MATRIXSYNTH

Richard Devine - Objects Of Granularity on Curtis for iPad

Objects Of Granularity by RichardDevine
"This track was composed for the "Curtis" (iphone/ipod/ipad) app by The Strange Agency. This piece is a Acousmatic composition based on everyday found objects. I recorded various wine glasses, gears, metal, motors, Ratchets, chimes, croaking frog scraper, Indian bells, Tibetan Singing Bowls, Santoor, waterphone, piano, hematite magnets, processed voice, underwater ambiances, computer, and sprinkled bits of Buchla 200e/Doepfer Euro rack Modular.

All of the sounds originally captured at 24-bit 96khz with a Neumann RSM 191 A/S stereo shotgun mic, SMK4060 Stereo Matched 4060-BM Miniature Omnidirectional Microphones and Sound Devices 702 recorder. Download the wave in 16-bit 44.1khz wave:)

Process and further granulate my piece with the"Curtis" app version 1.1 here on the itunes store."

iPads on Ebay

Genovation Keypad MIDI Patch Changer

Programmable MIDI Preset Keypad via Genovation
Update via Grant B in the comments: "www.musictechnologiesgroup.com is the new home for this device."

"The Genovation MIDI Patch Changer is the perfect solution when you need to control MIDI presets for one or more devices, but you don't want to use a giant keyboard controller, MIDI footswitch or MIDI pedalboard. The MIDI Patch Changer has all the features you'd expect in a full-featured patch changing controller.

* Programmable, compact and easy to use.
* Manual mode lets you send Program Change as well as optional Bank Select MSB and LSB.
* Preset performance mode sends program-change-per-MIDI-channel as well as Bank Select on all 16 channels simultaneously -- per preset.
* Send 16 bytes of MIDI data of your choice (anything!) per Preset.
* 1 x 16 super-twist back-lit LCD.
* Detachable cabling for 5-pin DIN MIDI and USB-MIDI.
* "Flash" memory holds patches and config data.
* Firmware upgradeable (using MIDIOX or similar).
* 1 year warranty.

Dimension: 15.5cm x 9.6cm x 3.5cm (6.1" x 3.75" x 1.5")
Weight: 0.3 kg (0.65 lbs)
Manual Mode: For changing patches on the fly, you can select your MIDI Channel, optional Bank Selects* and Patch Change value(s).

The values can be typed in on the number pad or use the up/down keys to scroll through presets. When the patch number rolls over 0, enabled bank selects are automatically incremented or decremented. Move through hundreds of patches with ease.

The unit allows you to send the MIDI commands instantly as-you-type-them or prepare them first and execute them later with one keypress.

Bank Selects can be quickly disabled/muted when not needed or desired.

16 bytes of Arbitrary MIDI Data can be used for sending controller data, system exclusive, RPN, NRPN or anything you need.

When power is interrupted, the unit remembers exactly where you left off.

* MIDI Controller values 0 and 32.
Preset Mode: You can configure 100 performance presets each containing:

* 16x (one for each MIDI channel) bank MSB, bank LSB, patch change.
* 16 bytes of arbitray MIDI data -- send what you want.
* Name for the LCD.
* Sys Ex implementation allows for setting up presets on a PC.

Extras: You can upgrade the flash firmware so that your MIDI Patch Changer is always up to date.

Free Windows PC software for creating the Sys Ex files is available."

Goldbaby SuperAnalog808 Sample Set

Samples on Gooldbaby here

"SuperAnalog808 - 24 bit / 96kHz

Punchy, warm, analog drums with Round Robin Layering. Using high-end outboard and a compulsive attention to detail... this 808 sample set is pure analog drum heaven.

Why have you created another TR-808 sample set?

For a start the 808 is one of my favorite drum machines! Secondly I thought I could offer something a little different. This sample pack has been recorded at a higher sampler rate and has extensive Round Robin treatment to recreate the feel and movement of an analog drum machine. The Tape808 used tape to give it extra Mojo... this time I have used some new high end outboard. Tasty...

Is there anything else that is different?

Yes there certainly is. This pack has tuned chromatic BD and Conga patches. So you can play them on your keyboard!"

CLICK FOR MORE »

Mooger Fooger MuRF MF-105

YouTube via edpoulsen9191 | July 19, 2009

"messing around with a Moog MF-105. Saw alot of posts saying there aren't enough demos of this pedal. Hope this is a good one. Even saw one comment that said the MuRF was just an expensive phaser...... couldn't be further from the truth. Remember, this isn't a pedal in your typical sense of the word, it's a synthesizer being controlled by a guitar. It's used to give the SOUND (not simply the guitar sound) width and dimension, or to completely tear the sound apart and reconstruct it in any manner of your choosing. Keep on moogin'."

moogs+noisegenerator.m4v

edpoulsen9191 | August 29, 2010

"messing around with a few moogs again, sorry about the static, i'm not sure if it's the pre-amp i'm using or the new mixing software, or both. I'm using a dotcom noise generator (the low frequency setting), then running it through the murf, then the freqbox (i bypass it though) and then through the ringmod and finally the lpf. I was trying to go for a synth drum sample sound and while there is no "fail" when making sounds with foogers i've decided to call this one 'It was late, and I was tired'"

Return to Swiss Mountain

YouTube via Allerian1 | August 11, 2010

"Ride along on a derivative music adventure through the Alps."

The new 2164 Korgasmatron Dual VCF

via Dr. Sketch-n-Etch on Muff's

"I wanted to show off my new MS-20 filter clone. Like the MOTM 420, the Frostwave Resonator, and several others, this filter is based on the later version of the MS-20 filter. However, unlike all the other clones, this one is not a direct (or indirect) copy of the LM13600 OTAs-and-buffers topology of the original. Instead, it is based on the SSM2164 quad VCA chip, and realizes the same transfer function with a VCAs-and-integrators topology. The exponential CV response of the 2164 VCAs obviates the need for exponential converter circuitry. Also, unlike the LM13600-based designs, this filter does not add dc offsets to the signal, and therefore does not require AC coupling capacitors in the signal path.

I've also added a new feature: adjustable limiting voltages in the resonance feedback loops. One problem with the original design (and the clones, I think) is that the resonance amplitude is limited to only 1.8V, and as a result the input signal attenuator has to be set pretty low in order to hear any resonance at all in lowpass mode. My new amplitude control eliminates this problem, and now robust resonance can be obtained without sacrificing signal strength.

Finally, the PCB contains two complete MS-20 style filter circuits, each with all the same features of other popular clones, but with a few additional features as well, including both unipolar and bipolar CV controls, separate three-channel mixer output with optional level control, and optional fine tuning.

A picture of my 4U prototype panel is shown below. This is just one of many panel possibilities, and even this one is missing some of the features available on the PCB for lack of space.

I've also attached some sound clips for your listening pleasure. I'm not much of a production engineer, and all I've got is a little Behringer mixer with no effects and an obsolete version of Cakewalk, so apologies in advance for the crappy sound quality. The last one is my shameless attempt to reproduce the second soundclip on the MOTM 420 webpage with a single filter (the one on the right, if you're curious). This was recorded as a .wav but converted later to an .mp3, so the sound isn't so good, but hopefully the character of the filter still comes through. The other three make use of a triple LFO and my recently redesigned version of Ken Stone's CGS analog shift register, and show some of the formant effects one can achieve with the two Korgasmatron filters in series. However, these only scratch the surface of what this beasty is capable of.

Let me know if you're interested in a handmade PCB."

Bode exhibit at Estey Organ Museum & a Note on The First Modulars

via el macaco on the AH list:

"I had the opportunity to check this exhibit out this past weekend, and I would recommend it to anyone in the Brattleboro, VT area to stop by and check it out. It is mostly pictures and text, with some of Harald Bode's notebooks and such, and some audio files from his tape recordings of his experiments. The organ museum is small but it has many old organs you can play and a walk through pipe organ, which is really the highlight of the place IMO.

I have heard so many times that Bob Moog and Don Buchla independently and at the same time came up with voltage controlled music circuits and a modular format for their synthesizers/electric music boxes around 1963. But Bode had built a voltage controlled modular system with integrated tape echo and reverb in 1960, and had published an article in Electronics magazine in 1961 about 'transistorized modular synthesis circuits. The web sites this article as a big influence on Bob Moog, and I am sure Don Buchla was aware of the article or at least of Bode's work stretching back to his 1937 formant organ and the melocord built for and used by Stockhausen. Bode appears to have built the first barberpole phaser so the influence on Buchla seems plausible. I would love to read the 1961 article, but I haven't found it in my websearches, if anyone has it please let me know.

It seems odd to me, because it wouldn't take anything away from Bob or Don, but it does take away the truth and the legacy of Harald Bode. It always seemed odd that they both came up with such similar systems independently, but it makes sense if they were drawing from the existing state of electronic design. So it seems to me, first voltage controlled modular synthesizer, Harald Bode 1960.

Anywho, they put out a CD of some of Bode's demonstration tapes which is available at the museum or through amazon. [LINK]

some beautiful music and some interesting demonstrations of his devices."

Update via haroldbodenews in the comments:

"Thanks for this great review!

We just posted the 1961 Electronics Magazine article for download.

http://haraldbodenews.wordpress.com/2010/08/31/123/

enjoy!

bests,
rp"