Plan B Toolbox Synthesizer Built for Danny Carey of Tool

Published on Apr 23, 2013 Peter Grenader·17 videos

"This is the Plan B Toolbox Modular Synthesizer, built for Danny Carey of Tool which will make it's public debut with Tool on Saturday, April 27 at the Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne, Australia - replacing the iconic Synthi AKS Danny has been using for nine years. This was filmed in Danny's studio just before it was packed into it;s road case for the trip. Instrumentation of the synth is as follows:

Row 1:

Subcon/Plan B Model 15 VCO
Plan B Model 15 VCO (x2)
Plan B Model 39 Wave Splicer
Subcon/Plan B Model 37 Utility VCO/LFO
Plan B Model 9 Mixer
Plan B Model 7 ELF Panner
Output module (power) outputs/levels , light

Row 2:

Intelligel Quantizer
Intellijel microfold
Plan B Model 10 Envelope Generator (x2)
Plan B Model 12 Vactrol Filter
Plan B Model 11 Evil Twin Bandpass Filter
Plan B Model 13 Dual Timbral Gates
Plan B Model 25 Multi-Tasking Audio Processor (attenuator/waveshaper, VC, Ring Modulator)

Row 3:

ADDAC Integrator
Plan B Model 23 Analog Shift Register
Plan B Model 28 Programmable Tap Clock
Plan B Model 14 Dual Voltage Processor/Crossfader
Plan B Model 26 Multi-Tasking Control Processor (boolean gates, voltage mirror, portemento)
Plan B Model 24 Heisenberg Generator (slopped and arbitrary random voltage generators)
Plan B Model 21C Mini Milton Sequencer

Row 4:

Make Noise Phonogene
Make Noise Echophon
Intellijel Korgmatrom FIlter
Plan B Model 10 Envelope Generator
Plan B Model 21 Buffered Multiple

http://www.ear-group.net

Case built by Chas Smith"

Peter B. demonstrates Plum Butter | Ciat-Lonbarde

Published on Feb 14, 2017 Synth Builders

"Peter Blasser demonstrates the first Plum Butter made."

Also see:
Dead Boards | Peter B. / Ciat Lonbarde
Gonzo Circuits: The Synths of Peter B / Ciat-Lonbarde
The Shnth Comes to England - with Peter Blasser

Plan B Model 27 Prototype

SHort demo of Plan B Digitial Effects Generator prototype affecting delay

Published on Jan 25, 2013 Peter Grenader·8 videos

"Short demo of the Model 27 Prototype being a delay. Enjoy (or not!)"

Model 27 Prototype

CLICK FOR MORE »

Plan B at NAMM - Update

follow-up to this post. More detail via Peter Grenader, the man behind Plan B, on the Plan B mailing list.

"Both Plan B and Buchla will be at the Noisebug booth 6108 which is on the main hall this year in the vicinity of Moog and Motu.

Sometime this week I will be posting further details on what we'll be showing on the Plan B Analog Blog (go to www.ear-group.net to sign up. On the module end will be the models 21C Mini Milton VC Sequencer, the Model 32 Vector Plotter and the M30 and 30A - two components of the mighty Triple Digital VCO Subsystem. There are four other products being introduced which are part of the big move into cases and systems.: The he Ringer, a single row rack frame offering a low-cost solution to a previously expensive expansion requirement, and the Model Zero, which is the same three row Zero Halibuton case used by NIN with some significant improvements, including power saving modes, top/bottom strip modules and the option of expanding to six rows. A photo has been posted in the PB Analog Blog.

The Performance System, which has it's own case not unlike the Doepfer portable although two rows of 102 HP and eight inches deep is our fist venture into the systems arena and will also be on display and operational.

To support the Ringer, the Zero and the PS we're introducing an external power system which utilizes two high-grade second party switching supplies as it's engine. The supplies are audio grade and protected to the point that key'd power connectors on the bus will not be required...the PSU will shut itself off instantly if a module is installed incorrectly.

Along with Noisebug's, Plan B goods will be on display at a couple of other booths as well - keep a sharp eye out!

Again, when my schedule allows I will be posting more details on all this, including photos to the PBAB. Please grant me patience with this and in getting back with anyone who may need to contact me as I'm deep into Namm hell at present and time away to post is minimal.

Thanks again and I look forward to seeing you all at the show!

- Peter Grenader"

Update: see the comments of this post for some notes from Peter.

Peter Blasser's superORGAN

superORGAN I: Rainforest Airport

Published on Dec 1, 2014 Peter B

These are in order. Be sure to see part 2 & 3 below for different takes. Peter Blasser is the man behind Ciat-Lonbarde.

"When a computer controls a pipe organ, it can trigger the notes really fast. If you get it fast enough, just barely attacking the pipes, it can elicit all sorts of squeals and pukes. In the computer music conference of 2014, we installed an incarnation of David Tudor's Rainforest next door to Wesleyan Chapel, in its airport-like lobby. Referring to the bacchanal nature of this lobby, and also the pre-show routines of Tudor, came half of the initial lyrics: a list of alcohols. The other half came from the odd chambres and containers used in Rainforest: a styrofoam cooler, a gourd, copper helmet. These objects all have resonant peak frequencies, of course, and a challenge came to emulate them on the pipe organ next door, so musics could waft throughout the sacred and the secular.

Thus part one in this piece for midi organ: superORGAN. Supercollider is the scripting language, and also synthesizer of accompanying sound-worlds, originally made for playing through rainforest objects, but now using the pastor's sound system in the chapel. Here is a list of pipes: vox humana, bassoon, clarinet, french horn. Here is a list of religious terms: liturgy, stole, vow, tabernacle, multi-denominational, pallium, papal, rome, synod, chalice, vespers... crypt. Note the recording is a rare, close-miking, intended to hear the strange whispers of windy pipes in the night."

SuperORGAN II: Resistor Zoo

Published on Dec 1, 2014 Peter B

"When a computer controls a pipe organ, it can trigger the notes really fast. Here the goal is to put only a tiny puff of air into a pipe, to hear the so-called chiff sound, like a consonant before the long vowel of a speaking pipe. Usually one records an organ out in the church, to hear it echoing off the walls and sounding like the voice of God in space. Here, I chose to shove the microphones physically into the chests, so you can hear the sound of various valves, squeaky bellows, and other aspects of the machinery of the universal voice.

Composing computer music for the pipe organ can entail exploring the relationship between tunings. This movement pits the scale encountered in designing an analog synthesizer tuned by raw capacitor values (tocante) against the organ's equal temperament. That forms the basis for the lyrics: "10,22,33,47,68,82,56,39,27." The dissonance between sonic systems is already present in the synthetic nature of loudspeaker sound versus the natural projection of tones by wind-pipe."

superORGAN III: Pile of Fourths

Published on Dec 1, 2014

"Adapting David Behrman's "Pile of Fourths" for the midi organ, I again came up to the possibility of dissonance in confronting tunings. The piece involves improvisational articulations on a ladder of fourths, easily played by the organ. The circle of fourths has always been a fascinating sound, but it also beguiles me with its numerical rationale of compounded powers of three. Did Pythagoras mean that we can hear exponents? Maybe we can, but I chose to command Supercollider to immediately calculate harmonic approximations to the pile of fourths, according to different sub-octaves of A440.

The contrasting pitch material decided, all I needed was a gradient fade between the pipe organ and the computer music. Difficult to fade a pipe organ, so I decided to use patterns to create a sort of primitive, MIDI pulse width modulation, starting with full duty cycle, and ending in the shortest, chiffest clicks of notes. Likewise, I faded the computer music up in a granular way, extending event envelopes from very short to legato in gesture."

Dead Boards | Peter B. / Ciat Lonbarde

Published on Jan 30, 2017 Synth Builders

An interview with Peter Blasser of Ciat-Lonbarde.

Also see:
Gonzo Circuits: The Synths of Peter B / Ciat-Lonbarde
The Shnth Comes to England - with Peter Blasser

NOISE.KITCHEN SYNTH FEST - June 12 - 15 Brno, Czech Republic

"NOISE.KITCHEN SYNTH FEST SynthFest = tweak + listen + build + enjoy SYNTHS

Bastl Instruments, Kabinet Múz and Skleněná louka are inviting you to the first year of Synth Fest in Brno, Czech republic. Whole friday in Kabinet Múz will be dedicated to Synth Meeting where you can try and listen to many various synths from all over the world which will be presented by their own makers. In the evening the main hall will turn into a place where dance will be inevitable.

Saturday will host informal moderated brunch with Peter Kirn of Create Digital Music about the present and future of electronic musical instruments. In the afternoon the festival will move to Skleněná Louka where various synth building workshops will take their place. But mainly there will be opening of very unique synth shop NOISE.KITCHEN. The evening will be dedicated to more experimental electronic music in the basement stage. Sunday, Monday and maybe also tuesday will give a chance to build mainly (but not only) Bastl Instruments modules and synths for really crazy cheap prices!

The event is supported by the best deputy major for culture Matěj Hollan.
more info at w​ww.noise.kitchen/synthfest​or h​ttp://www.bastl-instruments.com/modular/

Program

Friday 12.6.
Synth Meet​- 11:00-21:30 - meet the makers, try out and buy crazy instruments !
(Kabinet Múz, Sukova 4, Brno)
Synth Party​- 21:30 - ??:?? - epic music ! dance inevitable ! HRTL(Cz), PROJEKT DATALINE(Se), PETER KIRN DJ SET(Us/De), MASTER CLOCK sharing (Kabinet Múz, Sukova 4, Brno)

Saturday 13.6.
Synth Talk​- 12:?? - 15:?? - talk about the future of music with Peter Kirn of CDM (Kabinet Múz, Sukova 4, Brno)
Synth Workshops​- build synths ! 14:30 - ??:?? (Skleněná louka, Kounicova 23, Brno)
Noise.kitchen grand opening​- 16:30 (Skleněná louka, Kounicova 23, Brno)
Noise.Kitchen Party​- 20:00 - ??:?? - experimental, noise, dance, ambient, electricity, love (Skleněná louka, Kounicova 23, Brno)

Sunday 14.6.
Synth Workshops​-11:00 - ??-?? - (Skleněná louka, Kounicova 23, Brno)
Bastl synth workshops​-11:00 - ??-?? - (Skleněná louka, Kounicova 23, Brno)

Monday - Tuesday 15-16.6.
additional B​astl synth workshops​if needed :) (Skleněná louka, Kounicova 23, Brno)
21.5.2015 vaclav@bastl-instruments.com

Confirmed participants:
E l e k t r o n ​( S E ) , K​ o m a E l e k t r o n i k ​( D E ) , M​ e e b l i p ​( U S / C A N ) , E​ r i c a S y n t h s ​( L V ) , B​ u r n k i t 2 6 0 0 ​( U S ) , Soulsby​(UK), G​inko Synthese​(NL), F​alafular​(NL), E​rror Instruments​(NL),​D​in Sync​(DE), B​R Laser (AT), L​.E.P.​(IT),L​OM Instruments​(SK), Jožka Říhák - E​lektron​(CZ) B​astl Instruments​(CZ), BuranElektrix​(CZ), A​utiolab​(CZ),​S​tanda Filip​(CZ), P​avel Ondračka​(CZ),​P​avel Richtr​(CZ)
Still considering participation:
E n d o r p h i n e s ​( A T ) , A​b s t r a c t D a t a ​( U K ) , X​a o c D e v i c e s ​( P L ) , B​e f a c o ​( E S ) , A​D D A C S y s t e m ​( P T ) , T​e e n a g e E n g i n e e r i n g ​( S E ) , G​i e s G i e s k e s ​( N L ) , A​l w i n W e b e r - C i r c u i t C i r c l e ​( D E ) , P​r a s e S y n t h ​( C Z )"


Shbobo Shtar javascript

Published on Sep 7, 2017 Peter B

"The javascript does the talking, the picture shows what it is. Manifesto is on the blog.
http://www.synthmall.com/shbobo/index..."

Peter B is Peter Blasser of Ciat-Lonbarde.

Four Eurorack Modules by Ieaskul F. Mobenthey

Published on Aug 31, 2014 Peter B

"Run through, using Tektronix 5103N oscilloscope to visualize, of the following four modules:
FOURSES
DENUM
SWOOP
SPROTT
Available as soon as I get knobs and pots (about a month)
synthmall.com"

Peter B is Peter Blasser, the man behind Ciat-Lonbarde. This is from his YouTube channel.

Jaap Blonk, Pipa + Dizi, Peter B

Published on Jul 9, 2014 Peter B

Peter Blasser is the man behind Ciat-Lonbarde.

"Jaap Blonk and two Chinese musicians sat down one night with me to record this improvisation. I am playing a 'tetrazzi kiosk,' a sort of squish-box synthesizer that can introduce chaos tones, paralleling the noise tones inherent in Jaap's voice and also the timbres of the ancient instruments. Did you know that pipa is usually used to mimic nature or battle sounds? The name of this piece could be 'Attacking by Jumping out of the River'.

I will publish the names of the Chinese musicians when I find them, if they wish to be cited here..."

Nine Inch Nails - Survivalism and Plan b News

YouTube via walkboss. The video features the EAR Performance System and Buchla 200e.

Plan b News:

"I wanted to take a moment to give you all a fly-by of some exciting stuff that's going on at Electro-Acoustic Research this Spring...

Plan B Expands Dealer Base

Please join me in welcoming two new dealers to the Plan B family-- Elby-Designs in Australia and ModularT in Japan. This brings the total now to five worldwide locations selling the line. Our retail locations are:

USA: Analogue Haven, Pomona, CA
France: Mesi, Paris
Germany: Schneider's Buro, Berlin
Australia: Elby-Designs, Kariong
Japan: ModularT, Kanagawa-ken

For more info, go to our dealers listing page at: http://www.ear-group.net/purchase.html

EAR Performance System featured in Nine Inch Nails video How cool is this? The new NIN video for 'Survivalism', part of their upcoming Year Zero release, features the EAR Performance System. You can have a look at it here:

http://www.ear-group.net/survivalism.html.

For information on Year Zero, go to http://www.nin.com

New Plan B Product for Spring

We're beginning the production cycles for a slew of new products to be released in the first half of 2007, only some of which were premiered at this year's Winter Namm show in Anaheim. The first into the production cycle is the Model 26 Multi-Tasking CV Processor, which should be in stores in five weeks time with a retail price under $200! You can check it out here:

http://www.ear-group.net/model_26.html

Synthbox has Arrived!

The Synthbox Spacecase Eurorack cases are now at Analogue Haven! Come by and have a look, they're all they promised to be -- beautiful, functional and affordable.

Details here:

http://www.ear-group.net/spacecase.html

Plan B returns to the Musikmesse Superbooth!

We're excited to announce that Plan B products will again be on display at the Schneiderburo Superbooth at this year's Musikmesse fair in Frankfurt, Germany.

Details here:

http://www.superbooth.com/

Thanks for your continuing support,

- Peter Grenader"

Plan B News - Self Contained Plan B System Coming Next Year?

Via Peter Grenader on the Plan B list. Note the bold. : )

"All -

Now that a new year is upon us, I felt it was as good a time as any to give you an
update on things.

First things first...Namm:

We will be showing an all-Plan B system at the Namm show this year which will be fitted into one of Sean Price's super-hip Space Cases. There will be a little of everything in this system, including FIVE NEW MODULES (the Model 16 Spectral Processor, the long-awaited MILTON VENTI and three others which you don't (and won't!) know about until the show begins. My only hesitation on mentioning all this is the Model 16. The PCBs are currently on order. If they arrive in time for a fully functional unit to be assembled, then it will be on display at Namm. If not, the unit which will be presented will only have four of the 12 filters active. As limiting as they may sound, it will still make for one hell of a demo as even with but a third of it's matrix, the Spectral Processor justifies it's existence. Again,
we're hoping to have the boards in time for visitors to experience the full effect. If that doesn't happen however, it's not worth stressing over and the show must go on... and we've got a back up plan.

Milton news
Had to make some hard decisions recently regarding the functionality of the Milton. Our limiting factor was not our imagination or technical dexterity, but more space in which to utilize all that. The basic problem being that even at 84 HP wide, everything we had originally planned to cram into this unit was not fitting. To that end, we have removed the vertical sequencing from the base unit, using the space previously taken by the vertical pulse outs to fan the bank pots a bit further from one another. That alone was a paramount change as the previous spacing introduced serious ergonomic challenges. Further, the real estate previously used for the vertical clock in and vertical sequencing out jacks has been replaced by an internal clock and VC clock freq input. With this new configuration, one will be able to drive their Milton on it's own. The external clock input will remain and using that input will disconnect the unit's internal clock. Further cuts (or better put, postponements - see below) are the skip step buttons. They are also being removed from the base unit.

Fear not, there's something in the works - an add on module - which brings skip step,
vertical sequencing and some other new features into play, including full midi control. Basically put, we are not willing to sacrifice Milton's functionality due to 19 inch wide real estate limitations - we just have to design another interface to house those controls.

What's coming in 2007
I think it's been obvious over the last few months by our product development cycle that we're moving in the direction of a self-contained Plan B system. While this will be become more apparent once the new modules slated for the Namm Show are formally announced, I am willing to say that by the end of the year this will be a reality - Plan B will have a the necessary component selection to construct a modular system which will ellipse the functionality of the Synth, Steiner Synthasystem and ARP 2600. It promises to be be a big year in many ways.

Along those lines....we're moving

Finally, I wanted to let you guys in on some other news that has had the folks around the 10870 Camarillo St. address pretty damn excited (no one more than me, let me tell you). Over the past few months we have been scouting industrial space to take Plan B ops out of the cottage and into it's very own manufacturing facility. I see this going down sometime in the next couple of months. We will remain in the Los Angeles area for now....just no longer in my living room! More info on that as it's available.

- P"

Mocante by Mobenthey, Srine and Fyrall by DDD

Published on May 22, 2016 Peter B

"Using Tektronix 335 Oscilloscope to demonstrate:
-Mocante touch controller (for Eurorack) by Ieaskul F. Mobenthey
-Srine and Fyrall nob instruments, a new instrument by Din Datin Dudero"

Peter B = Petter Blasser, the man behind ciat-lonbarde.

Ciat-Lonbarde's Peter B. Drops by Control with Zenert Tocante & Dunst

via @ctrl_mod

"Peter B. came by yesterday & dropped off the new "Zenert" Tocante & the new "Dunst" eurorack module. Both in-stock! "

http://ctrl-mod.com/

Ciat-Lonbarde STUBERBRO

Published on May 30, 2020 Peter B

tail/dubbing: olive grizzly marabou
shellback: antistatic "chips" mylar
hackle: hungarian partridge cape
wingcase: kapton tape
location: smith and bybee lakes

input sound: soft pop by PE/BASTL
connectors: banana and antistatic foam


"three guys vocal technique" is a formal extension of Beck's "multivoice." Consider trying it in your next project. The first guy is a normal announcer. The second is a weird or gruff voice, something to add texture. The final guy is secret, a whisper, something to add mystique.


Dudero Singing is related to "three guys," because it is a great way to inspire the weird guy. You take a synth like the stuber with rich inputs, and mangle it a little, and try to sing that. It can mangle lyrics and channel frustration into something mysteriously entertaining.

STUBERBRO 2

Published on May 30, 2020 Peter B

Thanks to Stu Mostofsky for being the original "Stu" in "Stuber!"
That was back in Baltimore. The brain scientist liked his eccentric synths, and svengali to the weirdo scene. Well I had this stereo filter, it was real wet, but we needed to add some Ciat to the Lonbarde, so it got the digital octave divider. The rest is history!
band: garage

Ciat-Lonbarde Fourses

Note: Auction links are affiliate links for which the site may be compensated.

via this auction

"Unique piece of sound art; this noise machine features paper circuit, Fourses, designed by Peter B.

8% of the profits from this sale will be sent to Peter B as donation/thank you for use of his paper circuits.

104 brass sandrodes and one copper listener node, internal speaker switched off by 1/4” out, powered by 9v battery or 12vdc wall wart (not included), 8 white LED under Apophylite crystal points – one with some Stilbite, 8 knobs, walnut, purple heart and birch, acrylic bottom – protected by rubber feet.

Note, first three photos use flash, which bounces off the beeswax and olive oil used to seal the wood. This makes it appear brighter and redder. Under more normal light, the wood looks darker and more muted. Pics w/o flash give a little better idea, but probably sunlight would be best. Anyways, i'll leave that to you."

CLICK FOR MORE »

Deer/Tick Lyme Disease Awareness Installtation @ Zelnick

Published on Jul 10, 2014 Peter B

"As I said in the title, Deer/tick is a soldering band of Peter B and Daniel Fishkin. For this 'performance installation,' on February 4-8, 2014, we installed several Rolz-5 drum machines and deerhorn synthesizers in Zelnick Pavilion, Middletown, CT. The phollowing pamphlet-text, titled 'A Synthesis and Lyme Disease Awareness Installation,' was distributed at the site:

http://ciat-lonbarde.net/portDOCK/dee..."

NAMM: NAMM 2009 w/ AnalogSuicide.com! Plan B Synthesizers with Peter Grenader Pt. 1.

YouTube via tarabusch
"Here's more from AnalogSuicide.com's at NAMM 2009! Here, Tara Busch gets the latest on all the new Plan B goods from Plan B's founder, Peter Grenader.

http://analogsuicide.com
http://tarabusch.com
http://www.ear-group.net"

NAMM 2009 w/ AnalogSuicide.com! Plan B Synthesizers with Peter Grenader Pt. 2

Uses of Zener Noise

Published on May 28, 2015 Peter B

Peter B is ciat-lonbarde.

"Here are the final products of explorations in zener noise, which is created by a differential network of reverse-biased transistors.

The first is a Tocante instrument, called Zenert. It is inspired by my experience playing tuba for a noh play, Matsukaze, wherein I learned a technique for emulating wind in the pines. Zenert allows you to inject pure noise into an array of twin-t filters, tuned like the rest of Tocante instruments, to the preferred number series of industrial electronic components. It thus offers a palatte of resonant noise sounds, for whispering, whistling, and pining.

The second use is a parallel thrust, but in Eurorack format. Ieaskul F. Mobenthey announces a fifth module, called Dunst. Dunst is short for "Dust and Noise," but in Jagersprache it also means a fine-grained shotgun. It is inspired by Supercollider's Dust opcode, which generates random timing pulses. It does this two ways: with a calculated, arbitrary-bounded ramp wave; and by comparing zener noise against a reference to yield different stochastic distributions.

Both are available at http://synthmall.com"

TOCABASSKARP

Published on Nov 16, 2015 Peter B

Audio starts on left channel only. Peter B is the man behind ciat-lonbarde. I created a new Tocante channel for these. Click through for previous posts.

"Demonstrating three new Tocante instruments: Bass Thyris, Bass Bistab, and Karper, which is parallel microchips doing string synthesis in the Tocante scale."

Some additional info via Tocante:

"Zenert is a simple name, deriving from the source of its noise, a zener diode, and the spectral flavoring applied by a simple resonant circuit, the twin-t. Its operation diverges from the previous Tocante pieces, where finger-touch simply connected oscillator outputs to an amplifier. In Zenert, finger-touch injects the zener noise into the inputs of the flavoring circuits. So instead of a number of discrete symbols at its rim, Zenert has a band of copper tracing, scripted to mimic the waveform of noise. The inner nodes, for circuit bending on Thyris, Bistab and Phashi, are now the injection points for each resonance. The resonators on Zenert share the same tuning-by-capacitor scheme, establishing continuity with the previous ones. Thus Tocante shares a two-faced nature with its nemesis, Ieaskul F. Mobenthey; looking backward to previous designs for the general framework and manifesto, but looking forward to new ways to break out of the mold.

The Tocante line of musical instruments is "about" and "touching" the materials of electronics. Each touchpad represents a pitch according to industry "preferred numbers," chosen by old wartime engineers for non-musical purposes. Here they form a unique and haunting musical scale, not unlike that of a gamelan or the neutral intervals of Persian music. Beyond these base pitches, three golden sandrodes flank each touchpad; touching these androgynous nodes yields intermodulation, pitch and timbral shifts, and emergent chaotic masses. The instruments come in three flavors: thyris the triangle, bistab the square, and phashi the circle. The oscillators sound like a bowed string, a most powerful clarinet, and a howling serene whistle, respectively. Each responds to touch differently. Solar panels charge the onboard batteries, that power the oscillators and a speaker. They are the perfect self-contained instrument for nightly music at the campground."