MATRIXSYNTH

ROLAND JD-XA // OWN SOUND CREATIONS // part 2

Published on Jan 20, 2016 LESINDES

"Testing the ROLAND JD-XA. Own sound creations.
Using arpeggios and sequences. Tweaking occasionally. JD-XA does not contain any drum kits as its smaller and cheaper sibling is providing. If there are any drums to be heard they're mostly programmed from scratch with the internal sound engines -- both digital and analog.
More thoughts about the synth:
Many options. But it is a little bit the JD800 problem: the basic sound is quickly edited but the fine tuning takes hours because you have to step thru hundreds of parameters in a 2-line-display (without dial!!!).
No computer editor!
The sequencer is almost the same as in JD-Xi with the same flaws. It crashes frequently and it DOES NOT TRANSPOSE! I hope Roland will fix and implement this with the next update.
About the integration of digital and analog section: The routing is a bit confusing to me but once you managed to lea a digital sound through the analog section it sounds very nice. The digital waves are also well chosen and sounding. For understanding the concept: There are two synths -- one digital, one analog -- that only share the housing and the FX. As a consequence you cannot choose a digital waveform in your analog synth you can only lead a complete sound of the digital machine through the analog section for sound enhancement.
But all in all it is a versatile well sounding synth!"

Part 1 here.

Tasty Chips ST4 Hybrid Synthesizer/Tracker Nears Completion

ST4 Kickstarter trailer Published on Jan 20, 2016 Pieter van der Meer

"Part monster synthesizer, part computer: The ST4 is a unique product, loaded with features, that combines the best of both worlds."

You might remember the prototype ST4 videos posted here, back in October of last year. As you can see, the ST4 has come a long way. Tasty Chips has launched a kickstarter campaign to help fund the project. The following are a few details from their site for the archives:

The ST4 is a unique device that combines a powerful hybrid analog/digital synthesizer with a 16-bit style tracker music machine. It has digital oscillators backed up with sampling for versatility, with analogue VCF’s and VCA’s for character. It’s packed with features, yet these are almost all usable hands-on with dedicated knobs and buttons. It’s usable stand-alone for live gigs but also mountable in a standard 19″ rack, and fully MIDI controllable.

The layout of the controls is fully linear: the entire signal path from oscillator (left) up to VCA mastering (right) is laid out horizontally for each channel.

As mentioned it’s loaded with features like the sampler, built-in mic, and the bit crusher. It has its own stereo mixer. Most of these controls are completely duplicated per channel, allowing instant access, and powerful live experimentation. Think: running your MIDI sequencer and tweaking the channel’s LFO influence and VCO, VCF, and VCA envelopes live. Or even, use the on-board tracker for this!

Features:

4 Stereo voices
Analog multi-mode VCF per channel including voltage controlled resonance.
4 Stereo VCA’s
2 LFO’s with saw, square, sine, noise and sample modes
Direct LFO modulation matrix: 4 channels x VCO, VCA, VCF
ADSR envelope for VCO, VCA, VCF per channel
MIDI IN: Monophonic on ch1..4 and polyphonic on ch5
MIDI OUT ch1..4 (via tracker)
Sampler and built-in microphone:
8 sample banks
configurable loop start, end
tuning
wav import/export
Digital oscillators: saw, square, sine, noise, sample
128 instruments (MIDI patches):
VCO, VCA, VCF env’s settings incl looping
VCF mode
oscillator mode
sample mapping
instrument chaining
Direct control of voice pair detuning
Built-in bitcrusher
3.2″ high colour TFT display
On-board multi-channel sequencer “16 bit tracker style”, in conjunction with USB keyboard:
4 channels
16 steps, panning & volume definable per step
1024 positions
powerful editor with many block functions
independent glide per channel
polyrhythm support, tap tempo, bpm display
Versatile casing usable as desktop or 19″ rackmount.
Interfaces:
4x 6.35mm channel outputs
2x 6.35mm master outputs (stereo)
1x 3.5mm line input (for sampler)
DIN-5 MIDI IN, OUT, THRU
USB A (for USB keyboard)
USB B Programming/debugging interface
SD card, for sample and song I/O
3.5mm stereo headphone
2.1mm AC power"

Access Virus TI2 Polar synthesizer

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Korg Stage Echo SE500 after repair and mods

Published on Jan 20, 2016 Alexey Taber

"Korg Stage Echo SE500 .Korg Electribe. my diy synth/sequencer"

little demo: Korg MS20 - Dynacord EC280 - Polivoks midi module

Published on Jan 20, 2016 Alexey Taber

"Продолжаем Поливокс......."

See the Alexey Taber channel below for more.

Dual Looping Delay from 4ms Company

Dual Looping Delay from 4ms Company -- Resonant delay play

Published on Jan 20, 2016 4mspedals

"Playing with resonant delays by using very short delay times (audio rate, 250Hz to 4kHz) and feedback nearing 100%. The DLD allows for quantized or continuous control of delay time relative to the input clock. In this patch, the input clock is a square wave from an audio VCO.

The sound source was a pop song trending on soundcloud, fed directly into channel A of the DLD. The output of channel A is fed into channel B, which is set to an echo-type delay, giving the reverberation. The output of channel B was recorded directly (the Send from channel B was sent to a Spectral Resonator, but this was turned down in the mix). No effects were added."

Dual Looping Delay from 4ms Company -- Resonant delay play (mashup)

Introducing Soundfly Synth Courses & More

Soundfly wrote in to let us know they are offering free synth courses online. Currently they have two courses available, Demystifying Oscillators and Demystifying Filters. Tutorials on Envelope Generators, LFOs and Modulators will follow. Be sure to see their site for other tutorials as well.

Soundfly has also signed up for a banner here on MATRIXSYNTH. You'll find them on the bottom right of the site in a new Training & Tutorials section.

MFox's Yamaha CS80 Calibration From Start to Finish & Elka Synthex Fan Replacement

Michael Fuchs, aka, MFox, wrote in to let us know he recently calibrated his Yamaha CS80. You might be thinking "why do I care?" Well, because he documented the entire process.

"I am an owner of a CS-80 and decided recently to calibrate it completely by shovelling through the adjustment procedure manual - from start to end. As this was such an adventure, I have created a blog where I have written my findings about my journey"

You'll find it here complete with images and details.

And for those lucky enough to have an Elka Synthex he documented a noisy fan replacement fix here.