MATRIXSYNTH

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween folks. Have a fun one. Title link takes you to a few more shots.

via brian comnes:

"Well here at last are pictures of my homebrew version of a Metasonix TS-21 Hellfire Modulator based on an Eric Barbour circuit (of Matasonix fame). This thing is definitely a twisted and demented sound shaper. The name TUMOR REFILLED HALO is an anagram of the original's HellFire Modulator. The unit has 5 tubes consisting of a rectifier for DC voltage, a VCA distortion tube, an LFO oscillator tube and two tubes for adding more artifacts to the sound. The chassis is an old bench test unit that I salvaged. Eric's power circuit design uses dual transformers to economically generate the proper voltages for the the tubes at 6VAC and 140VDC and is very innovative. The overall sound is similar to the TM-1 Waveshaper . I'll send sound samples later. I'm sure the Noisefest crowd will get a rise out of this."

Title link takes you to the shots.

Mix - Real Time Audio Looping Software Inspired by Audiopad

"Mix is an experimental graphical real time audio loop mixing app inspired by AudioPad. This is an early prototype and I'd appreciate any feedback on how to improve it."

Title link takes the download. Mac only. Sent my way via s o n i c b r a t:

"basically u can grab audio files (preferably MP3 because wav samples will cause a bit of a hang due to processing) and drop it like how you would drop the "coin-like" controllers in the Audiopad... the out look of it is almost the same with the path of circular rotating stripe turning... and two blue circles that is L/R output... so you drag any other cirles (sound files) with rotating aura close to either one it will be louder left or right... hard to explain it.

I have used it for live improvisations basically to make my sounds travel more organically with control of the mouse. You remove files by doing a ctrl+x; to add files just drag and drop.."

BTW, check out this post on Audiopad for video that will give you an idea of how this works.

String Thing

"String Thing is a cello-like electronic instrument played by stroking or beating metal rods with the hands. The use of bodily gestures, infinitely variable and visible to the audience, avoids the ‘robotic’ and visually uncommunicative quality typical of computer music.

Four roughly parallel metal rods are each divided into a long and a short section by a bridge element. The pressure and position of the fingers on the longer rod section are continuously sensed to control pitch and expression; pressure on the shorter sections controls velocity, attack and volume. MIDI software converts this information into sound and, through magnets under each rod, vibrates the rod according to the pressure it senses, thus returning haptic feedback to the player."

Title link takes you to more info, shots, samples and video. String Thing is a project by benjamin dove.

Star Instruments Synare 01 and 03

James of InnerSpace Recordings & Cherry Sound Studios LLC sent me a link to a MySpace page he set up for the Star Instruments Synare 01 and 03. He has Synare 01 number three. Amazing. You can see the pads at the bottom of the slider box on the 01 in the second shot.

Title link takes you there. Audio demo of the 01 here.

Gearwire Crosstalk #021 - Little Phatty

Click here for the latest Crosstalk on Gearwire where you'll find various play options and the playlist. The Moog Little Phatty comes in at 27:33.

Also featured: Maudio's NRV-10, Universal Audio's DCS Remote Preamp, Native Instruments Audio Kontrol 1, and Native Instruments Massive.

Ensoniq Fizmo

Title link takes you to shots via this auction.

Note, if you are thinking of picking this up, be sure to read this.

via rick.

Untitled Synth by Devowski

flickr via devowski. Title link takes you to more.

Be sure to check out Devowski's previous creation.

jMusic

"jMusic is a project designed to provide composers and software developers with a library of compositional and audio processing tools. It provides a solid framework for computer-assisted composition in Java™, and is also used for generative music, instrument building, interactive performance, and music analysis. jMusic supports musicians with its familiar music data structure based upon note/sound events, and provides methods for organising, manipulating and analysing that musical data. jMusic scores can be rendered as MIDI or audio files for storage and later processing or playback in real-time. jMusic can read and write MIDI files, audio files, XML files, and its own .jm files; there is real-time support for JavaSound, QuickTime and MIDIShare. jMusic is designed to be extendible, encouraging you to build upon its functionality by programming in Java to create your own musical compositions, tools, and instruments. In a spirit of mutual collaboration, jMusic is provided free and is an open source project. jMusic is 100% Java and works on Windows, Mac OS, Linux, BSD, Solaris, or any other platform with Java support."

Title link takes you there. Via sequencer.de.

Update via Peter Kirn of CDM in the comments:
"See also jm-Etude, which interfaces this with Processing, a free and cross-platform environment designed to make Java coding accessible to non-programmers and quicker for programmers. link"