MATRIXSYNTH: Monday, May 18, 2009

Monday, May 18, 2009

Multi-Touch String Instrument

"a musical toy that allows you to create temporary, simple string instruments that you can pluck, much like playing a rubber band. Multiple bands can be created and played at once, and more complex instruments can be created with the help of a friend."

see the vids here

via Cynthia

Hip Hop Producer for iPhone and iPod Touch

YouTube via blackoutlabs
"Even if you've never played a musical instrument or written a song before, you can easily create great sounding original hip hop music with Hip Hop Producer for iPhone and iPod Touch. Choose your favorite beats and melodies from over 100 exclusive samples and assign them to each of 16 beat pads. Configure the beat pads to loop, play once, or play only while you hold them. Then tap away to create your original song. Download it now from the app store:"

i808 Drum Machine for iPhone and iPod Touch

YouTube via blackoutlabs
"i808 brings vintage hip hop drum machines to the iPhone in a fun, easy to use app. Make beats with 11 timeless drum machine instruments used in today's hip hop songs. Change patterns, beats, and options on the fly as you listen to your beat. Amateur beat makers will love the fun, dynamic live-play interface. Professionals will appreciate the exclusive cd quality (16 bit 44.1 kHz) samples taken from an original vintage analog drum machine in Blackout Labs' studios. Available now in The App Store:"

Starwalk

flickr by darklorddisco

full size

Custom DIY modular? If you know more about this system, feel free to comment.

Poorly Tempered

flickr by darklorddisco
(click for more)

full size

Moog IIIP

Inside a Yamaha TQ5

via Loscha:
"Hey all, I had a few spare moments moving workshop/studio, so I took a few photos of the TQ5 for you all. I had a few more minutes at the end, so for a giggle, I got some sticky labels, and put them all over the machine so you can read what's what. A bit different to just scanning the layout page on the service manual. Also, I scanned and labeled a little corner of the manual to indicate where I tapped a Click Output. The TQ5 has a Metronome function. It is always full volume (it's post volume control), and it's only in the left channell. My very simple mod, as illustrated below, changes that. I just dropped a socket into the side (lots of room, jack is actually from a busted Rx5 - those things are a mineable source of good switched sockets), but you could use anything. It's not a Clock pulse, but an audio feed. You could take a clock pulse of sorts by taking signal from output of the first gates, and buffering, but it would only be 1/4 notes, and although that would have been useful on analog gear, this has true BPM control. I more use the output to lay down a seperate click track to play along with, even if just to have a meter flashing a light in time."

more images:

NakedTQ5-02.jpg
NakedTQ5-03.jpg
NakedTQ5-04.jpg

follow-up to this post

EXTREMELY RARE 1960S TUBON ELECTRONIC ORGAN/SYNTHESIZER

SN 00807 via this auction

"It was made in 1966 by joh mustad ab of sweden. It was one of the first synthesyzer/electronic bass organ type instruments of its kind.... It is a very strange looking instrument its long and tube shaped with a keyboard and buttons and knobs on the other end. It measures about 32" long and is about 5" around and comes in its original case and has its original strap. It ran off three batteries and has a place to plug it into a amp or speaker."

CLICK FOR MORE »

Synthesizer Programming - Episode 5 - Bell sound

YouTube via Thalassa77. follow-up to these posts.

"http://switchedonsynthesizer.blogspot.com

Episode 5 - Bell Sound
How to create a bell sound using FM modulation. The parameters values are approx. Values are expressed in %. The synthesizer is synth1 a free vst synthesizer but you can get similar sounds using similar parameters with other synts ( hardware or software )

If you like this video remember to subscribe to be updated of my new uploads "

The LoopMachine at This happened...

The LoopMachine at This happened... from The Amazing Rolo on Vimeo.

"A video of me speaking at This happened in Edinburgh about my work developing creative music software for the Wii. Learn all about my Wii work at wiiloopmachine.com and learn about This happened at thishappened.org

Filmed by Mike Greer."

Also see the Jar Jar and Chicken Box Synth demos.

Synthesizer Boot Camp

YouTube via noisesculpture
Synthesizer Boot Camp #1--Modulation: Putting the Pieces Together
Synthesizer Boot Camp #2--Using Filters to Shape Your Sound
Synthesizer Boot Camp #3--Envelopes: Attack, Decay, Sustain, and Release
Get a Grip on Synthesis
Becoming a Synthesizer Wizard: From Presets to Power User
"Synthesizer Boot Camp is a series of videos which looks at specific synthesizer techniques that can be applied in creating sounds. This video looks at using envelopes as a modulation source.

You can find out more about the series at http://noisesculpture.com/bootcamp.html, and check out http://noisesculpture.com/books.html to read more about synthesis."

Update:

Synthesizer Boot Camp #4--Low Frequency Oscillators

"Synthesizer Boot Camp is a series of videos which looks at specific synthesizer techniques that can be applied in creating sounds. This video looks at using envelopes as a modulation source."

Update:

Synthesizer Boot Camp #5--Frequency Modulation Synthesis (part 1 of 2)

"This video looks at using envelopes as a modulation source."

Synthesizer Boot Camp #6--Frequency Modulation Synthesis (part 2 of 2)

MSA Remote + VDMX + Ableton Live

MSA Remote + VDMX + Ableton Live from Memo Akten on Vimeo.

"MSA Remote is a remote control application for iPhone & iPod Touch that sends OSC messages over the wifi network. This allows you to control any OSC supporting applications such as Max/MSP/Jitter, PureData, Reaktor, VDMX, vvvv, Resolume, Quartz Composer etc.

In this video, OSCulator is routing the OSC (& TUIO) messages coming from MSA Remote to midi and forwarding to Ableton Live and VDMX simultaneously. Nothing is done in post, the same signal is controlling both audio and video.

At the beginning of the video you can see the polyphonic velocity sensitive keys in action (yes, the harder you hit the keys, the louder the sound - works equally well when the iphone is laid on a table), and later on the faders, triggers and multitouch tuio-pad.

You can see MSA Remote controlling a Java fluid simulation at vimeo.com/3975324

There is a slight lag in the video feed so apologies for that.

Should be in the app store soon.
memo.tv/msaremote_for_iphone

Blog post about this video at
memo.tv/msa_remote_rejected_again_velocity_sensitive_pads_on_iphone_and_patents

P.S. you can download the original video at the bottom if you wanna read the effects in VDMX or Live."

yr3wk47 rhodes thru mopho

yr3wk47 rhodes thru mopho from longcat on Vimeo.

"the rhodes going through the mopho's lowpass filter...

it's the 1st time i've tried it so the signal through the mopho was quite distorted, not a bad sound as it goes...

about a week after the recording i filmed the sky from a point in finsbury park... clouds slowly passing...

techy stuff:

the rhodes has it's own tremolo (the speed of which is shown by the flashing red light), i sent one channel to the mopho and one channel straight to record so you hear a mix of pure rhodes and filtered/distorted rhodes, it pulses between them at the speed of the rhodes tremolo...

the clouds video is often pulsing with the LFO in the mopho (or at half it's speed), i'm changing between 2-pole and 4-pole (self oscillating) filter types, changing the speed of the LFO (which is controlling the filter cutoff frequency), changing the resonance and cutoff frequency, altering the audio modulation (which modulates the cutoff frequency from the audio)...

the mopho is reading the level of the audio input and this is controlling it's own volume...

beautiful beast meets beautiful beast... more from this kind of experiment in the future...

x"

BalHarbour Live (Sardegna) - TribalNeed

YouTube via tribalneed. "Tribalneed Live @ BalHarbour"
Roland Juno-16 and Didgiderro. more vids here.

The Quintrigger by Mr.Ugly

YouTube via doctorultra. follow-up to this post.
"Quintoscillator+logic+antilogi c=The Quintrigger by Mr.Ugly. 2009.
http://mruglysinstruments.blogspot.com/
www.myspace.com/mruglypresents
http://mruglysounds.tumblr.com"

Alesis Hr-16 custom eprom and circuit bent

YouTube via wotatwaat
"Circuit bent Hr-16 with custom eprom. Cheers to burnkit2600 for info on how to do it!!!"

The Nothing Machine by Mr.Ugly

YouTube via doctorultra. via this auction. follow-up to this post.

Conn Electric Band vintage analog synthesizer

via this auction

Not the best shot. Anyone know more about these? From the auction: "This is a rare one -- analog drum machine, reverb (very cool), organ, organ bass, auto accompinament, and tweakable monosynth playable all at once or individually."

Update via funky toofers in the comments:
"i borrowed on for a short while from reed ghazala's weird instrument collection..

it's probally similiar to the russian em-25 synth.. it's a preset machine with alot of unusual timbres.. not a whole ton of control but enough to do some interesting modulations and variations on the timbres. definately a nice synth/organ polyphonic analog..

in the short time i borrowed it i recorded a short piece in collaboration with my friend nebulagirl

Sad Melody by Sonitus Intortus

YouTube via Nebulagirl

'Sonitus Intortus sound, accompanied by Sad Sad Powerlines'

the beginning opens up with one of the sounds of the conn in pair with nebulagirl's homemade theremin. also used a sound called space junk.. and some other to do some background figures. the other sounds are some mfb synth 2. with the main background figure by a casio sk-1 sampler."

ROLAND JX-1 PERFORMANCE SYNTHESIZER

via this auction

Grey Matter E! board for Dx7IIFD

via this auction

"This is an as new, uninstalled E! board. These are one of the rarest synth related items out there. Most of them were installed back in the 80s and 90s into machines. They add functionality such as many more patches, octal mode, enhanced panning, sequencer, arpeggiator and more to a Dx7II/FD."

UFO shaped Electronic Drums by Petr Kubík

via Yanko Design via Lyle

"Designed for personal use, this electronic device sits neatly between your legs, more like a bongo, and reproduces magical beats when your hands strike its surface. With each strike, the surface produces lighted impressions of your hand to highlight the effect."

Red Bull Music Academy Presents Tom Oberheim

via Steady Bloggin:

"Here we are again my friends. Yet another amazing amazing guest speaker to grace the city of Boston. Why sleep on this once in a lifetime experience?"

If anyone goes to this, report back. Rumor is Tom plans to come out with the SEM again - same design as the original. See this post for more detail.

Randgrid, Mobile techno studio

YouTube via antephon
"http://www.randgrid.com, The amazing techno app Randgrid for iPhone, You can create really cool acid music riding the bus. You can find Randgrid in app store."
randgrid on iTunes:

Casio CZ-1000 Phase Distortion Synth

via this auction

"The Casio CZ-1000 was the second programmable Casio Synthesizer after the CZ-101. It is in fact the full key size version of the CZ-101. All other characteristics are similar. It uses the Phase distortion synthesis related to all other Casio CZ synthesizers models. It was also one of the first low cost multi-timbral synthesizers with normal sized keyboard."

Whippanny Electronics RHYTHM MASTER RM-10 TEMPO SYNTHESIZER

via this auction

"VINTAGE ELECTRONIC RHYTHM MASTER (MODEL RM-10) BEAT/TEMPO SYNTHIZER WITH ONE KENT FOOT ON/OFF SWITCH; CIRCA 1960's - 1970's."

Online Modular Planner by Stefan Breitenfeld

"Hello everybody at the synthesizer front! :-)

Here we go!
The all-new Modular Planner v1.1, which is a complete redesign of the (ancient?) original version, is now finally available. The most important changes are:
- new design & improved usability (at least I hope so)
- forum included
- mostly MSIE-compatible
- Google maps with dealer and manufacturer locations (to be extended, make suggestions!)
- first multi-manifacturer version (thanks to all of you for your support)
- exchange rates loaded directly from ECB
- patch drawing engine (beta).

The planner can be found at http://www.stefanbreitenfeld.com/modularplanner/.

Enjoy it and feel free to link to it, report bugs and module updates, contribute images, patches & experience and make suggestions for further improvements!

All the best from Austria!
Stefan Breitenfeld"

Experimental Tribute

Experimental Tribute from Chris Carter on Vimeo.

"This is a brief tribute I made to the experimental work of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop who recently staged a performance in London, that I couldn't attend. All the sounds and loops originate from the BC8 synth, the Gakken SX-150 synth and the BugBrand Weevil synths. All the effects and processing is done with the Boss pedals. Oh yeah... and I did the whole thing 'upside down'."
Throbbing Gristle. flickr pics here

Update: MP3 here

Xabecs Curetronic Modular in Suitcase (ToolBox)

via sequencer.de

http://www.curetronic.com/

The Nothing Machine

flickr by theorderofstamina
(click for more)

"The Nothing Machine by Mr.Ugly. 2009.
Oscillator +NOR +NAND +Delay +Circuit Bending= Spacecomputerrandomness. The sound of nothing.

mruglysinstruments.blogspot.com/"

previously posted

Update: via this auction:
"The Nothing Machine by Mr.Ugly. 2009.

This here is a homemade synthesizer of random proportions. The main control component is a single oscillator that feeds into 4 fine tuning oscillators. There is the option of switching between 4 pitch ranges from low to high, creating deep bass drones to high end computer sci-fi effects. Easy to control, impossible to predict. This is an almost entirely homemade synthesizer, so it is quite unique. Considering I didn't even copy the schematics after building this, there will only ever be this one made. A one-of-a kind! It has the following features:

-3 separate 1/4" output jacks
-circuit bent delay pedal
-operates on 9v power supply(not included)
-1 main control oscillator
-4 fine tuning oscillators
-4 separate pitch range choices
-5 glitch momentary push buttons
-8 oscillation/glitch on/off toggle switches.
-3 distortion/glitch effect knobs with on/off toggle switches"

YouTube via doctorultra.

DL711 (+ TV)

YouTube via zeni69
"Circuit bent/hacked DL711 Multimeter with optical fiber bundle input and SN76477."

8bitone

"8Bitone is Synthesizer and Sequencer application to simulate sounds for 8bit Personal Computer and Console Game Generator from the 80`s.

PSG and SSG vintage voices are revived here and their nostalgic electric sounds are able to be simulated with iPhone/iPodTouch.

The Sequencer part uses general Piano Roll Screen.
It has been adjusted for Multi-Touch function of iPhone/iPodTouch to compose songs with fingertip easily.

To operate Sound Changer properly, Synthesizer parts consist simple form of Knobs, Switchs, Sliders for easy understanding.
You can find the most suitable to learn the basic device of the synthesizer here.

★ Synthesizer
Monophonic
1 oscillator or LowBitNoise.
LFO
Envelope
HiSpeed Arpeggiator
★ Sequencer Edit
With Truck manager on Sequencer screen, Composing is easy with Piano Roll format.
In addition, Voice Change is equipped to produce different Voices in the song.
4 trucks are the maximum limit.
★ Voice Edit
The nostalgic sounds can be created here by turing knobs and operating sliders on Synthesizer screen.
In 8Bitone, a group of values which are set on the Synthesizer screen is called “VOICE”.
Each one song can contains up to 128 Voices.
In addition, playing with keyboard on the bottom of the screen can be enjoyable too.
Move the wheel to control the Pitch.
★ Edit Controller
Edit Controller on the screen right side will show 3 types of monitor.
Selection is operated by touching each of the monitor`s name.
★ Transcontroller
PLAY, STOP, COPY, PASTE, DELETE function for songs are performed in the Transcontroller.
In 8Bitone, Transcontroller will be turned on with TCR button of the screen upper part.
★ Recording
CD monoral qualitity (..wav files) can be recorded here,
However, the CD quality may not have much meaning for those electric sounds.
★ PC Sync
The recorded datas can be sent to personal computers on the same WiFi network.
They are downloadable from the WEB browser of desktop and laptop also.
You can listen by iPod and use them for beep sounds on iPhones etc."

http://www.yudo.jp/en/music/eightbitone

MicroKorg

flickr by SimonBray1

full size

UASSO teaser

YouTube via lesingemonotone
"Uppsala Analog Synthesizer Symphonic Orchestra will perform as opening act at Volt festival the 6th of june 2009 in Uppsala, Sweden.
Read more about UASSO and Volt at: http://voltfestivalen.se"

Update: HQ version via mario in the comments:

Uppsala Analog Synthesizer Symphonic Orchestra (UASSO) teaser 1 from Mario Pierro on Vimeo.

JH Variable Slope Filter / Phaser Order Info

follow-up to these posts (scroll). via JH:

"now that a good number of people have shown interest in this project, I'm ready to take pre-orders.

(See
http://www.jhaible.de/varislope_filter_phaser/varislope_filter_phaser.html

for details about the project.)

Pricing is EUR 27.00 per board

plus a single EUR 6.00 shipping flat charge for worldwide shipping,

regardless how many boards you are ordering and where you live.

It does *not* include any customs fees or tax that you may (or may not) have

to pay in your county.

What you get is a double-sided printed circuit board with component overlay,

approx. size 160mm x 100mmm.

You have to buy the electronic components for this, and build the device,

yourself. (Check the above website regularly for updates and building hints,

bill of matrials etc.)

If you want to place a pre-order, please send me an email to the following

adress:

jhaible@debitel.net

and use the FOLLOWING FORM (fill in your data instead of [],

for instance: "2 Boards" instead of "[quantity] Boards")

===== Start of Email Order Form ===============

Email Subject line: 36dB Varislope order: [quantity] boards

Email text:

I'm ordering [quantity] pieces of the 36dB VCF and Variable Slope
Filter/Phaser PCB

for EUR 27.00 per board + EUR 6.00 single shipping flat charge for any

number of boards.

I'm aware that I may have to pay additional amounts of customs and tax in my

country.

I'm aware that I'm only buying blank PCBs that may help me building an

electonic module - I'm *not* buying a diy kit, not a "project" - just pieces

of FR4 with copper traces.

I know how to build electronic circuits and I am trained in electrical
safety matters.

The seller of these PCBs will not be held responsible for any damage that
results

from these PCBs, directly or indirectly.

My shipping adress is

[Your Name]

[Your street, number, city, ZIP code, in exactly the form

that is generally used in your country]

[your country]

My paypal adress is [your paypal adress].

I===== End of Email Order Form =========

Looking forward to hear fom you :)"

Hassler/Butcher on the Buchla Electric Music Box

via Jason on the Buchla 200e list:

"Greetings all,

You can find a recording of an improvised performance by Don Hassler and myself on Electric Music Boxes for the Cityskies festival at this location:

http://www.cityskies.com/May2009/recordedsets.html

Thanks,
Jason"

New mQEdit link

The old link in this post went down. The link there has been updated with the new link hosted by Achim on the Waldorf list.

"as some of you have noticed, the website that mQEdit was available on has vanished some months ago and the only way to get it was the wayback archive. I have contacted Martin, the author of mQEdit, and he kindly permitted to host it at my site. As an added bonus, you'll now get the latest version 1.14."

Monday, May 18, 2009

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