MATRIXSYNTH

Synse - Visual Music App

YouTube via tonbilder | January 16, 2011 | 2 likes, 0 dislikes

www.synse.net

Vulcan Harp & Theremin (1929 RCA Theremin)

YouTube via copperleaves | January 18, 2011 |

"This is called THE KATRIC ARK and it is one of a series of 12 compositions for Vulcan harp and theremin. Since the Vulcan harp was introduced by artist and visionary Wah Ming Chang more than 40 years ago, it has evolved considerably, along with the technology involved with its manufacture. It is acoustic, electroacoustic and electronic (it is the electronic component that permits such things as the playing of complex harmonies, glide pitch shifts, etc.).

As a sculptor, Chang molded the instrument to fit the human body, and it is great to hold because it is so wonderfully ergonomic. This particular harp has 26 strings (copper, brass and silver) and is played with finger picks. There are no steel strings and the instrument does not use magnetic pickups like electric guitars. It also does not need to be plugged into anything so there are no annoying cables to get in the way. It transmits directly to its amplifier and speakers by means of an antenna integrated into the pin column (the extended curved vertical arm that holds the tuning pins). The two speakers you see in the video are JBL JRX-125 monitors.

As a concept, the characteristics of "Vulcan music" are determined by the remarkable capabilities of the Vulcan harp which include many of the possibilities of the classical instruments of India. The sound of the Vulcan harp has been described as a combination of harp, lute, violin and sitar. If you add to this everything that is possible with the use of the shift disc and the harmonic valves (the seven button controls - one for each note of the diatonic scale - riding above the brass plate) you have an extraordinary number of combinations that can be explored. The harmonic valves are all level-sensitive (each responds to three degrees of left hand finger pressure applied to them: touch, half, and full) and this determines the harmony applied to the vibrating strings. Octave displacement is played by multiple valve configurations depending on the register in which the harpist wants to play.

There is also a "tapper control" incorporated into the Vulcan harp for generating complex polyrhythms but it is not used in this particular composition. The "tapper" is the knob that sits just behind the lowest bass strings on the upper edge of the instrument facing the harpist. It can be silently programmed just before a piece is played by drumming the fingers of the left hand on the knob in the exact rhythm combination you want to hear applied to your sound once you begin to play. The instrument will loop the rhythm continuously throughout the piece (or until you squelch it).

The theremin in this video is the 1929 RCA that once belonged to Hollywood thereminist Dr. Samuel Hoffman. It was used by Dr. Hoffman on the soundtracks of many classic science fiction films of the 1950's, so I thought it would be appropriate to use it here. If you are curious about this 1929 theremin, I am featured in the 20TH CENTURY FOX 2-disc DVD "special edition" of the re-issue of the original 1951 science fiction masterpiece, THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL. There are already several videos on YouTube of me playing this instrument (and some from the 1950's of Dr. Hoffman as well) so after the solo theremin section at the beginning of the composition, I concentrated entirely on showing the Vulcan harp. There are very few Vulcan harps in the world and even fewer musicians who can actually play them, so I thought people might might like to see it.

PLEASE NOTE: the recording of this composition was done directly to a Roland VS-2400CD. There were no FX added to the instruments other than the usual EQ and a small amount of reverb. No peripherals, no MIDI modules, overdubs or computers were used at any time in the recording process."

Sequential Pro One Repair

YouTube via clackbeetle | January 18, 2011 |

"Video taken mid repair of a Sequential Pro One - Testing LFO and keyboard. Clacktronics - Synthesizer repair based in London."

GR-55 Guitar Synthesizer Steve Stevens Interview - Flesh for Fantasy

YouTube via RolandChannel | January 18, 2011 |

"http://www.rolandconnect.com/product....
Steve Stevens talks to Roland about the GR-55 Guitar Synthesizer."

Billy Idol - Flesh For Fantasy

emimusic | March 09, 2009 |

"Music video by Billy Idol performing Flesh For Fantasy."

Jumbo Gem

via this auction

Vibrato
Chords
Horns
Strings
Reeds
Flutes

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Roland Jupiter 6

via this auction

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CME VX7 Midi Controller with ASX Plugiator Synthesizer

via this auction

"CME VX7 Controller with UseAudio ASX Plugiator analog modeling hardware with the latest 8 plug-ins. The Plugiator plugin licenses are transferable.

The CME VX7 has the latest 2.1 firmware update and will come with earlier ROM images."

stg soundlabs moog format mixers now shipping

"The Mixer is a 5-input mixer with a transistor-based make-up gain stage and topology based on the model CP3 mixers from the modular electronic music systems built in Trumansburg NY by the RA Moog company. Its features are low noise, minimal slew, and massive asymmetric distortion on demand.

Each input has an input amount level, and there are three outputs. Two outputs are unattenuated positive and negative outputs, and the third is an attenuated output controlled by the sixth knob on the panel. Its normal operation is bipolar from negative to positive, but when the "negative kill" switch is engaged the attenuator works from null to full positive. In addition, channels four and five are normalised to positive five volts and negative six for CV offset or distortion "pulse width" effects.

As calibrated to factory standard, 2 o'clock on the dial is approximately unity gain, at 3 o'clock it begins to clip and then distortion presents itself above that input level (from 10V p-p input signals.) This is adjustable to the taste of the customer and if your application needs a predictable unity gain position for clean mixing applications it can be provided for you on request. (obviously if you want to live dangerously it can be calibrated in a more extreme fashion.)

The positive and negative outputs are not only necessary for control signals and other phase-sensitive applications. Because of the circuit topology of the gain amp the positive and negative outputs actually have different distortion characteristics. The negative output is more of a straight clipping, but the positive output has some interesting waveshaping to it which also means that when the output attenuator is in bipolar operation it is actually possible to isolate only the difference component between the two different types of distortion. This is a feature which was not available on the CP3 (or any other mixer that I'm aware of based on it, which until now have only been privately built for the most demanding of enthusiasts.)

You may ask "why on earth would you want such an old circuit? why go so far as to model the power rails of that old stuff for what anyone else would just throw a cheap dual opamp chip in there? are you nuts? the cheap dual opamp would give you another 10 volts of headroom and would bring your circuit cost to a tenth of what it is now!!"

The answer is of course, the sound. The sound of those old modular systems (the ones on albums like Tarkus, Rubycon, Mirage, Halo, Switched-On Rock ... those albums that make us want these sounds) wasn't just a matter of a certain lowpass filter which everyone and their brother has made a copy of. The sound started with simple animal-like unijunction-core featureless oscillators, was mixed in distortion-heavy mixers, filtered with the aforementioned filter (and other filters people never bother to copy), and then level-managed by a transistor-based VCA. one of those four stages is the mixer, and in my opinion it's more than a quarter of the sound.

Here is a meandering sound example with 2 Synthesizers.com Q106 VCOs into the Mixer, then the MOTM-490 LPF, and an STG Soundlabs VCA"

CP333 by suitandtieguy

More info and price at stg/soundlabs