ECE4893A: Electronics for Music Synthesis, Spring 2008 Projects

"Billy Kihei showing off his diode-ladder filter

The two Sallen-Key projects (by Thomas and Fojas) allow relatively conservative amounts of feedback. This could be relaxed to allow higher Q values by putting some sort of clipping in the feedback loop, as is done in the various variants of the Korg MS-20 filter. (Without such clipping, the filter goes insane with high amounts of feedback.)"

You can find more here.

cassiel's Gearhead Space

I was talking to drew of drewtoothpaste (see some of his synth videos previously posted here) about MIDI boxes with preferably two MIDI inputs that allowed you to input MIDI Clock and note ON/OFF, that could then output a MIDI or CV stream of arpeggiated notes. We talked about using MIDI mergers, the Oberheim Perf series came to mind, and specifically the Oberheim Cyclone. I did a quick search on it and found cassiel's Gearhead Space. I realized I hadn't put up a post on cassiel yet, so here it is. Do check it out. It's an excellent resource with quite a few synths listed. You can read about the Cyclone here. If anyone has any suggestions on a synth or MIDI box that can do the above, feel free to comment.

Synth Secrets by Gordon Reid

"'Synth Secrets' was a series of articles written by Gordon Reid and published in Sound On Sound between 1999 and 2004. The articles are freely accessible on SOS' web site. For your convenience, here is a chronological index."

via André Majorel on AH

WALDORF BLOFELD (AMBIENT)

YouTube via thekilon

"The track is called "The Silence before the Storm" and it is from my album TALOS , it is made 100% on WALDORF BLOFELD , triggered by YAMAHA MOTIF ES6 and recorded and mixed in Ableton Live 6. Beside a sample of a water drop and some effects added by Ableton Live, everything else is 100% Waldorf Blofeld.

As I promised this is my third and probably my last video for Waldorf Blofeld , I hope it demonstrates its sonic capabilities.

The photos are from PYLOS (PYLOS,SFAKTIRIA,GIALOVA,VOIDOKILIA) a part of Southern Pelloponissos , Greece and are taken from me during my 2008 summer vacations. Hope you enjoy it."

Installing sounds to the Alesis Fusion from a PC

YouTube via FailedMuso. Use your Fusion as a portable hard drive.
"A tutorial on how to correctly install sounds onto the Alesis Fusion from a PC. It's a simple process but if done incorrectly, it can cause much stress when trying to locate your new sounds.

!!WARNING!! Do not use this method if you are using a Mac. This method will result in you wiping your Fusion's Hard Drive, leaving nothing but the new sounds."

Two More Modules

YouTube via dkimcg
"I got these two Harvestman modules today, the Pokivoks VCF and the Tyme Sefari with the Sound of Thunder expander. I'm still learning how to use them. The filter sounds beautiful, and is pretty cool that you can mix two signals in. It sounds very CCCP.

The Tyme Sefari, I have to do some experiments with a bigger time scale to see how long a sample it can play back, and some VC experiments too. This is pretty much my first patch after figuring out the basics of the Tyme Sefari.

M28, M17, M10, and the Paia timing and making gates and triggers. M15s, Ring mod, wave shaping, etc. mostly to end up barely audible. I want to get my patches leaner so I don't suck so bad and keep using up cables I don't need to."

Synth.nl AtmoSphere Studio 3 (2008)

YouTube via Synthnl. You can see all three videos here.
"The last video we did in my current AtmoSphere studio. It shows the back of my racks and also more of the synthesizers in the back of my studio."

IMG00247

flickr by dserke
(click for more)

Inside a Moogerfooger MF-102 Ring Mod

full size

Syn-Bin DIY

By-Tor on electro-music.com just set up a site on some of Ray Wilson's Music From Outer Space designs. You can check out Syn-Bin here. Currently listed are the Weird Sound Generator, SoundLab Minisynth, WP-20 Mini Synth.

Modular Synthesizer Pictures

You can find more pics in this electro-music.com thread.

This image is courtesy of CZ Rider.
"Here is a photo of some of my modular setup: On top left a custom walnut Minimoog/modular with center modules DIY, bringing out the patch points on the Mini, with bottom row in MOTM format. Below a Moog Voyager. On top right a Roland System 100m on top of a 1969 Moog 1P. Below a NED Synclavier II on top of a Hammond L-100 chopper."