"The Frankenbox is essentially an all-in-one synthesizer built for making distorted screeches, growls, and other awful noises. It includes two oscillators, a built in microphone, two audio inputs, a voltage controlled amplifier with ringmod capabilities, a voltage controlled lowpass filter, an LFO, and a sequencer. One oscillator includes a photocell and the other can be modulated by the LFO and the sequencer. There is a joystick that allows for frequency modulation of the oscillators. Each component was specifically designed with the intention of creating loud, rumbling sounds with crackling distortion over the top. The entire box, down the knobs, case, and LED color, was created exactly as requested. With 41 knobs and hundreds of ways to make the device interact with itself, an almost infinite number of sounds is possible."
Title link takes you to more info and images. Click on the Gallery link on the bottom of the page when you get there. There are some great shots. I purposely went with the "wtf-is-that" teaser shot for the post. Don't click unless you want the answer immediately.
YouTube via unidaddy. Another great vid found by AudioLemon. BTW, I just added AudioLemon to my Blogroll on the right. For a current approximation of the keyboard with ring check out the Analogue Systems French Connection.
via this auction. Details: "This is a vintage analog synthesizer released around 1975 (Around the time of the Mini and Maxi Korgs). It's got 5 waveform choices a huge Sine, a buzzy Square, Fat Triangle, More buzzy Square, and then a Phaser setting that makes a sound that is similar to an old Moog Prodigy. It also has a "traveller" (filter cutoff). It is a very small and light Synth/ keyboard (17 keys) that puts out great analog bass tones"
Update: There was also a pedal version that looks like it could work as a desktop unit which you can see in this post.
Update via the comments: "RE: the update: the synthpedal isn't a pedal version, it lacks the VCO and more. The synthepedal is just a env follower VCF, an amazing filter but not a bass synth"
Update: Some interesting bits on the M500 just in via The Most Underrated Synth post. "It has one oscillator, 2 2-pole resonant LP filters (one for the synth preset, one for the brass preset), and four fixed (organ-style) filters. The 2 filters have VCAs built in, and each of the fixed filter circuits had its own VCA and (fixed) envelope generator. The brass voice and synth voice also had their own envelopes. The envelope attack and release controls affected the synth and brass VCA and VCF.
They could afford 6 VCAs because, for a fixed-voice, fixed-envelope monosynth, they could get away with one-transistor VCAs and RC (NO active component) envelopes, and the VCF/VCA chip I imagine was used in other synths as well.
OMD used this synth a lot on their first few albums. You can recognize it easily in their stuff before they got into samplers, which you can also recognize (Dazzle Ships onwards)"
"this is a new original analog design ( though inspired by the single bands of the korg P3100 filter ) with a few different things going on. the signal path flows like this - buffer - very high gain preamp with switchable clipping distortion - resonant bandpass filter with variable resonance that can self oscillate at higher frequencies and has an adjustable and switchable frequency range - variable heavy breakup distortion - and a violet ( or blue - i ran out ) level indicating led"
Title link takes you there.
"also Ty of dispyz.com has an enormous data recovery bill on the way due to a head crash ( 3 years of work gone ) so he is "regrettably" selling off his Amnesio SL-0.131 prototype. he said just original cost and free shipping i think. you can get in touch with him via email at: dispyz (at) dispyz.com or through his MySpace site he will probably also be posting this in the forum so you can ask him questions if you want ( its like new ) but be nice because he’s using a borrowed PSP the get online, crazy. just thought i would give him a much needed hand and see if anyone is interested. the 131 has 2 lo-bit looping samplers and a passive analog ring modulator ( its a mingrod minus the octave up) all in one box."
Remember WintherStormer? Their new CD, Woodwork, officially comes out tomorrow. It features Terje's custom modular pictured in the previous post. Title link takes you to Terje's site where you will find more images, info and samples.
The floating point numbers set the phase for each lfo. Phase is normalized to a range of 0 to 1, so a value of 0.1 equals 36 degrees and 0.5 equals 180 degrees.
"The Hohner Electronium pi is an old key board from the year 1950 that the concept almost resembles a Clavioline. The basic sound of both instruments is however very different, since the tone generator of the Electronium pi produces a saw tooth wave shape, while it is with the Clavioline a square wave form. Roughly expenditure-press sounds the Elektronium pi rather like a trumpet and the Clavioline rather like a clarinet. The equipment is developed complete in tube technology and offers from tubes admitted sound. One can call these only extremely alive, warmly and nobly. It is one of the instruments, with which the well-known composer Karl Heinz stick living invented and justified the electronic music in the year 1954 in Cologne Studio of the WDR."
This was sent in via Ivan of Squeezytunes. You can read more about it here.
If you can't afford the $2275 or $3150 303, you could always get this. I think I'd prefer the cake. Seriously though, this wouldn't look bad in a studio, minus the Baby Watch The Star, of course. Well maybe just the little guy minus the words...
Title link takes you to shots via this auction. BTW, if anyone reading this picks it up, be sure to check out the excellent Rhodes Chroma site and join the group. It really is a great resource and worthwhile group to join.
Note the Chroma doesn't have any knobs but it has an editing slider and each button you see serves as a parameter selection in edit mode. Like the MOOG Source, you select the parameter you want to edit with one button and you then use the slider to edit. The only real challenge is understanding what the two digit led is displaying for each paramater. For things like cutoff and env settings this is easy enough, but for mod routings you might need the manual handy when first learning the synth. The manual is available at the Rhodes Chroma site.
"This is a solid-state Tesla coil. The primary runs at its resonant frequency in the 41 KHz range, and is modulated from the control unit in order to generate the tones you hear.
What's not immediately obvious in this video is how loud this is. Many people were covering their ears, dogs were barking. In the sections where the crowd is cheering and the coils is starting and stopping, you can hear the the crowd is drowned out by the coil when it's firing."
Chris put up a new Buchla 200e noodle titled TickTock. Title link takes you to the track, where you will also find previous 200e tracks by Chris.
BTW, if you want to see his setup pictured here live, he will have it at the Garden of Memory show this Thursday. Update via wavedeform in the comments: Here's a link to a write up in the SF Chronicle about the show.
Title link takes you there. Some snips: "To have a quadrature waveform, you really need at least two waves. The first wave could be said to be at 0 degrees, and the second wave could be said to be in quadrature with that wave - in other words, the quadrature waveform is 90 degrees out of phase to the zero degree waveform. The frequency of both waves is the same - it's the offset in phase between the two waves that defines the function.
Figure 1 [top two] illustrates this offset - notice how the lower triangle waveform crosses the center line 90 degrees "behind" the upper triangle wave.
It's easy enough to get two waves at the same frequency and one hundred eighty degrees out of phase - that only requires simple inversion - the 180 degree waveform is merely the exact opposite of the 0 degree waveform. But, to get an offset of 90 degrees, well, that takes some doing....
Applications for the VCQFG Thomas' mention of the use of the VCQFG with his SuperSeque design above is just one of a plethora of applications. Consider that, with this module, you have access to four triangle waveforms that are at the same frequency, but have rise and fall segments offset symetrically over time."
ac posted this image on AH. I asked him if it would be ok to put up a post here as a follow up to this post (and those linked in it), touching on the differences between the OB-X, OB-SX, and the OB-Xa. He gave the thumbs up. Thanks ac. This is a really nice shot of the board. Click on it to see the detail. You will see the following chips.
2 x CEM3340 VCO 2 x CEM3310 VC Envelop 1 x CEM3320 VC Filter
Click here for shots via this auction, include hires version sent my way via the seller.
Details:
Blacet: Binary Zone, Filthy Filtre, Micro LFO, MiniWave & two frac racks w/ power supplys and power leads.
Wiard: Joystick, Joystick Axis Generator, NoiseRing.
Livewire: Frequensteiner.
The Miniwave comes with 4 eproms, they are: Miniwave Eprom A, Miniwave Socket Rocket, GR-new-256 & GR-PPG/P-VS.
Update: This one probably should have gone up on Matrixsynth-b. The image looked a bit better to me on first look. Something about the reflections and the case. Anywhoo... If you like synth shots, know there's more on Matrixsynth-b.
Title link takes you to shots via this auction. Not the biggest shots, but you don't see these often. If you are considering this or any other action I post, ALWAYS be sure to read the auction details in full. I only post the bits that interest me here and I DO NOT police auctions. Always check the comments to see what others say.
Details: "This was the flagship of the SCI line and their last (and greatest analog synthesizer). Apparently, there were only 500 units produced before the project was shelved due to competition from the much cheaper Yamaha DX-7. I am the second owner of this synth. It has been gently used in my smoke-free studio.
Brief specs: - 8 voices - 2 VCO's per voice - Classic SCI Poly-Mod section - MIDI control of various parameters through velocity and/or pressure modulation - Semi-weighted keys - Velocity and aftertouch (The Prophet T8 was renowned for its pioneering system of aftertouch) - Single, Split, an Double modes- The T8 can be played as a single synth (one patch), two separate synths (upper and lower patches), or two patches can be played at once"
"Rare 1970's Modular Oscillator running through a Plan-B Vactrol Filter and Gate. There are Vactrols (components that mate LED's with audio for natural acoustic tones) in the Osc so this makes a close to vintage complete Buchla sound. The Osc sounds like nothing else I've heard with it's waveshaping and altering of harmonic structure of the waveform. There's a Modulation OSC that also can pitch same as Main but I use it here for FM, AM and Timbre Shaping. Used here also are my Doepfer LFO, Plan-B Random, ASys Envelope, Modcan Sequencer and Asys Delay/Sampler."
Track sent my way via David Kristian aka Gentle Bakemono after seeing this post: "Intro" + "L.F.O." using (only) an Electribe MX. You'll notice there are no processed vocals or Speak & Spell parts simply due to the fact that the U.S. version of the Speak and Spell L-F-Oh's don't sound as nice." MP3 mirrored here
Details:
""Novation has basically re-packaged the SuperNova into a desktop performance module and dubbed it the Nova. It uses analog Sound Modeling (ASM) to create stunningly clean but analog-like sounds. "3 completely independent oscillators, a variable noise source and 2 ring modulators per voice. This combined with the Nova's 16 voice polyphony means that there are 36 Oscillators, 24 Ring Modulators and 12 Noise sources available at once. All these waveforms can be combined in the Mixer section allowing the creation of very fat and complex timbres." There's also over 130 modulation routings. There are two inputs for filtering external sounds, a 40 band vocoder and 42 simultaneous effects including Vocoder, Distortion, Comb Filter, Chorus, Phaser, Flanger, Delay, Reverb, Panning, Tremolo and EQ. "
(the above video is not my actual Nova but a YouTube users video of the factory demo)
* 16 Voices Polyphony.
* 3 Oscillators, 2 Ring Modulators and a Noise Generator per voice
* Up to 6 Oscillators can be generated with no loss in polyphony when the special Double Saw waveform is used.
* Comprehensive Modulation Matrix with 130 possible routings.
* 6 part Multitimbral.
* 12, 18 and 24 dB per octave Resonant filter configurable in Low Pass, High Pass and Band Pass modes,
* 9 Dual/Split filter types with modulatable frequency separation.
* All filters also feature an overdrive control, while Filter Bypass mode allows noise to be filtered independently – ideal for the creation of drum sounds.
* 2 LFOs capable of oscillating at Audio rates.
* Distortion, Comb Filter, EQ, Reverb, Chorus/Flanger/Phaser/Rotary Speaker, Delay and Panning effects for each Program.
* 42 Effects available simultaneously. 7 Effects for each of the 6 Parts of a Performance. Yes you can have a different Reverb on each part, a different Delay on each part, a different Chorus etc.
* 40 Band Vocoder that can run simultaneously with the Full Synth Engine (no reduction of polyphony etc).
* 6 assignable polyphonic outputs with 128 x Oversampling Delta Sigma DACs for each output. Stereo effects can be routed through a single channel without compromising quality, releasing more outputs.
* 2 Audio Inputs with 20 bit ADCs. Signals can be routed through the Synth Engine (Filters), Effects or both..
* 256 Programs in 2 banks.
* 128 Performances.
* Built in Arpeggiator with 384 Preset Polyphonic, Preset Monophonic and User Programmable Polyphonic and Monophonic Patterns. 6 Arpeggiators are available simultaneously in Performance mode.
* All knobs, switches and Parameters transmit MIDI Controllers and NRPNs. Knob pick-up eliminates unexpected surges or changes when switching between Programs.
* Flash upgradable operating system via MIDI, free as a MIDI file on our Web Site.
* Multi Voltage power supply."
I always wanted one of these but ended up with a K-Station instead. Anyone know how they compare?
Just a warning: do not bid on ebay Item 190123605048 (Synton Syrinx) Pictures are taken from vintagesynth.com and from just ended auction 290127272589 (this was a real auction from a known collector here in Munich). Alert is sent to ebay.
Please no further discussion here in the list.
Florian"
I see 13 bids on it, hopefully it isn't one of you. I didn't post it previously but you never know. And for the record, I do not want to be in the habit of posting warnings. If you know who to contact on these, feel free to do so. I don't.
Game designer Will Wright and musician Brian Eno discuss the generative systems used in their respective creative works. This clip features original music by Brian Eno.
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Will Wright and Brian Eno on "Playing with Time."
In a dazzling duet Will Wright and Brian Eno give an intense clinic on the joys and techniques of "generative" creation.
Back in the 1970s both speakers got hooked by cellular automata such as Conway's "Game of Life," where just a few simple rules could unleash profoundly unpredictable and infinitely varied dynamic patterns. Cellular automata were the secret ingredient of Wright's genre-busting computer game "SimCity" in 1989. Eno was additionally inspired by Steve Reich's "It's Gonna Rain," in which two identical 1.8 second tape loops beat against each other out of phase for a riveting 20 minutes. That idea led to Eno's "Music for Airports" (1978), and the genre he named "ambient music" was born.
The Long Now Foundation was established in 01996* to develop the Clock and Library projects, as well as to become the seed of a very long term cultural institution. The Long Now Foundation hopes to provide counterpoint to today's "faster/cheaper" mind set and promote "slower/better" thinking. We hope to creatively foster responsibility in the framework of the next 10,000 years - The Long Now Foundation"
FYI, I switched the comments below for those that want to watch and wonder what a salty fisherman is before reading. Don't read below unless you want to know.
Details: * KILLER 12/24 bd filter, low, band, high. * Two OSC with standard waveforms and Additive Synthesis capabilities. * Arppegiator and Sequencer that send midi. * Mono synth but polyphonic keyboard controller with midi options. * 36 Patch Mem locations, 8 User Waveform Mem locations.
YouTube via chrisf242.
Re-Published on Aug 1, 2012 gez varley
Via sequencer.de. You might recognize bits of this from this awesome video.
"Short but interesting item about the growing Sheffield techno scene in 1990.Features LFO (a young Mark Bell who now works with Bjork) and Warp records."
"Just a quick demo video I made to show off some of the features of my Glitch VST plugin. I let a simple breakbeat sample play on loop while I go through and tweak various parameters in realtime. It's difficult to see all the details thanks to YouTube's low res video, but hopefully you get the idea.
YouTube via shagghie. "Running the 999's HT through the 777's filter input. Using BlackBoxStudios 's main PA room. Some red bulls. Oh, and yes, for those in the know, this is the very SN#6x6 that Guns n Roses owned at one point. The only factory brushed aluminum unit to leave Jered's skunkworks. LED and knobs modded by me. Muffler mod by Jered out of the factor."
"The Frankenbox is essentially an all-in-one synthesizer built for making distorted screeches, growls, and other awful noises. It includes two oscillators, a built in microphone, two audio inputs, a voltage controlled amplifier with ringmod capabilities, a voltage controlled lowpass filter, an LFO, and a sequencer. One oscillator includes a photocell and the other can be modulated by the LFO and the sequencer. There is a joystick that allows for frequency modulation of the oscillators. Each component was specifically designed with the intention of creating loud, rumbling sounds with crackling distortion over the top. The entire box, down the knobs, case, and LED color, was created exactly as requested. With 41 knobs and hundreds of ways to make the device interact with itself, an almost infinite number of sounds is possible."
