MATRIXSYNTH

Ableton Live 7

Click here for the full announcement.

"New Ableton Instruments

The new add-on instruments are the result of Ableton's collaboration with leading industry partners. The palette covers physically modeled electric pianos, analog synthesizers and string instruments as well as multi-mic/multi-layer sampled acoustic drums, drum machines, orchestral strings, brass, woodwinds and percussion. The instruments integrate tightly with Live, both in terms of workflow and resource management.

Tension is a physical modeling string synthesizer that allows you to create incredibly accurate reproductions of real instruments or design otherworldly hybrids.

Electric offers the sounds of classic electric pianos through physical modeling synthesis, allowing you to dive inside and play with the guts of the instrument.

Analog emulates the unique circuitry and irresistible tweakability of vintage analog synthesizers. Able to produce everything from silky pad sweeps to earth-shaking bass."

Billy Corgan joins effort to create Moog museum

"Billy Corgan is lending a hand to preserve the musical legacy of electronic synthesizer pioneer Bob Moog by creating a museum about his life and work.

The Smashing Pumpkins frontman is working with the Bob Moog Foundation to establish the museum and scholarships in his name.

'I believe Bob Moog to be one of the great visionaries of our time," said Corgan in a statement.

'His ideas far transcend use in just music, and to this day continue to have impact in everything from rock to rap to quantum physics. I strongly believe many people all over the world would benefit from being able to interact with the thoughts, ideas, inventions, and life of Dr. Moog.'"

full story on NME

Update via minimi123:
"according to a very reliable source, bon harris of nitzer ebb fame did the synth programming on billy corgan's album thefutureembrace, and they used a lot of doepfer a100 and roland system 100 as well as analog drum machines.
i really like this album, which is quite different from corgans work with the smashing pumpkins. his involvement in this moog museum comes as no surprise to me.

here's an article on bon's work with the smashing pumpkins from back in 98:
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/aug98/articles/bonharris.html"

Thomas Ankersmit's Serge Modular

via Michael

"this is one of a few shots I took of Thomas Ankersmit's Serge modular with custom interface. The pics are from the Adventures in Modern Music festival in Chicago last week."

Update: one more image below.

Laurie Anderson - O Superman

YouTube via bchfj. Anyone know what synths and vocoder she used for this track?
via Phoebe.
"Aside from making music, she is also credited with a couple of inventions: the tape bow violin, and the talking stick, which uses granular synthesis. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurie_anderson#Inventions"

Update:

MINIMOOG Keychain

via :::Wetdragoon:::

"Minimoog Keys Holder, merchandising item from Arturia. Made of soft rubber, this pretty stuff is very well made and detailed. Strange pots however!"

Minimoog Key ring

silkworm

YouTube via tn800. Follow-up to this post, via daddio.
"in a box with supercollider" via skatter: "That's Takeko Akamatsu"

Theremin's cello meditation

YouTube via sidecars
"Engels Theremin Cello recreation set to an Indian drone. I didnt practice.... I Just improvised along to the drone. Really just something so you can see and hear something about this instrument."
BTW, the Theremin Cello made an appearance at this year's PNW Synth Gathering. You can see pictures of it here and some of the other sets posted here.

The medical effect of nukes

YouTube via sidecars.
"1950's film on what not to fear about nukes. New soundtrack using malletkat, tbk1 from h-pi.com and pc2r. The TBK-1 allows reassignment of notes and pitches. I had the settings "wrong", but it gave the film the warbly soundtrack of a broken film from the 50s. Cool device. I also used a continuum from Haken feeding a v-synth xt."

Roland GR-700 Guitar Synth

YouTube via Analogger.
"I've been meaning to do this for awhile. I scrolled thru some of the factory presets. I'm not really a guitar player but I got the GR-700 to do ambient textures and fat pads, etc. The GR-700 has the same synth engine as the JX-3P but has a more "organic" sound because each string can send pitch bend so you can get a really nice slight de-tuning. Two digitally controlled oscillators per string and a fat 24db analog filter. I used the G-707 guitar controller. The only effect was some dealy from an Alesis Quadraverb."

Also see:
Roland GR-300 guitar synth
Super Fat Analog Roland Guitar Synth Video