MATRIXSYNTH

at 4/24/2006 02:19:00 PM

Shots and details pulled via this auction. This one sent my way via Tom of Music Thing. Thanks Tom!

"Wasp Rack Sound Module with Kenton Pro Kadi MIDI Trigger

Unique Wasp Rack Sound Module. All the controls and workings of the EDP Wasp built in to a 2 U Rack Housed unit. Comes complete with Kenton Pro Kadi Multi Mode MID Trigger Unit, so the 2 1/2 Wasp Keyboard octave range can be played with any Midi Keyboard.

The EDP Wasp was released in the UK in 1978 as a budget monosynth: "One of the biggest advances in synthesiser design - an ultra low cost, high performance instrument" and was one of the most unusual looking modern synthesisers. The Wasp was built in garish black and yellow plastic with a flat yellow laminated carboard 'keyless' two octave keyboard. The instrument weighed no more than a couple of pounds. The sound from the instrument came from two digital VCO running through an analogue VCF which gave the instrument a distinctive and powerful sound belying its awkward appearance. The Wasp was designed by the british designer Chris Hugget who was also responsible for the "Oscar" Synthesiser.

A Wasp in a Rack, what a novel idea!!"

at 4/24/2006 01:27:00 PM

Title link takes you there. The Q+, Q, microQ, Attack VST, PPG Wave 2.V VST, and D-Pole. Very cool.

at 4/24/2006 12:56:00 AM

flickr by SkullKid. Title link takes you to Sidstation_#1.

at 4/24/2006 12:52:00 AM

Click here for Deepsonic. Scroll down and click on the Update :Hardware: link when you get there for various synth shots and samples. These are worth checking out.

at 4/24/2006 12:46:00 AM

Shot of deb7680, his Ems Synthi Aks and Apple II 64k in 1981.

at 4/24/2006 12:45:00 AM

flickr by rodgre.

at 4/24/2006 12:44:00 AM

Title link takes you to the video on YouTube. More on the Step DG1 here. Via Music Thing.

at 4/24/2006 12:43:00 AM

Another via Moogulator. "Julie Landry contacted me about her Moog Source. When she bought it, most of the membrane switches were bad. She asked me if I could rewire it with real switches. Reluctantly, I finally said yes. One year later, she got her synthesizer back with a completely new switch panel with real stinkin buttons, and blue lights."

at 4/24/2006 12:42:00 AM

No, not mine, just the name of the shot. flickr by Cathedrow.

at 4/24/2006 12:41:00 AM

flickr by a.j.duric.

at 4/24/2006 12:40:00 AM

If you know anything about this synth, please post in the comments. Title link takes you to the post on Moogulator.

Update via ndkent in the comments:
"I'm pretty sure it's called the SY-1010 (not sx1010). Single VCO and envelope synth from 1978. In direct competition with the Roland SH-09 (same Japanese release date and price). Given that an espablished brand like Yamaha came out with the cheaper CS-5 within about 2 months I'm not sure it had much ground to compete on.

I wonder if those paper labels stuck on it are someone's attempt in translating the control names into Japanese?"

at 4/23/2006 07:28:00 PM

For you Laurie Anderson fans. Title link takes you to her Yamaha DX7 and more on the bay. Via Loscha.

at 4/23/2006 12:45:00 AM

flickr by endmusik. Title link takes you to the set. And... there's a cat...

at 4/23/2006 12:44:00 AM

Title link takes you to samples of the Synthi Avs by deb7680. The original post in French is here. Title link takes you to a translated page in English. Thanks deb7680!

P.S. According to deb7680, if you listen to just one sample of the AVS, listen to this.

at 4/23/2006 12:43:00 AM

flickr by snigfargle. Title link takes you to more.

at 4/23/2006 12:42:00 AM

Title link takes you to videos on Benthack.

at 4/23/2006 12:41:00 AM

Interesting ryhthm box used by Jean Michel Jarre. Click here to see additional interesting instruments used by JMJ, along with the albums they were used on.

Update: You can see one at times in the upper right in this video. Pic below screen grabbed from that video in case it goes away.

Update2: New screen grab from the video in this post.

at 4/23/2006 12:40:00 AM

flickr by hermanreitsma. Synthesizer (2) is a Roland Juno 106.

at 4/22/2006 12:36:00 AM

flickr by bdu. Title takes you to more including mouse-map of each synth.

at 4/22/2006 12:35:00 AM

Cat in synth. Need I say more? Title link takes you there. All samples Serge modular.

at 4/22/2006 12:34:00 AM

flickr by unrest. Title link takes you to more.

at 4/22/2006 12:33:00 AM

flickr by Sameli.

Much more on the UM-2 here. Specs and one shot pulled below just in case that site dissapears.

"Generally the concept of this stylish instrument can be best compared with a Casio Rapman RAP-1, although this thing has some more feature and is less keyboard oriented."

main features:

* 13 midsize keys (long, black keys need much pressure)
* 2 built- in 10cm speakers (with some bass, mono)
* stylish microphone & headphones
* keyboard polyphony 4 notes (only 3 with background pattern loop)
* 8 keyboard preset sounds (selected in 4 step sequences by 2 buttons, ignores key press duration, names choosen by me)
o 1-4 {banjo, bubbeling synth pad, tekkno chord, lead synth}
o 5-8 {piano, sitar, sitar+piano, ah scratch}
* 24 preset background pattern loops (mislabelled "rhythms", selected in 6 step sequences by 4 buttons)
* tempo +/- buttons (control sound loop sample playback speed)
* button controls in tape deck style {reverse, stop, play. pause, fast}
* master volume knob
* separate microphone and AUX/CD volume knobs (can not be set to 0)
* scratch disc
* 5 OBS disc scratch effect buttons
1. play effect sample 1/ play effect sample 1 backward (proportional speed)
2. play effect sample 1/ play effect sample 2 (ignores speed)
3. play semi- random effect samples (selected by speed and direction)
4. sound loop speed change (slowly returns to normal speed)
5. sound loop speed change (speed returns to 0, like manually turning a record)
* 20 disc effect sounds (selected in 10 step sequences by 2 buttons)
o 1-10
o 11-20
* "effect mixer keys" controller (2 directions play a different sample, 32 samples selected through 4 rubber buttons)
* voice changer switch {normal, low tone, robot, high tone}
* all preset sounds based on low & medium resolution samples
* CPU= "Potex Z0650AA7101, 4" (36+2 pin COB module) with DC controllable clock oscillator
* separate voice changer IC "Z0650AA7102, 16" (COB on small daughter board)
* auto power-off
* "speaker/ headphone" switches for main voice and AUX/CD (make loud popping noise)
* control panel illumination lamp
* extendable platform for portable CD player
* jacks for headphone, microphone, AUX/CD input

at 4/22/2006 12:32:00 AM

Title link takes you to a 11.1M pdf of the OSCar manual.

at 4/22/2006 12:31:00 AM

"This patchbook is designed to be used with ANY dual-oscillator analog/subtractive synthesizer. Contains classic synth patches as well as acoustic emulations created by matching harmonics to the actual instruments." Title link takes you there. Via fvwelsh in this VSE post.

Now if we could only get Elhardt to write one as well...

at 4/22/2006 12:30:00 AM

And it's a synth one, with a funny, no doubt. It's Vogelsheiss' studio. Title link takes you there.

at 4/21/2006 07:23:00 PM

Ummm.... Went for $20. Yep. Via Music Thing.

at 4/21/2006 11:35:00 AM

Remember the genoQs Octopus? Pre-orders opened in December. Well, now it looks like they are actually ready. Beautiful design. Title link takes you there. Via Moogulator.

at 4/21/2006 09:57:00 AM

3rd year running. Line up includes Keith Emerson, Jan Hammer, The Mahavishnu Project, DJ Logic, Roger O'Donnell, and School of Rock. Title link takes you to more info.

at 4/21/2006 09:45:00 AM

"The Thimbletron, as the name suggests, is constructed from 10 ordinary thimbles. Certain thimbles are comprised primarily of nickel (exactly 4 rows above thimbletronium on the new perioidic table of elements) which can be converted into thimbletronium using proprietary ECC methods."

"For ease of use, the thimbles are mounted on cotton gloves. Wires connect each thimble to a power source and digital interface. Properly wired, the thimbles produce emissions of thimbletronic energy which are then detected by custom equipment. This equipment originally interfaced with a standard laptop computer running Operation Re-Information's Back To Basics software, but since version 3.0 of the Thimbletron Native Instruments' Reaktor software has been used. The end result is a sound triggered from the laptop through thimble manipulation."

Too funny. Sent my way via Brian Comnes. Also check out this link. Thanks Brian!

at 4/21/2006 01:24:00 AM

flickr by Jeroen van Gool. Yes that is the inside of a Sequential Circuits Pro One.
Title link takes you to more including the famous mushroom. Gorgeous.

at 4/21/2006 01:11:00 AM

Shot by Synth Ollie. Click image or title link for a bigger pic. One more shot.
System 100m Custom Engineering

at 4/21/2006 01:10:00 AM

New samples added by Moogulator. Title link takes you there.

at 4/21/2006 01:08:00 AM

Title link takes you to shots pulled from this auction.

at 4/21/2006 01:07:00 AM

Title link takes you to The OSCar Pages. I didn't realize there were seven version of the OSCar.

at 4/21/2006 01:05:00 AM

flickr by The_WB. Title link takes you to more shots... of cats.

at 4/20/2006 01:04:00 PM

Matthew Davidson posted a couple of Beatles remixes on SynthSigths. Both are done in the vein of NIN. They are well worth a listen. Links below. BTW, Matthew created the MX4 soft synth.

"The credit goes to the tools. This stuff would have been unthinkable years ago, but these days one can manipulate audio as easily as MIDI. And, it doesn't matter what software you use - all the major offerings are quite powerful. You can't go wrong no matter what you choose."

For Girl, all software.
Synth: MX4
Drums: Model 12
Bass: Nanosampler (loaded with a sample of a SH101 that I use constantly)
Girl (3.3MB)
Girl (lossless 16.7MB)

Only Eleanor is simply a bunch of audio editing.
Eleanor (2.4MB)
Eleanor (lossless 11.7MB)

at 4/20/2006 08:56:00 AM

Title link takes you to an amazing slideshow of the HP Model 200B Audio Oscillator on Flickr. This on sent my way via Steven Pilker. Link to static set here. Thanks Steven.

Update via Steven in the comments: "My buddy Blake Howell took the pictures and is hosting the Flickr page, just wanted to put in a shout-out!"

Update via Brian Comnes in the comments:

"FWIW and as far as I know the very first product sold by Hewlett Packard from their famous garage was an oscillator like this one maybe a model or two earlier, I can;t remember, and the legend is that then Disney bought a bunch of them for Fantasia and the rest is HP history, prior to HP oscillator's a workbench would have a beat frequency oscillator which was basically a theremin with no antennas , it was just 2 40K coils that were slightly out of synch and you had to calibrate them every session, HP did away with that with that BS with stable accurate frequencies and they sold a lot of them.....then they bought Compaq , oh well"

at 4/20/2006 12:44:00 AM

Moog Synthesizer Demo (1979)

This one sent my way via Jay. Title link takes you to 19 mp3s of the University of Iowa Electronic Music Studios (EMS) Moog Synthesizer Demo (1979). The recordings were created by Peter Tod Lewis, EMS Director, 1968-1989. Fascinating listen. Thanks Jay!

at 4/20/2006 12:26:00 AM

Title link takes you there. My first post via the CDM forums!

Update: Also check out the Wooden noise drone synth also via the CDM forums.

at 4/20/2006 12:08:00 AM

Update: Tom of Music Thing noticed that the details for the auction copied below are taken from his Triadex Muse post on Engadget from way back. Check it out; it's a direct copy word for word. Eeentwesting...

Cikira sent me a link to this auction. Below are all three shots and details pulled from the auction. I've never seen one with covers before. BTW, you might also remember Cikira's Aibo playing a Muse in this post. Thanks Cikira!

Details (not sure about that first sentence):
"It's probably the rarest, strangest, best-looking vintage synth ever mass-produced. At a time when Moog and ARP were selling synths the size of wardrobes that looked like lab equipment and cost tens of thousands of dollars, the Muse was the size of a typewriter. It cost $300 and looked like something Dieter Rams would have designed for Braun in the sixties.It had impeccable geek credentials. It was designed by two MIT professors, Marvin Minsky and Edward Fredkin. So what was the Muse? Well, not really a synth. It was a digital sequencer, which played melodic-sounding bleepy music through the internal speaker, based on a baffling set of algorithms. As you moved the sliders, the algorithms changed, and the music changed.The Muse even had an even rarer accessory, the ‘Light Show’, which flashed coloured lights in time to the music. Inevitably, the Muse was a commercial disaster. Only 280 units were ever manufactured.In 2004 1 of these received a bid of $1799.00 on Ebay. AOL search (TRIADEX MUSE) what I have for sale is 3 individual pcs., THE MUSE, THE LIGHT ORGAN and THE EXTERIOR AMPLIFIER, all 3 pieces have only been out of their boxes to be photographed, are these the only ones in this incredible condition? all cords are still wrapped up and all paperwork is still in the boxes, heres a chance to own the best examples of these RARE music boxes from TRIADEX. I believe this is a modest starting price for something of this caliber.Any questions please e-mail me.Buyer to pay shipping & handling USPS.Payment must be received within 10 days or item will be re-listed." This one started at $1600 US.

It is digital. More on the Muse here.

at 4/20/2006 12:07:00 AM

Now this is cool. Luca Capozzi of ProgSounds set up a synth specific group on YouTube. I didn't realize you could even set up groups on YouTube. He just posted the group on Synthwire. Currently there are 11 synth specific videos up. You can join and post your own, and you do NOT have to join and be a member to view the videos, so definitely check them out. Currently there are Korg MS20 and Nord Modular G2X videos up. Title link takes you there.

at 4/20/2006 12:06:00 AM

Andre Majorel postes some MS20 samples on AH. I asked him if it would be okay to post them here. He said yes, so here it is. Thanks Andre!

"All MS-20 with no external processing other than delay and reverb.

http://www.teaser.fr/~amajorel/misc/telegraphiste-3.1.mp3

MS-20 + delay + reverb. It demonstrates a characteristic of the
MS-20 : because the keyboard CV out is Hz/V and the VCF Fc CV in
is V/oct, the VCF tracks the keyboard exponentially (i.e. the
cutoff frequency is too low in the bottom, too high in the top).

http://www.teaser.fr/~amajorel/misc/ms20boing.mp3

IIRC, resonance on both filters with Fc swept at different rates.

http://www.teaser.fr/~amajorel/misc/ms20shot.mp3
http://www.teaser.fr/~amajorel/misc/ms20zip1.mp3
http://www.teaser.fr/~amajorel/misc/ms20zip2.mp3

Assorted junk.

My MS-20 doesn't have any subboard so I guess it's a Korg35 version."