Poll: Obeheim Xpander and Matrix-12 Displays

AG wrote in to let me know that the Oberheim Xpander and Matrix-12 Yahoo! user group, Xpantastic, is taking a poll on who would be interested in purchasing replacement displays for their Xpander and Matrix-12. He asked me to put a poll up here for anyone not on the group. So, here it is. I thought I'd put up two polls. One on whether you own or plan to own an Xpander or Matrix-12 just to get a count of how many are out there as well as interest, and one on whether you would be interested in picking up the displays.





Details via AG:
"I had an interesting topic come up and wanted to share. Matrix-12's and Xpanders use these discontinued VF Displays. No one makes them anymore. I have spoken with Noritake about remanufacturing the old ones as a custom order. The Xpantastic yahoo group is currently taking a poll of Xpander and Matrix-12 owners to see how many replacement VFDs they would buy if the price was less than $150 per display (each matrix-12 or xpander uses 3 displays). This is a weird part that may not have been used on anything other than these two machines (as far as we know) and it would be awesome if you could encourage owners of these Oberheims (and the techs/repair houses who work on 'em) to sign up and take the poll to get an idea if this project makes sense."

Update: an image of a Noritake display installed on an SCI Studio 4404, via Benny in the comments.

It's VEMIA Time!!!

Peter Forest's next VEMIA auction officially starts this coming Saturday, and runs April 5-12. Many items are already listed.

First up is Adrian Utley's (Portishead) Minimoog.

"Love or loathe the paintjob! It's a hell of a good Mini even if you personally would strip the paint off. It's lot 5856 at VEMIA."

Click on the "Auctions" tab and search for 5856.

Here's the description for this mini:
"A totally unique Minimoog, for two reasons. One is pretty obvious: it was custom-painted for Adrian Utley of Portishead, with great psychedelic imagery (and a little Portishead logo as well, of course). If you're not sure you could face this first thing in the morning (or any time), then it could all be removed - the painting is only on the woodwork. The second is not so glaringly obvious, but this is a special Mini for another reason: it was the one that Adrian gigged with on all the Portidhead tours, and featured heavily in all live shows including the famous New York concerts on DVD. He used it (when most people had forsaken vintage gear onstage) because it was supremely reliable as well as being great-sounding. (The painting was done after the touring, by the way, so you can't see it on the DVD.) This picture was taken before it was taken to Lucid Sound for a full checkover and service where necessary, so the keyboard is extremely uneven in the photo. Lucid are currently re-bushing it, so it will be smooth and a pleasure to play; and will do the minor calibrations that are the only other thing that is needed to get this back into perfect working condition. It has a CV/gate mod; the panel is in decent condition; and all in all you're unlikely to find a better working Mini, or one that is more reliable even on tour. It will come with a very limited (2/4 !) edition glossy A4 photo of the Mini. The synth will come with a clear certificate of provenance."

Just for fun, I thought I'd make a poll on the paint job.


Feel free to comment if you feel passionately on this either way.

What Synths do We Own?

Update: People are still submitting their synth lists in the comments, so feel free to join. I added a permanent link to this post in the Poll section on the right of this site.

Dave of umop thought it might be fun to get a list of what synths the readers of Matixsynth represent. We could then see what synths are the most popular as far as ownership. That said, below is the poll. BE SURE TO SEE IF YOUR SYNTH IS LISTED before just adding it. As you know, posts only stay up for two days on the front page, so don't wait too long. If you have too many synths, just enter the top three for now and add more later if you like - this is meant to be fun, not work. I will add a link to the right after two days, but my guess is it will get forgotten, so... again, do it now. :) BTW, this is 100% anonymous so if you are worried about others knowing what you own, don't be. It will just be a list of synths and a count for each - zero mention of who voted for what. Also enter the Manufacture before the model so it will be sorted as such.

Hmm... Well that sucks. The Others are coming in as Other instead of the synth you enter. Hold off for now. I'll see if there is anything I can do.

Update: OK, I don't see an option to show the individual Other options in the actual poll results, but I can see them on my end. I'll update the post later with the results so far, so keep entering them.

Update: The poll was set to block repeat voters which is normal in a standard poll, so you couldn't enter more than one synth. I just updated it to let you enter multiple results.

Update: OK, it looks like this poll is a dud. I just checked the results in the admin interface and it doesn't give you total counts for individual synths. Instead it just gives you the count for Other. I'll put the list of about 100 results so far in the comments. Sorry about this everyone. Someone has offered to write up a poll the way I wanted it (where you get counts for each synth) in the next couple of weeks, so keep tuned. People are also writing their lists in the comments, so feel free to if you want to as well, but that won't give us total counts for each, which was the purpose of this poll. I thought it would be interesting to see the numbers and even rank the most to least owned synths.

Vintage ARP 2600 Synthesizer **RARE** - $4800

"I have a vintage Arp 2600 that I'm looking to get sell. It was previously owned by Roger Waters, and is now in the Thievery Corporation (ESL) studios. Its in great condition, but currently taking up too much space in the studio. It is complete with the matching cases, and we are having it serviced right now to ensure that everything is working properly before being sold. If you would like to see pictures, please let me know! We can even provide the receipt for the work as soon as its done.

I have seen ARPs in worse condition sell on ebay for $4,500+, Considering the history and the condition of this particular ARP, we would like to make sure we are getting what it's worth."

via this Craigslist post.

We haven't had a poll in a while, so why not...


Update: click here for some images of the unit courtesy of daddio of tapewarm who contacted the seller.

Udpate: and a response from the seller:
"I completely understand that you would like more proof, but it was meant more as a point of interest rather than the only selling point. The current owner has had it for years, and really has no way of proving that Roger Waters owned it, it was just a little bit of interesting history on this particular ARP. I can however, prove that it is in Thievery Corporation studios."

Should I ban Anonymous Comments

It's that time again....



NOTE: If you do not have an account on blogger/gmail, this means you will need to sign up for one to comment. I'm curious how people feel after the slew of comments over the last week.

The Smell of Synths - Poll

A funny topic came up on the Waldorf List regarding the smell of synths. There was mention of the smell of vintage analog. It was pretty funny to think about, but it made me stop for a second and realize something I do every now and then. I'll be too busy to play my synths, but I just need to get the sense of them, so I'll walk in my studio, take a look and a big whiff! Seriously, there is something about the smell of electronics. So.... How many of you have walked in to just take a sniff and then leave? :) Fess up. Remember this is anonymous so no one is going to judge you. A whiff of what?!

Why Do You Play Synths? Poll

I posted the following to the Waldorf list in response to someone leaving a snide comment asking "where's the music" in regards to Cikira's synth shots. I see someone left one in the comments of the previous posts as well. This seems to be a reoccurring theme in response to people with larger collections of synths. I thought it would be fun to put up my reply along with a poll on what others do. Feel free to comment. In the end, for me, people do different things with their synths and I can respect that. What I can't respect are people that are inconsiderate of others and feel the need to tell others what they should be doing just to justify their own perspectives on things...

"The thought of people dictating what others should or shouldn't do is kind of sad. Not everyone enjoys the composing part of making music. My favorite thing to do? Grab a synth off a shelf and explore it. The music comes out of the exploration, not the other way around for me. And 99.9% of the time I do not record it because the music comes in spurts and the focus is definitely not in making a piece of music but listening to the sound and the effects of different parameters. Does "music" come out of it? Usually yes, but it's different. The sound drives it.

The following is a loaded question, but why would anyone who only wants to make music have that many synths? Note that I'm not saying that people who like to compose music shouldn't have that many synths. What I am saying is if you do have that many synths, you probably appreciate them in a slightly different way - not just as sound sources for making music, but rather for the love of synths and all the different characteristics of each.

This always reminds me of the difference between the art of synthesis and the art of keyboard playing. They are different. I'm reminded each month when I get my copy of Keyboard Magazine. I see synths, but it's about 90% music composition and keyboards, not synthesizers. Thank you Mitchell Sigman! His column on synthesis techniques is about the only bit I'm guaranteed to enjoy every month. That and the reto synth section as well as Peter Kirn's articles (Peter also runs CDM). The rest might as well be on pianos... The point of this is there is an appreciation of synthesis I think most of us enjoy that is very different than the focus you might have in composing a piece of music. I like to think Cikira shares this enthusiasm for synths with the rest of us. In my book, anyone that makes the comment of "show me the music" is either ignorant of what synthesis is about or is just trolling." That or just plain inconsiderate. So are you a synthesist/ sound explorer, musician, or both?

Top 5 Greatest Samplers

Looks like Sonic State has a new Top X coming. This time samplers. BTW, what happened to the Top 20 Weirdest Instruments? Hmm... Maybe they're saving that one for Halloween.

Click here for the trailer for the Top 5 Samplers. Feel free to share your top 5 in the comments. It'll be interesting to see how this one turns out.

via HarriL


A little poll for fun, and no I don't know the answer for this one.


More info on the Amen Break

Myah & Teisco S-110f - and a Poll

flickr by Neil Vance (click for more shots).

click here for a full size shot.

Admin: New Template Coming - Adding a 3rd Column

Update: OK, we are back to two. That was easy. I'm not a big fan of change myself when it comes to websites. Just wanted to see what it was like with the labels on the right. New poll below. Leave the right nav on the right or move it over to the left.



Update: I just flipped the columns so the main blog in the center with the main column on the left and the labels on the right. Let me know if this is better or worse in the comments. The votes were 19 for two columns and 3 for three. If you voted and changed your mind on your vote mention in the comments. Also see if this grows on you.

----- OLD POST -----

Just wanted to let you know that I am going to try three columns on the site instead of two. If you see any funkiness, this is why. Please bear with me. The overall look and feel will remain the same.

Almost done. Off to go cook dinner for the family. Let me know what you think. I put the labels on the far right. I'll be renaming them so each one only takes a single line.

OK, made a poll out of this. You decide. Note the site is set to three with the right being relatively thin. It will remain that way with three. I need to crop some of the labels so each one will be a single line.

Poll: How Many Posts Should I Have on the Front Page

I just set the site back to 3 days worth of posts on the main page. I switched it from 3 days to 40 posts a while back but so much is coming in now I think I want to go back to 3 days. I'm already at 28 posts today. The idea behind three days is that's about as much time it takes for a post to get fully seen and commented on. The concern of course are the load times and scrolling vs. paging through the site. Another option would be even fewer posts but then you would have to click on the "Older Posts" link at the bottom of each page. Also if you are submitting something, with 3 days set you are guaranteed to have the post up for at least that long. Again, the site is currently set to 3 days, so see how you like it. Majority wins on this one.

Korg X-911 and a Poll

The following is via Sir Ruff on VSE:

"well, I don't normally write about anything new I get, but this this just showed up today and kind of blew me away. I really didn't expect it to sound so damn raw and vintage, but I guess it is essentially components of a ms-20 in a pseudo-preset box. I frankly can't ever see this being used as a guitar synth-the bass is so massive, even with just one oscillator preset on, it would be silly not to use it for this. there is just enough resonance on the filter to achieve the perfect "phwoah" sound... very rude! Twisted Evil totally unlike any filter I have used before-again I assume this is part of the ms-20 legacy... Actually this would be a perfect addition to a ms-10/20 setup due to all the inputs for pitch/filter/lfo/portamento... I guess there were special pedals you could buy for this, but surely other connections would work as well? Failing this, I will at least be able to connect it to my cs15 for some 3 osc madness.

Unfortunately, I don't have a manual, and there's none on the net, so if anyone happens to know the inner workings of the "touch sense" parameter, and others, I'd like to hear!"

And the Poll... I frequently come across mini reviews like this on various forums and... I find them interesting. On the one hand it could just be a reflection of someone's joy in picking up a new synth, but on the other it is a perspective on the new synth. And... I have seen dissapointment as well. The poll, or rather my question to you is, should I put this stuff up when I come across it? It is fascinating in that you get to see one person's reaction to a given synth, but would you consider it worth posting here? On a forum, of course it makes sense. The comment in this mini review that stood out as interesting to me was the following: "I guess it is essentially components of a ms-20 in a pseudo-preset box." The X-911, guitar synth, consisting of MS20 components. Is this correct? Of course if you know it not to be, you are free to correct this statement in the comments here and/or on the thread as well. The thing with the VSE thread is that it will eventually disappear - inactive threads there will eventually expire. Let me know if you think I should post these one of mini reviews via the poll below. Note that I am completely on the fence on this one and normally I would not put this up unless someone sent it in for a post. So if you vote no, I will not take offense to it.

A6 vs System 100M | System 100M vs A6

download here
Via Javier:

"Hi Matrix,
I did a comparison between the A6 and Roland System 100M after reading some people´s comments about the A6 not sounding "vintage". I posted it here [electro-music.com]. and the link is this [Twango embedded above]. To make it more fun, I´m not going to tell which is which, and I´ll let people decide. If you want you can post it in your site, with a poll or something. One synth´s on the left, the other on the right. One of the sides has a little beep at the beginning for avoid confusion between left and right channel. So, which synth´s on the click side??? (there´re some cues that may help, because I did it very fast and left some details unpolished)"

Vote for which yuo think sounds more vintage, aka the Roland.

Poll on Negative Anonymous Comments

So I've been thinking about where to draw the line with negative Anonymous comments. Note that I will not be removing Anonymous comments in general, and note this does not apply to negative comments from registered users. This ONLY applies to negative comments from people that do not sign in. Also note you can remain anonymous signing in with an alias. The reason Anonymous comments are questionable is because there is no way to tell if it's from the same or different people. That said, should I remove them or leave them up? Let me know your thoughts via the poll below. If you do not care either way, obviously do not take the poll. I'm curious what you all think. Feel free to comment as well.

What Interests You Most about Demos?

Update: Post added to the Sticky Posts section above the Synth Books section on the right. For the archives this had an original time stamp of 6/23/07 12:06 AM.

Ok, the first poll on Matrixsynth. I thought it would be interesting to see how many of you are interested in the demos posted for the musical content vs. showcasing the synth vs. other. In short...

Think about this one before you vote. It's 100% anonymous and a vote for one, even "both" precludes the other. My vote? I usually listen to demos to hear what a particular synth sounds like, usually outside of the musical context, hence, why I appreciate and post demos that may not be considered "musically interesting." Quotes, because we all know that is highly subjective. Please vote and feel free to comment.

Update: The following is the list of what came in for Other:
* what the synth is capeable, osc's , wave , filter reaction and modulations
* check the quality of audio output, ie: no distorsion, low noise
* they provide more pleasure than those 10 second p*rn clips..&use less bandwidth!
* I think the demos are useless
* Never listen to the demos
* drgarbage
* i'm a bit of a nerd
* I want to see the synth in action
* F*ck Off
* I like them becauuse it gives me a cvhance to critisize them publically for it
* synth porn makes me randy!
* i listen to a whole lot of demos over and over again as i circuit bend something
* And i would like to know how all the unknown machines are sounding
* what it sounds like and everything it can do, its all about function and sound.
* sonic range
* I want to see how the synth is programmed and how it sounds.
* I like to hear about the synth, as well as hear what it sounds like.

Polls on Matrixsynth?

Must! sent me a link to some polling tools for Blogger. He thought it would be a good idea to have a poll now and then. I don't see why not. So... Let me know what you'd like to have a poll on if anything in the comments of this post. I'm thinking one poll every month to every week max would work. What do you all think?