Voyager Travels Farther, Little Phatty Gets Phatter with OS Upgrades

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (July 2008) – Owners of the Moog Voyager and Little Phatty
synths can now significantly upgrade their capabilities via free downloads from the Moog Music website, moogmusic.com.

The new Voyager 3.4 Operating System features extensive local control options, new touch surface features and enhanced pot resolution. All the great sonic capability of the Little Phatty Stage Edition is enhanced with the addition of an arpeggiator in the Stage II. And for controlling LFO and Arpeggiator rate, the Stage II has a new Tap Tempo and MIDI sync capability. Topping it all is the addition of a new bank of presets.

“Our goal is to continue to deliver value to our core customer base and these new free software releases will make many of them feel as if they have a completely new synth,” said Chris Stack, Moog Marketing Manager.

There are two types of upgrades available for the Voyager and Little Phatty operating systems:

Voyager: A free software upgrade (for owners with version 3.0 or above) is available for download at http://moogmusic.com/voyager/ (under the “software” tab). A hardware upgrade is available for customers who have an older model of the Voyager (OS revision 2.5 or lower, built before August, 2005) increasing their current single bank of 128 presets to seven banks of 128 for a total of 896. This upgrade is available as a field upgrade for $265 or as a factory upgrade for $365. Customers who choose to upgrade will then be able to take advantage of all the latest software features in Version 3.4.

Little Phatty: Software upgrades for the Little Phatty Stage Edition are available for free download at http://moogmusic.com/littlephatty/ (under the “software” tab). If Stage Edition customers want to add the MIDI over USB capability of the Stage II, a hardware-based upgrade is available as a field upgrade for $100 or factory upgrade for $150.

How to program analog synthesizers

How to program analog synthesizers from Ethan Winer on Vimeo.
"This 20 minute tutorial shows how to program analog-style hardware and software synthesizers. Topics include oscillators, ADSR envelope generators, filters, LFOs, and much more. Waveforms are shown on an oscilloscope to better understand what's happening under the hood."

Sciame Uno (Swarm 1) by F. Meneghini & William Bottin

YouTube via sgruntie
"Francesco Meneghini and William Bottin: Sciame Uno (swarm one)

Fondazione Buziol / Replay Fast Forward
May 2008 - Venice, Italy

an installation with flying objects, a midi theremin and a circuit bent Italian Speak and Spell (Grillo Parlante)."

Profile: Adrian Utley - Portishead - PT3

See the write-up on Sonic State. See all three parts here.

Welcome to Synth DIY UK

Jen SX1000 primarily featured. See the write-up on Sonic State.

MIDIbox SID V2 Bassline Demo #5

YouTube via ucapps
"MP3 with better audo quality available at midibox.org

Bassline demo played on a MIDIbox SID V2 in a MB-6582 case made by Wilba.

0:03 first bassline starts to play
0:10 selecting different sequences, drums played from a sampler
0:17 "pumping" effect realized by sending the bassdrum to the sidechain of a compressor
0:25 checking the new O23 feature: bassline played unisono
0:33 changing the oscillator phase offset
0:47 detune
1:05 disabling the O23 functions
1:15 second bassline w/ external delay Fx starts to play
1:22 showing the V-meter function in bassline mode
1:47 activating oscillator synch, second oscillator played with constant pitch
2:23 activating ring modulator, played with different pitches
2:55 tweaking cutoff/VCA release/O23 pitch (distortions are SID internal)
5:38 second bassline with detuned oscillators "

Euro joins the party!

via Muff Wiggler.

PSPSeq 3.0 Released

"PSPSeq is a free homebrew application for composing music on the Sony PSP handheld game system. PSPSeq contains both realtime synthesis and sample playback capability, along with multiple FX modules of widely varying types for modifying instruments in countless ways. PSPSeq also has a powerful and unique step sequencer for triggering samples and arranging loops into full songs.

Key features of PSPSeq:

- up to 16 independent audio tracks per song
- a wide variety of synthesizers from traditional virtual analog and FM to Karplus-Strong
and unique digital oscillators with parameter controls rarely seen in commercial synths
- WAV file playback with looping, pitch shift, and configurable start/end points
- many FX algorithms from digital filters and waveshapers to bitmasks and decimation
- all synthesizer parameters can be set to unique values on a per-step basis
- step sequencer with configurable step length, swing, highly accurate BPM, and tap tempo
- probabilistic sequencing: the decision to retrigger to be based on a 0-100% probability
rather than a boolean yes/no operation
- song sequencing with 100 different loops per song, 1000 measures per song, and loop
repeat capability
- load and save of synthesizer presets between songs
- record loops and songs to WAV"
http://www.dspmusic.org/psp/

Alesis Ion | demo (2 of 2) by syntezatory.prv.pl

YouTube via Jexus

"2003 Alesis Ion. All sounds programmed by WC Olo Garb. Video editing by WC Olo Garb. ||| Syntezatory.prv.pl Videos: showing you not what a synthesizer can do, but what a man can do with a synthesizer."

1972 Moog Sonic Six Analog Synthesizer Demo

YouTube via peahix.

images via this auction. http://www.myspace.com/peahix

"1972 Moog Sonic Six. This synth is currently listed on eBay: item #130238825211. This is a quick demo showing some of its features, definitely not a comprehensive demo. Also I cover the two main problems this unit currently has:

1) There is a problem with the lower portion of the keyboard, where the pitch sort of does a "bump and glide" down to those notes after playing higher notes. It's a bit unpredictable and hard to describe- just watch the video. Not sure what the source of this problem is.

2) The modulation input for the ring mod is currently not working. In the video I demonstrate that the signal input works (Osc B), but the mod input switch does nothing. Again, not sure of the source of this problem.

Apart from these issues (which should be fix-able by a qualified tech), and a few missing knobs, slider caps and screws (replacements should be available), the synth works quite nicely.

The oscillators have been calibrated, and once warmed up, they hold their tuning well. All the key contacts seem to be in good shape and the keyboard has a nice, playable feel to it.

This unit features the earlier non-Moog filter.

The audio was recorded direct. There's also and onboard speaker which works well and sounds nice."