MATRIXSYNTH

Monday, November 13, 2006

The GTR Orgatron

via loscha. Update via Loscha in the comments:

"Hi Folks,

Once a year I get someone emailing me asking for information on the Orgatron. Sadly, I lost all that information to a HDD crash in 2009 or so, and I sold the Orgatron soon after these pictures were published, as I moved to a much smaller house.

So, I'm really sorry - I can't help anyone out with further information about the keyboard.

It had a chord organ section on the left, and the main synth voice was a very sketchy monosynth. There was some kind of weak lowpass filter that would close on some of the brass sounds, I seem to remember.

If you can get one for $50 -- do it!
If you can get one for $200 -- don't do it!"

Air Synth Shirt

Well, technically it's an air guitar t-shirt, but I'm hijacking it. I need to make my Matrixsynth T out of this stuff. Then we can have a Matrixsynth rave with everyone actually creating the music as they dance in a trance.

"Our air guitar consists of a wearable sensor interface embedded in a conventional 'shirt' which uses custom software to map gestures with audio samples. Freedom of movement is a great feature of these textile-based interfaces. It’s an easy-to-use, virtual instrument that allows real-time music making – even by players without significant musical or computing skills."

via CDM and Gizmodo. Title link takes you to an article on the shirt with contact info. Also see this article on the BBC.

Kenton Selling Starts Selling MIDI Retrofits Again

Add MIDI to your old analogs. Title link takes you the list. It's a long one. Korg Polysix MIDI Retrofit pictured. I think it costs about as much as a Polysix. : )

AH Bay Area Gathering 2006 Gallery on synchro1

Title link takes you to the gallery.

Oberheim OB-1

AH Bay Area Gathering 2006 Gallery on redfish.net

Title link takes you to the set.

Dave Smith and Brian Comnes at AHBA 2006

Love the T Brian!

You rule. ; )

Update: I sometimes assume that anyone that comes to this site knows who Dave Smith is. I know I wasn't born knowing, so if you don't, in short, he was the founder of Sequential Circuits, maker of the Prophet 5 (the first full programmable polyphonic analog synth with patch memories), the Prophet VS, Prophet T8, Pro One and more. He now has a little company called Dave Smith Instruments, where you will find the Evolver and Poly Evolver line of synths. Oh, one more thing: he was the guy that brought us MIDI. Yeah, that guy. Wow. I am not worthy, I am not worthy... : )

BTW, if you came across this post directly, check out this previous post for shots of the event. Also check out this post of John Bowen talking about his time at Sequential Circuits.