MATRIXSYNTH

Crumar Bit One Demo

Title link takes you to the mp3.

via sequencer.de

Moog

flickr by manuwonka

click here for the full size shot

MOOG Liberation

more shots

Title link takes you to Innovative Synthesis a blog on synthesis techniques and more. Currently posts include Basic Sound Synthesis: Part 7 – Miscellaneous Stuff, and Basic Sound Synthesis: Part 6 - Arpeggiators and Sequencers. Be sure to check out the previous posts when you get there.

"I have recently started a new website with articles on sound synthesis, and could do with more exposure to readers for ideas for future articles. I have just finished a guide of basic subtractive synthesis, and have more advanced & historical articles lined-up for the future."

Feel free to send your suggestions there.

Synth.nl

Image via synth.nl where you'll find a ton of synth information including shots, music, details on various synths, and more.

Armitage Shanks Military Grade Modular Synth

"mostly made up of old industrial & military generators, etc. many of which are labeled “Property of NASA” or 'Dept. of the Navy'"

Click here for one more shot on Deviant Synth.

The shot below? Oscilloscopes at the The Black Hole / Los Alamos Sales Company (click for more images). Now that would be worth a visit... Additional links and info here.

MOTM with Marimba Lumina

flickr by Max Lord.

Title link takes you to more info including more shots. Be sure to click on the "All Sizes" link for the full size when you get there.

Salamander Music Systems

via Wavedeform in the comments of this post. I actually posted about the SMS website back on 7/12/2006. You can find all SMS posts I've put up here. Note there are three SMSes: Synthetic Music Systems, makers of the SMS MARS analog synth, Salamander Music Systems, and of course the fake SMS 2000. That said, here is the following via Wavedeform. Be sure to check out the site.

"My rather sparse Salamander site can be found here.

Salamander Music Systems (SMS) was started by Dennis Saputelli, an amazing designer. For its entire history SMS also manufactured lighting consoles, which was a much more lucrative business. Pretty much everyone involved with SMS was into it for synth-geek reasons, though, and saw the lighting stuff as the necessary evil that needed to be done to finance the synth stuff.

I worked at Salamander from roughly 1977-1985. The goal was to build the no-compromise synthesizer we all wanted. This meant that we were somewhat more expensive than a lot of systems of that era. At one point we had some pens made up that read: "SMS - When you don't care _how_ much it costs." There were a handful of (mostly large) modular systems shipped, and somewhere between 30-50 Voice 400s. Quite a lot of custom work was done also. For example, Mike Cotten of "The Tubes" had a bunch of SMS stuff, including a cool custom sequencer.

The modular was really amazing for its time. It used high quality sub-modules for all of its core functions. We started out using EMu sub-modules for the 97 Dual Oscillator, 147 UAF, and maybe one other module (I seem to remember a four pole LPF, too). The EMu modules were really expensive, and hard to get, so early on we designed our own sub-modules, some discrete, some based on SSM and Curtis chips.

The power distribution was perhaps overkill, but it also had significant advantages. Basically, there is a system wide, loosely regulated, +/- 18 VDC, and +9 VDC power supply. Each module has it's own local regulators to bring that down to +/- 15 VDC and +5 VDC. Because a module has its own power supply, it can be swapped around from system to system without the need for re-calibration. It also spread the heat around more evenly. The 1" modules didn't really have room for regulators, so they had their own regulated distribution scheme.

The Voice 400 was also really nice, but came out a little after the Prophet V, and a little before the DX-7; polyphony was the order of the day. A great sounding programmable monosynth, even with a programmable analog delay, was not what people wanted. I had one music store salesman tell me, flat out, that effects in a synthesizer were a bad idea, and that no one would want them. It turns out that they may, in reality, be a bad idea, but everyone wants them, anyway :-).

After SMS had been selling systems for a few years, Serge Systems relocated from Hollywood to San Francisco, just across town. There was a good natured rivalry between Darrell Johansen, Paul Young and the crew from Serge, and the SMS crew. If the respective companies were bigger, and we weren't all pasty-skinned synth-geeks, we would have had rival baseball teams or something. I had been a Serge user, as had Salamander user Naut Humon, currently of Asphodel/Recombinant Media Lab, and his bandmate at that time in "Rhythm & Noise", Rex Probe. Rex was also affiliated with SMS, doing assembly mostly, but a little design, too. Somehow illustrating the cycles of life is the fact that Rex is currently running Serge Modular.

Dennis Saputelli is still doing some lighting stuff, but mostly he does custom design and assembly, on an OEM basis. His company is called Integrated Controls http://integratedcontrolsinc.com/ , and is still in the same warehouse as the Salamander of old. Since I worked there, he has expanded into all the available space on the first floor of the building, and seems to be doing well."

Top 5 Greatest Samplers

Looks like Sonic State has a new Top X coming. This time samplers. BTW, what happened to the Top 20 Weirdest Instruments? Hmm... Maybe they're saving that one for Halloween.

Click here for the trailer for the Top 5 Samplers. Feel free to share your top 5 in the comments. It'll be interesting to see how this one turns out.

via HarriL

A little poll for fun, and no I don't know the answer for this one.

More info on the Amen Break

TRY - experimental mailing list

"there is a new mailing list called TRY for experimental electronics / art. its intended to be sort of an all encompassing mesh of new audio device announcements, idea exchange, bender Q and A, pedal / synth builder announcements, live show announcements, parts trading post...… you get the idea."

Title link takes you to more info and the sign up on Synthwire.