Meng Qi Lines Eurorack Kit Review

Published on Feb 22, 2017 Synth Diy Guy

"First of our series on DiY Eurorack kits.
Meng Qi's Lines Tactile matrix mixer partial kit supplied by Modular Addict. Unboxing, Construction Timelapse and Audio Demo"

Roland SYSTEM-8 Synthesizer | JUNO-106 PLUG-OUT

Published on Dec 24, 2016 Wimotion Addict

"This video introduces the JUNO-106 PLUG-OUT for the Roland SYSTEM-8 Synthesizer. Toronto-based group, Repair, discuss the classic JUNO-106 synth and share a performance with the SYSTEM-8.

About the SYSTEM-8 PLUG-OUT technology...

In addition to its impressive internal sound engine, the Roland SYSTEM-8 Synthesizer features three expansion slots for hosting and controlling Roland’s PLUG-OUT software synths. JUPITER-8 and JUNO-106 PLUG-OUTs are included, giving you immediate access to authentic sonic reproductions of these Roland classics.

JUNO-106 PLUG-OUT included in all SYSTEM-8 v1.11 Firmware and higher."

New OCS-2 Digital, Semi-Modular, Analog Style Hardware Synthesizer by Nozoïd

OCS-2 from chnry on Vimeo.

"Demonstration of the OCS62 synthesizer from http://www.nozoïd.com"


OCS-2 VCO demo from chnry on Vimeo.

"This video demonstrate the sound of one VCO of the OCS-2 synthesizer. The sound did not pass throw the VCF,VCA.

The frequency is changed thanks to a LFO.

the 15 waveforms of this VCO are demonstrated one after the other.

more info about the synth : chnry.net/ocs"


OCS-2 VCF demo from chnry on Vimeo.

"Sound of the VCF OCS-2 synthesizer. A sawtooth waveform at constant frequency is pass throw the VCF. The VCF cutoff is changed via a LFO.

the resonance factor (Q) is manually adjusted during the recording."

via Nozoïd:

"OCS-2 is a digital, semi-modular, analogue style synthesizer. Small, but very powerful and flexible, it provide an incredible sound quality. Dedicated to knob addict, this synthesizer is full of feature that define it’s own unique sound.

Why is it so special?
First, the sound quality is impressive : this is not a cheap 8 or 16 bits synthesizer : it implement state of the art audio synthesis algorithm.
OCS-2 provide lot’s more than the essential of a modern dual oscillator monosynth. Original waveform, shape morphing LFO, there is a lot of unique feature :

30 control knobs
Few atypical waveform with incredible fat sound
LFO that can continuously change waveform
A CV GENERATOR with different algorithm to generate random to rhythmic modulation
4 audio effects
A very powerful digital connection matrix
A light sensor to control sound with hand gesture
Customizable and possibility for software update
Very compact
Incredible sound quality

What is inside?
2 VCO providing 15 different waveform
1 VCF (multi-mode, including a 24db/Octave low pass resonant filter)
1 VCA
1 ADSR
3 LFO (2 with configurable waveform, 1 with CV frequency control)
1 custom CV GENERATOR with 4 different algorithms (Attack Release, dual LFO, Random, Non Linear)
1 audio effects processor with 4 different effect (Distortion, delay, bitcrush, waveshaper)
1 ring modulator
1 CV controlled MIX (for VCO1 and VCO2)
2 octaves keyboard with portamento
1 digital matrix to connect CV to modulation fader
1 Stereo line-IN with envelope follower and gate control
1 MIDI input (note / velocity / pitch wheel / modulation wheel / control change)
3 analog CV IN and 1 GATE IN
1 light sensor
Why will you love it?
Since it is very small, you can carry this synthesizer everywhere. You can even use a 9V battery as power supply. With an embedded audio multi-effect, you don’t need anything else!
But this synthesizer can also adapt to your setup: add a midi keyboard and your ready for endless jam.
OCS-2 is also perfect as a computer complement : prepare some midi loop and use them in combination with the modulation faders as CV controls.
With a line audio input, 3 analogue Control Voltage In, and one 0/5V Gate IN, OCS-2 can also be a great addition to your modular setup.

The extensive number of physical control allow an easy and effective sound tuning. 30 faders intent a direct access to all sound parameters, so you can only focus on the music.

The light sensors is also a great for music expressiveness : use the shade of your hand to control your sound! Your performance on stage will never be the same thanks to this feature. This is also attractive for studio work since it introduce a very different control than a fader rotation.

Specifications
30 fader, 12 bits input
48KHz audio synthesis
about 10KHz for CV computation
24 bits audio ADC and DAC
32 bits audio synthesis
82 dB S/N ratio for the audio line-out (measured)
0.15 ms IN/OUT audio latency
cortex M3 32 bits micro-controller (arduino due)
7 to 12V power supply (1 standard 2mm power plug or 1 standard eurorack plug)
low power consumption (300mA @ 12V)
3U, 10 inches (50HP) eurorack format
254 x 128.5 x 50 mm (290 x 139 x 55mm for the box)
about 270g (750g with the wood box)"

CLICK FOR MORE »

Knobcon 2016 Details are In

"Knobcon, the world's only synthesizer convention, returns to the Hyatt Regency Schaumburg near Chicago IL USA for the fifth happening of this immersive event featuring over 60 exhibitors, live performances and workshops!

Knobcon:
Jack to the Future Part V
$35 Entry Fee for ALL 3 DAYS!
Optional Knobcon Banquet only $50

It all begins with an opening reception on Friday, September 9 with live performances by Allerian, Entanglement, Studio Dummies, and Suit & Tie Guy. Attendees of the reception will also enjoy specially priced drinks featuring whiskey from Balcones Distilling.

Multiple exhibit halls open to the public at 10AM Saturday and Sunday and are filled to capacity with large manufacturers such as Roland, Korg, Yamaha, and Moog, the finest boutique modular and pedal companies, and even some "classic cars" that collectors bring to display. Behringer’s new analog polysynth DeepMind12 will be making its North American debut at the event. Also appearing will be the new Minimoog Model D from Moog, and Arturia's Matrixbrute. See the latest releases and even purchase gear at special Knobcon pricing throughout the weekend!

Workshops scheduled on Saturday and Sunday, Sept 10-11. See the Knobcon website (www.knobcon.com) for complete descriptions and times.
• Syntheizer Basics and Synthesizer Myths presented by Marc Doty
• History and Theory of Additive Synthesis presented by Jon Sonnenberg
• Birth of the Prophet VS presented by Chris Meyer
• Tomita: A Voyage Through His Greatest Techniques presented by Nicholas D. Kent
• Experimental Music: Composition with an Arduino MIDI Controller presented by Elliott Inman
• MIDI: What’s it All About? presented by Amos Gaynes
• BeatPPL - Live Podcast Recording
• SynthSummitShow - Live Podcast Recording
• Learn to solder SMT with synthCube building a Buffered Mult and Cable Tester Module
• Build an AstroNoise Euro Module or Standalone Circuit with Synthrotek
• Build a Dual Passive Low Pass Gate Euro Module with Modular Addict

Saturday evening features multiple events including the annual Knobcon Banquet with a keynote address by guest of honor, Bill Hemsath. Enjoy cocktail music by the Knobcon Supper Club All-Stars, a classic organ, guitar, and drums trio.

Bill Hemsath, RA Moog's Chief Engineer from 1969 to 1971, gave us three fantastic things we all treasure to this day. He developed the first CV joystick, which then became pitch and mod wheels. He also had the bright idea to wire some modules together in a box with a keyboard, and the Minimoog was born.

The entertainment continues Saturday night with multiple live music events. The Knobcon Big Room - a house and techno party with projections by Lorenzo Vektor and Dennis Stein. Big Room performers include Glacial 23, Introvert, Low-Gain, Komprezzor and Oliver Dodd. If that's not your thing, head over to the International Players Club - a live music and jam session with The SynthFreq & Friends.

Knobcon ends on Sunday, September 11 at 5pm.

Full event details can be found at www.knobcon.com

EXHIBITORS
2hp, 4ms Company, Amplified Parts, Analogue Solutions, Antimatter Audio, Art For The Ears, Artisan Electronic Instruments, Arturia, Audient, Behringer, Believotron, Black Market Modular, Blue Lantern Modules, Casio, Detachment 3, Detroit Modular, Division 6, Dreadbox, EarthQuaker Devices, Elite Modular, Erogenous Tones, Evaton Technologies, EVE Audio, Future Retro, Foxtone Music, Grove Audio, Hexinverter Électronique, Industrial Music Electronics, Kilpatrick Audio, Korg, KVgear, Malekko Heavy Industry, Metalphoto of Cincinnati, Modal Electronics, Mode Machines, Moog Music, Moon Modular, Modular Addict, Nerd Audio, Noisebug, Novation, Old Crow, Percussa, Perfect Circuit Audio, Plastiq Musiq, Qu-Bit, Reverb, Roland, Sleepery Supply, STG Soundlabs, Syinsi, synthCube, Synth City, Synthrotek, Synthesis Technology, Tsyklon Labs, Verbos Electronics, WMD, Yamaha, Zetaohm, Żłob Modular, Z. Vex Effects"

The OCS-2 One Chip Dual VCO Synthesizer with 15 Different Waveforms

OCS-2 VCF_demo from chnry on Vimeo.

The OSC-2 is in eurorack format but can be used as a stand alone desktop synth. Four versions are planned, two stand alone and two eurorack. It's based on the Arduino due and can actually run off of a 9V battery for portability.  You'll find additional details with the pics further below.   Directly below is the description for the video above, followed by a second video and description.

"Sound of the VCF OCS-2 synthesizer. A sawtooth waveform at constant frequency is pass throw the VCF. The VCF cutoff is changed via a LFO.

the resonance factor (Q) is manually adjusted during the recording."


OCS-2 VCO_demo from chnry on Vimeo.
This video demonstrate the sound of one VCO of the OCS-2 synthesizer. The sound did not pass throw the VCF,VCA.

Warning: There are some super high frequencies in this one so be careful with your audio levels. It's left channel only as well.

"The frequency is changed thanks to a LFO.

the 15 waveforms of this VCO are demonstrated one after the other."

And some info via http://chnry.net/ocs/ where you'll find additional pics, info and audio demos:

"OCS-2 is an analogue style synthesizer. Small, but very powerful and flexible, it provide an incredible sound quality.

Dedicated to both keyboard player and knob addict, this synthesizer is full of feature that define it’s own unique sound.

Why is it so special?

First, the sound quality is impressive : this is not a cheap 8 or 16 bits synthesizer : it implement state of the art audio synthesis algorithm.

OCS-2 provide lot’s more than the essential of a modern dual oscillator monosynth. Original waveform, shape morphing LFO, there is a lot of unique feature :

30 control knobs
Few atypical waveform with incredible fat sound
LFO that can continuously change waveform
A CV GENERATOR with different algorithm to generate random to rhythmic modulation
4 audio effects
A very powerful digital connection matrix
A light sensor to control sound with hand gesture
Customizable and possibility for software update
Very compact
Incredible sound quality
What is inside?
2 VCO providing 15 different waveform
1 VCF (multi-mode, including a 24db/Octave low pass resonant filter)
1 VCA
1 ADSR
3 LFO (2 with configurable waveform, 1 with CV frequency control)
1 custom CV GENERATOR with 4 different algorithms (Attack Release, dual LFO, Random, Non Linear)
1 audio effects processor with 4 different effect (Distortion, delay, bitcrush, waveshaper)
1 ring modulator
1 CV controlled MIX (for VCO1 and VCO2)
2 octaves keyboard with portamento
1 digital matrix to connect CV to modulation fader
1 Stereo line-IN with envelope follower and gate control
1 MIDI input (note / velocity / pitch wheel / modulation wheel / control change)
3 analog CV IN and 1 GATE IN
1 light sensor

Why will you love it?
Since it is very small, you can carry this synthesizer everywhere. You can even use a 9V battery as power supply. With an embedded audio multi-effect, you don’t need anything else!

But this synthesizer can also adapt to your setup: add a midi keyboard and your ready for endless jam.

OCS-2 is also perfect as a computer complement : prepare some midi loop and use them in combination with the modulation faders as CV controls.

With a line audio input, 3 analogue Control Voltage In, and one 0/5V Gate IN, OCS-2 can also be a great addition to your modular setup.

The extensive number of physical control allow an easy and effective sound tuning. 30 faders intent a direct access to all sound parameters, so you can only focus on the music.

The light sensors is also a great for music expressiveness : use the shade of your hand to control your sound! Your performance on stage will never be the same thanks to this feature. This is also attractive for studio work since it introduce a very different control than a fader rotation."

Freqing Out- by FSD (A love song for TSF)

YouTube via FatSynthDude | September 18, 2010

Hmm... I'm guessing TSF is obviously TheSynthFreq. This post gets credit for the Synth Romance label, although the first post I believe goes to synthfrau aka synthiefrau on YouTube. No, love for synths does not count otherwise every single post would get the label. Video description from FatSynthDude on YouTube:

"Nothing too fancy going on here. This was all done in one take, so it's a little sloppy. (I never said I was a great musician and I definitely never said I was good at copping the styles of the 80's!) Just a little something in tribute to a very entertaining decade as well as to everybody's favorite 80's synth addict. ;-)

I tried to be as authentic to the decade as possible in regards to synths, however a lot of my gadgets (especially drum machines, mixers, and effects) were made in the 90's or the 00's. :-(

Vermona DRM-1 mkIII - Drums
Sequential Pro One - Bass
Akai AX60 - Pads
Siel DK600 - Lead (kinda buried in this mix)
Prophet 600 - Sync synth line the guitar is playing
Schecter Devil Elite - The guitar itself
Line 6 Pod X3 Pro - Guitar effects
Roland GR-30 - Guitar to MIDI converter

I've actually got two mixes of this song with the one in the video being the latter of the two. The original version was mixed while it was recording, was sent through some hardware effects processors, and sent to tape. The mix in the video came about because of a little happy accident in recording. The StudioLives allow me to archive everything to the computer, so I make it a habit of recording EVERYTHING. In the process of this, I was recording the signal coming out of the guitar through the Pod in case I decided later to send the guitar through a different synth or just wanted to correct something with the synth line later (hooray for audio-MIDI conversion!) I accidentally left the amp simulation switched on and I happened to like the result. I remixed the whole thing in Reaper with software effects, turned the Prophet 600 down in the mix, and put the guitar track over it so that the sync sound is more like an effect.

Also, because the patch being used on the Prophet 600 is in unison mode, and guitar to MIDI conversion is finicky, the P600 doesn't always trigger when it's supposed to. Kind of a neat effect in this context, imo.

Hope you all like it, and if you don't, keep it to yourselves because my skin is thinner than paper. :-D

...I just noticed that you can make out Audrey Hepburn's reflection in my guitar during certain points of the vid. XD"

SYB-5 solo

YouTube via kulten

"The BOSS SYB-5 bass synth trigged by its own feedback, by Kulten the SYB synth addict !

I use the 2 "LFO modes" with "Square" sound (mode 6) and "Saw" sound (mode 3). Works good with the SYB-5 and not with the SYB-3 : the SYB-3 don't have LFO.

I often do that in concert. Actually, I already did a gig only with my SYB-5 (ambiant/indus), and another only with the SYB-3 and my DR-110 drum machine (electro/indus). But most of the time I play with both SYB on stage."

New Synth Ts via Gear Addict

Remember this post? Well it looks like your feedback resulted in new Synth T shirt designs including this beauty. :)

click here for more and be sure to check out the others sections as well. If you have any suggestions for Ts feel free to comment.

Gear Addict Clothing - Synth Ts

via Jordan:
"I've always had a hard time finding cool t shirts and stuff to wear so I went on some forums and started talking to people-- and found out that people have a hard time finding cool gear too. I hate all the generic t's I see in trendy stores...so we started brainstorming, put together some ideas, and i made some designs.

Our designs range from microphones and recording related, to analog gear, vintage and modular synths, theremins and other fun stuff. I am constantly talking to people in the community on forums and making new designs. We are a small community so why not help each other out.

I figure Matrixsynth would be a great place to get ideas and suggestions from people, as well as great exposure for the kinds of people we are trying to design shirts and other accessories for. Above sales is the community-- we design shirts by and for our small little niche, and would like to try to extend out to more people."

If you have any ideas feel free to comment or shoot Jordan an email at gearaddict at gmail.com.
http://www.cafepress.com/gearaddict

Essential Retro Update

Looks like Retro Thing's James Gahame now has his Essential Retro book available via Amazon for a mere $19.95 US. James is a fellow synth addict and has dedicated an entire chapter to synths in the book. Very cool. Title link takes you there. See my previous post for more.

Essential Retro

Looks like James Grahame of Retro Thing has a book out and... it has synth. : ) Title link takes you there (scroll down the page to see what's in the book). Looks like a fascinating trip down memory lane as well as current retro design. Very cool. Would make a great stocking stuffer. Congrats James!



"My new book is entitled Essential Retro: The Vintage Technology Guide. It covers a few hundred of my favorite vintage and vintage-style gadgets.

Since I'm a synth addict, there's an entire chapter dedicated to electronic musical instruments. I start with a look at some classics like the ARP Odyssey and Sequential Circuits Prophet 5, but I couldn't resist including a few modern 'vintage analog' devices from Dave Smith, Clavia, and even the real analog growl of the Alesis A6 Andromeda.

Check out www.essentialretro.com for more details. People can buy signed copies direct from the site, and it should be available on Amazon in the USA and UK early next week. Priced at $19.95 in the USA, £11.95 in the UK."