MMM Sample & Hold

Mattson Mini Modular Sample & Hold

MMM Envelope Generator

Mattson Mini Modular Envelope Generator

MMM Glide

Mattson Mini Modular Glide

MMM 4 X Mixer

Mattson Mini Modular 4 X Mixer

MMM VCA

Mattson Mini Modular VCA

MMM 4X-1X2 Buffer

Mattson Mini Modular 4X-1X2 Buffer
Remember to click on the MMM link directly below to see all of these together as they come in.

MMM Noise Module

Mattson Mini Modular Noise

MMM

Mattson Mini Modular.

MMm...

Update: What this is will begin to be revealed tomorrow.

Mmm...

Performance Music Systems Syntar

Gorgeous shot of the Performance Music Systems Syntar by George Mattson. Click the image for the full size. Also see these previous posts featuring George Mattson. Be sure to check out this post by Carbon111 on Synthwire and this exclusive interview on Matrixsynth.

Man, it would be awesome if George would come out with something new! I was fortunate enough to play with this as you can see in the previous posts and it sounded incredible.

The Performance Music Systems Syntar

Click here for a post Carbon111 just put up on The Performance Music Systems Syntar, on Synthwire. Realize, this was the first Keytar ever, BEFORE the MOOG Liberation. There's a shot of Bob Moog and a younger George Mattson, creator of the Syntar, showing Bob the syntar at NAMM. Seriously, check this out. It's a fascinating bit of synth history. I was fortunate enough to play the Syntar and it is a very nice sounding synth with some extremely expressive and versatile controls on the neck. This is a very rare and unique synth along with the SWAN (more info on Carbon111's site). Hmm... I think I actaully took this shot. As always check out previous posts via the MORE tags below each post.

One Year Of Matrixsynth

The short version:

Today marks the one year anniversary of Matrixsynth. It's exactly one year and 3148 posts since I started this site to track everything synth. Thanks to everyone who makes this site great by either sending stuff in, posting in the comments or spreading the word.

The long version:
I started this blog because my old site Matrixsynth.com/old simply wasn't cutting it anymore. I created the original site in October 1997 as my portal into the world of synths. I'd see an interesting site and add a link (BTW, the alias matrix and the green on black color scheme came well before The Matrix movies. My first and favorite synth was an Oberheim Matrix-6, hence matrix. I'm a synth geek not a Matrix movie geek).

As time when on I found it difficult to find stuff I previously came across. So... I figured what better way to store and make all of this available to others than via a blog. The idea is very simple. I sub to a bunch of lists, feeds and forums; people send me stuff, I interact with people and I see things I want to save for posterity. When I see something I think I might want to see again, I post it. No discrimination. BTW, if you haven't noticed, this site is not meant to be a journal or publication. It's just a bunch of stuff about synths. If you enjoy synths, I hope you enjoy what you see here. It's a heartbeat on what others also into synths are doing, or rather what I happen to come across on a daily basis. Nothing more, nothing less.

When I first started the blog I never would have guessed so much stuff was out there. People asked me if I thought I would ever run out of things to post. I actually wondered myself. The answer turned out to be only if others out there run out of things to share themselves. Which leads me to...

THANK YOU

I want to say thank you to everyone out there who supports this blog. Anyone that has sent me something worth posting. Anyone that takes the time out to engage in the comments and of course everyone that reads this site and spreads the word. Thank you. It's actually crazy. I started the blog to track stuff only I came across. It's turned out to be a whole lot more. I never would have thought people would be enriching the site via the comments and letting me know when there was something else worthwhile posting. Thank you. BTW, you should notice that I frequently update my posts with comments and I always give credit when credit is due.

As a side note, at one point I offered to open up Matrixsynth for others to post but I got a resounding NO, so I created SYNTHWIRE for others to sign up and start posting. You can also promote your own stuff there, so use it!

Back on point. So, what next? Another year of posting. Thanks all, it has been one heck of a year.

Special thanks to moogulator of sequencer.de, Tom Whitwell of MusicThing, Peter Kirn of Create Digital Music, James Grahame of Retro Thing, Chris Randall of Analog Industries, Circuitmaster of GetLoFi, Carbon111, George Mattson, Brian Comnes, Dave (The Packrat), Dennis Verschoor, fmasseti, Loscha, Ross Healy, Steve Barbour of Gnostic Rocket, vlada of One Blue Monkey, deb7680 of Chroniques de la Mao, Rick of Electricmusicbox, Heath Finnie, DVDBorn, Mark Pulver, Doktor Future, Cikira, and of course Elhardt. ; ) You all contributed a little extra to the blog in your own way. Thanks for that.

And of course to the late great Bob Moog and all the synth manufacturers out there. Thank you.

And last but definitely not least, a HUGE thanks to my wife and daughter for tolerating the time and effort I put into this site on a daily basis. Thank You!

Update: I also want to thank Fernando Alves for making my favicon way back, and Paul and Brian Comnes for being the only two people that bought my matrixsynth shirt way back.

And of course, every person or site I've put up a post on. Thanks for having something worth posting about. ; )

An Afternoon with George, James and Greg

Update: George sent me an MP3 of one of our jam sessions and I just put up a post here with details.

George Mattson, creator of the Syntar, invited me, James(Carbon111), and Greg (Alpha Wave Movement) over for an afternoon jam session and get together. We had a great time, and I finally got to see and hear the Syntar along with George's EML semi-modular. We spent most of the afternoon in a "tangerine dream" playing along to Greg's rhythms and a very nice sequence George patched up on the EML. After the session we had some delectable sandwiches and brownies made by George's wife Celeste. Thank you Celeste! We had a great time. Definitely not a bad way to spend a Sunday afternoon. Title link takes you to a ton of shots I took and a couple of short AVIs; unfortunately the audio did not come out. George has promised to send us a few mp3 of the session, so I'll put them up when I get them. Apologies for the quality of some of the shots - the room was dimly lit (great atmosphere), but the tranlsation was lost in many of these shots.

That's James in the Green T, George by the EML and Greg up front.

George and Syntar Prototype #2

Exclusive Syntar Shot

Two more shots of the Syntar sent my way via creator George Mattson. The shot to the left is a close up of the left hand keyboard. Click each for a bigger shot.

"Here's a nice shot of the Syntar, and for the DIY-ers, a close-up on how the left hand keyboard worked. A matrix exclusive. I never showed this to anyone. But you can see, it literally is fish hook shanks, hat pins, tie wrap ends used as bell cranks and airplane hobby springs." George

Amazing. Thanks again George.

Don't miss the earlier post on
George Mattson and The Syntar.

George Mattson and The Syntar

I recently engaged in an email discussian with George Mattson, creator of the Syntar. That's him next to Bob Moog who's trying out his Syntar at the 1980 Chicago Summer NAMM Show. The discussion we had was fascinating and private, and I thank him for sharing his story with me. As it was part of synth history I asked George if it would be ok to put up a post here, as I'm sure other synth enthusiasts would enjoy this bit of synth history as well. He gave me the go ahead, so here it is. Note that this was originally private and not meant to be a post - this was just me and George going back and forth. The references to Starship are to Jefferson Starship. Many thanks to George for taking the time to share this with me, and for letting me put this up.

"I was born as a non-Mormon in Salt Lake City, Moved to Anchorage, Alaska in Sept '64 3 weeks before my 10th birthday. Graduated from High School there in 1973. That Fall I moved to Moscow, Idaho where I enrolled in the School of Mines studying Mining and Metallurgy. Bought my first synths at that time-the 101 and 200 when there were only 3 manufacturers. ARP, Moog and EML. I liked the versatility of the EML line and went that route. That was the days that you had to send a certified cashiers check for the full purchase amount and they were made to order. Went to College 5 semesters and stayed a freshman with a 1.18 GPA. My older brother moved down and had a bunch of recording gear so we started a recording studio trying to break into commercials. I had picked up a Poly-box by then and my Yamaha YC-45D. Then bought the EML sequencer and a 300. Couldn't stand the clutter and built the box for the sequencer, Told EML what I was doing. They bought the original cases back from me and credited that against another 416 panel and another 300 just to fill 2 big gaping holes in the box. I had most of the synth panels on one side of my bedroom and all of the keyboards (including a Baldwin upright, a Rhodes and a friends EML 500) including the 101 keyboard on the other side of the room. We'd hire musicians to play the tunes and I ran/programmed the synths. Oct. 04 1978 I was alone in the room running back and forth between the consoles and the keyboards when I said to myself: "what I need is...." and the concept of the Syntar hit me. Then I said "somebody should make one of these" Then I said: "Hey, I could do this!" (I talked to myself a lot.) Jan '79 I moved to Bend, OR. Moved in with my folks and tried to find investors. I built a hand-made prototype using EML circuit modules and went to the 1979 Atlanta NAMM lugging this thing around trying to get a manufacturer to go for it and hire me as a team leader on the project. The only person that had any emotion about it while talking to me was Herb Deutsch from Norlin. He said he'd talk to his Board of Directors and call me. In Jan '80 I went to the NAMM winter market in Anaheim with Michael Garrison (He landed his distribution agreement with Ariola on the way down) and Mike asked if I saw the Moog booth. He took me over and we saw the prototype of the Liberation strapped onto a mannequin. I went home devastated and my folks put up the investment money to get started. They're no slouches; both my Mom and step Dad have electronics degrees. I advertised the Syntar in the mags a month before Moog advertised the Liberation. The thought was if I could beat them to it, at least people couldn't say I copied them. That never worked. They had a little bigger budget than I did. But, anybody researching it will find that I had it first. No big deal now. I had to close shop because we were broke and were facing a takeover. So, I closed it down, called Starship, told them I needed a job and got hired. A year and a half later They wanted me to move to San Francisco rather than flying me back and forth from home. I didn't want my 4.5 and 3 year olds growing up in the California rock and roll scene and moved here in July of 1983. Went out one more time with Starship in Aug/Sept 1983 and told them I was leaving. Been here since doing different things."

"Well, that's the way it went down. Can't change the facts. Of course, I would loved to have made money from all of the work I put into it. The sad part is that I still can't play keyboards. I'm a guitar player since I was 10. Hey, right after I moved to Anchorage."

"That picture was taken in June of 1980 at the Chicago NAMM. That's me next to him- I was 26 YO. Notice that he's playing prototype #3.( The first was the one I hand built from EML circuit modules, the second used forked plasic keys over fluted shafts-that one was later modified and used as a LASER controller by the guy doing the LASER shows for Blue Oyster Cult and Tangerine Dream)) The Syntar hanging in the background is just a panel and cardboard simulated left hand keys. The prototype Bob is playing has curved aluminum keys that dragged a resined string over a pulley. The final (and production)version was much more aesthetic and worked like a charm."

Thanks again George. Fascinating story. I really can't play either. : )
BTW, George also provided the EML Poly-Box Samples in this post.

Update: George later made up the 1.18 GPA with a 3.8 GPA with his AA in Electronics. : )

EML Poly-Box Samples and the SynthCluster

Click here for a couple of samples of the EML Poly-Box by George Mattson. Check out his monster setup (click the image for a much bigger shot). That is one massive EML Sequencer. You can see the orange EML Poly-Box below and the EML 101 to the left. Also check out George's site for more.

Update: Notes from George:
"They're all EML, The sequencer is running on it's own, the Polybox is following an oscillator on the 101 and the 500 is doing the bass line. The drums are actually a real Pearl acoustic set on Power Dive being played by a guy named Pete Gerdin. The vibraphone sound at the beginning of Happy Tune was the vibratone setting on a Yamaha YC-45D combo Organ. The sequencer just gets programmed and turned loose. I just played along with it."

"the samples were 29 years old and dug up off an old cassette in order to let people hear what a Polybox could be used for besides chords. Remember, the BIG music happening then was Disco. (ugh)"