Elhardt Synth Sounds Dissected

via Elhardt on AH. This is a follow up to the previous Elhardt posts.

"Since I am trying to reassemble my MOTM tracks of a train passing by to sync up to video of real trains, I might as well put up an MP3 where the separate tracks/sounds can be heard by themselves for those who are curious as to what makes up the final recording. It was all done on the MOTM modular synth plus about 5 different effects devices.

MOTM train dissected is here.

MOTM train with all sounds mixed together (has been posted before, but here for reference or new to those who haven't heard it).

Also, I was in the middle of a dialogue on another synth forum talking about the Alesis A6 when some people interrupted our conversation and also mailed to my inbox saying they didn't believe my A6 sounds (liquids and sitar) were synthesized, accused me of being a possible fraud, and they were going to spread the word that I fake synth demos unless I proved otherwise by posting the patches. I didn't have patches on my computer to send, nor did I really want to, so I recorded those sounds with me turning random knobs on the A6 to prove they're from the synth just to shut them up. I might as well get more use out of that mp3 before I pull it down in a few days since I've had some on this list make the same ridiculous accusations, so if you want to hear it, don't delay.

Here were the original demos they heard and questioned:
http://home.att.net/~synth6/MOTM_A6_Indian.mp3
http://home.att.net/~synth6/A6_Pouring_Water.mp3
http://home.att.net/~synth6/A6_Boiling_Liquid.mp3

Here is me turning knobs and showing they're synthesized. Note that the sitar sounds kind of out of tune as I had just turned on my A6:

Synthesized Scarlatti in W. Carlos Style - Stereo

YouTube via Elhardt

"Here are some experiments I did in trying to mimic the style of Walter/Wendy Carlos' synthesizer technique and style of timbres. Carlos was using a 1960's era patchable modular Moog synthesizer with a different architecture than that of the Alesis Andromeda synthesizer. Each one has some advantages and disadvantages over the other but both use analog circuitry.

This video includes about 3/5 of a harpsichord sonata by Scarlatti. It is played by hand on a velocity sensitive keyboard, one monophonic passage at a time, and overdubbed onto multi-track.

Be sure to check out other related videos in my synthesizer series, and check back now and then as I will be posting more in the near future."

Synthesized by Elhardt

Synthesized ACOUSTIC INSTRUMETNS #1 - Stereo

CLICK FOR MORE »

Real vs Synthesized Symphony Orchestra

YouTube via Elhardt

"This is one in a series of videos of me demonstrating advanced sound synthesis using analog or virtual analog synthesizers and subtractive synthesis. Each video lists what synthesizer was used. In addition, some standard outboard effects were used such as EQ, reverb, digital delays, and/or chorus.

Be sure to check out other related videos in my series, and check back now and then as I will be posting more in the near future."

Roland MC-4

Click here for three scans via Kenneth Elhardt including data sheets.

Vocoder Magic

YouTube via SynthFanKH.

"Seekers Vocoder Dissected"

If you don't get this, or even if you do, check out these posts. The gloves are a reference to the vids by 123synthland.

Synthesized Sounds: Beach & Sea

"I've put video to some older synthesizer audio files I've done over the years. They make good demonstrations of what can be accomplished using analog subtractive synthesis. Each video lists what synth was used, in addition, some standard outboard effects were used such as EQ, reverb, digital delays, and/or chorus. -Ken Elhardt"

Kenneth B. Elhardt Synthesizer Page

Click here for Kenneth's new Synthesizer Page on Google pages. There are a couple more shots up. Hopefully even more will come.

YMO Rydeen Cover on Synth1

Click here for a pretty amazing cover of YMO's Rydeen done with Ichiro Toda's free VST Synth1. Scroll down for the link when you get there. You can get the VST here.

via Elhardt on AH.

Music Arcade - Radiophonic Workshop

Doctor Who / Dr. Who Theme


Fairlight

YouTube via Fynci. Title link takes you to more.

Update via Doktor Future in the comments:
"Dr. Who needs no banjos or Moog ladders. It's not about the East Coast vs. West Coast sound at all -- it's about the UK sound, which, as you know, comes from outer-space.

In fact, EMS in the UK got their start by stealing an Atron energy nebulizer from a type-40 TARDIS. Normally, this would not be cause for concern as the device was genetically keyed, but the average UK citizen is so inbred that by lucky statistical chance, EMS found not only that they could activate the device, but that somehow they could get impressions from the Matrix itself!

After many astral voyages at the EMS laboratories, it became clear that true access to the historical knowledge of the Time Lords would be impossible due to the defenses of the latent psychic energy of all timelords past, so they set to work on a device capable of distracting the Matrix's mental defenders.

This became known as the EMS 100, and became the centerpiece for their own make-shift TARDIS.

About this time the BBC needed some ideas for good shows, so the EMS folks created another EMS 100 unit at the BBC Radiophonic headquarters so their engineers could also be inspired by the hyper-galactic knowledge of the Matrix.

Of course, portable versions of their technologies were placed in select hands over the ages. Each artist was given a goal: design a unique composition that can distract the time-lord defenders so as to access the true Matrix directly.

One of the most introspective works, giving almost total sub-conscious access to the Matrix was the well known album 'Dark side of the moon'. What is not well known however is that the word 'moon' in the title of the Album refers to "Pazithi Gallifreya" (Gallifrey's moon), and the nodum-quazmulcator buried within its surface.

Humanity owes so much to the psycho-quantum-sonic attributes of the the EMS line of 'synthesizers'!

Sadly, once the Presidents Council discovered the breech, they issued an edict to EMS to halt production of their technology to all without Gallifreyan permits.

This has created an underground bidding war for EMS devices. Even though the atron nebulizers have been disabled by the Time Lords, many still collect the devices to reminisce to the 'good ol days' when Matrix security was as porous as the US Government's firewalls.

There are rumors however, that a new type of Atron-nebulizer emulation may soon be available.

If so, and we can only hope, that a new wave of EMS devices will be available for todays generation of psycho-temporal-astral knowledge seekers."

The Wretchrosonix!

Via NAMM 2007 on fdiskc.

via CornMaiden in the comments of this post.

SMS 2000 Dual Filter Test

Remember the SMS 2000? There was and still is a huge debate whether this thing is real or not. Well, it keeps getting better. Here's a video of it. : ) So, physically it definitely exists. Now, you have to ask yourself, is it producing the sound in this video or is the player is "lip singing" to it? Hey, if Britney Spears can do it...

via Dr. Kyle Han Ten.

Update: Previous SMS 2000 posts

Update: Here's the thread Dr. Kyle Han Ten found the video. If anyone reads dutch, feel free to comment if there is anything interesting in the thread. I beleive I already posted all the shots in my previous posts when the SMS 2000 first surfaced.

Moebius

Another from Elhardt on AH:
"A while back I seem to remember somebody wanting to gather a list of recordings the Serge synth was used on. The MP3 below is from the 1979 record called Moebius. I'm clearing up online space, so get it now before I take it down. This piece uses a Serge, Oberheim 4 Voice, Minimoog and Violin."

Kraft and Alexanders Tchaikovsky 1812 Overture and Nutcracker Suite

Via Elhardt on AH:
"I want to clear up some online space, so before I pull down the mp3 files below, if you want to hear or get them, do it soon. They are from Kraft and Alexanders long out of print 1977 recording of the Tchaikovsky 1812 Overture and Nutcracker Suite, done on an Arp 2600, Arp Odyssey, and Arp Pro Soloist, therefore making them good Arp synth demos. The 1812 mp3 is some excerpts taken from the much longer recording that was too big for me to put the original online."

I grabbed them. Title link takes you there.

Kinetic Sound Prism Demo?

Remember the Kinetic Sound Prism? Title link takes you to a 3.99M demo according to Elhardt. The question mark? Well Elhardt is the man who brought us the Bahn Sage, and is suspect number one on the SMS 2000, so...

"The following excerpt is a mp3 I recorded off of the Prism demo tape. As
can be heard, it's probably a better advertisement NOT to spend $30K on this
synth. It doesn't seem to be making any kinds of sounds that couldn't be
done on something like a Prophet-5, except that with the polyphony and
multitimbral capabilities, maybe it can be done without multitracking. And
by the time the Prism appeared, NED had added sampling to the Synclav, and
there was the Fairlight. Both with demo tapes that made you want to buy
them. If I can find somebody to host large MP3 files, I can record those
demo tapes too.

I should point out also, that bubble memory was not a useless or obsolete
technology. It maintains memory on power down without battery backup, just
as my Apple ][ bubble memory card has been doing for the past 25 years, and
might be able to do so even with an EMP from a nuclear bomb. Bub mem was
still being sold up into the 90's in the form of RAM Disc computer cards.
Maybe still is."

Kirikax Speaks on the SMS 2000, SMS 1000 and the Elebus-1

Update: Kirikai's Website: link.
And we have an update on the SMS 2000. If you remember, the man in the second shot of this post donned a badge with the name, "Mr. Kirikax." The badge was obviously meant to lead the viewer into believing that this was Mr. Kirikax showing his new synth, the SMS 2000, a follow up to the Seekers SMS 1000, which was never released. What follows is an email exchange between Fredrik in Sweden and Mr. Kirikae (Kirikax).

Via Fredrik:

"in the middle of the sms 2000 hysteria I did some research on the web, and found mr Kirikax's email adress - or at least I assumed it was his. I sent a mail asking if there was any such thing as a sms 2000(check the forwarded mail) and didn't receive any respons - until today! Assuming the mail is real, which it certainly appears to be, we can draw the conclusion that the sms 2000 certainly is a hoax : )"

The following is the reply from Kirikax in the forwaded email:

"Dear Mr. Fredrik

I designed SMS-1000 mono synthesizer, but I don't know about SMS-2000. I am treating [illness] now, so I can't make SMS-1000. SMS-1000 's formal name is Elebus-1. I append the image of Elebus-1. Elebus-1 is RackMount type Synthesizer. The keyboard has not adhered. My sickness is a serious illness, and doesn't have the capital either. So I cannot sell Elebus-1. Elebus-1 might be produced and be sold when the capital can be procured by recovering from an illness in the future.

Regards,
Masamichi Kirikae. (Kirikax is nickname. this is My real name)"

If this is real, I send my condolences to Mr. Kirikae, and I hope he gets the help and support he needs, both with his illness and in getting the SMS 1000/Elebus-1 off the ground. He mentions lack of capital or monetary backing. What's interesting is that the Elebus-1 above is different than the other Seekers SMS 1000 shots out there. However, before you dismiss the new shot, note that the old shots of the SMS 1000 are old in synth years, and designs and names can easily change prior to release, and sometimes even after. Title link takes you the the new images sent by Mr. Kirikae.

Matrixsynth by Frédéric

Cross between a Seekers SMS 2000 and a Korg MS20.

The SMS Matrix

One knob to rule them all. Via Mike Jerugim.

The SMS Cinema Display and The SMS Matrix

The SMS Cinema Display via Mike Jerugim.
Add some knobs just above the keys and you'd be set.


Update: The SMS Matrix via Mike Jerugim. One knob to rule them all.

Animal Synth P*rn

Ok, get your head out of the gutter. CDM has a refreshing post up on Adorable Animals with Synthesizers, and Matrixsynth got a mention! Some cool shots and a good read to start the weekend. Title link takes you there. Thanks Peter! Oh, and you might notice, dogs! Check out the puppy named synthesizer after the hop. Someone get me a shot of Elhardt. : o