MATRIXSYNTH: Sunday, July 29, 2007

(When I Was A) Kid - EMS Vocoder Track

via synchro1 on AH:
"If you are curious, I have a sample of the large EMS Vocoder. The track (When I Was A) Kid uses the EMS that was imported by EMSA and sold to Stevie Wonder; early 1979, I think. I had about 24 hours access to it before flying it from Boston to LA for delivery. I stayed up around the clock and ran anything I could think of through it."
Title link takes you to the track

Update: There are reports of an annoying ad-ware pop-up for this link. Be careful not to click any of the buttons in the pop-up. Always close these things out by click the close button outside of the ad, you know the one you use to close your browser.

analog

flickr by rossferguson.

EMS VCS3 Putney

Click here for the full size shot.

New York Times Features the FM3 Buddha Machine

"A few years ago, an experimental music duo called FM3 toured Europe, playing a 40-minute set that the duo’s founder Christiaan Virant describes as “very reductionist, very minimalist, very sparse.” He and Zhang Jian, who are based in Beijing, performed on laptops. Some of these compositions were later released on a CD by Staalplaat, a specialty label based in Amsterdam; it sold about a thousand copies. In the context of avant-garde music, that’s not bad: “If someone can sell 2,000 CDs,” Virant says with a laugh, “they’re like a superstar.” So it’s hard to find the right superlative to describe what happened when some of that same sparse music was released again — not on CD but in a little plastic box called the Buddha Machine. Two years later, sales are approaching 50,000 units and still going strong."

Title link takes you to the full article. via matthew.

JH Frequency Shifter PCB Update

Via JH on AH:

"I've soldered all components to the prototype board of the main FS-1A PCB, and made a quick demo in connection with an old Dome Filter board (that I had originally made for the FS-2). It's all hooked up with alligator clips, and connected to the insert path of my mixing console because I needed a microphone preamp. I think it's a quite stupid demo, but it shows that the new board works, and I think the sound is very clean for a frequency shifter!

New demo (boring, but showing off some of the sound quality):
http://electro-music.com/forum/download.php?id=8848
Older demos (more dramatic);
http://www.jhaible.de/mp3/jh_ber_1.mp3
http://www.jhaible.de/mp3/jh_ber_2.mp3

Unfortunately, I'll have to make a redesign of the main PCB. I noticed that some of the LM13600s I have in the drawer don't work properly, because their gm matching is too bad for that application. In my prototype, I've used a NE5517, and it works perfectly; but that doesn't mean every NE5517 would. So, I'm adding a gm balancing potentiometer to the new design, which will fix the problem, but which means extra investment in another prototype.

I also have ideas for the second board. I'll probably include an extra string of all pass filters, for a deeper Barberpole Phaser effect. And maybe an aread with veroboard-like structure, for everyone to experiment with additions of his/her own. More about the 2nd board later.

I think even though I expect considerably less demand for this project than for the Tau phaser (it's a more difficult project, after all!), the price per board could be similar, so expect something around 55 ... 60 Euro for the set of 2 boards.

JH."

Hal Chamberlin - Musical Applications of Microprocessors

via this auction.

"Hal Chamberlin - Musical Applications of Microprocessors. 2nd edition, 2nd printing (1985). This is a classic book on both analog and digital synthesis. The first half is devoted primarily to analog synthesis and the architecture of an analog synthesizer. The second half delves into the fundamentals of digital synthesis. The book is written very well; complex topics are broken down and accompanied by plenty of clear figures."