eBay Scams

The below is in via an anonymous reader. I catch these as well. Be careful. In these listings, there is usually an offer to pick the item for a great BIN outside of eBay by contacting the seller. NEVER go for it. It's usually a scam and it is against eBay policy.

When I see them I filter them out of the eBay links on the right of this site, so use them. Please note it's not possible to catch them all the second they go up, and there are other scams out there, so always be careful. The list is "cleaner" but not perfect. I also filter a few other things to keep the feeds synth only.

via an anonymous reader:
"I follow your blog for some time now. I use your blog mainly to keep up to date with all synth related and from time to time find good deals on eBay. But the reason of my email is for something else, today I found a few eBay items and almost got scammed.

The item in question was an Alesis Andromeda. I took a few screen shots and decided to forward you those. Perhaps you can make a post and warn others of the issue.

The A6 on the screen is not the same I was about to be scammed into. But today I've seen many of them come up and go by many different sellers. I believe that the seller accounts got hijacked and they are not even aware of the issue, none the less it will great to warn others of the matter. The worst part is that the scam is for many types of synths, oberheim, arps, jupiters, etc. which really sucks specially during holiday season. "

Also see this post on protecting yourself against scams.

MATRIXSYNTH Post Guidelines and Site Tips

See this page. This will go up once a month.

Blogger Search is Sucking

Blogger Search doesn't seem to be able to keep up with the number of posts (47,737) on the site. I moved the Google Search box on the right up, just above the More Stuff section. Remember to use both.

M-185 DIY Sequencer

via Skrog Productions on electro-music.com

Note this is a custom panel for the M185 Roland System 100m style DIY sequencer. A search on M185 will bring up more posts including video.

Note search is being finicky again. A search on M-185 brought up zero results using Blogger search on the top left of the site. A search on M185 does bring up results. There is also a Google site search box towards the bottom right of the site which brings up more posts, but they come up in Google link style results vs. bringing up the full posts like Blogger search. Always use both if you don't find what you are looking for.

YouTube Woes and Clean-Up

Just a heads up. YouTube either has a bug on their end or they are rolling out limits on how many people you can subscribe to. Currently I am getting the following message when trying to subscribe to anyone new:

"You have too many subscriptions compared to your number of subscribers"

That said, my list really is way too long. I subbed to every single account that ended up with a post on the site. Quite a few of my subcriptions haven't posted in over a year and a ton haven't really posted new synth content. That said, I'm cleaning house. If you use your account for non synth videos and I unsub, just send the synth videos in directly moving forward. My contact info is on the bottom right of the site. BTW, if you have or know of any good YouTube channels with synth content that I haven't posted before, send it in. Just do a search for the YouTube account name on the top left of the site first. Any videos previously posted will come up. Note only videos that showcase specific gear goes up here on MATRIXSYNTH, general synth vids go up on MATRIXSYNTH-C. BTW, if your vids have been featured here numerous times, don't worry, I won't be unsubscribing.

The Old and The New

Oberheim Matrix-6R, Doepfer, Tiptop Audio, Yamaha TX81Z, Analogue Solutions Telemark, DSI Evolver and more via isotopeofme where you'll find one more pic.

Admin: Updates

I added an Update feed to my Twitter feeds: http://twitter.com/matrixsynth. Update tweets will be preceded with "Update:" followed by the post title. Twitter is a good way to get notified on Updates, Featured posts, MATRIXSYNTH-C posts, and miscellaneous bits, some synth and some non synth. Note for those interested in auction posts, you can follow http://twitter.com/matrixsynthb. I have that account set up to only tweet auction posts here on MATRIXSYNTH and all posts on MATRIXSYNTH-B.

If you are not on Twitter, remember to check for Updates daily. I do not put up new posts for updates unless the original post is more than a day or two old. See the Updates label in the menu above and scroll for red updates. Remember updates come in for older posts so be sure to scroll through the full page looking for new updates embedded in posts. Or, just sign up for Twitter and you will get notified.

Admin: A Note on Posts with Updates

Updates to posts are coming in daily. Remember to check out the label at the top right in the menu above. Note the posts are still sorted by the date and time the original post went up, so scroll down the complete page to make sure you are not missing new updates in older posts. You shouldn't need to go past the first page there as updates to even older posts will get a new post.

Admin: Updates

I've been bad about including the Updates label on posts with updates. I added quite a few over the last few days. Click here and look for the red Updates. Remember the Updates link is on the top right menu of the site.

Admin: Search Broken / Search Tips

This is just a reminder to use both Search boxes on the site, the top left and Google search box on the right. Here's an example of the discrepancy between the two:

http://matrixsynth.blogspot.com/search?q=Folktek
Now search for Folktek using the right.

For some reason searching on Folktek on the top left currently only brings up two results (three with this post). It seems hit and miss depending on the search term though.

Admin: Featured and Exclusive Posts and Updates!

New posts are coming up. This is just a reminder that you'll be able to find the post on Professor William Hoskins below in both the Featured section linked in the header above and the Exclusive section on the right. Be sure to check the Featured section at least once a day for a review of the day's featured posts. Also all Featured posts go up on Twitter, along with my random tweets, so you can follow there as well. Be sure to check the comments of posts for updates, and any significant updates to posts are are marked with a red Update: at the bottom of the post itself. If an update comes in the day after a post goes up, meaning tomorrow or later for the Hoskins post, I will put up a new post letting you know. I'll keep you informed. The idea is you never have to go back more than a day or two depending on when you last checked the site, but always go back for the full day looking for red Updates. Hmm.... I just thought of something. I could create an Updated label. You could then click on it for all updates for the day and further back. I think I'll do that...

Update: OK, Updates label added. You'll find the link on the top far right in the header menu above. Check it out!

Tiptop Audio Z3000 MkII's in New GorillaBox

via Tiptop Audio

http://gorillabox.bigcartel.com/

portrait of the artist with synthesizer

flickr by Mr. Biggs
(click for more)

Admin: Ebay RSS Feeds Added

RSS feeds have been added to the right of each link under the MORE STUFF section on the right. I've been good checking the "Synths on Ebay US" and "Synths on Ebay UK" links, but horrible with the rest. I just have zero time. With RSS feeds, the items will now come to me. For those that want to see what's on Ebay for synths, but not have to constantly go to Ebay, feel free to sub. Each feed is unique.

If you are on the list, the query terms for RSS are "synth" or "synthesizer" plus your shop, so be sure to include at least one if you want the item to show up in the feed.

For those not on the list, if you have an Ebay shop and sell synths, feel free to send me a link and I'll consider adding it. My contact info is on the bottom right of the site.

For those that do not have a shop but want their items posted, feel free to send them in as they go up.

If anyone wants me to create a custom feed, let me know, either via the comments or direct email. I might consider creating a master feed page for any requests that come in.

Note the "Synths on Ebay US" and "Synths on Ebay UK" links filter out a lot of the garbage like synthetic hair, CDs, and the like.

As always, be careful and read the full descriptions, conditions and feedback before bidding.

Admin: New Exclusives Section

Under the MORE STUFF section on the right you will see a new section titled EXCLUSIVES. It will contain the five most recent exclusives here on MATRIXSYNTH. Trevor Pinch's DIY Modular post is the first to receive the label. Note, Ichabod is there as well as I decided to move it into this section. I opted to go with the Ichabod label as the link rather than this first post, so you don't miss anything. Finally, don't forget the Featured label in the header above. You should check that at least once a day to make sure you don't miss a thing.

Spring Drone

YouTube via RetributionBody

"Rehearsal for my upcoming NonEvent show April 13th at Cafe Fixe in Brookline.

http://www.nonevent.org/upc..."

"I will be playing at Café Fixe (1642 Beacon Street (Washington Square on the C Line)) on April 13th as part of Nonevent's Experimental Coffee House concert series. This series has been on my must-see concert list since it started last summer, and I'm incredibly excited to be a part of it. The format is basically perfect: one set at 8:00 and over around 9:00, and you get home early enough that you're not sleepwalking through work the next day."

Admin: Site Tips

I frequently get questions about synths. For example I just had a question about the MC-505 and its RCA jacks. RCA jacks? I knew it used 1/4" but I have been wrong in the past, so to be sure I did a quick search on MC-505 on the site. Well, no pics of the jacks came up on the first page. Great, I post too much. Tons of videos and references, but only one auction post minus a pic of the back. I then searched for "MC-505 auction" still nothing! I remembered unless the pics are stellar I put them up on MATRIXSYNTH-B. So I headed over and just searched for MC-505 because it's ONLY auctions there, and sure enough a post with this pic came up on the front page.

I should also mention that I used the Search box on the top left of the site vs. the Google search box on the right in this case, because I wanted to quickly parse through the images vs. having to click on each post link to check. Note Google search does seem to bring up more posts AND older posts, so I use it when I need to dig deep, or if I can't find what I'm looking for using the top left search box.

The tips:
1. Search wisely: include the word auction (or flickr) in your searches rather than pics if you are looking for images.
2. Don't forget to use MATRIXSYNT-B!
3. Don't forget to the two Search boxes on the site!
4. With the above, for videos, include the word YouTube or Vimeo, not video and not both words. Think of patterns.
5. For specific videos, search for the title (that's why I just copy and paste titles vs. changing them BTW) or YouTube alias for all vids from that user. Sometimes titles on YouTube change after I put them up.

I created a Site Tips label for this and other posts where I through tips out.