AudioCubes Reviews, OSC Support and Open Source SDK

New SDK and OSC Support
We put together a mini audiocube configuration panel for building audio applications easily with the cubes and Max/MSP. This will also let us develop some interesting standalone audio applications in the very near future. As an example, we created some patches to send Open Sound Control (OSC) messages to Future Audio Workshop's Circle synth using the AudioCubes. We also did a Quartz Composer example to send colour info over Open Sound Control (OSC) from Quartz to the AudioCubes' RGB LED.

AudioCubes compatible with Max/MSP 5
AudioCubes work with Max/MSP 5 Cycling '74 recently announced Max/MSP 5, a new version of its well-known creative development environment Max/MSP. As you probably already know, AudioCubes comes with an open source development kit consisting of the hardware communication external for Max/MSP and a collection of Max/MSP patches for making your own applications for AudioCubes. You can download all software from the Percussa Website under the Support section, even if you don't have AudioCubes. Today we tested the patches and external with Max/MSP 5 and all patches and external seem to work fine, so we can confirm that AudioCubes and Max/MSP 5 are compatible.

AudioCubes Review/Interview in Interface Magazine
Percussa AudioCubes in Interface Magazine Interface magazine published a nice interview with Bert and a review on AudioCubes (in Dutch). You can download a PDF file of the magazine article on the Percussa Blog. Thanks to Jean-Louis Gayet and Allard Krijger for their interest and time!

AudioCubes Review/Interview in Beat Magazine
AudioCubes Review in Beat Magazine (Germany) Beat Magazine did a nice interview and review about the AudioCubes. You can download the PDF files at the Percussa Blog. Thanks a lot to Thomas from Beat for spreading the word!

AudioCubes in Gakken’s Otonanokagaku Magazine
AudioCubes Review with Cornelius (Japan) A Japanese Magazine, Gakken’s Otonanokagaku (Science for Adults), did a review about the AudioCubes with Cornelius a while ago. You can download the PDF file of the article at the Percussa Blog. The magazine also contains an interesting synthesizer kit.

AudioCubes at GRANdE MASSIFE Event
AudioCubes at Grande Massife 08 Dirk Kuntze (DJ D'Dread) from Germany, which we met at the Musikmesse back in March, reports about the GRANdE MASSIFE where he played with AudioCubes. Grande Massife is an outdoor arts and music event. Dirk also performed at the Street ArtAffair in Leipzig with the AudioCubes. Visit the blog post for an audio interview, press releases about the event and more photos.

AudioCubes at Grande Massife (Germany)

"Dirk Kuntze (DJ D’Dread) from Germany, which we met at the Musikmesse back in March, reports about the Grande Massife where he played with AudioCubes. Grande Massife is an outdoor arts and music event."

More info and images on the Percussa blog.

Synthorama - Airböurne Synthesizer

Click here for the first set of images from my trip to Synthorama.

This set includes images of the Airböurne modular synthesizer by Martin Hollinger, curator of the Synthorama synth museum. Martin has been working on this one of a kind modular for the last several years. The design is 100% his. It is a fantastic sounding modular. I asked Martin if he planned to produce these for sale anytime soon. He said it consists of over 10,000 components so it would not be easy. He does hope to show it at the Musikmesse.

Check out the patch cables. The tips are very similar in look to the patch pin tips used by EMS, but they are much smaller. I asked Martin why he chose them. He said mainly for size and quality. The quality of them is apparently very high - better than the patch pins he showed me for EMS. The one risk however is that if too much pressure is applied at an angle, they can break. If they were to break off while patched in the modular, it could be difficult to remove them. Because of this he is not sure if he would use them again. I can say, they are very attractive and add to the overall character of the modular.

Note the blue patch cable in the shot to the left. You can see what they look like unplugged.

As for the individual modules and what they can do, check out each image in detail. I tried to capture what each can do.

In my previous post, you might remember the shot of the skateboard. The significance? Note the name. :) Also take a look at the Airbourne logo in the bottom left of the last shot below. If you look closely, you will see that it's a skateboard! Pretty cool. Martin had a collection of skateboards as well.

A note regarding the shots: not all of them are the greatest, but rather than filter the bad shots out, I decided to put everything up. I sometimes hate the way images look when using a flash - glare sometimes shows and you lose the effect of the natural lighting. So... some of these shots will be blurry because of that. You will need to use your imagination to get a sense of what the setting was like for some of these shots. I do promise you there are some great detailed shots though. There are different reasons for each, some functional, some to capture mood, and some to capture the grandeur. As always be sure to click on them for the full size. You can click on the "All Sizes" link in flickr. Feel free to grab the shots for your personal use. If you have a website, and you want to use them, do so, just be kind and provide a courtesy link back to MATRIXSYNTH.


Update: videos of the Airböurne coming up. Check back soon.
Update: Actually, the upload is being extremely slow. I'll put up a new post letting everyone know when the Update: videos have been added to this post.

genoQs Machines - Launching NEMO!

"Stuttgart, July 1st, 2008

Dear all,
back in March at the Musikmesse 2008 we have presented Nemo, the portable sequencing machine
that delighted many hearts and souls with its unconventional appearance, form factor, and power!

We take big pride in what Nemo has finally become over the past few months, and we hope you will too!
Today, on the 1st of July 2008, we are excited to share with you the great news:

Nemo is here!
Enjoy with us the material now available on our site (www.genoqs.com) describing the new machine:
- the storyboard provides an introduction to the operating model of Nemo.
- the manual describes all features in great detail, while
- the picturebook is a collection of Nemo poses over the last few weeks.

We are much looking forward to your comments, questions and feedback!
Nemo is available for order now, with delivery of pre-ordered and reserved machines starting Moday, July 7th.

Once again, our sincere thank you for the years of commitment, support and dialogue, which is probably the single most important driver that led us to this accomplishment!

Marcel Achim and Gabriel Seher
---------------------------------------------
www.genoqs.net"

Synthmeeting Zeeland 2008

via Synth.nl where you will find more shots and info.

Regarding this image:
"There were also some very nice modular systems. In the picture you see a very nice Doepfer set. I did see that stuff on the Musik Messe, but never really played with it. Unfortunately time was to short now as well. There was so much to see. And by the time I wanted to give it a go the guy that brought it had left. On the right you see another modular system that was completely self designed. So a very cool DIY project. The SH-101 was used as a CV/gate keyboard."

genoQs updates

News - Octopus OS v1.42 available, NewClassic picture book, Nemo development

"Dear all,
the last few weeks have been once again very busy over here. And these are the accomplishments:

* The resonance upon Nemo's announcement at the Messe was fantastic, and backed by the preorders we have recorded until early April. We are indeed much looking forward to the new "little" machine, that seems to become quickly our kids' new favorite. It's sure the size.. Plus, we are working hard to boost up some of the specs and prepare some nice little surprises for you by launch time.

* Octopus is seeing today a new release of the OS, now in version 1.42 (available now on our site in the download area). 1.42 is mainly a maintenance release, making the machine ready for the summer! Because we know the update procedure is not everyone's favorite, we also built in a few feature additions to help your update decision. Chords may span now up to three octaves, step pitches may become dynamic, and scale transposition comes with new qualities.
--> link

* Finally, we have compiled a new picture book featuring the NewClassic edition, which has grown fast to be the rightful heir of Legacy. The picture book is getting into some operational detail as well, making it an ideal starting point for those new to the world of Octopus.
--> link

Looking forward to the busy months ahead of us, and in the meantime wishing you all a terrific summer and fruitful musical creation!

Yours,
Marcel + Gabriel
______________
www.genoqs.net"

Sounds vom Synthesizer

via swissdoc:
"'Sounds vom Synthesizer' was a radio show from the German station HR3 (Hessischer Rundfunk in Frankfurt). It was aired every two weeks from January 1983 to December 1986. The show was moderated first by Volkmar Krammarz and later by Rainer Sauer.

The show presented music made with synthesizers, run interviews with artists in the studio in Frankfurt (i.e. Propaganda, Klaus Schulze, Jean-Michel Jarre, Tangerine Dream, Howard Jones, Michael Rother, Ash Ra Tempel, Kraftwerk, Art of Noise or Spliff to name a few).

In addition specials like the regular series 'Per Anhalter durch die Synthesizergeschichte' (The Hitchhiker's Guide to Synth History), 'We are Producers' or the 'Electronic Poll' (Reader Poll) have been part of the show.

Even synth tests or reports from Musikmesse FFM have been sent in the later shows, Equipment rangin from Kurzweil K250 to sampler cards for C64 or Apple ][.

Rainer Sauer is working these days for Radio Jena, where the old series is aired again every Saturday. Under the name 'Synthesizer Studio' it is available as a online stream from Webradio ZONO.

http://www.mynewradio.de/html/programm.html

Shows are sent in random order every night in the time from 00:00 to 04:00 MESZ (MESZ = UTC + 2h). Times are indicative, the timing is not really strict. There may be up to 3 shows during one night, but in some cases no show is sent.

The streaming URL (128 kbit mp3) is http://zono01.host01-he.comc.name:8000 [Open this one in a streaming player like Winamp AND read this full post for when to listen].

Later Rainer Sauer was organising from 1986 till 1989 the Frankfurter Synthesizertage titled 'White Waves', recording of live concerts are aired via Webradio ZONO as well under the same streaming URL later.

Text based on http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sounds_vom_Synthesizer"

physical modeling synthesizer of grand piano - pianoid

YouTube via valerykx
"Audiofanzine video from musikmesse Frankfurt 2008"
Anyone catch the name of the company? Speak Piano ID or Speed Piano ID? I did a search for both and came up dry.

Update via Valerykx in the comments: "Our companies name is pianoID :) News about device you can find here - http://www.pianoid.com/teamblog"
and via retrosynth: http://www.pianoid.com/

SunSyn 2.0 Update

via swissdoc:

"Hi Matrix,

this text is from the "Products 2008" flyer from JoMoX as distrubuted during Frankfurt Musik Messe:

'Later in 2008, we will bring out a final firmaware upgrade for SunSyn. It will add some important functions as Midi Wave import by Sysex dunp and some other improvements in OS like better autocalibration functions and better Midi performance. It will also address the system stability and offer a stable firmware bios that won´t be able to crash and frustrate our valued customers. A processor update is required, too, and so it´s neccessary for existing SunSyns that they will be shipped to Jomox or to an authorized service station in order to install the hardware upgrade.

This also implies that this update is not for free, but it will offer years of trouble-free enjoyment of this wonderfull sounding unique bolide synth.'

swissdoc"

SEIKO DS-310 Digital Synthesizer

images via this auction

Note the lack of jacks in the back and the ribbon connector. According to the auction it's an "add on to the 1980's Seiko Digital Sound System Keyboards." See this post for more details on that synth.

Update via Qwave in the comments: "Right, this is only an add-on for those Seiko Keyboards.
I used to have a Seiko DS202 with this DS310 additive synthesis add-on. You could store 4 sounds only. Each Sound consisting of three user programmable static 16 harmonic waves. The unit got 4 different envelopes to get the various possible crossfades of the spectrums over time and the over all volume envelope. Soundwise it was the pure man's ynclavier or PPG wave ;-)

Well not bad. But no detuning, just static one and a chorus from the DS202 keyboard. There was also a keyboard without the chorus. And the real time sequencer add on was named DS320. See a picture of mine (sorry, long gone) here. The most famous user were J.M. Jarre (see Rendez-Vous) and Robert Schroeder. He also did the demoing (by playing The Beatles "Eleanor Rigby") the year it was first shown in the Frankfurt Musik Messe."

Tenori-on Tommy Klein

YouTube via acidjack303. via sequencer.de
"Tommy Klein explain the Yamaha Tenori-on at the Musikmesse 2008 in Frankfurt Germany"

Percussa AudioCubes Overview Part 1

YouTube via Percussa
"This video gives a step by step overview of the possibilities of AudioCubes with Ableton Live and Propellerheads Reason. Recorded by Musotalk.de during the Musikmesse 2008 in our booth. Sounds in Ableton Live demo set are by Loopmasters.com."

Percussa AudioCubes Overview Part 2

MusikMesse 2007: Clavia Nord Wave

YouTube via cm2magazine (click for all cm2magazine Musikmesse videos)
"This is the new PCM-based synthesizer from Clavia, the Nord Wave, still a prototype in a phase of development but very promising. Presented by Bjorn Leander, footage by Guido Scognamiglio for CM2 Magazine. Enjoy! ;-)"

MusikMesse 2007: Arturia Origin

YouTube via cm2magazine
"Arturia Origin, the new desktop hardware synthesizer from the french company, presented at Musik Messe 2007. This was a working prototype."

MESSE08: Circle Synth Makes It Oh So Simple

Be sure to see the write-up on Sonic State. BTW, I am only putting up the synth content. There's a ton of other Musikmesse content going up on Sonic State. You can find it all here.

Old monsters

flickr by Anashwaran
(click for more Musikmesse shots)

Doepfer

full size

MESSE08:Superbooth Book From Mr Schneiders

see the write-up on Sonic State.
If you don't know what the SuperBooth is, see some of these previous posts. It was THE synth booth at the Musikmesse. You can find the book here.

New Videos from the Messe in the SynthDB / New in the DBase

on sequencer.de

To get to the videos, click on the synth name and then do a find for video on the resulting page.

Access Virus TI Snow pictured

The Tenorions - girls go bleep

video on sequencer.de

Musikmesse 2008 Day 3

YouTube via Percussa
"A few videos from our booth at the Musikmesse 2008 past week. We were in hall 5.1, stand D39. We had great fun and met a ton of people. Our booth was swamped. Thanks for stopping by and making this happen!

In this video Simon Grey is using the cubes to control effects in Propellerheads Reason.

At the messe, we presented a Remote Codec that lets you connect the cubes with Reason without much configuration work."

Musikmesse 2008 Day 1

Follow-up to this post. Be sure to click on the Percussa link below for all posts mentioning Percussa.