MATRIXSYNTH

James Joyce Wallpaper

Title link takes you to more including more info on Music Thing.

Xpander Shootout - USA vs. Japan

Via Matt
"I had an xpander here for service last week, a Japanese version like mine. At the same time, a friend brought over his US made version, and for no other reason than nerdy synth-geek gratification, we racked the three up together as in the photos. While we had them all together we thought we would test the Japan made models vs the US made model. There has been much speculation in recent times as to the comparitive quality of the different units.
So the test was a very simple one, we loaded Kid Nepro preset banks on each machine via sysex, daisy chained midi through them and A/Bd the output from each unit.. The result was immediately very obvious.. no difference in sound whatsover. We tested various patches.. pads, percussive sounds, bass sounds, fx etc.. there was no difference in envelope times, tone, brightness, thickness or fatness, resonance or anything else. We were rather surprised how identical the units sounded considering the board layouts are quite different. I expected some difference in the sound between the units, but there was none, to our ears anyway. So there you go. It could of course be said that other units may sound different to the three we had racked up.. We didnt do any recording or any scientific testing.
Some other xpander trivia, aside from what I have read before.. the US version has nicer wood sides, the jacks on the rear of the US version are black as opposed to silver in the Japan versions. The rotary encoders on the US version click louder and do not roll as smoothly/softly as the Japan version encoders.
Lastly it is written in Xpander folklore that the Japanese power supply is of poor quality and made from cheese. After very careful scrutiny I can say that the Japanese power supplies were not of poor quality, but I can confirm however that the power supply in the Japanese version is indeed made from cheese.. very tasty.. "

Roar Studio

via catsynth.com.

Forat

No new news here, I just realized that although I've put posts up featuring Forat gear, I've never put one up on the site itself. For those of you not familiar with Forat, from the history page on the site: "Since 1982, Bruce and Ben Forat have provided the entertainment community with first-class music electronics. Since 1986 they have provided service, parts, and modifications to all Linn Electronics products. They revamped the original line including the LinnDrum, LM-1, and LinnSequencer and introduced the world to the F-9000." Title link takes you there.

DIY M NES CONTROL

YouTube via donaconfuse.
"Mister DIY M NES CONTROL is cool. by Anagram. asquelo(at)yahoo(dot)fr"

via Axel
"the DIY M nes CONTROL is my creation
PAD NINTENDO NES WITH MIDI IMPLANTATION"

MISTER E's VINTAGE TAPE DELAY ECHO BOX

YouTube via AMOKIAN. via AudioLemon.
Guess the synth.

YAMAHA DX7 II CENTENNIAL

via this auction.
"1988) CELEBRATION OF HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY OF YAMAHA
- Programmable 6-operator x 2 (A & B) 32-algorithm digital FM tone generator (improvements include enhanced MIDI support, stereo panning, 6 envelope generators and enhanced 16-bit circuitry)
- Independent 8-parameter envelope generator for each operator
- 64-voice internal RAM memory and 64-performance memory
- Split and Layer mode
- Microtonality

- Random patch shift allowing slight pitch changes
- Fractal scaling
- Cartridge slot for ROM and RAM cartridges - different type than the original DX-7 (64 voices capacity)
- 76-key velocity and after-touch sensitive keyboard
- 40 character two line backlit display
- 32-note polyphonic stereo output (2 x 16 voices)
- Sustain footswitch, portamento footswitch, volume and modulation controllers and breath controller inputs.
- Additional slider controller
- MIDI IN/OUT/THRU terminals
- A real rarity made for collectors - limited edition(100 ), all pieces were signed and numbered.
- The instrument has steel gray colour. Wheels, buttons and sliders are gold paint. The keys glow in the dark .
- Original price was $4.000, recent price is around $6.000"

Sent my way via Mr IWC