A few pics of my recently arrived ESQ-1/ESQ-M/SQ-80 and Roland MC-64 memory cartridges. They are really nice quality - solid with a nice texture to them.
The red Ensoniq cart comes with 80 patches (2 banks of 40 patches) that are re-writeable. Demo video above.
As for the orange Roland cart (previously posted here): "A single MCX-1024 is the equivalent of 16 M-64C cartridges! It utilizes FRAM non-volatile memory that outperform EEPROM/FLASH in speed while remaining non-volatile unlike the more commonly used SRAM."
That little black knob protruding from the cart is the switch that allows you to select the different banks.
"In this episode Nikol explains how Quattro Figaro can be used to pan mono signals from left to right using two VCAs and an inverter. The pan modulation is done by Tromsø, it is tweaked to go up to audio rate in this example."
"Alex put together a new 6U demo system to show off our newest module, the DVCA, and for employee use here at the shop and decided to make a quick video of his first patch on the system.
Notable modules include the WMD Performance Mixer, Arpitecht, PDO mkii, and Fracture as well as the Hexinverter Mutant Bass Drum.
Bassline was sequenced with the Industrial Music Electronics Stillson Hammer and the lead was sequenced by the Arpitecht. All drums were sequenced with the Noise Engineering Numeric Repetitor."
DivKid captured the following demo at this year's Brighton Modular Meet:
Dove Audio WTF Oscillator at Brighton Modular Meet 2018
Published on Jul 10, 2018 DivKidVideo
"Here's a patch from Paula Anne Maddox with her new WTF oscillator and company Dove Audio. It's a new unique take on working with waveforms and oscillators and will be launched on Kickstarter here - http://bit.ly/wtfvco.
This footage is from the Brighton Modular Meet on the 1st of July 2018. The event is held at the Attenborough Centre for the Arts at the University of Sussex. More information here - http://brightonmodularmeet.co.uk"
WTF stands for Window Transform Function and this oscillator gives the owner a new and unique way to morph between waveforms. It's designed to fit in your modular synthesiser, either in Euro-rack format or MU format.
How Does it Work?
Remember when you used to go to the dentist and the receptionist had a sliding hatch that would open and say "Mrs Smith to see the Dr in room 3 please"? Well this is much the same, the "front" wave is represented by the panes of glass on that window, the rear wave is the cheery receptionist.
As you slide open the window in the front wave the rear wave can be seen in that window. You can open and close this window with CV control.
Here's an example waveform.
This creates a totally new waveform that could, for example, start with a sawtooth, then change to a square wave part way through, then go back to a sawtooth for the remainder of the waveform cycle.
All this can be done with full CV control, allowing you to route your existing LFOs, EGs and sequencers to any or all of the parameters.
Features
32 Waveforms + Noise
There are 32 waveforms plus noise in the module and you can morph between any two. There are of course the usual suspects - sawtooth, sine wave, triangle wave and square wave. The remaining 28 waveforms are all newly created to mimic certain types of sounds, like vocal formants, distorted waves, metallic sounds and many more.
You can select the front and rear waveforms with independent control voltages enabling you to create incredibly rich sonic textures.
Tuneable Noise
The noise is tuneable, when you enable noise for the rear wave you can adjust the frequency the noise is generated at, allowing you to go from a white noise to a retro 8 bit game console style noise.
Advanced 'PWM'
You can also set the rear window to be a DC level giving you the ability to create PWM like sounds with any of the 32 waveforms.
Wave Inversion
You can also invert the rear waveform which adds a whole new level of sonic capability to the WTF oscillator.
Dual Window Mode
We've also added a 'dual' mode to the window function, so you can change between a single window opening and closing or a dual window.
CV Control of Waveforms
Finally, we've added the ability to change both the front and rear waveforms using control voltages, used in conjunction with a sequencer this gives you an incredibly powerful sound source full of previously unheard of sonic power."
"We're celebrating four decades of Genelec with 'The Science of Sound', a series of 16mm films exploring essential production concepts, hosted by Lorenzo Senni, Caterina Barbieri & Not Waving.
Each host premieres brand new material in a format designed to communicate music production tropes through a playful, psychedelic audio-visual language. A blend of surrealist motion graphics, '70s Hollywood aesthetics & an erudite Scandinavian narrator, the series serves as a stylistic flip on the staid world of archetypal production tutorials. A new & compelling guide for budding music-makers."
Playlist:
1. The Science of Sound: Delay with Lorenzo Senni
2. The Science of Sound: Reverb with Caterina Barbieri
3. The Science of Sound: Distortion with Not Waving
"This is a series of audiovisual X/Y oscilloscope patches for the EMS Synthi 100 at the Radio Belgrade Electronic Music Studio, and visualized on the Tektronix 5000 series modular rack oscilloscope. They were programmed to run autonomously without any human control. Most of them use two or three oscillators tuned to a close harmonic, and small changes in the frequencies (including temperature drift!) will make large changes in the image/sound. A couple use the Synthi 100's low pass filters as well. All are based on Ron Pellegrino's laser designs from "The Electronic Arts of Sound and Light" (1983)."
"This is an audiovisual X/Y oscilloscope patch designed for the EMS Synthi 100 at the Radio Belgrade Electronic Music Studio and visualized on the Tektronix 5000 series modular rack oscilloscope. OSC 1 serves a visual purpose mainly and can be adjusted freely. OSC 2 provides the fundamental of the image/sound. OSC 10 sweeps FIL 2 through the harmonics and adds or subtracts nodes from the visual figure. Based on Ron Pellegrino's "Laser design 6", The Electronic Arts of Sound and Light (1983). NOTE: for X/Y display, replace "Time Base/Ampl" module on oscilloscope with "Y2" module.
* OSC 1 -> OUT 1
* OSC 2 -> FIL 2
* OSC 10 -> FIL 2 (control)
* FIL 2 -> OUT 1 (control)
* FIL 2 -> OUT 2
* FIL 2 -> OUT 2 (control)
* OUT 1 -> SCOPE Y1
* OUT 2 -> SCOPE X
* OSC 1 settings: 5:10:10:7.4
* OSC 2 settings: 5:5:7:2.5
* OSC 10 settings: 0:10:5:3.5:0
* FIL 2 settings: 5.5:5:10
* OUT1 settings: LVL:7, FIL: 5 (ON)
* OUT 2 settings: LVL: 7, FIL: 5 (ON)
* OUT 4 settings: LVL: 10, FIL: 0 (OFF)
* LEFT MATRIX (left:top) 69:56, 70:58, 85:36, 88:15, 105:37, 105:39
"Four days to go until the Kickstarter launch - make sure you're one of the first to be informed when the campaign goes live by signing up at http://www.modalelectronics.com/skulpt/"
"UVI String Machines 2 features sounds from 62 different string Synthesizers in a powerful dual engine virtual instrument. Here is my sound demo & review of it!
"Welcome back to another tutorial, this time for the Mother 32!
In this video we use pitch modulation synced to the sequencer tempo to turn a basic sequence into a more complex rhythm, complete with a melody, a bass, and the option to solo each."
"The successor to the S900 the Akai S950 debuted the Time Stretching feature in 1988. Widely used in many recordings of the day we'll search to see if this feature has any place in modern music. In this video we’ll go through how to setup the Akai S-950 for time stretching as well as listen to some examples of what time stretching sounds like on this sampler."
"So, here it is, the last Synth Engine that I've made patches for, of the Roland System 8. This is the 1st 32 Patches and I have to say, it sounds scarily similar to my Juno 6 at times, even down to the 'growl' of the Bass and the Chorus is spot on."
"I think we all know this feeling, when we wanted to buy a synth and the price was right, but we passed it up. Now all we do is look back and think, if only we had got it right then. Now we live with synth regret, realizing that even though we could have the cost is just too much. Tell me in the comments the synths you passed up on and what you want, but may never own!"
What are you regrets?
A few I regret not picking up which were actually for sale were Delia Derbyshire's VCS3 Putney and a Synton Syrinx both being sold by Spectrum's Sonic Boom, the Jomox Sunsyn, LL Electronic Rozzbox, and an army green Waldorf Microwave 1. I regret them because they were actually attainable considering what they were. On the not so affordable list there were a few ARP 2500s, Emu Modulars, EMS SYNTHI 100, Buchla gear, EMS SYNTHIs, and Waldorf Waves I've spotted for sale over the years. And The Schmidt, let's not forget The Schmidt. I'm sure there were others...
I do have an OB-6 (desktop), and an XTk on Noir Et Blanc Vie's list and love them both. Never picked up an Easel though.
"Little Boots performs "Shadows" off her 2018 EP Burn. Recorded live with MAUD - the macro modular vertical synthesizer designed by incite in Los Angeles."
