MATRIXSYNTH

Monday, June 09, 2008

Introducing new old ladies

via Jean Michelle Jarre
(click for one more shot)

Pictured here:
PMS Syntar
ARP Quadra

YouTube via Modd3d. via Nusonica. More info on Modd3d.
"Midify is a tiny board that lets you add a MIDI port to just about anything.

This is a demo of some of the features Midify offers. I've hooked LEDs up to all the outputs so it's easier to see what is happening.

The outputs are also connected to a Game Boy SP running PixelH8's Music Tech synth cartridge.

Features demoed:
-Easy to configure right from your keyboard or sequencer
-Poly Mode (play lots of notes at once)
-Mono Mode (play only one note at a time)
-High Note Priority Mode (the highest key you play wins in mono mode)
-Low Note Priority Mode (the lowest key you play wins in mono mode)
-Pause Mode (inserts a pause between each note you play so some devices that don't react quickly don't get confused)

Midify launches on 6-10-08. Go to http://www.division-6.com for more information."

FPGA Music Synthesizer

YouTube via lcircuit
"a 32 polyphony fm Synthesizer implemented on FPGA"

David Bowie - Heroes - Musikladen 78

YouTube via aliensatemybrain.

One of my favorite Bowie tracks. Anyone know what's under the Prophet-5 in the end?

"The third track to the Musikladen Extra television show broadcast in Germany 1978,

Carlos Alomar
rhythm guitar, backing vocals

Adrian Belew
lead guitar, backing vocals

Simon House
electric violin

Brian Eno
piano, string ensemble, backing vocals

Roger Powell
keyboards, synthesiser, backing vocals

George Murray
bass, backing vocals

Dennis Davis
drums, percussion

"Heroes" is a song written by David Bowie and Brian Eno in 1977. Produced by Bowie and Tony Visconti, it was released both as a single and as the title track of the album "Heroes". A product of Bowie's fertile 'Berlin' period, life in the city was crystallized into a tale of two lovers who come together in the shadow of the 'Wall of Shame' (though here "the shame was on the other side"). While not a huge hit at the time, the song has gone on to become one of Bowie's signature tunes and is well known today for its appearance in numerous advertisements. It has been cited as Bowie's most covered song after "Rebel Rebel"

The title of the song is a reference to the 1975 track "Hero" by the band Neu!,whom Bowie and Eno admired. It was one of the early tracks recorded during the album sessions, but remained an instrumental until towards the end of production.The quote marks in the title, a deliberate affectation, were designed to impart an ironic quality on the otherwise highly romantic, even triumphant, words and music.Producer Tony Visconti took credit for inspiring the image of the lovers kissing "by the wall", when he and backing vocalist Antonia Maass embraced in front of Bowie as he looked out of the Hansa Studio window.Bowie's habit in the period following the song's release was to say that the protagonists were based on an anonymous young couple but Visconti, who was married to Mary Hopkin at the time, contends that Bowie was protecting him and his affair with Maass. Bowie confirmed this in 2003.

The music, co-written by Bowie and Eno, has been likened to a Wall of Sound production, an undulating juggernaut of guitars, percussion and synthesizers.Eno has said that musically the piece always "sounded grand and heroic" and that he had "that very word - heroes - in my mind" even before Bowie composed the lyrics.[1] The basic backing track on the recording consists of a conventional arrangement of piano, bass guitar, rhythm guitar and drums. However the remaining instrumental additions are highly distinctive. These largely consist of synthesizer parts by Eno using an EMS VCS3 to produce detuned low-frequency drones, with the beat frequencies from the three oscillators producing a juddering effect. In addition, King Crimson guitarist Robert Fripp generated an unusual sustained sound by allowing his guitar to feed back and sitting at different positions in the room to alter the pitch of the feedback. Tony Visconti rigged up a system of three microphones to capture the epic vocal, with one microphone nine inches from Bowie, one 20 feet away and one 50 feet away. Only the first was opened for the quieter vocals at the start of the song, with the first and second opening on the louder passages, and all three on the loudest parts, creating progressively more reverb and ambience the louder the vocals became."

korg ms2000

YouTube via jonlensd
"a bit of a tweak of my much loved ms2000 rack. A very under-estimated VA. focus is on sync of osc2 played with the arp and a bit of filter sweeping. Enjoy (sorry about the side angle. it was the only way the camera would sit lol)"