Casio SK-1

Click here for shots via this auction.

"Dual Mounted Modified Devices Offer a Fully Modular Independently Arrayed Open Patch System With Momentary Engage Buttons, Selectable Engagable Step Busses, & a Versatile Variable Speed / Length / Step / Patch Sequencer System with Unusual Timing Features like the Chaos Modifier, Freeze, & Freeze & Step Settings. Simply Put This Crazy Thing Will Generate All Manner of Unique Raymond Scott Karloff & Electronium Or Krell Musical Effects that Will Blow You Mind ! Patch Your other gear Right in with Ease and Use Any Part Of the Sequencer System to Glitch or Cross Glitch Any Number Of Bent Devices in Tru e modern Modular Synth Style. 1950's Retro Sci-Fi Modern."

Oberheim OB-Xa

Title link takes you to shots via this auction.

"Oberheim OBXA 8-voice vintage analog synthesizer with 120 programs upgrade and full midi kit"

Synthesizers.com State Variable Filter

via this auction.

"Synthesizers dotcom Q107 filter module in PRISTINE condition. I think this module has more sonic presence than the Moog ladder filter which is quite evident as you turn up the resonance - there's still a lot of bottom end. In addition to Low Pass, you get High Pass, Band Pass, and Notch. All outputs can be used simulatenously."

Godin LGXT Guitar Synth

Title link takes you to shots via this auction.

"Godin LGXT with a very nice Godin hardshell case. Cosmetically this guitar has a couple of minor dings, and some typical light pick marks, but I would rate it at least a 9/10. It has been professionally setup and plays like a dream! You will not find a better synth guitar, but this is also a monster when played as a normal electric guitar. This combination of fast synth tracking and a tremolo system makes for incredible sonic power and delivers it in a very user-friendly, eye-pleasing package. Exquisitely playable with surprising resonance and a vibrant natural tone, the LGXT pairs an ergocut mahogany neck with a sleek and smooth ebony fingerboard and a silverleaf maple body topped by figured maple. The LGXT has dual Seymour Duncan humbuckers a Jazz II in the neck position and a Duncan-modified Custom Custom in the bridge position; a Godin exclusive. The custom RMC X-Bridge fires the piezo transducer output and the excellent synth-tracking system. You can find even more specs on this guitar at Godin's website." Anyone know what the sliders do?

Korg X-911 and a Poll

The following is via Sir Ruff on VSE:

"well, I don't normally write about anything new I get, but this this just showed up today and kind of blew me away. I really didn't expect it to sound so damn raw and vintage, but I guess it is essentially components of a ms-20 in a pseudo-preset box. I frankly can't ever see this being used as a guitar synth-the bass is so massive, even with just one oscillator preset on, it would be silly not to use it for this. there is just enough resonance on the filter to achieve the perfect "phwoah" sound... very rude! Twisted Evil totally unlike any filter I have used before-again I assume this is part of the ms-20 legacy... Actually this would be a perfect addition to a ms-10/20 setup due to all the inputs for pitch/filter/lfo/portamento... I guess there were special pedals you could buy for this, but surely other connections would work as well? Failing this, I will at least be able to connect it to my cs15 for some 3 osc madness.

Unfortunately, I don't have a manual, and there's none on the net, so if anyone happens to know the inner workings of the "touch sense" parameter, and others, I'd like to hear!"

And the Poll... I frequently come across mini reviews like this on various forums and... I find them interesting. On the one hand it could just be a reflection of someone's joy in picking up a new synth, but on the other it is a perspective on the new synth. And... I have seen dissapointment as well. The poll, or rather my question to you is, should I put this stuff up when I come across it? It is fascinating in that you get to see one person's reaction to a given synth, but would you consider it worth posting here? On a forum, of course it makes sense. The comment in this mini review that stood out as interesting to me was the following: "I guess it is essentially components of a ms-20 in a pseudo-preset box." The X-911, guitar synth, consisting of MS20 components. Is this correct? Of course if you know it not to be, you are free to correct this statement in the comments here and/or on the thread as well. The thing with the VSE thread is that it will eventually disappear - inactive threads there will eventually expire. Let me know if you think I should post these one of mini reviews via the poll below. Note that I am completely on the fence on this one and normally I would not put this up unless someone sent it in for a post. So if you vote no, I will not take offense to it.

SAW Synth

For the ultimate sawtooth wave.

Actually it's a theremin. Title link takes you to more info on fotosis.

Porting the XT Waves to Zebra

via suthnear via this KVR post.

"Since it looks as if Urs has fixed the 16 slot oscillator loading bug I'm now going to convert all the microwave xt wavetables to z2 oscillators. However, I can't just convert the wavetables themselves - they often have more than 16 waves. I'll definitely convert all the individual waveshapes from the xt's wavebank and bang them into z2 tables 16 at a time. There are 100s of them so this will mean many, many new oscillators. This is how I converted the prophet vs waveshapes to z2. However, there is not necessarily a relationship between contiguous waves in the wavebank. Relationships are handled by the wavetables which group individual waveshapes (wavetables are just a set of pointers into the wavebank) . So sweeping z2's table may lead to discontinuities. Also, since there's no way to copy individual waves between oscillators, it'll be tricky to build up your own wavetables using the sounds.

I'll try and create z2 versions of the wavetables themselves - i.e. pick the most characteristic waves in a wavetable and rebuild the wavetable itself as a z2 oscillator (using z2's interpolation where necessary). For the wavetables with 16 waves or fewer this will be trivial. However, for the tables with more than 16 waves, this will be manual and therefore will take some time. Any other suggestions for this?

Also, I don't have any web space - can anyone recommend a decent hassle free hosting service. As noted, I also have the prophet vs waves..."

You can find the waves at the post.
More info on Zebra here. This one sent my way via Greg 'Bug' Strutton.

Vermona vs. Analog Solutions Demo

Title link takes you to the mp3. Via Mark of cold hand murr.

"Red Square, DRM1mkii, and Perfourmer wired up together in a way I'm sure I'll never be able to reproduce... i.e., all sound sources are realtime analog. Recorded in one take with a bunch of frantic knob traffic.

Vermona DRM1mkii, Vermona Perfourmer, Analogue Solutions Red Square, Lexicon MPX-550 (verb and trem), Akai MPC1000 (sequencing), MAM SLE 82, Echo AudioFire 2"

Studio Electronics ATC-1 Demos

A few videos sent my way via Mr. Array. Note a couple of these are just still images for the audio demo. The ARP Little bother in the first vid is not what you are hearing; it's the ATC-1 that you hear.

Bach Little Prelude BWV 934


"Ok, the last one. I apologize for the mistakes, but that's what I could record while I'm at home recovering from a cold. I played a Studio Electronics ATC-1 from the CME UF6, with Lexicon PCM-60 reverb, Echo indigo I/O, Cubase, iSight with iMovieHD."

Playng with a monophonic Synth


YouTubes via marcelojohann. I actually found this one checking out the rest of his videos and thought I'd include it. Be sure to check out the rest.
"This is a music of my own, actually a simple theme that I like and keep improvising over, but it has no defined begin, ending or structure. Here I'm playing it on a monophonic synth, interleaving notes and using a lot of reverb to give them sustain..."

Studio Electronics SE-1


YouTube via chriszanf.
"This is my SE-1. Im just messing about with a simple bassline and 1 bar of drums. There was only 1 other video of an SE-1 and that was broken/munted but still played. [its in the 'related' below] Ill post more later as Ive just got my studio together finally!!"

The Oakley Sound Orbital

"The Orbital is a classic three VCO monosynth with powerful features. It uses the same tried and tested circuits as the Oakley Modular System. It has the same powerful huge sound but in a more compact and classic format.

My design brief was simple. To build a superb analogue monosynth for musicians using existing Oakley PCBs and to fit it all in a 4U rack. It had to be simple to operate, yet flexible enough to keep virtually everyone happy. So what has the Orbital got to offer:

Three VCOs. Each oscillator is the Oakley 'One of three' VCO with sine, triangle, pulse and sawtooth available simultaneously. An ingenious mixing system keeps the overall volume level the similar as the waveforms are switched in and out. Synchronisation is provided so that VCO 2 and/or VCO 3 can be synched to VCO1. VCO2 can have its pulse width modulated by one of the ADSRs. While VCO 3 can have its pitch swept by the envelope generator, for powerful lead sync sounds."

Title link takes you to more info and images on the Oakley site.