Jungfrau

flickr by Easy Skywalker

Yamaha DX9
Novation BassStation

full size

Hollow Sun - Akai AX80 and AX60 for the Alesis Fusion

click here for the free downloads as well as good overviews of the two synths on Hollow Sun.

via Gwenhwyfaer in the comments of this post.

The Three Blomigos

George (swissdoc), Till and Boele at it again. They sent some images to the Waldorf list and of course this is what came to mind. Mini escapade by me.

In order:

Earning their lunch with the Blofeld

Lunch at McDonalds

Blofeld Road - A good days work is complete!

And their three Blofelds. Note the MicroQ knobs on one. Close-up shot here.

Update: Three more knob types:
evoblo.jpg
pulseblo.jpg
saffireblo.jpg
bloP08.jpg

You should be able to guess these based on thier names.

Udpate: More info from Georg on the three Blofelds

"Blofeld Messe Prototype
Frank Schneider hat to tinker around here during last night before the Messe to make the display fit (somehow the wrong displays have been delivered)


Blofeld Pre Series Version
Different labeling on the Matrix and the right display, so quite tidy internally

Blofeld Production Version
Midi LED added, Power Switch added

Non Waldorf content, upper row:
Electro Harmonix Phasers, two different black Russian Small Stones,
two different green Russian Small Stones (older model), a new USA
version and a Behringer UP100

We did in fact recordings of the Phasers (incl. a DOD one, not shown)
driven by the noise of the Blofeld. Maybe more on that later..."

Three Waldorf 4-Poles

image via Till Kopper on the Waldorf list.

"Boele, Georg (swissdoc) and Till having fun."

I'm guessing this is one of each.
See if you can spot the differences.

Below are the 4-Poles, Small Stone pedals, and of course the Waldorf Blofeld.

Update via Till in the comments:
"These are 5 (five) small stones. And only two of them are the same revision. Only the two black russians are identically. But soundwise the are all close, but not identically."

Update via Georg aka swissdoc:
"Again some detail on the 3 versions of the 4-Pole, from top to bottom:

4-Pole Beta Unit (Curtis)
This one was used by me during the beta phase back in time, hey, I was using once a postcard to report some bugs to Stefan while beeing on vacation in the "Fränkische Schweiz".

As you can see, the labeling was changed later to fit the features which have been packed in during development.

4-Pole Production Unit (Curtis)
The buttons are swapped, correct. I assume that happened during all the swapping of EPROMs during beta phase.

4-Pole Production Unit (Pulse Filter)
Silkscreening slightly changed here, most important is the change from 9V AC power input to 12V DC. Usefull when you are chasing up one or the other version.

Looks like this version has a green/red LED to show the overdrive status of the gain stage.

Again, we did some recordings, 3 saws from the Blofeld run into the 4-Pole (Curtis vs. Pulse Filter). More on that later plus detail shots from the interior and back of all tree units. Georg."

Anxiety Psychosis

YouTube via SynthKraft. Follow up to this video. www.synthkraft.de
"Another prerelease of my upcoming album. This time a more psycho one, hope you like it."
"Synths used: Moog Rogue, Clavia NordModular, Oberheim Matrix 6, Korg Trident. For those strange soundeffekts is recorded the unfinished track via my Rode NT-2A mic and deliberately overload the signal. Lots of distortion and filtering did the rest."

Major Developments in the History of Computer Music

YouTube via kikyan. Sent my way via Thumbuki.

Happy Knobbing 07

click here for some shots of the Happy Knobbing event back in May of 2007. These shots just went up. You can find previous shots and videos here (scroll to see all posts).

Leslie Sanford - Cobalt VST

"Cobalt is a VSTi software synthesizer inspired by many of the digital synthesizers from the 1980s.

In the early 80s as digital technology became cheaper, many manufacturers designed synthesizers that combined earlier analog technology with newer digital technology. These were known as hybrid synthesizers. Well-known hybrid synthesizers are the Korg DW8000 and DW6000, the Ensoniq ESQ-1, and the Kawai K3.

In analog/digital hybrid synthesizers, the oscillators responsible for generating waveforms are digital while the filter section remains analog. This approach freed designers to use any kind of waveform; they were no longer restricted to traditional analog waveforms such as sawtooth, triangle, and pulse. However, by using an analog filter, these synthesizers retained the warmth earlier analog synthesizers were known for.

Though Cobalt is a purely digital synthesizer, its overall architecture is very much like those early hybrid synthesizers. It features a wide selection of waveforms, most of which were resynthesized from actual hybrid synthesizers, while providing traditional subtractive synthesis capabilities for sculpting its sound.

Key Features
* GUI created by grymmjack
* 26 waveforms - many of which were resynthesized from 80s hybrid synths.
* Flexible modulation routes.
* Apply PWM to any waveform.
* LFO delay.
* Polyphonic Portamento.
* Key tracked envelopes.
* Rich overdrive effect based on a custom algorithm.
* Stereo delay effect with MIDI synchable delay times.
* Easy to use.

Cobalt can sound at times warm and rich while at other times cold and stark. From gentle pads to screaming leads, Cobalt's gotcha covered."

Click here for more info.

New Modular Rack

click here for more images on SoNiCbRaT.

Vermona RM-1 Ring Modulator
Doepfer A-100 Modular
Sherman Filterbank 2

Sequential Circuits Poly Sequencer

This one is labeled as a Tape Sequencer on Lt. John J. Rambo where you'll find another shot and other posts featuring more including the TB-303 vs. TBX-303 and Pro-One Circuit Board Art.

Anyone know what size tape this took?

Update via Stephen Jones in the comments:
"It takes BRAEMAR Mini Data Cassettes which were used in a few other data recorders such as one used in a medical system. I've seen new old stock go as high as $50/ea. There is a medical equipment supplier that sells new old stock, but I think they sell them 5 for $90. "