MATRIXSYNTH

Roland Sh-101 vintage analog synth with NOVA Mods

via this auction

"It has Nova mods, allowing cv input for filter and mod, along with more filter controls and a lfo speed switch. These mods really take the Sh-101 to the next level"

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Roland TR-330 Rhythm 330

Roland Rhythm 330 up for auction via Loscha: "Quite similar to the TR-77 (Roland_TR-77-SERV.pdf I got those schematics from burnkit2600's site, thanks to him and whoever scanned them in originally).

It's a big, wooden veneer cased organ top plonker with loads of bass and great analog latiny percussion - claves and such. I've got them tuned to sustain a bit longer than manufacturer intended, but, this is changeable on the voicing board on some trimmers.

The voice board also has a "Snappy" control which goes from very mellow to quite outrageously distorted and over-rides the rest of circuit to fizziness.

I live in Melbourne, Australia. The going rate seems to be between 300-450 Australian for these. Am asking for $350 Australian. Am not a greedy man. Based on units that have sold lately on ebay and privately, it seems this is the 2nd rarest TR drum machine, after perhaps the 77. No-one had sound samples online, which is something. I'm hoping to rectify, and to eventually make a more complete recording of the patterns at all tempi, etc.

I've made a modification to the unit which was needed and unobtrusive. The Metronome switch only had one function in real life; To convert "Swing" into "Metronome". I have used some spare terminals on this as a speaker cut switch. The only way you can hear metronome is through both the speaker and the output jack, in all other patches, the Metronome Off/On switch mutes the speaker. The speaker is quite loud, and pumps a lot of air (big old oval speaker). This allows you to hear the pure sound of the unit through your amp/ effects/ compressor/ Funk-A-Duck or whatever else you have.

If anyone has the service manual or schematic, I'd be indebted if they'd email me a copy or a link to it, also.

The front of the case. The damage on the top left of the machine is that the veneer has been pushed back and has creased a little bit, over a slight dent in the wood.

Front of machine is to the left. Big Speaker in the back. Power supply regulation board to the left. Transformer to the right. In the front we have the clock and divide down board. This is almost identical to the TR77 board, as above. The switching logic is below the metal plane everything is resting on. This is made up of diodes and such attached to the multi-pole switches. No roms are used, it's all discrete logic.

The Sound Board and obverse of Sequence Logic Board. You can see the trimmers here. The one on the top left all on it's own is "Snappy". The three on their own row are all kick drum related (tune, resonance of circuit, and mix volume). The kick is very useful. It sounds like an 808, with lots of sine-boom. It doesn't have a percussive attack noise burst like a 909. The other trimmers are tune and resonance and pitch for the tuned percussion (Claves, Toms). In my sound examples, I have the decays set quite long, mostly just before the point of resonance, as I was using it for slower pieces most recently. The circuit slides out of the wooden sleeve with 4 screws on the bottom.

I'm certain that the rubber feet on bottom of unit are not original, they are "chocolate" (square, beveled) kind, not round ones as I would imagine would have been.

A few last notes:
The tempo light only triggers on the first beat of the bar. It is red. A globe in a red filtered bezel, not an LED, although you could put a 5mm UV LED in there if you wanted, I think it might fit. In fact, I'm happy to throw one in if you want to try it. I've tried to get the tempo calibrated roughly to the markings on the front panel, however, there are 2 adjusters on the clock board, you can make it go uselessly fast if you so wish. A simple turn of the trimmer.

http://www.loscha.com/images/TR330-AllBeats.mp3
Quickly cycling through all patterns from left to right. About 2 bars of each.

http://www.loscha.com/images/TR330-Transitions.mp3
Slowly turning the balance knob from left to right, on "Mambo".

http://www.loscha.com/images/TR330-MamboSwingStack.mp3
First Mambo, then Swing, then both of them stacked on top of each other. You can depress multiple buttons for combinatorial sounds.

it's got switchable line voltage around the back along with Audio out and the Start/Stop Footswitch jack -- ."

Elastique

YouTube via MusicmarketingCanada

Synare S3X

YouTube via selectimputor. "Synare S3X Demo"

Zen Piano - Use the Force

YouTube via greatapps. velocity sensitivity for the iPhone.
"We bet you didn't know your phone could do this...

Preview the next app from the creators of iSteam!

This one is no magic trick however: using our new TapForce(tm) technology, the iPhone can now sense how hard you tap!

Unleashing the TapForce(tm) potential, starting with Zen Piano. Available in all AppStores worldwide."

You can find Zen Piano - Use the Force on iTunes here:

Yamaha TQ5 Update

I updated this post with some interesting info on the Yamaha TQ5 via Loscha. It's effectively a TX81Z in a desktop module with more.

"Math" the opening piece from "Obsolete?"

YouTube via pixelh8. Obsolete is now available on iTunes.

"For more information visit pixelh8.co.uk

Pixelh8s most recent work Obsolete? is a audio and visual study of the people, machines, history of The National Museum of Computing, Bletchley Park and looks closely at the themes of mathematics, logic, code-breaking and enciphering. The project was funded by the PRS Foundations new music award and commissioned by The National Museum of Computing.

The music itself is composed using some of the oldest and rarest computers in the world such as the WWII code-breaking machine Colossus Mark 2 Rebuild, and the 1960s Elliott 803 largely used for mathematics and some of the more commonplace machines such as the BBC Micro. With over thirty machines studied and utilised within the music, it is a combination of both sounds from the internal sound chips and the external electro-mechanical sounds. In addition to this, the piece also utilises such items as the early non-electrical mechanical adding machines.

The project was comprised of twelves pieces of music and accompanying visuals and culminated in two performances at the prestigious Bletchley Park Mansion on March 20th and 21st, 2009.

All imagery and music © & (P) Hidden Youth Records UK 2009"

"Obsolete?" Trailer

Bob Moog Foundation Student Outreach Program

"For over a year, our super volunteer Dave Hamilton has been going in to the public schools and bringing Theremins, Moog signal processors (moogerfoogers), microphones and oscilloscopes in to elementary school classes. "

Be sure to check out the full post on the official Bob Moog Foundation Blog