Mort Garson Has Passed Away

Mort Garson born July 20, 1924 passed away on January 4, 2008. He was an electronic musician that worked primarily with the MOOG (modular) Synthesizer. One of his most recognizable albums is pictured below.

Mort Garson on Wikipedia
Mort Garson on Space Age Pop Music

Recordings via Space Age Pop Music:
* Bossa Nova for All Ages (by the Continentals), Canadian-American SCALP-1009
* Symphony for Soul (by the Total Eclipse), Imperial LP-12353
* Sea Drift (by the Dusk 'Til Dawn Orchestra), Elektra EK 4008/EKS 74008
* Zodiac Cosmic Sounds, Elektra EK 4009/EKS 74009
* Electronic Hair Pieces, A&M SP 4209
* Signs of the Zodiac: Aires, A&M 4211
* Signs of the Zodiac: Virgo, A&M SP 4212
* Signs of the Zodiac: Gemini, A&M SP 4213
* Signs of the Zodiac: Leo, A&M SP 4215
* Signs of the Zodiac: Scorpio, A&M SP 4218
* Signs of the Zodiac: Sagittarius, A&M SP 4219
* Signs of the Zodiac: Aquarius, A&M SP 4221
* Signs of the Zodiac: Pisces, A&M SP 4222
* Wozard of Id, A&M SP 4156
* Do Not Disturb (soundtrack), Columbia 4-43459
* Lucifer : Black Mass, United Artists UAS 73111
* Music for Sensuous Lovers by "Z," Sensuous Anthem-5800
* Ataraxia: The unexplained, electronic musical impressions of the occult, RCA Victor APL1-1217

Blacet Hex Zone SS2800 Sequential Switch

Sneek Peek.....
Advanced 16 Stage Sequential Switch with many extras!
* Bidirectional +/-15V low R switches
* Microprocessor Control
* Backlit LCD Display
* Two CVouts with 1V/Oct over five octaves
* Variable Gate out on each step with 1-99% of step width plus Hold and Rest
* Loop on any step
* Internal or external Gate (Stop/Start) and Reset
* Set active switch on any step plus Random function
* Memory holds 32 Sequences

* Sequences can be Chained with 60 Chains available
* Chains can be Chained
* A second Chain can be edited while another is playing
* Sequences or Chains can be copied and pasted
* Internal wide range clock or external clock plus dividable Clock Out for either clock source
* All settings saved automatically including last active sequence or Chain

Blacet

REDSHIFT at HJ2 in UK - Excerpt 2

Video of Redshift. Embedding is dissabled on this one, so click here to check out the video. via fischek.

TB-303 Meets Sherman

E13H posted a cool sample of the Roland TB-303 dry followed by being run through a Sherman Filterbank. via this VSE thread:

"I just got a TB-303 and a Sherman Filterbank 2 and they hung out together tonight. Thought I would share their conversation with you.
Nothing but a 303....

I know it's kinda a long track, about 10 minutes but hey I was having fun so check it out...

I think it sounds pretty cool....

the TB-303 was talking to me by the end of the track.....

Let me know what you think, and if anyone adds anything to the track let me hear it....

I'm gonna start doing some full tracks with the TB-303 after I get my midi to dinsync converter this week......

here it is:

http://www.masterdevice.net/tracks/TB-303-meets-Sherman.mp3

if you want to hear more of my music just go here:

http://www.masterdevice.net
http://www.myspace.com/e13h"

Vocaloid PRIMA

"PRIMA is a virtual female vocalist modelled on the voice of a professional soprano singer.

Once PRIMA is installed into your PC she will allow you to create synthesized singing of unprecedented quality and remarkable realism.

Prima will hit those high notes every time with perfect accuracy.

Whether it's soaring leads, harmonies or backing vocals, Prima can sing any word from the English language (and other languages too with a little work).

Prima is also very well suited if you want to be adventurous and experimental, since her voice can be easily modified and shaped in many ways." Hmm...

click here for more info and some pretty impressive samples.

Jupiter 8 Mod Switches

flickr by Jyoti Mishra (click for more synth shots)

full size

NAMM

As you can see, the official NAMM reports are coming in. So far we announcements from Doepfer and the new Plan b Elf Series.

If you know of any NAMM news pertaining to the world of synths, please send it in. This applies to both readers and manufacturers. I completely encourage manufacturers to use this site to promote anything new. The synth community is relatively small compared to others, so the more I can support you, the better. Never hesitate to send something in. We all want to see what you have coming out. My contact info is at the bottom of the list of items on the right.

I will be labeling all NAMM posts with NAMM, so when one comes up you can click on the label and see all NAMM posts to date. I was going to create a label for each show/year, but I realize you can easily tell the show based on the date of the post.

BTW, I just did a blanket search for NAMM and labeled every single post (141), so for posts prior to this year, you will probably see some that aren't official NAMM posts - for example descriptions of a synth with things like "introduced at Summber NAMM, 2004..." As for new posts I will only apply the label if it pertains to NAMM. Remember to check the dates of posts.

Winter NAMM runs Jan 17-20.

NAMM: New Products from Doepfer

via Doepfer where you can find the full press release.

"Dear Sir or Madam,
on the occasion of the NAMM in Anaheim/CA January 17-20, 2008 we will show our news at the booth of our US representative Analogue Haven: Level 2, 210 Meeting Room D. Attention: this is a bit outside the standard exhibition area. A detailed plan is available on our website www.doepfer.com.

We are looking forward to seeing you at the booth and hope for some mention about it in your NAMM show report. On the following pages you find the new gear we will present in Anaheim.

If you need more details (e.g. pictures, more detailed product description) don't hesitate to contact me directly. This press release is available on the press page of our website as a pdf or MS Word™ file. More detailed information about the devices is available via the corresponding link on the news page of our website: www.doepfer.com > NEWS > link to the corresponding device.

Best regards
Dieter Doepfer
email adress: hardware@doepfer.de"
Full list of items announced:
A-100 CV/Gate Keyboard (A-100CGK)
A-100 Low-cost Suitcase
A-137-2 Wave Multiplier 2
A-106-6 XP VCF (Filter Pool)
A-189-1 Voltage Controlled Bit Cruncher/Modifier
A-138e Quad Three-Way Crossfader/Mixer / Polarizer
A-132-3 Dual Linear/Exponential VCA
A-134-2 Dual Voltage Controlled Crossfader
A-138d Crossfader/FX Insert
A-164-1 Manual Gate
A-182 Switched Multiple
A-185-2 Precision Adder/Bus Access
A-186-1 Gate/Trigger Combiner
A-100 DIY Kit 1
A-100 DIY Kit 2 (low cost DIY kit)
USB64
MBP25
Wheel Electronics

Mean SucKer VCF

via Etaoin on electro-music.com:
"eroen Baars designed a nasty Tube VCF which he posted on the Dutch synth forum, here. The final design and sound samples are on his website. [you'll find the BFX posted below there as well]. I did a PCB design for it (still untested) that might be interesting to some of you out here: tubevcf.pdf tubevcf.jpg It's quarter eurocard, which seemed like an economical format."

BFX Synthesizers

"BIG ONE
based on 2 computers,1 for keyboard functions (midi,
gate,CV 1v/okt,some step sequencers and more.)
and 1 for software synth's,soft samplers,HD recording
and multitrack.
Also onboarsd a full matrix based modulair wavetable synth .

First sounds, the wavetables ( no filters or modulators yet .)
1 ( dance of the wild cucumbers)
2 ( fat cheese )"

You can find more info and the links to the mp3s here. There is also another synth called BASS BOOMER.