The Awesome Sonar Traffic Synth Collection at Kytopia, Utrecht

Published on Mar 17, 2015 sonicstate

"We get a look round one of Utrechts true wonders. The Sonar Traffic room at Kytopia"

Rare fed Synton Syrinx at 5:47.

EP02 PSU Design - Elektor Formant Modular Synthesizer Overhaul

Published on Mar 4, 2015

"In this video you can watch me creating the new PSU for my synthesizer in Eagle CAD and export GCode in pcb-gcode. Much more exciting CNC etching video coming up soon!"

All parts here.

Elektor Formant Modular Synthesizer Overhaul

Published on Feb 19, 2015 FPV Electronics

"I'm gonna refurbish this old electronic music instrument in several episodes. Today: The wooden box - soooo exciting :3"

And from back in September of 2014

Elektor Formant vintage modular analog Synthesizer

Published on Sep 16, 2014

"Just playing around - Analysis, repair, reconditioning video coming soon."

ootsidebox / 3Dpad "tribute to Theremin"

Published on Jun 30, 2014 Jean Noel Lefebvre

"More about 3Dpad: http://igg.me/at/ootsidebox3Dpad/x
Using 3Dpad as a '3D Air control' MIDI controller"

Update: only six days left in the Indiegogo campaign.

Follow-up to this post.

Elektor Formant Vintage Modular Synthesizer

Note: Auction links are affiliate links for which the site may be compensated.

via this auction

Pics of the inside below.

"Elektor Formant is Moog- like style analog modular synthesizer designed by C. Chapman with 1V/oct. VCO charakteristics. Modules are connected internally together thus synthesizer is playable without using patch cords. Nevertheless, the interconnection has no effect to possibilities of a modular system. Plenty patch cords are attached to the instrument.

This Formant was precisely made in the Switzerland approximately in 1985-88. An appearance and working condition are very good, the synthesizer was serviced, adjusted, new interconnection between modules was made, electrolytic capacitors on the PSU are replaced.

Other accessories: Original documentation with schematics, patch cords, CV and GATE 6.3” conectors on the rear panel. Standard 230V power input. Weight 20kg, 54x61.5x27 (cm)

Modules overview:

4x VCO

waveforms: sawtooth, trianle, sinus, pulse, spaced sawtooth, all waves can be mixed freely together
1V/oct. characteristics, switch for internal/external CV
FM input with gain control
PWM input with gain control
PW control
coarse, fine tune controls
output gain + conector
1x 24dB VCF

cutoff input with gain control
ext. Signal conector with gain control
output signal conector with gain cotrol
cutoff, resonance, ADSR controls
LP/HP switch
6,12,18,24 dB switch
Serial / parallel switch
VCO1/VCO2 switch
1V/oct. characteristics, switch for internal/external CV
1x 12dB VCF

cutoff input with gain control
ext. Signal conector with gain control
output signal conector with gain cotrol
cutoff, resonance, ADSR controls
LP, HP, BP switches, combinations are possible
Serial / parallel switch
VCO3/VCO4 switch
1V/oct. characteristics, switch for internal/external CV

2x Dual VCA

AM input and gain control
Ext. Signal and gain control
Gain control
ADSR on/off switch
4x ADSR

attack, decay, sustain, release controls
envelope conector
AD/ADSR mode switch
1x triple LFO

3x freq controls
3x output conectors tringle, sawtooth, pulse
1x Noise modul

low/fast random voltage control
outputs: white nose, coloured noise, random voltage
1x COM modul (Common Output Module)

equalizer bass, midle, treble
output gain control
2x 6.3mm jack audio outputs
LED +15V/+5V/-15V"

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🚀 Elektor Formant 🚀 analog Synthesizer

Published on May 13, 2014 MIGONGO·5 videos

★eLEkTOr FOrmANt ★ analOG synTh

Elektor Formant Modular demo

Published on May 7, 2014 Stotz Daniel Philipp·18 videos

"Formant modular for sale! One of the best working Formants you can find! 4 VCO, 2 VCF, 2 VCA, 4 ADSR, 3 LFO... Completely serviced, calibrated and in great technical and optical condition. For details, price etc. please refer to http://www.synthservice.cz/?page_id=12. The item is located near Prague/Czech Republic."

Vintage One Off THB Synthesizer by Thomas Bredenfeld

Note: Auction links are affiliate links for which the site may be compensated.

via this auction

Googlish: "vintage device for hobbyists - have the angschlossen synth at times of the system and also tested with headphones - the flash device (ie lamp lit) but there is no sound - I think the volume controller has no contact - that is only for people with the electronics know - unfortunately I do not -."

Note this is the first THB post on the site. If anyone has any additional info on THB and/or this particular synth, feel free to comment or shoot me an email.

Update: Zoe Blade wrote in to let us know she found Thomas Bredenfeld who had the following to say: "@zoeblade yes, i've made it. ...looooong ago :-)" followed by "This 1st one was based on formant DIY synth. made a 2nd one later with curtis ICs from http://www.doepfer.de"

Formant was a DIY brand of synths. You can find more posts featuring Formant on the Formant channel here on MATRIXSYNTH.

Update: make that THB. I originally posted TBH.

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Doepfer Dark Time gate Ratchet into Roland SH101 with custom outputs to Formant Modular

Published on Oct 3, 2013 Vykaar raakyV·15 videos

"Dark time sequence goes to CV and Gate inputs of modified SH101 through a Clock and Gate adder box for flam/ratcheting effects. New CV & G outputs of SH101 go to Formant Modular synth giving control of transpose and glide. This is just a demo of the mods in use and is not a magnificent octopus."

Ratcheting Doepfer Dark Time

Published on Oct 2, 2013

"Prototype manual ratcheting box combines gate with faster clock to give multiple triggers to two gate outputs. Final design will be more stable, easier to actuate and switchable using a voltage or gate as well as a button."

Elektor 3D pad: Touchless Gesture Control Interface

Published on Apr 1, 2014 ElektorIM·87 videos

The real reason you want this is explained at 4:02. Also useful for after picking things.

"You can easily produce a Touchless Gesture Control interface that's capable of reliably providing 3-dimensional co-ordinates (X, Y, and Z axes). This simple, experimental device, designed in collaboration with the Elektor Labs team, consists of a sandwich made up of a PCB called an electrode plane, an Arduino Uno, and a shield, with control software. http://www.elektor-magazine.com/130508"

Update via Jean in the comments: 3Dpad is now on Indiegogo: http://igg.me/at/ootsidebox3Dpad/x
Find out more on FB: https://www.facebook.com/3D.Pad

Elektor Formant Acid Jam with Tubbutec MIDI Interface

Published on Jan 30, 2013 tubbutec·6 videos

"Steph and me jamming with the Elektor Formant and the midi interface I'm developing...
note the polyphony ;-)

unfortunately the camera cuts the bass, so the whole magic sub-bass is missing,..you just have to imagine it ;-)

http://tubbutec.de for more infos"

Elektor Formant midi interface early demo

Published on Jan 2, 2013

"This is me playing around with midi Elektor formant midi interface. It is still in developement, but it already sounds quite nice....."

Siggi's Super Formant Synthesizer - Sound Monster

Published on Jan 4, 2014 Art Motion Emotion·8 videos

"Siggi's Super Formant Synthesizer ist der weltweit einzige und grösste Formant Synthesizer mit einer Vielzahl modifizierter und speziell angefertigter Baugruppen.
Anfang 2013 hatte ich eine der wenigen Gelegenheiten Siggi bei der Arbeit filmen zu dürfen.
Die dabei entstehende 'Musik' bezeichne ich als Organische Maschinen Puls Musik.

Siggi's Super Formant Synthesizer is the world's only and biggest formant synthesizer include a variety of modified and specially manufactured modules.
In beginning of 2013 I was able to film one of the few occasions Siggi at work.
The resulting 'music' I call it Organic Machine Pulse Music."

Dayum... 1st exclusive post of 2014.

Formant Modular

via Giovanni Napoli on Facebook

Update: Music made with the system, eurorack, a roland rs-09 and some FX pedals.


Fanciulli GOOM Live @ Recipient_Carrozzeria Margot // 51Beats.net

Published on Dec 15, 2013 51BEATSlabel·38 videos

"Fanciulli GOOM è un collettivo sonoro, un progetto organico di improvvisazione elettronica che si modifica a seconda dei vari ospiti che si alternano. Sceglie l'improvvisazione come filosofia compositiva, il dialogo fra macchine e la sincronizzazione fra diversi sistemi elettronici come criterio strutturale e la spiritualità come motivo di esistere.
Le session tendono a sonorità che si avvicinano a quelle dei primi sperimentatori della radio BBC e dello studio di fonologia musicale RAI e a quelle dei pionieri dell'elettronica. Fanciulli GOOM è dedito allo studio di fenomeni metafisici come l'impossibilità di applicare un delay al verso di una papera.
http://www.51beats.net/index.php/arti..."

Googlish:

"GOOM Fanciulli is a collective sound, a project of organic electronic improvisation that changes depending on the number of guests who take turns. Chooses improvisation as a compositional philosophy, the dialogue between the machines and the synchronization between different electronic systems such as structural criterion and the spirituality as a reason to exist.
The sessions tend to sounds that are similar to those of the first investigators of BBC radio and the study of musical phonology RAI and those of the pioneers of electronics. Children GOOM is dedicated to the study of psychic phenomena such as the inability to apply a delay to the direction of a duck.
http://www.51beats.net/index.php/arti ..."

DIY Formant Analog Modular Synth

Note: Auction links are affiliate links for which the site may be compensated.

via this auction

"3 VCO - VCA - VCFQ - LFO - NOISE - 2 ADSR - INTERFACE - LINK MANIFOLDS 15x --- RINGMODULATOR ---- ACUTRONICS 42 CM 3-SPRING REVERB ---- IN WOOD CASE LEATHERETTE..."

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Bead factory transmissions

Published on Jul 7, 2013 technomantra·44 videos

"Many synths plugged in"

ARP Sequencer, Formant modular & Roland RS-505.

ELEKTOR FORMANT MODULAR

Note: Auction links are affiliate links for which the site may be compensated.

via eBay Germany

Pics of the inside below.

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Laura J Martin

via It's Full of Stars where you'll find more pics.

KORG Mono/Poly & Formant modular.  Paia and Moog modular in the background.

Elektor Formant Goes Digital with the d-Formant: Digital Formant Synth

This one in via Grant B.  via Elektor

"FORMANT is an analog monophonic synthesizer published in the 70’s from Elektor magazine. It has a modular structure that allows it to be constructed step-by-step and expanded at will. It can be built at home and it is an excellent model to fully understand the operation of subtractive-type synthesizers.

This project presents a completely digital counterpart of the original FORMANT; let’s call it d-FORMANT. The basic idea is to replace the analog voltage that represents a signal with a digital 16-bits serial signal. The modular structure is fully maintained. Even the patching capabilities of the original FORMANT has been kept and the user can connect and disconnect cables while the d-FORMANT is working. All the knobs and switches can be implemented, although this first version of the d-FORMANT has a much simpler (and cheaper) user interface: A LCD, some buttons and a rotary encoder are enough to do the jobs of all the potentiometers and switches of the original FORMANT. The keyboard can be any MIDI device that sends simple “note on” and “note off” commands. The digital output passes through a DAC to produce an analog out.

The next post discuses some basic aspects that govern the entire project, while all the subsequent posts describe each module. Note that the structure of the analog FORMANT has been kept, so there are VCOs, VCF, ADSR and any module of the original design
Implementation

All parts except the DAC are through-hole. This makes the construction of the various modules very easy. The author has handled used the DAC also by hand, making a simple “adaptor”. All modules have been constructed in prototyping boards.

Further work

The design keeps its modular structure allowing expansion and modification. For example, a REVERB module, or a QUITAR FUZZY BOX can be added.

The user interface is very simple. However, its output is in RS232-type format. A possible enhancement could be to implement a user interface that is easier to use, either in hardware, or in software running on another machine (a tablet for example). The obvious benefit of the digital nature of the synthesizer is the existence of already stored sets of parameters.

The synthesizer is monophonic; however it is easier to expand the digital than the analog FORMANT to produce a polyphonic model.

The final design is cheap enough to implement it “just for fun”, and capable enough to have fun!"

Studio Science: Patrick Pulsinger On Patching Modular Synths

Published on May 8, 2013 redbullmusicacademy·199 videos

Moog, Eurorack & Formant modulars.

"Viennese-bred producer Patrick Pulsinger has managed to leave his warped electronic signature on just about every style and tempo of dance music, including albums from Hercules And Love Affair and Elektroguzzi among others. Here, he demonstrates patching his bespoke modular synth at the 2013 Red Bull Music Academy in New York.

Originally from East Germany, Pulsinger moved to Austria while still a child, and got into producing acid techno after he moved to New York to escape the Austrian military service. On returning home, he set up the Cheap Entertainment label and began releasing his music under various pseudonyms, on imprints like Disko B, Compost Black Label, and Mo' Wax. Weaving together elements from across the spectrum of Detroit techno, Chicago house, funk, jazz, electro, soul, hip hop, and disco, Patrick has the ability to spin out a masterpiece. When he isn't working on compositions for film scores, collaborations with orchestras and choirs, or as co-operator of Vienna's Feedback Studio, he is also responsible for two remarkable albums in electronic music in recent years: Elektro Guzzi's self-titled exploration into organic techno, and the second album by Andy Butler's Hercules and Love Affair.

For more films, lectures and features, visit redbullmusicacademy.com"

Vintage German Synth Ads

Pictured:
1978 German Akai Synthesizer-100f
1978 PPG 1020/250
1978 ICS Formant

 via Sven Steglich Blog where you'll find more.