MATRIXSYNTH

Monday, September 23, 2013

KORG MS20 with KORG 35 Filter & Synth Cat

Note: Auction links are affiliate links for which the site may be compensated.

This one is currently listed for sale here. The M20, not the cat.

"This vintage MS20 is THE MS20 to buy if you're looking for an original Korg 35 filter version in both great physical and functional shape for a very reasonable price and shipped from WITHIN THE US, NOT JAPAN, WITH US VOLTAGE! As said earlier, this MS20 has the original Korg 35 filter circuit chips (no screw/daughterboard in the VCA section, front panel has the more grey-ish hue than the later versions, which typically have a more jet black-ish hue). It's in great physical condition for its age, with only minor surface blemishes, and no missing parts, broken parts, major dents, or major damage. The only flaw I can think of is a very small chip out of the bottom of one of the keys (not visible when viewed from above; doesn't affect function). There is also a vintage sticker on the right end cap, which could be easily removed..."

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Roland CR-8000 Drum Machine

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via this auction - learn how to sell on eBay here

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Prophet 12 Analog Filter Modulation

Published on Sep 22, 2013 experimentalsynth·87 videos

"I was able to to borrow a Prophet 12 recently. Since it has analog filters, I thought it might be interesting to do "analog things" to it. This is part of what happened next.

At first I was disappointed when I saw that there were no CV connections, but I soon found that the two pedal inputs can be used with a variety of CV gear.

In this video I have the Koushion Step Sequencer iPad app sending MIDI notes to the Moog Mult-Pedal. The Multi-Pedal converts them to an analog control Voltage which step-sequences the Prophet 12's filter.

The Moog CP-251 allows us to make multiple copies of the Control Voltage so we can also step-sequence a Moog Voyager and Little Phatty. Learn more at www.experimentalsynth.com"

iTunes: Koushion MIDI Step Sequencer - Kudzu Creative Group
Dave Smith Prophet 12s on eBay

Stepper Acid demo 2

Published on Sep 22, 2013 Zoë Blade·29 videos

"A teaser showing what Nina and I have been up to with Stepper Acid."

Cotracks Music Studio for iPad

Cotracks: Official Trailer
Published on Sep 19, 2013 futucraft·3 videos

iTunes: Cotracks - Futucraft Oy

Additional videos below.

"This is the official trailer for the Cotracks Music Studio app for iPad. The video shows the Cotracks team playing and recording simultaneously and creating a tune in less than two minutes.

Cotracks is a collaborative music studio app designed for teamwork on a single iPad. Welcome to http://futucraft.com for more details."

"Cotracks is a collaborative music studio for teamwork on a single iPad. With Cotracks you can create multiple layers of loops and phrases using multiple instruments. Cotracks is designed to maintain your creative flow and is always ready to capture your ideas, regardless whether you are flying solo or collaborating with others.

Collaboration is where Cotracks really stands out. Everyone in your session has the ability to play and record at will without disrupting or being disrupted by the workflow of others. This lets you lay down the foundation of a tune within minutes and makes Cotracks the perfect and inspiring tool for brainstorming new ideas within a group.

The loops you create may be exported as separate audio clips or as a mixdown audio clip which you may then import and use in any audio software supporting the common wave audio format.

DESIGNED FOR VARYING NUMBER OF USERS

You can start off creating music in a single user mode. Later when your friend decides to join in, you switch to a two user mode. The interface layout will adjust enabling convenient access to the application from both sides of the table. Whenever another friend happens to join you, the layout will adjust again enabling access from all four sides of the device, letting you team up with up to three friends for a super creative music session. Whenever one or more members leave the session, it is as easy as a single tap to switch back to the smaller team or to the single user mode, letting the remaining members continue from where the others left off.

DESIGNED FOR VARIABLY SKILLED USERS

Cotracks offers lots of fun at the same time for both novice and advanced musicians with the help of scale based keyboard, flexible quantize, sequence sharing and editing capabilities. For example, a novice musician may grab a copy of a complicated sequence played by a more experienced friend and edit the instrument, sound and effects, record modulation controllers over the sequence and tweak the various playback parameters including key and scale. Essentially creating something new and exiting without necessarily playing a single note. Cotracks is all about giving everybody the means to contribute, which takes the concept of music collaboration to a new level.

It's like playing with a band, but this time you can record and play back your own parts, in perfect sync with others, and create the constituents for a great track at the same time. With Cotracks the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

FEATURES

MULTITRACK SEQUENCER
• up to 12 instrument tracks
• beat synchronized playback and recording

INTERFACE
• comfortable access for multiple users
• instruments may be arranged in multiple orientations
• dedicated interface modes for single user, two users and four users
• switch between interface modes with a single tap
• access four instruments simultaneously
• independent playback control constantly available for each instrument
• keys and ribbon controllers for synthesizers
• Futucraft's dynamic beat synced repeater control
• repeater lets you play and record complex beat synced rhythmic textures
• XY-modulation control

EDITING
• nondestructive quantize and transpose
• change the playback scale of recorded sequences
• drag and drop copying of sequences between instruments

INSTRUMENTS
• polyphonic synthesizer with dozens of high quality instrument presets
• monophonic bass/lead synthesizer with dozens of high quality instrument presets
• sample player with a library of professional quality samples from Inspire Audio
• programmable XY-modulation
• band-limited oscillators to ensure professional grade sound quality

FX
• stereo delay
• stereo phaser
• 2 equalizer units
• dedicated units for each track

FILE
• export each instrument to separate audio clip
• export all in one audio mixdown clip
• export and import sessions via iTunes in XML format for backup and sharing

SUPPORT
• on-screen help and tips
• online support integrated in app
• video tutorials"

iTunes: Cotracks - Futucraft Oy

Cotracks: Features Overview Published on Sep 23, 2013

"This video gives a quick glance over some of the key features of Cotracks Music Studio app for iPad."

Cotracks: Recording and Playback Tutorial
Published on Sep 23, 2013

"This is a tutorial video for the Cotracks Music Studio app for iPad. This introductory tutorial shows how to record and playback loop sequences in Cotracks. The video also shows how to blend and record modulation over an existing sequence."

iTunes: Cotracks - Futucraft Oy

How to Make Your DSI Mopho Sound "Better"

via Tony of Oakley Sound Systems on Muff's (via Daniel Nikolaj Sand on The MATRIXSYNTH Lounge):

"I've got a Mopho keyboard and it's a great little thing. But one thing puzzles me; when listening to any patch using a pulse wave, I notice the overall sound somewhat dirty sounding. It's not very nice really.

You can hear what mine sounds like here:

http://www.oakleysound.com/Mopho&Pulse.wav

I popped the hood and found that it is caused by the internal CVs to the voice chip that control the pulse wdith having some sort of randomised voltage added to them.

However, it is not only the pulse width control voltages that have this unwanted randomisation. All of the CVs do, but it is most noticeable on the pulse widths. What got me onto the right track was the fact that all the CVs had worse noise when they were set to high values. This points the finger towards a noisy reference voltage to the system's DAC.

The DAC used on the Mopho Keyboard appears to use a 5V reference derived from the +12V supply. Now, the 12V supply gets tainted by noise from the other parts of the electronics of the Mopho - but in particular from the -5V charge pump power supply which generates horrible 80kHz perturbations.

However, the real problem is that the Mopho creates the 5V reference by simply dividing the +12V rail with a pair of resistors (R67 and R71). This divided down signal, complete with a portion of the noise from the +12V rail, gets sent to a voltage follower (U18b) and then sent to the DAC. Oh dear... because this noise now ends up on the CVs. The higher the CV the more noise gets through.

Solution: Filter the +5V reference voltage before it goes to the voltage follower. I did it with a 10uF tantalum cap soldered directly across R71. The reference voltage is now nice and quiet. The Mopho behaves better, not only with respect to the pulse wave, but also seems smoother in general tone too.

The Mopho Keyboard is primarily built from surface mount components using lead free solder. This makes it slightly more awkward to work on than older through hole designs. However, it is quite possible to do a nice job if you take care.

You'll need one 10uF, 16V tantalum capacitor. You can use a decent quality electrolytic if you wish, and in that case, a 10uF, 25V will suffice.

Solder the cap across the resistor R71. With the keyboard to the front of the unit, the positive terminal of the cap should be facing left. That is the negative end should go to the ground plane which is attached to the end of R71 that is nearest to the number 1 of its name.

Don't pull too hard on the cap once it is soldered in place because you might pull off the solder pads of R71.

For the Mopho Desktop:

This seems to be built in much the same way with the DAC reference being taken off the +12V line. I am guessing it too will have the same unwanted noise on the DAC reference. However, the board is different in several other respects and the parts numbering is different.

Now I haven't tried this but from online photographs I can assume that you will need to solder the 10uF cap across R52. This is situated, again above the DAC, near U12. The negative pin of the cap should be soldered towards the front of the unit, ie. the positive pin will be mounted nearest the R52 legending."

Sunday Night Drone - Somniloquy

Published on Sep 22, 2013 Tony Scharf·10 videos

"Sunday night drone, 2013-09-22. This one was a bit more noisy using found sound on the iPad and 3 noisy parallel patches on the modular. I'd intended to add some additional talking bits but ran out of time. I hope those of you who tuned in enjoyed it. - Captured Live on Ustream at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/noiseth...

You can find more of my music at http://noisetheorem.bandcamp.com and http://www.soundcloud.com/noisetheorem. Please follow me on FaceBook (http://www.facebook.com/noisetheorem) and Twitter (@noisetheorem) to be kept up to date on future broadcasts"

via Tony Scharf on The MATRIXSYNTH Lounge

Microsoft Announces Surface 2 "Remix Project" with MPC Style Control Pads

Remix Project -- Linkin Park's Joe Hahn

Published on Sep 23, 2013 surface·69 videos

"Joe Hahn explains why the Surface Music Kit is an easy way to start remixing music the way you want. Learn more at www.surfaceremixproject.com."

"The Surface Music Kit is compatible with Surface 2, Surface Pro, and Surface Pro 2. Internet access required for installation." Go with Pro if you want to run the full gamut of Windows apps. RT only supports apps specifically designed for it. Also I don't not believe Windows RT supports external MIDI devices. If you know otherwise feel free to comment.

The following video focuses on other snap on interface options for the Surface. Remix Project makes an appearance. Further below is a video on the Remix Project from Engadget.

Surface Workshop at Art Center College of Design

Published on Sep 23, 2013

"Three weeks before launching its new line of products, the Surface design team took a trip to Pasadena, CA, where they held a 3 day workshop with renowned design school Art Center College of Design.

The group of 11 students chosen for the workshop were the first people outside of Microsoft to see a new accessory the design team has been working on: a music attachment that clicks into a Surface and allows users to easily remix music. They asked the students: what else would you want to attach to a Surface? They code named these attachments blades."

Microsoft Surface 2 Remix Project Hands-On | Engadget

Published on Sep 23, 2013 Engadget·1,050 videos

"Microsoft Surface 2 Remix Project Hands-On. Read on at Engadget:"

http://www.engadget.com/2013/09/23/microsoft-surface-remix-project-hands-on/

"Inside the application, you'll find "stems" (things like the bass track of a song), "clips" (the intro to a pop song, say) and "oneshots," which include sound effects like claps. From there, you can drag and drop the tracks into a workshop area, not unlike the way you'd handle media in a video-cutting program (or any other digital audio workshop, really). What's especially cool is that the Touch Cover here is pressure-sensitive, just like the new Touch Cover 2, so if you want a light drum sound, you can tap it lightly; if you want something more intense, just start mashing it with your fingers..."

This one in via Soviet Space Child.