Atom Run - Moog Voyager OS Prophet 08 etc | Japan Computer Graphics Lab (1984)

Published on May 27, 2015 DouglasHurdGymnast

"Prophet 08, Juno 60, Moog Voyager OS, Yamaha EX5, TAL Bassline 101, Hollowsun Drumsynth

Inspired by old '80s computer videos that I remember watching as a kid. Check this out:"

Japan Computer Graphics Lab (1984)

Uploaded on Aug 11, 2009 VintageCG

"Demo reel from the Japan Computer Graphics Lab circa 1984. Quite a few flying logos, along with segments from the Lensman animated movie."

Atom Run - Prophet 08 & Co

Published on May 27, 2015

"Prophet 08, Juno 60, Moog Voyager OS, Yamaha EX5, TAL Bassline 101, Hollowsun Drumsynth

Inspired by old '80s computer videos that I remember watching as a kid. Check this out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RaDI..."

Japan Computer Graphics Lab (1984)

Stephen Howell and the Subharchord

Stephen Howell and the Subharchord from Ina Pillat on Vimeo.

"December 2011 at the Museum of Technology (Deutsches Technikmuseum) in Berlin. Stephen Howell takes recordings of the instrument. Per Platou, founder and leader of www.pnek.org, has invited him to create a sound library and helps him with the recordings. Inventor Gerd Steinke in conversation with Stephen Howell.

Photography: Jenny Barth
Sound: Johannes Schmelzer-Ziringer
Director: Ina Pillat
Production: Norwegian Arts Council // Per Platou, Ina Pillat"

This on in via Atomic Shadow who brought us the sad news on Stephen Howell's passing. I added the video to that post as well.

"A Sad Day for Sound" - Tribute to Hollow Sun's Steve Howell by Richard London

via Richard Londonsoundlab on The MATRIXSYNTH Lounge

Featuring: "the shell, the novachord, newtron bomb 3 (the mellotron), and i think some cathotron"

"(C) Richard London, 2014

Remembering Steve Howell of Hollow Sun, a sound connoisseur's sound designer. In the modern world, where we can have any sound imaginable at our fingers, few sound designers stand out. My music changed when I discovered the world of quality virtual instruments. One of my first experiences was with Hollow Sun. Thank you Steve for doing the impossible and putting a Novachord at my fingertips.

www.hollowsun.com

Steve Howell's sound design has inspired me countless times, and though I never knew him, I will sincerely miss receiving news in my inbox from him with the latest treasures from Hollow Sun."

RIP Stephen Howell of Hollow Sun

We lost another. Some sad news in via Atomic Shadow:

"I learned this morning of the passing of my best friend, Stephen Howell. Many of you know of his work as Hollow Sun. He was a well respected sound designer who had worked for Peter Gabriel and many others. He was a long time fixture at Akai Professional where he designed the UI for many of their top products as well as producing the sample content.

Stephen was my mentor and gave me the nudge to take my music in to a totally abstract direction. Without him there would have been no Atomic Shadow project. I plan to write a bit more about him when I can think more clearly. I am closing down yesterday's world of tomorrow, at least for now.

We only produced one piece of music together. I always tried to get him to do more of his own music, but he said that making music did not pay the bills. He was correct of course. I cut together a video to go with it at the time. Please enjoy it and share it with anyone that you know who may have known Stephen, or had their musical experience made more alive by using one of his instruments."


Mid Century Electronica from Atomic Shadow on Vimeo.

"A short piece featuring my vintage, tube HP sine wave generators, tape loops and ring modulators with a photographic homage to the early pioneers of electronica.... Daphne Oram in twin set, the impish Delia Derbyshire of the early BBC Radiophonic Workshop, several tweedy boffins in their music labs, Karlheinz Stockhausen and so many others. A different age when innovation and ingenuity triumphed over the many technical limitations of the age.

Abstract music soundtrack re-mixed and produced by Stephen Howell of Hollow Sun using traditional techniques in a digital age."

You can find an interview with Stephen Howell on SoundBytes here.

"I was always huge fan of early electronica and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop (Dr Who, Delia Derbyshire and all that as a six-year-old), Louis and Bebe Barron (who did the ‘electronic tonalities’ for the classic sci-fi movie ‘Forbidden Planet’) and loved the weird old gear they used to make/use, so Mario and I were able to design and create, using Kontakt, weird and wonderful things that flew in the face of, shall we say, more ‘conventional’ modern synths and sampler instruments..."

Indeed. Click here for all posts featuring Hollow Sun on MATRIXSYNTH. Each post is a tribute to his spirit. He will be sorely missed.

Update: Failed Muso has set up a condolence page here.

And on KVR here.

Update2:


Stephen Howell and the Subharchord from Ina Pillat on Vimeo.

"December 2011 at the Museum of Technology (Deutsches Technikmuseum) in Berlin. Stephen Howell takes recordings of the instrument. Per Platou, founder and leader of www.pnek.org, has invited him to create a sound library and helps him with the recordings. Inventor Gerd Steinke in conversation with Stephen Howell.

Photography: Jenny Barth
Sound: Johannes Schmelzer-Ziringer
Director: Ina Pillat
Production: Norwegian Arts Council // Per Platou, Ina Pillat"

Happy Party - Prophet 08 & Moog Voyager Old School

Published on Jan 12, 2014 DouglasHurdGymnast·5 videos

"Pro 08, Voyager OS, Juno 60, Omnisphere, Hollowsun Drumbox

Thought I'd give the Prophet the first shout as it contributed to about 80% of the track, including the bass. Super flexible little synth."

Hollow Sun's HEXXON

via Hollow Sun:

"Not so long ago, a spacecraft from a distant galaxy crash landed just outside Lympley Stoke, a small town not far from Bath, England. Given the significance of the event, the military moved in (as they do) and instructed to move the wreckage to Area 51 for extra terrestrial examination. However, owing to the typical ineptness of the British civil service, it was actually sent to Area 51 in Basingstoke, a tattoo and piercing parlour of some reknown in the area.

The owner wasn't quite sure what to make of it all and could get no sense from the the delivery chap ... he tried refusing delivery only to be greeted with "Sorry mate - more than my job's worth. Sign here, mate". So he was lumbered with it but knowing of our fondness for oddness, the owner contacted us and we hot footed it to the place where we retrieved one of the panels...

The rest of the wreckage was taken away by the local council by burly lads in hi-viz tabards, goggles and hard hats to satisfy Health & Safety regulations. Quite what the re-cycling department made of the harder than diamond metal is anyone's guess.

It took us a while to figure out the panel and recreate it but we managed it eventually.

It uses hex-cells for controls which are colour coded and the brighter they are, the higher the parameter value. At the core of the instrument are 64 waveforms that are derived from a variety of sources. Some are basic sawooths, squares, sines, PWMs, etc., from the Dotcom; others are long and textural and come from a variety of sources but fed through the Dotcom's ladder (Moog) filter, multimode (state variable) filter, Suit&Tie guy's 'Sea Devil' VCS3 filter clone and Dotcom's clipper, rectifier and fixed frequency filter...

There's a 64-wave oscillator with its own pitch env and LFO. This passes to a lo-fi processor and saturation unit before passing to a multi-mode LP/BP/HP filter with variable slopes. Not just that, the filter types aren't switched but continuously variable allowing a lot of tonal flexibility. And all this passes to the output with its own ADSR and LFOs for amplitude and pan modulation ... which then passes to a multi effects chain with flanger, phaser, echo and convolving reverb with a wide range of custom impulses.

The result is that Hexxon is capable of a wide range of textures. It's perferctly capable of 'traditional' synth noises but textural soundscapes is more its forté..."

This one in via Atomic Shadow.

The Doctor and The Master - Moog Voyager Old School

Published on Jul 31, 2013 DouglasHurdGymnast·3 videos

"Moog Voyager OS, Prophet 08, Juno 60, Yamaha EX5, Hollowsun Drumbox

It could be me but doesn't the Tardis look like some sort of old Con Brio synth with a couple of MC-500s on the dashboard and a massive vintage KerPlunk set in the middle?

Anyway.....He's coming to get you!! - HIDE UNDER YOUR BED (unless you're like my better half and I and have a divan, in which case you're done for).

Imagine if Tom Baker had gone head-to-head with ultimate Master Roger Delgado. That would have made for a cracking watch. Obviously, I liked Anthony Ainley but he always seemed like a very hammy Zod with a bit of Kenny Everett thrown in for good measure."

General Zod - Juno 60 and Moog Voyager Old School

Published on May 27, 2013 DouglasHurdGymnast·2 videos

"Gear: Juno 60, Moog Voyager Old School, Omnisphere, a few pedals and Hollow Sun Drumbox. Quick improv for fun.

Think the Moog needs calibrating. Bloody analogs eh!

Factoid: An Englishman must always finish his tea before employing an LFO."

General Zod - Juno 60 and Moog Voyager Old School

Published on May 27, 2013

"Gear: Juno 60, Moog Voyager Old School, Omnisphere, a few pedals and Hollow Sun Drumbox. Quick improv for fun.

Think the Moog needs calibrating. Bloody analogs eh!

Factoid: An Englishman must always finish his tea before employing an LFO."

New Hollow Sun Optomotron & NewTron Bomb Update

via Hollow Sun

"It's been a busy time here at 'The Towers' of late with no less than TWO new products on the go ... well, one new product and a major update to an existing one plus a special package.

Our new product is 'Optomotron' and uses multi-samples from the rare Vako Orchestron which used optical disks to make lo-fi and crunchy sounds...

You can layer sounds, tune, balance and shape sounds and there are switches to add some gunk to the sounds - wow and flutter, distorted cab and 'honky' EQ and all this passes to a comprehensive effects section with chorus, phaser, echo and convolution reverb with custom impulses from springs to vintage plates, room, halls and massive ambiences.

One nice touch is that we have not just the scratchy, wobbly stuff recorded directly from the old optical disks but also the original master tape recordings which you can mix freely using the WORN switches.

We've also inluded our usual random patch generator..."



"Our other offering is an update to our popular NewTron Bomb...

We've taken the original and inspired by what we did with Optomotron, brought it up to date with layering where two 'Tron sounds can be combined, tuned, mixed, shaped, etc., before passing on to the echo and convolution reverb effects. We've also added the rare 1/2 speed playback option that some Tronsters of old had done to their instruments. There are also switches to add wow and flutter, velocity (which should be off for authenticity, of course!) and random sample start (as on the real thing when tapes didn't quite return to zero).

It's available now for just £20 (less than the original Newtron) and believe me, as an ex-Tron owner myself, it sounds magnificent - layering 1/2 speed choir with normal speed strings, whatever, is just gusset moistening!! I shall try and make some new audio demos soon ... or get someone talented to make some!

But we've not stopped there...

As an introductory offer, given the technical and sonic similarities between the two (one generating 'real' sounds off tape, the other off optical disk), we're making them both available for a mere £30 in a special package. You can look at that as £15 each or Newtron III for a £tenner - either way, a decent enough saving.

If it appeals to you, until such time as I get a webpage together, you can buy it here directly..."

These in via Atomic Shadow who recently released The Panoramic Wave Generator.

New Hollow Sun SOTU

A new instrument from Hollow Sun

"If you have even the vaguest interest in anything cosmological, you will no doubt be aware that NASA and other international space agencies have been sending probes out into the deepest recesses of our solar system and, with the aid of telescopes as well, have been recording the radio waves emitted by our universe and converting them to audio. The music of the spheres as was once referred to in the middle ages ... or the Sounds Of The Universe ... or SOTU.

It's intriguing and beguiling stuff - long evolving soundscapes that rumble and warble and bleep and phase and swirl, the kind of thing you might expect from an exquisite album of abstract electronica or 'chill out' music. I did contact NASA to license these recordings but they weren't keen. Well... bollocks to them because...

It's all a con, a cunning ruse - there's a race of impish aliens out there who have a machine that generates these sounds which they broadcast around the cosmos to confuse us earthlings ...

And we have laid our hands on it and recreated it for Kontakt 4..."

This one in via Atomic Shadow

BAL PARE - Rockstars

Published on Dec 25, 2012 by GeisterFahrei

Some NSFW images in this one.

"Another unreleased track, fits perfect for x-mas days!
Music,lyrics, video by Matthias Schuster 2012"

KORG MS20s & SQ-10s just for imagery.

Actual synths used for the track:

Roland Jupiter 6 for Bassline
Moog Minimoog Second Bass bzw lead
Roland D-50 lead Synth
Emu E IV for Drum
Mixed on Tascam M-3500 console

http://www.thegeisterfahrer.de/thegeisterfahrer.de/Heimat.html

This one in via Atomic Shadow

Hollow Sun Pulstar / ZapZorn Elements Pre-Sale Promotion

Hollow Sun Pulstar / ZapZorn Elements Pre-Sale Promotion from ZapZorn Composer Tools on Vimeo.
"From November 30th to December 3rd, ZapZorn Composer Tools and Hollow Sun are joining together to promote their two new products ZapZorn Elements and Hollow Sun Pulstar. This Pre-Sale offers ZapZorn Elements at a special rate of $119 for Elements (regularly $139) to Hollow Sun users."

via Atomic Shadow

Egg Water

YouTube Published on Aug 19, 2012 by davidryle

"Multi-tracked modular and a few soft synths. Kontakt5 & Hollow Sun's Vintage String Machine "Eminent 310". LinPlug Octopus patches. The modular synth is tracked in one take and is all the weird noises (duh). The melodic content is played on a Novation ReMOTE 37SL. Recorded in Cubase6 and video edited with Final Cut ProX."

Hollow Sun ADVANCED NOISE GENERATOR

via Hollow Sun

"Sometimes, you just can't have enough noise. For special effects, sound design, atmos, drum and percussion sounds, sweeps, etc., noise is such an invaluable tool.

Sadly, these days, noise is something of an afterthought on many synths with just one paltry selection and with today's software based synths generating it digitally, it's just not the same as true analogue noise, it's pseudo-random noise based on mathematical algorithms.

True analogue noise is created using a zener diode which is biased into breakdown to produce truly random noise. Another method is to use a transistor wired so that its emitter-base junction is reverse biased which does much the same as a zener diode.

It seems daft but analogue noise does have an appreciably 'weightier' quality to it than virtual analogue noise, even though they may 'look' essentially the same on a 'scope or in a wave editor.

The Advanced Noise Generator provides all this and more..."

Hollow Sun Promotes Bob Moog Foundation with Atomic Shadow

via Hollow Sun Records

"Atomic Shadow shares the same birth date (May 23rd) as the late, great Dr Robert Moog. inventor of the Moog synthesiser.

In recognition of this coincidence, for a limited time, we've decided to make The Shadow's first two albums, 'Project Berna' and 'Creatures From Beyond', available for just £3 each with all proceeds to be donated to the Bob Moog Foundation.

The Bob Moog Foundation ignites the innovator in us all through exposure to interactive educational experiences that draw from Dr. Bob Moog's legacy of groundbreaking work at the intersection of music, science, and imagination.

Maverick electronic explorer, Atomic Shadow, is at the forefront of modern abstract electronica using as he does true retro equipment from the 50s and 60s ... test oscillators, reel-to-reel tape machines for feeding in tape loops or tape delays, etc., and a hint of modernity with MoogerFooger pedals. His music invokes influences from the likes of Tod Dockstader, the BBC Radiophonic Workshop and others. Atomic Shadow's electronica is moody and dark, sometimes chilling, sometimes challenging, sometimes whimsical, always intriguing.

He was recently runner up in the London Science Museum's 'Oramix' remix competition judged by Brian Eno, DJ Spooky and The Wire.

He also recently won the 'I Dream Of Wires' modular synth award with exemptions and exceptions that although his wall of retro gear isn't exactly a 'modular synth' per se and pre-dates Dr Moog's classic designs, it represents instead the kind of music laboratories of the early pioneers which Bob Moog rationalised into the synthesisers we know today


The Shadow says of his contribution...

'The futuristic sounds of the early pioneers of electronic music captured my imagination as a child and continues to influence my work to this day. Dr. Bob was one of these pioneers. From his early love of the Theremin to his ground breaking modular instruments, through the innovative keyboards that have appeared on countless classic and modern recordings. This legacy must be preserved for our children and I am happy to give the Bob Moog Foundation my support. Through their efforts, the next generation of music and engineering pioneers may be inspired to dream, innovate and create the sounds for an entirely new world of tomorrow...'" Catch the full post and the releases at Hollow Sun Records. And of course, Happy Birthday Bob Moog and Atomic Shadow!


The following is a composite sampler of Atomic Shadow's "Berna Suite".




"Compilation/remix of Atomic Shadow's 'Project Berna' album which, along with his 'Creatures From Beyond', is being sold for a limited time with all proceeds going to the Bob Moog Foundation.

The Shadow shares the same birth date as the late, great Dr Bob so what better way to mark that coincidence.

@AtomicShadow

Please buy these albums (a mere £3.00 (approx $4.5) each) to not only contribute to a great cause but to also have two fantastic albums of abstract electronica in your collection."

http://www.hollowsunrecords.co.uk/bmf/
http://www.facebook.com/BobMoogFoundation

Atomic Shadow - "February - Moon of Ice" Featuring Vintage HP Oscillators

Moon Of Ice.mpg from Atomic Shadow on Vimeo.

A short film by Michael Dodds featuring Moon of Ice from the album Twelve Full Moons.
http://www.atomicshadow.com/

Note: Hollow Sun Records is no more. Find links for the 12 Full Moons album at atomicshadow.com

Hollow Sun 130p on Sale

via Hollow Sun

"Our intrepid explorers have uncovered yet another relic from yesteryear... some military equipment they have salvaged from a bygone age which we have taken apart and modified to create a(nother) unique and unusual synthesiser.

We've managed to modify this old kit to give seven mixable oscillators, each one individually tunable using thumbwheel controls and a DETUNE control to add depth. With FM and AM and a LO-FI control that reduces sample rate and bit-depth, 130p is capable of a wide range of sounds from the abstract to the extreme and as capable of prog leads, basses and soft pads to bizzare, retro noises, machine drones and effects that wouldn't be out of place in an old British sci-fi movie and a perfect complement for the other MLMs."

Available now for £8 - via Steve Howell on The MATRIXSYNTH LOUNGE

Fingerwolf Studio Pics

A few studio pics in via Fingerwolf who has a new release out on Hollow Sun Records titled "HERE BE WOLVES". Click through to check it out.

Pictured:
Emu Proteus
Yamaha SY22
MFOS Weird Sound Generator

Click the pics for the full size shots.

Other gear used: "I use Kontakt (Hollow Sun Novachord library is excellent!) and Abysnth as well as the Reason synths. Various other bits of kit have come and gone, but pop up on various of the tracks on Here Be Wolves: Blofeld, Monomachine, Machinedrum, Roland SH-201, Nord Lead 2, a Spector bass, and a Roland v-drum kit."