MATRIXSYNTH

Sunday, July 06, 2008

MOONMODULAR trigger sequencer M563

YouTube via moonmodular
"Sale announcement of the modul. One 960 unit, clocked by a MC 303 with drum fills is used. Ambient soundscapes are from the YOU production LASERSCAPE, track CHANGING ROOMS. We thank so to the band to give us the permission to use this sounds. Futher we come up with a video to demonstrate all options of the M563."

Saturday, July 05, 2008

MATRIXSYNTH Visits Synthorama

I recently had the privilege to visit the Synthorama synthesizer museum in Luterbach Switzerland. My synth buddy Georg Muller, aka swissdoc was gracious enough to pick me up from my hotel and take me to the museum where I met the curator, Martin Hollinger. Thank you Georg! I also want to thank Martin for his hospitality and for making such a place available to the public.

The experience was overwhelming to say the least. I have never seen so many rare synthesizers in one location. The museum is impeccable and the majority of synthesizers are hooked up and ready to be explored. I of course took pictures and video. Unfortunately I did not gather much audio for three reasons. First, time was limited; my visit was approximately for four hours and trust me that was not enough. Second, I have a Flip Ultra video camera which is very convenient for travel, however there is no audio in. And third, the majority of synths in the museum are not hooked up to monitors or amps. There is a VERY good reason for this. The synths sit on tables and visitors are free to explore all of them. Too many visitors playing synths over speakers and monitors.. well, you get the idea. You instead use headphones to listen them. This is very nice as you can surround and isolate your listening to one specific synthesizer at a time.

As for the images, I will be posting sets over the next few days as time permits. Being the synth obsessive I am, I took 756 images, that's approximately 1.44G of photos. I took about 40 minutes of video. The video is a literal walk through the museum. I'll explain more when I put them up, but first the photos. Note that I created a synthorama label below specifically for the posts I plan to put up. I will of course continue to put other posts up. As I finish sets of posts for a given run, I will upload another set or two as time permits. I will put Synthorama in the title of these posts for easy identification as well. If you are into synths, you are in for a very special treat.

BTW, I need to call out the enormity of synths on display. I went in expecting to spend a few minutes capturing the synths on video and taking pics followed by digging in. I ended up spending TWO HOURS taking the pics and video (oh, what I sacrifice for you, my readers... :). I had two hours after that to play. If you plan on visiting the museum, I strongly recommend you come prepared, give yourself enough time, and be patient with yourself if you plan to take pics, video and/or capture audio. It is overwhelming.

Martin is an extremely gracious host. He makes you feel more than welcome and he encourages you to just go off and explore on your own, at your own pace, and for however long as you like. Note that the museum is only open on the first Saturday of every month and I believe the doors close around 4PM, so be sure to check with Martin on the hours before you go, or just show up knowing you have until roughly 4PM or so. I like to think there are a few synth meccas out there - places where if you truly appreciate synths you must go at least once in your lifetime. Synthorama is definitely one of them.

To close this post, I want to again thank Georg (swissdoc) for taking the time out to take me there and of course Martin Hollinger for his hospitality and of course for making such a fantastic place even possible.

P.S. A quick note on the images and video. In general, I will be putting them up in the order that I took them to give you a sense of the time-line for my journey. The file names of the shots are numbered so if you are OC like me you can see them. As for this last shot, Martin also appreciates skate boarding! How cool is that? There's actually a cool synth connection coming up.

New Tiptop Audio Module Coming

via Tiptop Audio:

"Hello. Its been few months of intense design work, but our next module is coming along nicely. This module is a dream come true for our designer, pairing a gloss of digital electronics with a thick layer of analog sound circuitry. A radical departure from our first product, the Z5000, this new module is an embodiment of our design process and our slogan: Analog. Digital. Harmony.

Our design process starts with the community; we listen to synthesists, technicians, hobbyists and everyone in between, learn your desires and needs, and combine them with our ideas and new technology to bring you affordable analog sound technology. The new module is the culmination of years of discussion and debate finally being realized in physical form. We are supremely excited about the potential of this new product.

As excited as we are, we can't really explain what this is all about just yet, but we can say that our beta testers are about to get their hands on the first prototypes and will have interesting things to say in the coming weeks.

Please be sure to visit our website and forum for updates on the upcoming release."

flight of harmony Parasite

" Continuing from where the Plague Bearer left off - the Parasite.

The Parasite is a single-channel filter of the exact same topology as the Plague Bearer, with extra goodies to enhace its usefulness! We like goodies. Now here's the list thereof:

1. The VCRBPF has a Mix control - akin to "Depth" or "Wet/Dry".
2. Two independant LFOs, each with Saw, Ramp, Triangle, Square, and Sine waveforms.
3. Each LFO has a rate control as well as a rate indicator LED
4. The filter's High and Low cutoff frequencies each have a panel control and a switch to select LFO A, LFO B, or neither.
5. The High and Low cutoffs also have a modulation depth control to vary the amount of effect from the LFO. (Thanks for reminding me!)
6. 1/4" Switchcraft jacks for Input and Output.
7. Power switch

This one took some work! The control layout may seem a bit odd, but that was the only way to get everything in there. I crammed as much as possible into this enclosure, and I hope you enjoy it. The Parasite runs off of a 30V wall-wart, but I am debating on designing an external battery pack for it, we shall see.

The model in the above pictures is the prototype - there will be a few minor changes in the shipping units. The LFO selector switch knobs will be virtually identical to those displayed, just with a black band around the upper end of the knurled portion. I am looking for some suitable power switches with shorter levers but haven't found good ones yet. That's pretty much all for now, but there may be other minor changes in the shipping units.

I should have sound samples up late 7/6/2008 (tomorrow). The samples on the Plague Bearer page apply to the Parasite as well. All of the guitar and bass samples are using just one channel of the PB, so have a listen!" Check out flight of harmony for more.

Lone Node

flickr by jbud70
(click for more)

full size

Elekton - NEW MONO OS RELEASED

"Good people around the globe, the hydra just got two extra heads. In other words - Monomachine OS 1.20 is here! Two new machines have been added in this magnificent update, allowing you to use your own customized waveforms. Read all about it in the updated Monomachine and C6 manuals (you'll find them in the support section). The added waveform functionality is for MKII units only."
http://www.elektron.se/