indeed. Unfortunately, all 12 knobs are missing but these are easy to find on eBay. This was the smaller, single oscillator model to the Wasp but with a great and fat sound. Unfortunately, the manual and electronic schematics have been lost years ago so the synth is all you get but, despite this, you will be bidding on a slice of the past and the good old days of British Synthesizer enterprise and development!"

Sent my way via Chad. No title link.

Inside the Oberheim Xpander

flickr by timothy fellsrow.

The Casio CZ series

Title link takes you to an article by Tomás Mulcahy on the Casio CZ series. While there also check out the rest of his site including the articles page.

via Music Thing.

202 Hack

"202 Hack is an application that converts sequence information stored in standard MIDI files into a format compatible with Roland MC-202™ sequences. You choose one or two MIDI channels, whose note information is then extracted from the MIDI file and converted into the "internal" and/or "external" sequences of the 202. Accent and Portamento can also be coded for, as well as some post-processing tricks to generate Roland TB-303™-like slides. The output of 202 Hack is an audio file that can then be played by your computer into the 202's "tape in" jack."

Title link takes you there. via dmxkrew.

SH-5 and Bowljo Live

YouTube via CropDusters. Sent my way via frederic.

IDM SESSION 3

"Another track recorded while I recorded it, if you can understand that. Using and OB-12, AN200, DX200, DR660 and sequenced with FL studio. If you have any tips on how to record audio into a sound card and recombine it with the original video or any type of camera that can record good audio with good video (at a reasonable price) I am all ears."

YouTube via weatherkop. Sent my way via frederic.

Elogoxa's Elottronix XL

Note this is not a new VSTi. According to the download page the latest version was out on 5/11/04. That said, I've been playing with this for the last hour and I must say it is quite addictive. You can make some crazy loops with it by just adding layer after layer. I currently have it running a whacked out loop with Audio Damage's Reverence. Amazing stuff. The reviews on KVR for Elottronix also seem to be favorable. BTW, word of warning: on the top right of the plug-in UI there is a Stop/Start switch with REC to it's left. This is not what you switch to start recording loops, it's what you switch to start saving the audio looping to your hard drive. Don't turn it on unless you want to record and don't leave it on or it will eat up hard drive space with the file it saves. Also, you need to rename the file in the input box under "file" before hitting record otherwise you will probably overwrite the previous file. Overall, it takes a little experimentation to get used but once you do it's a pretty amazing tool. I need to check out the rest of Eogoxa's stuff next. Big thanks to brian comnes for sending this one in.

"Emulation of Robert Fripp's tape delay effect 'Frippertronics': two Revox B-77 in continuous loop. This XL version supposes a complete rewrite of the old Elottronix, and adds a ton of new possibilities"

- Two independent routable delay lines, with a maximum delay time of 80 seconds.
- Tempo can be synced to host BPM.
- LFO controlled Pan per delay line, with definable Bar Divisions, Pitch and Waveform.
- Two global Pan modes: normal and inverted.
- Rehearsal option: when switched ON, the incoming signal doesn't pass through the delay lines, so you can try different things before inserting them into the loop.
- Biquad-X multimode filter per delay line. This advanced filter has 9 different modes: Low Pass, High Pass, Low Shelf, High Shelf, All Pass, Band Reject, Band Pass CSG, Band PassC0PK and Peak. Optional parameters to control are Gain, Cutoff and Q.
- Tape machine: this module generates tape hiss, which can be pitched up and down.
Completely automatable via MIDI CC.
- Moderate CPU use (-8% Athlon XP 2400+).
- Includes 8 Presets to give an idea of the effect (4 for sends, 4 for inserts). But what Elottronix XL does can't be covered with presets as you'll discover.

Via Brian Comnes.