Barry Schrader has announced the release of a new album, “Lost Analog.” This is a collection of previously unreleased works Schrader composed between 1972 and 1983 on the Buchla 200 synthesizer, aka The Electric Music Box. This album of definitive works of West Coast electronic music serves as a companion collection to Schrader’s famous “Lost Atlantis” release, widely regarded as a benchmark for classical electronic music works. The “Lost Analog” album contains music from the film “Death of the Red Planet”, the complete versions of “Bestiary” and “Classical Studies”, and an electronic suite of three movements from “Moon-Whales and Other Moon-Songs.”
The release date for “Lost Analog” is Friday, October 28, 2022. The limited-edition CD and the digital tracks will be sold on Bandcamp, and the tracks will also be sold on all major online music stores. Until then, you can hear previews of the tracks at https://barryschrader.hearnow.com/.
“…the music outsynthesized Tangerine Dream in its hypnotic electronic coloration.” - New York Times review of “Death of the Red Planet"
“Schrader's music has fascinatingly subtle shifts of color and volume. The listener could wrap himself in a development of metallic sounds seamlessly transformed from speaker to speaker, a delicate but penetrating pulsation of notes woven with a music-box effect, or a melange of dizzying, sliding, wind rushing patterns that make the revving-up of a jet plane seem demure.” - Los Angeles Times review of “Bestiary"
Those interested in getting the CD or digital download should sign up on Barry Schrader’s “Follow” mailing list on Bandcamp before October 28 in order to get special offers when the album is released.
Subotnick: Portrait of an Electronic Music Pioneer
We are thrilled to announce the completion and world-premiere screening of “Subotnick: Portrait of an Electronic Music Pioneer” (or “Subotnick” for short), our official bio-documentary on revered avant-garde music composer, and electronic music pioneer, Morton Subotnick. We could not be more proud of the film, and can’t wait to share it with all of you. We also take great pride in the fact that Mort has given his full approval of the finished film. We are truly humbled by that!
Our world-premiere screening for the film will take place in early-November at a very special event. This is truly going to be a night for the history books, and you can expect full details in an event announcement next week.
About the film:
Through a series of candid interviews and illuminating conversations with key figures from his past and present, Subotnick provides an overview of this fascinating composer’s rich life and uncompromising career. Over 5 years in the making, Subotnick is a first-hand account, and an artistic portrait, of this seminal composer, who’s approach to art, and outlook on life, reveal a unique thinker with a fiercely individualist streak. The film narrative moves along two parallel lines; exploring a year in his life as he creates and shapes the multi-media chamber opera “Crowds and Power,” while simultaneously exploring his past — going back in time to his days as a child prodigy on the clarinet, his disastrous stint in the army during the Korean War, founding the San Francisco Tape Music Center, and culminating in his breakthrough recording of “Silver Apples of the Moon,” the world’s first electronic music composition specifically created for the record medium. Featuring several live performances from around the globe, captured in glorious surround sound, and augmented with innovative liquid-light psychedelic effects, Subotnick is a multimedia experience that highlights and celebrates one of the world’s most influential living composers.
An update for our Subtonick Indiegogo supporters:
For those of you who contributed to our Indiegogo campaign for Subotnick, please check your inbox (/spam folder) &/or log in to your Indiegogo account, to read a more extensive update on the film's completion, and for those of you still waiting on delivery of an Indiegogo perk (namely, the film itself, whether on a physical disc, or a digital download), the update includes information about that as well.
Update:
Subotnick will premiere on November 3, with a truly special screening / live performance event at the legendary and historic Kino Babylon theatre in Berlin, presented alongside CTM Festival and Ableton. Morton Subotnick, now 90 years old, is not only the subject of our documentary; he will also be taking part in an audience Q&A alongside Subotnick’s director, Robert Fantinatto, and finally, treating us to a rare live A/V performance of “As I Live In Breathe,” in collaboration with longtime visual collaborator Lillevan.
Programme:
19:00 World premiere screening of Subotnick: Portrait of an Electronic Music Pioneer
20:45 Q&A w/Morton Subotnick & director Robert Fantinatto, moderated by Lisa Blanning
21:45 Morton Subotnick & Lillevan – As I Live and Breathe live A/V performance
About the concert: Morton Subotnick & Lillevan – “As I Live and Breathe”
Between 1961 and 1980, Morton Subotnick’s principal work as a composer was devoted to the development of electronic music as a studio art. The first four years of that period were spent with Don Buchla designing and building an appropriate instrument with which to make music specifically for recorded formats, to be heard in one’s home. The work which brought Subotnick celebrity was Silver Apples of the Moon (1966-7), which marked the first time an original large-scale composition had been created specifically for the disc medium – a conscious acknowledgment that the home stereo system constituted a present-day form of chamber music. Later, Subotnick began creating works for electronics and instruments and large-scale multimedia projects. In the last decade, technology has made it possible for him to bring equipment onto the stage and perform in public.
The work technique and process of the last decade of his creativity has resulted in As I Live and Breathe, which Subotnick feels will be the ultimate fulfillment of his public performance; one of the last, if not the last, of his public performance works. Centered around Subotnick’s breath – which becomes ever more musically and visually ornamented, only to end with a single, exhaled breath – the work is meant as a musical metaphor for the composer’s life in music.
"Early morning patch inspired by strong coffee and the desire to patch some of my favourite filters; CGS49 Dual Wasp, M401 Multimode Filter / Resonator, SEM VCF, Discrete Ladder Filter and ARP 4072 clone. Oh, and a TLN-442.
"Shanghai based singer-songwriter Nei-Nei performs her track 'High Island Launch Wave' live in situ.
Combining nature inspired themes with hypnotic electronic beats is a core part of what defines the music of Nei-Nei, an indie singer-songwriter from Taiwan who currently lives in Shanghai. In her latest original work, ‘High Island Launch Wave’, she takes technology to nature to create evolving rhythms while connecting deeply with her natural environment.
Song Credit: High Island Launch Wave
Arranger: Nei-Nei
Producer: Nei-Nei / abeewu
Sample Credit:
Lyrics & Composer: Nei-Nei
Arranger, Mixing Engineer & Producer: UJ He
Launchpad Pro [MK3] is our most powerful 64-pad MIDI grid controller for producing: both in Ableton Live and with your hardware. It gives you everything you need to create and perform your tracks.
"Groove Synthesis 3RD WAVE synth sounds & patches demo. In this demo, I showcase various sounds, patches & presets from the new 3RD WAVE digital/analog advanced wavetable synthesizer from Groove Synthesis including pads, arps and others.
The 3RD WAVE synth is a very powerful wavetable synth inspired by the PPG Wave 2.2 and 2.3 synthesizers from the 1980s. It features 24 voices and 4-part multi-timbrality, 3 oscillators, 2 filter (1 analog LPF, 1 digital multi-mode SEM), 4 LFOs, 4 envelopes, 6-stage wave envelope, digital effects (2 per part), custom wavetable maker tool, sequencer, arpeggiator, 16-slot mod matrix, linear FM, glide, unison, 4 stereo outputs, audio input and more.
The Groove Synthesis 3RD WAVE sounds beautiful, lush and is fantastic for ambient soundscapes and other hybrid sounds thanks to its wavetable technology. The 4-part multi-timbral capabilities also enable massive stacked sounds, or evolving timbres over time thanks to layered parts.
This video was filmed at Groove Synthesis headquarters. To learn more about the Groove Synthesis 3RD WAVE advanced wavetable synthesizer or buy the synth, visit https://www.groovesynthesis.com .
- Watch interview w/ Groove Synthesis about the 3RD WAVE:" [posted here]
"CHD–4 is a unique drum machine and a collaboration between Love Hultén, Teenage Engineering and Hjärtebarnsfonden. The device is based on echocardiograms from four children with congenital heart disease, printed from real hospital check-ups. Each ECG has been decoded into patterns based on its individual shape, pace, and BPM. These four heartbeat patterns are transformed into a four-track circular sequencer. Each sequence – or 'heartbeat' – can be played separately or together to produce a wide arrange of sounds. Each heartbeat can also manually be offset in relation to the other(s) in order to explore soundscapes further and create unique rhythm patterns.
CHD–4 was created to raise awareness about Congenital Heart Disease, which is the world's most common birth defect among children.
"A demo of the new stereo oscillator from Noise Engineering. It started as software, but now it's hardware. Also, some hardware is now software. What a world.
This board host the vintage General Instruments SP0256-AL2 aka SPO256-AL2 Narrator IC that was popular in the 1980s.
The SPO256-AL2 produces all the 59 phonemes of the English language.
It has a very recognizable 8-bit metallic sound.
These phonemes are individually addressable and can be chained together to create words or small sentences.
Our board adds two absent functions on the chip: pitch or inflection control and volume control.
The chip allows looping the last phoneme to generate interesting noise or steady MIDI notes.
MIDI control MIDI note ON (first phoneme on note 36) MIDI note OFF Pitch Bend (can be used while the note is ON) Velocity Volume CC7 (can be used while the note is ON) CV control
"I've been training my own personal backing singers for the @teenageengineering Pocket Operator, the wonderful @iorama.studio #chantlings! 👍✨.So, the setup is... Audio is coming from my Pocket Operator, it is then inputted to the mic in on the iPad (chantlings is made for singing into, but with a simple channel splitter you can play anything into it). 😋✨.The output end of the iPad audio splitter is then sent to the little fender speaker on the desk. 🔊🔉✨.I even tried plugging a tula mic into the PO input, the audio came through nicely and the "chantlings" harmonized well with my attempts at singing. 😜👏✨.I initially tried chaining two POs and inputting them, but there seemed to be a good deal of signals, the chantlings did not respond all that well. I then plugged both POs into a mickxer and got a much better response..Note the whole setup was mobile powered with our ReVolt and Ripcord USB cables. 😁✨.Also our delicious Candycord audio cables are on show. 🍭💖😁✨ https://myvolts.com/candycords"
"Today's stream will be focussed on Glitch Machines plugins, these plugins are almost built with exactly this in mind. We'll probably be going a bit more textural and glitchy today
"Award-winning composer Paul Thomson takes you to the edge of the world and beyond with Fractured Strings. Created in collaboration with Hans Zimmer’s prestigious scoring collective Bleeding Fingers Music and London’s finest string players, this small ensemble library features an eight-piece string ensemble and two soloists, brought to life in the unparalleled acoustics of AIR Lyndhurst Hall, complete with 15 signal paths.
Fractured Strings introduces an innovative approach to articulations that delivers inspirational surprises through intervallic performances and new modal colours with unparalleled depth and realism. Introducing our brand new Scale Mode technology, these sophisticated, emotive movements and textures reflect the intricacies, patterns and contrasts found in natural phenomena — as heard in BBC's #FrozenplanetII.
00:00 - Trailer 1:00 - Interview with Bleeding Fingers Music 7:02 - Walkthrough 7:47 The Scale Mode 10:38 - The Articulations 15:40 - The EVO Grid 19:33 - The Seventh Reach 21:10 - The Solo Instruments"
And the press release:
"Spitfire Audio works with Bleeding Fingers to forge FRACTURED STRINGS as a new kind of chamber string library introducing a novel approach to articulations
“Early on in the process of scoring Frozen Planet II, we looked at the patterns of splintering ice and the individuality of snowflakes; in creating FRACTURED STRINGS, we worked closely with the Spitfire [Audio] team and London’s best players to represent these natural phenomena in musical performances — creating a toolkit that became the foundation of our score for the show.”
- Frozen Planet II composers James Everingham & Adam Lukas, 2022
LONDON, UK: created in close collaboration with Bleeding Fingers Music, the Emmy Award-winning and BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) Award-nominated composer collective, hand-selected and mentored by Hollywood hotshot Hans Zimmer (as a multi-Academy Award- and GRAMMY® Award-winning film composer of some serious standing), sound-specialising British music technology company Spitfire Audio is proud to announce availability of FRACTURED STRINGS — itself introducing a novel approach to articulations as a new kind of chamber string library featuring a 10-piece ensemble inspired by the Arctic and brought to life in the unparalleled acoustics of Lyndhurst Hall in London’s legendary AIR Studios, served up as an AAX-, AU-, VST2-, and VST3-compatible (NKS-supporting) proprietary plug-in with 15 signal paths and infinite intervallic possibilities, designed to infuse any gestures, leaps, and cellular motif anyone might compose with warmth, colour, and humanity — as of September 22…
Being billed as a journey through Earth’s frozen worlds, home to unique and remarkable wildlife, it is little wonder that Santa Monica, CA, USA-based Bleeding Fingers Music were looking for a library that could not only support scenes of frozen silence but also scenes of action, tension, crisis, and drama when composers Hans Zimmer, James Everingham, and Adam Lukas started scoring the small screen wonder that is Frozen Planet II, the 2022-broadcast British nature documentary series co- produced by the BBC and The Open University as a sequel to 2011’s Frozen Planet. Putting it this way, James Everingham and Adam Lukas collectively comment: “Early on in the process of scoring Frozen Planet II, we looked at the patterns of splintering ice and the individuality of snowflakes; in creating FRACTURED STRINGS, we worked closely with the Spitfire [Audio] team and London’s best players to represent these natural phenomena in musical performances — creating a toolkit that became the foundation of our score for the show.”
Serious demands demand serious solutions, so a small section of London’s finest string players were brought by the Spitfire Audio team tasked with bringing Bleeding Fingers Music’s requirements to life in the unparalleled acoustics of Lyndhurst Hall — home to many a blockbuster film scoring session by Hans Zimmer and many more — in London’s legendary AIR Studios. The ten players concerned closely collaborated with the Bleeding Fingers Music team and Spitfire Audio’s own collective of composers, conductors, and engineers there to create a vast suite of intricate decorations, leaps, and swells.
So who better to formally introduce the finished FRACTURED STRINGS, then, than Spitfire Audio co-founder Paul Thomson — truly no stranger to the wonderful world of music-to-picture scoring himself as an English composer for film, television, and video games, as well as a music technologist to boot: “This is our latest collaboration with Bleeding Fingers [Music], and it is a set of unique and original content made for the BBC show Frozen Planet II. It showcases a huge amount of string articulations and gestures — wispy, ice-y, ethereal fragments that we have never before recorded, and that you can't play very easily with existing string libraries.”
Magma can grab incoming audio and twist its presence throughout time, blend it with its past self, unravel its most recondite shades and control its weight in space, creating everything in between dark drones, shimmery textures and weird percussive timbres."
And the press release:
K-Devices releases Magma as VST3 and AU memory warper and propagator
Arvieux, France - September 29 2022. K-Devices, developer of creative music tools, has released Magma, a new audio effect, as VST3 and Audio Unit plugin for MacOS and Windows.
Magma is an audio effect that generates sound textures by blending past and present: at the very crossroad between a micro-looper, a granular engine, a sustainer, and a sound warmer, Magma can squash sounds with reverb-like big shaking auras, or sprinkle air and make lines ethereal.
Magma continuously records the incoming signal in a short buffer, it then plays back the content by blending different moments in time, creating a texture. User can set the density and the persistence of the texture, that can sound as a reverb, an infinite sustain, a sort of spectral shadow, creating everything in between dark drones, shimmery textures and weird percussive timbres. Several parameters let user sculpt the texture: an EQ section, a Temperature knob (a specifically designed distortion adds a noise-based amplitude modulation on higher values), and a Mid/Side knob to handle its weight in space.
Magma is a sound processor with its very own character. Magic when paired with acoustic sounds, it can transfigure all kind of sources in unexpected ways: it will react differently, according to the input. It can either magnify or disintegrate. Magma can be molten lead, screaming metal, frozen wind.
Conceived for the most adventurous sound designers, Magma can give sounds a new identity.
== Totem/ Series == Magma is the first plugin from totem/ series by K-Devices: unconventional audio effects coming in a compact format, easy to use, at a lower, convenient price.
"Buchla 200R customized 5 row modular system Including original Buchla 297 module, As well as the listed Eardrill, Sputnik, Verbos and Roman f built modules in a JRB Folding studio cabinet with plenty of patch cables and output cables. Below is the list of modules from top to bottom left to right. All modules have been priced out from 3-5 years ago prices and rarely pop up for sale.
Top row **Verbos model 258v dual oscillator **Source of uncertainty model 266 roman f **Triple envelope model 230 **Dual voltage controlled filter model 291 **Dual voltage processor model 257 **Frequency shifter model 285
Row 2 **Orig buchla Infinite phase shifter 297 model 200.1 **Mixer preamp model 207 **Quad function generator model 281 **Quad lopass gate model 292c **Quad function generator model 281 **Quad lopass gate model 292c
Row 3 **Programmable specteral processor model 296 (romanf) **Programmable complex waveform generator model 259 **Harmonic oscillator model 262v
Row 4 **Ear drill pendulum ratchet model 077 **Sequential voltage source model 246
Bottom row **Verbos Quantize shift register model 263v **Sequential voltage source model 245r **Touch controlled voltage source model 216"
via Wikipedia: "There are claims that early models had unstable tuning, mainly due to DAC board resolution. Beginning with serial number 171700, the 12-bit DAC was upgraded to a 14-bit DAC. This increased the resolution of the CV voltages that control the analog circuitry. The soldered-in battery typically lasts ten years or more, ranking these boards among the lowest-maintenance of their generation."
"Optically and technically excellent Vintage Prophet 5, fresh from revision by an expert! There will most probably be no Prophet 5 in a better condition! Together with an ultrarare Polysequencer of Sequential Ciruits and a hardcase."
"This black Tom Oberheim TVS-Pro -- or Two Voice Pro-- is in immaculate condition with no issues whatsoever. Both SEM's tune perfectly and hold well through hours of use. As you can see, the patch panel really expands the capabilities allowing you to route velocity to different places for example.
Tom Oberheim himself said these were made from the exact same schematics and electronic parts values from the originals. While I haven't tried this myself, apparently an original SEM from the 70's can work if you swap them out. I have used it mostly in "dual mono" mode for the world's best stereo mono synth lines. Duplicating the settings on both SEM's make this a huge stereo sound since each SEM is analog and slightly different. It is in my top 5 synths of all time.
There are less than 100 of these in existence and perhaps the best version of a Two Voice. This one has been used in my non-smoking studio professionally since 2016, with no issues whatsoever. It has the final firmware updates: Keyboard v24a and Seq v30 from 2018 It will come with original manual, and power cable."
"Super Rare, Tom Oberheim designed Maestro USS-1 Universal Synthesizer Unit. Bought this in 1992 and it all worked then, but its been in storage all these years. Powers on and Waveform, Filter, Sample/Hold and Phase working well. Envelope and Subharmonic hard to tell. A first envelope sliders looks unconnected but is there and Sensitivity slider too is missing. Has a bypass toggle switch added by previous owner. Working sliders are really tight but probably just need some WD-40 as they used to work."
"Two multitrack demos made with the Korg EX-800
The EX-800 is the desktop version from the well known Korg Poly 800.
As always a multitrack recording with some fx.
00:00 - 00:45 Intro, EX-800 + XO drums
00:46 - 04:33 part1: EX-800 + Roland TR 606
04:34 - 07:14 part2: EX-800 + Roland TR 626"
"Keyboard Magazine issue March 1996 with its main article/feature about the X-Files. Maybe the most detailed feature in any issue. Interviews with Mark Snow and all the other people involved. I go through this entire issue in today's episode. Lots of ads as well."
"This video is the first one of the series 'Shed Beats' where we showcase how to make various kind and style of electronic music from scratch using some Norand tools.
In this video we use our currents two product : Mono for the beat and Morphos for the bass and bleeps."
"You all have been asking me about making a test equipment based filter plugin, and now its here! Together with @AudioThing I developed DIALS, an experimental channel strip. Based on a classic American passive band-pass filter and a modified German broadcast transmitter, DIALS brings you the massive sound of test equipment music in plugin form. Whether you want to mangle signals in broad strokes or finely sift through frequencies, DIALS has you covered. If you desire to tread further, it becomes an instrument unlike anything else.
"Take a trip to the outer reaches of music production with the Hainbach Bundle. LoFi radiations from a Cold War wire recorder, the rotating madness of the Radiophonic Workshop, metallic resonances from 1930s France, Stockhausen-esque feedbacks, or a trip through Noise in all its forms, the Hainpack is as steeped in history as its full of modern music tools."
"Hello everyone
Today we will be making stereo patches with Osi-Op. There are actually many ways to do this. We will now look at ways we can do it with just oscillators.
First of all, the 1st oscillator will be staying in the middle and playing the lowest frequency sound. The 2nd oscillator is panned to the left channel and the 3rd oscillator to the right channel. If we specify the amount of pan, we can say that 75% left and right panned. Apart from the random differences of the oscillators, we can say that changing the Waveshape Output with PWM settings and sometimes giving the opposite movement as a mirror of a movement to two opposite channels creates a very nice stereo image. While doing all these with basic waveforms, I also tried to create small differences between the right and left channels from time to time with Thru Zero FM. Now let's hear the results together.
Barry Schrader has announced the release of a new album, “Lost Analog.” This is a collection of previously unreleased works Schrader composed between 1972 and 1983 on the Buchla 200 synthesizer, aka The Electric Music Box. This album of definitive works of West Coast electronic music serves as a companion collection to Schrader’s famous “Lost Atlantis” release, widely regarded as a benchmark for classical electronic music works. The “Lost Analog” album contains music from the film “Death of the Red Planet”, the complete versions of “Bestiary” and “Classical Studies”, and an electronic suite of three movements from “Moon-Whales and Other Moon-Songs.” 
