The Last New MacBeth M5 in the US - Priceless

At Analogue Haven.

via Andy_Squirrel.

Top 20 Wierdest Instruments On Sonic State

"Voting starts today as we countdown towards our next IPTV series, the Top 20 Weirdest Instruments. And it's not just synths - you can vote for acoustic instruments, outboard effects, circuit bendery, software, even toys - in fact anything that makes a sound and is truly strange will be considered for the shortlist.

Sonicstate.com has featured lots of strange instruments in news stories and videos from NAMM and MESSE, as well as frequent visits to Jack Waterson's Future Music shop in LA. So what is the attraction of weird technology? "Everyone is fascinated by odd-looking gear that makes weird and wonderful noises," says Simon Power who produced the recently broadcast 'Top 20 Greatest Synths' IPTV series, "when you hear something new and different on a recording it really makes you sit up and listen. We'll be featuring some very leftfield gear in this show. And now that it's possible to emulate lots of these sounds, I think it's interesting to see the hardware origins. Hopefully the programme will inspire the viewers to seek out some of these amazing instruments."

The series will feature more exclusive interviews with producers, musicians and users as well as instrument demos and film footage. "This series is less chart-based than 'Top 20 Greatest Synths'. It will have a different feel to it with a lot of emphisis on the instruments," says Power. "We've already lined up some interviews that I'm really excited about. I can't wait to get started. It's great fun putting these series together for Sonic."

"We always try to push the boundaries a bit, but we were really surprised by the popularity of the show, adds series cameraman and Sonicstate co-founder Andy McCreeth. "It was interesting to see how passionate some of the chatroom discussions about chart positions were too We'll be interviewing more musicians, producers, and hopefully some of the inventors behind some truly oddball instruments - I'm really looking forward to it."

As usual the shows will be presented by 'Professor Marc Norris' who's eccentric comments and links became a feature of the recent Top 20 Synths series. But how did he get involved with Sonic State? "Those fine fellows at Sonic found me on YouTube drifting around in Cyberspace," said the Professor (AKA actor and comedian Marc Norris), "I've always had a great passion for electronic music and I was very excited about being asked to present the show."

The Top 20 Greatest Synths links were recorded at the Sonic offices in a single day as Marc was due back on stage for an evening performance. "It was all a bit of a rush, but I had great fun working with Simon and Andy. We had a script but we sometimes just wandered off to see where it would take us."

And what can we expect from the professor in the new series? "I think we'll be seeing more facets of the professor's twisted personality. He's a great character to play with, but leaving him behind at the studio is becoming more and more of a struggle for me!"

The weird instruments to be included will be decided by a combination of voting and the choices of the people interviewed. There will also be suggestions from the Sonic staff and a few unexpected surprises thrown in for entertainment value!

So vote now for your top 3 weirdest instruments of all time, and remember, it's your vote that counts!

Links
Weirdest Instruments Voting
Top Twenty Synths"

Sequential Circuits Prophet 10

Title link takes you to more shots and interesting bits of info including bodhisattva, butteryfly and gnome silkscreens on the PCBs.

via Stephen

Hands Off 2007

"Some news from the UK... A group of UK thereminists have organised a weekend-long theremin get-together for the end of July just outside London, and have now made tickets available.

Cost is £150 for the whole event, which includes meals and 3 nights' accommodation.

So far we have got the great Lydia Kavina booked to do a masterclass, as well as Jon Bernhardt (of The Lothars - who has a nice 'Video Killed The Radio Star' on Youtube), Barbara Bucholz and Carolina Eyck appearing in concert. There will be demonstrations by commercial theremin makers, workshops and individual tuition available. All in all a must for anyone serious about the theremin - beginners and experienced players alike.

And just to sweeten the pot - anyone booking before June (with a 50% deposit) will be entered into a prize draw for a Prosonus Firepod!

Full details at - http://www.theremin.org.uk"

via Jonathan Bisset.

keybdwizrd - NightLife (original composition)

YouTube via keybdwizrd

"Instruments used: Virus TI Polar, Moog LP, Roland JV1080, Waldorf Micro Q, MOTU MachFive Sampler."

Roland JX-8P

Title link takes you to shots via this auction. I chose these for the post to show an interesting accessory that came with both the Roland JX-8P and JX-10 - a magnetic strip that you could place virtually anywhere accross the surface of the synth. The strip on the JX-8P contained the "Preset Sound Chart" while on the JX-10 it contained the "Edit Map" for setting up the dual synth engines in the JX-10. The JX-10 is virtually two JX-8Ps although many who have had time with both state they sound different - the JX-8P being warmer and more raw, and the JX-10 cleaner and more refined. If you have had experience with both, feel free to share your opinion on this in the comments. Both synths had the "Tone Edit Map" printed on the surface of the synth containing individual voice parameters including OSC, Filter, ENV, and LFO settings. You can see this in the second image. Note this was not a magnetic strip and was actually printed on the surface. BTW, I checked my image archives and couldn't find any real close-ups of either the magnetic strips or the "Tone Edit Map." If you know of any feel free to comment.

KORG Wavestation Expansion Cards

Title link takes you to shots of various KORG Wavestation Card Sets via these auctions. Pictured is the WSC-3S "SYNTH and TIME SLICE" 2 Card Set.

Details:
"These card sets are rare and highly sought after because of the PCM waveform data they contain. This is the easiest way to add new Multisounds to your synth and thus increase it's sonic capabilities.

The SYNTH and TIME SLICE Sound Card Set consist of a WSC-3 (PCM) card and a WPC-3 (Program) card. The cards contains 49 Performances, 34 Patches, and 31 Wave Sequences."

The others include:
WSC-1S "Piano"
WPC-15 "DANCE/TOP 40"
WPC-14 "ANALOG & VS"
WPC-13 "PERFORMANCE 3"

All contain 49 Performances, 34 Patches, and 31 Wave Sequences.

I'm guessing these were released for the original Wavestation and included in the ROMs of the later Wavestations and the newer Korg Legacy Wavestation. If anyone knows, feel free to comment.

Tyco Hot Keyz

Title link takes you to shots via this auction.

Lightning Bolt Keytar. The buttons and volume knobs remind me of Waldorf. I love the old album, cards and speaker in these shots as well.

Yamaha SK50D

images via this auction

Roland Jupiter-4

Title link takes you to shots via this auction.
Details:
"The synth's oscillators are switchable between sawtooth, square and square with PWM waveforms. and include a sub-oscillator and noise generator. All 4 oscillators can be stacked together for a fat, monophonic sound. In the filter section, the Jupiter-4 offers a hi-pass VCF, as well as a resonant low-pass filter. There are two ADSR envelope generators - one for the VCF (invertable) and the other is for VCA. The LFO features sine, square and ramp up/down waveforms, with sample/hold. It can be routed to the VCO, VCF, VCA or PWM. The Chorus button doubles the fatness of the synth sounds..."