Your Oscillators New Best Friend! // VCO's Little Helper (VLH) by Takaab (SIAM Modular)

video upload by DivKid

"Here we're checking out VCO's Little Helper (the VLH) by Takaab (who are SIAM Modular too). It's a small 2hp module that can work like an expander for any oscillator you want to use it with. There's two inputs giving you two octaves of sub oscillators (-1 and -2), ring modulation, a noise source and thru outputs to save multiples or stacking cables to keep patching with your inputs.

Here's what Takaab have to say 'VCO’s Little Helper is a eurorack module that supercharges your existing oscillators by adding a ring mod, sub and noise. The VLH was designed in collaboration with journalist and musician Steve O'Hear following a conversation asking how we could squeeze the features found in the VCO section of many vintage synthesizers into a eurorack system.'

VLH is also a affordable addition to a Eurorack system priced around £/€/$100 (it's 4040 Thai Baht). It's available direct here // https://www.siammodular.com/takaab-vl...

Here's the mini documentary on how the VLH came to life"

Takaab VLH : VCO's Little Helper: The making of ... euroack ring mod | sub oscillator | noise

video upload by Adventures in sound

VCO's Little Helper made its first apearance on the site back on JULY 27, 2021.

Synth East 2024 - Synth and Modular festival in Norwich

video upload by Molten Music Technology

"Synth East is a festival of synths and modular in Norwich from Friday the 23rd of February to Sunday the 25th. Brought to you by the Norwich Arts Centre, Electronic Sound Magazine and Molten Modular.

Tickets are available for each event separately. There's a discount if you order the Saturday Expo and evening gig at the same time.

Friday: Subotnick documentary [trailer here], Adam Buxton interviews Steve Davis and music from Luke Sanger.

Saturday daytime: Synth Expo with performances

Saturday evening: Blancmange, Ultramarine and Molten Modular

Sunday: DIY Workshops from Thonk and Befaco.

http://www.syntheast.com"

Update: press release follows:


"Pouring from the heart of Norfolk, hosted by the Norwich Arts Centre, curated by Electronic Sound Magazine and run by Molten Modular, Synth East is back. After a devastatingly successful 2023 show the sold-out Norfolk-based festival of synthesizers returns in 2024 but this time it's been widened into a full weekend experience.

The all new Friday evening Synth East event is curated by Electronic Sound Magazine and kicks off with (possibly) the UK premiere of a documentary on electronic musician Morton Subotnick, who at 90 years old, is known affectionately as the Father of Techno. It’s called Subotnick, Portrait of an Electronic Music Pioneer by Waveshaper Media who brought us the intoxicating 2014 documentary, I Dream of Wires.

Following the film we have writer, broadcaster, comedian and musician Adam Buxton chatting with Synth East alumni Steve Davis about music, life and modular synths. Finishing off the evening we have an ambient set from modular musician Luke Sanger as we relax into some beers in preparation for what’s to come for the rest of the weekend.

Saturday’s Synth East Expo is a carnival of control voltage, a festival of synth sounds and a party of epic performances. Dozens of manufacturers will be filling the Arts Centre with synths and modulars to give you an opportunity check out their marvellous machines and bask in the glow of synthesiser technology. You’ll be able to chat with the makers about the gear and even have a personal demonstration. Simply walking through the auditorium in the company of such exciting gear is completely thrilling.

Throughout the day we’ll be having some performances from local artists Hardwired and Tristan Burfield before we once again embark on the awesome modular experiment of the all-star patch off. This year, joining Robin "Molten Modular" Vincent, Steve Davis and Gaz Williams will be Mylar Melodies, Nina Richards, and Jason Jervis. These are unique, improvised performances that you’ll never see anywhere else.

Saturday night’s synthesiser explosion features the 80s synth legends Blancmange who have kindly agree to fit us in before their extensive Everything is Connected: The Best Of Blancmange tour of the UK. Supporting Blancmange we have eclectic electronic music duo Ultramarine featuring Ian Cooper and Paul Hammond. And in the warm up slot is our own Robin “Molten Modular” Vincent and a special guest.

On Sunday we are hosting some Eurorack DIY workshops presented by Befaco and Thonk. They will be held at Electronic Sound HQ at Capital House over a few hours. The idea is that you buy a ticket for the workshop and then order the kit that you hope to build directly with Befaco or Thonk.

Synth East 2024 runs from the 23rd to the 25th of February. Each event is available as a separate ticket and there's a bundle deal on buying the Saturday Expo and evening performance together.

Our intention is to revel in the world of synthesizers, modular and electronic musical boxes. We want to explore sound through performance, discussion and hands-on interaction. It's a lot of fun and open to anyone with an interest in bleeps, tones and noises."

Instruō Superbooth23: THE MOVIE

video upload by Instruō

WARNING: This video contains flashing lights which may not be suitable for people with photosensitive epilepsy (There's also a wee bit of swearing!)

This is a movie that follows the creative crew that is Instruō.
In 2023 the company travelled to Berlin to present at the Superbooth trade show/festival.
At the time of these captured events, the expanded team at Instruō numbers 20+ personnel.
Pretty much the entire crew goes to Berlin as we show off who we are and what we make.
This is a look behind the scenes of a Eurorack modular synthesiser manufacturer as they present at the world's best Synth-show!

Directed by Mathew Pieraccini
Edited by Jasōn H. J. Lim

"This 'documentary' is the beginning of a new form of content that I'm (Jasōn) working on in parallel to the endless stream of new instruments that we're developing.
It's a long time since it was just myself working solo back in the early days of Instruō
(~2016).
I now have the privilege of working with some of the most fun and creative people I've ever met.
We collaborate now as a creative coop. My hope is to showcase more who we are, what we're doing and how things work at the workshop here in Glasgow.
I've always been a fan of behind the scenes content so my plan is to open thing up a bit to showcase my collaborators and what they do inside and outside of roles at Instruō"
~Jasōn

00:00:00 prologue
00:01:22 Instruōduction
00:02:05 THE TEAM ASSEMBLES, Glasgow 2023-05-08
00:03:02 BUS
00:03:40 Road Trip (UK)

CLICK FOR MORE »

Instruō Superbooth23: THE MOVIE (TRAILER)

video upload by Instruō

"This is a movie that follows the creative crew that is Instruō.
In 2023 the company travelled to Berlin to present at the Superbooth trade show/festival.
At the time of these captured events, the expanded team at Instruō numbers 20+ personnel.
Pretty much the entire crew goes to Berlin as we show off who we are and what we make.
This is a look behind the scenes of a Eurorack modular synthesiser manufacturer as they present at the world's best Synth-show!

Directed by Mathew Pieraccini
Edited by Jasōn H. J. Lim

"This 'documentary' is the beginning of a new form of content that I'm working on in parallel to the endless stream of new instruments that we're developing.
It's a long time since it was just myself working solo back in the early days of Instruō
(~2016).
I now have the privilege of working with some of the most fun and creative people I've ever met.
We collaborate now as a creative coop. My hope is to showcase more who we are, what we're doing and how things work at the workshop here in Glasgow.
I've always been a fan of behind the scenes content so my plan is to open thing up a bit to showcase my collaborators and what they do inside and outside of roles at Instruō"
~Jasōn"

The Oberheim Xpander from 1984

video upload by Alex Ball

"A look at the Oberheim Xpander from 1984.

This hybrid synthesizer was designed by Marcus Ryle and Michel Doidic with input from Doug Curtis and it boasts some surprising features for the time. In this video we take a closer look.

The information for this video was garnered from the following interviews:

GForce Bright Sparks: [below]

Ken Flux Pierce Interview: [below]

GEOSynths Interview: [below]

0:00 Intro Jam
0:58 Talk 1
1:31 Demo 1: Beach Comb
2:16 Talk 2
3:09 Demo 2: Faux Seq
3:52 Talk 3
4:30 Demo 3: Eff Em
5:04 Talk 4
5:59 Demo 4: Wobble 5
6:23 Talk 5
6:51 Demo 5: Judder
7:16 Talk 6
8:34 Demo 6: ALX
9:09 Talk 7
10:34 Multi Demo 1: Zone Call
11:55 Multi Demo 2 : Fond
13:54 Talk 8
15:56 Outro Jam"

Bright Sparks - Tom Oberheim

video upload by GForce Software

"After the 2015 release of our Bright Sparks Documentary & Album collaboration with I Monster, while we were elated at the critical acclaim the project received, we always felt it would have been enriched by the inclusion of one person in particular, Tom Oberheim."

See this previous post for the full description.

The SynthSummitShow ep 31 Marcus Ryle (line 6, Oberheim, Alesis)

video upload by Ken Flux Pierce Fluxwithit

Not seeing the date on this one, but clearly before Marcus joined the new Oberheim.

"Live Stream interview with Marcus Ryle co founder of Line 6 , who has worked with a wide assortment of legendary companies starting with Oberheim synthesizers, Alesis, and more."

GEOSynths Synth Show - Ep157 - Special Guest - Marcus Ryle

video upload by GEOSynths

"Having originally worked for Oberheim in the early 80’s and being Instrumental in the design and development of some classic Oberheim Synths, Marcus Ryle is no stranger to the world of Synthesizers and Electronic Music Equipment. He later went on to co-found “Fast-Forward Designs” who were responsible for some really ground-breaking technology with Alexis, such as ADAT Multi-Track Recorder, Quadra Synth and Effects. Marcus also co-founded Line 6, which developed a whole range of DSP Products for Guitarists, especially the POD range, which were extremely successful and graced many Stages and Studies alike.

Of course, Marcus is very accomplished Synth Player, Sound Designer and Session Musician with a Studio complete with some of the very best Classic Oberheim Synthesizers. Now, we have the honor of chatting to him about the latest Oberheim Product, taking the very best of the OB range into the fantastic OB-X8. We’ll be finding out about his history with Oberheim and others, his Music and of course the OB-X8 Project and beyond…"

Spitfire Audio Fractured Strings - A New Force Of Nature

video upload by Spitfire Audio

"Award-winning composer Paul Thomson takes you to the edge of the world and beyond with Fractured Strings. Created in collaboration with Hans Zimmer’s prestigious scoring collective Bleeding Fingers Music and London’s finest string players, this small ensemble library features an eight-piece string ensemble and two soloists, brought to life in the unparalleled acoustics of AIR Lyndhurst Hall, complete with 15 signal paths.

Fractured Strings introduces an innovative approach to articulations that delivers inspirational surprises through intervallic performances and new modal colours with unparalleled depth and realism. Introducing our brand new Scale Mode technology, these sophisticated, emotive movements and textures reflect the intricacies, patterns and contrasts found in natural phenomena — as heard in BBC's #FrozenplanetII.

Explore Fractured Strings here - https://bit.ly/3xEL8h1

00:00 - Trailer
1:00 - Interview with Bleeding Fingers Music
7:02 - Walkthrough
7:47 The Scale Mode
10:38 - The Articulations
15:40 - The EVO Grid
19:33 - The Seventh Reach
21:10 - The Solo Instruments"

And the press release:

"Spitfire Audio works with Bleeding Fingers to forge FRACTURED STRINGS as a new kind of chamber string library introducing a novel approach to articulations

“Early on in the process of scoring Frozen Planet II, we looked at the patterns of splintering ice and the individuality of snowflakes; in creating FRACTURED STRINGS, we worked closely with the Spitfire [Audio] team and London’s best players to represent these natural phenomena in musical performances — creating a toolkit that became the foundation of our score for the show.”

- Frozen Planet II composers James Everingham & Adam Lukas, 2022


LONDON, UK: created in close collaboration with Bleeding Fingers Music, the Emmy Award-winning and BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) Award-nominated composer collective, hand-selected and mentored by Hollywood hotshot Hans Zimmer (as a multi-Academy Award- and GRAMMY® Award-winning film composer of some serious standing), sound-specialising British music technology company Spitfire Audio is proud to announce availability of FRACTURED STRINGS — itself introducing a novel approach to articulations as a new kind of chamber string library featuring a 10-piece ensemble inspired by the Arctic and brought to life in the unparalleled acoustics of Lyndhurst Hall in London’s legendary AIR Studios, served up as an AAX-, AU-, VST2-, and VST3-compatible (NKS-supporting) proprietary plug-in with 15 signal paths and infinite intervallic possibilities, designed to infuse any gestures, leaps, and cellular motif anyone might compose with warmth, colour, and humanity — as of September 22…

Being billed as a journey through Earth’s frozen worlds, home to unique and remarkable wildlife, it is little wonder that Santa Monica, CA, USA-based Bleeding Fingers Music were looking for a library that could not only support scenes of frozen silence but also scenes of action, tension, crisis, and drama when composers Hans Zimmer, James Everingham, and Adam Lukas started scoring the small screen wonder that is Frozen Planet II, the 2022-broadcast British nature documentary series co- produced by the BBC and The Open University as a sequel to 2011’s Frozen Planet. Putting it this way, James Everingham and Adam Lukas collectively comment: “Early on in the process of scoring Frozen Planet II, we looked at the patterns of splintering ice and the individuality of snowflakes; in creating FRACTURED STRINGS, we worked closely with the Spitfire [Audio] team and London’s best players to represent these natural phenomena in musical performances — creating a toolkit that became the foundation of our score for the show.”

Serious demands demand serious solutions, so a small section of London’s finest string players were brought by the Spitfire Audio team tasked with bringing Bleeding Fingers Music’s requirements to life in the unparalleled acoustics of Lyndhurst Hall — home to many a blockbuster film scoring session by Hans Zimmer and many more — in London’s legendary AIR Studios. The ten players concerned closely collaborated with the Bleeding Fingers Music team and Spitfire Audio’s own collective of composers, conductors, and engineers there to create a vast suite of intricate decorations, leaps, and swells.

So who better to formally introduce the finished FRACTURED STRINGS, then, than Spitfire Audio co-founder Paul Thomson — truly no stranger to the wonderful world of music-to-picture scoring himself as an English composer for film, television, and video games, as well as a music technologist to boot: “This is our latest collaboration with Bleeding Fingers [Music], and it is a set of unique and original content made for the BBC show Frozen Planet II. It showcases a huge amount of string articulations and gestures — wispy, ice-y, ethereal fragments that we have never before recorded, and that you can't play very easily with existing string libraries.”

CLICK FOR MORE »

Wowa Cwejman Has Passed Away

Some sad news in today. Legendary synthesizer maker Wlodzimierz Cwejman, known as Wowa Cwejman to the synth community, has passed away. As anyone who has visited this site over the years knows, his creations are recognized as the best of the best when it comes to quality and sound. He will be sorely missed.

The following was shared by Maho Cwejman:

“I’m incredibly sad to say that Wlodzimierz Cwejman (Wowa ) passed away yesterday. Wowa was an incredible man making great things and I love that we made so many together. Right now I hope you appreciate I need some time but will come back as soon as possible with an update to Cwejman. I want to thank everyone for your support and kind words🙏 Wlodzimierz Cwejman 1949-2021

Cwejman music AB
#Cwejman”


A tribute by verstaerker:

In Memory of Wowa Cwejman
video by verstaerker

"In memory of Wowa Cwejman who passed away 30.01.2021
Thank you Wowa for you wonderful instruments wich always inspired me making music.

The video is from a workshop long time ago in Schneidersbuero .. i think around 2008.
The music is made in 2007 after i bought my Cwejman S1. The sounds are done with a Doepfer A-154/155 Sequencer, Cwejman S1 and a Roland JV1080 for the pad.

Rest in Peace!"


And a couple of interviews from the archives:

Wowa Cwejman Interview From Totally Wired [previously posted here]

Published on Jan 19, 2017 brian tregaskin

"last bit of totally wired which includes interview with wowa cwejman"

Totally Wired was a documentary associated with Schneiders Buero, the people behind SUPERBOOTH.

Workshop with Wowa Cwejman @SchneidersLaden [previously posted here]

Published on Jan 15, 2019

"At the beginning of July 2018 SchneidersLaden had the opportunity to welcome Wowa Cwejman again. The occasion was the presentation of four new modules. Wowa Cwejman was so kind to give us an overview of these modules in the large showroom of SchneidersLaden, together with Tom Körting they went through all new aspects of the modules and patched some sound examples. With the displayed oscilloscope you get a good sense of what is happening with the signals. All in all a lot of new possibilities to explore!

Update: a tribute from C Nich0llsL.



"Single take recording from Cwejman S1. I was fortunate to pick up one of the last batch (in grey). Had been kicking myself for not getting one when they fist launched for several years. It is beautiful.
The recording had been sitting on my desktop for a couple of months. After hearing of Wowa's passing, I am sharing as an homage to the beautiful tone of this instrument and to the man that created it.
Recorded through Strymon;s Night Sky, the resonances seem to stretch out into the darkness.
Left unadorned for those who may want to take a moment and gaze at the Night Sky.
Thank you, for a beautiful instrument."

The Noiseblast Hour, Episode 5: Coffin Nachtmahr, Arthur Hnatek, and Olan!

Noise Engineering

"It's the Noiseblast Hour, brought to you by Noise Engineering, hosted by Pyraphonic (aka Shawn Jimmerson)! This is the fifth installment in a series of indeterminate length and sporadic release (h/t Roman Mars). Watch here for future episodes! On this episode, we welcome Olan!, Arthur Hnatek, and Coffin Nachtmahr."

Olan!’s bandcamp: https://olan1.bandcamp.com/
Arthur Hnatek’s bandcamp: https://arthurhnatek.bandcamp.com/
Coffin Nachtmahr’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theohyesyo/...
Host Shawn Jimmerson's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pyraphonic

CLICK FOR MORE »

The Delian Mode - Delia Derbyshire Documentary

Published on May 5, 2015 mprobs

"The Delian Mode (Kara Blake, 2009) is a a short experimental documentary revolving around the life and work of electronic music pioneer Delia Derbyshire, best known for her groundbreaking sound treatment of the Doctor Who theme music. A collage of sound and image created in the spirit of Derbyshire’s unique approach to audio creation and manipulation, this film illuminates such soundscapes onscreen while paying tribute to a woman whose work has influenced electronic musicians for decades.

http://thedelianmode.com"

And a couple of videos from the Delia Derbyshire YouTube channel:

Delia at Queen Elizabeth Hall on 18 1 1968

Published on Sep 23, 2015 Delia Derbyshire

"Delia Derbyshire starts the computer playing Zinovieff's "Partita for Unattended Computer" at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London on 18th Jan 1968"

Max Träger's "diagrams" video of Delia Derbyshire's papers

Published on Aug 31, 2015 Delia Derbyshire

"This is a first demo version of a video Max was doing in July 2011 to display some scans of Delia's diagrams and diagrammatic scores for her electronic music.The accompanying music is "The Wizard's Laboratory" from the album Electrosonic.

Questa è la prima versione dimostrativa di un video che Max stava facendo a luglio 2011 per presentare alcuni scan dei diagrammi e degli spartiti diagramattici preparati da Delia mentre componeva la sua musica elettronica. La musica che l'accompagna è "The Wizard's Laboratory" dall'album 'Electrosonic'."

Check out previous posts featuring Delia Derbyshire in the archives here.

Mellotron Festival Planned for Memphis

DUETS FOR MELLOTRON from Crosstown Arts on Vimeo.

The above features Robby Grant and Jonathan Kirkscey performing Duets for Mellotron at a previous Crosstown Arts event.

The new event is set to begin Tuesday, April 17 at Crosstown Arts in Crosstown Concourse.

"Crosstown Arts to Host Mellotron Variations Series

Multidisciplinary event to feature dance, film, performances, and more

Crosstown Arts is pleased to present Mellotron Variations, a series of original musical compositions for the Mellotron that will be performed live alongside newly created multidisciplinary installations.

The free and open-to-the-public, multi-day festival kicks off on Tuesday, April 17 with a series of collaborative performances at Crosstown Arts in Crosstown Concourse. The main event — a Mellotron performance featuring Pat Sansone of Wilco and John Medeski from Medeski, Martin, & Wood alongside Memphis-based musicians Robby Grant and Jonathan Kirkscey — is scheduled for Saturday, April 21 with a reprise brunch planned for Sunday, April 22, both events held at Crosstown Arts.

Mellotron Variations was made possible by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, which Crosstown Arts was awarded earlier this year. The grant was one of 1,029 Art Works grants ranging from $10,000 to $100,000 awarded to fund local arts projects across the country.

The kick-off event on April 17 will feature a dance performance by New Ballet Ensemble with Lucero keyboardist Rick Steff on the Mellotron. Memphis Symphony Orchestra (MSO) horn player Robert Patterson will then debut new compositions which focus on the Mellotron in collaboration with MSO musicians. The evening will close with a premiere of a documentary featuring Memphis-based keyboardist Audie Smith.

On Saturday, April 21 at 7 p.m., Sansone and Medeski will join Kirkscey and Grant in a performance of original works for the Mellotron. Guests will have a chance to discuss the performance on Sunday, April 22 at noon at a reprise brunch that will include open discussion, a Q&A session with the performers, and encore presentations of the preview event.

This event aims to highlight the Mellotron’s role as a unique pillar in music sampling technology. The Mellotron was the world’s first pre-digital sampling keyboard, dating back to the 1960s. Each key plays a ribbon tape of pre-recorded instrument sounds. It was the precursor to the widespread use of digital sampling used in hip-hop, rap, and other contemporary music.

In April 2016, Crosstown Arts hosted a hugely popular live Mellotron performance featuring Kirkscey and Grant. That performance was recorded and made available via a limited-edition, pressed vinyl record titled Duets for Mellotron.

“We didn’t have any lofty goals for the shows in 2016, just to present a concert that we would like to see,” Mellotron Variations’ organizer Grant said. “For these upcoming performances, we want to push ourselves further by expanding the scope of our section with bigger visuals and new collaborators while also opening it up to other musicians and artists to see what they will do. Working with Crosstown Arts and getting the NEA grant has allowed us to do that.”

Biographical information:
Robby Grant is a songwriter, performer, and producer who has recorded and released records over the past 15 years under both his name and the moniker Vending Machine. He spent the 1990s co-fronting and touring the country with Big Ass Truck and currently plays with the garage pop group Mouserocket.

Jonathan Kirkscey is a composer, cellist, and producer who performs regularly with the Memphis Symphony Orchestra and Mouserocket, and is a co-founder of Blueshift Ensemble, a contemporary classical chamber ensemble. As a film composer, Jonathan has scored several award-winning documentaries including Best of Enemies, directed by Morgan Neville, and Won't You Be My Neighbor, a film about Fred Rogers which premieres in January 2018 at the Sundance film festival.

Winston Eggleston is a woodworker and avid collector of Mellotrons (he recently built one from scratch).

John Markham is a videographer and collaborates with the experimental group >mancontrol<. Together they created the oil-based light show that accompanied 2015's Duets for Mellotron performance.

Pat Sansone is a multi-instrumentalist (guitar, keyboard, percussion, harpsichord) from the bands Wilco and The Autumn Defense.

John Medeski is an American jazz keyboard player and composer. Medeski is a veteran of New York's 1990s avant-garde jazz scene and is known popularly as a member of Medeski Martin & Wood.

Robert G. Patterson is a resident composer with the Luna Nova Ensemble. Recent accomplishments include commissions from Opera Memphis, the One Coin Concert series in Osaka, Japan, and First Prize in the NATS Art Song Composition Award. In addition to his musical activities, Patterson also has been a professional software developer, and his interest in
computers led him to become an expert in musical engraving using a computer.

New Ballet Ensemble and School is a thriving after school dance program in the heart of Midtown Memphis, founded in 2001. Dancers from all over the Mid-South fill their studios six days a week, training and exploring cultural forms of dance alongside a strong classical ballet curriculum. New Ballet Ensemble was awarded the National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award in 2014, recognizing the country’s best creative youth development programs for using engagement in the arts and the humanities to increase self-direction, academic achievement, graduation rates, and college enrollment."

Dave Smith Instruments In the Spotlight With the Prophet-6 and Tom Darom

You can find the full interview with Tom Darom here.

"Tom Darom is an Israeli producer, composer and keyboardist based in Tel Aviv, Israel. She tours and records with the Balkan Beat Box as keyboardist and programmer, is A&R/creative director for APE Records, and is also a composer for TV, film, and media. Her recent work, Shadow of Truth, is a 4-part documentary on Netflix. She received the DocAviv Best Original Music award in 2016 for the documentary Death in the Terminal. The movie also won the Best Israeli Film award.

“I live in an environment that is a melting pot of cultures, rhythms, religions, languages, and conflict. This obviously filters into the art that’s produced here. Many of my scores cover these issues. Much of the music I produce, and artists I work with are an intricate weave of eastern and western influences. Our generation is fortunate to be able to search for what defines our complex identity. From this a new, hybrid middle-eastern sound has been born.

We chatted with Tom about how she’s using the Prophet-6."

---
You can find previous posts featuring DSI's Spotlight series here.

Bastl Instruments NEWS at Superbooth 2017

via Bastl Instruments:

"We have a lot of exciting news to share at Superbooth 2017 - finally our flagship effects processor Thyme comes to life! Peter Edwards a.k.a. Casper Electronics will show his new invention: a portable, experimental synth called the softPop. We have a new eurorack module drum pad interface Kong. Dude is a new portable mixer with concept of modularity in mind. We are starting to offer our trusty microGranny as a DIY kit and we will also show the aluminum panel designs for our Eurorack line of modules for the first time. And as the Bastl community is growing we have more updates in the wide range of activities that we make, too.

The Thyme effects processor [see here for a Superbooth video] will finally scrap off its vaporware label at Superbooth, where we will give the first public demo in two years after announcing an early prototype back in 2015. The Thyme is best described as a sequenceable robot operated digital tape machine. With a lot of parameters at hand it enables the exploration of all the time based effects and the vast space in between their classical multi-effects categories! Each of the 9 different parameters (Tape Speed, Delay Coarse & Fine, Feedback, Filter, extra heads Spacing and Levels, Dry Wet Mix and Volume) has a dedicated and very flexible modulation source - called the Robot - which can be phased out differently for left and right channel to create psychedelic new sound effects. The Robot can either be an LFO with many different waveshapes, external CV source or an envelope follower to enable effects reacting to dynamics. On top of everything there are 8 buttons to select a preset and those presets can be sequenced by a built in meta sequencer. The Thyme is ready for production and pricing and availability will be announced in May 2017.

softPop is a playfully organic, semi-modular light and sound synthesizer with wide variety of sounds: from random dripping water pops to heavy subtractive basslines. Its fully analog core consisting of heavily feedbacked system of dual triangle-core oscillator, state variable filter and sample and hold is played through an intuitive interface of 6 faders that provides countless combinations which can be explored by anyone. It can also process external audio thru the filter while using the envelope follower to intuitively synchronise to the incoming signal. The analog soul is enhanced by a quantize feature (auto-tune) and pattern generator with two memories A and B. For adventurous and courageous souls there is a secret chamber in the back for hacking & modding. We will launch the pre-orders in a couple of weeks with price somewhere below 300 eur.

KONG

The expressiveness of a drumming performance and the freedom of a eurorack modular synthesizer finally have a dedicated interface! Kong is a dual drumpad interface that amplifies the drumpad signal and converts it to trigger and velocity CV signals. The Gain knob helps to amplify signal from any drumpad and serves as a sensitivity setting for the velocity, too. The whole architecture is fully analog and the Velocity CV signal is generated by sample and hold circuit with extremely low drift which makes it perfect for controlling crazy patches by hitting a bunch of drumpads. Kong is available NOW for preorder from noise.kitchen for 109 eur without tax. Preorders will ship in June.

Dude is a portable battery operated 5 channel audio mixer with mini jack inputs and output. Each channel has a dedicated mute button and up to +20dB gain to boost weak signals or saturate line level signals. It is a monophonic mixer but can drive your headphones and therefore its perfect for small portable rigs or submixes on stage. It runs on four AA batteries (or external powersupply) and it is almost as small as its batterypack. Because each channel has enough gain that it can be turned into tone generator by feeding the output back to an input thru a passive eq and other simple circuits. The first batch of the Dude is available NOW from noise.kitchen for 75 eur excluding tax.

microGranny2 as a DIY kit

We have announced the microGranny2 about 3 years ago and it still is very popular machine. After several updates we can finally offer it as a DIY kit! microGranny is a granular sampler with built in microphone that operates samples on a microSD card. It is available NOW from noise.kitchen for 130 eur excl. tax!

Aluminum panels for Eurorack modules

We dedicated a lot of effort to make our wooden panels look and feel great. Now after quite some requests from people we finally found a manufacturing partner for the aluminium panels that meets our high expectations. We are using silkscreen printing in between of the anodizing phases. This method bakes the color perfectly into the material making the colour full, rich and yet very durable!

The modules will be gradually available from selected retailers from 1st May 2017. Note: the wooden panel version of the modules will NOT be discontinued

Further updates from the Bastl Community

● We have made a zine about the Bastl community which will be presented and distributed on demand at the Superbooth 2017 and further
● Noise Kitchen Synthfest: Connecting Distant Patchpoints organized by Bastl and partners takes place in the coming days after Superbooth 2017 in 4 different cities: 23.4. Berlin, 26.4. Praha, 28.4. Brno, 29.4. Wien . Join us there <3 http://noise.kitchen/synth-fest-2017/
● Two new films were published about the Bastl community: Cuckoo’s in depth documentary & Electronic Beats INSIDE: Bastl Instruments
● 2 recent releases on our Nona Records label: NONA004 Family Matter, NONA005 607f/s by ~emb http://www.nona-rec.com/
● We are opening new coffee store front called Koffein at Panská 13, Brno, Czech Republic. Learn how to make great coffee at home, enjoy the best coffee made by Valentino at Bastl and patch a modular synth in the meantime!
● Project 60 knobs is getting finalised
● Due to the recent shift of the Czech Currency (CZK) and rising living costs in the Czech Republic we
will be adjusting our international prices accordingly from 1st May"

RIP William Onyeabor - Nigerian Electronic Funk Pioneer as well as Nigeria's 1st Moog Dealer

'Fantastic Man' (Full Length) - A Film About William Onyeabor

Published on Feb 25, 2014 Noisey

Video description: "'You Need To Hear This' is proud to present 'Fantastic Man' a documentary investigating Nigerian musician William Onyeabor, a man shrouded in mystery and myth. Directed by Jake Sumner (Alldayeveryday) the film tells the story of a label's attempt to track William down, speaking to fans such as Damon Albarn, Caribou and Femi Kuti and travelling to Nigeria to meet those who've worked with him in a bid to uncover the truth about his story. http://williamonyeabor.com/"


William Onyeabor was Nigeria's First Moog Dealer & Electronic Musician. He passed away this Monday, January 16, at the age of 70. Be sure to see the video further below for a taste of his music. To the left you can see him with an Octave Cat, Elka Rhapsody 610, and Moog Polymoog.  MiniKorg 700s in back.

via Boing Boing, via Luaka Bop:

"It is with incredibly heavy hearts that we have to announce that the great Nigerian business leader and mythic music pioneer William Onyeabor has passed away at the age of 70. He died peacefully in his sleep following a brief illness, at his home in Enugu, Nigeria. An extraordinary artist, businessman and visionary, Mr. Onyeabor composed and self-released 9 brilliant albums of groundbreaking electronic-funk from 1977-1985, which he recorded, pressed and printed at Wilfilms Limited—his personal pressing plant in southeast Nigeria.

For people in his hometown of Enugu, Nigeria, Mr. Onyeabor was simply referred to as "The Chief”. He was known for having created many opportunities for the people in his community. In his early 30s, he traveled the world to study record manufacturing, so that he could build, "the greatest record manufacturing business in all of West Africa." After those successful years as an artist and record label President in the 1980's, he opened a flour mill and food processing business. In 1987 these new business ventures saw him awarded West African Industrialist of the Year—just two years after the release of his most successful song "When The Going is Smooth and Good", and what should have been the height of his musical career. He was given the honorary title "Justice of the Peace"—a local judicial position elected by the community to provide independent legal ruling. In the early 1990's, he became the President of Enugu's Musician's Union and Chairman of the city's local football team, The Enugu Rangers. Despite all of these extraordinary achievements, his biography was always shrouded in mystery—some claimed he had studied filmmaking in the Soviet Union, while others placed him in France or Great Britain. To his great amusement (and ours too for that matter), this mythic image was at times so deeply ingrained, that we often encountered people who were convinced that he didn't actually exist. Whenever we shared this with him, or would ask him a question about his past, he would just smile and say, "I only want to speak about God."

After five long years of painstaking waiting, negotiating and intense research, we were finally able to release “Who is William Onyeabor?” in 2013 and his music and story took the world by storm. The release was featured in major newspapers, radio and television stations around the world. Time Magazine listed him as number 4 on a shortlist of that year’s best albums. In 2014, the film documentary “Fantastic Man” followed, as well as the “Atomic Bomb! Who is William Onyeabor?” live shows, which travelled to the most regarded festivals and music venues worldwide-starring over 50 special guests from many diverse generations, genres and backgrounds.

Still, William Onyeabor would never speak about himself and for a long time refused any of the many interview requests that came his way. For an artist that had never performed live in his entire life, he repeatedly, and very sadly, would always decline our invitations to take part in any of the joyous celebrations that were created in his honor. Having become Born Again in the latter part of life, he had turned his back on the music from the earlier part of his life.

As one of the absolutely smartest people we ever encountered—William Onyeabor was always in charge, whatever the situation may be (and even though he was living in a fairly isolated part of rural West Africa). As can be heard in many of his songs, he looked at the world from a bird's eye view. He would watch American, Chinese and European news simultaneously, so he could learn about the different points of view from around the world. In his later years, he was still conducting business as usual. Whenever we visited him in Nigeria, he welcomed us warmly into his home. Whether it be at his palace outside of Enugu or via crackly phone lines to America, he always made us laugh. As is also very evident in his songwriting—another example of his true intellect and originality—he had the greatest sense of humor. His life and accomplishments will never cease to astonish us. More than anything, and still to this very day, his music continues to live on—nearly 40 years after it was originally released.

Chief William Ezechukwu Onyeabor is survived by his wife, children, and four grandchildren. We would like to send our deepest condolences to his family and thank each and every one of you who has helped share the love for his music around the world.

In the short and wonderfully intense nine years that we came to know him, he changed our lives in many ways. If he hasn't yet, we hope he will affect you too, one day."

William Onyeabor - Good Name (Official)

Published on Dec 12, 2013 Luaka Bop

William Onyeabor Boxset available digitally at https://luakabop.lnk.to/OnybrBox. Mr. Onyeabor on iTunes and Amazon.

The Rhythm of Time - Mini Documentary Featuring Knobcon & STG Soundlabs' Suit & Tie Guy

The Rhythm of Time from Schmüdde on Vimeo.

One of the best in the business.

Update: you can find The Rhythm of Time website with a cool little programmable online sequencer here: http://rhythmoftime.xyz

http://knobcon.com
http://stgsoundlabs.com
http://suitandtieguy.com

This one in via Soviet Space Child.

An Interview with Barry Schrader

Hi everyone! As you know Barry Schrader will be giving his farewell concert at CalArts on September 26. The following is the beginning of my interview with him. I opted to post the questions and answers as they come in.  New QAs will get a new post so you do not miss them and they will be added to this post so we have one central post for the full interview. This should make it easier for all of us to consume in our busy lives, and it will allow you to send in any questions that may come to mind during the interview process.  If you have anything you'd like to ask Barry, feel free to send it in to matrixsynth@gmail.com.  This is a rare opportunity for us to get insight on a significant bit of synthesizer history, specifically with early Buchla systems, and I'd like to thank Barry for this opportunity. Thank you Barry!

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ROB HUBBARD - COMPOSING FOR C64

Published on Oct 10, 2014 FROM BEDROOMS TO BILLIONS

"'From Bedrooms to Billions' is a feature film documentary telling the story of the British Video Games Industry. Commodore 64 composer legend Rob Hubbard talks here about why he bought a Commodore 64 and his early attempts at making it sing!. (Excerpt from the Special Features).

FULL FILM IS AVAILABLE HERE - www.frombedroomstobillions.com"

via wikipedia on Rob Hubbard: "Rob Hubbard (born 1955[1][2] in Kingston upon Hull,[3] England) is a British composer best known for his composition of computer game theme music, especially for microcomputers of the 1980s such as the Commodore 64. His work showcased the potential of the Commodore 64's sound hardware and provided many examples of how appropriate music can improve the gaming experience."

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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SPITFIRE's eDNA EARTH Organic Synthesis

Published on Sep 3, 2014 Spitfire Audio

"Spitfire successfully pilots next-gen soundware back to EARTH with elemental eDNA release

LONDON, UK: compositional tools creator Spitfire Audio is proud to announce availability of the first phase in its eDNA (Electronic DNA) project, EDNA01 - EARTH — a mouth-watering, once-in-a-lifetime collection of electronic sounds served up from the most valued collection of orchestral recordings on the planet, creating the next generation of soundware for the next generation of music makers, as of September 12...

Fact: Spitfire Audio has spent the last decade creating the world’s finest orchestral library. But the simple fact is that this was never its prime objective. Often words are never enough, in fact, yet the tantalising EDNA01 - EARTH teaser did just that with a carefully chosen few: SPITFIRE DIRECTIVE: MAY 2004... PROJECT CODENAME: GAIA... OBJECTIVE: INFILTRATE THE WORLD’S GREATEST ORCHESTRAS... MINE SONIC ORE... TO CREATE RAW COMPONENTS FOR... eDNA... PHASE #ONE... EARTH ORGANIC SYNTHESIS.

Intriguing, isn’t it? So what on earth is EDNA01 - EARTH, exactly? Easy answer. For the last five years Spitfire Audio has been cherry-picking its way through the best musical moments from seven years’ worth of orchestral recordings and placing them through a series of extraordinary analogue and digital signal-warping chains to create the largest sound set of jaw-dropping, next-generation, organic-sounding electronics ever heard anywhere on earth. Either this is some of the best hyperbole ever written or something special has been happening behind closed doors, waiting for the right moment to be unleashed upon the unsuspecting music-making masses, more often than not already jaded by the morass of identikit, mainstream, and clichéd dance and pop sounds already available elsewhere. EDNA01 - EARTH is far from this, and far more besides, however. Hearing will be believing, believe us. Now that’s another fact to chew on! And here’s some more serious food for thought...

While Spitfire Audio has been hard at work recording the finest orchestral players for several years now, practising its collective craft of carefully creating the best strings, brass, woodwinds, and percussion libraries in the world to let loose on musicians the world over, coming from a background of the first wave of EDM (Electronic Dance Music), many here have hungered to get their hands on those superb sounds for further ill-gotten gains — hence the best orchestral recordings being saved to an above top secret hard drive to act as a repository for raw material. The elemental ore or set of polished diamonds, waiting to be roughed up all over again, if you will. While this proved to be a drawn-out process, it was well worth waiting for, that’s for sure!

Indeed, five long years were spent experimenting with orchestral warping techniques, finding the most rarefied analogue outboard and synths with which to filter, mangle, and much more besides, as well as commissioning and creating bespoke digital signal paths. Sounds were pulled up from that top secret hard drive, fed through an awesome multistage signal path, then left simmering overnight to create the most delicious and sometimes just plainly ‘wrong’ sets of sounds. Spitfire’s supremely talented team of multi-award-winning composers, producers, technicians, and engineers subsequently set about pairing down over a terabyte of data to more manageable musical chunks — the very best of the best with which to create a set of multi-sampled sound-sets that became the very building blocks of EARTH itself. Indeed, these were then meticulously organised by sound type into even more manageable sound banks, ready for future release when the time was right.

Rightfully so, Spitfire Audio — in partnership with Blake Robinson — has been hard at it for the last several years or so, cleverly creating some of the most intuitive and ingenious scripts, simple to use GUIs, and attractive front ends for its ongoing series of virtual instruments for Native Instruments’ industry- standard KONTAKT platform for Mac (OS X 10.7 or higher) and PC (Windows 7). Around a year ago, Spitfire Audio wiped the slate — or should we say script? — clean, and set about creating a monstrous new script engine, called eDNA (Electronic DNA), into which those ear-opening EARTH sound banks were effectively transplanted. ‘EARTH - Beta’ was then duly distributed around Spitfire’s state-of-the-art studio complex in central London, where the team truly went to town to create a quite frankly jaw-dropping selection of the most original, haunting, beautiful, epic, fat, angry, and downright unpleasant sounds you’re ever likely to set ears upon — here, there, or anywhere (else). EDNA01 - EARTH’s ingenious GUI genuinely fosters exploration into hitherto uncharted sonic vistas, all of which are a knob or slider away from being tweaked to belong to the user as they themselves see fit. Mangle (via the main MIX window) and add effects galore (via the main FX and MOTORISED FX windows)... it’s all there for the taking and more!

Who better to extol the many musical virtues of EDNA01 - EARTH than Spitfire Audio co-founder Paul Thomson. “There’s huge scope for you to get in and start making your own sounds with all this stuff,” says the working composer. “We are really excited about this one. It’s very useful, and it’s the kind of thing that we’ve been hankering after for a long time — especially Christian [Henson] and myself, who are always looking for some great, unusual synth sounds. The advantage of the way that we’ve put this library together is that you won’t hear the same sound that you’re using on your one- hundred-million-dollar blockbuster on the documentary about the lifecycle of the fruit fly the following day! So you can really dig in and create sounds that are your own signature in here.”

There you have it, then. An awesome-sounding collection of 1,900-plus basic instruments mangled into 1,001 custom patches across several so-called factory and artist ‘cartridges’ by Spitfire Audio’s award-winning team of composers, sound-smiths, producers, and engineers. eDNA (interface) and EDNA01 - EARTH (cartridges)... what a beautiful combination. Everything needed to take anyone ‘out there’ — and back to earth again!


EDNA01 - EARTH can be purchased and downloaded directly from Spitfire Audio for an attractive introductory price of £129.00 GBP (subject to VAT within the EU) — rising to £149.00 GBP (subject to VAT within the EU) on October 1, 2014 — from here: http://www.spitfireaudio.com/products-page (Note that this is a free Native Instruments KONTAKT PLAYER library — no additional purchases necessary to run this product to its full potential.)

For more detailed information, please visit the dedicated EDNA01 - EARTH webpage here: http://www.spitfireaudio.com/edna01-earth"

Happy Birthday Suzanne Ciani!

Today is Suzanne Ciani's Birthday! Thought I'd put up a playlist of some of her work and appearances. Those of you that have been coming to MATRIXSYNTH over the years, will recognize some of these.  There's a Sequential Circuits Prophet-5 in the first Letterman clip, however she is primarily known for her work with Buchla.  Be sure to see the 8th video of her live at Lincoln Center, previously posted here.  That was from this April!  Needless to say Suzanne Ciani is a HUGE inspiration to all of us that are diehard about synths.

Happy Birthday Suzanne Ciani!

Playlist:
1. Ciani on Letterman Show
2. 3-2-1 Contact "Noisy/Quiet: Music" (1980)
3. Omni-Suzanne Ciani
4. GE Dishwasher Production Session
5 - 7. Fifth Wave Recording Session Parts 1 - 3
8. Suzanne Ciani Live at Lincoln Center
9. 1980 Xenon pinball by Bally - gameplay multicamera edit - "Xenon pinball was manufactured by Bally in 1980 and 11,000 units were produced. The voices and music used in the game were created by electronic music composer Suzanne Ciani. Game design by Greg Kmiec and art by Paul Faris."

Pic to the left via Suzanne Ciani's official website.

The following is her current bio via Wikipedia:

"In 1974 she formed her own company, Ciani/Musica, and, using a Buchla Analog Modular Synthesizer, composed scores for television commercials for corporations such as Coca-Cola, Merrill Lynch, AT&T and General Electric. Besides music, her specialty was reproducing sound effects on the synthesizer, that recording engineers had found difficult to record properly; the sound of a bottle of Coca-Cola being opened and poured was one of Ciani's most widely recognized works, and was used in a series of radio and television commercials in the late 1970s. She is also responsible for "logo" sounds pertaining to Energizer and ABC.[2] Such was the demand for her services, that at one point she was doing up to 50 sessions a week. Her sound effects also appeared in video games (the pinball game Xenon featured her voice[3]). Such audio logos as the Coca-Cola pop and pour along with video game sound effects and more appear on the 2012 album Lixiviation (Finders Keepers) along with the only currently available excerpts from her 1975 Buchla Concert.[4]

In 1977, Ciani provided the sound effects for Meco's disco version of the Star Wars soundtrack, which was certified platinum. She added the signature electronic "swoosh" to Afternoon Delight by the Starland Vocal Band. At the time, Ciani thought the work was just a "song about spaceships".[5] Ciani scored the Lily Tomlin movie The Incredible Shrinking Woman, distinguishing her as the first solo female composer of a major Hollywood film; Lloyd Williams's 1975 experimental film Rainbow's Children; and a 1986 documentary about Mother Teresa, as well the TV daytime serial ("soap opera") One Life to Live. She also composed and perhaps best known for the 1976 Columbia Pictures and Columbia Pictures Television theme jingles. She has toured throughout the United States, Italy, Spain, and Asia.

In 1982 Ciani began to record albums in the new-age genre, characterized by a mix of electronic and traditional instruments. Her first album, Seven Waves was first released in 1982 in Japan, and was later released in her native US in 1984 through Atlantic Records. Her 1986 album The Velocity of Love, released by RCA Records, featured Ciani's best known song, the title track. In 1987 she signed to the Private Music label, which released a number of albums from 1988 to 1992, including re-issues of her first two albums. Although emphasizing electronic music in her recordings, her solo piano album Pianissimo, from 1990, became her best-selling album. Ciani ended her contract with Private Music with the compilation The Private Music of Suzanne Ciani, in 1992.

In the 1990s Ciani founded her own music label, Seventh Wave, from which she has released all her subsequent albums, which have been more classically oriented than her previous recordings. 1994's Dream Suite was recorded in Moscow with the Young Russia Orchestra, and was Grammy-nominated. 1999's Turning featured her first composition with lyrics, in the title track, sung by Taiwanese artist Chyi Yu.

In early 2006, Ciani's Silver Ship won in The 5th Annual Independent Music Awards for Best New Age Album.[6] Ciani was also an inaugural member of the Independent Music Awards' judging panel to support independent artists.[7]

Five of Ciani's albums have been nominated for Grammy awards."

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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