Casio VL-1 VL-Tone Synthesizer ADSR Mode Programming Tutorial

Published on Feb 7, 2017 peahix

"Quick improvised tutorial on how to program sounds in 'ADSR' mode on the Casio VL-Tone. I forgot to mention that the sound selector has to be set to 'ADSR' for this to work. Also, once you've programmed your sound in, it will be held in memory until you change it, even if you power the unit off."

2009 Remastered Vako Orchestron Disc - SOLO FRENCH HORN

YouTube via peahix
"Now available for PRE-ORDER! The second of our newly remastered Orchestron discs, SOLO FRENCH HORN. As soon as we have 15 pre-orders, we'll go to press and start shipping. It's unlikely that there will be sufficient demand to do a second run of 25 of these discs, so your best bet is to buy as many of these as you need while you can! Any future additional copies will most likely be done as one-offs, which are twice as expensive to produce, and thus will cost twice as much.

PLEASE NOTE: This disc WILL NOT play properly in an Optigan! They WILL play, but the sounds will NOT be mapped correctly to the keyboard- they will be mapped mostly haphazardly across the chord buttons. Please don't order this disc expecting to easily use it in an Optigan. In the future we will be porting the Orchestron sounds to the Optigan- please be patient! :)

This is not a simple photocopy of an original vintage Orchestron disc, it's completely re-mastered and re-created from scratch, using the original sounds from
the Orchestron master tapes. In other words, this disc won't sound 100% exactly like the original discs in every tiny detail. Specifically:

* Since there's usually no way to precisely identify the exact 2-second excerpt that was originally used from each sustained note on the master tapes (some of which can be 8-10 seconds long), we've simply chosen 2-second excerpts that sounded good in our editing situation.
* Our French Horn disc has a little more low-end and a bit less upper-mids than the original. These can both be adjusted with EQ if you're trying to precisely duplicate the overall tonality of the original discs.
* Our disc has a bit more white noise than the original, apparently an unavoidable result of the mastering process.
* The loop joints on our disc are very smooth and for the most part don't pop/thud the way the originals do.
* We've staggered the loop joints evenly across the disc (instead of placing them all at 12 o'clock), so that no two notes hit their loop joint at the same time.
* Some of our discs may have very slight periodic crosstalk on some notes (mostly noticeable on higher notes), owing to miniscule variations in the center hole punching tolerance. Said crosstalk should be well within the acceptable limits that Orchestron users are accustomed to.

So, will our disc satisfy the absolute purist? Probably not, and we won't attempt to argue otherwise. But despite the differences, to the more casual player our disc sounds very much like the original. We're confident that you'll love the sound and quality of this disc, but if you're not totally satisfied, we're happy to offer a 100% money-back guarantee. This is a labor of love for us, and we want to make sure you feel the love too!

Since the original discs came in plain white jackets, so will ours. We will be replicating the original printed paper sleeves- spelling/grammar errors and all.

Soon we will have all eight of the original Orchestron discs remastered, as well as a few brand new titles. Stay tuned!

To order, please visit http://www.optigan.com/shoptigan"

Philip Glass - Einstein On The Beach KNEE 5 - Elka E9 Organ

peahix

"While running errands today, I found an Elka E9 organ on the side of the road. Against my better judgment, I wrestled the thing into my car, since I have a fondness for anything Elka ever since I had a Synthex years ago. When I got it home, I found it to be in good working order and sounding quite nice with some onboard phasing effects, so I thought I'd whip up an abridged rendition of Glass' KNEE 5 from Einstein On The Beach. This is the raw sound of the organ with no external effects or EQ. The G bass note sounds thin for some reason, not sure if that's just out this organ sounds, or if there's something wrong. This one goes out to Eddie Van Halen, RIP today, 10/6/2020."

Yazoo - ONLY YOU - Re-created w/ Sequential Circuits Pro-One Synth

Published on Jul 19, 2014 peahix

"Some friends needed the backing track of this song for their wedding, so I took the opportunity to geek out with it. The original is well-known by synth nerds as having been produced by Vince Clarke using only a Sequential Circuits Pro-One monophonic analog synthesizer. So, since I have a Pro-One, and there are scans of an old music magazine article online which show the settings for some of the sounds Vince used on this track (https://www.flickr.com/photos/8478882...), I figured I'd have a go at re-creating it.

First I transcribed the music (sequenced with Cubase), using soft-synth sounds as temporary stand-ins for the Pro-One. Then I had to dial in all the Pro-One sounds one-by-one and record each part via a Kenton MIDI-CV interface. I found that all of the patches from the article needed adjusting to get them in the ballpark, plus I had to create the other sounds from scratch (I've credited each patch accordingly). Having done so, I'm not convinced that every single sound on the original is actually a Pro-One. The "Tinkle" sound, for instance, sounds more bell-like on the original, so it could possibly have been something like a PPG. I don't think Vince had his Fairlight yet, otherwise I'd say it was that. Also, the string line toward the end of the song sounds like it might have been played on a polysynth, ie maybe the Jupiter 4 which Vince used alot at the time. Of course, there's also the snare, which was an 808.

In any event, I think I got pretty close with my rendition. Of course the effects and mix are going to be different, and some of the sounds are closer than others, but whatever.

If you want to give it a shot yourself, you can download the MIDI file and the patch sheets here (be sure to let me know if you make your own version, and give me a shout out if you post it online!): https://www.dropbox.com/s/lfn3vb1pxwq...

One tip: the cutoff of the "Wobble" sound varies a bit, getting slightly brighter during the chorus, etc. The only way to do this is manually while recording. I tried to use automation for this via the Pro-One's filter CV input, but doing so cancels out the Keyboard Amount setting, which is crucial for this sound, so I simply adjusted the knob in real-time.

If you liked this re-creation, check out my other videos for four "Speak & Spell" tracks that I re-created using only a Yamaha CS01-II synth.

Thanks to FrankPerri.com for the blank patch sheets!"

Casio Island! (Casio MT-400v Keyboard Demo)

YouTube via peahix

"When I was 14, back in the 80s, I got my first electronic keyboard- a Casio MT-100. I made lots of rudimentary dual cassette deck overdub recordings with it, little sketches of tunes that usually were never developed. I lent my MT-100 to Cindy Lee Berryhill years ago and never got it back, but recently I bought a Casio MT-400v at a garage sale. It has all the same sounds/functions as the MT-100, plus a much needed analog filter section!

This is a new recording of one of my original Casio tunes called "Casio Island" with my MT-400v. I didn't use the analog filter here, because I never had it on the MT-100 back in the day, and I wanted this version to be as close to the original as possible, just with better recording technology.

Recently I used this Casio in a live cover version of Yaz's "Nobody's Diary" with Marie Haddad singing. We're working on a fancy recording of this, which makes lots of use of the analog filter. I'll post a video of that when it's finished.

You can hear the original version of Casio Island in all its tape-hissy glory here."

aspects of physics - song form shitteo

aspects of physics - song form shitteo from Jason Soares on Vimeo.
"audio visual work by aspects of physics January 2009. Another addition to the shitteo movement."
via peahix
"featuring realistic moog mg-1, some casios, etc."

Optiganally Yours - Mr. Wilson

YouTube via peahix
"song by Optiganally Yours video directed by Dave Sheridan"

Science Fair Electronic Organ Kit

YouTube Uploaded by peahix on Dec 14, 2011

"This is a little Science Fair Electronic Organ Kit that I bought at a garage sale, pre-assembled. As you can see, it plays horribly out of tune. I also will only play for a couple of minutes before it starts to crap out, and you have to pull the battery and let it sit for awhile."

Chamberlin Rhythmate Tape Loop Drum Machine

YouTube via peahix
"This is a quick demo of my Chamberlin Rhythmate. This was an early drum machine which played back tape loops. It's a predecessor of the Mellotron. A lever moves the tape head across 14 different tape loops, each of which has 3 tracks on it, for a total of 42 different drum loops. A sub-lever shifts the head across the tape to align it with one of the 3 loops. Sometimes it's hard to avoid crosstalk.

Samples of all the loops from this Rhythmate are available as bonus material on my Optigan/Orchestron/Talentmaker sample CD-Rom, which can be ordered here:

http://www.optigan.com/shoptigan.html

Here's a little infomercial i put together for the cd-rom:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeUeME..." (previously posted here).

Vako Orchestron Optical Disc Playback Sampler

YouTube via peahix. Sent my way via Pea.
"Here's a demo of all 8 discs that were made for the Vako Orchestron. This keyboard, which is adapted from the Mattel Optigan, was introduced in 1975 by Dave VanKoevering. It was intended to be a competitor to the Mellotron, but it never really took off. Kraftwerk was a very early adopter of this instrument. I've included little examples of some of the well-known parts Kraftwerk used their Orchestron for back in the day.

My Orchestron is in fairly average working condition. You'll note that I had a bit of trouble with one of the high F keys. Also, note the substantial level of radio interference, which I've muted during disc changes.

Anyone interested in more information about the Orchestron and related instruments can find lots of stuff at my website, www.optigan.com."

1970s Univox Mini-Korg & Maxi-Korg Synthesizer Demo Flexidisc

Published on Feb 12, 2018 peahix

See the flexi disc label below for more.

ARP 2600 Pro-Soloist Synth Synthesizer Demo Records

via this auction

"Notes: Guaranteed original press. Set of two 70s era demo records for Arp keyboards. One is a one-side flexidisc featuring demos of the 2600, Odyssey, 2500, etc. Narrated by Roger Powell, with excerpts from The Who, etc. The other is a 2-side vinyl 7" demonstrating the Pro-Soloist. No narration, just musical examples. The flexidisc is fairly scuffed up, but listenable. The other disc is very clean, about VG++."

This one spotted and sent in via Pea Hicks (peahix).

Yamaha CS01II plays NEW LIFE by Depeche Mode

YouTube Uploaded by peahix on May 9, 2011

"The Yamaha CS01II is the first real synthesizer I ever owned. I got it when I was about 14 years old, back in 1985 or so. I noticed that I could get reasonable approximations of most of the sounds from Depeche Mode's "Speak & Spell" album with it, but at the time I didn't have the means to make decent multi-track cover versions, even after I got a 4-track.

Recently I was studying the Depeche Mode 5.1 surround mixes, and realized that I could clearly hear all the distinct parts of alot of the songs, including "New Life." I also realized that most of the sounds in "New Life," which heavily featured the ARP 2600, were fairly simple. So I decided to throw together a version of it using just my trusty old Yamaha CS01II as the sole sound source (including the drums), just to see how close I could get to the original.

This version has no vocals at all, but otherwise it comes pretty close to the original. The actual musical arrangement is 100% accurate. The sounds themselves are of course only approximations, and most of them don't have the same level of timbral detail as the ARP originals. I sequenced the whole thing in Cubase via a Kenton Pro Solo going into the custom CV/Gate inputs on my CS01II, recording each monophonic line in one at a time. Cubase provided the reverb and EQ, otherwise it's all CS01II."

via Pea Hicks of http://www.optigan.com/

Canon for 2:09AM

Canon for 2:09AM by peahix
"A little canon I wrote for my Yamaha CS01II analog synth."

via Pea Hicks of optigan.com

Canon for 2:09AM, featuring the Yamaha CS01II Analog Synthesizer

YouTube Uploaded by peahix on May 30, 2011

"Here's a little late-night canon I wrote for my Yamaha CS01II analog synth (5 monophonic parts, each a different waveform, multi-tracked in Cubase). I shot the video (sunset light thru my studio curtains) with my Olympus Pen E-PL1 and ran it thru some cheesy FX in Sony Vegas."

Sequential Circuits Pro-One Analog Synthesizer

YouTube via peahix.
"i just got my pro-one overhauled by wine country productions, so what better way to test it out than to make a video of it as it's churning out a silly sound."

Yamaha CS01II plays BIG MUFF by Depeche Mode

YouTube Uploaded by peahix on May 19, 2011

"Download this track at: http://snd.sc/iyLd2s

The Yamaha CS01II is the first real synthesizer I ever owned. I got it when I was about 14 years old, back in 1985 or so. I noticed that I could get reasonable approximations of most of the sounds from Depeche Mode's "Speak & Spell" album with it, but at the time I didn't have the means to make decent multi-track cover versions, even after I got a 4-track.

Recently I was studying the Depeche Mode 5.1 surround mixes, and realized that I could clearly hear all the distinct parts of alot of the songs, so I decided to throw together some renditions using just my trusty old Yamaha CS01II as the sole sound source (including the drums), just to see how close I could get to the originals using very limited means.

The actual musical arrangement is about 100% accurate. The sounds themselves are of course only approximations, and most of them don't have the same level of timbral detail as the ARP originals. I sequenced the whole thing in Cubase via a Kenton Pro Solo going into the custom CV/Gate inputs on my CS01II, recording each monophonic line in one at a time. Cubase provided the reverb and EQ, otherwise it's all CS01II. I've deliberately been quite pure about this process- other than the reverb/delay/EQ, there's no manipulation of the sounds going on here. This is, for me, mostly a technical exercise, so it wouldn't make much sense to process the sounds very much, as that would only take it further away from the native sound of the CS01II.

I don't really consider these to be "covers" as such- if I were covering these tunes, I'd do something creative with them as opposed to just mimicing them as closely as possible. I don't have any desire to "cover" these songs in that sense. At any rate, this project has been a good exercise in close listening and mixing for me, so I see that as the main reward for my efforts."

Also see:
Yamaha CS01II plays ICE MACHINE by Depeche Mode
Yamaha CS01II plays NEW LIFE by Depeche Mode
Yamaha CS01II plays JUST CAN'T GET ENOUGH by Depeche Mode

Pea runs Optigan.com

1965 Edmond Bordeaux and Jean Nilsson's "Indian Melodies" All Chamberlin LP

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

via this auction

This one is in and for salve via peahix of optigan.com, who states it is a pretty early example of an all-chamberlin LP.

Indian Melodies on one side.  Melodias Indias on the other.

The cover reads:

"Rendition from Original Sources and Instruments

by Edmond S. Bordeaux and Jean Nilsson.

The back reads the same in Spanish along with:

"Coleccion de la Academia de Filosofia La Puerta Mexico

©1965 by Edmond S. Bordeaux"

Translated: "Collection from the Academy of Philosopy La Puerta Mexico"

CLICK FOR MORE »

Roland MC8 vs Arp Axxe - ODD RHYTHMS - Ralph Dyck

Published on Feb 10, 2018 peahix

"I recently had my Roland MC8 Microcomposer repaired by Synthchaser (http://synthchaser.com/), and in order to give it a good test, I fired up the old data file of ODD RHYTHMS (previously seen here: [posted here]), and this time I hooked it up to an Arp Axxe, which provides all the different sounds you hear in this version (via multitracking each monophonic part). There's no EQ or any other effects applied- just pure Arp!"

SkyMaul

YouTube via peahix. "rockin it brooklyn korg style"
Anyone know the KORG? The title reference is to Sky Mall. Every time I fly on a plane I flip through Sky Mall and tell myself I'm going to check out their online site when I get back, but never do. It took this post to finally look it up.