MATRIXSYNTH

KORG MS-20 Vintage Analog Synthesizer

via this auction

Features:
Monophonic
2VCOs + Noise (white, pink)
Unbelievable Lo-Pass, Hi-Pass Filter
37 Keys.

Eminent Solina String Ensemble

via this auction
"The String Ensemble is an example of excellent Dutch craftsmanship. The wooden casing certainly looks good and is very sturdy. The console with sliders and instrument selection buttons is made of metal. The four octave keyboard is fine and has this typical 'spring crack' when you depress the keys. The contact springs are located under the keys, so they don't get covered with dust easily. In fact, the contacts are built that well that I have not noticed any cracking or sound degradation due to corrosion.

The unit can be opened by taking out three screws at the back, lifting the lid some two centimetres and sliding it backwards.

Inside, the machine is a perfect world of neatly placed boards and very tidy wiring. A joy to see! The buttons and sliders on the panel are the following: power on/off, tuning up/down, contrabass, cello, volume bass, crescendo, sustain length, master volume, viola, violin, brass, horn and modulation.

The contrabass and cello selectors can be used to turn on a 16' or 8' monophonic bass, which is triggered by the lowest of the keys one presses. The bass runs from C0 to G1 and stops there. The bass volume can be adjusted to match the volume of the upper registers by the 'volume bass' slider.

The crescendo and sustain sliders can be used to alter the attack and decay rates of the viola and violin registers and also have some minor effect on the other registers.

The viola and violin are the core string sounds of the unit. Brass and horn are also very nice and soft sounds which may be blended with the viola and violin sounds to create subtle sound differences.

The modulation button can be used to turn off the built-in chorus effect. I think nobody will do this, for the chorus of the ensemble is what makes this machine sound so very wonderful!"

Casiolette The Rapman Commeth

" Casiolette is a project based on the exploitation and senseless torture of cheapo consumer keyboards from the 80s and early 90s. No circuit bending, no ProTools, just a few effects pedals and whatever can be plugged into the assorted line-in jacks.

The keyboard that inspired this project is the Casio Rapman (RAP-1), a hip hop-based keyboard from 1991 with a very interesting feature. It seems that anything with a 1/8" plug can be hooked up to the Rapman and its sound messed with via the "Voice Effector" slider. This means that vocals, along with guitars, drum machines, other keyboards, etc., can be manipulated in real time while the Rapman is playing one of its preset rhythms and you're playing the keyboard on top of all of it. (Some songs were accomplished "live" in this way, but most were multi-tracked.)"

Check it out at SOMERY.ORG. via somery in the comments of this post.

"Peacefully"

YouTube via TheSynthFreq — "May 08, 2010 — Hi. :) This is a new chilled out composition. Me and my synths, just chilling out on a Saturday night in the studio. I also wrote a new patch for the Roland Alpha Juno-1 and then processed it through a distortion/phaser.
The D-50 has an organ patch that I made out of just an initialized patch, through chorus at max values, and with a little delay added on.
The DX-9 patch is made with 4 operators, equal tuning. The patch can be played with full-on sustain,(sustain level in the ADSR), or with a nice release time.

Please enjoy! :)
:) TSF"

Bob Moog on Raymond Scott and the History of the Sequencer

via Raymondscott.com where you will find the full article by Bob Moog.

"Raymond then brought us into the big room downstairs where he had music synthesis equipment. He had rack upon rack of stepping relays that were used by the telephone company. The relay would step through all positions when dialed. He had them hooked up to turn sounds on and off. It was a huge, electro-mechanical sequencer! And he had it programmed to produce all sorts of rhythmic patterns. The whole room would go 'clack - clack - clack,' and the sounds would come out all over the.place!

Raymond also showed us his "Circle Machine," which was a big disc, and a rotating arm with a photo-cell at the end of the arm. There was a series of lights on the circumference of the disc that this arm would pass over, and you could adjust the brightness of each lightbulb. As the arm swung around, and the photocell was illuminated and got darker, the different sounds would come on and.off."

To Be Expected (1974)

YouTube via herowouters — May 07, 2010 — "'To Be Expected' (1974) was the end-result of a whole series of movies: Psyche, Middeleeuwse Film, A Boy's Ballad, Difficult Meeting in White Dress and more. All of them with the same subject: two people in a park or wood, standing, looking, having no physical or mental relation that can be clearly decided upon.
To Be Expected features Hannah van Boeschoten and Jan Lemair, and the title seems to point at the inevitable demise of their, already fragile, relationship.
The original soundtrack consists of the composition "Welcome Home, Satansboleet" opus 100 (1974), created with an EMS VCS 3 (the Synthi-A). A satansboleet, by the way, is a highly poisonous toadstool...
Hero Wouters-movie number 41."

A Boy's Ballad (1973)

"herowouters — May 07, 2010 — "A Boy's Ballad" (1973, Hero Wouters-movie 26). Featuring Gerard Stafleu and Jan Lemair. Improvised perfeormances on two saturdays in the woods near Zeist (The Netherlands). Used music: "As Long as we are Happy" (opus 161, 1978), a bizarre mix of electronics (EMS VCS 3), a sax and a string-instrument that looked primarily like a typewriter, called a "mexican banjo". When you like the sound of it, don't miss the soundtrack of "De Nagul verkoolt zienderogen" (1972, HW-movie number 10)."

Psyche (1972)

"herowouters — April 18, 2009 — "Psyche" came forth from the irresistable urge to walk around in a park with a potted plant. Gerard Stafleu was very good at it, but the film was missing something: the female element. So Hannah van Boeschoten was added to park and movie. Used music: D 50 opus 464 (2005). Hero Wouters Movie nr 16 (1972). See http://www.herowouters.nl"

Middeleeuwse Film (1972)

"herowouters — March 04, 2009 — "Middeleeuwse Film" (or "Mediaeval Movie") has something to do with the eternal (and not just mediaeval) confrontation between man and woman. What do you want from me?
With Hannah van Boeschoten and Hero Wouters, camera Gerard Stafleu. Used music: "Golven over de Afluitdijk, opus 257" (1983). Hero Wouters Movie number 17 (1972). See http://www.herowouters.nl."

more

Inner mind loops (Plogue Bidule + 2 Behringer BSY600 + Audacity)

YouTube via GruithuisenCityMan — May 08, 2010 — "Hello ! My name is Frederic Gerchambeau. I have made this movie and this music. The music has been made with Plogue Bidule sequencing 2 Behringer Bass Synthesizer BSY600. The sounds of these 2 Behringer Bass Synthesizer BSY600 has been reintroducted into Plogue Bidule in order to permit to a long delay to be added. The all thing has been made in one take and has been a bit edited with Audacity (compression, short stereo delay and pitch downshifting added). Enjoy !"

The Sound(s) of Vangelis

"The sound of the first works in Nemo Studio shaped mainly analog synthesizers and keyboards, initially Oberheim 4-Voice, ARP Pro Soloist, Elka Rhapsody 610, Farfisa Synthorchestra, Minimoog, Minikorg 700, Korg Polyphonic Ensemble, Roland SH-3A and the Roland system 100, 1977 and then more and more of the Yamaha CS-80, the Vangelis was now his main instrument. Vangelis was among the first CS-80 users in general, and his first instrument was the legend, even the adventurous way to take the train from across Japan by Russia."

You can find the full article on AMAZONA.de in German here, and Googlish here. via Marko of Retrosound.de.

Pictured: Vangelis in concert with two Yamaha CS-80s.

Cooper Sloan - One Synth Tracks

http://www.myspace.com/coopersloan

"Function Forest - 4 tracks of one evolving 2600 patch to 1/2" tape, no dubs or editing. There was a bit of murf on it as well.

Cold - Buchla 200, using frequency shifters with comb filter in feedback paths, some lexicon reverb.

4017 - Live acoustic drums w/ piezo trigger comparator to step DIY modular sequence on kick hits.

Finger Waggin' Baby - Mic'd up some am radio cabinets through 292s is all I remember... done in a couple passes."

Update: you can also find the track and images of the DIY modular on http://cooper.muxtape.com/. "It was built by a talented guy named Terry Flaig from the early 70s to around 85 if I remember correctly. I just finished a new expansion cabinet for it... I'll have to post some videos soon or something."

See here for a previous post on the modular.