The Packrat - Bad JU JU

I'm sad to say that this could be the last Packrat strip for some time. This is the last strip for Keyboard magazine and David C. Lovelace plans to put the rat on hold for a bit while he focuses on other projects. Title link takes you to the rest of the Packrat toons. Make sure to track up to the root of David's site for more of his brilliant work. Thanks for some great Packrat toons David. I will definitely miss the sneaky little rat. Click image below for full size.

One Synth Tracks by Joy Electric

"I've done 4 albums using one synth on each.

The White Songbook - Roland System-100
Tick Tock Treasury - Sys-100
Hello, Mannequin - Sys-100
Ministry of Archers - Moog Voyager

www.myspace.com/joyelectric to hear the latest "Moog Voyager Only" tracks.

I came to the conclusion years ago that only one was ever needed.

ronnie martin
www.joyelectric.com
po box 30614 santa ana, ca 92735
fax. 815-377-2378"

Hyperfabric on CDM

Title link takes you to the post with more. "This stuff is strong (it can support body weight), and lets you actually touch, squeeze, grab, and otherwise manipulate a large-scale fabric surface to control computer-generated imagery." Would be easy to convert that to MIDI control. I bet you could wear the stuff as well. Hmm... I'll just leave it to your imagination.

Poly 800 Reverse Keys Found in Garbage

Yep. In the garbage. Fully working minus joystick... Makes you wonder how many synths and other gear are sitting in dumps right now. Anyone want to go on a garbage raid? ; ) Title link takes you to the thread on the-gas-station.

Alesis Andromeda A6 Demo with Ratcheting

Update: Paul also has an EMS Synthi A track sequenced by a Frostwave Fat Controller. Title link takes you to Flux Radio with both samples.

Title link takes you to a 2.2M mp3 of the A6 by Paul Evenblij. "the ratcheting here was obtained by having an LFO selectively retrigger the envelopes. Needs careful synching and timing of note durations, but I like the result. Convincing enough, I think."

OBX-a Samples by Heath Finnie

Title link takes you to a post on VSE with a couple of Oberheim OBX-a samples by Heath Finnie.

Mini is up for Sale

Title link takes you to shots and content pulled from this auction.



"This is a unique Mini with some history behind it. It's serial number 1159, which would indicate it to be the 159th Mini ever made. This is even before Keith Emerson or Rick Wakeman owned one!"

"The unit was originally sold in mid 1971 to Carroll Musical Instruments, NY as a direct order for the Broadway production of Jesus Christ Superstar. This is the original JC Superstar Minimoog."

The Lone Keyboardist - New Flickr Shot

Shot by William Kunz

Inverse Room 's Ambient Creot

Great way to decompress. Title link takes you to the site with podcast. Via Inverse Room.



Update from Inverse Room on the shot above:
"I'm standing next to Malcolm Cecil's TONTO, the famous Moog/Serge/Oberheim/ARP/homemade synth on all those Stevie Wonder records. I was interviewing Malcolm for TapeOp magazine a while back and got to see the great beast!"

"Dear Friends--

It's time for another of my episodes of Creot Radio--volume 42, AMBIENT
CREOT. This podcast consists of 50 minutes of langourous loops,
reverb'd strings, echoing guitars and synth pads as thick as a
mattress. Also, extra points if you can find the pitch-shifted hair
dryer. I'll be introducing each song in a soothing voice that
guaranteed to lull you into a false sense of personal well-being. The
podcast has just been posted and will be up all week.

http://www.creotradio.net

Creot Radio is an ALL-ORIGINAL weekly (usually) podcast of independent
music. Check out the text that accompanies each podcast for photos,
links, and information about our contributing artists. And visit our
merch section for Creot Radio artists' CD's...and for the stunning
embroidered Creot Radio iron-on patch.

Enjoy the music. Buy the patch. It's the right thing to do.

Yours
John"

The End of The Museum of Synthesizer Technology

Here's another find I'm left wondering how the heck I never ran into until now. Title link takes you to a fascinating Sound on Sound article on Martin Newcomb and The Museum of Synthezier Technology. The craziest thing? No one came to it over time! He eventually ended it due to lack of interest and repair costs. He sold off most of the gear to Turnkey; the gear is now part of their vintage collection. Amazing story.

"The Museum of Synthesizer Technology succeeded in putting together what was, at the time, the world's largest collection of analogue synths, but Martin was dismayed to find that this did not guarantee public interest. So was it a failure? "Yes," he told me, "it failed. In retrospect, I liken it to St Paul's Cathedral. Everyone thinks it's great that St Paul's is there, but they assume that it's always going to be there and never bother to go and see it. The Museum was like that. All the people came along in the first couple of years and, after that, the only support came from America, Germany and, to a lesser degree, Japan. I tried to organise things like tours from college music departments, but the response was always, 'You're too far away,' or 'I'll make an effort at some point but not at the moment.'"

"Go to Turnkey and have a look at their collection — almost all of that came from the Museum."

Update via Tom in the comments: "And Turnkey got rid of their collection a while ago... " That's right. I forgot about that.