Aliens Project Toy of The Month - Stramp

Title link takes you more info in German, images and some samples.

via sequencer.de.

Roland Juno 106

Title link takes you to shots pulled via this auction.

Note: if you ever consider picking up a Juno 106, be sure to test it or have the seller test it for you, by turning the sub osc down and scaling up and down the keyboard. The 106 is notorious for having bad voice chips. I had one where the bad voice was only obvious when turning the sub osc down. There of course can be other symptoms, but whenever I hear of one with no issues, this always comes to mind.

New Synapse Magazines Online

"Howdy all!

New Synapse Magazines posted featuring all kinds
of electronic musicality and vintage Analog Synths!

http://www.cyndustries.com/synapse/intro.cfm

And a reminder that there's still time to enter a piece
of your own orignal new music, (only 3-minutes long)
into our annual 2006 Aleatoric Bug Music Contest,
WAR & PEACE!

(The deadline for entries is the morning of January 5th,
and there are only (22) entries so far...)

The winner will receive a mighty Cynthia Zeroscillator worth $995.00 as the grand prize! (Hey that could be You!)

Enter Now, and Wish You All a Happy New Year!

http://www.cyndustries.com/

Cynthia"

Previous Synapse posts

The Drummstick

Percussion MIDI controller. Title link takes you to more info including a video (scroll down when you get there).

Building the Moog Voyager Synthesizer

Remember this post? Looks like it aired on the 23rd. Title link takes you to an article on the DIY Network website (yes, that DIY Network). If anyone comes across the video for this, post back in the comments. I checked the usual, Google video, YouTube and Revver and came up dry, which is is to be expected considering it's only the 29th.

via Oliver.

Update: Links to video here.

The Cure - Play For Today

YouTube via stev31WOLF. Looks like this one got pulled. New video here minus embedding.
Roland RS-09. One of my favorite songs by The Cure, and one of the first simple synth lines I learned. I had no idea it was the RS-09 until this post.

Update: Another one of my favorites from the same period. No synths in this one, but note there is no guitar as well. Dueling basses.

The Cure - Primary

YouTube via seriphimmagician.

duran duran - planet earth

YouTube via velvettapeoficial. Prophet 5.

Jan Hammer - Miami Vice Theme

YouTube via Ichnos71.

Synths and guns. What more could you ask for. A little Fairlight action. Note the gun on the Fairlight at the end. BTW, anyone know what that keytar is?

Limor Fried and her x0xb0x Synthesizer

Revver via thewhyy27. BTW, if the video skips too much, hit play, then pause and wait for some of it to load before starting. I'm finding this to be the case with Revver videos so far.

"Limor Fried and her x0xb0x Synthesizer - a conversation between hacker/artist Limor Fried ("Lady Ada") and Joi Ito with Phil Torrone of Make Magazine. Fried talks about her popular x0xb0x synthesizer kits, and the increasing elaborate revisioning of the product that's coming from her users. With Ito and Torrone, she proposes that this is a promising model for "open source physical objects" - extending the permitted hackability of software to hardware. This is an interview from South by Southwest: Interactive, in March 2006; the camera was held by Merci Hammon, the editor was Justin Hall, and Joi Ito was the executive producer - this is part of a series of videos released online from that event under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 license."

Love the Open Source reference. If you think about it, "open source physical objects" goes back to... well, back to the beginning of time. Utensils anyone?

Roland HPD-15

You might remember that I picked up a Yamaha DD55 for Christmas this year. I originally bought it to just drum out percussive rhythms. Well, I've been using the MIDI out to control my synths, and I must say it's surprisingly refreshing. I never really thought of it as an alternative MIDI controller. I've also found that I want to play it more with my hands rather than the included drum sticks. There is a "hand mode" that makes the pads more sensitive, however I haven't gotten accustomed to it yet and my fingers begin to get sore fairly quickly. Enter the Roland HPD-15. I haven't tried one yet, but it does look it would fit the bill perfectly. I'm hearing good things about it over on the Waldorf list. Title link takes you to the Roland product page for the HPD-15. I pulled the image from one of them up for auction. I'm bookmarking this one for later.

Update: Be sure to check out the comments of this post and actually all posts for more. Huppo sent the following to the the Waldorf list where there is some discussion on the HPD-15:

" I also have a Yamaha DD-50
(predecessor to the DD-55 and quite similar) and a Roland Handsonic
HPD-10, The HPD-10 is the little brother to the HPD-15. I only had to
try the Handsonic once at a music store and immediately went home and
ordered one...it's that cool. Like many people, I am a compulsive
tabletop/steering wheel/thigh/knee drummer and the handsonic is made for
people like me. The pads, unlike the DD-50, are very sensitive to even
very light finger tapping. I haven't MIDIed it into my setup yet because
I am having too much fun with it as a standalone instrument. I got it to
add assorted percussive tidbits to my music and it works fantastic for that.

Until you play one it's hard to understand how expressive it can be. If
you play congas, for example, you can mute it with one hand and it will
respond approriately. If you slap onto the 'rim' you will get the rim
shot sound. It has aftertouch, which can be set to do all kinds of
things such as bend the sound or initiate a roll. It has a D-beam at the
top which can be set to trigger a sound or bend the notes or introduce
effects, etc. It has 64 built in 'kits' ranging from regular drum sets
(jazz, brushes, etc) to ethnic percussion like tabla and assorted
African, Asian and drums (the HPD-10 specialty) to electronic sets to
special effects groupings. You can also assemble your own sets, with all
the PCM drum sounds tunable and reassignable to any of the 10 pads, etc.
You can add two floor pedal triggers to the HPD-10 to make itmore like a
drum set, but can NOT play it with sticks.

I got it for a little over $500, new. Cheaper than the HPD-15 but not as
cheap as the DD-55 at about $150. The inportant distinction muct be made
that the Handsonic is to be played with the hands (hence the name..) and
the DD-55 is designed to be played with sticks. The pads aren't
sensitive enough to play very expressively with your hands and are much
too hard! It is fun, though, and in a pinch can be used to imitate a
drum kit since two foot triggers are included. For the money it's a
great toy and tool to have around, but I wouldn't put it in the same
class as the Handsonic offerings.

~huppo"