MATRIXSYNTH

The Bin Part 3

YouTube via davidryle
"A version of the 3rd part of the Phosphene tune from 1981 called "The Bin". This is a live track recorded in Cubase4 with thte Arrick modular, Nord Lead2X, Dave Smith Prophet 08, Yamaha DX7IID, Oberheim Matrix6R, and Korg R3. Video editing done in Cubase. This is part of a three segment piece by the electronic music band called Phosphene which wrote original rock and EM in the 1980's-1990's. They were located in North Texas."

Possible Repair Technique for the 80017a, the Juno-106 Voice Chip

YouTube via rolandsh1000

"Upfront, I'd like to say that I take no credit for inventing this technique, only for demonstrating it. I was inspired to try it by two compelling images that a person named Ramcur had posted on Flickr. I emailed him and he told me what he had done. So very special thanks to Ramcur for the method, and thanks to Chris Strellis (http://www.strellis.com) and K/Modeless Factory (http://modelessfactory.com) on the Analog Heaven mailing list for sending me sample failed chips to test this method out. Please visit their sites and patronize their services!

Some background: my HS-60 had 4 bad voices so I removed those 80017a's with plans to buy clones sometime in the future. But after I stumbled across Ramcur's photos, I tried to see if these chips could be repaired. I first used a professional heat gun, and I was able to salvage 2 of the 4 chips satisfactorially by simply removing the resin coating of the chips (the right heat allowed me to peel the coating off). But that was still only 50% yield and about 30minutes messing around with the heat gun - not easy.

After Ramcur emailed me back about using acetone, I tried it on a bad 80017 that Chris Strellis had sent me and it worked great. So I decided to create a video to show how this might be done. In the video, my HS-60 has been fitted with SIP socket to allow for quick swap out of the chips for testing. These sockets are in voice slots 2 and 3. Slot 1 has a 'known good' chip for comparison. In the final part of the video, I installed the chip that I was able to get "cleaned" in slot 2 for comparison to the good chip in slot 1 (slots 3, 4, 5, and 6 have no chips/are empty). I apologize for the bad lighting in that last part.

Does this really fix the chips? What about longer-term performance? The chips I've "rescued" so far I have put in my constantly-powered-on HS-60 for over a week and checked them twice a day and all of them no longer had any popping or cracking or cut-outs or runaway resonance or any of the classic failure modes of the 80017a. They did sound slightly different chip-to-chip, but I think that was due to me not recalibrating the trimmers for each voice.

Should you try this? I'd say you have nothing to lose and, as I show, it's pretty easy to do. If you already have a bad voice chip in your 106 or HS-60, you already would have to desolder it to install the reportedly-excellent clones from D'Naab (http://www.analoguerenaissance.com). So you could try this method first and, if it doesn't work or it's not to your liking, or you just want the comfort of something pretty much guaranteed, then you can always get the clone.

As the weeks go forward and I get time, I'll be subjecting this method to a lot of known-dead chips. I'll try to report back how that goes.

Good luck!"
Roland Juno-106 chip fix - IC repair

Muzix81 Computer Music System

via Retro Thing where you'll find the full post. It's a good one so do check it out. You'll find a free mp3 of an album created with this system.

The following is a small excerpt:
"In 1981, Hungarian musician and physicist Andras Szalay visited Sinclair in Cambridge where he bought a Sinclair ZX81 kit and built a computer at home. He designed an interface called the Composer, the first part of the powerful Muzix81 system, in 1982.

The Composer was a pre-MIDI sequencer software with a dedicated hardware interface for synthesizers and drum-machines. It used control-voltage."

mini3

flickr by parasitk
(click for more)

"A MiniMoog borrowed from Scooter McCrae (of the Mondo Modular series) and used on Devour, Rise, and Take Flight by Android Lust, and The Sick Are Not Healing by I, Parasite."

Moog IIIp

flickr by E_sus

full size

"Moog modular synthesizer. It was the second or third IIIp to leave the Moog factory (3/15/68). Paul Beaver was the first owner. It's in incredible shape for being over 40 years old."

Moog Synthesizer flickr set

Fatty Acid in the studio

YouTube via fattyacidmusic
"Fatty Acid in the studio, laying down some sounds for the song 'Sunday Morning'."

via Jon of Fatty Acid:

Stream the whole album for free on last.fm:
http://www.last.fm/music/Fatty+Acid/Fatty+Acid

a great recipe for bacon lovers:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/28/dining/28bacon.html"

Simmons SDSV Vintage Analog Synth Drum Modular

via these auctions

snare
bass
tom

circuit bent analog synth, joystick

via this auction

"this joystick-synth utilizes a square wave and produces a tonal range from deep lows to earsplitting highs…….it basically boils down to four independent, selectable notes (up, down, left, right), and the diagonal positions are the sum note of their adjacent selections……overall this will produce up to eight notes, for all eight directions (up, down, left, right, right/down, left/down, up/left, right/up)…….awesome functions, which allow for professional compositions……

Here is the hardware…..four alpha potentiometers (slow turn for precise tuning), four unique vintage styled knobs with aluminum inserts, one alps chrome toggle switch, one GREEN LED, one rugged joystick with a beautiful feel and response….the joystick has an ABS plastic shaft cap and a solid chrome shaft (quality!)…..all solid steel control plates, which have been hand painted ORANGE, a solid, select pine chassis which has been brad nailed/glued/puttied on all joints and a dark walnut, hand rubbed finish….smoooooth!...... super sturdy construction/design and when you feel the weight you’ll understand….tough as nails!

So whether you plan on adding some backing notes to your latest work or decide to go nuts and run the joystick 360 degrees for that CPU melt down sound…..this synth has you covered….."

Ian Fritz 5Pulser Waveshaper

YouTube via attorks. via the Bridechamber Fritz 5Pulser page.
"A short demonstration of the Ian Fritz 5Pulser Waveshaper. Bought it as a full kit from the Bride Chamber (www.bridechamber.com). Building it was fairly simple and took about 4 hours."