MATRIXSYNTH

Vintage home made synth thingy !! 1970s

via this auction
"Well here is a bit of an odd item which i know best part of nothing about!

It looks to be a rather complicated home made 6 voice osc/tone generator. It is packed full of old switches and pots and a maze of wires inside. Built in the late 1970s looking at the date codes on the components. I was told the chap that built this use to bulid effects and units for tv and sound effects in the 1960s and 70's

Not too sure what it was used for but i have had a play with it and this is what i have found...

On the rear is a 5 pin din socket with 3 wires going to a pcb. These then go to selection switches on the front panel to select input trigger mode. Each of the 6 vco sections can have one of the 3 input triggers switched on. That vco is then triggerd by a voltage on its input from either a sequencer or any other voltage output device / keyboard

Each of the 6 sections has its own course and fine tune pots and also 4 x switches for octave selection as per an organ. 16ft - 8ft - 4ft - 2ft - these cn be selected so only one octave note is played or any combination of the 4 at the same time. Also each octave switch has a pan pot to make it a stereo output as well as its own volume control

I have managed to get 5 of the oscs to work but one did nothing. Will want the switches and pots cleaning/repairing to get it all going so i am selling strictly as spares or repairs for parts or restoration

On the pcb there are 6 parts each with some sort of voltage to frequency converter ic

Built into an open sided metal frame. Gone rusty on the frame but front ok

I am not sure what this would have been used for when built but basicly if you have a mono syth with a voltage output onto one input you can have 6 osc's play at the same time and tune or detune to make polyphonic like playing a chord and 4 x octaves can be played at the same time... : /

Dont know if any good to anyone but didnt have the heart to throw it out!

No warranty diue to age and the fact i dint know how to use or test it"

Waldorf Microwave XT

via this auction
"One of the clasic digital synths of all time and very tricky to get hold of now. The Microwave XT is an evolution of the Microwave II, offering extra DSP power, but the main upgrade is the addition of lots of real time controllers, making this a programmers dream. The XT can produce outrageously original sounds due to the fact that it's two oscillators use wavetables instead of standard waveforms which add a unique 'feel' to the instrument. Combine this with a multimode filter offering options not usually found on other synths, this beast has a stunning range of sounds. It also has a staggering amount of modulation options onboard, it's almost like a digital modular!"

fepater | October 03, 2010
Used live.
"Reactable App for iPad concert @ Barcelona Music Hack Day"

iPads on Ebay
iPads on Amazon

iPod Touch on Ebay
iPod Touch on Amazon

Beat-crushing drums routines by Franck Smith

YouTube via odiolorgnette | October 03, 2010

"Lo-Fi/8-bit processing electronic drums routines on Roland Octapad SPD-30 and Oto Machines "biscuit" bitcrusher. Performed by Franck Smith © 2010

http://twitter.com/franck_smith
http://francksmith.blogspot.com
http://www.youtube.com/odiolorgnette
http://www.odiolorgnette.com

IF POSSIBLE USE HEADPHONES WHEN VIEWING VIDEO MATERIAL OR CONNECT YOUR COMPUTER TO A QUITE DECENT SOUND SYSTEM.

"Franck Smith" Octapad Roland SPD-30 drums electronics percussion Odiolorgnette drum-synth Biscuit Oto Machines Bitcrusher Lo-Fi 8-bit"

1984 Van Halen on Roland Fantom G Keyboard

YouTube via moretacos1 | October 03, 2010

"1984 played on my FG using a patch that I made. Sorry for the narrow pic. The new crappy camera is crappier than the old crappy camera that died!"