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via this auction
Via the seller: "In this auction we have one of the most tricked out, one-of-a-kind, nothing else like it Commodore 64 computers in existence! I hand built this fully functional mod over the course of 5 months +/- years in stress. So much research, development, time, design and money went into this project and I can honestly say I am super proud of what I built. I am currently in a bit of a bind and my priorities are completely shifted. In short, I am selling off the majority of my studio to be with my son.
Here is a list of all the mods, hacks and work I put into this thing. Please read all of this to understand exactly what it is that I am selling. There are links for you to further research and see more pictures of this build in the text below.
-Painted the chassis blue and black inside and out. - Mounted nice locking guitar strap pegs
-Added a custom Li-Ion battery pouch attached to locking guitar strap
- wired a 12v pass through from battery pack, through body and out the top by the LCD mount (no wires, easy disconnect, clean)
- wired a color selector switch close to the 12V battery pack input. Choose Power LED color to suite you mood, can also turn off LED once colors cycle fully if you have not chosen one
- Added a Stratocaster guitar boat style output plate wired for stereo TRS (for stereo output)
- Added a Telecaster style control plate. 2 knobs control volume of dual sids while the switch selects dual sid or mono sid
This one obviously falls under guitar synth effects. I thought it was interesting enough to post at least once. Note this is not a vintage item.
Full auction description follows:
"The Great Divide combines classic analog octave division with proprietary Synth technology to create one of the best-sounding, most versatile octave units ever made! It features five independent voices that can be continuously blended for a limitless array of sounds, from classic stompbox octave division to multi-layered, supersonic Synth mayhem!
The Great Divide is 100% analog – the circuit tracks incoming audio and subdivides the waveforms to create lower notes at varying intervals. The lower voices are monophonic, but can sometimes be coaxed into tracking double-stops (say please!). The GD’s Upper Octave voice is a form of harmonic distortion that can track polyphonically with eerie precision and often unpredictable results (ring mod, anyone?).
By blending voices at various levels, an absolutely limitless variety of super-sick, super-FAT, super-sexy Synth and octave sounds can be created and deployed to beat your audiences’ booty into submission.
Make your guitar sound like a Bass; an Arp; a Harp; a Hammond – whatever. Make your Bass sound like a Moog; a Guitar; a Moog Guitar or an asteroid hitting the Earth’s atmosphere – you get the idea…
For even more tonal options, patch in an external pedal via the TRS effects loop and control it with the Great Divide! OR, use an expression pedal to control the GD’s output level for gorgeous Synth pad volume swells and other assorted mayhem.
WORDS SIMPLY CANNOT DESCRIBE THIS PEDAL – Watch the videos and see for yourself, but please note that these samples are just the tip of a Titanic-tanking iceberg of tone. Now –GO GET SOME!!!
CONTROLS
The Great Divide features the following controls:
Dry Level Fader
-1 Octave Level Fader
+1 Octave Level Fader
+1 Octave Envelope Switch (sort of like Synth resonance, or maybe a cosmic death-ray)
SUB Level Fader & Switch with 4 Selectable voices ( -1, -1.5, -2 or -2.6)
SYN Level Fader & Clock with 5 Selectable Voices (0, -1, -1.5, -2, -2.6)
SYN waveform switch w/4 options (Saw/Pulse, Chopped Saw/Pulse, Square, Modulated Square)
Cross-modulation option for -1 OCT (tracks SUB clock)
Raw clock option for SUB voice (think MASSIVE, vulgar square wave)
Pictured to the left is Professor William Hoskins (via). What you see there is not the mystery Moog, but his Moog modular system. This post is about another Moog synth, one most likely based on the Sonic VI. If you have any information on what this synth might be after reading this, please feel free to leave a comment or contact me directly. My contact info is on the bottom right of the site. I have already contacted Michelle Moog-Koussa and Brian Kehew author of Kaleidoscope Eyes A Day in the Life of Sgt. Pepper, as well as Trevor Pinch, author of Analog Days [Amazon hardcover & paperback, preview on Google books], and featured in this exclusive post. I also contacted James Husted of Synthwerks, George Mattson of Mattson Mini Modular, Steven Jones of Synthwood, and Carbon111, all of whom know their synth history. None were familiar with what the synth might be.
The story: I was recently contacted by a Paul Rego with the following:
"I've been searching the Internet for over a year now and have not been able find a specific synth. Since you seem to know and work with every type of synth known, I thought I'd ask you...
Around 1973 - 1974, I took private synthesizer lessons at Jacksonville University (Florida). The instructor was Professor William Hoskins and the synth was a custom Studio Moog assembled by Professor Hoskins.
One day, Professor Hoskins showed me his personal, portable synthesizer. He brought out what looked like a brown suitcase. When he opened it, I saw a Moog Sonic VI.
This is nothing new. I've seen lots of images of this synth on the Internet. The one aspect of this particular synth, that I cannot find anywhere, is that it had a touch-sensitive keyboard. The keyboard was made of plastic and had a gray / brown color. Outlining the keys (showing the location of the 'white' and 'black' keys) was an almost medium blue color (about an eighth-inch thick). (He and I tinkered with this synth for about a half-hour to an hour.)
Professor Hoskins passed away several years ago, so I can't ask him about it. I did contact his family but they don't remember anything about this synth.
I do remember Professor Hoskins telling me that he and Bob Moog had 'gone to school together'. I think he was referring to electronics school but I never asked him more about it. I thought I had read somewhere that Professor Hoskins and Bob Moog had briefly worked together on a Sonic VI prototype but I don't know if that's true. (Even if what I saw was a prototype, someone has to own it now and should be proud enough of it to post some photos somewhere.)
I thought the background story might help in your own research on this.
Basically, I'd just like to know if this synth ever existed or am I just not remembering it correctly.
Thank you for your time and attention."
My first obvious guess considering the blue was the Buchla Music Easel or separate Buchla touchplate keyboard modded into the case of a Sonic VI. I sent Paul a couple of links to various images.
Paul replied: "the synth I saw didn't look like the Buchla Easel. Good call though.
The 'blue', which outlined the keys on the Sonic VI I saw was a bit lighter in color than the blue in your photos and maybe had a bit of green in it (closer to turquoise). There was no red or other color on the keyboard (that I can remember) and the entire keyboard seemed to be one piece of plastic with only the blue / green outlines separating the 'keys'.
I also read a story recently about the time when Musonics bought Moog and had a synth ('Sonic V'?) of their own, at that time, but I haven't research this too much yet. One thought I had was the synth I saw was something from Musonics but was never officially released (until it had the 'Moog' name placed on it). I'm pretty sure the synth I saw had the 'Moog' logo and the word 'Sonic VI'. (Not 100% sure but it seems clear in my memory.)"
I also sent Paul images of the EMS Synthi AKS. Paul replied it was the closest, but definitely not it.
I contacted Michelle Moog-Koussa and Brian Kehew to see if they knew of anything. Michelle replied: "...I can tell you that we have several of William Hoskins reel-to-reel tapes in the archives, so there was obviously a significant professional relationship between he and Bob.
I don't ever remember reading anything about the Sonic VI, but maybe Brian does. One thing I can tell you for sure is that Dad began working with John Eaton in 1970 on the Multi-Touch Sensitive keyboard [left via]. The main component of the MTS was the touch-sensitive keyboard, of course. It's not out of the realm of possibility that Dad would have used his work with John to push boundaries on another project."
Brian replied: "Bob didn't design or build the original Sonic V (from Musonics before they bought Moog) that was Gene Zumchak: The Sonic V did have a brown wood style. It's even unlikely Bob did much on the Sonic Six as it was the same thing with a new outer case.
The Sonic VI was the version Moog made in 1972 and later, in a plastic suitcase version. Many of these were made vs the very few Sonic V's. So one might think they saw a Sonic VI when it was the V (same front panel and features). But the brown suitcase and colored keys and touch sensitive thing are ALL unusual. I know a little about Prof Hoskins from the paperwork of the past, but no mention of this synth. Definitely unusual to have keys like that anywhere, anytime!" Followed by: "And there IS touch (velocity) sensitivity on Wendy Carlos' synth by 1971 for Clockwork Orange, but it's used under the normal keyboard. THIS velocity was very possible, but would not make the keys look different. Again - maybe a Sonic V was retrofitted with a cooler keyboard later in the 80s, but why not do so on a BETTER synth!?" :)
On a separate thread, Trevor Pinch got back to me with the following: "Bill Hoskins was important in that he was one of the first people David VanKouvering approached about minimoog reiail sales etc. I have a good album of his somewhere! I think he may have been Bob's favorite composer for a while.
I have no idea about the touch key board but I'm in touch with Gene Zumchak the guy who designed the Sonic Six, so I'll ask him. (I guess you know the joke that the Sonic Six was known by Moog engineers as the Chronic Sick!)
Actually its story might be kinda interesting - Zummy (as he is known) told me that it was made with 741 op amps and in many ways was more advanced than the minimoog.
Maybe it has had an unfair press. I never heard one or saw one for real."
James Husted sent me the image of Professor Hoskins at the top of this post. I sent it to Paul to see if maybe it brought back any memories that might help.
He replied: "The custom Moog modular in that photo is the same one I took lessons on. However, this is an early photo and when I saw that Moog modular, Professor Hoskins had already added a top layer to that cabinet — which included a Moog sequencer. (I have a photo of it, that I took around 1990, but the top part of the photo, showing the upper section, is cut off.)
The reason you didn't see Professor Hoskins' 'Sonic VI' is... I'm guessing that he didn't bring it to the university very often. When I saw it, I was at his home. He had invited me over one Saturday afternoon to see HIS custom Moog modular. It was in his garage, which he had made-over into a nice studio. It also had a two-manual organ, at least two reel-to-reel tape decks and LOTS of recording tape. Later, during that same session, he said 'There's something else I want to show you. Come inside.' We went into the living room and I sat on the couch. He said 'I'll be right back.' After about a minute, he came back carrying a brown 'suitcase'. He set it on the coffee table in front of me and sat down on the couch. He opened it up and... Whoa! I had never seen one of these and it was the first time I had seen a Ring Modulator!
---
I remember seeing Professor Hoskins play his Sonic VI during a live performance of his album 'Galactic Fantasy / Eastern Reflections'. The Jacksonville University orchestra played most of his composition but at one point his Sonic VI was brought out and he played it while at center stage. I could see it clearly from my seat but, of course, I could only see the back of it, which simply looked like the back of a brown suitcase.
---
Sorry it took so long to get back to you. Since I think this is important, I thought I'd try to recreate the 'Sonic VI' I think I saw. I 'Photoshopped' a production Sonic VI and attached it to this message. It's the best image of what I think I saw.
Modifying the image forced my memory to go into more detail. Here's what I'm fairly certain of:
• The outer color of the "suitcase" was almost dark brown.
• The outer shape was more square than the production Sonic VI.
• The thickness of the top and bottom sections was thicker than the production Sonic VI model.
• The keyboard was made of slightly textured plastic, otherwise completely flat, was brown / gray in color and had a vibrant blue outline between the keys. (I'm not 100% sure if the "black" keys were outlined or solid blue.)
• The background color of the back panel and the area surrounding the keyboard was almost dark brown. It looked like it was made out of either pressed cardboard or thin wood. It really reminded me more of the thin 'wood' used in old, tube televisions and radios (during the 1960s).
What I'm not 'fairly sure' of:
• I can't remember if it had a Mod Wheel.
• I think there was more space between the modules.
• I think it had two speakers (placed on the left and right side of the back panel). Each might have been the size of the center speaker-grill in my photo.
• I can't remember if there were any connectors, switches or knobs on the keyboard section."
Update: via Aaron aka theglyph in the comments: "Holy shit! That's the guy from JU. There was an electronics repair/pawn shop here in Jacksonville called Active Electronics that had a bunch of synths back in 90's. The owner had a sign in the store explicitly stating that the synths were not for sale and that customers were not allowed to walk up and look at them or touch them. I walked in day and walked close enough to notice that the MiniMoogs had very low serial #'s. It wasn't until I read Analog Days that I found out that the earliest Mini were sold here in Jacksonville. There so much more to this story that I don't know where to begin but I can say that I did an obscure Moog at the store that I've never seen photographed since and I simply thought I was loosing my mind recollecting it. WOW!
Cheers,
theglyph"
Update: Above, Brian originally mentioned Bill Hemsath as the person that designed the Sonic V. He meant to say Gene Zumchak. This has been updated.
Updates: via Dorothy in the comments:
"HI, as a Hoskins kid, I watched Dad perform on the synthesizer and I know we had the Sonic but I thought it was a "V". Dad had several custom modules built for him by Bob Moog. They were friends but didn't go to school together -- Dad went to Trumansburg NY to work with Bob on the synthesizer that they got for Jacksonville University (in 1969, I think). I will have to go digging in the Will Hoskins letters that I have. Those of you who knew Dad know that he was very meticulous about writing up the components that he bought and what they were for.
Late in Dad's life, when he was basically letting go of most composing effort except for revising existing scores, Bob helped Dad find a collector (in Germany, as I recall), who bought all of Dad's big home synthesizer. I think some of the smaller units were in the hands of Steve Smith, who was Dad's right-hand man at the JU studio for some years. Whatever happened to them, I don't think Dad would have cared as long as someone was using them to create music. He wouldn't have collected synthesizers as museum pieces, he actively used everything he got from Moog until he was ready to let it go."
Followed by: "BTW, that last time I spoke to Bob Moog was after Dad died, when Bob came to Rochester NY http://www.esm.rochester.edu/news/?id=132 which is near where I live now. Bob spoke very fondly of working with Dad, because Dad cared as much about the science of music synthesis as any composer Bob knew. Dad did some work with him on modulators and other components for JU and the Hoskins home studio."
Followed by: "Hoskins synth photo --not a Sonic -- in news article 1970 [link]"
Update 6/6/2010:
Some more interesting bits of Moog history:
Trevor Pinch checked with Gene Zumchak who had the following to say:
"I am not aware of a touch sensitive keyboard on the Sonic V or 6. It did have a two-note keyboard and the highest key pressed and lowest pressed could be routed to Osc 1 and Osc 2.
They removed the keyswitch bus and superimposed a highpitch (100KHz?) tone on the voltage string. This might have been the source of a whine that some users complained about that wasn't present in the Sonic V."
via Josh Brandt: 'Okay, I did hear back from David Mash [VP of IT at Berklee and friend of Bob Moog], who says that the story he was telling me several years ago was about a keyboard Bob was building for John Eaton. I asked about the story he'd told me and if the pictures you posted could be of the instrument he'd been talking about, and he said:
"The story I was no doubt telling was definitely about the keyboard Bob built for John Eaton [middle pic above]. Bob was going to show us the completed instrument (which my friends Jeff Tripp and Paul Derocco helped complete), but we never got to see it due to the way the conversation turned over dinner. I did see the instrument several times during the design/build stages and again later after it was complete.
The keyboard was simply a controller and not a synth, so definitely not the portable synth the blog is referring to. I know Brian, and was involved briefly with him and a bit more with Michelle Moog on the NAMM Museum exhibit, and they used a couple of my photos for the exhibit. They're great people and working hard to preserve Bob's legacy.'"
Update via WmJHeart in the comments:
"Thanks Matrix, for hosting this page. I own a copy of Will's Galactic Fantasy & Eastern Reflections (my personal favorite) recording on vinyl. But I also discovered and listened to the entire album on YouTube recently! Here:"
Galactic Fantasy - Eastern Reflections (1979)[Full Album]
Published on Jul 12, 2017 TheHomecoming
"Rare electronic/synth/moog private pressing LP
TITLE 'Galactic Fantasy - Eastern Reflections'
William Hoskins, "Galactic Fantasy, Eastern Reflections" [CP-158]
TRACK 01 AUDIO TITLE "Overture : Stars Are Suns" PERFORMER "William Hoskins" INDEX 01 00:00
TRACK 02 AUDIO TITLE "Intermezzo : Interplanetary Communique" PERFORMER "William Hoskins" INDEX 01 06:39
TRACK 03 AUDIO TITLE "Star Nocturne" PERFORMER "William Hoskins" INDEX 01 08:11
TRACK 04 AUDIO TITLE "Scherzo : Comets" PERFORMER "William Hoskins" INDEX 01 16:35
TRACK 05 AUDIO TITLE "Beyond Beyond" PERFORMER "William Hoskins" INDEX 01 18:54
TRACK 06 AUDIO TITLE "Prolog : Theme and Variation" PERFORMER "William Hoskins" INDEX 01 23:40
TRACK 07 AUDIO TITLE "Lower Heterophonie" PERFORMER "William Hoskins" INDEX 01 27:55
TRACK 08 AUDIO TITLE "Song : Open Skies" PERFORMER "William Hoskins" INDEX 01 31:22
TRACK 09 AUDIO TITLE "Drum Chime" PERFORMER "William Hoskins" INDEX 01 35:28
TRACK 10 AUDIO TITLE "Upper Heterophonie" PERFORMER "William Hoskins" INDEX 01 39:41
TRACK 11 AUDIO TITLE "Epilog : Processional" PERFORMER "William Hoskins" INDEX 01 41:30
A1
Overture: Stars Are Suns
A2
Intermezzo: Interplanetary Communique
A3
Star Nocturne
A4
Scherzo: Comets
A5
Beyond Beyond: An Entropy Study
A6
Eastern Reflections
Eastern Reflections
B1
Prolog: Theme and Variation
B2
Lower Heterophonie
B3
Song: Open Skies
B4
Drum Chime
B5
Upper Heterophonie
B6
Epilog: Processional
Criminally under-rated set of Early American Moog Modular Synthesizer Music - the sole release by composer William Hoskins, the 'Director of Electronic Music and Composer-in-Residence at Jacksonville University in Florida.' Issued in 1979 by the Harriman, NY-based Spectrum - a 'Division of UNI-PRO Recordings, Inc.' the LP consists of a pair of discrete pieces, with each taking up a side of its own."
Update via Kimberly S Beasley in the comments:
"Hello, everyone. I am the current chair of the Department of Music at Jacksonville University and I have the original Sonic VI manuals and one of Hoskin's Moogs....happy to share photos tomorrow."
Kimberly sent in the images with the following:
"This has been in the possession of our Professor Emeritus Dr. William Schirmer as it was given to him by Hoskins. Hoskins' granddaughter Dorothy is also aware of the instrument. We also have a large collection of manuscripts of Hoskins.
There is also a mini-Moog we just refurbished in our recording studio."
You can see WM. Hoskins written on the top right of the manual. Note "Home Copy" on the blue cover. It's kind of neat to think of him perusing through the manual in the comfort of his home.
Hefix93 of Velvet Acid Christ sent the following review of his new Eurorack format modular synth featuring Doepfer, Plan b, Livewire and a Kenton Pro Solo for MIDI to CV. You will find samples at the end of the review.
"Kenton pro solo: Amazing midi to cv converter, its tight, real tight with logic sending it midi. i like the portamento and other things i can get out of it.. very good, worth every peny, also can do extra cv modulations with the aux out jack.
Plan b model 15 osc: The saw wav on this is simply mystifying. huh? i mean it is the meanest saw i have ever messed with. PWM is not so great, no attenuator and there is only active pulse on the pwm knob from 10 o'clock to 2 o'clock (don't know if this is standard on all modulars, as this is my first) this really irritates me [Update: this is addressed at the end of this review by Peter Grenader of Plan b]. I got neat fm sounds, and sync. the sine is pretty cool. The small frequency knob really kinda irks me, its so hard to dial in any kind of tuning, which makes this a real bummer for live use. I hope i can get the pwm to work how i want in the future, if so, this osc will probably me favorite of all time. Seriously rips. This thing is so mean. I want to have him build me a custom osc based on this model 15 with all the things i want. i hope he will. I want a osc octave switch, pwm attenuator and a bigger freq knob that isn't so overly sensitive and hard to tune (granted, these are the first modular oscillators i have used so). I seriously love this osc.
doepfer a-118 Noise/random: wow, i love the colored noise on this module. and the random voltage thing is kinda neat as a modulator on my filter and other things. nice.
doepfer a-138 mixer: Wow this sounds decent. if you over drive this past 7, it gets pretty aggressive, great for the kind of music i do. nice..
doepfer a-131 VCA: Again decent sounding, and man if you go past 7, it gets real mean. i love it..
doepfer a-143 quad lfo: nice to have 4 lfos, i like the speed switch, this goes real slow and nice and fast. i love it. better than most synth lfos i've had. Can go real fast in the high mode, fm audio. nice...
doepfer a-125: this is the best phaser i've ever had, and i haven't had many, makes the phaser in the virus ti sound like a toy..can sound real thick and heavy, very psychedelic. wow. this will make my psy trance tracks kick major butt..
doepfer a-188-1 1024 bbd: Very cool short delay that does chorus and flange ok, not the best i've heard, the modcan sounds the best so far. but for strange detuned rubber band delay modulation sci fi weird stuff, this thing really rocks, but it makes me wish i had room for the 188-2 instead.. hrmm... still really good for the money.
doepfer a-140 adsr: Very snappy. i mean this thing handled my 160 bpm bass duties at 16th notes very well. better than most stuff i have owned. i have not tried to make kick drums yet or other percussion, so i don't know how well it does there. but for bass and leas, out standing fast poppy envs. i have not messed with the other speed settings other than the m. and that suits my needs so far. i got two of these. and man, i'm loving it.... so fast tho, they can pop, you have to mess with the attack and release a tad, but man. it snaps..
doepfer 1-180 multiples: what can i say, they split the multiply a signal by 3. awesome. does its job well. i get 1 in and 3 out x2 per module, i got 2 of these..
Livewire Frequensteiner multimode filter: i saved the best for last. what can i say, this thing is aggressive, and man, it is simply the best multimode filter i have ever owned. The low pass is very aggressive, as is the bandpass, and the highpass, but man, the high pass is the best on this filter. it hisses and bites and cuts in a mix so well, i cannot explain how much i love it. But honestly i really like all the filter modes a lot. if i push the audio input past 7 or 8, it over drives and gets really mean, i mean super pissed. AMAZING. This thing is worth every penny, i love the knobs, and the nice big frequency knob is much loved here. What other multimode filters have i owned? nordlead, jp8080, virus up to the ti, the jupiter 6, the andromeda. This thing is sick, i mean so great, i cannot rave bout it enough. This is now my favorite synth filter ever. Even beating out my love for the minimoog and jupiter 8 filters.. i'm just into that aggressive exciting sound this thing gives me.
I sold my roland jupiter 8 for this [posted here]: i am not looking back, i love that old vintage lush instruments. but i needed something with more balls and bite and aggression, i got it. What i am able to pull of with this is amazing seriously mean bass and leads, that cut on all frequencies of the spectrum. And all the strange ufo sci blips and beeps that modulars are know for as well. This doesn't sound vintage, it has its own new sound, its stable and alive, but very precise and tight. zippy, and responsive. so much more so than i am used to. the modulations in the andromeda were sluggish and oogy, this is lightning fast and responsive, just how i like it. I am so glad that i took this big step. Sure i have some issues with the implementations on the the plan b model 15 with its pwm strangeness, but other than that, i love it all. I took back my virus ti and vsynths because they just didn't cut into my analog drum machine and monosynth dominated mixes. This thing does. it can get in there with my sh2, and future retro revolution just fine. as to where my virus would sound all faint and wouldn't cut, even with the high pass, it would kinda get lost and not stand out. that is not a problem here with this system. This is why i love analog so much more in the kind of music i make, i need stuff that has presence in the mix. digital doesnt. ANALOG DOES!
Sure after it was all said and done, it cost me about $2750. I bought it all from Analogue Haven .. please if you do buy stuff because of these sound demos, tell them that you heard the clips from velvet acid christ and read this review. I want a hook up for getting him business. I'm addicted to this modular stuff, and i need all the help i can get now.. :) Shawn really is the one who help me build this system. He and i go way back. I'm so glad his store exists now. really helped me out here. i've been lusting after a fat system with a multimode filter for years. I FINALLY HAVE FOUND IT.. i'm so happy..
Oh and by the way, i made a bunch of quick sound demos of the this system doing the typical vac arp lines and basses. Feel free to check em out. I hope this gets you interested in modulars.. They are not just for strange blips and beeps, they can be great musical instruments as well. not just for the weird sci fi. take care.
Update via Peter Grenader of Plan b regarding PWM on the Plan b Model 15:"Morning...
The PWM construction is designed that way so that there are more possibilities for the VC input. I played around with this a lot while cooking the VCO, you're going to get some very interesting sounds when the manual offset is positioned to either the far left or right (either into the 'silent' zone) and a VC is applied to pull it back into audio that aren't availible otherwise. My PWM sound is unique, I wanted to keep it that way.
I think there is a misconception that by only having the square audible from 10 to 2 that you're loosing something. You're not - it's all there, it sweeps from full neg, through 0 to 100 duty cycle, then back from 100 to 0 to full positive. it just transverses that from the 10 o' clock pot setting to the 2 o clock pot setting. the balance of the pot regions, when the signal is zero is not wasted, it's there for VC possibilities.
If you own one of these, try it, you'll see what I'm speaking about. Move the pot to silence, apply and VC, then move the pot to so that the square isn't silent and apply the same VC. I didn't want to loose both effects.
Spotted the first video in the playlist above on discchord.com. The Playlist contains 21 videos. You can use the player controls to skip around. Descriptions for each are below. All videos feature various gear so you should be able to get an idea of some of the capabilities of each featured. You can check out Jay Hosking's music at https://jayhosking.bandcamp.com/.
Note, more will likely get added over time. The following playlist is as of this post:
1. Jam w/ Vermona PERfourMER MkII, Elektron Analog Rytm MkII, OTO Bam, Styrmon Big Sky, Fugue Machine
A live, semi-improvised performance, all on hardware, and inspired by some pretty tough news that has me sentimental.
I loved the Elektron Analog Four MkII so much that I picked up the Analog Rytm MkII. My feelings on the Rytm are mixed. On the one hand, it's missing that spontaneity and spark of units like the Arturia DrumBrute Impact and Teenage Engineering OP-Z, with no readymade performance effects, roller bar, or global randomization, and a slower workflow. On the other hand, I really like its analogue sound engines, any unused tracks can be converted into impressive analogue mono synths, it does beautiful things to samples, and like all Elektron boxes it integrates the effects into the sequencer really nicely.
As for the Vermona PERfourMER MkII, I'd been pining over it for ages, and it was fun to finally tinker with it. The Perfourmer definitely excels in the mid- and high- range, and I love how the independent voices making really interesting voices for chords.
Vermona PERfourMER MkII + OTO Bam — Three synths (left chord note, right chord note, melody)
Vermona PERfourMER MkII + Strymon Big Sky — Bass chord note synth
Elektron Analog Rytm MkII — Drums, samples, sample melody, punchy bass
Fugue Machine (iOS) — Sequencing
IK Multimedia iRig Pro Duo — MIDI out from iOS
Written and performed within a 24-hour period, and uploaded as is, with only a little sidechain compression on the Perfourmer (to emphasize the sound that the Rytm was already making), and compression/limiting on the master.
Dave of umop.com and The Packrat sent an email on a synth dream he had, to me and a couple of others. I replied with my own. Dave and Peter Forrest thought they were a good read so I figured I'd put up a post. Dave gave me the go ahead to start with his. If you have any similar stories, feel free to post them in the comments. I thought this particular Packrat Toon held a little bit of truth to the experience behind the dreams. BTW, title link takes you to the rest of The Packrat strip. Hmm... Now that I think of it, all the toons would make for great dreams. : ) Click the image to read it.
Before we start. Question: How many of you realized it was a dream in the middle of it and actually tried to take it back to the other side? I have.
Via Dave:
"Not for nuthin', but after I bought some office furniture at Ikea the
other day, I guess the store invaded & scrambled my thoughts, because
I dreamed I bought a little 2-osc analog synth from them.
I'd supply a picture but it was so nondescript it doesn't really
matter. It was about half a MaxiKorg with similarly colored switches;
plain black cheapo plastic body. Mixer faders all the way over on the
side, embedded in the end cheeks like an OB-Xa retrofit (for only two
VCO's?... there were so many faders...); and of course those cheeks
were Ikea's specialty "birch effect" particle board in composition.
One other detail I remember is the waveform knob was a simple knob
which went from brass (saw) to EP (electric piano [??]). When cranked
all the way left, this thing sounded fatter than the brass from ELP's
"Touch and Go" and I recall remarking to my girlfriend in the dream
(who was naked of course...TMI?) that I planned on bringing this
little $199 beauty out with me to Pong* shows as a dedicated brass
synth.
The name? "Ikeaboard" of course.
Just thought I'd share. It's weird to have dreams with this many
technical details skirting so close to the realistic."
Via Matrix:
"Too funny, I used to have synth dreams all the time. There was a time in
real life, where I was hitting up pawn shop after pawn shop looking for
"that deal." I had major GAS. At that time I'd have dreams about shops in
various cities with crazy analog gear I've never seen before. Bizarre
Roland/Oberheim combo analogs. The shops always seemed to have mini lofts
in the back where they stored a bunch of dusty old analogs. I have
re-occuring dreams about making rounds through pawn shops on Santa Monica
Blvd. in LA between Van Ness and Western, which I just realized there isn't
a single pawn shop in that stretch if I remember correctly, and rounds in a
downtown that's a mix between LA, Venice Beach, and Seattle. The most
memorable synth of all things was a Red SH-101 that was shiny and had curves
which slanted in by the keys. Imagine a shiny red SH-101 designed by
Ferarri and you'll get the idea.
Here's a couple of real life experiences similar to my synth dreams:
1) I used to go up to Vancouver B.C. about twice a year and run through this
routine:
1. Check-in at hotel.
2. Walk out and down one side of Granville Ave hitting every pawn shop on
the way to the liqour store (mostly avoiding eye contact with the porn shop
displays in between - Granville basically has pawn shops, porn shops, clubs,
and convenience stores with .99 pizza by the slice). And then walk back up
the other, hitting all the pawn shops on that side.
3. Buy a synth if I was lucky enough to find one (I bought my JD-800 for
$650 Canadian there)
4. Bring it and the drinks up to the hotel room, and go through my cleaning
ritual while drinking these Canadian berry flavored drinks with MuchTV
(Canadian MTV) in the background (my wife liked that show when we visited).
I'd also watch life go by out on Granville. I always got a second to third
story room with a view of the street. I'd spend about an hour clianing the
synth and then play a bit and head out for the night. Back from the night
I'd stare out the window and watch the craziness that happens when people
start leaving the clubs. The whole time I'd be glowing and thinking about
how cool it was that I actually found something. There was a Kurzweil
K2000S I was eyeing in a shop for a while, but I thought the asking price at
$800 or so Canadian was too much for it to be a deal. Visiting Granville
was my pawnshop dream in real life minus of course the mass cool gear, but I
usually found something interesting too look at if not buy. I'd always go
up for my birthday as well, so finding something on that trip was always
better.
2) I went to Maui once, and made a point to hit the pawn shops at some
point. I didn't get around to it until the last day. To my wife's
reluctance, we hit shop after shop and found nothing. We burned out and
gave up. On the way back to the hotel, my wife spots Taco Bell. We go in
and I see a pawn shop around back. I say just one more. She's says no, but
I pull the what if that's the pawn shop that has the $50 Minimoog?! She
gives in. I walk in and in the back I see what looks like either a TR-707
or 909. I figure of course it's the 707 with my luck. I get closer and
it's pretty dusty, and... It's the 909. I get that sick feeling in the
stomache, that feeling of panic like someone or something is going to go
wrong. I grab it and look at a sticker on it. It says 220, but no $. I
ask the guy working there if that's the price. Turns out he's the owner and
he says a little nervously, "oh..., we can take $30 off of that" A 909 for
$190! I say sold! But... He only takes cash. I have no cash and he is
about to close! He's in a hurry to go see some blockbuster that just came
out. The shop opens again after my plane leaves. I ask if there is an ATM
close by. There is one across a high speed highway. but he says I better
hurry because he needs to make the movie and will not wait. What do I do?
I bolt across the street. I manage to withdraw the money and run back just
as he's locking the shop. I get that sick feeling like I knew it was too
good to happen, but... he has the 909 in hand and I make my purchase. : )
Only... They didn't have any 1/4" cables for me to try it, and as he was in
a rush, I had to buy it hoping it was ok. I almost didn't get it but I
figured I could get it repaired at that price, so I'm hoping it's just not
too bad. I get back and plug it in. I hear it thumping away. Big grin.
; ) I clean it up and it's immaculate, no issues whatsoever."
"There were only 500 of these ever made, and many didn't survive due to an engineering flaw in the earlier production runs. This unit is one of the last ones produced and does NOT suffer from that flaw. It left the factory with the fix in place and has operated perfectly its entire life, and should continue to for many years to come. It's a beauty." See The Fizmo Fix on Carbon111 for more info.
BTW, this reminded me of a crazy synth dream I had last night. In my dream I was heading to some synth gathering and spotted a pawn shop when I parked. I went in not expecting much and then saw a bunch of stuff in different sections of the shop. I had that "yes!" feeling. To the right there was a two octave Fizmo! I have a Fizmo and debated whether I should pick it up as a lap synth. I then walked over and there was a Blue SH-101 in pristine shape for $400!!! I was definitely going to get that. I then started to see what else they had and Computer Controlled dropped in. I ran to the SH-101! :) Anyway he was coming in from the synth gathering to check things out. If only he dropped by beforehand. I took a bunch of shots for the blog and then woke up thinking well at least I got the shots! Yep... if only. :) The other night I had a crazy synth dream with Tom Cruise. He was on Oprah and then the show switched over to Letterman. He was talking about how he was all into synths now and he then performed some prog rock electronica. He kind of looked like a cross between Gandalf and this guy. Glad that one is over.
Real life synth dream: a few years back I went to Maui and on the last day after giving up on synth hunting from one jewelry pawn shop to another, my wife and I went to a Taco Bell to get something to eat. I snuck into one last pawn shop by the Taco Bell. I saw guitars and amps and got that feeling, "yes!". In the back corner was a TR-909 with a sticker on it that read 220, no dollar sign. I asked if that was the price. They said they'd give me $30 off of it!!! I got it for $190. Problem was they only took cash, I didn't have any and they were closing shop. I ran across a fourway highway as fast as I could to hit up the ATM. When I got back they were outside closing the door. I had that sick feeling in the pit of my stomache, but when they turned around they had the 909 in their hands. I bought it, cleaned it up and it's in pristine condition. True story.
"The GR-300 is known for its lightning fast tracking. This baby follows your playing perfectly - probably because there is no midi to slow things down! I originally got into the GR-300 not for fast Pat Metheny wank-outs (I just can't play like that), but for the cool ambient textures the synth can produce. For instance, "Invisible Sun" by the Police. The GR-300 has 6 VCOs, one for each string, a Hexa-Fuzz circuit (basically six fuzz units, one for each string) all which go thru an ultra-fat analog filter. You can combine the VCOs with the Hexa-Fuzz for some seriously sick sounds. There are also two separate pitch pedals which take the synth out of the standard tuning and lets you tune the VCOs to a 3rd, 5th, octave up or down. You can also program the rise and fall time of the pitch change. There is a very cool envelope mod pedal which creates those Mutron envolope follower sounds. An inverted envelope is available as well. There is a built-in compressor which fattens things up even more.
On the back you have 1/4" jacks for compression on/off, VCF pedal, sweep on/off, string select, straight guitar output, and guitar/synth mix output. You will need a guitar controller with a 24-pin cable connection to trigger this synth."
"it's here. it's real. it's black. and it's got so much more than you've wished for. a no-compromise, dual-cpu boosted and fully rebuilt sequencer, sampler, and performance instrument, built on the much-loved workflow of the OP–Z. now including built-in cv, effect sends, and a best-in-class dac. with 8 individual instrument tracks and 8 auxiliary tracks for controlling any external synthesizer, modular or otherwise, and adding effects."
"Teenage Engineering has a new DARK flagship. And it's called OP-XY. It's s huge step up in sound quality, workflow, storage capacity, performability etc. compared to something like the OP-Z. And as with all flagships by TE, it's safe to assume there will be many years of quality updates over the years."
00:00 It’s Here!
00:50 The MAIN gripe I have with the OP-XY
02:40 Laying Down Drums
04:09 Adjusting the velocity can be a bit tricky…
05:15 Parameter locking the effects sends
06:48 I wish there was more sound design…
08:15 Laying down the chords
09:00 Bassline time!
10:33 The Step Components are CRAZY sick
12:15 The “Intelligent Transpose” is kind of crazy…
12:46 Using the onboard microphone
14:02 Adding another element to show off the effects
14:52 Tracks 9-16 are not what you think
15:25 Tape Beat Repeat effect
17:15 Punch-In Effects are super unique
19:00 Then combined with the Transposer?!
19:51 Compressor time
21:18 Lost in the sauce
22:44 Jam it out
23:21 But what makes the OP-XY special?
25:45 But…
MSRP of $2299 (check with dealers on the right)
the new evolution of sequencing. OP–XY is a powerful sequencer, synthesizer, and sampler. stack sounds on a 64-step grid, and create thousands of projects. tactile 24-key keyboard and a multi-out jack that lets you select one of four outputs. 8 unique synth engines, two send effect slots, plus brain™ for transposition—it’s a complete studio in the palm of your hand.
sequencer, synthesizer and sampler
built-in speaker for room-filling sound
16 hours usb-c rechargeable battery
multi-out port
thousands of user projects
8 unique synth engines
usb-c audio/midi host
dimensions: 288 x 102 x 29 mm | 11.4 x 4 x 1.2 in
weight: 900 g | 31.7 oz
das sequenzer.
experience the ultra fast sequencing workflow. punch-in FX™ lets you
add quick, rapid-firing, unique, live variations and adding individual step components
creates an extra dimension and deep rhythmic patterns. randomize note timing, velocity
and pitch, or use live automation to alter filters. use brain™ to create chord progressions,
generating tracks that reinvent themselves. literally.
schritt-sequenzen.
run every track, independently, at different speeds and lengths to form
powerful polyrhythms. create new sequences every time with step
components, variations that can be added to any step on the
sequencer, controlling everything from altering pitch to bending,
skipping or even multiplying steps.
alles verbinden.
the 2 Vrms main output drives any sound system, real loud.
keep everything locked in sync and sequenced with the multi-out and
take control with midi-in. process and sample external audio with the
audio-in. control, record and charge with the audio/midi host over usb-c,
plus a complete wireless experience with midi over bluetooth
le—keine bedingungen [no strings attached].
länger, weiter, stärker.
compose your album, head off to the gig, plug and play
immediately, then keep everything locked-in with all the i/o you
could ask for. 16-hour, battery-powered freedom lets you perform
for hours on-end. create, produce and perform anywhere.
mit allen bedingungen [all strings attached].
"It one of storytelling's oldest tricks, the bad guy that turn out to be the good guy. From Dickens’ Ebeneezer Scrooge to Jane Austen‘s Mr Darcy, from J.K Rowling‘s Snape to (who ever came up with him!?) Jonny Lawrence from Corbra Kai, the tough guys aren‘t as tough in the end and often the bad reputation they carry isn‘t really their own fault.
So, will a synth that is both notorious for being little more than a dub step noise machine and a cheaply built and quickly abandoned piece of glossy white plastic actually turn out to be the hero of the story?
It very much depends on who tells the story here, as M-Audio‘s Venom clearly has it‘s strengths if you can overlook the questionable design decisions made during it‘s inception. Like the hard to read grey on grey lettering or the fact that M-Audio thinks it totally ok for a stand alone hardware synth to heavily rely on a software editor that requires a PCor Mac to be able to utilize most of its extensive set synth engine features. Even the Virtual Analog Synthesizer claim that is prominently featured on the synth itself, it a bit of a hoax, as the Venom basically is just a souped up Rompler running on Amtel‘s Dream series ICs that were also found in PC sound cards and Karaoke Machines in the late 90s and early 2000s.
If you ignore these shortcomings and manage to get the editor running, you might be surprised of what the Venom can actually do. Apart from all the obvious dirty and distorted stuff, a lot can be achieved with the synth engine. Also as it was designed as an all in one solution for music beginners, you can even use it to record and process other instruments and even your own voice (vocoder anyone?).
Last but not least, the Venom might be pretty much the only synth whose price tag doesn‘t seem to have skyrocketed during the pandemic, here in Europe, you can still regularity find one for around 100€!
Curious? Then go ahead and press play!"
0:00 Intro
0:46 Introduction
1:29 The ugly parts
2:10 The bad parts
3:12 The good parts
4:35 Controls and connectivity
6:07 'Sick and Nasty' Patches
8:40 'Mad FX' Patches
9:29 'Whirling Pad' Patches
13:19 'Clean Keys' Patches
14:54 'Stained Keys' Patches
18:12 'Amazing Arp' Patches
20:46 'Traditional' Patch
21:13 Some Drumkits
22:39 Multi Mode Demo
25:31 Conclusion
26:10 Outro
RS042.1 M-Audio Venom: 'No Talking Edition'
"This is a shorter 'No Talking' edit of my video about the M-Audio Venom for those who prefer 'pure' demos without comments."
"If you're here you know about how awesome these are! I picked out the modules and bought this synth new just over a year ago. The synth works beautifully, Its so fat!!! Sadly I need to sell it to pay for other things. This Synth and its components are in very good condition. Everything works. The total cost of all these items new from their website runs well over $16,000. I was going to list this synth at 12,000 and accept offers but I really just want to sell it. 11,000 is a fair price. That's 2/3rds the new cost of this monolith. If you're trying to get a lot of modules this is a great deal!! I assume if you're here you've already been considering buying a new one. I present a cost saving alternative.
Modules
8 Oscillators, 4 filters, 2 Sequencers, 2 keyboards, and all the goodies! Check out their website to find out more 8 Q106A Oscillators
3 Q107A State Variable Filter(single-wide)
3 Q108 Amplifiers
4 Q114 Mixer++
1 Q115 Reverb
1 Q116 Ring Modulator
1 Q117 Sample and Hold
1 Q118 Instrument Interface
1 Q119 Sequential Controller
4 Q124 Multiples
2 Q125 Signal processor
1 Q127 Fixed Filter Bank
1 Q130 Clipper/Rectifier
1 Q139 Patcher Jack Panel
1 Q140 Fixed Filter Bank Aid
1 Q142 Pedal Interface
1 Q143 Presets
2 Q148 VCA++
1 Q149 Signal Selector
1 Q150 Transistor Ladder Filter
1 Q157 SH++ Sample and Hold
2 Q167 LFO++
2 Q171 Quantizer Bank
1 Q172 Quantizer Aid
2 Q173 Gate Math
2 Q174 MIDI Interface
6 Q179 Envelope++(Single or Dual Envelopes, or 4 step sequencer. Super sick!)
1 Q960 Sequential Controller (Moog style)
1 Q961 Sequencer Interface
2 Q962 Sequential Switch
1 Q963 Trigger Bus
Other Stuff
1 KEY61D Dual Keyboard with box 4 sidecar
1 Q182W Modulation and Pitch bend Controller
1 22 Space cabinet (spring reverb mounted in this one)
1 44 Space cabinet (Main power supply mounted in this one)
1 Keyboard Garage/Synth stand
2 Box 11 cabinets
1 QPS1 Main Synth Power
1 QPS5 Power supply for box 11s
1 QPS4 Single power cable for keyboard
2 Midi Cables
Over 100 studio patch cables of different sizes
Cable holder stand for all the cables
Moog CV foot pedal
1 Screwdriver
Manuals for all modules"
This is the walk through of the Synthorma synthesizer museum in Luterback Switzerland. Before you watch this video I want to make a few notes. First of all, be sure to click on the synthorama label/link below to see all posts on my visit to the museum. Second, this set of five videos is literally walk through the museum. If you have been following the posts you will know that the majority of synths are hooked up to headphone amps. There is a very good reason for this - you are encouraged to explore and listen to the individual synths without the disturbance of others doing the same. Because of this there is obviously no synth audio in this set of videos. The purpose of this post is to give you an idea of what is there and to give you a sense of what it would be like to walk through and see all of this before you put the camera down and start playing. :) There is no background track as you walk along. Just a ton of synths you want to explore.
For those of you that get camera sick watching videos like this, apologies ahead of time, and there are plenty of shots of the museum in my prior posts if that works better for you. Hopefully the vids aren't too bad.
That said, enjoy this set of videos, or not. Remember you can mouse over the video and click on the forward and backward links to move on to the next video if you do not have the time to watch all five in one shot.
Thanks again to Martin Hollinger for hosting such an incredible synthesizer asset for the community and a special thanks to swissdoc for not only driving me to the museum with the great synth talk, but also for dropping by the music shop and brockenstube on the way there. I couldn't have dreamt of a better synth fix on my vacation. Thank you.
"Welcome to episode 1 of Strymon Song Elements, where we utilize Strymon pedals to create a short song. Today we feature El Capistan dTape Echo on this 1980s synth pop inspired track. Stay tuned for more Song Elements videos! :)
Song by Ethan Tufts: [two vids below]
Instruments and Effects used:
Synth: Teenage Engineering OP1 » Strymon El Capistan
Synth: Oberheim Matrix-6 » Strymon El Capistan
Electric Piano: Wurlitzer 200A » Strymon El Capistan
Guitars: Fender Toronado » Strymon Iridium » Strymon El Capistan
Drums: Native Instruments Battery (no effects)
Bass: Native Instruments FM8 (no effects)"
Nerding out with Kawai K5 and Strymon TimeLine Delay [demo]
video upload by
State Shirt
"You'll never believe what we found sitting on the curb in our neighborhood a few months back. This fully operational Kawai K5 digital synth! A neighbor put a few keyboards on the curb and posted an ad to Craigslist. I guess the original owner got sick of additive synthesis. So we took the Kawai home and fired it up. It's a digital synth made in 1987, and seems to have it's own unique sound. I decided to plug it into my trusty Strymon TimeLine delay and see if I could come up with a few sounds and some song ideas for my new album. After many months, I finally completed the demo of the two together. :)"
Nostalgia 1989: Yamaha SY77 [demo]
video upload by State Shirt
State Shirt
Chameleons intro.
"I've lusted after the Yamaha SY77 ever since I was a kid, but could never afford one until recently. I just picked this one up on eBay. It's beat up and a few things are broken, but for $300 it was a steal. I hadn't thought about this instrument for years—and it's weird finally being able to play through it considering how much I wanted one as a kid.
Demo at the end features Strymon BigSky and Strymon Deco. Signal chain is SY77 » BigSky » Deco. Putting Deco last in chain gives a unique vibe—the Tape Saturation really mellows out the rough edges, and the Doubletracker can add some nice 80s sounding modulation. I didn't spend any time writing any patches for the SY77—I just used some factory sounds and whatever the previous owner had already saved."
"April 2018 Sees the release of my two new Preset Banks for iVCS3. Each bank contains 128 Presets and over 20 JEC CV Modulation Files.
************ IMPORTANT BANK SETTINGS ************
The iVCS3 global parameter... "Samplers Enable Loop Points Fade"
MUST be set to "OFF" To allow correct processing of the contained CV Modulation Files thus preventing crossfading of the transient.
My name is Jason Amm, and I'm the producer for "I Dream Of Wires" (IDOW), an upcoming documentary about the resurgence of modular synthesizers. If you're reading this, you probably already know all about IDOW, and have been anticipating it's release for quite a while. Chances are you may have even contributed money to one of our IndieGoGo fundraising campaigns, and have been wondering when you're going to receive your perk.
It was suggested in our IndieGoGo fundraising write-ups that the film would be completed sometime around Sept/Oct 2012. When we started this project, IDOW was in our minds going to be a small, straight-to-DVD niche film, and so this release date was a realistic goal. But the scope of the film, and the ever-growing interest in it, has gotten so much larger than we originally expected. We've been overwhelmed by all of the support from everyone following our progress, and it's largely this massive interest in the project that's ended up making it so much bigger than we originally anticipated. Though it has delayed the release, we are extremely excited by the wealth and quality of the material we've collected. With just two people working on IDOW (myself and director Robert Fantinatto), the task of sorting through over a hundred amazing interviews, and organizing those into a coherent and compelling film, has been daunting to say the least. We've really struggled to work out how to do this properly in a way that will satisfy the community of hardcore modular synthesizer fanatics (ourselves included), while also hopefully having an impact outside of that world.
So... "When is 'I Dream Of Wires' going to be released?"
via this auction "here is "Baby Blue".....designed with the details and looks of the classics, but in one micro package...... measuring 12" across, by 9" wide, and 6" high, this unit is compact but big on functions.....it was quite the challenge to bring together five separate circuits, switching, patch bay, and a fully functional 23 key toy piano together....the result is a one of kind synthesizer that cannot [can?] produce some awesome sounds....best of all you can feed your other bends/guitar/bass/keyboard into the patch bay for some sick sounds!!!....this thing will surely turn some heads!
check out the hardware: -the chassis is built from solid select pine wood, it has been sanded to an extremely smooth finish , and stained with a hand rubbed mid walnut finish...all joints have been glued/brad nailed/puttied for superior strength.... -the control plates are all metal.....galvanized steel on the angular control panel, aluminum side control panels...each panel has been hand painted baby blue with a tough enamel.....all hardware screws are stainless steel..... -the unit is built with the highest quality parts.....there are 9 enclosed switchcraft jacks in the patch bay, each with stainless steel jack nuts....8 micro alps toggle switches.....2 micro momentary push button switches..... a mix of 6 bournes/alpha potentiometers.....6 vintage styled knobs with aluminum inserts...and 6 3mm yellow LED's...... -there are four handbuilt analog circuits and two bent digital circuits.....each has been built or bent with silver solder, for the best signal transfer and solder point strength....
here are the unit's details: the unit is comprised of a fuzz circuit, a 20 second sampler, a pulse effect/LFO, and a notch filter....each effect can be patched together (in a number of different arrangements) to produce some wild tones and effects.....patch bay order or arrangement will impact the overall sound many different ways.....each effect can be used seperately or in conjunction with one another, as each effect has an ON or BYPASS mode, meaning you can leave it entirely patched up, turning each effect on or off with out having to switch cords around or interrupt the sound.....very cool.....
controls are such: FUZZ: IN/OUT on the patchbay, toggle ON/BYPASS, and a knob for THICKNESS/GAIN/WEIRD RESULTS LOOPER/SAMPLER: IN/OUT on patchbay, toggle LOOP/SINGLE, a toggle for STORE/OVERWRITE SAMPLE, a toggle for RECORD HOLD, a pushbutton for SINGLE PLAY, a pushbutton for MOMENTARY RECORD, and a knob for LOOP RATE, loop duration is interval ON/OFF/ON KEYBOARD: OUT on patchbay, toggle ON/OFF, VOLUME/GAIN/WEIRD RESULTS knob, and a MASTER PITCH knob, witch will bring you from crushing lows to earsplitting highs PULSE/LFO: interchangeable but different sounding IN/OUT on the patchbay, toggle ON/BYPASS, a knob for RATE which will produce slow throbs in lower settings and speedy staccatos, well into to a blended LFO NOTCH FILTER: IN/OUT on the patch bay, toggle ON/BYPASS and FILTER toggle,and a knob for FREQUENCY SWEEP" vids here
"if you've watched some of my videos you know I love string synth and string ensemble FX, I collect the former and build the latter. I wanted to test how an Arp Omni would sound through a Wersivoice unit. To do so I used the synth section of the Omni and plugged it to the Wersivoice, since the waveshape of the synth and string section of the Omni are basically the same. In the first part I A/B the 2 chorus sounds by using a foot switch. It's quite obvious which is what so you'll figure out. As you'll probalbly find out the Omni built-in chorus sounds mellower than the Wersi, which is brighter and harsher. Not better or worse, just a different taste. It's worthy to note the Omni 2 chorus is build around Reticon SAD512 BBD chipsets (so is the Moog Opus 3 btw) and this Wersivoice is build around Panasonic MN3004 (the same used in Roland Jupiter 4 / VP330). Early Wersivoice units (FM76s and WV3 / WV7 pcb) are build around philips TDA1022 and sound mellower. I'll make a demo with the Arp and one of those at some point.
Then in the second part this is when it gets really interesting... Since we use the synth section of the Omni we have access to a full ADSR enveloppe and a resonant filter with control over it by enveloppe, LFO and external pedal. And this allow for a much wider sound palette. Thanks to the enveloppe shaping the VCA you can get some string articulations that are not possible in the string section since it has a ASR enveloppe (meaning you can control Attack and Release but there is no Decay and Sustain is always maxed). Great for swell, staccatos, stabs etc It's also worth mentionning that the release of the ADST (synth) enveloppe is tied to the string section release, this one being the "master" or final release. If you want a long release on the ADSR you have to bring the String release up. This is not an issue, it is the way it is designed and that's one of the drawback of paraphonic design. And then comes the resonant filter... with it you can shape the tone of the sound to almost choiry / vocaly ones. And you can bring this more lively by using the LFO or an external pedal to open the filter like I did at some point. And of course you can always run the string section through the Wersivoice, which I did in the last part. And that, when the builtin Omni's chorus is set to phaser mode gives a very thick (sick ?) sound. Hope you like the video.
00:00 builtin chorus / Wersivoice comparision 02:48 quick discovery of ADSR and filter 05:19 example of ADSR use for string articulation 08:19 example of Filter use for tone shaping 10:56 use of external swell pedal (not on screen) to control filter and then LFO 14:41 BONUS string section in phaser mode through Wersivoice"
Click CC in the bottom of the player for subtitles.
Google translated video description:
"🎛️ The Memorymoog as you've never heard it.
In this video I get my hands on one of the most legendary analog synthesizers ever: the Memorymoog, the last beast produced by Moog in the 80s.
Thanks to Organstudio Italia, I had the chance to try it live, listen to it, tinker with it and tell you everything:
✅ The technical features (oscillators, filters, modulations)
✅ Its fascinating history
✅ The problems... and its magic
✅ The artists who made it immortal
An analog monster with 6 voices, 18 oscillators and a sound that punches you.
If you like vintage synths, pure electronics and the history of the instruments that changed music... this video is for you.
📍 Recorded at Organstudio Italia - thanks for making this incredible experience possible!
🎧 Listen to the Memorymoog with headphones. Trust me."
"Heath Aldrich and Dave Anderson compare and discuss the Arturia Buchla Easel V with Heath's physical Buchla 208P. Video production by Jesse Bader"
I'm familiar with Roman Filippov's 208r clone, but not the 208p. I did a quick search and found the following: (Update: turns out the 208p is essentially a clone of the clone. Some info added further below)
This is DIY Buchla 208 Music Easel that I built. It took me over 50 hours, and it still isn't perfect, but it is perfect for me. This synth has such a rich sound, and is so easy to change the voice of the patch, that it is hard to not be inspired by playing with it. I have always wanted one, and am so happy I had the chance to build one.
This is a idea that I have been working with since I started calibrating this beast. It is far from complete, but I like where it is going. All sounds were recorded direct from the 208p, no external processing, no external effects. Just a boy and his toy.
Via the seller: "In this auction we have one of the most tricked out, one-of-a-kind, nothing else like it Commodore 64 computers in existence! I hand built this fully functional mod over the course of 5 months +/- years in stress. So much research, development, time, design and money went into this project and I can honestly say I am super proud of what I built. I am currently in a bit of a bind and my priorities are completely shifted. In short, I am selling off the majority of my studio to be with my son.
- Mounted nice locking guitar strap pegs
