The Crow Hill Company Introduces ARCANE STRINGS

video upload by CROW HILL

Press release follows:



EDINBURGH, UK: readily representing its first ‘big’ release in over a year (when the temporarily out-of-circulation GLASS STRINGS was effectively re-released with a totally redesigned GUI and added features as the Edinburgh-based enterprise’s workhorse string library for a new era in more human-sounding music and scores, coinciding with rebranding itself with an aesthetic that truly realised company co-founder and composer Christian Henson’s heartfelt dream of encouraging people to make music and help them on their journey, regardless of whatever point they were at and wherever their journey began), The Crow Hill Company is proud to announce availability of ARCANE STRINGS — taking the sampling rule book and ripping it up, ultimately resulting in a string library featuring amateur players in order to achieve an arcane, primitive, dislocated, microtonal, loose, and sometimes savage sound duly designed for media composers wanting to leave a truly characterful imprint on their next drama score, or, indeed, composers who want to gain extra devilish bite out of their existing string collections — as of August 14…

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Cha Cha Guitri - Non non non

I just recently came accross this one and thought it was worth sharing, if anything for the nun with the SYNTHI below. It immediately reminded me of the Every Nun Needs a SYNTHI ads. According to the article that the image is from, they formed around 1981. The article is in French and has one NSFW (not safe for work) image of a breast - fair warning if you pop it up with someone else within eyesight: [French | Googlish]. The following is the bit pertinent to synths followed by a translation of the full article. You can find the release via BandCamp above or in the article from Born Bad Records. I also wanted to post this for the way the female singer enunciates those lyrics.



"While they started out like everyone else, playing flute and acoustic guitar and listening to King Crimson, the arrival of synthesizers on the European music scene completely redefined their direction: they cut their hair, donned ties, and replaced Indian tapestries with Venetian curtains. Kraftwerk had clearly had an influence. It was around an EMS AKS synthesizer, a Roland SH101, and a Roland TR808 drum machine that the four friends gathered in their home studio to compose the carefree and joyful electronic and exotic tunes that are the hallmark of Chacha Guitry. The group thus chose to climb the sunny side of New Wave, the one taken by the B-52's or Isabelle Antena, rather than its dark side, cluttered with the heirs of Joy Division. The boys programmed the machines, while the girls created minimalist, geometric costumes using whatever materials were at hand (paper rather than fabric). Together they immortalize their youth on Polaroid, take glue and scissors to assemble photomontages in the style of their Dadaist idols."

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The LOST Bad Gear Episode

video upload by AudioPilz

"Welcome to Bad Gear, the show about the world’s most-hated audio tools. In a time like ours when material needs no longer exist in music production the accumulation of things seems to have become more important than ever.

Today we are going to talk about Novation Drumstation. While today’s synth clones are mostly used for home studio decoration this 1996 drum machine and shameless Roland TR-808 and 909 ripoff was more or less the only affordable way to actually tweak the iconic drum sounds. Simpler times."

Chapters:
00:00 I found the Lost Episode on an old Hard Disk
00:13 Intro tune
01:06 Overview Novation Drum Station V1
01:47 Limitations
02:02 Midi Control
02:24 Analog or Digital???
03:05 Workflow
03:32 Features
04:00 NoIsE iSsUeS
04:29 Audition/Auto-trigger
04:40 What else??? (More Features, Pricing, V2, D-Station ,...)
05:06 H*te Screen
05:35 Jam 1 ( Old School Techhouse )
06:25 Jam 2 ( Old School Trance )
07:28 Finale ( Old School Footwork/Juke )
08:02 VERDICT

Hermetic Modular - Launch Announcement - New Open Source Eurorack Manufacture

video upload by Hermetic Modular

"Introducing a new modular synthesis company. Shipping early July.

Hermeticmodular.com

Open source!

Thank you to Victory Nguyen for performing, Justin Benjamin for the good camera work (all bad camera work should be attributed to me), and Greg Dixon for some of the excellent sound design demos."

How do you test 36,700 LEDs?

video upload by Hermetic Modular

"Run a burn in test! Enjoy 10 minutes of the uninterrupted test - an important step in the QA process. This runs for a minimum of five hours per board.

Proper eurorack LED ring pot feedback.

And all 3060 of these LEDs pictured passed :)

Music credit to @adamwonak on IG - "abstract" from 202606 on Bandcamp now."

ECHOA STEREO DUAL DELAY AND REVERB PROCESSOR

Four delay lines total — two per stereo channel. Morph delay into reverb from first principles, from clean digital delay to smeared, textured reflections. Route the four lines in series, parallel, isolation, or spectrally. Presets, parameter lock on every pot, character engines, and more.

TIME
Delay time from 1 ms to 16 seconds, up to four taps per delay line, configurable for your sound design. Feedback up to and past unity, and a dry/wet mix per channel. Freeze delay buffers, set tempo with tap on the line buttons, or patch a clock and lock each line to a musical division. Linear or logarithmic time taper options: a full featured, clean delay line.

SPACE
Bend echoes into reverb. Diffusion sweeps a four-stage Schroeder all-pass network from discrete repeats to a wash. Bloom grows short, fixed loops into long modulated plate and hall tails. Damping is bipolar from noon — counter-clockwise darkens the tail, clockwise thins and brightens it.

ENGINE
Degrade each line's voice across with four engines — digital, BBD, tape, vinyl. Saturation, bandwidth limiting, compander, wow and flutter, hiss, crackle, digital glitches. Depth scales from bit-pristine bypass, to a gentle touch of character, to destruction.

CONFIGURABLE FOR PERFORMANCE ROUTING
Parallel, series, mono, or spectral delay-line topologies.

CV MAPPING
Per-CV destination, with attenuverters on every input.

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He Made A DRUM MACHINE From An Old Organ Found In The Trash!

video upload by THIS MUSEUM IS (NOT) OBSOLETE

"Veerle (Acid Solder Club) shows us some cool things she brought to the museum."

Longer drum video:

From STINKY Electronic Organ To HARDCORE Drumcomputer!

video upload by Acid Solder Club

"Episode 1 where we disassemble 2 electronic organs the Riha107 and Riha730, both were in bad condition and ready to end up on a landfill.

This video is about taking them apart, finding useful elements and pcb's and build it into a new electronic hardcore drumcomputer that you can build at home too!

Part of a multiple episode series, and checkout the video at THIS MUSEUMS (NOT) Obsolete as well where we tryout one of the organ salvaged drumcomputers in the museum together with Mitch!"
Previously:

Re-using parts of organs for rhythm machines - first test and explorations

video upload by Acid Solder Club

"This is a first test and tryout for looking at possibilities of re-using printed circuit boards of old organs that are no longer usable and re-casing them in new ways.

In this video I've swooped the inside of a KAWAI organ donated by Vincent /Vinnieragua out of the dust, and triggering the sounds of the drummachine board with triggers from modular synthesiser module the "Turing Machine" by Music Thing Modular.

This is a first pilot and proof of concept in a series of follow up projects of re-using organs that are no longer serviceable either due to poor conditions, lost knowledge or other reasons."

MATRIXSYNTH Turns 21

Yes, MATRIXSYNTH is now old enough to legally have a drink in the US!

Joking aside, MATRIXSYNTH in its current form started on July 20, 2005 with this post. Since then there has been only a single day without a post, which occured back on that dreadful day of August 6, 2005. I can't link to it because there isn't a post to link to. :) Sorry for the bad humor. That said, since then, I haven't missed a single day posting on the site including holidays, vacations, and two bouts of eye surgery due to a retinal tear and detachement in 2025. It was painless, but scary, and now all is good.

For those of you not in the know, MATRIXSYNTH is a one-man operation, run by your host, me, matrix. Every single post has gone up by hand - there is no automation and definitely no AI. Including this post, there have been at least 260,897 posts to date. There have actually been been more but some have been taken down due to either videos or audio dissapearing over the years, which brings me to a point: please don't remove your videos and audio demos off the web. You might think they are no longer relevant or you might even be embarrased by them as you think things have progressed and they no longer meet your standards, but they are relevant. They are part of history and will always be worth a look-back in context. Who you are today isn't defined by what you put up years ago. Trust me, I am often embarrased when I look back at some of my older posts. I'll likely be embarrased by this one. That said, please keep your old content up! It's a bit of synth history, and it's a look back at what you felt worth sharing back when you posted it. It doesn't define you today. It's like throwing away old family photographs because you are now older. That and there is always something interesting to find in older videos. A timbre from a given synth, an experience relevant in time.

That brings me to something I wanted to clarify for those that may be wondering: in general I prefer to keep myself out of posts for fear of influencing or even ruining the experience for others. I feel it is my job to present content w/o bias, and I prefer to post things as they are presented by the person or entity that created the content to begin with. Not influencing how others might or might not experience what goes up is a conscious decision. I realized over time it's akin to talking through music.

What I love about running MATRIXSYNTH is getting to share what's new to me on a daily basis. I have a policy of only posting specific content once. That means out of 260,897+ posts to date, nearly every single one is unique. It's also great to realize that there have been multiple things to actually feature every single day of the year, shared on the day itself, over the past 21 years!!! That's saying something, not about me or the site, but about the community.

The original MATRIXSYNTH actually started back in 1997. Click to see the monstrocity. That site will be 29 this year! The site was my personal portal into the world of synths. On the left were a list of sites I visited back then that would open in the right window frame when clicked on. Unfortunately that functionality is no longer supported in modern browsers; however you can right-click any link and open it in a new window. It's worth a look back at what synth sites were around back in 1997. Remember, YouTube didn't come out until December of 2005. MATRIXSYNTH in its current format, the blog, came out before YouTube. Think about that for a bit. This site has tracked the personal world of synthesis since before YouTube came out! Also, you might notice the old site came out well before The Matrix movies. The alias matrix, and hence MATRIXSYNTH, comes from my first synthesizer, the Oberheim MATRIX-6 which I purchased new in 1986 and still own to this day.

OK, this post is long enough. I want to end it by thanking the supporters of the site, the banner sponsors of the site, and most importantly, you, my readers. This might surprise some people, but I sometimes feel irrelevant, like why am I even doing this? I then remind myself I do it for the sake of doing it. I want to capture a bit of what's out there on a daily basis. I want the site to be a log (a weblog - blog) of synth history. I started back in 2005, and ever since that day I've had something to post, except for that solemn day on August 6, 2005. (P.S. I went on vacation that day and didn't think there would be internet access, let alone that I would be posting every single day after that - imagine not being able to say "I never missed a single day!" for the rest of your life because of one single day! "If it wasn't for that day!..") I think I will be doing this until the day I'm no longer here, and although I know I would be doing this regardless of whether I had an audience or not, knowing I do have an audience makes a world of difference. And thank you to all of you out there sharing your synth content. You are creating SYNTH HISTORY!!!

P.S. I want to give a special shout out to Amanda of CATSYNTH who not only is a supporting member of the site, but was kind enough to remember my anniversary and reach out to me today. Thank you!

P.P.S. It was CATSYNTH's 20th Anniversary yesterday. Happy Anniversary CATSYNTH! :)

Bad Gear - How to become a WEIRDO

video upload by AudioPilz

"Welcome to Bad Gear, the show about the world’s most-hated audio tools. It is completely natural behavior for electronic musicians to obsess about oddly specific genres of which the undisputed final boss is - of course - ambient. For three reasons.

One, you can produce ambient on any piece of gear with a reverb, two, there are basically no limits to the size of your setup even if you have no idea what you’re doing and three, when your music sounds like a knot of psychotic toads on horse tranquilizers you can still pretend that it was an artistic decision.

Today we are going to talk about Sonicware Liven Ambient 0. This grooveless groovebox was brought to the market last year and puts you in the fast lane to becoming an ambient weirdo."

Bad Gear - Massive X

video upload by AudioPilz

"Welcome to Bad Gear, the show about the world’s most-hated audio tools. Today we are going to talk about Native Instrument’s Massive X.

This 2019 plugin is a cautionary tale for music technology brands about what NOT to do if they don’t want to end up as yet another pair of antlers in inMusic’s trophy room.

Chapters:
00:00 Intro tune
00:39 Overview NI Massive X
01:12 Why it's worse than OG Massive
01:38 OK, that's not soooo bad...
02:05 Oscillator Section (Yeah, it's a mixed bag)
02:32 Noise Section
02:39 Filter Section
02:59 Insert FX, Feedback, FX Section
03:32 Workflow (Envelopes, LFOs, Random)
03:56 The Dealbreaker
04:03 Trackers and yes, it can still do Dubstep
04:16 Animator, Massive X Player
04:40 Modular Environment, Presets, Pricing
05:09 H*te Screen
05:37 Jam 1 ( Massive X-only Psy )
06:31 Jam 2 ( Massive X vs. Analog Drums )
07:32 Finale ( Drum'n'Bass )
08:04 VERDICT"

Vladimir Kuzmin, Creator of the Legendary Soviet Polivoks Synthesizer has Passed Away

Some sad news in via @elta_music

"Greetings to the entire synth enthusiast community.

We have some bad news for you.

Vladimir Kuzmin, creator of the iconic POLIVOKS synthesizer, passed away on June 12th.

Rest and peace our dear friend. Our collaboration was wonderful. Condolences to the family. #polivoks #polyvox #synth #synthesizer #synths"

Vladimir Kuzmin's influence in the world of synths is legendary. You can find endless posts featuring his Polivoks synthesizr here. The Polivoks was often compared to the minimoog, however, it was also known for its agressive sounding filter which has been cloned and/or used by various synth makers, including the Harvestman aka Black Corporation, Analog Craftsman, SOMA's PULSAR-23 1984 edition, AJH Synths Matrix VCF module, and of course Elta Music's implementations of his designs.


The following is an interview with Vladimir Kuzmin from Soundmit 2020.


SOUNDMIT

"We interviewed Vladimir Kuzmin together with Giulio Curiel of New Musical Instruments. Inventor of the Polivoks and other Russian synthesizers in the 70s and 80s, we hear from his voice the story of those incredible years"

Bad Gear - FORCE in 2026???

video upload by AudioPilz

"Welcome to Bad Gear, the show about the world’s most-hated audio tools. There are electronic musical instruments with a clear purpose: analog synths deliver classic tones and social media swag, plugins and workstations are great tools if you actually want to make money and Eurorack is still a healthier form of escapism than buying pills at a gas station.

Today, however, we are going to talk about The Force. The mission of this unholy 2019 lovechild of an MPC and Ableton incarnate was nebulous from the beginning and since then the machine was so profoundly transformed by a slow yet steady stream of updates that it is hard to tell whether it is still worth using it in 2026 - or if it ever was."

Chapters:
00:00 Intro tune
01:04 Overview Force
01:50 Differences to MPCs
02:33 Concept & Limitations
02:58 MPC & Ableton Compatibility, Connectivity
03:33 Touch Screen
03:49 Expandability
04:02 Rear Panel
04:25 What else? (Pricing, Thanks,...)
04:56 H*te Screen
05:20 Jam 1 ( 2010s Rave Music )
06:11 Jam 2 ( Downtempo )
07:13 Finale ( Micro House )
07:44 VERDICT
09:03 Patreon Vocoder Shoutout (Waldorf microQ)

Oberheim DX Full Restoration: How to Add MIDI, Upgrade RAM & Play Live

video upload by Nostalgic Explorer

"If you want to see how the Oberheim DX looks from the inside, how to clean the buttons, how to upgrade the RAM, and how to add MIDI to this classic drum machine, you're in the right place.

This machine came to me in pretty bad shape. Dirty on the outside, with some faulty buttons, and in serious need of some love. But honestly? It's not that hard to bring one of these back to life if you're careful and you enjoy working with vintage gear. And if you don't — stick around anyway, because it's super interesting to see these machines from the inside.

I'm walking you through the full process: deep cleaning, how to remove and clean the button contacts the right way (spoiler: cleaning the surface does nothing — you need to go under them), installing the Electrongate MIDI board and RAM upgrade so you don't need a battery anymore, and swapping the plastic panels for the beautiful wooden ones from Electrongate.

Big shoutout to Paul White, whose Electrongate videos were a huge reference for this build. I'm just a student passing the knowledge forward — go check his page, I'll leave the links below.

Once everything was back together and fully working, I put on a jacket — because if I'm performing original music for you, you deserve some respect — and played a live jam using the restored Oberheim DX, the Oberheim DMX, Moog Voyager, Rhodes Mark I, Oberheim Matrix 6R, Elektron Digitakt, and the Roland Space Echo RE-201."

New Order, BBC2/Radio 1 simulcast ('Rock Around The Clock', August 28, 1984)

video upload by MrMartinPipe

Two Sequential Circuits Prophet-5s and two Octave Electronics Voyetra 8s. Emu Emulator there as well as custom trigger pads.

This one is in via Ivan Trajkovic aka deejayiwan.

Video description:

"Here we have - except for the three songs that YouTube has 'flagged up' for removal - the notoriously bad-tempered 'Saturday Live' set that was the legendary New Order's contribution to the BBC's 'Rock Around The Clock' music-marathon of pop videos, live performances and documentaries.
Some of the day's programming - notably, this New Order performance from the bowels of Broadcasting House - was simulcasted on the BBC's Radio 1/2 network, as there was no stereo TV in the UK back then.
This historic programme (New Order's "live radio debut on the telly", according to BBC presenter Richard Skinner) surfaced on an old V2000 tape that was being chucked out (together with the video recorder it was in). V2000 was an unusual (but at the time, technically-advanced) European home-video format, intended to compete with VHS and Betamax. Developed by Philips and Grundig, the now-forgotten V2000 had some cool features - like 'flip over' recording, and noise-free 'trick' playback. Don't laugh - this was a big deal in the early-mid 1980s!
The recording was alas in a very poor state - machine (which needed to be repaired) and tape alike had evidently not been stored carefully. I have cleaned up the visuals as best I can - and the result is not bad, considering that the source material is over 40 years old! Better still, I had the cassette recording of the stereo FM broadcast I made at the time - which I have managed to synchronise to the video.
I have it on good authority that the result is superior to what the BBC holds in its archives (allegedly a ropey off-air VHS copy, with hissy mono sound).

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Bad Gear - The 2000s are BACK!!!

video upload by AudioPilz

"Welcome to Bad Gear, the show about the world’s most-hated audio tools. After years of turning nostalgia into profit by bringing half-baked reissues to the market there is still one era mostly untouched by the profit maximization of music tech executives.

Today we are going to talk about Waldorf microQ. This virtual analog synth was spawned into existence during the dawn of the DAW revolution of the early 2000s, it was - in a way - itself a half-baked reissue, dated on release and yet there’s no one to take the disposable income of both, sentimental Gen-x ravers and trance revival-obsessed zoomers."

Chapters:
00:00 Intro tune
01:02 Overview micro Q
02:04 Oscillators, Wavetables, Sub OSC
02:25 FM, Sync, Ring Mod
02:49 Filter Section, Difference to Q
03:28 Modulators
03:48 Mod Matrix
04:00 Arpeggiator, FX, Vocoder
04:31 Multitimbrality, Outputs, Drums, Patches
05:00 Pricing, DSP Emulation
05:16 H*te Screen
05:39 Jam 1 ( PresetMaxxing )
06:33 Jam 2 ( Downtempo )
07:33 Finale ( Sleaze House Bass Line )
08:03 VERDICT

Bad Gear - It's a MESS!!!

video upload by AudioPilz

"Welcome to Bad Gear, the show about the world’s most-hated audio tools. Today we are going to talk about Make Noise 0-Coast. This 2016 wannabe music tech influencer must-have and flyover state synth tried to bridge the gap between buchlaesque exploration and moog-ish accessibility and offers a wide range of modular flatulences with a mostly useless built-in anti-Eurorack safeguard. What a mess!"

Chapters:
00:00 Intro tune
00:47 Overview Make Noise 0-Coast
01:24 Oscillator
01:35 Overtone, Multiply, Linear FM
02:07 Random Generator
02:19 Slope
02:50 Contour
03:04 Mixer, Dynamics ( Buchla-style LPG )
03:32 Make Noise MATHS (stripped-down version;)
03:41 Midi, Menu LFO, Arpeggiator
04:14 Patches (Yes, I did a Krell Patch ;)
04:47 Pricing, Thanks
05:02 H*te Screen
05:25 Jam 1 ( Nerdy Techno )
06:14 Jam 2 ( Nerdy Elektro )
07:21 Finale ( NormCore )
07:48 VERDICT

Bad Gear - I don't WANT THIS!!!

video upload by AudioPilz

"Welcome to Bad Gear, the show about the world’s most-hated audio tools. Teenage Engineering is a great company, not only because they are the most reliable ragebaiters in the synth world but also because they are among the few manufacturers of overpriced music toys I have no interest in spending money on.

Today, however, we are going to talk about OP-XY and I’m still doing a pretty good job at convincing myself that I don’t want this."

Chapters:
00:00 Intro tune
00:48 Overview OP-XY
01:26 Instruments
01:55 Sampling
02:22 Synth-like Structure, Pitch Bend, Arpeggiator
02:50 Sequencer, Velocity, Polyphony
03:45 Auxiliary Tracks
04:28 The BRAIN
04:45 Mixing, Mastering
05:01 Connectivity, Pricing, Microphone, Speaker
05:39 H*te Screen
06:00 Jam 1 ( 128 BPM Techno )
06:31 Jam 2 ( Downtempo )
07:53 Finale ( FuturePsy )
08:21 VERDICT

The Crow Hill Company Introduces the THE SH*T SYNTH

The Sh*t Synth - Walkthrough video upload by CROW HILL XTRAS

Press release follows:


The Crow Hill Company turns to extensive and rare collection to turn out THE SH*T SYNTH as compendium of 48 circuit-, wave- and sample-bent instruments

EDINBURGH, UK: The Crow Hill Company is proud to turn to its own extensive and rare collection of hardware to turn out THE SH*T SYNTH — available as a compendium of 48 circuit-, wave- and sample-bent instruments inspired by some of the Edinburgh-based enterprise’s eclectic musical favourites (spanning the likes of Aphex Twin, Boards Of Canada, Joe Maus, Jon Brion, Laurie Spiegel, Radiohead, Throbbing Gristle, and Yazoo) to create something that they collectively ask: is it just shit or ‘the shit’? — as of April 7…

Whatever way anyone chooses to read into the titling of THE SH*T SYNTH as the latest entry into The Crow Hill’s ongoing ORIGINS series of sample-based virtual instrument plug-ins, one thing is for sure: it readily represents a broad selection of three categories of 16 workhorse instruments each, effectively wrapped up into a single plug-in designed to bring a cohesive approach to making music more edgy, lo-fi, retro, and — swimming against the technological tide of so-called progress — decidedly AI (Artificial Intelligence) slop-free. From pianos to strings, plucks, beeps, bass, and pads, the compendium that is THE SH*T SYNTH has been lovingly sculpted by the Edinburgh-based enterprise’s media composer and ‘samplist-in-residence’ Christian Henson to take the hassle out of making existing sounds less refined, catering to those looking for an entirely new bank of Mellotron-style sounds as well as synths that have been long forgotten — for good reason, too!

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Bad Gear - The OG

video upload by AudioPilz

"Welcome to Bad Gear, the show about the world’s most-hated audio tools. By now it must have dawned on even the most terminally online late GenX/early millennial person that calling something The OG is cringe.

Today, however, we are going to talk about Novation Bass Station. This 1993 mono synth and predecessor to the incredibly popular Bass Station 2 is more than deserving of the title because A - it was one of the most important heralds of the 90s analog revival and B - it even got a little shoutout by The Wu Tang. Dolla Dolla Bills y’all.

Chapters:
00:00 Intro tune
00:55 Overview Novation Bass Station I
01:39 Synth Engine, Oscillators
02:06 Filter
02:21 LFO
02:38 What's under the Hood? (UI Problems)
03:18 OG Bass Station vs. Bass Station Rack
04:16 Build Quality, Pricing, Thanks
04:42 H*te Screen
05:07 Jam 1 ( Acid )
06:05 Jam 2 ( Drum'n'Bass )
07:05 Finale ( That other Acid )
07:34 VERDICT

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Deeply Flawed, Utterly Charming: RMIF TI-5 Synthesizer

video upload by HAINBACH

"The RMIF TI-5 "Digital Keyboard", an 8-Voice analog/digital hybrid synth, is little known, even in former Soviet countries. As they did on the ES-2-5 drum machine I covered here before, it seems that the engineers in Riga took a look at what Roland was doing, taking inspiration from the Juno-line. Unlike the famously sturdy Japanese instruments, the TI-5 was built rather haphazardly, with bad clones of western chips managing the voices and processing. That is why only few survived the test of time. Yet despite its shortcomings it sounds utterly charming, managing both deep Moog-basses, vast evolving pads and chiptune leads.

Music & TI-5 Sample Instrument: / hainbach
My Music: http://hainbach.bandcamp.com"

You can find additional videos of the RMIF TI-5 including a virtual version in previous posts here.

Bad Gear - He tried his best to HATE IT

video upload by AudioPilz

[Funny side note: I just saw that episode of Myth Busters with the truck plowing through cars, just yesterday.]

"Welcome to Bad Gear, the show about the world’s most-hated audio tools. There are a few learnings to be taken from years of ploughing through music production gear like an 80s rock band shopping in a liquor store: don’t believe the hype, everything has been done before and never trust a stylish instrument sold with the promise to give you all you need in a compact form factor without compromising sound quality and usability.

Today we are going to talk about Dirtywave M8. This hardware tracker and mini DAW comes with more red flags than the average dating app experience like a cult-like following, a Game Boy-inspired workflow and believe me - I tried my best to hate it.

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MultiVERSE - New Multiversal Shared System | NUSS Episode 05

video upload by Cinematic Laboratory

"I got my MultiWAVE in december 2025, but got distracted by my January 2026 'musical holiday' and making the 'AI Survival Guide'. Meanwhile, MakeNoise has posted a wealth of videos and guides, and Red Means Jeremy did one of the best musical demos out there. There's no need to repeat any of those. I needed to do 'my own thing', but couldn't really figure out how this would look like.

My favorite modular will always remain the Shared System because this is what made me start modular in the first place, all the way back to 2018. The 'Shared' is my reference. So I wondered how MultiWAVE would sound as a shared guest and move my way to the full NUSS setup. NUSS is very much a new ecosystem and it's a bit 'closed' in the sense that you really need the combo of MultiWAVE, PoliMaths and the dual QXG to get started. Sure you can use them on their own (especially QXG) but you'd be in the unexplored territory of the MultiVERSE. However, this is where the happy accidents live. In the odd combinations and the bad patching.

So in this episode there's more noise than music. When the midi implementation firmware is available, this may change."