How the Vocoder Saved the World, Literally

This one in via fabio. Motherboard has a good review on Dave Tompkins' How to Wreck a Nice Beach. You can find it here.

"The brink of nuclear annihilation calls for sound advice over a secure phone line, at least one that works properly. On October 25, 1962, John F. Kennedy pushed the button and spoke on the vocoder. While his voice went to the machine, his body was at the pharmacy, infused with steroids, painkillers and anti-spasmodics. He heard a hiss of static and pushed again. At the other end, British Prime Minister Harold MacMillan heard “garble,” not, “I don’t want to have an incident with a Russian ship tomorrow.” While the US Strategic Air Command was at a DEFCON 3 state of readiness—with no secure way to communicate with the ground—Kennedy’s Brahmin accent was being transformed into “Mickey Mouse/Donald Duck,” a side effect of processing the president’s vocal tract into a binary code. Talk of a “Naval interdiction” of all vessels bound for Cuba was compressed and artificially rendered at 1667 bits per second. The letter R was nowhere to be found.

Kennedy had been using the KY-9, a 500-pound 12-channel scrambler developed by Bell Labs in 1953. He often turned to the KY-9 during the Cuban Missile Crisis, a time when a single teletype exchange with Premier Khrushchev in Moscow could take over twelve hours between transmission..."

Click here for all posts featuring Dave Tompkins' How to Wreck a Nice Beach including video.

How to Wreck a Nice Beach on Amazon. Added to the Synth Books section as well.

TechnoTrance - Waldorf Largo

YouTube via RLSoundDesign — May 18, 2010 — Waldorf Largo Soundset by Rob Lee

TechnoTrance for Largo Part 2

GForce impOSCar2 controller

YouTube via FutureMusicMagazine — May 13, 2010 —

"No matter how good software synths get, you can't beat a bit of hands-on control. FM talks to GForce's Dave Spiers about this creation and gets a quick walk-through on the controller"

Also see:
Underworld Meets the impOSCar Controller
Synth-Project impOSCar 2 Hardware Controller
Synth-Project label added.

Morgan Page on the Dave Smith Instruments Prophet '08

YouTube via FutureMusicMagazine — May 14, 2010 — "Morgan Page gives FM the lowdown on why he loves the Prophet '08 so much.
You can find out more about Morgan Page and his production techniques in his "In The Studio' interview in FM227 on sale 18/05/10."

MacBeth Mk1 Test Setup Vid #1

YouTube via macbethsynthesizers — May 18, 2010 — "Here's a small sized video that I did of the MacBeth Mk1 Synth module prototypes that I have now set up- although the video is not the best quality- the sound went into the desk and then recorded! I'm using the pure analogue X-Series keyboard to play the stuff! Hope you enjoy...KM"

Launchpad

YouTube via NovationTV — May 18, 2010 —

Pics from FiveG Japan

You can find the gallery here

This one in via Jeff. You can find descriptions on this thread on Muff's. Note the pics in the gallery are larger.

Giving this one the Synth Museum label.

CLICK FOR MORE »

GBX FLOOR BASS

via Craigslist Vancouver

"RARE early 70's GBX Floor Bass Model FB-1, the same layout as a four string bass guitar from the open strings up to and including the 8th fret. Original operating and tuning instructions are included. Pedals and base are in excellent condition, outer case has the usual scuffs."

$349

This one spotted and sent in via Kaden. This is the first post on GBX. Anyone know more about them?

Update via Kaden: "Canadian musicians of a certain age will remember GBX for their 'brains in a box' concept... they did guitar and base amplification based on powered speaker cabinets, with the heads only containing the pre-amp circuitry... need more volume? just add another cabinet. Never heard of the floor bass thingy though."

Richard Lainhart A Performance at Soundscapes

Another chance to see Richard Lainhart with the Haken Continuum and Buchla 200e live:

"Friends: approaching the end of a busy month of performing, I'd like to invite you to my film and music performance at Soundscapes in Nazareth, PA, on Friday, May 21 at 8PM:

http://soundscapes.us/index.html

I'll be playing a set of music for Buchla 200e and Haken Continuum and one for electric guitar with laptop processing, providing live improvised soundtracks for some of my recent films.

In addition, I'd like to direct your attention to a set of high-quality downloadable MP3s from three of this month's performances - first, a set of four pieces for electric guitar, electric lapsteel, Kyma, and Macbook from my hour-long live online audio/video stream for ImprovFriday (http://improvfriday.ning.com/) from May 7:

Richard Lainhart ImprovFriday 5-7-10 by rlainhart

Next, a half-hour program of music for Buchla 200e and Haken Continuum from a performance on May 10 at LMAKprojects gallery in Manhattan (http://www.lmakprojects.com/projects?id=52):

Lainhart@LMAKseries 5-10-10 by rlainhart

Finally, a relatively short improvisation for Buchla/Continuum from the Pocono Skies electo-music festival (http://poconoskies.com/) in Shawnee-on-Delaware, Pennsylvania, on May 15:

Richard Lainhart @ Pocono Skies 5-15-10 by rlainhart

I hope you enjoy the tracks, and to see you at Soundscapes. Thanks!"

Innerclock Systems Update

New website launched here.

Check it out.