When One Yamaha CS80 is Not Enough

Image of Vangelis via Vangelis Movements.

Update via Doug in the comments:
"Do they have his ass mic'ed up or something? Look closely at the largest frame... "

Nice catch. Good thing its not a cup.

The Ensoniq VFX - "Vintage Digital"

Carbon111 just put up an Ensoniq VFX Page. His pages are always informative filled with info and images, so do check it out.

"A recent discussion got me thinking about older synths that are overlooked, still very powerful and available dirt-cheap these days. The one that came first to my mind is the wonderful Ensoniq VFX released back in 1989. It was the synth that followed up their hugely popular ESQ-1 and SQ-80 models and had more "features" but has now faded to general obscurity. Its current disfavor probably stems from the fact that it was Ensoniq's first all-digital synth and the User Interface looks rather uninviting - a forgivable misconception as you will soon see.

...you could do things like sweep the flanger with an envelope or modulate delay time with an LFO, syncing FX to the rest of the synthesizer - this was an Ensoniq "trademark" feature that they continued in their subsequent synthesizers."

Also posted on SYNTHWIRE.

Polyphony Magazine

"The years from 1975-85 saw electronic music realize the promise of the previous decades as monophonic voltage controlled synthesizers evolved into the polyphonic, multi-timbral music workstations of today. The pages of Polyphony magazine documented this time of great change with innovative DIY and theory articles, interviews with the artists and engineers who helped shape the future and much more.

There are a limited number of copies of less than 20 issues of Polyphony remaining, far too few to continue offering a complete set at a reduced price. This page will soon have the list of back issues that are still available and the complete list of all Polyphonys and their table of contents. Archive copies are available for photocopying either completely or by article."

Available via PAiA. Also check out Synapse.

Press Cafe

YouTube via stretta. Don't miss the cat at the end.
"A demostration of a quick monome 256 music application I wrote."
Also see this search for stretta. You can do this for others as well using the search box on the top left.

Sequencing And MIDI - how to.

YouTube via DimensionFourMusic. Sent my way via Aleksandar.
"A basic demonstration of MIDI and sequencer posibilities."

Where's me cape?

flickr by Six of One

full size

Korg Prophecy
Korg MS2000
? Anyone know what it is?

Update via Brian in the comments:
"That would be a Yamaha SY85 - gotta love sliders!!!!!"

MS20

flickr by nachzehrer.com

KORG MS20

Admin: Note on YouTube Videos

It looks like YouTube changed their embedded player behavior again. Playlists no longer show the number of videos in the little movie reel looking clips on the right of the player. It just goes from one video to the next. With that, be sure not to miss any with multiple videos like the genoQs set I put up earlier as well as the ARP Avatar set. If you missed the other videos in the sets thinking they were just a repeat of the first video, go check them out. The genoQs has three vids with the third being an instructional video of what happened in the second. It is a really good video that shows you a bit of the interface on the genoQs. The other Avatar vids showcase a wider range of sounds as well as the Roland Space Echo. All good stuff.

Analog Man Chorus Pedals

I try to stay clear of effects unless they are designed specifically with synths in mind, or they come highly recommended for use with synths. Synth80s posted a link to Analog Man Chorus Pedals with the following notes. I wanted to bookmark the site and his notes, so I asked him if I could put up a post. He gave me the OK.

via Synth80s:
"I picked up an analog bi-chorus last year with the true stereo option and the 3-position DEEP toggle switch which changes the frequency spectrum of the chorus. I've found it to be very impressive on guitar, synth and (my favorite application) CP-70. It really nails the late '70s to early '80s chorus sounds I love (think Peter Gabriel's "Melting Face" album).

Officially, it's an Electro-Harmonix clone by design, but it was sufficiently Boss/Roland-ish for me to ditch my Boss CE-300. Like any analog chorus, it can get a bit noisy at extreme settings, but the payoff is in the quality of the sound. The DEEP toggle is really useful when you're trying to find just the right chorus for the source.

While I've never used a real Dimension D or CE-2, the UAD-1 plug-ins are also fantastic, unlike any other chorus plugs I've every used and better than the chorus sound on most outboard digital effects units I've ever used."

Update via WindowsLicker in the comments:
"I own several of his pedals and they are worth every penny. I'm in the process of getting this pedal and this is considered to be THE best chorus pedal you can get your hands on today. The design is based on the Electro Harmonix Small Clone but Analogman worked with the original EH Clone designer and was able to improve on the circuitry to come up with an even better pedal than the small clone.

For the same money of the Analogman chorus, i could pick up a vintage Boss CE-1 which is considered the holy grail of chorus pedals, but then there is always the issue of it failing because of its age.

Glad to see pedals included in MS for once!"

EML 400/401

images via this craigslist post. Another via Ben of mus-ok.

"EML 400/401 analog synth / 32 step sequencer. This synth is in virtually mint condition and recently serviced by Ed Miller."

Be sure to check these out full size.