"Fusebox X is an analogue monosynth with 3 note poly capabilities"
Priced £1,799.00
Update: additional pics and details added.
Filtopia will be a limited edition synth - we are only building 200 units.
Stereo analogue monosynth - with a 5 Multi-Mode filter Filterbank - to give glorious and unique filter sweeps!
USP - THE FILTER BANK Filtopia’s key USP is a bank of 5 analogue filters wired in parallel. Glorious multi-band filter sweeps are possible. With some tweaking you can also get vowel types sounds.
5 filters doesn’t mean just 5 filters, by having offset filter-cutoff frequencies, with some high resonance levels, can mimic the way the human voice works. Something that can’t be done with a single filter.
Aside from the uniqueness of a multi-channel filter bank for filtering, Filtopia is fully loaded with VCOs, LFOs, EGs, etc.
Filterbank - 5 analogue multi-mode filters - superb multi-filter sweeps, and even vowel sounds!
3 VCOs - can be routed to some or many of the filters as dictated by the front panel.
"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"
"Legendary Oberheim Xpander 6-Voice Synthesizer desktop module. This is the highly sought-after US Version (with jack labels printed ABOVE the jacks).
[Condition & Operation]
* Operation: Great working condition via MIDI. I have confirmed that the unit receives MIDI and plays audio correctly from both the main outputs and the individual voice outputs (tested and confirmed working via DIR mode).
* Tuning / Calibration: All 6 voices successfully pass the auto-tuning (ALL PASS) without requiring a long warm-up period. As with many vintage Xpanders, the tuning can be sensitive to temperature and may occasionally show a minor FAIL, but it clears and passes successfully once warmed up.
* Buttons & Knobs: All buttons and knobs respond and work. Please note that due to its vintage age, a few buttons may occasionally have a slightly slow response or require a firm press, but they all register properly.
* Display: The VFD display is clear and fully readable. There might be minor cosmetic or pixel imperfections due to age, but it does not affect readability at all during operation.
"I would like to submit a small independent synth-related visual tool I made.
It is a MIDI-reactive VJ / HTML video synth designed for grooveboxes and hardware setups. It runs in a browser and reacts to incoming MIDI CC / clock data, making it useful for live electronic music, acid techno, groovebox jams, and hardware-only performances.
The concept is to keep the setup simple: a groovebox or MIDI controller sends MIDI data, and the browser-based visual synth generates reactive glitch/noise-style visuals without needing a full VJ software environment.
It may be of interest to readers who use grooveboxes, MIDI hardware, DIY performance tools, or browser-based visual instruments."
対応プリセット： Novation Circuit Tracks KORG SQ-1 Roland AIRA MC-101 Roland AIRA MC-707 Roland AIRA T-8 Ableton Move Artiphon Orba 2
Chrome / Edgeなど、Web MIDI対応ブラウザで動作します。
This is a test video of my DIY MIDI reactive VJ HTML tool, “Groovebox MIDI Reactive VJ”.
It runs in a browser and generates low-resolution video-synth style visuals reacting to MIDI Note, CC, MIDI Clock, and Program Change from grooveboxes and MIDI devices.
No audio input is used. The visuals are driven directly by MIDI signals. In fullscreen mode, it outputs only the visuals with no UI.
Supported presets: Novation Circuit Tracks KORG SQ-1 Roland AIRA MC-101 Roland AIRA MC-707 Roland AIRA T-8 Ableton Move Artiphon Orba 2
Works in Web MIDI compatible browsers such as Chrome / Edge."
0:00 Quick Overview 1:43 Afterlife Lead 2:28 Dark Wave Bass 3:17 IDM Triangled Lead 4:18 Noisy Arp Cross Mod 5:51 Electro Pulse (short envelopes) 6:51 EBM Bass 7:46 Console Pulse Lead 8:05 Paraphonic Magic 9:34 Killah Bass 9:48 Indie-Cade 10:39 7th Pad 11:36 Psy Alert (FX) 12:06 Kick Bass 12:19 Sonar Noise 13:12 Bubbles 14:20 Paraphonic Outro
____
"Behringer JT-2: My 2 Cents With all the available 'heavily-inspired-but-not-clones' from Behringer, I’m starting to wonder when the company will introduce original synths again. Anyhow... This time, I’m taking a closer look at the Behringer JT-2, a paraphonic synth inspired by Roland’s Jupiter-8. It comes in similar colours but certainly doesn’t carry over the visual aesthetics of the '80s flagship synth. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, as Behringer can keep costs down by using one chassis for a plethora of different models. At a budget-friendly price point, you get a lot of synth in a unit that doesn’t take up too much valuable studio real estate, either. But first things first...
"Delve into the dark weirdness of the Buchla 200e. Easily the most interesting instrument I own. It challenges the user to explore new ways to express music and sound. The drums are created by self resonating the 291e triple filter module. Over the summer I explored more complex patching. All the random stereo ripping sounds are from a cross modded 258 classic into the bottom section of the 296 classic. The first batch created a fm like noise when opening the wide knob. Buchla USA recalled the first batch for a cleaner circuit, but I decided to keep it:) I'll be releasing many of these explorations over the next few months.
I'm planning to upload on a regular basis. This world we live in is becoming increasingly more complicated and is about to see a huge shift with the arrival of AI. I want this channel to showcase raw performances and celebrate the human aspect of art and music.
This is an anti-AI channel. Everything is composed and performed by me with no editing. Just raw performances created in the moment. My musical interests take my into strange and unpredictable areas. At the core, I'm a composer of epic cinematic music. Fortunately, it's what I do for work. The music on this channel represents the other curiosities I have with music and sound. AI just spits out sound a likes and has no real soul. I'm not trying to appeal to those who prefer AI playlists. In my opinion, those people are not true fans of music and art. AI isn't affected by culture, community and what's happening in the world, so it can never make a true artistic statement. "
Description: Late 2025 Walker Farrell from MakeNoise started an international music challenge for musicians to participate in, submit your own Graphic Score, then at the draw of a hat, you would be assigned someone else's score to interpret and create music from. I am always interested in music challenges and the more off-beat the better.
Late December 2025 names were drawn at random, Walker constructed a collection of MakeNoise modular synthesis cards to generate random numbers to set who gets what score. I was allocated a topographical map from Bruce Magill that contained some text notes and penciled in graphics. Bruce had a musical concept in mind for this score but did say "Notes for this graphic score are only a suggestion. You can disregard them and interpret this score in any way you like, if you wish. ... Don't overthink." So I did have free reign to interpret the score as I wished, so I could let my imagination run wild. In my younger years I did a lot of wilderness hiking so was and still am, quite familiar with topographic maps, so for me this was the perfect score, something I could relate to and understood. As a side note, there is no right answer for interpreting a graphic score, so understanding is not an essential ingredient, however a vivid imagination is. It is a bit like laying on the grass and looking up at the clouds -- what do you see beyond back scattered light from suspended vapours in the sky.
"Please support my work on Patreon: / jayhosking
Five chip tunes made with the limitations of the original NES.
00:00 - Stage 1
02:41 - Underworld
05:07 - Cutscene into battle
08:07 - Peace and war
09:55 - Overworld
I grew up on video game music, and it's probably a large part of why I love synthesizers today. What impresses me most about those old soundtracks is how much they can achieve with such a limited voice count and, to a lesser extent, sound palette. (I actually adore the sounds, so I don't see them as limiting.) The Nintendo Entertainment System had two mono synth square waves, one extremely chunky triangle wave mono for bass, and then a noise oscillator for percussion. There was also an extremely low-resolution sampler ("Blades of Steel!") but I chose not to reproduce that here.
For a while, I had been thinking about working within the limitations of the original NES. I could do that on any modern groovebox or synth, of course, but I wanted the limitations forced on me, and I wanted something that got me close to the original sound without a lot of work. Thanks to my Patreon community, I was able to pick up the Twisted Electrons hapiNES L, which emulates the old NES chip sounds, right down to the mono (not stereo!) out.
Once I had the sounds in place, I wanted a way to quickly write and structure songs. The Teenage Engineering OP-XY proved a good choice, because it's quick, has two octaves to play on, has a smart and creative transposition tool, and has an excellent song mode for structuring longer compositions. I also wanted to use some other sequencing tools, so I pulled out the Oxi One Mk2 for the final song. I didn't find it was quite as effective for the song-mode sequencing, but its new Chord Palettes mode led me in some extremely interesting musical directions.
I could have kept going, but five days seemed like a good haul of NES music for now, and proof to myself that I could do it again in the future. I know the music here might not be to everyone's tastes, but it satisfies the kid in me and makes me wish I had an 8-bit game to write a soundtrack for.
You can find posts on MATRIXSYNTH featuring Jack Hotop here for a look back on his influence in the synthesizer community. The first post was a simple pic back in 2006.
Press release from Korg follows:
Over a 40-Year Career, the Influential Synthesist and Accomplished Touring Keyboardist Shaped the Sonic Architecture of More Than 100 Landmark Instruments, Including the Historic M1 Workstation
MELVILLE, N.Y. - Korg USA announces with deep sadness the passing of longtime employee, celebrated sound designer, and musical instrument industry icon Jack Hotop. Joining Korg USA (then Unicord) in 1983, Hotop started as Senior Voicing Manager and spent over four decades driving the development, sound design, programming, voicing, and product demonstrations for more than 100 Korg products. As a pioneering engineer and exceptionally skilled performer, his extensive contributions helped guide the evolution of synthesizers and digital workstations from the early 1980s through the modern era, leaving an indelible imprint on instruments used by musicians around the world and for generations to come.
Hotop’s foundational expertise was anchored in a rigorous musical and technical background. Raised in a musical family, he began piano lessons at age seven, inspired by his father, a musician featured on several Broadway cast recordings, and numerous pianists on his mother’s side. By age 14, he was actively performing in local bands on a Gibson 101 organ. He pursued formal training at the Berklee College of Music, majoring in arranging, composition, and accompaniment, before expanding into emerging music technology at the Boston School of Electronic Music under Roger Powell. It was there that Hotop established his core synthesis fundamentals using early hardware including the ARP Odyssey, 2600, 2500, and EMS Synthi, building a deep understanding of waveforms, envelopes, low-frequency oscillators, and modulators.
This is an 8-10hp Voltage Starved Compressor module with additional side chain and EQ.
Thank you to Modular 4 the Masses for providing the module for this video."
00:00 - Intro
00:45 - Demo with Kick only
06:58 - Full Drums
09:14 - Plucky Voice
12:00 - Full Mix
HungryThumb is a Eurorack adaptation of a compressor named Engineer's Thumb, typically built as a guitar effect pedal. Juanito built an Engineer's Thumb early in the tin can synth journey, naively replicating the 9V core of the circuit, and then didn't really know what to do with it.
Until they put an 808 kick drum through it. As a kick drum processor, this compressor shines brightly, especially when the Starve settings reduces the core circuitry voltage to 9V and lower. You can get even the purest 808-style kick drum signal, which will be mostly a sine wave, to crunch, clip, gate, fizz and fold. Do you need hardstyle kicks in your modular? This can get you there.
The Engineer's Thumb this circuit is based on uses an LM13700 OTA chip as the adjustable gain portion. These chips are a bit noisy, so an innovation of Engineer's Thumb was to put the gain section in an op amp inverting feedback loop, meaning while the compressor is set to its highest gain, the OTA is set to its lowest gain, and will theoretically be creating less noise. The theory checks out, but I'm not sure how much we Eurorack people care about noise floor.
"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).
SynthFest France 2026 was held April 17–19. You can find coverage via the SynthFest France label.
"► Thank You 101 Music | 3IS Education | A2D Sounds | ACE | Age Music Belgium | Akai Pro | Alex Nadzharov | Algae | Ambient Memory | Anasounds | Artists & Relationships | Arturia | ASM | Audeze | B4 Distribution | Baloran | Down the Patches | BEATSURFING | Benoit Widemann | BF Synth | BLEASS | Bitwig Studio | Bjooks | Bll Instruments | Charlotte Dubois | Calm | CIYLab | Heart of Sound | Collision Devices | CSFI | cyma form | DAWless Tools | Drift DJ | EmbodMe | Enjoy Electronics | Entropy & Sons | Eowave | Ewen d'Aviau | Euterpe | Expressive E | Erica Synth | FCPro Audio | France MAO | Frap Tools | Fred's Lab | Fulgur Synthesizer | Forge-TME | Glou-Glou | Haken Audio | Hainbach | Heritage Synthetizers | Hell Modular | HLABS | ITEMM | Ingmar Koch | JC Digital | Diary | Kaona | Kiviak Instruments | Kodamo | KORG | KA pro | KR magazine | L1V3 | Lagoon | The Voice Of The Luthier | Larix-Electro | Leaf Audio | Liquid Sky | Macbeth | MidiBen | Morphor | Musical Entropy | Mvk Synth | Nanopolis | North | Novation | NRSynth | Oberheim | Orbiton | Ohmforce | Paulee Alex Bow | PWM | ph-modular | Polytek | PPG | Pural Modular Synthesizer | Project Home Studio | Pylobolus | RBaudio | Ryme music | Travel Piano | Sequential | SACEM | SACEM University | Schneidersladen | Sonicware | Sp3ctra_ | SSL | Studiologic | Synclavier Music | Silence | SyntTesla | SynthAnatomy | SynthFood | SyntheGrall | SynthR | Synthstrom Audible | Teenage Engineering | Theater of the Fleuriaye | Thingstone | Theresyn | Things | Tom Geffray | Tony T-Steel | TouellSkouarn | UNAC | City of Carquefou | Vintage Synths & CO | Wee Noise Makers | Yamaha | Waldorf Music | Wavesequencer | Woodbrass | Usynth.
► Directed by Maxime Bichon, pictured by Maxime Bichon, Thibaut Charbonnier, with the participation of Gaspard Rouaud, Eva Buffa, Eva Bone Leloup, Penelope Galtier.
► Music ATOEM - Erase Mode, Deep Forest - Ghostly Disco, Dogs & Cables - Shallow Brains, Charlotte Dubois - The Electric Hands, Hainbach - Live from SynthFest 2026 - All rights reserved.
► Acknowledgments to Pierre-Jean Tardiveau / Syntesla and Hans Zimmer.
► Special thanks to all the benefactors, the technical team of the La Fleuriaye de Carquefou Convention Center and the visitors."
"Inspired by the golden era of intelligent electronic music (IDM), including projects as Autechre, early Aphex Twin, The Orb, Plaid, Telefon Tel Aviv and others, Glitch Textures is a meticulously crafted collection of 44 performances for Korg Wavestate. This soundset captures the very essence of classic IDM: the warmth of analog imperfections, the hypnotic beauty of broken beats, and the deep emotional resonance of glitched melodies. Every preset is a portal into a world where digital errors become musical virtues.
Harnessing the Wavestate‘s wave sequencing, we have harmonized glitches, clicks, stutters, and data degradation with lush and evolving soundscapes. You won‘t find random noise here — instead, you’ll discover intelligent imperfections: polyrhythmic sequences that breathe, pads that drift organically out of tune, and leads that sound like cherished childhood toys struggling to remember a melody.
As a sound designer for Access Music, Native Instruments, and Modal Electronics, OttO K. Schwarz poured his passion for experimental electronics into every preset. Many performances feature multi-layered setups, rhythmic textures and melodic phrases — perfect for live performance and deep studio exploration.
All presets are finely tuned for real-time expression: modulation wheel and velocity give you intuitive control over several parametres. Whether you‘re scoring the film, producing IDM, ambient, or experimental electronica, “Glitch Textures” offers a unique palette of sounds that are both beautifully broken and surprisingly musical.
"The Erica Synths Syntrx II is one of the most talked-about synthesizers of recent years — but three years on from its release, is it still worth your money? In this in-depth review and demo, I finally get hands-on with this modern spiritual successor to the legendary EMS VCS3 and EMS Synthi, and I want to bust two big myths: it's NOT as complicated as it looks, and it's NOT just a crazy sci-fi sound effects machine. 🎹 What's covered in this video:
-Syntrx II vs the original EMS VCS3 / EMS Synthi — key similarities and differences -Syntrx II vs Syntrx I — what changed and why -The 16x16 digital pin matrix explained simply -Using the Syntrx II as a standard 3-oscillator monosynth -The trapezoid (looping) envelope in practice -All-analog signal path walkthrough -Onboard 3-channel sequencer, DSP reverb and delay, envelope follower FM, self-oscillation, noise modulation, and filter techniques -Sample & hold circuit — how to set it up -The joystick as an LFO / recording modulation source -MIDI setup tips (offset fix, CC assignments for X and Y axes) -Patch saving — what it DOES and DOESN'T save, and why it matters -Honest pros and cons
🎵 Extended drone demo — 5 minutes of the Syntrx II running a single live patch with the trapezoid looping envelope, FM, noise, filter modulation via joystick, and DSP effects. The full version was over 10 minutes — it really is that good.
💷 Price context: Original EMS Synthis now sell for £24,000+. The Syntrx II comes in under £2,000. If you've ever wanted that Synthi sound without selling a kidney, this might be your answer."
"If you like to just make noise with your gear, literally... This one is for you.
The AW Noise Maker is an ultra-niche synth created for those who want to make awful digital noise that would terrorize the neighborhood and make the cops go to your place several times a week. If they knock on your door because of the noise you are making with the AW noise maker, just greet them saying loudly and proudly:
ACAB!!! ACAB!!! A!C!A!B! That means All Cacophonies Are Beautiful, so they understand that you are just a crazy noise artist and leave you alone with your shit.
"Remember the magic of a hand-cranked music box? That simple, satisfying motion, turning a handle and hearing a melody come alive. Now imagine that crank isn’t just playing music… it’s powering your creativity.
We are about to reinvent the classic paper strip music box. Blending tactile, hands-on music-making with a powerful digital engine.
A Physical Way to Compose
At its heart, it’s simple: you punch holes in paper to compose your own melodies, feed the strip into the box, and crank. Note by note. Idea by idea. There’s no undo button; just experimentation, happy accidents, and discovery. You’re carving music into existence. A melody you can hold, tweak, rewind, and reinvent."
"At Superbooth two years ago, as I was walking the halls I felt a hand on my shoulder and a voice said “oscillator sink, let me show you my groovebox”.
Now whatever gets conjured in your mind when you hear the phrase “groovebox” is probably not the Drop from Mad Sound Factory, but after a few minutes of patching and turning knobs I had it generating extremely aggressive gabber, and naturally I was hooked and named it one of my synths of the show.
In this video we’ll get to know Drop, how it works, how it sounds, how it plays with others - including a discussion of how to get banana jacks and euroracks to talk. As the video is long (because of course it is if it’s on my channel), I’ve added chapter markers throughout, and scattered some small no-talking demos throughout, both with drop as a solo instrument, and in ensemble with other instruments.
Transparency notice: Mad Sound Factory kindly sent the Drop to me for free for the purposes of making videos about it. I get to keep the unit, but no other payment was made for making the video and MSF have been given no editorial oversight for this video.
Chapters:
00:00:00 Introduction
00:01:14 The Tone Section
00:05:50 Interlude 1
00:06:42 The Noise Section
00:14:47 Interlude 2
"Gates and triggers are some of the most common signals you’ll patch. Both are binary signals, meaning they’re either off or on. Off is 0 volts, and on is usually somewhere around 5 to 10 volts.
So, what’s the difference?
A gate stays high for a certain amount of time. The length of the gate is part of the signal. Sequencers commonly output gates, letting you control how long each note lasts.
A trigger is basically a very short gate. It’s just a quick pulse, usually only a few milliseconds long. Triggers are often used to start events, like setting the tempo for drum modules, firing envelopes, or advancing sequencers. Clock signals are usually triggers as well. Each pulse moves something forward in time, like advancing a sequencer or firing rhythmic events.
In many cases, you can use a gate as a trigger, since modules often only care about the moment the signal goes from low to high. But using a trigger where a gate is expected doesn’t always work the same way, since triggers are so short.
Gates and triggers might be simple signals, but they’re essential for controlling rhythm, timing, and events across your entire patch.
"Use headphones for this one! Animal Factory Dirty Mirror dual parallel fuzz pedal running a Korg Monologue analog synth — no talking, no post-processing, just raw tone. This was recorded in one take to bring out how the Dirty Mirror becomes an instrument in itself.
A love letter to shoegaze, noise, and harsh textures, the Dirty Mirror
pairs a modified Shin-Ei Superfuzz (the "Burn" channel) with a heavily
modded Big Muff Pi (the "Churn" channel), plus a pre-fuzz delay
modulated by an internal LFO and envelope follower. Hand-built in
Mumbai by Animal Factory Amplification and debuted at Superbooth 2025.
Here it's sculpting the Korg Monologue's aggressive analog voice into
fuzzscapes, drones, seasick vibrato, and pitch-shifted square-wave
chaos. Recorded dry — no EQ, no reverb, nothing but the pedal and the
synth. Drums from an MFB Tanzmaus (not processed)
"Use headphones or speakers with good bass! Dual fuzz chaos meets beat-driven synthesis! Watch the Animal Factory Dirty Mirror transform the MFB Tanzmaus drum machine with creative distortion and delay manipulation. This is pure experimentation—no tutorial, just sonic exploration.
Not just a shoegaze and noise rock machine - the Dirty Mirror is the perfect fuzz for musicians exploring wall-of-fuzz sounds, experimental synthesis, drum machine effects processing, and unconventional gear combinations."
"The Dirty Mirror takes these two behemoths of sonic perversion and adds an extra layer of nasty – using the core circuit of our Coma Reactor Eurorack module.
This three footswitch, 15 knob pedal looks complicated – but it’s not:
The BURN Channel (left side) is based on our Chemical Burn circuit, a nastier FY-6 variant.
The CHURN channel (right side) is based on a heavily modded Big Muff Pi.
There is a short delay circuit before the fuzz circuits.
Both the fuzz circuits can switch between the input sound, 100% wet delayed sound or a blend of wet and dry.
The fuzz circuits are then mixed in parallel into a high-headroom output section.
For added sickness, the delay time can be modified by an envelope follower or LFO.
Choose your filthy reflection – from straight dual parallel fuzz textures, to seasick vibrato to long slow quasi-chorus phasey apocalyptica.
The delay can be used on its own for slapback, chorus and vibrato effects.
Yes, it can get very noisy. No, you can’t do anything about it - so weep in pain and pleasure, and submit to the swarms of square waves that joyfully fill your room."
