Carbon111 Site Update

Title link takes you there. If you haven't checked out Carbon111's site yet, you should. The site includes pages on the DSI Evolver, Waldorf Microwave XT, Serge, and Roland Juno-60. These are in depth pages including wavetable charts for both the Waldorf Microwave and DSI Evolver. There are some nice shots of his Rusty Insects studio and more including some of his visual art and of course his music. Enjoy.

Korg Polysix - New Flickr Shots

Title link takes you to a couple of nice Korg Polysix pics.

ARP 2600 Site

Nice ARP 2600 site I haven't seen before. Includes a photo gallery, mods, links, owners and service manuals, brochures and more. Title link takes you there.

Novachord Restoration Project

I previously posted on the Novachord Restoration project back on 10/03/05. Looks like the project is finished! There are some amazing samples up. Title link takes you there. Phil Cirocco of EMS did a fantastic job in this. Listen to the samples and realize that this synth is from 1939. This is absolutely astonishing. This really is about as awe inspiring as it gets in the synth world.

Update: Via Michael E Calaroso on AH:
"John Hanert was the designer of the Novachord, who also brought us spring reverb and the scanner vibrato and percussion of B3 fame. Vail's Hammond book has an entire chapter devoted to the Novachord. Apparently the prototype was velocity sensitive, but that feature was omitted from production models following a demo to a Hammond executive where he decided he heard no difference whether velocity sensing was on or off. Now I would've like to seen how Hanert implemented velocity sensing in 1939 :)

Some info from Dave Kean here:

http://www.ffwdweekly.com/Issues/2002/0801/mus4.htm

MC"

Red Dragon - Free Virtual Synth

Intwesting.... Title link takes you to the news on Synthtopia.

Synth Overdose - New Flickr Set

Click here for a new Flickr set from WC Olo Garb. Nice!

Jessica Rylan - New Flickr Shots

Title link takes you to some more shots.

MAM RS3

Title link takes you to Chris Strellis' page on the MAM RS3 Resonator with samples and more.

More x0xb0x from Jiggity

Title link takes you to more samples on Jiggity's soundclick page. Via Colin Chung on AH.

Alesis Andromeda A6 CS80 Sample

In via Tom Remi Flygel on the A6 alias. Great sample of the A6 imitating that Yamaha CS80 patch. It's amazing that the A6 filters model the Moog and Oberheim, yet aside from maybe a Yamaha AN1X, it's the closest sounding synth I've heard to a Yamaha CS50, CS60, or CS80. It captures that amazing sound.

Zeroscillator FM VCO from Cynthia

Via Cynthia on AH.

"Announcing...

The revolutionary new ~Zeroscillator~ FM VCO from Cynthia.
Available now in a variety of popular modular synthesizer formats!

http://www.cyndustries.com/

***** PRESS RELEASE 12/08/05 *****

They said it couldn't be done...
but Team Cynthia went and figured it out anyway!

Cyndustries.Com announces

The Amazing New Zeroscillator!

A Liquid Smooth All Analog Through-Zero FM Oscillator for Modular Synthesizers. For the first time traditional digital FM synthesis is possible in an all analog signal path. http://www.cyndustries.com/

Features Include:

Through-zero Linear FM Operation.
AC & DC Linear FM Inputs with 4-Quadrant Dynamic Depth VCA.
Separate Outputs for All Traditional Waveforms.
Voltage Controlled Bi-Phasic Waveform Morphing in Four-Phase Quadrature.
Variable Synch.
Precision Ten-Turn Tuning Knob
Switchable Linear Bias
Modulation Depth and Polarity LEDs.
Unique Time Reversal Input!

What does all this mean?
It means incredibly rich and alive sonic textures are now available to you!
It means that brass, woodwinds, percussion and exotic electronic mayhem are just a
knob-twist away without need of filtering or other spectral post-processing!
It means a whole new, exciting way of synthesizing sound on your modular!

Advanced engineering and the very latest in exotic semiconductors enable the amazing
Zeroscillator to create classic (digital) Linear FM Synthesis on your modular with
reliable, all-analog ("Look Ma, no aliasing!") circuitry.

Physically, the Zeroscillator's design and build quality are stratospheric.
The finest components are employed using high-quality 4-layer circuit boards, NKK
Switches and Switchcraft connectors. All chips are in military-grade type gold
sockets, and gold connectors are used internally for years of trouble-free maintainance.

Sonically, Zeroscillators produce crystaline FM textures without the assorted noises and grit of digital. Zeroscillators increase the sophistication of your music because each use is a delightful journey into undiscovered, exciting new dimensions!

Learn for yourself what the "Through-Zero" & "Dynamic Linear FM"
buzz is all about using actual analog synthesizers. Sieze this opportunity
to invigorate your music with this breakthrough in electronic technology
by equipping yourself with exciting new Zeroscillators today!

- 30 -

Join the new Cyndustries List at Yahoo!

http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/The_Cyndustries_List/"

Mode Zero

Title link takes you to Modezero, a site dedicated to vintage audio effects including pics and samples. Via Ivan on AH.

This Blog

Thought I'd put up a post on what this blog is and what it is not. Why? I always find things a bit more enjoyable when I know what they are about, and I've noticed from a few comments that some might not know what this site is about.

What it is: A repository for synth stuff I come across on the web.
What it is not: a "News" blog.

Will there be news now and then? Yep. If I come across it and post it. Will I be the first to post stuff? Depends. If stuff is sent to me that's not currently on the web, or I come across it before others then yes, otherwise all of this stuff is already out there, even when I come across it first. What might be "news-like" is any additional information I might add and/or a different perspective. What is also news is anything someone might add to the post. It just depends. I'm not trying to be a news blog, but what's interesting is a lot of this can come across as news. What's really interesting is if it is news to you then it's just that, news to you. A lot of this stuff like Vogelscheiss' site or Tapelab.org have been around for some time, but I had no idea until I visited them. I'm not on all the lists and my guess is neither are most of you as we only have so much time in the day to explore the synth universe. So, I use this blog to track all of that. It's my pulse on the synth world and I hope you find some if not all of it worthwhile. Will there be posts you brush over? Of course! We all have different interests; some will overlap, some won't. You might be on some of the same lists as me and you might not. If you saw a particular post already, think of the others that haven't. What also fascinates me is that in the synth world, old news can be new news. Think of all the history that fascinates us. For example, recently someone on the Synth Sights list was trying to find the infamous OBMx and Gibson story. People remembered seeing it but didn't remember where to find it. Well, it so happened that I put up a post with a link to it a while back, so I was able to find it and send it quickly.

So what is this blog to you? A place where you can see stuff about synths, old and new. Every now and then I hope you find a nugget or two worth your wile. : )

OMG - New Flickr Shot

Yeah, I would say that's an appropriately titled shot.

Update: More info on the shot via Analog Industries.

Vogelscheiss

I've been listening to various bits of vogelscheiss coming in on the lists lately, including the sample I put up on my last post and some previous posts. Well, I finally took the time to visit the root of his site. Wow. This was another one of those how did I miss this for so long moments. There is a seemingly endless amount of mp3s on his site, studio photos, equipment list and more. On the MP3 page there is a News section pointing out his music has been featured in Chris Romero's "Patch" and the "Ultimate Matrix Collection" DVD box set. Pretty impressive. Title link takes you there.

Vermona Perfourmer Sample

Another in via Vogelscheiss on AH. Enjoy.



Umm, sounds pretty special to me. : )
"This demo's nothing special but it shows some of what's so kewl about the
Perfourmer. The Perfourmer's set to Poly mode, with voices 1-3 set to MIDI
channel 1 and set to different patches (and pannings), one an octave up,
taking turns playing arpeggiated notes or occasionally combining in chords,
while voice 4 is set to MIDI channel 4 and playing a bassline. Drums are
Stylus RMX."

G2 Minimoog Samples

Title link takes you to some samples created by Jose Sogo Flores of a Minimoog and a Clavia G2. In each sample he goes back and forth between the two. These are pretty amazing. Note that Jose calls out below that this is not meant to be a comparison in sound quality but rather an excersize in programming. Enjoy. BTW, please right click and download a file before listening to each. : )

Some notes from Jose:

- You hear always the Mini and then the Clavia G2.
- On every mp3 files, there is many comparisons. Sometimes only an isolate
note on both instruments, sometimes a group of notes. Because of the many
examples and very similar sound, you'll have to listening carefully to the
mp3 or you won't know if you are listening to the Mini or G2.
- This is silly hand playing and there is timing differences between the
Mini and the G2. So don't take timing differences for sound differences!
- I made the G2 patch in a couple of minutes, using simple modules
and -lacking programming skills- without taking into account important sound
features of the Mini like filter saturation or different resonance response
depending on input frecuencies. That means, the G2 patch can be even
improved with some more effort.
- I stopped programming the G2 patch as soon as I thought the sound was
interesting enough to record some examples. Because of my lazyness, filter
tracking on the G2 was not matching perfectly the one in the Mini. On some
examples, where you listen to the same sound spread across several keyboard
octaves, differences in sound are mostly only slight differences in filter
cutoff due on different filter tracking. Our ear is very sensitive to cutoff
differences.
- Please don't understand the A/B comparison as a sound quality question.
Instrument and sound emulation is a way to learn your gear and expand your
programming capabilities. No winner here. Also no loser.

If you want to host the files and make them available for all people, please
feel free to copy and post the considerations above to AH.

Best Regards

Jose

Zebra 2

I first saw the Zebra 2 on Moogulator's site. I glossed over it as another soft synth and never got back to it. Now it's up on Create Digital Music. I finally made time to take a look and it does look interesting. It actually looks a bit like Ableton Live, which is a good thing. What's great about Ableton Live is it's ease of use. It looks like Zebra 2 has a bit in this in that it packs a powerful synth hidden behind an elegant and simple to use UI. What's interesting is their concept of "The Grid" and a "wireless modular synthesizer." Not sure how much of this is the UI vs. the synth mechanics itself, but it does look interesting. You be the judge. Title link takes you to there.



"In terms of synthesis you'll hardly find anything that you can't do. In many hybrid approaches different synthesis concepts live side by side - in Zebra everything integrates seamlessly. This is owed to Zebra's renowned concept of modularity, called The Grid. Use an oscillator to build wavetables in an additive fashion, mangle these with some phase distortion effect, send that through a comb filter that in turn frequency modulates a sine oscillator. Sounds too harsh? - Put a warm sounding lowpass filter behind it! "

P*rn for Synth Geeks - New Flickr Shot

Juno 60 in bed

A Juno 60 pic via another cl post for sale.

Hold onto that Synthi! - TapeLab.org

Title link takes you to TapeLab.org. Another one of those amazing sites where I wonder how the heck did I miss this until now. They have an EMS Synthi 100 Modular and more. Like the shot below? There's tons more after the hop including samples. Had a really hard time picking one for this post actually. Keith Seaman sent this one my way. Thank you Keith! P.S. This is MBM/Jack Dangers site.

Electronic Musician Spotlights

Title link takes you to Electronic Musician's Spotlights page. EM Spotlights are articles on featured people. There's a bit of synth content worth checking out including analog conent on Steve Roach and Wendy Carlos. Via Peter Grenader of Buzzclick Music on AH.


The list includes:

Steve Roach
Wendy Carlos
Negativland
Malcolm Burn (String Cheese Incident)
Yoko Ono
Pierre Shaeffer & Pierre Henry - pioneers in sampling
Toby Marks (Banco de Gaia)
Tim Pagnotta
Roger McGuinn
Laurie Anderson
John Cage
Phillip Glass

Juno 106 & RM1X shots

Nice shots of a Roland Juno 106 and Yamaha RM1X on autumn leaves. Pulled from the title link post on these for sale. Via alextoevs on AH.

Fame - More Synth Shots

I previously posted about the movie Fame and some synth spotting in it. Well, reader Tony decided to watch it again after reading the post. He sent me two more brilliant synth pics from the movie. Wow! Now I have to see it again. I keep putting odd movies on my Blockbuster list for reasons like this, they show up in the mail and my wife wonders what the heck I am thinking. Oh well, I have to see the following shot in the movie, so she's outta luck. : ) Title link takes you to a bigger shot of the below and another. Amazing. Thanks Tony!

DSI and QY in Bed - Literally - New Flickr Shot

Update via JJ in the comments:

"Say! That's me! I've never been blogged before. Thanks!

At the following URL is a LJ post that contains a couple of audio samples of the QY through the Evolver:
http://www.livejournal.com/users/sarendipatree/119571" Hmm... Currently getting a 404 for this. Oh well...

I almost didn't post this shot as there just wasn't enough "synth skin" in the pic, but I decided what the heck. The human side of what a synth and music brings to the table is worth posting. There is just something really nice about this shot. She's smiling, they look comfy, and he's playing away on that Yamaha QY and DSI Evolver. Cool headboard and wallpaper as well. : )

SEMtex Review on Sequencer.de

Update: Don't miss that Felix the Cat sticker in the shot. : )

I previously posted on a SEMTex review back on 10/28/05. Title link takes you to another review posted by Moogulator on Sequencer.de. The review includes a bit of history on how the synth went from an idea discussed on Synthesizerforum.de to reality.

Alien's Project Toy of the Month

If you haven't checked out the Alien's Project site yet, you own it to yourself to do so. It's a sci-fi themed synth site extravaganza. Tons of synth pics, samples, videos you name it. One thing I just discovered is that they have a Sounds page titled Toy of the Month. Each month they feature a given synth and post samples, info and a pic. Very, very fun way to spend some time exploring synths. The site design is quirky and kitschy in the best sense. Like Archie mcPhee's meets Rob Zombie. Title link takes you to the Toy of the Month page. Make sure to track back to the main Alien's Project site as well. Enjoy. Update: I originally implied the Moogulator designed the site. He actually coded it. The disign is by Bernie himself.

Strongbad gets a Key-Sword-Tar

Title link takes you to the episode. At the end, click on the green bird's head. Too funny. Enjoy! : ) Via Dave, "The Packrat".

Korg Trident Samples

Title link takes you to a post on VSE with Korg Trident Samples. It has some killer strings. The Tri1_FlangeStrgs_PolySyn.mp3 sounds just like the intro to Duran Duran's Planet Earth.

Back Online!

Sorry about the downtime. Looks like there were some issues with Blogger today. I asked Peter Kirn on CDM if he could put something up letting people know for me, and he did. Thanks Peter!

A6 to Minimoog A/B Sample

Update. The answer is in. The first part is Minimoog and the second is the Voyager. : )

Title link takes you to a great sample Colin Chung put up on AH that A/Bs a bass patch on the Alesis Andromeda with a Moog Minimoog. Right click and save. Listen to it closely. It really allows you to pinpoint the difference between the two. There is a certain something that picks up the second sample where the first sounds a bit sluggish compared to it. If I were training people on the subtle characteristics that differ between synths this would be a great sample. Depending on what you focus on it either sounds very similar or totally different. Subtle differences in sound can have a tremendous impact on the overall feel or color of the sound - like a drop of ink in a clear bucket of water. It might be small, but it's there. BTW, I'm hoping we are all past the synth x is better than synth y arguments. That's not what this is about. They are all different and we know that. This is about listening to the subtle differences in sound. No one call the synth police.

Mars Synth

Now this is a cool shot. Currently on the Synthesizers.com homepage.

Two Synthesizers.com Must Haves Modules

Via the SCI PRONE post on VSE. Links: No Pass Filter, Shock and Awe.

SCI PRONE

Yep, not the Pro One, but the PRONE! Too funny. Title link takes you to the post on VSE where I found this abomination. : ) More shots after the hop. What would be interesting is if this were real like the OSCar in Moog Source case. The SCI Multi-Trak was about as small.

Standing In Front of a Dream - New Flickr Shot

Cool shot. That's Keith Emerson's Moog modular in the background.

Hartmann Goes Offline

Update via tahome in the comments of this post:
"There's new software for the Neuron and NeuronVS by one of the former developers of the synthesis technology (Stephan Bernsee) at http://www.osxtools.com"

In via reader voss. Well this sucks. We knew it was coming, but not this soon. Also, I did not expect the site to go down this quickly. Hopefully someone saved it off like the Waldorf site. If someone did and wants me to host it, just shoot me an email - matrixsynth [@] hotmail.com. I wish I grabbed the site before this.

______ mail from Denis Goekdag _____

Dear users of Hartmann Instruments,

please excuse this unsolicited email, but i believe this information
be of interest to you as a registered Hartmann user.

As of today, the Hartmann Music servers have gone offline due to
Hartmann Music's ongoing file for bankruptcy, which means that there
will be no further techsupport or downloads available from Hartmann.
However, i have decided to provide free techsupport for these
products at the site of my own company, Surround SFX. This site is in
no way affiliated with Hartmann, so please be aware that i can
obviously not offer warranty, spareparts or software updates. You
will, however, find a couple of cool FAQ's, How-To's, free models to
download and a community of users that will gladly help you should
you have problems with or questions about your Hartmann
product....oh, and *me*, the former techsupport-guy at Hartmann ;-)
Surround SFX will also be offering some exciting products for and
around the Neuron/VS series of synths in early 2006.

Here's the URL for the support forum:

www.surroundsfx.com/forum

Best regards,
Denis Goekdag aka Mobilegazer aka "the techsupport guy"

New Macbeth Forum

Title link takes you there.

Rhodes Chroma Ad

Title link takes you to a Rhodes Chroma ad I just read on the Rhodes Chroma site. I'm increasingly amazed at how versatile this synth is. A prime example is that you can actually reverse the direction the keyboard plays. Yep. You have to wonder what the story behind that one was. Amazing synth. Title link takes you to more including comments by Herbie Hancock and Josef Zawinul.

UC-1 - Pro One Sequencer Mod

Interesting sequencer Mod for the Pro One. Via Ben Vehorn on AH.

x0xb0x & MG-1 Demo

Title link takes you to a demo of the x0xb0x and Radio Shack / Moog MG-1 via Troy Sheets on AH. "The MG-1 is the growly little brat, and the x0xb0x is the light-footed pixie."

Dot Matrix Synth

Carbon111 beat me to the post! I knew this would happen sooner or later. : ) I originally saw this via this post on VSE. Title link takes you to Carbon111's post on SYNTHWIRE.

MiniKorg Demo

Jabberwalky posted a 5 minute demo of a Korg MiniKorg on VSE. The demo is one MiniKorg, no effects doing a wide variety of sounds. Title link takes you there.

Pro One - New Flickr Shot

Ekseption - Rick van der Linden

I just found out about a band called Ekseption and their keyboard player, Rick van der Linden, via AH today. Unfortunately it was a thread announcing that he is seriously ill. Title link takes you to the main Ekseption site with a fascinating biography on Rick van der Linden, some pics and more. Condolences to his friends, family and all affected by this.

PLATO IMS Synthesizer

Now this is interesting. Mark Smart put up a site on the PLATO IMS Synthesizer. If you don't know what it is, check out the site via the title like to this post. The site is made to use the amber on black font of the PLATO. The site has history, samples and details on it's sythesis. Really impressive.



"I put up a web site about the IMS synthesizer which was developed at the
University of Illinois for use with the PLATO computer system. I went kind of
nuts and wrote PHP scripts to generate characters that look like a real PLATO
plasma screen."

x0xb0x Logos by Amos

No title link. Amos sent me a couple of x0xb0x logos he did in the spirit of an "open-source" synth project. Pretty nice if I must say so myself.




"Just realized, I forgot to post my shiny new self-made x0xb0x logo... free to anyone who wants to use it. An open-source synth project should have an open-source logo. Limor (LadyAda) said that there wasn't any logo yet for the x0xb0x, so I decided to take the initiative and create one. The "0" is the schematic symbol for a PNP transistor."

Serge Animal Post on Synthwire

Carbon111 just put up a great post on Synthwire on the Searge Animal Modular. He walks through each module and links to his Serge page with more info. Title link takes you there.

NIN Polyevolver Cover - Stefan Trippler

Via AH. Yep. I think Stefan is pulling my leg on this just being a hobby of his. : )

"Sounds from the Evolvers, drums mainly from Stylus RMX, some additional from
the Evolver, vocals from www.nin.com

Peaceful advent time all ;)

Stefan"

Kawai SX-240 Sample

Ever wonder what the Kawai SX240 sounded like? Click here for a sample from WC Olo Garg. It sounds surprisingly like an Akai AX60 or AX80 to me. WC Olo Garb sent me the link to the sample and his SX-240 page. Rather than point directly to that page and risk missing all of the other synth content on his site, I thought I'd link to his gear page instead. Scroll down for the Kawai SX-240, and while there, make sure to browse around. There are some great synth pics and samples. BTW, I thought I recognized the site; I previously posted on it here and here.

Trogotronic

Via GetLoFi.

Excellent Logo


What the?...