MATRIXSYNTH

YouTube via copperleaves

"I call this composition LEMMENKAINEN'S DREAM. Lemmenkainen was one of the heroes in the Finnish national epic known as the KALEVALA. The writer of The Lord Of The Rings, J. R. R. Tolkien, based much of his vision of Middle Earth on ideas and images from the Kalevala which he had read as a teenager. He liked it so much he actually learned Finnish in order to read the book in its native language, and later went on to invent a language entirely of his own (the language of the Elves called "Quenya") which was based on Finnish.

The kantele (pronounced "kan - teh - leh") is the national instrument of Finland and belongs to the family of instruments known as "psalteries". The one you see in this video is a 38 string, steel strung, electric kantele. It's magnetic pickups (which are eight inches long) were custom made by Jason Lollar for Bart Hopkin of Experimental Musical Instruments. If you are curious about them, visit Bart's website, windworld.com.

The kantele is an extremely resonant instrument and larger "concert" models are provided with a damper consisting of a thick felt strip similar to what you might find on a piano, in order to mute the strings. I left the damper box open in the middle part of this video so you could see what it looks like. These electroacoustic kanteles bear little resemblance to the traditional 5 and 10 string folk instruments but they open up all sorts of doors for modern musicians. The high tension and steel strings on the instrument in this video allow me, if I wish, to play the kantele with a bar which I hold in my left hand. Players of steel guitars and of certain traditional instruments of India also play in this way. The effect of it is a very pure and strangely lonely "northern" sound which I found appropriate for the piece.

The theremin I used is a Moog Etherwave Pro."

(iPhone / iPod touch app) SynthProbe Mobile Tutorial

YouTube via KayacInc. more vids here
"SynthProbe is a new musical instrument which every users can enjoy playing, regardless of instrument skills, intuitively. By touching and tilting your iPhone, or iPod Touch, you can play a variety of phrases."
Not seeing this one on iTunes yet.

Update 6/4/2013: you can find it on iTunes here:
SynthProbe - KAYAC Inc.

Abbey Road and Native Instruments team up

YouTube via NativeInstruments
"A visit to Abbey Road studios, and some first information about what to expect from the new partnership between the legendary recording facilities and Native Instruments."

Update:

"'Native Instruments and Abbey Road Announce Partnership

Berlin, December 10th, 2009 - Native Instruments today announced a close partnership with Abbey Road, the iconic British recording studios that have shaped the sound of popular music for over 75 years. Combining Native Instruments‘ industry-leading expertise in music software design with Abbey Road's unique engineering facilities, the two companies will create advanced software instruments of exceptional sonic quality and musical value, with the first product scheduled for release in early 2010.

As one of the most sophisticated recording and post production complexes in the world, Abbey Road’s equipment includes one of the largest microphones collections as well as a selection of famed analog outboard gear custom-built by EMI. Combined with the studio’s famous acoustics, and the expertise of Abbey Road’s engineers, the studios form an ideal environment for the production of sample-based software instruments of the highest quality.

With the award-winning KONTAKT sampler and its free KONTAKT PLAYER version, Native Instruments has established the most versatile and most widely adopted platform for sample-based instruments in the industry. Advanced features such as flexible scripting, sample morphing, and custom interface panels, which make KONTAKT the premier platform for the authentic emulation of acoustic instruments, will be used extensively in the products developed together with Abbey Road in the future.

'Both popular music culture and the recording arts are indebted to Abbey Road Studios in many ways", says Sascha Kubiak, Director of the Producer Division at Native Instruments. "We are excited about the challenge to develop software instruments that will put the Abbey Road sound into the hand of musicians and producers everywhere'.

'For over a decade, Native Instruments have been creating groundbreaking tools for artists to create and perform music", says Glyn Roberts, Head of Audio Products at Abbey Road. "We are looking forward to working closely with Native Instruments' developers to create exciting and innovative instruments for musicians of all genres'."

dronelab kit

YouTube via kidtronic
"A look at teh casper electronics drone machine kit."

"This is Christmas" - on ELKA X-1000

YouTube via organfairy

"After last christmas a threw out my trusty old plastic christmas tree as it was getting rather dilapidated. But somehow I wanted something different this year. I decided to make a Jean-Michel Jarre inspired window decoration!

I bought some wood and cut out a set of keys to form a circular keyboard. Then I painted them and installed a handfull of red LEDs. A sequencing circuit from my "box of opportunities" was used as a driver. And now I have a red glowing semi-circular wooden keyboard christmas decoration in my kitchen window.

The music is played on the Elka X-1000 organ and a set of sleigh bells. The melody is called "This is Christmas" and was originally play by the Danish duo "Laid Back" in the late 80's."

a box of opportunities

YouTube via organfairy
"This is just a little story about a box I found in my bicycle shed - well actually I put it there myself in the first place so I didn't really find it since I knew it was there :-)

The music is called "The upright's little brother" and is played on a CASIO CZ-101 and Roland JX-8P synthesizers, and Yamaha HE-8 and Viscount RBX-850 organs."

Super Flu & Opa Herbert - Happy New Year 2010

YouTube via DeinOpaHerbert
"SUPER FLU & OPA HERBERT PERFORMING WITH A MOOG THEREMIN, TR-606 & A HARMONICA THROUGH A SHARP GF-777... THX TO OPA HERBERT, LARS & SKEETER! ... EIN FROHES NEUES JAHR - HAPPY NEW YEAR - KURISUMASU OMEDETO - CHUK HA - GODT NYTÅR - EEN GELUKKIG NIEUWJAAR - 0NNELLISTA UUTTA VUOTTA - BONNE ANNÉE - KENOURIOS CHRONOS - SZCZESLIWEGO NOWEGO ROKU - UM FELIZ ANO NOVO - SNOVIM GODOM - VESELA NOVA GODINE - PRÓSPERO AÑO NUEVO - GOTT NYTT ÅR - SAWADEE PEE MAI - XIN NIAN KUAI LE ... www.super-flu.de"

robert moog presentation

YouTube via 116864551. A few interesting bits on Bob Moog.

Update via nonymous in the comments:
RCA Mark II synthesizer - 1955
Kurzweil Music Systems founded in 1982 by Raymond Kurzweil
MIDI proposed by Dave Smith to AES - 1981