MPC Shots and Sample

Title link takes you to more shots including some gorgeous shots of an EDP Wasp, Serge and more. He even has one of these! : ) You can find a 4.6M mp3 here. Via Dennis Vershoor. Thank you Dennis!

More on the MPC.

The History of Roland on SOS

Title link takes you to Part 1 of a four part series. Roland was founded by Ikutaro Kakehasi. Something tells me James of Retro Thing will appreciate the following. : )

"Born in 1930, Ikutaro Kakehashi was just two years old when his parents died from tuberculosis, and he spent much of his youth living in Osaka under martial law. He studied mechanical engineering and simultaneously worked as a schoolboy worker in the Hitachi shipyards where Japan's 'midget' suicide submarines were built. As a result, he witnessed a great deal of destruction in the last months of the war.

Once World War II was over, and after failing on health grounds to enter the city's university in 1946, Kakehashi moved to the southernmost of Japan's four major islands, Kyushu. This offered a far more rural existence and, to survive, he took a day job as a geographical survey assistant. But, at just 16 years old, he noticed that, with no watch or clock industry in post-war Japan, there was a thriving business to be had repairing existing timepieces. He was unaware of it at the time, but a chap named Torakusu Yamaha had also started out as a watch repairer, as had Matthias Hohner. Even the Hammond Organ Company started out as a sub-division of the Hammond Clock Company!"

Update via the comments:
"Mr Kakehashi is a very nice man.
He will give you his full attention and fully listen to you without interruption.
He visited Roland US once when I worked there (mid '80s) and I was shocked to find that he took the time to sit with me and go over things I found in error with some Roland products.
He even took notes.
Consider that. The president of a huge international company actually listening to a lowly repair tech.
This is part of why he's successful.
He has very little ego and loves music."

Vyonich Yamaha CS10 Sample

Title link takes you to a sample of a Yamaha CS10 monosynth with an extra OSC modded, being driven by a Roland EF-303 through a Kenton Pro Solo MIDI to CV converter. Via Chris Strellis' Vyonich.

Robert Rich Review and Shots

Title link takes you there. Link to photo set is in the box on the top left when you get there.

Analog Revolution - The Sound of the Century

"This is the story of the synthesizer, the entirely new class of instrument born out of the technological tumult of the 20th century. It had a revolutionary impact on the sound of the century, crossing all musical genres on the way. We hear how artists as diverse as Pink Floyd, Sun Ra, Herbie Hancock, and Doctor Who's Tristram Cary took to Bob Moog's invention with fervour, weaving it into the cultural fabric and popular psyche." Title link takes you there.

Update via the comments:

"I posted this on the analogue haven list yesterday. Hope everyone enjoys...don't forget part 2, it's called Transformer, and it should be up within the next few days."

sequential circuits pro five - New Flickr Shot

flickr by windupgodzilla.

One Blue Monkey Adds RSS

Awesome. I'm subbed. Title link takes you there. Look for the orange RSS icon up top for the feed. I also added the link to my blog roll on the right.

Studio 303 Roland MC202 Samples

Title link takes you there. Some beefy samples. The MC202 sounds goooood.

Vangelis Video on DVDBorn

Title link takes you there.

Popol Vuh Beat Club 1971

Click image to launch. Via nx.

"It's time to freak out with some glacial soundscapes from Popol Vuh (florian) on the beat club television show, 1971"

Update via james in the comments:

"Very nice. Sadly, Florian Fricke passed away in late December, 2001.

Here's one of the few interviews you're likely to find:

http://www.eurock.com/features/florian.aspx"

Update via James Anderson in the comments:
"just to let others know...

a bunch of popol vuh's cds,
mainly soundtracks I believe, have been re-released on the cd format in the past couple of weeks.

I work at a record store and have wanted to know what it sounded like. thanks Matrix! "

You're welcome! BTW, to my surprise Yahoo! Unlimitted actually has them including their early stuff. I'm listening to it now. I love Yahoo! Unlimitted. I pay 5 bucks a month and get access to all this stuff. And no, I have no affiliation with them. I just like the service and don't want it to go away. : ) They have 19 Popol Vuh CDs. These alone would pay for the subscription. Think about that... I also get to check out Christopher Randall's music of Analog Industries (Sister Machine Gun and Micronaut)! Alright, off of my soapbox.