Electro Harmonix Space Drum

via this auction.

You can find an online version with samples here.

SIMMONS SDS9

via this auction

Details:
"Simmons then made the SDS-7. It now featured digital sounds, rubber pads, and a sophisocated module. Simmons then made the SDS-8, a cheaper model with no digital sounds. Their next big leap was the SDS-9. This had real-sounding drums, changeable shells, and a new pad surface. The surface had more rebound. It also allowed the use of E-PROMS for the snare, rimshot, and crossstick sounds. It even had a built-in delay effect. The SDS-9 was popular due to its acoustically sampled snare sound which made it virtually indistinguishable from an acoustic kit.


The official description:
The SDS9 is a 5-drum kit, comprising bass, snare and 3 tom-toms, triggering up to 40 complete “drum kits” (20 factory and 20 programmable presets).

Hitting a specific pad triggers the corresponding channel on the ‘electronics’. A microprocessor controls the dynamic (or volume) of each individual ‘hit’ giving a sensitivity to playing previously unheard of in electronic drums: a ‘real’ drum feel, in fact!

The Simmons SDS9 gives you the sounds, feel and control of acoustic drums plus all the sounds and advantages of electronic drums.

To add to all this ‘reality’, the small pads (snare and toms) have a floating head, the snare also has a rim shot/cross stick facility and the bass pad is piston loaded – giving you the feel and playability of acoustic drums.

The SDS9 electronically synthesises the sounds of each drum. The bass, snare and toms use different methods of synthesis – each the most appropriate for the sound and control you require. The bass is software generated directly by the computer. The snare/rim are digital samples of acoustic drums. The tom-toms are synthesised using analogue circuitry. The tom also have unique ‘second skin’ switch to match the sound and response of a double headed acoustic tom.

The program/store memory facility allows you to build up your own drum sounds. These programmed sounds can be saved to tape, giving you almost limitless capacity to store new sounds, or recall previously stored sounds.

There is also a sophisticated automatic trigger that allows sounds to be reviewed without hitting the pads, and a mode where the drums can be triggered by button tapping.

The SDS9 is the first drum kit that has a built in MIDI interface. This is completely assignable in terms of voice changes and note values. By using the MIDI interface you can directly interface with many available keyboard synthesisers and play their voices from the pads. You can also use MIDI real time recorders/sequencers to record your playing and then playback the SDS9 exactly as you played it.

Another interesting feature of the SDS9 is its built in programmable echo. This programmable effect can be used for single slap-back echo or for long repeating echoes to produce stunningly unique rhythmic-ic-ic patterns and eff-eff-ects-ects.

We have done a lot of work using the latest high technology and computer aided design tools to develop the SDS9 – a new instrument, using new voicing techniques and new materials to give you everything any acoustic kit has to offer and much more besides – the kit that’s destined to add a whole new dimension to your art."

Rare Stockhausen Interview - Electronic Music?

Title link takes you to a post on Audio Lemon featuring a rare Stockhausen interview. It is well worth watching. In the beginning of the video there is what looks like a keyboard (pictured here - note the time it comes in when you check it out). It doesn't appear again in the video. Does anyone know what it is? Also, this is probably blasphemy to even throw this out there, but I find it fascinating how he and other composers who primarily used traditional instruments are considered to be the pioneers of electronic music. I understand the music composed is very akin to music composed on electronic instruments, and of course many of these composers use electronic instruments, but is the music truly electronic in essence, and did they compose their music specifically as electronic pieces? The same goes for many electronic music events that oddly rarely feature the synthesizer. What do you all think? : )

The Augmented Sculpture Project

YouTube via Chebwa. Hopefully this will redeem the last post. A little... Not directly synth related, but I want one of these for my synths. I wonder what was used for the audio in this.

"Created by Pablo Valbuena, it mixes a "volumetric base that serves as support for a second level, a virtual projected layer that allows controlling the transformation and sequentiality of space-time."

More info and a higher quality video here.

Finger Drums

yep...

Tangerine Dream - Ricochet live

YouTube via schafael. Interesting caption for the vid: "excerpt from live 1975 (famous fake)" Anyone know what the "famous fake" is in regards to? If you liked this vid also check out this.

Post Updates

In case you missed it, be sure to check out the following updates:

New Dry Samples of the Formant Kit Modular and links to scanned books with all the circuits

Navs' Modular Lab - The Clash of the VCOs! - New 24bit AIFFs (clicks removed)

Scroll when you get to each and look for Update in red. Don't miss these.

music to play in the dark

flickr by cray5656.

Click here for the full sized shot.

Another synth in the dark, this one via ghostdog in the comments of this post.

Guess the synths.

Quasimidi 309

Title link takes you to shots via this auction.

Details:
"It has the audio expansion which turns the 309 into a powerful production machine due to its capability to seperate the parts to their own outs. It has the drum expansion and the synth expansion. It also has the latest os 3.00a.

I've made with the 309, you can visit my myspace page: Listen to the song called (mini). The drums are the 309 and the synth parts are a polymorph. Believe it or not, I recorded this live and did not add effects or process it in any way. The 309 allows you to assign patterns to the 18 buttons (pads) on the sequencer, so you can set up a song and move through it live by pressing each pad as you progress. This is how I made this song. Anyway, I guess what I'm trying to say is, don't doubt the 309, it's not only alot of fun, but extremely powerful and versatile if you dig into it. These are pictures of the actual 309. The readouts show the os version, and the expansions, (I/O) = In/Out, (D) = Drum, (S) = Synth. Beautiful."

15-front

flickr by GermanDragon.

MOOG Model 15

click here for the full sized shot.