MATRIXSYNTH

Sunday, July 13, 2014

The Bumblebee by Plankton Electronics



"Demos for The Bumblebee. A DIY modular drone / noise machine. Ideal for beginners and noise makers. More info @ www.planktonelectronics.com/bumblebee"

"The Bumblebee has 3 oscillators, 3 LFOs a high pass filter and a low pass filter...

The first of the Plankton Noise series. This is a super easy to mount and play DIY drone ‘n’ noise machine. A simple but powerful design capable of generate the most annoying sounds of the neighborhood. Designed for DIY beginners, noise makers, and weird sound enthusiasts, it’s modular design converts it into a very versatile machine capable of multiply its power when connected to other modular systems...

Each oscillator generates an audible tone (a square wave) controlled with the Rate potentiometer. With the Vol pot the signal is sent to the filters and then to the main output. Each osc has its own output, which is independent of the volume control.

With the CV inputs we can control the tone of the oscillator with antoher signal. This is usually done with the LFO’s or another oscillator but you can use any signal from 0 to 5V. When a signal of more than 0V feeds an oscillator its tone will increase. With the CV potentiometer we can attenuate the amount of the modulation.

OSCILLATOR MODULATION

With the gate input we can switch on and off the oscillator creating gate and ducking effects. This only accepts 0 or 5V inputs because it acts as a switch. Anyway you can experiment with other signals.

OSCILLATOR GATE

We can create a very weird patch connecting each OSC to the CV IN of the next one (OSC1 -> CV2A, OSC2 -> CV3A, OSC3 -> CV1A ). This way we create feedback between the 3 oscillators. Tweaking the RATE and CV potentiometers the machine will produce very rare sounds.

LFOS

The LFOs, Low Frequency Oscillators, are essentially the same design as the oscillator, but with a lower frequency (the lower settings are not audible). It only have one CV IN each and no GATE input. Each LFO have its own led to see the frequency. The LFOs are not connected anywhere like the Oscillators, just to its outputs.

Filters

The high pass filter cut all the frequencies below a point which is set with the HPF pot. It is usually used to remove the non desired lows and to create a thinner sound.

The low pass filter works the oposite as the HPF, cutting all the freqs over a point. Besides it have the RESO pot which produces a feedback near the cuttof frequency creating a very popular and nice gritty sound.

Setting all the volumes of the oscillators to its maximum position will cause the filters to distort.

Output

The main output sums everything and sends it to the OUT connector via the MAIN pot."

Jomox Sunsyn - RCO (Ramp Controlled Oscillator) Demo


Published on May 22, 2014 Brandon Byrd

"Explaining the functionality of the digital oscillators on the Jomox Sunsyn."

Stanford Laptop Orchestra | Twilight (2013)


Stanford Laptop Orchestra | Twilight (2013) from Ge Wang on Vimeo.

Twilight (2013) for laptop orchestra
by Ge Wang
performed by Stanford Laptop Orchestra (SLOrk)
Bing Concert Hall @ Stanford University, May 2013.

Inspired by the classic science-fiction short story “Twilight” by John W. Campbell (published in 1934, under the pseudonym “Don A. Stuart”), this piece ruminates not of the dawn, ascension, nor triumph of the human race, but of one possible demise set seven million years in the future. This end is not one of annihilation through war, nor decimation from famine or disease, but a golden decrescendo of defeat brought on by the gradual, peaceful, but unstoppable usurping of technology and machines -- and the loss of man's curiosity and sense of wonder. From the original text:

“Twilight – the sun has set. The desert out beyond, in its mystic, changing colors. The great, metal city rising straight-walled to the human city above, broken by spires and towers and great trees with scented blossoms. The silvery-rose glow in the paradise of gardens above.”

i. The Dead City
“And all the great city-structure throbbing and humming to the steady gentle beat of perfect, deathless machines built more than three million years before – and never touched since that time by human hands. And they go on. The dead city. The men that have lived, and hoped, and built – and died to leave behind them those little men who can only wonder and look and long for a forgotten kind of companionship. They wander through the vast cities their ancestors built, knowing less of them than the machines themselves.”

ii. A Song of Longing
“And the songs. Those tell the story best, I think. Little, hopeless, wondering men amid vast unknowing, blind machines that started three million years before – and just never knew how to stop. They are dead – and can't die and be still.”

This is the first installment in the Twilight series for various and mixed media. The cycle explores the psychology, longing, beauty and sadness of a twilight of humanity ending not in a bang, but an irreversible powerdown, basked in the golden, lingering, dying glow of man’s dusk.

TECHNOSAURUS MICROCON II

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via this auction

VERMONA SYNTHESIZER RARE VINTAGE ANALOG GDR SN 211289

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"One of the only analog synthesizers produced by German music company Vermona throughout the 1980's. It is a 2-VCO monophonic analog synthesizer.  It has most basic analog edit parameters. A 24 dB/oct analog VCF (filter) with 4 knobs (Brilliance, CutOff, Resonance, Contour), a single LFO to modulate the VCO or VCF sections and a typical ADSR VCA envelope.  There are preset VCF and VCA settings as well as a Manual mode. There is also a possibility to split the keyboard to 2 section (with setting up different timbres of sounding)"

Roland Jupiter 8 SN 343077

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"If you're looking at this you probably already know what this is.. it's the grand - daddy of all analog synthesizer..
It's in good condition considering its age, never been abused, just some scratches on the body. There are a few of what looks like small cigarettes burns on the keys (pic #11).
The arpeggio rate slider's knob and arpeggio up button are not original, other than that it's all original.
Serial number 343077 and has been tested in fully working order and takes 220v voltage.

The Jupiter-8 was Roland's first truly professional analog synthesizer. The Jupiter-8 features 16 rich analog oscillators at 2 per voice, eight voice polyphony and easy programming! At eight voices you can get some pretty thick analog sounds. Easy and intuitive programming via front panel sliders, knobs and buttons for all your tweaking needs. The legacy of the Jupiter synthesizers is due to their unique voice architecture and design, creating sounds that were so unreal and amazing that they have to be heard! No other synths in the world can create analog sounds as cool and authentic as these.

The Jupiter-8 was the biggest and fattest of them all (Jupiters and Junos)! It was one of the first synths to allow its keyboard to be split and layered - it's eight voices of trance heaven! Cross-mod, oscillator sync, a great LFO and a classic arpeggiator are also on-board. There's also a killer resonant analog low pass filter, same as the Juno-6 / 60, with the added option of choosing 2-pole (12 dB/oct) or 4-pole (24 dB/oct) modes as well as a separate high-pass filter."

ARP ODYSSEY 2813 W/PPC Vintage Analog duo-phonic Synthesizer restored SN 0927

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"Vintage ARP 2813 Odyssey two oscillator voltage controlled duo-phonic analog synthesizer

Smooth sliders. This item is really good. It has been fully calibrated and totally gone through. It is very stable, plays and scales in tune. The old keyboard bushings have been replaced with new soft ones for the "like new" pratt and reed feel. The cosmetic condition is good. Expect a few scratches and cosmetic blemishes as this keyboard is nearing 40 years old. The pictures show the condition pretty well. This is a really nice odyssey. This keyboard is a solid 8 out of 10."

ODYSSEY mkiii 2823 Vintage Analog duophonic Synthesizer restored SN 0414

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via this auction

"Vintage ARP 2823 Odyssey mkiii two oscillator voltage controlled duo-phonic analog synthesizer

Smooth sliders. This item is really good. It has been fully calibrated and totally gone through. It is very stable, plays and scales in tune. The old keyboard bushings have been replaced with new soft ones for the "like new" pratt and reed feel. The cosmetic condition is good. Expect a few scratches and cosmetic blemishes as this keyboard is nearing 40 years old. The pictures show the condition pretty well. Hard to notice, there is a scratch near the port slider. Looks like the end of a cable or something was sitting on it while it was in a case. This keyboard is a solid 7.5 out of 10."

ARP AXXE 2323 Vintage Analog mono Synthesizer full recent restoration SN 1891

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via this auction

"Vintage ARP AXXE 2323 analog synthesizer.Vintage ARP 2813 Odyssey two oscillator voltage controlled duo-phonic analog synthesizer

Smooth sliders. This item is really good. It has been fully calibrated and totally gone through. It is very stable, plays and scales in tune. The old keyboard bushings have been replaced with new soft ones for the "like new" pratt and reed feel. The cosmetic condition is good. Expect a few scratches and cosmetic blemishes. The pictures show the condition pretty well. This is a really nice ARP AXXE. The red slider caps are not original. The originals are prone to cracking and always get lost. This keyboard is a solid 7.5 out of 10."

ARP AXXE 2313 SN 249

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"Vintage ARP AXXE 2313 analog synthesizer. MOOG type FILTER. recent restoration. LOW SERIAL NUMBER. Item has brand new key-bushings and the contacts have been cleaned and aligned. All of the slide pots have been removed, disassembled, cleaned and reassembled. This item has been completely gone through. This item has been tuned and calibrated to factory spec. Most of the color slider tops are reproduction. Cosmetic condition is very good overall for a vintage item. Item has a few scratches and a few chips and is missing some of the silk screened image on the face. One of the wooden side caps looks to have had a crack repaired in the past. The side caps have been cleaned and oiled (not refinished.) They have a some signs of wear but over all look pretty good. This item has some character, and it sound amazing. See pictures.

This is a great sounding analog keyboard. Short warm up. Starts right up and plays great.

ABOUT THE "MOOG" type FILTER: This is an earlier model without the 4075 filter-module mounted on-top of the board. The parts are slightly different and are placed directly onto the main pcb board on this model. Everyone commonly calls these models the "moog filter" models. It really does sound a lot more like a moog. More creamy and a lot fuller and more brassy sounding. I believe that most of the 2313 models probably wouldn't have had this feature, but this one is an extremely low serial number at #0249. I actually have another axxe 2323 orange face that i restored at the same time and have had others in the past. That is where my information on comparison of the filter sound is coming from."

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