Kyma 7.1 — Sound Design Inspiration

Kyma 7.1 — Sound Design Inspiration from Symbolic Sound on Vimeo.

"New features in the Kyma 7.1 sound design environment are designed to help you stay in the creative flow by extending automatic Gallery generation to analysis files and Sounds, keeping your sound interactions lively and dynamic with support for new, multidimensional physical controllers, while expanding your sonic universe to include new synthesis and control algorithms that can be combined with the extensive library of algorithms already in Kyma."

Press release:

"Kyma 7.1 Sound Design Software Release

More inspiration, more live interaction, more ways to generate sound

CHAMPAIGN — November 14, 2016 — Symbolic Sound today announced that Kyma 7.1, the latest major release of the world’s most advanced sound design environment, is now available as a free update for sound designers, musicians, and researchers currently using Kyma 7. In Kyma 7.1, you can automatically generate an extensive gallery of inspiring sound design ideas based on your own signal-flow patches, samples, or analysis files. From there, it’s easy to map any parameter to an external physical controller so you can perform live sound-to-picture and design new musical instruments. Quickly create unique, high-quality sounds by combining some of the newly-developed sound synthesis modules exclusive to Kyma 7.1 with the massive library of existing synthesis and processing modules already available in Kyma.

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Introducing Kyma 7 — The Cure For Blank-Screen Syndrome

Kyma 7 in Four Minutes from Symbolic Sound on Vimeo.

"Champaign, Illinois — February 23, 2015 — Whether you’re creating a sound universe for a new game or film, performing live in front thousands of eager ears, or alone in your studio creating the future of music, what’s the one thing you want most when you’re first getting started on a project? Inspiration!

Every aspect of Symbolic Sound’s new software release — Kyma 7 — has been designed with inspiration in mind. In the new Multigrid, you can explore combinations of sources and effects with no interruption in the audio signal; in the Wave Editor Gallery, a single click automatically generates massive numbers of patches all based on your original sample; the new Parameter Assistant, Capytalk Reference, Inspiration tool, and web-based Questions and Answers make it easy to get up to speed quickly and get your questions answered when you need it. Derive even more inspiration from the Kyma Community Sound Library accessible from the Help menu in Kyma 7.

'There’s nothing quite as daunting as a blank screen or silent speakers,' according to composer and Kyma co-developer Carla Scaletti, referring to the sound designer’s equivalent to writer’s block, 'but once you have a starting point, it’s easier for inspiration to kick in. That’s when it starts to get fun, when you can start tweaking and refining! What we do in Kyma 7 is automatic-patch-generation based on the sound designer’s original files in order to create a vast number of starting points or springboards. We don’t do the sound design or composing for you; we just provide some initial material to help kick things off. Because we know that once you get that initial inspiration, you’ll be off and running and nothing will be able to lure you out of the studio.'

Response from beta testers has been enthusiastic: “I’m beginning to realize how mindbogglingly awesome this new upgrade is. It’s an order of magnitude more advanced and effective than Kyma X,” according to Barton McLean, composer/performer with The McLean Mix.

New Features

Inspiration for sound design

Wave Editor Gallery — A single click yields vast quantities of audio assets! Kyma automatically creates hundreds of signal flow graphs — with the controller you want and with all the parameter controls set up so you can start tweaking immediately.

Wave Editor Multigrid — Use the MultiGrid to explore limitless combinations of sources and effects. When you hear something you like, click the signal flow icon and Kyma extracts the current path through the MultiGrid as a fully formed Kyma Sound—it even preserves the presets! Now that you’ve got a starting point, it’s way easier for inspiration to kick in.

Wave Editor — In the new Wave Editor, you can edit multichannel files using the automatic splice-finder or generate your own wavetable for the new AntialiasedOscillator. Click the Gallery button to generate a myriad of ready-to-play keyboard instruments based on your custom waveform.

Sons du jour — Ready to start each day with a little inspiration? Every morning, Kyma selects some Sounds just for you and places them in the Sons du jour folder of the Sound Browser. So you can start each session with some fresh new Sounds!

Roll the dice in the Sound Browser — Kyma generates so many possibilities that the sheer quantity of choices can seem overwhelming at times, but don’t worry. Now you can roll the dice in the Sound Browser (as well as in the Virtual Control Surface) to hear what fate and a pseudorandom number generator will pick out just for you!

Sound search in the Browser — Looking for something in particular? In Kyma 7, you can search for Sounds and files by name, by algorithm, by controller type, by a parameter name, by star-rating, even by the contents of a parameter field.

New to Kyma 7? — Let the friendly inspiration tool brief you on the highlights and lead you to tutorial videos and PDF documentation.

Kyma 7 Video Tutorials—If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a video must be worth at least a million pictures—especially when it comes to working with an interactive graphical interface. The new Kyma 7 tutorials are inspirational and instructive.

Inspiration on stage — Interactive, responsive, and live

With the new Multigrid you can switch instantly between sources, effects, and combinations with no interruption in the audio signal. Perform live, inspired in the moment, with infinite combinatorial possibilities.
In the Kyma 7 Timeline you can slow down or stop the progression of time to synchronize with other performers. If you’re working to picture, you can link a QuickTime video to the Timeline and, whenever you receive an edited video, you can insert or delete time; the Timeline will automatically shift all affected Sounds and control functions left or right to accommodate the change.

Kyma 7 minimizes interruptions so you can stay in the flow

Speedups — Sounds and Timelines compile faster in Kyma 7 — some by as much as 1000 times faster! That couldn’t hurt.
X-ray vision — Curious about what’s inside a Sound? Just hover over the name or icon to take peek inside without interrupting the flow.

New Oscilloscope & Spectrum Analyzers — For listening with your eyes, there’s a new Oscilloscope or Spectrum Analyzer that you can switch on at any time, even while a Sound is already playing.

Questions and Answers — Stymied by a question? Go to the Help menu and pose a question…or discover the most up-voted answer to the questions posed by others.

Organize your signal flow graphs — Use the merge and split functions to keep your signal flows clean, logical and easy to read.

Parameters sidebar — New side-bar parameter fields are more uniform and easier to organize; open a parameter field to show more detail and hide it when you’re finished. And if you don’t like the ordering of the parameters, you can rearrange them.

Parameter Assistant — When you need inspiration for what to put into a parameter field, the Parameter Assistant searches the Sound Library and finds all the values ever used for that particular parameter in that type of Sound and shows you the most commonly used values at the top of the list. All you have to do is drag and drop.
Hover help — Hover over any element of a Capytalk expression for a hint as to its function.

Capytalk parameter language help — Or dive deeper by opening the Capytalk reference where you can search by typing part of a message or browse the messages by category. Not only does the Capytalk Reference provide a full description, it also provides examples that you can copy and paste into parameter fields and Sound examples so you can see the message used in context.

Embedded Virtual Control Surfaces — When you combine Sounds in a Timeline or MultiGrid in Kyma 7, each Virtual Control Surface layout is preserved in its own embedded layout. Quickly navigate down into embedded layouts and pop back out again.

An inspiring community
Kyma tends to attract independent-minded, creative, dedicated individuals with wide-ranging interests; Kyma 7 makes it easy to tap into their collective expertise for even more inspiration.

Share — Sharing your results with a community of like-minded individuals is both satisfying and inspiring. Just select Share from the File menu to contribute your Sound to the community Sound library in the cloud.
Community Sound Library — Looking for some fresh ideas? Check out one of the Sounds uploaded by your fellow Kyma users.
Educational opportunities — Find yourself a 5-star Kyma coach or consultant from among the list of private tutors, discover where you can sign up for a course at a degree-granting institution, find a book about Kyma or discover an Artist’s Pack full of inspiring new Sounds, waveforms, Multigrids and beautifully-crafted Virtual Control Surfaces.
Third-party support links — Discover some of the third-party software written by Kyma users to facilitate Kyma interactions, like Delora Software’s connectivity solutions or Camille Troillard’s OSCulator.
KISS — And don’t forget the yearly conclave of Kyma adepts; this year the Kyma International Sound Symposium will meet in Bozeman Montana (the city of First Contact) on the theme Picturing Sound.
System Requirements
Symbolic Sound Paca or Pacarana
Computer requirements
Operating Systems:
Mac OS 10.5 or newer or
Windows 8.1, 8, 7 (SP1), Vista (SP2), XP (SP3)
Storage: ~1.7 GB
Memory: 1 GB or larger is recommended
Internet access is required
Availability
Kyma 7 is available today. The price is USD 249 and there is a discount for Symbolic Sound customers who upgrade a registered copy of Kyma X.

More information
More detailed information, screen shots, and videos are available on the Symbolic Sound web site: symbolicsound.com"

The Room of Sound

The Room of Sound from musi_arch santacecilia_sapienza on Vimeo.

"From March 5 to 20, 1977, in the Rome National Gallery of Modern Art was held from the 14th Festival of Nuova Consonanza, an association of musicians and composers congregated around Franco Evangelisti, responsible for the practical organisation of the Festival was Vittorio Consoli, engineer, music lover and enthusiastic investigator of the relations between space and sound. For 15 days in the main concourse of the National Gallery, experimental studies were made on the interaction between space and music and between musicians and computer, using compositions by, among others, Mauro Bortolotti, Domenico Guàccero, Aldo Clementi, Franco Evangelisti, Luigi Nono, Alessandro Sbordoni, Edgard Varèse, Leo Küpper and Giorgio Nottoli. The concourse of the Gallery is an exceptionally reflective space, totally non-musical. A huge acoustic dome made up of 100 loudspeakers, fed by the same number of audio channels, was created by Vittorio Consoli, with invaluable assistance from Leo Küpper, and wrapped up in a cloud of coloured aerostatic balloons, which were not fully inflated, and which gave the hall the acoustic properties required and also lent to the event an extraordinary sense of festivity surrounding the musical experimentation; this spirit can perhaps still be seen in the old black and white photos of the event and is still visible in the image we have of the main protagonists – Franco Evangelisti, Leo Küpper and Vittorio Consoli. Given the date, this was no virtual experiment in spatialisation, but a real-time musical event: the sounds, generated by an impressive analog computer, could be transmitted towards each of the loudspeakers and switched from one to another by a hand-made mixer. The most famous precedent for all this was, of course, the Philips Pavilion at the 1958 Brussels Expo, the masterpiece of Le Corbusier and Xenakis, animated by the Poème Electronique of Edgard Varèse. However, the most striking precedent was without a doubt the musical sphere constructed for the 1970 Osaka Expo by Karlheinz Stockhausen. Here the composer established the iconic quality of contemporary absolute music, an icon which subsequently symbolically adorned his grave monument. The project we are presenting here, the Stanza del Suono (Room of Sound) can be seen therefore to follow the path of a great contemporary music tradition; today we can avail ourselves of the innovations of computer technology, which allow us to organise the emissions of sound in space in a genuinely contrapuntal fashion, as Vittorio Consoli would say. The spatial evolution of the sounds thus becomes part of the decisions that the composer arranges within his creative system, to quote Schumann. The musical scores are able to not only specify precisely the limitless paths through space traced by the sounds, but also to envisage the ‘unknowns’ involved in the immediate, real-time interaction between sound and space, and between the musicians and the computer program. In this way, this new project of ours is not merely a place for listening to music, but also a place for creating and processing music in a continuous interplay between, space, music, sound, musicians and audience. The project aims at producing a new, long-term, functional acoustic and spatial device that can be employed by all
those engaged in electro-acoustic music research. It was built upon a body of work consistently carried out at the Conservatory of Santa Cecilia in Rome, in its Department of Electronic Music, up till now directed by Giorgio Nottoli, and is the result of a close collaboration with two Departments of Rome Sapienza University: the Department of Architecture and Design, under Piero Ostilio Rossi, and the Department of Architectural History, Design and Restoration, directed by Paolo Fiore. The idea of setting up a permanent cooperative research area between musicians and architects, on the theme of ‘Music and Architecture’, and of including it in the agenda of Emufest, the International Festival of Electro-acoustic Music, originated in 2011 in the insights and enthusiasms of composer Fabio Cifariello Ciardi and architect Luca Ribichini...[...]"

via Francesco Synth Meeting Mulassano on The MATRIXSYNTH Lounge

An Interview with ERRORINSTRUMENTS' Paul Tas & New Product Announcements

The following is a fascinating look at the man behind ERRORINSTRUMENTS, Paul Tas. Note the questions are not mine, but were sent in with the full interview by inmar lsbtv grtz sleep good.

So how did all start? What was your life before "error instruments"?

- my life before error instruments can be described as a life of an artist in making sculptures and paintings. I was making sculptures from robots, called "the beeb" collection. It is a wooden robot with the concept that in the 50's, we have thought that robots will replace our jobs. However, with the influence of the media, and the medicines we take against emotions, figuratively we can say that we are the robot, and we get programmed by commercials and news. This robot has been a big succes due to the fact that it has been bought by numerous art collectors from different countries such as Japan and the United States. Furthermore, the collections had been sold also at auctions houses Christie's. Later on, I have started to work more in fashion and art and making moveable sculptures with electronics, I made also a traditional Dutch blue sculptures, big horse heads with the intention of giving a controversial thoughts and ideas. Moreover, sculptures about religion, which was a mix between Jesus and the corporate companies in the world with the meaning behind it, that they use the same propaganda to control people's mindset. I was also threatened by religious groups from Germany and Belgium during the time of exposition, not only me, but also the other people in the gallery. This situation has got to a point where i had to go to the court, but in the end I was free to go. Later i have done a project for Damian Hurst and made some installations together with BitMove for the "Love of God" exposition in the "RijksMuseum Amsterdam". As a result, more and more technical and electrical equipments got involved.

When did you have the idea for error instruments and what did the first steps look like?

- First of all, it is important that you know that as a child, i was not able to read, thus it was difficult to go to a normal school, and i have attended a special school, which allowed me to use my creativity, furthermore my writing was always full of mistakes and because in the 80's we used "Commodore 64", and every time i was writing something, a text appeared " Syntax ERROR". Therefore, the kids at my school, gave a nickname to me , called "Error". As a result, i got a fascination about the things that go wrong with machines, such as glitches or accidentally algoritmes and of course the sound of noises. By exploring the art of circuit bending and hardware hacking, i have found out that many people miss this, because the commercial products were created as a mainstream products, with a result for mainstream music. Thus, with the money that i have earned from art, I have started the shop, "ERROR INSTRUMENTS".

Do you have artistic projects beside error instruments?

- Yes, I perform under the name "ERROR EMPIRE", on several festivals. I have also some conceptional sound projects, called "Pink data". The idea of "Pink Data" is that is not controlled by humans, thus all the music is created by accidental algoritmes. I also make sculptures, with acoustic and electronic purposes. Furthermore, I am busy working on the modelar synthesizer and exploring control voltage. design eurorack modules for and special audience

What is the error philosophy?

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HMMPatternGenerator - New Pattern Generator for Kyma 7.25

HMMPatternGenerator from Symbolic Sound on Vimeo.

Generate sequences based on the patterns discovered in your MIDI files

CHAMPAIGN — June 12, 2019 — Symbolic Sound today released a new module that generates endlessly evolving sequences based on the patterns it discovers in a MIDI file. HMMPatternGenerator, the latest addition to the library of the world's most advanced sound design environment, is now available to sound designers, musicians, and researchers as part of a free software update: Kyma 7.25.

Composers and sound designers are masters of pattern generation — skilled at inventing, discovering, modifying, and combining patterns with just the right mix of repetition and variation to excite and engage the attention of a listener. HMMPatternGenerator is a tool to help you discover the previously unexplored patterns hidden within your own library of MIDI files and to generate endlessly varying event sequences, continuous controllers, and new combinations based on those patterns.

What can HMMPatternGenerator do for you?

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Gary Chang and Neil Leonard Illuminate Sacred Spaces in Italy

Via the Grant Richter of Wiard on the Wiard Group:

"During the month of June, 2007, notable composers Gary Chang and Neil Leonard will visit several sites in Italy with the task of completing 5.1 installations of a program of music entitled "Sanctuaries," which are meditative ambient analog electronic music pieces composed by Chang and realized on a Wiard Modular Music System, specifically designed for playback in churches and other public locations.

The tour is sponsored by Sguardi Sonori 2007, Festival of Media and Time Based Art, for which Leonard is a also a curator.

The cities in the tour will include Rome, Benevento, Torino, Venice, San Galgano and La Spezia. While in La Spezia, Chang and Leonard will also have access to the Naval base, where there are very large rooms (indoor drydocks for warships, for instance) and other interesting ambiances, such as marble quarries and museums, where further explorations in unusual ambient spaces will be recorded and cataloged.

Utilizing Blue Sky Monitors and extensive Taralabs wiring at each installation, each
location will be recorded using a Soundfield SP422B mic, which is a recording system that can yield from mono up to a 7.1 playback. Recording will be achieved using a tcelectronic Konnekt Live, interfacing to a laptop computer and portable firewire drives. In addition, Impulse Response data will be collected from each of the locations to create a library of interesting convolution reverb spaces for McDSP's Revolver.

Following the Italian journey, Chang and Leonard will give many presentations on the
project, including a workshop presented by GASP Gallery in Brookline for senior students in electronic music at Berklee College of Music.

This project would not be possible without the generosity of sponsors, who include The City of Rome; The City of Venice; La Marrana - environmental art park, (for graciously coordinating recording and installation sites during a week long residency in La Spezia); Sguardi Sonori 2007, Festival of Media and Time Based Art; Blue Sky Speakers; TaraLabs Cables; tcelectronic digital audio interfaces and processors; The Wiard Synthesizer Company; Transaudio Group/Soundfield Microphones and The Berklee College of Music.

Confirmed Schedule - (Actual locations to be announced).

June 12/19 LA SPEZIA
June 20 ROME
June 21/22 BENEVENTO
June 23/24 TORINO
June 26/27 VENICE
June 28 SAN GALGANO (Installation includes "Echoes and Footsteps" by Neil Leonard in addition to "Sanctuaries")
June 29 - July 4 LA SPEZIA

SANCTUARIES
An installation by Gary Chang and Neil Leonard
San Galgano, Sienna, Italy

NOTES: GARY CHANG
The music entitled "Sanctuaries" that I have composed for installation in churches is designed for such an environment of spirituality and meditation. The musics are ambient in quality, designed to fill the space with warmth and emotion, but never does the musics every confront the visitor - though there is some abstraction, the dynamics of the pieces are quite controlled, never overtly dramatic. In the best of all things, I am hoping that the music installation will simply be another contributor to the specialness of the Church's ambiance - my special prayer in the space. In loving memory of Diana Lee Chang.

NOTES: NEIL LEONARD
Echoes and Footsteps is a reflection on the sound of Italy, where I lived and work for much of 2006. The primary sources are the sound of cowbells recorded in the region of Lazio, and the songs of workers celebrating the end of the work day in the Palazzo di Ragione market in Padova. The pointed gestures of the bells and bursts of cathartic song were transformed using time-stretching and delay techniques. The resulting composition evolves in slow motion and outlines large sonic contours that celebrate the essence of daily life as I head it while living here.

GARY CHANG SHORT BIO
Sound artist and esteemed film composer Gary Chang worked his way up through the LA
studio musician ranks playing with the best musicians in the country (e.g. Robbie Robertson, Herbie Hancock and Weather Report, Barbara Streisand and Henry Mancini,)
later to compose music for many eminent filmmakers (including John Frankenheimer,
Jonathan Demme and Stephen King). Few composers have mastered such a wide range of
musical genres that Chang has (orchestral, electronic, installation, jazz, soundtrack, dance). Chang is a protagonist in the field of music synthesis. He has recorded on and programmed almost major every hardware and software synthesizer over the last thirty years, built dozens of custom systems, and designed a personal studio that is optimized for recording synthesizers in multi-channel and high definition audio. Chang won the National Endowment for the Arts Grant for Jazz Composers while attending California Institute Of the Arts. Chang is a pioneer in the use of 5.1 surround sound in cinema, concert and installation settings.

NEIL LEONARD SHORT BIO
NEIL LEONARD is a sound artist, composer and saxophonist. His compositions are a
synthesis of concert, improvised and electronic musics that transcend categorization. Leonard's recently premiered works include Dreaming of an Island for orchestra, electronics and live-video (performed by Kirk Trevor and the Indianapolis Chamber
Orchestra), Totems (performed by Byron and Caine at Carnegie Recital Hall in New York City), and the music for Relatives (by Tony Oursler and Constance DeJong that was featured at the Whitney Biennial). His collaborative work with visual artist Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons was featured by premier venues for modern art including 49th Venice Biennial; Museum of Modern Art, NY; and presented by the U.S. State Department at DakArt/Dakar Biennial in Senegal.

Leonard is co-owner of Gallery Artist Studio Project GASP and curator of the GASP sonic arts series in Boston. His ensemble has featured Marshall Allen (Director of the Sun Ra Arkestra), Bruce Barth, Dave Bryant, Don Byron, Kenwood Dennard, Robin Eubanks, Frank Lacy, Jamaaladeen Tacuma, and Uri Caine.

Neil Leonard is an Associate Professor in the Music Synthesis Department at Berklee
College of Music.


ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Mr. Chang and Mr. Leonard wish to thank Bruce Weisberg of Blue Sky Speakers, Rebecca
Barnhardt of TaraLabs Cables, Ed Simeone of tcelectronic, Grant Richter of The Wiard
Synthesizer Company, Bradley Lunde at Transaudio Group/Soundfield Mics, and Carl Dito at Coast Audio for their sage advice and contributing their companies' products on behalf of our project. Gary wishes to thank his family, Ann and Arthur Chang and Margaret Craig-Chang.

Special thanks goes to Stephen Croes and Kurt Biederwolf of Berklee College of Music for their continued support.

Thanks to Anthony Baldino, Tara Sarmov and Pierce Warneke, students of the Music
Synthesis Program at Berklee College of Music for assisting with the installation.

Extra special thanks are extended to Carlo Fatigoni, Sandro Cecchi and Marisa Corazzol of Sguardi Sonori 2007. Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons of Gallery Artists Studio Projects GASP Gallery, Colonel Sergio Cavanna of The SAVTAM Aeronautica Militare, Cadimare - La Spezia Italy, and Gianni and Grazie Bolongaro of La Marrana di Montemarcello, La Spezia Italy."

Roland's AIRA Officially Unveiled - Massive Pic Gallery, Details, Videos

AIRA — Artists make first contact with AIRA

Published on Feb 13, 2014 RolandChannel·835 videos

"Groundbreaking artists talk about their experiences with Roland instruments and make first contact with the AIRA gear. Artists appearing are: Arthur Baker, Ricardo Villalobos, A Guy Called Gerald, Rain Man, Netsky, Oscar Burnside, Boys Noize, Dr Meaker, Hardfloor, John Heckle, Hisashi Saito, and Akkord."

This post might take a bit to load. :)

Update3: You can find a write-up on Novamusik here.

Update2: You can find comments and discussion on this post on The MATRIXSYNTH Lounge here. I also added a page break for this post on the main site so it doesn't slow the site down for new posts. Click the "Click for more" link to get to the full post.

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10 Must-Experience Interactive Art Installations at Moogfest 2016

via Moogfest

"10 Must-Experience Interactive Art Installations at Moogfest 2016

New commissions + site-specific collaborations from artists such as
Yuri Suzuki, Kyle McDonald, and Floating Point Collective
showcase synthesis of music, art, + technology

Durham, North Carolina (May 5, 2016) - The public will experience the synthesis of technology, art, and music like never before at Moogfest 2016, where an extraordinary array of interactive art installations and immersive sonic environments will be exhibited for free at venues across Durham.

For the four-day festival exploring the future of music, art, and technology, Moogfest will present more than a dozen art installations, many of them new commissions and site-specific collaborations between artists such as Yuri Suzuki, Kyle McDonald, Floating Point Collective, Antenes, and Rangit Bhatnagar, and engineers, musicians, and coders. For the full schedule of Moogfest art installations visit here.

The art experiences are one of the many highlights of Moogfest 2016, which celebrates the legacy of Bob Moog, the visionary engineer who pioneered the analog synthesizer and other technology tools used by artists like Stevie Wonder, David Bowie, and Kraftwerk. The four-day festival from May 19-22 will feature over 250 innovators in music, art, and technology -- from Gary Numan, GZA, Grimes and Laurie Anderson to virtual reality pioneer Jaron Lanier and transhumanist visionary Dr. Martine Rothblatt. For the first time, Moogfest will take place in Durham, North Carolina, a fast-growing capital of technology, culture and entrepreneurship.

The 10 Must-Experience Art Installations at Moogfest are:

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New Roland RD-2000 EX Stage Piano - First Look

video uploads by Kraft Music

"Great bundles deals on Roland RD-2000 EX here:
https://kraftmusic.com/collections/ro...

Adam B. gives a brief tour of the Roland RD-2000 EX stage piano at Kraft Music.

The Roland RD-2000 EX delivers the ultimate RD experience, fusing Roland's top piano technologies with a rich array of modern creative tools. This powerful and inspiring instrument is the most complete stage piano solution available, offering dual sound engines, two pre-installed V-Piano Expansions, premium playability and authentic grand piano touch from the PHA-50 keyboard and weighted hammer action, and advanced controller features for professional performers.

Get more for your money with an exclusive Roland RD-2000 EX stage piano bundle from Kraft Music. These package deals include the accessories you'll need to get the most out of your new piano, all for one low price. If you have any questions, please contact us. Our knowledgeable Sales Advisors will be happy to assist in choosing the bundle that's right for you!"

Playlist:
Roland RD-2000 EX Stage Piano - First Look
Roland RD-2000 EX Stage Piano - All Playing, No Talking
Anthony Deutsch plays the Roland RD-2000 EX - Sessions from The Gallery

And a couple of demos from Roland followed by the press release:

"Updated RD Models with Expanded Sounds, Plus EX Upgrade Packages on Roland Cloud for Current RD-2000 and RD-88 Owners

Los Angeles, CA, July 23, 2024 — Roland announces the RD-2000 EX and RD-88 EX, the latest members of the historic RD family of stage pianos for professional performers. Building on the foundations of previous generation models, these powerful instruments offer players expanded creative capabilities with new world-class piano sounds. In addition to the RD-2000 EX and RD-88 EX models for first-time purchasers, RD-2000 and RD-88 owners can expand their instruments with EX sounds through upgrade packages available for purchase on Roland Cloud.

RD-2000 EX Stage Piano
Launched in 2017, the RD-2000 introduced the most advanced RD stage piano to date. The RD-2000 EX elevates this successful platform with two pre-installed V-Piano Expansion titles. Designed for the needs of top-level stage performers, the RD-2000 EX features independent sound engines driven by V-Piano and SuperNATURAL technologies, premium hammer-action playability with the PHA-50 keyboard, high-end controller features, and computer integration for modern workflows.

First released in 2022 as an option for RD-2000 owners, the German Concert V-Piano Expansion 01 provides a versatile new voice inspired by famous concert-class grand pianos. Enhanced modeling features offer new sonic possibilities highlighted with 17 ready-to-play Tones. The sound is organic and responsive for solo work while also delivering muscle and presence for cutting through dense band mixes on stage.

The newly developed Essential Upright V-Piano Expansion 02 introduces an intimate sonic flavor with the distinctive character and unique spatial quality of a high-end upright piano. The 14 preset Tones include classic sounds for pop and rock styles, along with a variety of colorful non-standard sounds.

With the sophisticated Piano Designer tools in the RD-2000 EX, users can customize the V-Piano sounds for their style and touch. When combined with the instrument’s powerful sound layering and effect processing options, the creative possibilities are endless.

RD-88 EX Stage Piano
Unveiled in early 2020, the RD-88 brought players acclaimed RD sound and playability in a lightweight and affordable instrument. The RD-88 EX retains every core feature from the previous model, including SuperNATURAL and ZEN-Core sound engines, the expressive PHA-4 hammer-action keyboard, intuitive controller tools, and a room-filling onboard stereo speaker system.

The newly developed SuperNATURAL Acoustic Piano 3 Expansion comes pre-installed in the RD-88 EX, adding a premium concert piano option that complements the SuperNATURAL acoustic and electric pianos already included. The expansion offers 15 distinctive Tones and 20 Scenes, from bright, dynamic sounds for live band performances to darker textures for solo work and ambient explorations.

RD-2000 EX Upgrade and RD-88 EX Upgrade
RD-2000 and RD-88 owners can expand their instruments with the new EX sounds via the RD-2000 EX Upgrade and RD-88 EX Upgrade on Roland Cloud. Each user-installable upgrade package is available with a Lifetime Key purchase in Roland Cloud Manager, the software portal for Roland Cloud content.

Availability & Pricing
The Roland RD-88 EX and RD-2000 EX are available in July in the U.S. for $1,299.99 and $2,599.99 respectively. The RD-88 EX Upgrade and the RD-2000 EX Upgrade are available in July for $99.99 and $199.99 respectively."

Happy New Year From MATRIXSYNTH! - A Look Back at 2014

Happy New Year everyone!

I want to start by thanking everyone that comes to MATRIXSYNTH and helps make it what it is - the readers, the supporters, and of course all the sponsors on the right.

THANK YOU and have a GREAT 2015!!!

This site is a labor of love and a ton of work. This site is ultimately meant to be an testament to everything synth in the making. We have over nine years of daily synth history captured here, 119,983 published posts. I can't wait to see what the future brings us in 2015!

That said, here are a few interesting bits from 2014 in the longest post of the year. ;)

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NYZ DRN4 DECLASSIFIED

Exclusive mix on SoundCloud:


Tracklist:

1. NYZ_FMMGKSQ_43t
2. ISR_16x16_WCM
3. CSN [excerpt 2 mono]
4. SWI_r170_16x32x32_B
5. SWI_FM1#16
6. NYZ-1_1#08_A [finite downsized]
7.CSN1 [excerpt 1 mono]

Be sure to see the MATRIXSYNTH exclusive further below!

FM EXPLORATIONS AND MICROTONAL DRONES FROM NYZ (AKA DAVE NOYZE, DAVID BURRASTON, NOYZELAB, BRYEN TELKO)

This is the first release by NYZ and is a superb musical collection of research areas classified to internal Noyzelab operations. Not even .MEDS label were informed of the secret processes underlying its creation, excepting that we know it involved Frequency Modulation (FM) synthesis! We have not been given any information regarding when this work was recorded, but we suspect the material spans at least a decade of David's FM algorithm research on numerous synthesizers, as well his own custom built ear deceiving gear...

According to one reviewer of David's previous musical output he "gleefully disrupts just about every standard convention of musical form you could think of, including those of so-called experimental musics."

Other reviewers have written that :
"His music is a bizarre, yet compelling journey investigating the outer realms of music generated on ancient & contemporary machines." "It's strikingly original audio that doesn't really sound like anything else I can think of." "Utterly sublime. So there you go, a life-affirming slab of mind-altering sound to reawaken you to the terrifying possibilities of creation."

"absolutely wreaks havoc" wrote Keith Fullerton Whitman on reviewing David's last release T. H. Cycle cassette on Important Records/Cassauna .

Cassette releases April 1, 2016

All Audio by David Burraston
Design Tom Knapp

----

MATRIXSYNTH recently asked NYZ why he put together this new album of FM synthesis based explorations, and whether he would discuss some of the process behind it. The declassified information below has been put together by NYZ especially for a MATRIXSYNTH exclusive.

***BEGIN NYZ DRN4 DECLASSIFICATION REPORT***

DC REPORT STATUS: PARTIAL DECLASSIFICATION ONLY
PARTIAL DC STATUS: INCOMPLETE CELLULAR BINARY SPACETIME
PARTIAL DC LEVEL: SEMI-PICTORIAL_TEXTUAL_HIGHLIGHTS
FUTURE DC STATUS: _PENDING

The main reasons for making this album were an interest in FM synthesis in both analogue modular and MIDI/digital mediums. I had worked with digital FM synthesis since getting a Yamaha TX81Z when they came out back in 1987 (which I still have, along with another backup machine with a very hummy mains transformer which bleeds onto the outs). How me and another synth friend used to cry with drunken laughter at preset D11 Hole in 1... :) But after initially wondering whether I had just wasted about 350 UK pounds on an utter piece of shit... I quickly warmed to its better presets, and its very different approach to synthesis yielded enough interesting results early on for it not to get outed.

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CONN Electric Band Videos & Pics

YouTube Uploaded by matrixsynth on Jun 14, 2011

"The video is a bit overexposed in part one. Watch in HD and turn the volume up! Listen to it growl;
and that crazy synthetic laugh! Vids shot with a Canon Rebel T2i."


For Sale at Space Oddity Vintage Furniture Gallery Seattle
The CONN Electric Band. This is one interesting piece. I've been intrigued by it seeing it in previous posts that have gone up over the years. Is it an Organ or is it a Synth? At 50+ posts a day I try to keep the site's focus on synths, not organs, as adding them to the roster would make the site unmanageable. I will however feature organs that are capable of sounding like a synth. The CONN Electric Band definitely fits into this category. I finally got a chance to check one out in person.

This unit is currently for sale at the Space Oddity Vintage Furniture Gallery in the Ballard district of Seattle, WA. If you are in the area, I highly recommend taking the time out to check it out. There's also tons of other interesting items in the shop including a CONN Strobe Tuner. I'll post a video and pics of that later.

Above are a couple of videos I took of Todd, the owner of Space Oddity tinkering with the CONN Electric. We were both discovering the synth/organ, so some of the functional descriptions were guesses that we figured out were different later. Further below are more images. Click on each to see the super sized shots. You can clearly see all the controls.

The unit sits on top of a giant speaker cabinet with a pedal (that black in the image above is the speaker). In the back of the CONN Electric Band are two 1/4" outs that you plug into the cabinet. You can actually unplug it and move just the keyboard section to a desk or stand. See this previous post for pics of one without the cabinet. The speaker does sound great though. There is tons of low end. The videos don't do it justice (turn the volume up when you watch them). You really need to hear this thing in person. Massive thick low end on the black bass keys and a surprisingly rich and sometimes crazy mids and highs depending on the patch with the white keys.

As for the engine, this is a preset keyboard with three reverb settings and a full rhythm section. It's all analog and it sounds it. You can click on the images below to see the presets available. Everything sounds synthetic vs. organ-like. On the far right is the "Adjustables" section. Just to the left in the previous section you will see a button that read's "Adjustables On" with an arrow pointing to the section (see this image). At first we thought this was the "synth section" based on previous posts that stated so. I obviously made the connection that this might actually be the modulation section for each preset vs. a separate section. It turns out it is both. If you select it by itself you get two tones A and B and the modulation settings. To get the modulation going on a given preset it's a little tricky. You can't just select the preset followed by the Adjustables setting as that will just switch to the Adjustables. You have to select your patch and then slightly hold it down half-way while selecting Adjustables On. The controls look simple but you can get some really crazy sounds (listen to the synthetic laugh in the videos below (Space Junk preset)). The following videos will give you a little taste of that. This thing excels at drones and crazy slightly unpredictable synthetic sounds. This one does need work which makes me wonder if some of it's magic would be lost if fixed. Three of the presets unfortunately do not work so we were unable to check them out. Todd did say one was working the other day, so who knows. Definitely temperamental but man does it sound good. Again if you are in the area, you owe it to yourself to check it out. Details here: Space Oddity Vintage Furniture Gallery.

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Smother - Luis Gispert, 2008

via Josh Kay (Phoenecia): "I just finished a soundtrack for a 26 minute film called Smother. I used my monster-case housed Euro-Rack modular and an Arp 2600 as the primary sound sources. These analogue synths were made for drones. There was plenty of post-processing involved, but not a single vsti."

Regarding the image:
"This is my system (the monster case on the left) mixed with Richard Devine's setup. That's the Arp I used on the soundtrack, it used to be mine. Actuality, Rich sold it to me many years ago and eventually I sold it back to him. Since then he's had Phil Cirocco (CMS) thoroughly baptize it (all options except the Moog ladder filter).

In my system, I'd have to say my favorites are the 2 Livewire AFG's the Frequensteiner, the Zeroscillator, the Bananlogue Serge VCS (I wish I had 3 of them), The Plan B model 10 and 24, the Doepfer BBD's (I do have 3 of them), and without a doubt, the MakeNoise QMMG. "

Smother - Luis Gispert, 2008 (Phoenecia's Alternate Score & Edit) from Josh Kay on Vimeo.

"Smother (Phoenecia's Alternate Score & Edit)
Directed by Luis Gispert
Score & Sound Design by Phoenecia (Joshua Kay & Romulo Del Castillo)

From the New York Times review:
"A boy lies on a trampoline, clutching a boombox to his chest. Gradually the blue tarpaulin turns a sickly green as he empties his bladder. “Smother,” a riveting new 26-minute film at Mary Boone Gallery by the New York artist Luis Gispert, explores the relationship between this 11-year-old chronic bed-wetter, also depicted in the photograph at right, and his domineering mother. Like “Stereomongrel,” Mr. Gispert’s 2005 film collaboration with Jeffrey Reed, it follows a precocious pre-adolescent’s odyssey through a perilous adult landscape - in this case 1980s Miami (where Mr. Gispert was raised).

“Smother,” which has a script by Mr. Gispert and the artist Orly Genger and a soundtrack by the experimental duo Phoenecia, is the throbbing, flamingo-pink heart of Mr. Gispert’s two-gallery show, at Mary Boone and Zach Feuer. With its tropical palette and episodic magical realism (which might be too real for some animal lovers), it can seem less like a film than a tenuously linked series of Mr. Gispert’s stills. Dialogue is sparse, and as melodramatic as a telenovela’s. The camera lingers over the spectacular stucco-mansion setting, which Mr. Gispert has aptly described as “narco-nouveau-riche.”

At Zach Feuer Gallery, a sculptural installation echoes the film’s lurid scenery. Photographs of truck interiors, racing-striped walls and high-gloss, heart-shaped speakers put forth a Miami version of the hot-rod-inspired art that emerged in 1960s Southern California. - Karen Rosenberg

Notes:
The alternate score & edit is a remixed version of Smother including parts that were omitted from the release version. An alternate reworked 20 minute version of Smother appears on Phoenecia's Echelon Mall, a collection of works for film & gallery exhibitions. Echelon Mall is scheduled for release in March on Schematic.

Links:
Mary Boone Gallery page:
maryboonegallery.com/exhibitions/2007-2008/gispert/index.html
Zach Feuer Gallery page:
zachfeuer.com/luisgispert_2008.html
New York Times review:
nytimes.com/2008/01/25/arts/design/25wart.html?_r=2&scp=1&sq=zach+feuer&st=nyt&oref=slogin
Artnet Magazine review:
artnet.com/magazineus/reviews/davis/davis2-15-08.asp
New York Sun review:
nysun.com/arts/dislocating-dreams/70863/
Phoenecia:
schematic.net & schematic.net/phoenecia"

Robert Henke and Lumiere II.2

This one in via 060171:

"Yesterday i was at Lumiere II.2 by Robert Henke in Utrecht the Netherlands. The performance was part of the International Computer Music Conference 2016.

By change we had seats next to Roberts desk and took this pic. (sorry Gregory Taylor from Cycling '74)
Rober (Monolake) controls four big lasers with the sound, these sounds are also the music. The laserlight projection is super vivid, a real spectacle, combined with multi channel audio.

Last year is saw version II in Amsterdam, where Robert also gave a lecture at STEIM about the technique. (Ableton and Max for live and the special lasers)

quality videos are at:
https://vimeo.com/roberthenke"


Deep Web from Robert Henke on Vimeo.

"DEEP WEB

KINETIC AUDIOVISUAL INSTALLATION AND PERFORMANCE

BY CHRISTOPHER BAUDER AND ROBERT HENKE

COMMISSIONED BY THE FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS LYON

Deep Web is a monumental immersive audiovisual installation and live performance created by light artist Christopher Bauder and composer and musician Robert Henke. Presented in enormous pitch dark indoor spaces, Deep Web plunges the audience into a ballet of iridescent kinetic light and surround sound. The work was presented as a preview at CTM 2016 Festival Berlin and will be followed by its original presentation at the Festival of Lights Lyon in December 2016.

The generative, luminous architectural structure weaves 175 motorized spheres and 12 high power laser systems into a 25 meter wide and 10 meter high super-structure, bringing to life a luminous analogy to the nodes and connections of digital networks. Moving up and down, and choreographed and synchronized to an original multi-channel musical score by Robert Henke, the spheres are illuminated by blasts of colourful laser beams resulting in three-dimensional sculptural light drawings and arrangements in cavernous darkness.

The installation brings together decades of separate research and experimentation by two artists with unique visions and passions for sound and light, and by innovative companies working in these fields. High-end laser system manufacturer LaserAnimation Sollinger provided the technical expertise and development for this very specific spatial laser setup. The high precision motor winch systems with real time feedback and the main control software are provided by Design Studio WHITEvoid in collaboration with Kinetic Lights. This novel combination of computer controlled kinetic elements and laser systems allows for setting animated end points to normally infinite laser beams. DEEP WEB uses light as a tangible material to construct threedimensional vector drawings in thin air.

The work was originally commissioned by the Festival of Lights Lyon 2015, and developed in cooperation with local producer Tetro. Due to the festival’s cancellation after the tragic events in Paris, Berliners had the unique chance to attend an exclusive preview before the project will be presented in December 2016 in Lyon for the Festival of Lights 2016.

The Artists:

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Tristan Perich: bitforms gallery show ends Saturday

"bitforms gallery's solo exhibition for the American composer Tristan Perich ends tomorrow (Saturday, November 7). Featuring recent drawings and video work, the show includes a preview of Perich's upcoming electronic album, 1-Bit Symphony.
Tristan Perich - 1-Bit Symphony
October 28 - November 7, 2009
bitforms gallery, 529 West 20th St, 2nd floor
Gallery Hours: 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM, Tue–Sat. Free and open to the public."
" BITFORMS PRESENTS TRISTAN PERICH'S 1-BIT SYMPHONY
bitforms gallery is pleased to announce a solo exhibition and benefit concert for the American composer Tristan Perich. Featuring recent drawings and a video installation, the exhibition will also include a preview of 1-Bit Symphony, his second handmade album on Cantaloupe Music (forthcoming Spring 2010).
A departure from traditional recordings, 1-Bit Symphony literally ‘performs' its music live when turned on. A complete electronic circuit—programmed by the artist and packaged into a standard CD jewel case—plays the music through a headphone jack mounted into the case itself. The layered tones in its score are synthesized by binary pulses of electricity, emphasizing the physical quality of sound.
"I'm interested in the foundations of computation and data," says Perich. By reducing sound into primary units of digital measure, Perich's musical compositions offer critique to over production and recording, as well as proprietary formats of distribution. Rather than use data to produce a representation of analog phenomena, raw electrical pulses in these works create pitch and rhythm when played through a speaker—creating music that is, at its essence, electronic. Deliberately compact, Perich organizes melodic signal into minimal constructions. Fundamental to this craft are chains of information that can be read as on/off switches, which reference early theoretical study of computation in the 1930s by mathematicians Alan Turing and Kurt Gödel. "For me, a one or a zero is just that, and is represented in a microchip by the presence or absence of electrical charge", says Perich. "This patterned electricity is connected directly to a speaker or electron gun in a television, turning it on and off, thus creating sound or light."
Perich's visual compositions also explore texture, noise and order using recursive logic. Woven from geometric structures, his drawings contain layers of choreographed linear repetition. Executed with a machine, line in these images gives way to densely packed surfaces and planes.
bitforms gallery
529 West 20th Street, 2nd Floor
Gallery Hours: 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM, Tue–Sat. Free and open to the public
212-366-6939
info(that thing)bitforms.com
http://www.bitforms.com
Tristan Perich
mail(that thing)tristanperich.com
http://www.tristanperich.com
http://www.1bitsymphony.com"

VELOCITY SYNTH MEET Coming to Seattle October 5th

Details here: https://www.velocityseattle.com

Exhibitors

4ms 4mscompany.com

4ms Company offers alternatives to traditional instruments with our poly-rhythmic clock modules that create evolving complex mathematical beat patterns, a resonator that can cast pop music into micro-tonal keys, a multi-channel wavetable oscillator, a routing matrix that's played like an instrument, and many more innovative devices. Rather than replicate concepts from the past, we strive to turn unique ideas into playable musical tools that expand the possibilities of music. We also offer Do-It-Yourself kits, and many of our designs are open-source.

Acid Rain Technology acidraintechnology.com

Acid Rain Technology is a manufacturer of music hardware out of Seattle, WA. We believe hardware instruments enable a unique connection between human and machine, and seek to improve this interaction through interface design for maximum playability.

After Later Audio afterlateraudio.com

After Later Audio is a boutique audio company located in Seattle, Washington. We make high quality Eurorack modules at accessible prices and we pride ourselves on responsive customer service. You can find our products for sale on our website, at various synth shops (Patchwerks, London Modular, Chuck Levin’s, and Modular 8), and on all of the major ecommerce sites.

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Patricia Wolf Sound Pack for the Novation Peak v1.2

via Patricia Wolf:

"This is a demonstration of the sound design work I did for the Novation Peak. I created 50 patches demonstrating some of the new features that the v1.2 firmware update has to offer. My sound pack is available for free with the update through Novation's Components App. Select the Novation tab on that app to access them as well as GForce Software's free patches.

The patches are performed with a mixture of Octatrack sequencing (using sequences from songs I have written) and live performance with a MIDI controller. I was inspired by artists like Delia Derbyshire and wanted to record little vignettes and sonatas using the Peak without other sound sources.

I made this recording so that friends can hear the sounds I made and so that other Peak users can get a closer glimpse into how I envision sound design. Please get in touch if you have any questions about my process or anything else related to this project and I will respond as best I can.

The Novation Peak was recorded directly into a Steinberg UR44 interface. No external effects. Subtle mastering from Tokyo Dawn Labs software to balance recordings of different patches.

And here is a little bit of information about me:

Patricia Wolf is an electronic musician, sound designer, and gallery curator based in Portland, Oregon. After years of working in the synth pop duo Soft Metals, Wolf became interested in exploring non-linear songwriting and new forms of synthesis. Alongside working with Novation, Wolf co-founded the gallery Variform which focuses on sound design and modern composition. Patricia Wolf is a recipient of the Precipice Fund, a grant funded by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, to explore synthesis in the contemporary art world."

You can find info on the Novation Peak v1.2 update here. Also see previous posts here on MATRIXSYNTH for additional demos.

Brainwave Music with Buchla 200 at Western Front

The following was sent in by Anastasia Chernysheva, a Ph.D. student at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

"On February 28, 1977, On Being Invisible (OBI) premiered in Vancouver, at the Western Front. Stills from the black and white video capture David Rosenboom playing a touch-sensitive keyboard of Buchla 200 “Electric Music Box” and improvising in real-time with his brainwaves. The EEG output (electrical activity in the brain) was sonified by a hybrid computer sound synthesis system. Having years of biofeedback practice behind him, in this piece the pioneer of brainwave music continued exploring ways to relate information processing in the human nervous system to aesthetic experience – thus, stretching the definition of music musical performance.

Invited by the Canadian electronic music pioneer Martin Bartlett, Rosenboom gave a concert in two parts. The part presented the live performance application of the EEG system described above. In the second part of the performance, the composer used his voice, finger cymbals, a monkey drum, and a reed instrument to activate the software. A recording of the concert has been released for the first time by Black Truffle Records on the double-vinyl called “Brainwave Music” (1975/2019).
Videos from the concert can be watched on Rosenboom’s YouTube channel (see Part 1 and Part 2). Courtesy of the Western Front.

On Being Invisible was originally planned to premier at the Music Gallery in Toronto in 1976. However, due to an electricity outage that led to computer failure, the concert had to be canceled, while the audience was already gathered at the front door. Since the organizers had prepared beer for attendees, those waiting were invited inside. Once in, people gathered around the nonfunctioning set of equipment, looking at it with sad faces, as if they had come for a funeral. (see the photo below)

After rebuilding the equipment, Rosenboom performed the piece at the Music Gallery in 1977. This performance was published as vinyl by Music Gallery Editions and later re-released on CD by Pogus Productions.

* Technique of intentional modification of physiological parameters, such as heart rate, body temperature, breathing, etc.

Sources:
• Rosenboom, D. (Ed.) (1975) Biofeedback and the Arts: Results of Early Experiments. Aesthetic Research Centre of Canada Publications, Vancouver.
• Rosenboom, D. (1977a). On being invisible. Music Gallery Editions.
• Rosenboom, D. (1984). On Being Invisible. MusicWorks 28 (Summer), p. 10-13."


On Being Invisible, David Rosenboom at Western Front, Vancouver, 1977, Part 1 video upload by David Rosenboom

"David Rosenboom, On Being Invisible (1977), video documentation. Courtesy of Western Front. ID# WFVDN_7702_03-1 & ID# WFVDN_7702_03-2."

And the release on bandcamp:

Sound Chasers - Looks Like Music - Mudam 2013

Looks Like Music - Mudam 2013 from Yuri Suzuki on Vimeo.
Yuri Suzuki - Looks Like Music

http://www.mudam.lu/en/expositions/details/exposition/yuri-suzuki/
Mudam Publics Summer Project
For its summer project, Mudam’s Publics Department invited the Japanese creator Yuri Suzuki to conceive Looks Like Music, an audiovisual installation based on his work Colour Chaser. This consists of a miniature robot which detects and follows a circuit – a black line traced in marker pen – interspersed with coloured reference points that the device translates in sound. The public is invited to actively contribute to the development of the installation in the exhibition space by extending the circuit drawn on paper. Visitors thus participate in the creation of a large-scale artwork and enrich a collectively composed sound piece. A series of events and workshops accompanies the project during the month of August.

Curated by Nadine Erpelding
Production by Dentaku Ltd
Sound Programming by Mark McKeague


Colour Chasers Test from Yuri Suzuki on Vimeo.
For Mudam Looks Like Music show

http://yurisuzuki.com/news/looks-like-music-at-mudam/

Mudam’s Publics Department invited the Japanese creator Yuri Suzuki to conceive Looks Like Music, an audiovisual installation based on his work Colour Chaser. This consists of a miniature robot which detects and follows a circuit – a black line traced in marker pen – interspersed with coloured reference points that the device translates in sound. The public is invited to actively contribute to the development of the installation in the exhibition space by extending the circuit drawn on paper. Visitors thus participate in the creation of a large-scale artwork and enrich a collectively composed sound piece. A series of events and workshops accompanies the project during the month of August.


Colour Chaser in Serpentine Gallery 2012 from Yuri Suzuki on Vimeo.
Colour Chaser in Serpentine Gallery 2012

http://www.serpentinegallery.org/

yurisuzuki.com

Happy New Year! The Year in Synths 2013

Happy New Year Everyone!

What a busy year it has been in the world of synths.

This is going to be one doozy of a post, so bear with me. This post is a review of the year in synths for 2013. We begin with Tributes to Those We Lost This Year, followed by New Manufacturers & Makers, Older Manufacturers Added to the Site, New Gear Announcements, Top 10 Posts by Traffic,  My Standout Posts for the Year, and finally This Years' Synth Events. I did my best to keep things as short and concise as possible.

Let's begin with the hardest part of the post.

Tributes to Those We Lost This Year

RIP Bernard Parmegiani - Electronic & Acoustic Composer
Lou Reed RIP
RIP Dick Raaymakers aka Kid Baltan
RIP George Duke - DreamWeaver
RIP Ralph Dyck, Sept 28, 1941 – May 20, 2013
RIP Ray Manzarek

All missed and never to be forgotten. Take a moment to remember them.

------

New Manufacturers & Makers

Starting last January, I decided to keep a running list of every new manufacturer and maker introduced to the site during the year.  This is something I haven't done before and I thought it would be interesting to see how many there were in the year.   It's easy to focus on the big synth announcements throughout the year, but what about all the new makers and brands? I shouln't have to go considerably into the significance of new designers on the scene, so I'll just say two things regarding them.  One, the number of new makers is a direct reflection on the interest in our scene, and two, these are the creators of new gear which directly translate into new designs not previously available to us.  Think about that for a moment.  These are makers and designs that did not exist before.  They are part of our synth history.  So what is the total count of new synth designers for the year? A whopping 113. Think about that a bit. One hundred and thirteen new synth designers and brands this year alone.

Here they are (note a handful date back to 2012, but 2013 marked their momentum and availability):

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