MATRIXSYNTH: MMM


Showing posts with label MMM. Show all posts
Showing posts with label MMM. Show all posts

Friday, January 24, 2020

Performance Music Systems SYNTAR Turns 40



via @sdf_pubnix

"it’s been 40 years since the Performance Music Systems SYNTAR was introduced at the #namm show in #1980 by george mattson - bob #moog even got to try it out #keytar #namm2020 #eml #analog #synthesizer #ymo #rydeen #cover"

Check out previous posts featuring the Syntar here.

The Syntar was the first self-contained synthesizer keytar. Before the Syntar, keytars were controllers. The Syntar was created by George Mattson of Mattson Mini Modular. There was a keyboardless version of the Syntar called the SWAN, or Syntar Without a Neck. A SWAN II was announced back in 2018, under development with Division 6.

Update: you can find a great article on the Syntar at Carbon111.com here, and an interview I did with George Mattson way back in 2006 here.

Sunday, June 02, 2019

Synth Wizards Episode 7: Syntars, Keytars & Orphicas


Published on Jun 1, 2019 Syntaur

"Keyboardists have wanted to go portable for way longer than you might have thought! Come along with Syntaur’s Sam Mims as he chases the fascinating history of the keytar, or strap-on synthesizer, and talks to some of the people who made these inventions happen. And watch the Syntaur crew bring a smashed Roland keytar back to life!"

Synth Wizards 7 Behind the Scenes: Strawberry Fields on Tubon/Mellotron

Published on Jun 1, 2019 Syntaur

"Sam and Eddie show you how the Strawberry Fields Forever audio for Synth Wizards Episode 7 was created."

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Note the Moog Liberation contains the guts of the Realistic MG-1 made by Moog for Radio Shack.

Tuesday, January 23, 2018

George Mattson Announces His Retirement and the Division 6 SWAN II Eurorack System


This one is in via George Mattson of Mattson Mini Modular. Back on September 15, 2007, I posted a little teaser that would eventually launch Mattson back into the synth manufacturing world. He is the man behind the Syntar - the original keytar synthesizer, and the SWAN (Syntar Without A Neck) was the follow-up non-keytar version. It's fitting and an honor that George Mattson is announcing his retirement and a new SWAN here on MATRIXSYNTH.

"Hello to all of my dear synth friends, customers, and associates.

After 45 years of involvement in the synthesizer community, it is time for me to retire.

The community is on the right track with some extremely talented, enthusiastic people that can carry on the vision while I step back and focus on actually learning to play the gear I have acquired throughout the years. What a concept…

I thank all of you for the support and friendship that you have provided to me throughout the years. It has been very humbling and I bow to all of you.

I am currently working on my last system design along with my little brother Scott Rise of Division 6. He will be the “manufacturer” and sales point for the S.W.A.N. II.

It’s basically a 60HP 3U complete system. It has 3 VCOs and two separate voice chains. It contains a sequencer, arpeggiator, and the VCOs can be split to upper/lower priority for duophonic operations.

The main 60HP unit has Basic I/O.

For patching ability, there will be a 24HP expander that provides access to more I/O. It will also have sequencer program save/recall functions and the ability to set MIDI channels via the control panel. The two VCF notch outputs will also be accessible.

The main system VCOs will have continuously variable waveform mixing between triangle, square, and saw outputs similar to the EML 101 style of mixing. Both VCFs will also have continuously variable mode mixing between LP, BP, and HP, also like the EML 101.

There will be a 20HP expander panel that will allow for VC control of the VCO waveform mixing and the VCF mode mixing, along with a couple of cascaded buffered multiples and a couple of cascaded clock dividers/square wave sub generators.

That’s it in a nutshell. I’ve been working on this since May of last year and have been trying to balance my time between this design and getting ready to retire.

Price point? Not enough info yet to determine. Probably under $1K for the main unit.
Release date? June/July? As soon as we can. We may crowdfund manufacturing, but we need to accumulate more data first.

Once I have retired, I will still be doing custom system builds. I can’t totally pull away from this art.

Again, thank all of you for your support, and I’ll see you at Knobcon.

George Mattson"

Wednesday, August 17, 2016

Mattson Mini Modular System for Sale

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

via this auction

"For sale a Mattson Mini Modular, hand made by master synth builder George Mattson. The MMM circuitry is 99% based on the classic EML 100
It has a very "vintage" analog tone...unlike a lot of modern eurorack modulars. This synth plays well with most eurorack modular gear that I've used. The MMM comes with:
2x vco
2x filter
16 step sequencer, and sequencer expander
2mixers
MIDI to cv
2x envelope generators
2x vca
LFO
Sample and hold
Utility 1 modual
Cv mixer
Noise generator
Cv buffer mixer
Vca /ring modulator
All in a beautiful walnut case."

Friday, July 08, 2016

Red Martian at Bear Creek Studio with Mattson Mini Modular System - Cowboy to Be Officially Released


via Red Martian [bandcamp]

"Working with Scott Jackman and Gordon Raphael at Bear Creek Studio processing drums and other instruments using a guitar has a controller."

And for fans of Cowboy (featuring the Mattson Mini Modular), the single will finally be officially released after sevent years of making it's debut.

via @distillerpromo:

"Hey Radio folks, this retro lookin' synth-tastic record by @sdf_pubnix (Red Martian) goes for RPM ADDs on 7/12!"

via @somnambulist:

"Great music, THX @distillerpromo ! 5" floppy disc promo feat. Mattson Mini Modular synthesiser by Red Martian. #MMM"

Floppy disk pick below. See this video for what they look like when opening.

Details coming: http://www.sanfordco.com

Saturday, December 26, 2015

RED MARTIAN ETT VYKORT EDISON PHONOGRAPH RECORD


Published on Dec 25, 2015

"2M Edison phonograph record"

RED MARTIAN ひょろりEDISON PHONOGRAPH WAX CYLINDER RECORD

Published on Dec 22, 2015

"Limited run of 20 Edison Phonograph wax cylinder records.
BUGHLT KL-27B"

Friday, December 25, 2015

RED MARTIAN GHOST INTO THE FOG EDISON PHONOGRAPH WAX CYLINDER


Published on Dec 22, 2015 Redmartian

"Limited run of 20 Edison Phonograph wax cylinder records
BUGHLT KL-27A"

Wednesday, May 27, 2015

Matttech Modular WMD Workshop - Ultra Fold


Published on May 27, 2015 DivKidMusic

http://www.wmdevices.com/

All parts here

"On April 22nd 2015 Matttech Modular put on a workshop at Madlab in Manchester, UK, featuring William Mathewson from WMDevices, where he kindly demonstrated his new range of modules. These were designed in collaboration with Steady State Fate's Andrew Morelli and we got to see the much-anticipated Monolith keyboard in all its glory. William also ran through some of WMDevices' classic designs - such as the Geiger Counter, Synchrodyne and PDO mk.2.

In part 3 William takes us through the Ultra Wave 6 stage wave folder."

http://www.patreon.com/divkid

Friday, March 07, 2014

New Mattson Label


This is a transition post going from the original MMM label to Mattson. See the MMM channel below for older posts than this. MMM of course stands for Mattson Mini Modular. New posts will featured the Mattson label.

Z777 - "Kneeon Kick"


Published on Mar 7, 2014 MrCzimmer777·21 videos

"No midi or computers. Analog outboard to Mackie Onyx 1620i from Moog Little Phatty and Roland Juno Di. Moog filtered by a Synthesizers.com dual LFO sweeps and as Mackie Return to the Moog. Drums by TipTop Audio 909 and 808. The brain of the operation was controlled via CV from a Mattson SQ816 to a WMD envelope generator. Compression emulated via Mackie Send/Return chain. Most of all...enjoy"

Monday, March 03, 2014

I Have A Peculiar Way (original made up along the way)


Published on Mar 3, 2014 MrCzimmer777·19 videos
Update: video Re-Published on Mar 3, 2014

"Synthesizers.com connected to the Moog Little Phattly Stage II. Roland Juno connected to the Moog filter and iPad Mini Moog. All connected to the Mattson SQ816 and the Mattson connected to the WMD, the 4MS Pingable and the Roland 909's by Tip Top Audio. Ableton Live just connecting all the midi to CV from one set of drum clips. Oh and me making vocal sound offs. That's all folks...."

Friday, February 21, 2014

lost in music


Published on Feb 21, 2014 brendon moeller·9 videos

"mattson SQ816, frequency central waverider, jupiter storm, intellijel dial adsr, korgasmatron 2, optomix, time factor, supermoon"

Division-6 Mattson SQ816 drives the sequence.

Friday, February 14, 2014

Mutable Instrument Edges Quad Chiptune Audio Generator


Published on Feb 13, 2014 bigcitymusic·297 videos

"Here is our first video of the Mutable Instrument Edges quad chiptune audio generator. The Edges module is being sequenced by the Division 6 Mattson SQ816 sequencer. The Cwejman D-LFO is employed to further modulate the Edges module."

Modular Synthesizer & a Kalimba


Published on Feb 13, 2014 Ritchie DeCarlo·140 videos

"MFOS Sequencer to the SSL VCO to Synthacon Steiner clone filter to Catgirl tube VCA with Wiltshire Envelopes. sympleSEQ to the Double Deka VCA to a Synthesizers.com FADE module. The Kalimba is being amplified by a Q118 10 the AniModule SOB filter with CV control from the Q118 & envelopes. Also used a Mattson CV-LFO & Q109 Synthesizers.com Envelope/ MegaOhm VCA mod."

Saturday, January 11, 2014

Pink Floyd - On The Run - with a Modular


Published on Jan 3, 2014 Patch Rubin·1 video

"my studio has been packed away for a bit, i thought remaking this Floyd track would be a good exercise to help me remember how this stuff works.

everything is self generating out of the modular. theres a maestro echoplex 4 in there as well.

http://patchdub.com
http://patchdub.bandcamp.com
https://soundcloud.com/patchdub"

"All diy modules, klee, motm, oakley, yusynth, mattson, j3rk. there is a maestro echoplex 4 in there as well."

Thursday, January 09, 2014

TONTO Arrives at the NMC Calgary Alberta, Canada

"National Music Centre acquires TONTO, world’s largest synthesizer. Credit: Chad Schroter-Gillespie."

This one in via Greg on The MATRIXSYNTH Lounge.

The National Music Center in Calgary Alberta is the new home of TONTO

"TONTO was the first and the largest, multitimbral polyphonic analog synthesizer. This means that it was one of the first synthesizers capable of producing many tone colours with different voices simultaneously.

TONTO was created by Malcom Cecil and Robert Margouleff in 1968 and marked the first attempt at creating a universal language for different synthesizers to communicate with each other, which was revolutionary. TONTO remains the largest analog synthesizer in the world."

Check out the full post at the NMC site here.

Is it the world's largest synthesizer considering modular systems can be endless in size?  It depends on how you look at it.  It is interesting to think of it as a single massive synthesizer. As for possible contenders, my first thought was Benge's studio, the old Aliens Project SynxsS studio (interview here) as well has Hans Zimmer's bookshelves of modulars, but their modular systems are effectively separate.  Are there others?  If you focus on sheer number of modules in one exclusive system there's Billy Corgan's Ichabod which consists of all Mattson modules and the recent Siggi's Super Formant Synthesizer.

"Malcom Cecil, co-creator of TONTO. Credit: Chad Schroter-Gillespie."

The following is a track featuring Tonto by Malcom Cecil & Margouleff from 1971.

Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Mattson EML Sequencer Renovation Keyboard Panels


via George Mattson on Facebook

Top: "Left keyboard panel complete. Included a Syntar left-hand keyboard controller, a ribbon controller and two VC multi mode Filters with VC resonance."

Bottom: "Right keyboard panel complete. Included a Utility 1 clock +divider, variable voltage source, two 4-channel VC mixers and a two-channel oscilloscope."

See the Mattson EML channel below for more.

Sunday, December 08, 2013

MFOS seq Double Deka VCO with Animodule SOB filter & CGS Tube VCA

Published on Dec 7, 2013 Ritchie DeCarlo·132 videos

"First exploration with a Double Deka VCO. The MFOS Rotary sequencer is also sending Volts & Gates to a Mattson VC-LFO and Synthesizers.com Envelope. The filter is the SOB made by Animodule and a Catgirl Tube VCA is our Amp/Mixer for the 2 outputs of the Double Deka"

Friday, December 06, 2013

VTA army Industrial loop

Published on May 15, 2013 1vootman·4 videos

"Using a mattson mini modular...deep bass, Mpc 2500 sampled drums running through a dsi mono evolver for efx, Jomox 888 more drums and a dsi tempest for even more drums."

Thursday, November 21, 2013

Pics of the One of a Kind Performance Music Systems S.W.A.N.


S.W.A.N.  stands for Syntar Without a Neck.  As most of you know, the Syntar was the first  synthesizer keytar and was developed by George Mattson, the man currently behind Mattson Mini Modular.  It is an all analog monophonic synth that dates back to 1981. You'll find some additional details on the S.W.A.N. previously posted here.

Only one SWAN was ever produced and you are looking at it. And no, I am not the lucky owner.

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