"The German-made Hartmann Neuron is a polyphonic synthesizer that broke new ground using a new form of synthesis and sound-modeling they say was based on technology found in neural networks. What the Neuron actually does is it analyzes audio files (samples) and creates digital computer models of these sounds which can then be re-synthesized and processed using the extensive amount of on-board data-wheels and joysticks with control of more 'musical' sonic aspects such as instrument shape, size and acoustic behavior. The joysticks allow for real-time tweaking of up to three parameters at once - 3D modeling in a true 5.1 surround sound environment."
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VEMIA is Peter Forrest's auction house. He is the author of The A-Z of Analogue Synthesizer Books.
"Superb example of the Neuron, one of the absolute pinnacles of Axel Hartmann's original sound engine concepts and design flair. There is really nothing anywhere near like this in the synth world. You could argue that it is really just a couple of 90s computers inside a box - but then you listen to the sounds that flow out of it, and use the pretty much unbeatable control surface, and you have to acknowledge it as a masterpiece.
Many of these machines packed up over the years, but that was more often than not down to a hard drive failure. That has been solved on this machine by replacement with a modern SATA solid state drive. It's in beautiful cosmetic condition as well as full working order, and comes with its manual, a UK IEC lead, and actually the old hard disk in case that has uses in future.
This is not the easiest synth to pack safely (overhanging keys and those potentially damaged little mushroom controllers) - but we will make an excellent custom carton: 30GBP."
"Rare, in excellent aesthetic and functional condition. Kept with great care.
Available for personal collection in Milan or bomb-proof shipping on pallet, worldwide.
The German-made Hartmann Neuron is a polyphonic synthesizer that broke new ground using a new form of synthesis and sound-modeling they say was based on technology found in neural networks. What the Neuron actually does is it analyzes audio files (samples) and creates digital computer models of these sounds which can then be re-synthesized and processed using the extensive amount of on-board data-wheels and joysticks with control of more 'musical' sonic aspects such as instrument shape, size and acoustic behavior. The joysticks allow for real-time tweaking of up to three parameters at once - 3D modeling in a true 5.1 surround sound environment."
"This is the third recording with the Neuron VS. It's the software (VST) version of the Hartmann Neuron, a novel hardware synthesizer introduced in 2001 based on artificial neural networks used for sound synthesis. The software version of the instrument, was released in 2005.
I still have a Windows XP computer, which I use like a hardware synthesizer. Using the built-in M-Audio Audiophil 2496 sound card, I can control the "old" VST plug-ins via MIDI from my Cubase 13 and record them via the analog stereo audio output.
I used for the recording the following FX pedals:
Pigtronix Echolution² Deluxe, GFI System Specular Reverb², OTO Boum.
Depending on the recorded track some FX are deactivated. The FX from the Neuron VS are always deactivated.
The signal went through a Presonus StudioLive 16.0.2 into the PC via USB for recording. To create the complete song I recorded consecutively several stereo tracks. On some tracks Compressor and EQ where added in Cubase 13. The final song was then mastered using iZotope Ozone."
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"This amazing bit of synth design is in excellent cosmetic condition, except for missing two of the mushrooms. The bad news: it appears to be a long time since it produced audio. Bought new by the present owner (***correction, he was the second owner***) at great expense, of course it had some use in his personal studio for a time, and then stopped working. So it was put away - stored very carefully by the look of it. The good news: because of this, it has had very little use, so there should be no parts that are anywhere near worn out.
Our brilliant tech James has now solved the problem, and this is back to making stunning sounds. The iffy HD has been replaced with a SATA SSD. (Original HD has been backed up as a restorable image file for future reference). There is nothing else quite like this in the synth universe.
Further good news: Axel Hartmann is kindly sending us the spare mushroom controllers needed to make this machine perfect again. So please ignore the photos showing any missing - they will be present and correct. Packing 24GBP."
"The synth works perfectly and is in great cosmetic condition.
The German-made Hartmann Neuron was a polyphonic synthesizer that attempted to break new ground using a new form of synthesis and sound-modeling that was reportedly based on technology found in neural networks. The mechanism involves analysis of audio files (samples) and creation of digital computer models of these sounds which can then be re-synthesized and processed using the extensive amount of on-board data-wheels and joysticks with control of more 'musical' sonic aspects such as instrument shape, size and acoustic behavior. The joysticks allow for real-time tweaking of up to three parameters at once - 3D modeling in a true 5.1 surround sound environment. A truly unique and rare synth! Great for sound design!"
"The German-made Hartmann Neuron is a polyphonic synthesizer that broke new ground using a new form of synthesis and sound-modeling they say was based on technology found in neural networks. What the Neuron actually does is it analyzes audio files (samples) and creates digital computer models of these sounds which can then be re-synthesized and processed using the extensive amount of on-board data-wheels and joysticks with control of more 'musical' sonic aspects such as instrument shape, size and acoustic behavior. The joysticks allow for real-time tweaking of up to three parameters at once - 3D modeling in a true 5.1 surround sound environment."
"I forgot to upload this last night - another one coming later tonight.
I haven't used the mighty Neuron VS in a while. I still need to make
more custom 'neural' patch models (sounds) for it.
I would love to get the Neuron keyboard, but it's rare and very expensive but looks very cool. The keyboard version has more complete software (including stick recording) and the equivalent of 3 of these Nuke controllers plus more controls onboard.
It also outputs 5.1 surround mixes if you need it.
Axel Hartmann is the man. :-)"
"Let's take a look and listen to Hartmann Neuron - a very rare synthesizer that was ahead of its time, offering a complex synthesis method based on neural networks, as well as 3D modulation approach and 5.1 surround sound. The synthesizer began to be produced in 2002, and already in 2005 the company went bankrupt due to low sales. Despite this fact, this rare gem has been championed by renowned composers including Hans Zimmer, and is still used in film productions and experimental electronic music today."
Demo Timeline:
00:00 Intro
00:25 History
01:02 Sections Review
02:47 Demo
09:28 Outro
"We proudly present these 64 custom patches for the GS-e7 Analog Polyphonic Synthesizer. The patches were made by synth_nyc and are now available to download from our website for free. In the future, they will be incorporated as factory presets."
"A few words from synth_nyc:
After designing some custom patches for Black Corporation Japan and GForce Software Ltd, I chose to design patches for the e7 because:
1. It sounds great to my ears and offer a complementary tone to all my hardware and software synth
2. It has memory
3. It has full MIDI implementation of all parameters, so I can remote edit it.
In addition; the e7 has some unique features, as far as I can tell, which really make it shine:
* Stereo output / voice spread with pan modulation
* 3 LFOs that can modulate pitch, PW, VCF and VCA
* Very cleverly / musically implemented features such as A/R velocity modulation, envelop KB tracking modulation, LFO rate KB tracking modulation, etc...
Not to say that the discrete VCO, VCF and VCA are a winning combo for a true analog tone.
Please contact GS Music if you need support.
Enjoy!
Mini-bio
synth_nyc first synth was a DX7 (mk1) in the mid-80s. synth_nyc always enjoyed programming sounds on the machine and it never appeared complex or non-intuitive to him. synth_nyc first analog synth was a MKS-50 (with PG-300) where he discovered that you did not need to spend 4 hours to design a great patch! After that, synth_nyc is grateful to have own classic and unique machines from the late 70s to early 90s like a CS-80, a Waldorf Wave, a PPG Wave 2.3, a MemoryMoog LAMM, Prophet 5 Rev2, Rev 3.3 and Prophet VS, OSCar, OB-X, Synthex, Sunsyn, Jupiter-8, Chroma, Hartmann Neuron and Voyetra Eight (the only vintage synth_nyc still owns) and many more! synth_nyc has learnt and enjoyed programming them all. Today synth_nyc is focussing his time on programming analogue renaissance hardware synths -with memories-; as well as new hybrids and new digitals, but also software synths as emulations, virtual modeling have come a long way; especially in the past year or 2 (so have computers) and are letting us enjoy amazing machines for a reasonable price, so close (or better) to the originals and hassle free."
Note Artisan Electronics has a Neurorack module system (4:52 here), however it does not appear to be AI based. There is also this user labeled Eurorack system with "brainwaves/EEG signals as source of modulation (the Neuro portion of it)", but again no AI (there is also soundmachines' BI1brainterface (no AI). (Update: there was also the Hartmann Neuron and Jomox Neuronium, both based on neuronal networks.) As for AI applied to synthesis in general, you can find posts mentioning artificial intelligence here. I believe the earliest reference would be John Chowning in 1964: "Following military service in a Navy band and university studies at Wittenberg University, Chowning, aided by Max Mathews of Bell Telephone Laboratories and David Poole of Stanford, set up a computer music program using the computer system of Stanford University's Artificial Intelligence Laboratory in 1964."
Description for the above video:
"The Neurorack is the first ever AI-based real-time synthesizer, which comes in many formats and more specifically in the Eurorack format. The current prototype relies on the Jetson Nano. The goal of this project is to design the next generation of music instrument, providing a new tool for musician while enhancing the musician's creativity. It proposes a novel approach to think and compose music. We deeply think that AI can be used to achieve this quest. The Eurorack hardware and software have been developed by our team, with equal contributions from Ninon Devis, Philippe Esling and Martin Vert."
Motivations
Deep learning models have provided extremely successful methods in most application fields, by enabling unprecedented accuracy in various tasks, including audio generation. However, the consistently overlooked downside of deep models is their massive complexity and tremendous computation cost. In the context of music creation and composition, model reduction becomes eminently important to provide these systems to users in real-time settings and on dedicated lightweight embedded hardware, which are particularly pervasive in the audio generation domain. Hence, in order to design a stand alone and real time instrument, we first need to craft an extremely lightweight model in terms of computation and memory footprint. To make this task even more easier, we relied on the Nvidia Jetson Nano which is a nanocomputer containing 128-core GPUs (graphical unit processors) and 4 CPUs. The compression problem is the core of the PhD topic of Ninon Devis and a full description can be found here.
Targets of our instrument
We designed our instrument so that it follows several aspects that we found crucial:
Musical: the generative model we choose is particularly interesting as it produces sounds that are impossible to synthesize without using samples.
Controllable: the interface was relevantly chosen, being handy and easy to manipulate.
Real-time: the hardware behaves as traditional instrument and is as reactive.
Stand alone: it is playable without any computer.
Model Description
We set our sights on the generation of impacts as they are very complex sounds to reproduce and almost impossible to tweak. Our model allows to generate a large variety of impacts, and enables the possibility to play, craft and merge them. The sound is generated from the distribution of 7 descriptors that can be adjusted (Loudness - Percussivity - Noisiness - Tone-like - Richness - Brightness - Pitch).
Interface
One of the biggest advantage of our module is that it can interact with other synthesizer. Following the classical conventions of modular synthesizers, our instrument can be controlled using CVs (control voltages) or gates. The main gate triggers the generation of the chosen impact. Then it is possible to modify the amount of Richness and Noisiness with two of the CVs. A second impact can be chosen to be "merge" with the main impact: we will call this operation the interpolation between two impacts. Their amounts of descriptors are melt to give an hybrid impact. The "degree of merging" is controlled by the third CV, whereas the second gate triggers the interpolation.
"The Hartmann Neuron is one of the most sophisticated digital synths ever. It is a great synth for soundscapes and evolving textures. The potential is endless thanks neuronal algorithm and the possibility to create own models blending with two resonators.
In this video I recorded only the Neuron. No processing in this video, only the raw sound, fx are from the Neuron only."
"Hartmann Neuron. impossibly rare and in incredible original condition with hardly any marks on it
its in perfect working order and has never been messed with the sounds are out of this world
reluctant sale
this particular unit has been signed by axel hartmann see pics
im gonna include all original manuals and two spare orange joystick knobs impossible to find
might consider very near offers"
