Livewire Synthesizer Modules at NAMM

Title link takes you to the video on Amateur Chemist. I'm a sucker for blinky lights. Check out the Chaos Computer's matrix of lights.

Analog Bach - Marco Rosano

Title link takes you to a new page on the Rhodes Chroma site featuring composer Marco Rosano. He recently finished an album featuring Bach performed completely on a Rhodes Chroma. You will find info on Marco, the album, and his thoughts on the synthesizer as a musical instrument. He asks the age old question on whether it is an instrument in the truest sense. Before I scoffed at the question even being asked, I realized what he was talking about. He wasn't talking about the fact that it produces sound, but rather the sounds you create are instruments in and of themselves. He states:

"One morning, I woke up and I decided to create a new musical instrument; I started up my synthesizer and I built a musical instrument that did not exist before, with unique and unrepeatable features, with miltiple human-machine interfaces, with original timbric properties, new sounds, new emotions never felt before."

This was exactly the epiphany I had discovering my first synth, an Oberheim Matrix-6 back in 1986. At first, like many getting into synths, I thought of it as a keyboard/piano device with a multitude of synth sounds. I went through the presets and then started going under the hood. I thought what a great instrument. Then it clicked. It's not one instrument. Each sound was technically its own instrument. Each sound depending on how it was programmed could be played with a completely different technique. I then realized a synthesizer was not just a device that could be used to synthesize sound, but it could actually create brand new instruments never heard before. That realization blew me away. The Matrix-6 has velocity, release velocity, aftertouch, RAMP generators, Tracking generators, 3 Envelopes, 3 LFOs and more, all available as sources in it's Matrix Modulation. Depending on what and how you assigned these modulators, you in effect had to learn how to play the sound. For example, I'd set the release velocity to extend the release so when releasing keys slowly, the sound would sustain, and while releasing them quickly the sound would cut off immediately. I developed different techniques for different patches - and I of course realized it's not a piano! (I actually put up a post about this back on July 25, 2005). Update: On the flip side, I often come back to a patch I programmed and think, "what the heck was I thinking?!" It usually takes some effort to rediscover the magic behind the patch and how it was created. Usually it's just an evolution of technique and sound as I just get lost playing something.

So, the next time you program your synth, try creating a new instrument.

The image in this post was taken from Marco's MySpace page. It reminds me of the duality between sound and instrument. And the Rhodes Chroma? I finally got to play one. With it's modulation capabilities, the weighted wooden keyboard and its rich analog sound, it is one of the most expressive synthesizers I have ever played if not the most expressive. Listen to some of the tracks by Marco and hear some of what it is capable of. Listen for the subtleties. An instrument like that is a dream to play.

EML Electrocomp 500

Click here for shots via this auction

"The EML 500 was a response to the popular trend towards compact performance synthesizers set by the Minimoog and ARP Odyssey. The EML 500 is a monophonic analog synthesizer with dual VCOs like the Odyssey for a nice thick sound. However it is no match for the Minimoog's 3 oscillators. Nice and evenly distributed sliders and switches are laid out across the top of the keyboard for easy access to all editable parameters in a true and obviously analog programmable synthesizer. The knobs and patch cords of modulars like its bigger brother, the EML 101 as well as the classic ARP 2600 and Moog 3C systems were coming to an end with the rise of these easier to use performance synthesizers.

Typical analog parameters can be found and controlled straight from the knobs and sliders above the 44-note keyboard. The dual VCOs offer square, sawtooth and noise waveforms. There is a simple VCA envelope section with controls for attack, sustain and decay (ADS). The VCF section is very nice with switchable low-pass, band-pass and hi-pass filtering, resonance but no external audio input capability. The LFO can generate some great modulation possibilities with 6-waveform shapes to choose from. Other features include sample-and-hold, a ring modulator, octave up/down switching, a sustain pedal input and CV/Gate external control. Also, the unique thing about this synth is that by use of the scale slider, it can play microtonally as well as in equal temperament across the keyboard.

As far as truly analog vintage monophonic synthesizers go, the EML 500 is an elegant yet inexpensive alternative to similar machines that will not let you down when it comes to sounds, flexibility and programmability. It's been used by DEVO--It's the 'Whip-it' sound!"

Waldorf Pulse Plus

Title link takes you to shots pulled via this auction.

KORG X-911

Title link takes you to shots pulled via this auction.

Quasimidi Sirius

Click here for shots via this auction.

Details:
"Polyphony: 28 voices
Oscillators: 2 osc per voice : 128 synth waves, 365 drum and percussion samples
Filter: 24dB and 12dB slopes, Hi and Low pass filters with resonance and overdrive
Effects: FX1: reverbs, stereo delays. FX2: chorus, flanger, delays; vocoder
Arpeg/Sequencer: 16 pattern arpeggiator / 7 track sequencer with tap tempo
Keyboard: 49 velocity sensitive keys
Memory: 384 patches (288 preset, 96 user), 16 vocoder patches, 20 percussion kits
Control: MIDI (7 parts, 3 synth and 4 drums)

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EML 101

Title link takes you to shots pulled via this auction.

Fantasy Jack Palance Synths

Title link takes you there. Synths currently listed: Roland SC-50, Roland A-30, Yamaha TX81Z, Roland D-110, Yamaha CS-5, Roland Juno 6, Korg DSS-1, Moog Micromoog, Roland JX3P, PG-200 Programmer, Jen SX-1000, Alesis DM-5, Akai S3000XL, Line 6 Pod XT, Yamaha AN1X, Sequential Circuits SixTrak, Vox Continental Organ, Moog Minimoog, Clavia Nord Micro Modular, MAM VF11 Vocoder.

Analog-Lab X-32

This is why I grab Ebay shots. Someone on the AH list mentioned a vocoder by Analog-Lab called the Analog-Lab X-32. I went over to the Analog-Lab website and it's under construction, no images or info on their products. I did a quick Google search, and the first result was this auction. I went to check it out and the auction is long gone along with the images. Fortunately there are images via Google images but they all appear to be stock.

That aside. Title link takes you Analog-Lab. Anyone know what other products if any they might have?

Update: More images of the XS32

Waldorf Zarenbourg Explained - WNAMM '07

Title link takes you to the video on Gearwire. That's Axel Hartmann on the left. He designed the look and feel of synths for such manufacturers as Access, Waldorf, MOOG, and of course his own Hartmann Neuron. I believe that is Stefan Stenzel on the right, but he said it so fast I'm not 100% sure. : )

The Zarenbourg uses physical modeling and not samples. It is being touted as a players keyboard with basic editing on the panel and more extensive editing via software. You will be able to edit and save your own custom patches. I'm a synthesist at heart, but there is something attractive about letting go of the editing and just playing the sound that's there in front of you.