monophreak EMMY1OH1 Software Editor for the Roland EM-101 Preset Desktop Synthesizer

via Monophreak

"With the right firmware mod (that’s right – no mysterious hacky soldered in dials) for old board Roland EM-101 machines, the EM-101 is no longer a preset machine. Often billed as a cutdown Juno 106 restricted to just 24 presets, this box previously had some interesting uses but didn’t really deliver as an anlogue beast in my arsenal. It was too restricted. Until now. Due to the amazing work by Ryan (Plutoniq), the EM-101 has been give a new lease of life and transformed into a strong addition to my music making and since the parameters can now be controlled over midi CC, I have written an editor to load in presets from the Juno 106 and MKS-7, extended to a new Roland EM-101 format with naming and created a preset saving system and librarian for patch recall. It’s not a Juno 106 but it is a very nice sounding a machine with it’s own character sharing a lot of parallels. If I have understood correctly (there could be inaccuracies!), it has a M5232RS tone generator chip with 36 (I think) waveforms that are beautifully shaped by Roland analogue fitters. A good example is the IR3109 VCF filter, found in a the Jupiter 8 or M5241L VCA found in the MKS-70. If you look at the chip list, there are lots of shared electronics that overlap between Junos, Juipter and other quality Roland gear of it’s time, giving it character. Notably, the MN3009 and MN3101 chorus chips shared by the Juno 106 chorus. It has interesting analogue effects on board but the chorus particularly shines due to the much greater CC control (as you can see from the screenshot). That chorus is gorgous, adds that analogue sheen and processing. I spent last night building up a preset bank for the EM-101 to release with the editor (and check bank functionality) and got lost inside this little beauty."

If you forget the EM-101 you can find some pics and demos in previous posts.

This one is in via monophreak in the comments of this post and this post.

ARP Foundations Dina Pealman Coming to Go Go Kitty Radio!

via the Alan R Pearlman Foundation

"Executive Director Dina Pearlman-Ifil will be the guest on Peter Aaron's Radio Kingston Show Go Go Kitty Wednesday evening /Thursday morning, talking about the ARP Legacy, the ARP Foundation and playing tracks from the Centennial compilation: Soul of the Machine.

09:00 pm PT
10:00 pm CT
12:00 am NY
05:00 am UK
06:00 am EU

Can't make it? All shows are archived! Listen to Show

About the Radio Show:
With a strong accent on the raw, the rockin’, the weird, and the obscure, Go Go Kitty is a surprise-filled two-hour trawl through the moldy and mysterious vinyl vault, shellac silo, and digital crypt of hopelessly obsessive musicologist and record junkie Peter Aaron.

About the Peter Aaron:
Peter Aaron is an award-winning journalist who has authored several books on music and has served as the music/arts editor of Chronogram Magazine since 2006. His writing has appeared in the Village Voice, the Boston Herald, and other publications, and online at AllMusic and All About Jazz. He lives in the Hudson Valley.

About Dina Pearlman-Ifil
Dina is the only child of Alan and Buena Pearlman and grew up with ARP Synthesizers as a backdrop for her childhood, traveling extensively and being exposed to innovative and cutting edge technology. In her early years she spent time playing in rock and roll bands, as well as dance and theater. For the past thirty years she has worked as a versatile visual arts and design professional, creative director, and educator. She has also worked extensively in photography, graphic and web design for several decades, and has a broad understanding of visual communications media.

In the last few years before his illness, Alan Pearlman started to re-examine the brave new world of synthesizers that exists today, many decades after his iconic and groundbreaking 12 years as the inventor and founder of ARP Synthesizers. During this time, he brought his daughter into the conversation. After his death in January 2019, Dina realized that the need of keeping his legacy and passion alive, and with the help and encouragement of many of his former colleagues as well as the wonderful Michelle Moog-Koussa, she started the Alan R. Pearlman Foundation and ARP Archives."

Rare Drum Electronic Synthesizer HOT ED-42 test

video upload by nagrzybydolasu

This appears to be the first post to feature the HOT ED-42.

"This is a little jam with very rare polish drum synthesizer HOT ED-42. Couple of takes (with Roland Tr6s and Moog Dfam)
Hot Ed has 4 mono trigger IN/OUT (gate or audio) + 2 mono audio IN channel.
All 4 channels sounds the same and has the same parameters (sensitive, decya, sweep, VCO, volume, panorama).
2 audio channels has Treble/Bass/Effect/Volume/Panorama
There is no NOISE knobs (for snare and hihats)
There is one AUX (for 2 audio channels).
4 mysterious knobs on front of the machine (i have no idea what they do)

** Polish**
bardzo rzadki perkusyjny syntezator HOT ED-42
Posiada 4 wejścia wyjścia Gate/Audio które wzbudzają VCO (nie brzmią perkusyjnie, bardziej basowo, melodyjnie - brak NOISE do snarów lub hihatów)
2 wejscią audio (audio może być z zewnątrz lub mogą wychodzić OUTami z ed42)
1 wejście AUX.
1 wyjście stereo(lub mono)
4 gałki na froncie, z przodu instrumentu - nie mam pojęcia co robią)

to chyba pierwszy filmik tego syntezatora na YT. Więc niech leci w świat.

zawsze możesz mnie wesprzeć :
https://patronite.pl/greenjesus"

Error Instruments Introduces Das Ritual Candle Flame Synth Noise Generator

video upload by errorinstruments paul tas



"✨ The Ritual — Let the Flame Speak ✨ The Ritual is not just an instrument. It is a presence — a small, mysterious machine that invites sound, light, and spirit to merge into one living moment. At its core, The Ritual offers two elemental voices: a warm, crackling texture like burning wood, and a deep, sub-harmonic bass that vibrates through the body. Two outputs, two energies, both ready to shape the atmosphere of your space. But the true magic lies in the heart of the machine. In the center burns a candle. Three light-sensitive sensors observe the living flame — every flicker, every breath of air, every tiny movement of light. The flame becomes the conductor, shaping rhythm, modulation, and tone. It decides the pulse. It guides the sound. It becomes an oracle of vibration. With control voltage input, three intuitive potentiometers, and full compatibility with stand-alone setups, pedal chains, and Eurorack systems, The Ritual integrates effortlessly into any sonic temple you create. Add a touch of delay, let the harmonics bloom, and suddenly the sound becomes something else — psychedelic, hypnotic, deeply alive. A soundscape where chaos becomes beauty, and the smallest movement of fire transforms the entire universe of tone. Hand-crafted by Error Instruments, built in rugged Bricky format, The Ritual invites you to surrender your control and let the flame speak. Light the candle. Start The Ritual. Let the fire shape your sound"

CLICK FOR MORE »

Organ demo 19/20: Elgam Ringo and Hohner bass pedals

video upload by organfairy

"Some people might argue that the Elgam Ringo is not exactly an organ, but it was sold as such, though back in 1978 everything that was polyphonic and had a divider based tone generator was generally considered an organ. (I will probably get mutilated by a mob of angry Polymoog owners now.)

It doesn't have a bass section, which I find quite odd given that it has a drum machine. I would rather have had a bass section. Therefore I am using it together with the mysterious Hohner bass pedals - mysterious because I seem to be the only person in the universe who has this set: Nobody seems to know anything about it.

Because this organ is very basic - five rhythms and four voices - I have made this demo shorter than the others, so there are only 5 songs against the usual 6-8.

The songs are:
Pennies from heaven (John Burke / Arthur Johnston)
Den rige og den fattige (Gustav Winckler / Bent Werther)
Mormors kolonihavehus (Erik Clausen / Leif Sylvester Petersen)
Tanze mit mir in den Morgen (Kurt Hertha / Kurt Göetz)
Wolgalied (Franz Lehar)"

ellitone instruments' groov-e device #01

video upload by ellitone instruments

via ellitone instruments

the ellitone groov-e firmware v1.0 is a fun and mysterious interactive drum-machine and polyphonic-synthesizer engine that automatically generates musical “grooves”

A “groove” consists of 3 individual sound layers: a drum-machine layer, an ambience-sample layer, and a synthesizer sequence layer. Each of these 3 sound layers can be individually tweaked and swapped to find the right mixture of sounds to make you say “WHOAH, that’s funky!”

The magic behind the groov-e firmware lies within the sequencing and rhythm creation engines. Rhythms and note sequences are NOT simply selected from a list of premade patterns, groov-e generates one-of-a-kind rhythms and note patterns using a series of decision-trees and probabilities. A NEARLY INFINITE number of possible note patterns and rhythm combinations are possible. To make things even more mysterious, these one-of-a-kind note patterns and rhythms are all temporary. Once you make the decision to generate a new drum pattern or synth sequence, the old pattern is gone FOREVER! The temporary nature of the grooves you discover makes them precious. You will NEVER hear the same combination of sounds twice while using this device. Cherish your grooves!

CLICK FOR MORE »

【Performance & Machine】Analog Synth Brass Sound Solo with moog one

video upload by nicolai maruhama

"This is the demo of moog one. It's from my album 「Mysterious Life After Death」. It's in Progress tho.
I made this sound with 3 OSC and I used X/Y PAD.

Please Enjoy thanks!
nicolai maruhama"

Bad Gear - Korg MPC ZERO

video upload by AudioPilz

https://reverb.com/news/video-inside-korg-berlin-home-of-acoustic-electronic-synthesis"Welcome to Bad Gear, the show about the world’s most-hated audio tools. The evolution of electronic musical instruments is mysterious: while we have seen vast improvements in the fields of design, bling bling per square inch and workflow elitism, the spec sheets are oftentimes outclassed by the feature sets of many vintage instruments.

Today we are going to talk about the Electribe 2 Sampler. This most recent installment of the iconic groove machine range was brought to the market in 2015 and not only combines the aforementioned limitations with the product family’s trademark primitivism, Korg also managed to make it look REALLY bad when compared to its predecessor."

CLICK FOR MORE »

Music For Polybrute 5

video upload by Mysterious Machine

"Music for Polybrute 5 is a single patch created from scratch with the Arturia Polybrute ( 6 voices ) synthesizer demonstrating its expressive capacity. No multitracks. No external effects were used, only Morphee, reverb, delay of the synthesizer. Just, Polybrute.

Images from the retro documentary: Más Allá - Los Mayas. Directed and presentd by: Fernando Jiménez Del Oso. Channel: TVE. Date: 01-06-80.

Vídeo from archives: Moisés Garrido y Claudia M. Moctezuma."

Music For Polybrute 4

video upload by Mysterious Machine

"Music for Polybrute 4 is a single patch created from scratch with the Arturia Polybrute ( 6 voices ) synthesizer demonstrating its expressive capacity. No multitracks. No external effects were used, only Morphee, arpegiator, reverb, delay and the ring modulator of the synthesizer. Just, Polybrute.

Images from the retro documentary: The doctor Fernando Jiménez del Oso and the Mistery of Tiahuanaco."

Music For Polybrute 3

video upload by Mysterious Machine

"Music for Polybrute 3 is a single patch created from scratch with the Arturia Polybrute synthesizer demonstrating its expressive capacity. No multitracks. No external effects were used, only Morphee, delay and the ring modulator of the synthesizer. Just, Polybrute.
The graphic art is thanks to Rodolfo Paulus from cómic Asteroide."

Music For Polybrute

video upload by Mysterious Machine

"Music for Polybrute is a single patch created from scratch with the Arturia Polybrute synthesizer demonstrating its expressive capacity. No external effects were used, only the reverb and the ring modulator of the synthesizer. The graphic art is thanks to Monic De La France."

War of the Worlds 2023 AI by Cinematic Laboratory w/ Cameos from Todd Barton and Walker Farrell

video upload by Cinematic Laboratory

"The Hague, Netherlands, August 25, 2023 — Step into the immersive musical world of modular artist Cinematic Laboratory as it unveils its latest sonic endeavor, 'War of the Worlds 2023 AI.' The album showcases the fusion of an audio comic with music, 3D field recordings, cutting-edge AI text-to-speech dialogs and Chat GPT ghostwriting. By combining handmade sounds, real analog voltage, and digital magic, Cinematic Laboratory stretching the boundaries of 21st century 'home studio' music production.

'War of the Worlds 2023 AI' features eight music tracks that traverse between B-movie clichés and the real challenges of living in an uncertain future. Each track creates a realm where imagination intertwines with reality, taking listeners on a journey where our own fear is a formidable adversary. What sets this album apart is the groundbreaking use of AI voice actors, infusing the characters with artificial ‘overacting’ and bringing the story to life. They seem to have a mind of their own and turned the story into a comic beyond production control. It just shaped itself. While the use of 'deep fake celebrities' remains a topic of debate and controversy, it adds a bit of realism to the album. The album is accompanied by a single release called ‘Elevator Music 2023 WOTW’ which also doubles as a trailer.

Synopsis: The machinery of an extinct alien Krell civilization decides to bring a gift to Earth. The ability to materialize and realize anything you can think of. After receiving a mysterious transmission, a desert festival for open minded thinkers will be the catalyst for a worldwide invasion as our deepest fears and nightmares manifest themselves and turns against us. The Earth turns into a purple jungle infested by huge tripods, drones, zombies and fungi. Meanwhile, scientists Daisy, Brian and Walker patch up a dream machine that helps us to channel our imagination in a more constructive way. They manage to inspire the US President and together they bring this ‘immersive musical audio comic book’ to a ‘happily ever after’.

Starting from H.G. Wells' timeless book and the 1956 classic movie 'Forbidden Planet,' Cinematic Laboratory's interpretation of 'War of the Worlds' takes an unpredictable direction. Instead of an invasion from Mars, the album delves into the internal battle of the human mind, where our fears and nightmares manifest through ancient alien technology. It is a compelling exploration of the power of imagination and its ability to shape, disrupt, damage, and heal our lives. It's a force that cannot be defeated by the common cold. Just imagine growing up in a world where your reality is forged and can’t always be trusted.

As an emerging modular artist, Cinematic Laboratory is dedicated to pushing the boundaries of musical expression and storytelling. The compositions blend various modern genres and influences, creating a sonic landscape that is both alien and strangely familiar. With 'War of the Worlds 2023 AI,' Cinematic Laboratory aims to establish itself as a rogue ambient music pioneer, exploring new frontiers while sharing the experience on YouTube. The Lab currently boasts over 500 videos online and is a highly appreciated channel devoted to modular synthesis. The album features cameos from Todd Barton and Walker Farrell who make a lot of waves in the modular community.

'War of the Worlds 2023 AI' is available on all major streaming platforms on August 25. Bandcamp offers a special download and contains scripts and an instrumental bonus album.

Album:
https://cinematiclaboratory.bandcamp...."

WEIRD GEAR: Pulsar-23 (Andrew Huang Edition)

video upload by ANDREW HUANG

"Honored to be partnering with Soma and Perfect Circuit on the Andrew Huang Edition of Pulsar-23! More info: https://link.perfectcircuit.com/t/v1/..."

Note the Embodme Erae Touch controller.


We're pleased to present the new Pulsar-23 Andrew Huang Edition: a vibrant yellow version of the one-of-a-kind, organismic semi-modular drum machine made in collaboration between SOMA and the producer and YouTuber himself. SOMA's Pulsar-23 has become a go-to instrument for subverting the expectations of what a drum machine can or should do, attracting the interest of curious musicians looking for something a little bit different out of their drum synthesizer. With this version finished in a vibrant yellow personally chosen by Andrew Huang, the Pulsar-23 has become a favorite part of Andrew's studio due to its open-ended patching structure and rejection of standard drum machine tropes. The results may not always be what you expect, but like many other SOMA devices, Pulsar-23 creates a seemingly organic connection between the musician and instrument, tapping into the deeper parts of your subconscious mind to rely on instinct and reaction rather than conscious decision-making.

CLICK FOR MORE »

New Casio Watch Inspired by John Mayer's Childhood Keyboard

video upload by Hodinkee

"The G-SHOCK Ref. 6900-PT1 By John Mayer features a dusty matte blue case and strap, a more playful color combination that’s an excellent companion to the first two collaborations. Peach, coral, and turquoise from the PT-1 keyboard were brought in to highlight the 'Triple Graph' display, which sits right at home in the soft cream dial. Darker grey was pulled from the sharp and flat keys of the PT-1 keyboard and added to the illuminator button. All four indicators for the buttons share the navy color from the writing on the PT-1, a perfect accent on the lighter blue background. The G-Shock Ref. 6900-PT1 By John Mayer gives you both the toughness you expect from a G-SHOCK with a colorway that will make your inner creative child smile."

"Being musicians and music fans, we here at Reverb know John Mayer for his guitar-playing and his best-selling signature Silver Sky. But he's also deeply invested in a whole other type of gear: watches.

Mayer, the horologist, is as much a figure to fellow watch lovers as he is to Boss BD-2 enthusiasts, sitting down for multiple interviews about his extensive collection and even getting into the watch design game himself.

In recent years, he's collaborated with the premiere watch site Hodinkee and a brand that, like Mayer, straddles the world of music gear and watches: Casio.

The partnership's latest creation is the Casio G-Shock Ref. 6900-PT1, a digital watch inspired by the PT-1 Mini Synthesizer.

Casio first built the PT-1 synth in 1982 and continued production until 1988, meaning it was one of the many affordable synths and samplers the company released during Mayer's early childhood.

The toy-like PT-1 is a monosynth — meaning it can only play one note at a time—but it packs in more features than parents probably expected. While there are just four simple tones (piano, violin, flute, and the mysterious 'fantasy'), there's a built-in drum machine with the same spread of rhythms you'd find on an old Roland or Korg, and—pretty amazingly, especially to a kid—a sequencer.

To really seal the deal for 'home keyboard' playing, it can run on four double-AA batteries, has its own speaker, and a headphone output.

John Mayer's new G-Shock takes cues from his own childhood PT-1, with its blue enclosure, though you can also find the synth in white, pink, black, and red."

"Introducing" the DR BÖHM DIGITAL DRUMS

video upload by Vintage Audio Institute Italia

You can find additional posts featuring the Bohm Digital Drums here.

"Dr. Böhm Digital Drums in action - that's HERR DOCTOR to you thank you very much.

We love these when they work - we hate these when they don't work.
They're notoriously hard to service - this one was no exception.
It could be the most advanced auto accompaniment unit out there - change my mind in the comment section.

We thought Dr. Böhm Digital Drums could use an in-depth video of the auto accompaniment section alone.
The videos out there present this device as a "Italo Disco Machine" - when it's actually so much more.
It has 180 different auto accompaniment arrangements, and the 4 instrument voices have more than 60 individual preset sounds at your disposal.
The variety and range of stuff that comes out of this thing is really not bad - comparing it to other machines of the same era, the Solton Programmer 24 and the CRB Computerband 2000 - Dr. B comes out ridiculously more versatile.

We used almost no effects used in this video, the compositions are improvised one-takes that we came up with on the spot without preparation.

This specific machine was modified - it had six mysterious, extra potentiometers in place already when we bought it - but they weren't hooked up to anything internally - probably a botched project from the previous owner.
So we asked one of our techs to wire them up to modify the Bass, Mono 1 and 2 sections with individual volumes and the internal, on-board cut-off filter.

The result is not bad - for all types of Electro and Electronica obviously, Pop or Ambient textures for sure, even Musique Concrete-leaning experimentations.

Big thanks to Ludus Pinski here in Florence for wiring this up for us, and to Ondrej Pavelka in Prague Czechoslovakia, for sorting out the rest."

Vintage Drum Machine Sample Packs via Samples From Mars

video uploads by Samples From Mars

Playlist:

MPC MPC1 From Mars
Oberheim DMX From Mars
Dr Bohm Factory and Custom Patterns
Art of Bohm
Korg Minipops Snacks From Mars
Yamaha MR10 From Mars
Viscount From Mars

The Rare 'Italian Lindrum' The Viscount R64 is one of the most mysterious drum machines we've ever sampled. There's little to no information about it online, and by some accounts there are less than 10 functional units left in existence 😳

Our pack includes 320 Loops and 240 One Shot samples from the Viscount:
https://samplesfrommars.com/products/...

See https://samplesfrommars.com for the rest.

MIZUNO Supersizer-μ (1970s)

video upload by kotoelectro

The MIZUNO SuperSizerμ featured in Hiromichi Oohashi's Strange Synthesizers of Japan by Hiromichi Oohashi - Synth Book w/ CD

According to Hiromichi Oohashi:

'It's one of the most mysterious synth in Japan.
made by MIZUNO (famous sportswear manufacturer)
I don't know why MIZUNO made such a futuristic noise synthesizer...

MIZUNO Supersizer-μ is introduced in my synth book."

Update: I asked Hiromichi Oohashi if he knew of any other gear they made and he said it was the only musical instrumeht they made. He reached out to MIZUNO and they said based on the logo it was likely manufacturered in the late 1970s to 1980s. They didn't mention any other useful information. 

Update2: TenTen in the comments noted the fonts used in the logo appear to be either Twobit or Bitwise which "were invented in 2011 and 1999, respectfully." However, according to https://www.dafont.com/twobit.font, "This familiar typeface is based on the ‘retro-futuristic’ of computer and technology advertising of the 1960s and early 1970s. Includes full alphabet, punctuation, euro. Includes regular, bold, italic, and bold-italic versions. (Version 1.10)". And Bitwise, "A typeface based on machine readable characters from the 1960s."

Update3: and one spotted for sale by TenTen captured here.

And the YouTube descripton:

"Supersizer-μ (1970s) made by MIZUNO(famous sports company)
Exclusive video of most mysterious synth of Japan.
from 「Strange Synthesizers of Japan」book
「珍電子楽器LOVE」（リットーミュージック刊）"

Update3: An image of the oribinal box via Hiromichi Oohashi:

Demo ONE - Ambient Electronica - Circuit Tracks Sound Pack by A Force Truly Evil

video upload by Isotonik Studios

"A tasty combination of Ambient & Downbeat Electronica designed to create immersive atmospheres, evolving soundscapes and electronic environments.

From the beautiful and ethereal to the dark and mysterious.

This pack works perfect in genres like Ambient, Electronica, Downtempo, Chillout, Drone and IDM.

A collection of 68 velocity-sensitive patches (64+4 bonus) that take advantage of the Circuit synth engine's extensive modulation matrix options.
Including deep and smooth basses, hypnotic and meditative poly-synths, motion pads, sonic landscapes and evolving arpeggios.

AMBIENT ELECTRONICA CONTENTS

16 Basses (also usable as leads)
16 Poly-synths
24 Pads/ Motion Pads/ Textures
8 Arpeggios
Bonus:
2 EFX's
2 Drones
This pack is complete with 64 + 16 bonus samples covering a wide sonic spectrum, from acoustic percussion to contemporary electronic sounds.

8 Kicks
8 Snares
8 Hi hat/cymbals
32 Percussions (world percussion & analog drum machine sounds)
8 EFX's including foley recordings from real-world elements
Bonus BD+SD (16 extra kicks & snares for load on demand)

16 high quality sessions/project covering a wide spectrum of Ambient styles, from the most contemporary and experimental, to the organic and tribal, through Dark Ambient, Psychedelic Ambient, Drones, Analogue Ambient, Chillwave, hypnotic and calm Electronica, etc.
Sessions include several scenes.

# All A Force Truly Evil Sound Packs are fully compatible with OG Circuit including sessions.

GET IT HERE: https://isotonikstudios.com/product/a..."

A Force Truly Evil Novation Circuit/Circuit Tracks

the mysterious Lyra-8 (synth review)

video upload by allmyfriendsaresynths

"For the past couple of months I have been experimenting with the mysterious Lyra-8, an 'orgaismic synthesiszer' from @Vlad Kreimer of Soma Lab - and have been very pleasantly surprised at how engaging and exciting it is to play with and explore. Far more than just a drone machine, this is a beautiful instrument which has encouraged me to approach music a bit differently. Check out the video to see what I make of it.

A huge thank you to Signal Sounds (signalsounds.com) for letting me borrow one of their demo units to test. They stock a wide variety of weird and wonderful electronic instruments, and are well worth checking out for yourself."