Eyedrum, 7/21/09 (Set)

flickr set by fastheadache
(click for more)

Buchla and EMS

Television Meltdown by Soso Limited

via vbs.tv. Video processing / synthesis.
"Sosolimited is a crew of MIT grads turned audio visual artists – Eric Gunther, Justin Manor and John Rothenberg – with backgrounds in physics, architecture, computer science, media arts and music. They say that TV is garbage – and they want to turn that shit into gold. So they create live remixes of broadcasts using pure information to filter and direct the look and feel of their videos: deconstructing the 2008 presidential debates by using word-count as an aesthetic variable, for example. “Essentially what we’re trying to do is like take the television studio and turn up the acid,” Rothenberg says."

Jellinghaus Musik Systeme (1985)

flickr by Neil Vance
(super size shot here)

"...'German software company Jellinghaus are moving into hardware in a big way: they've got a complete editing board for the DX7 too..'"

Again, be sure to check out Neil Vance's flickr photostream for tons more.

Note Jellinghaus made the massive knob ladden controller for the DX7 as well. Click on the Jellinghause label to the left and scroll.

ZYKLUS MIDI PERFORMANCE SYSTEM

flickr by Neil Vance
(super size shot here)

"Quite a rare & unique digital sequencer."

Update: click on the Zyklus label below for more including a pic of one in the flesh and video.

Steve Roach Setup 1987

flickr by Neil Vance
(super size shot here)

"....'To me, the Xpander is the pinnacle of the digitally-controlled analogue instrument; I can imagine spending a lifetime with it.'"

Ensoniq Stand at the British Music Fair 1987.

flickr by Neil Vance
(click for more - tons of great shots going up)

"First prize for the most unusual stand of the show went to Ensoniq for their larger that life ESQ1 and 20 Pall Mall!"

Giant ESQ1, ESQM, etc.

Fairlight feat. (1of2)

flickr by Neil Vance
(click for part 2)

MOTU Volta Review in Keyboard Magazine

Click here for the full review by Mitchell Sigman.

"Volta is so unique that it has no direct competition. Though some of its functionality can be duplicated with Native Instruments Reaktor or Cycling ’74 Max/MSP, Volta makes it far easier, and it’d be tough to replicate Volta’s oscillator calibration. Of course, to do this with other software, you’d need hardware MIDI-to-CV converters, and Volta blows that approach into the tumbleweeds. For modular synth owners, it’s like getting a great big box of new modules that sync up with your DAW in ways hardware never could, for a fraction of the cost. If you use analog synth gear and a Mac-based DAW, you need Volta. We hereby award it a Key Buy for technological innovation."

Twitter: twitter.com/mitchellsigman
Web: http://www.celebusite.com
MATRIXSYNTH: http://matrixsynth.blogspot.com/search?q=mitchell+sigman

Moog Modular

Moog Modular by synthersizer-sounds

"Quick jam/mess arround with the Arturia Moog modular software synth.
Note: I don't know mutch about modular synths so this is realy just me fooling arround. Very noisy [virtual] analog mess. The recordings not brilliant, there are parts where the sound goes loud and sometimes clips.

Be sure to follow me on twitter for more madness www.twitter.com/dan303

And check out my new blog http://dan303.blogspot.com/"

Peter Vogel on the New Fairlight

"The 30A will look like and perform like the original CMI, although the mainframe will be much lighter for portability. The look and feel of the user interface will also be similar to the original, with retro green on black graphics like the original. A replica of the original music keyboard will also be available as an option, or you can use your own MIDI keyboard.

The software will combine the very best of the early series II and III features, with a multitude of additional features. Sound quality of 8-bit, 16-bit, or "best quality" 36-bit floating point can be selected, and existing Fairlight users can import their entire sample libraries. Even better, non-Fairlight sounds, such as WAV files can be imported and specified to play back with the classic Fairlight sound.

Internally it will be all digital, but will use FPGA technology to provide "virtual hardware" emulation which will exactly model the original analog circuitry. There will be 16 analog outputs and a stereo sampling input. All I/O will also be available digitally through MADI.

For an idea of the performance to expect, see attached description of the Crystal Core engine which the new CMI use.

We are builing a run of only 100 units, which will be available early next year. Price is to finalised, it is not intended to be cost competitive with other samplers, but of course much cheaper than the original CMI, even adjusted for inflation!"
via Peter Vogel, via failed muso, via Sonic State. Be sure to see this post.
http://www.fairlightinstruments.com/