Kraftwerk Documentary on the BBC

Title link takes you there.

I never knew how much Kraftwerk influenced Bowie both musically and his look. Apparently when Bowie left his Ziggy Stardust phase, he went with more of Kraftwerk influenced look.

Kraftwerk - We are the robots on YouTube

BTW, I found this via a link to the following video on YouTube sent in by Greg. The following was sitting with a bunch of Kraftwerk videos including We are the Robots above. The video is Untitled. If you know what it is please comment. Disturbingly funny stuff. Enjoy... or not. "I'm so roernry..." Update below.



Update via Till "Qwave" Kopper in the comments:
"The puppets are from the very old "Thunderbirds" SiFi series. And the music is Karftwerk ofcause: "Kometenmelodie 2"."

Metasonix and the Agonizer

So I found this image of the Metasonix Agonizer on this VSE post of stuff for sale including a Realistic MG-1, Nord Lead 2, Akai S612, and a couple of other pedals. I don't remember checking out the Agonizer before, so I head over to Metasonix for more info. It's not listed as a current product but I did find the manual in the support section. I take a look and the first thing in the manual is:

"AAAGGGGHHH!!!!!
YOU SLIME!
YOU PERVERTED ANUS-MAGGOT!!
YOU ACTUALLY BOUGHT ONE??!??
WHAT THE HELL'S WRONG WITH YOU???"

Eventually followed by:

"The Agonizer is great for driving the bloody hell out of a tube guitar amp, but don't whine at US if it blows your speaker's cone across the room.... Because of the construction techniques required, the Agonizer cannot be kicked around like a fuzzbox. You WILL BREAK A TUBE if you kick it around. And thereafter, we will kick YOU around, shortly after charging you a large amount of money to fix the damn thing.The Agonizer is for the DISCIPLINED, intelligent, non-risk-averse musician. It is NOT SUITABLE for drunken/stoned bozos who play dude-guitar in Creed cover bands. Dude! MAN! Like, it SUCKS, right? (Getting the damn PICTURE yet??)"

Suddenly it all makes sense...
I have to admit, I found the image of the cone flying accross the room pretty funny. Aah! My eye!

Update via phloem in the comments: "The TX-1 Agonizer art was done by Sarah Combs."

Update via Dave in the comments: "I am happy to say I provided about a dozen custom illustration for the TX-2 Butt Probe manual, and my soul still aches from the process. Easily the filthiest shit I've ever drawn in my life."

Now it really makes sense. Dave did The Packrat series and Retarded Animal Babies. Be sure to check out Retarded Animal Babies for some cute, wholesome toons. You can find more of Dave's work on UMOP.com.

Scans by bdu - New Flickr Shots

Title link takes you to a ton of scans by bdu on Flickr. This one of a Sequential Circuits Prophet 5.

Analog Solutions Mini-modular - New Flickr Shot

flickr by zonkout.

Another cute little modular by Analog Solutions that's no longer in production.
Also see the Black Coffee. I'm starting to think I should have picked these up.

BTW, anyone know what happened to the Analog Solutions webiste. The link I have for them is surrounded by garbage ads and p*rn - the non synth kind. There's a pop-up being blocked by Firefox as well. Here's a link but consider yourself warned.

Update: Here's the URL via polardak in the comments.

Matrixsynth by Nikos

Click image or title link for animated version.

Buchla Thunder Shots

Title link takes you to some shots pulled from this auction. Looks like it went for $3050.

via Doktor Future.

Ionic Performer Shots

Paul Sop, aka Doktor Future, got his Ionic Performer back. Click here for some shots he added to his gallery. The Ionic Performer has gone down in synth history as a Synthi clone. You can find more on the Ionic Performer here.

According to Paul Sop:
"It's totally Dr. Who and Blakes Seven. It's totally Synthi like, but in a whole new package, with some other odd controls."

Update via the comments: Apparently this is the same Ionic Performer listed in this Music Thing post. Doktor Future picked it up from that auction. Kind like we are keeping it in the family folks. : )

Monolake - Imbalance Computer Music

Monolake is a project by Ableton co-founder and software architect Robert Henke. I somehow missed this one. Create Digital Music had a post up on Monolake on July 24, and Analog Industries just put up a post on the Monodeck II by Monolake. I put up a Monodeck II post and headed over to the root of the Monolake site to check it out.

On the site you will find a number of esoteric projects including MIDI controlled light bulbs, virtual surround sound thunderstorms, cross Atlantic network live performances, the Monodeck II, and more. Too much for one post. Title link takes you there.

Monodeck II MIDI Controller

Ableton co-founder and software architect, Robert Henke's new custom MIDI contoller.

"All 96 LEDs are full RGB and can display several colors, allowing to assign multiple functions to the buttons. I plan to put up more in detail informations about its structure and the implementation or a video clip of it once it is fully functionable. The first concerts with it are planned for fall 2006."

Damn. via Analog Industries.