In case you missed it, Bandcamp is waiving artist fees for the day. This means 100% of any purchases made on Bandcamp today will go to the artist. If you were holding out on picking up some music there, today is the day.
A ton of our supporting members have releases on Bandcamp. Be sure to check them out on the member page here. You'll find links to their Bandcamp sites.
Thank you to everyone who supports the site! :)
P.S. You can also check out the SYNTH ALBUMS label for posts featuring releases over time.
Update: Below is a list of supporting member Bandcamp sites. Check them out! :) P.S. If you are a supporting member and have a Bandcamp site not on the list, feel free to send it in. Email matrixsynth@gmail.com. Note this is for supporting members of the site only! It takes some work to do this and run the site, so this is a member perk only, sorry. :) That said, if you do want to support the site and you sign up I will of course add you to the list.
"Thanks for listening! Come on a musical voyage with us where we'll send you a new song every day, a cosmic story, and a chance to earn space treasure:
Relax and tune into our live weekly improvised Drone Sessions. This fifteenth session involves a drone featuring two independent Buchla style complex and modulation oscillators starting in tune a couple octaves apart. As the oscillator frequencies drift apart by way of manual control, beating ensues. Listening to droning oscillators can serve as mindfulness sounds as there is no sudden changes in sound. Just smooth drifts in pitch and the resulting beat frequencies. Drones can also serve as an ambient track to have on while doing tasks that require intense focus. Drones are also great for a Sci-fi film soundtrack. The slow yet progressive nature of a drone performance can help one focus on tasks without distraction. The fact that we are manipulating these oscillators live and in collaboration helps the drone meander ever so smoothly in an evolving fashion as we are always reacting to one another's subtle movements. These movements are improvised so there is an unrehearsed and reactive ebb and flow to the tones generated. Engage in the practice deep listening with us.
The electronic music instruments used in this performance of modular drone music are the Buchla Music Easel, and a small system involving a Buchla clone model 259 Programmable Complex Waveform Generator, Buchla 292h Dual Lowpass Gate, and 281h Dual Function Generator in the Buchla LEM Powered 3 Boat.
Here we show you how to disable your erase head for sound on sound recording using pretty much any cassette recorder.
The horizontal 4 track cassette machines were easy to do this with but the technique can be applied to most.
This tutorial demonstrates the process of using a small piece of tin foil to disable the erase head of your cassette tape recorder to allow gapless Sound on Sound recording of tape loops.
The cassette 4 track pictured is the Tascam Porta02 mkII."
Cosmic Tape Music Club - Exploring Pauline Oliveros
Premiered Apr 6, 2020 The Galaxy Electric
"This week’s conversation centers around the life & work of Pauline Oliveros.
She is best known for coining the term “Deep Listening,” and being a founding member of the San Francisco Tape Music Center. Her curiosity about sound started at the age of 2 and blossomed at age 21 when she got her first tape machine.
With friends and collaborators like Terry Riley, Steve Reich, and Morton Subotnick, she has left an indelible mark in the world of tape music, sonic experimentation, and listening as a spiritual practice."
Cosmic Tape Music Club - Exploring Karlheinz Stockhausen
Premiered Mar 30, 2020 The Galaxy Electric
"For a strict academic German composer, he was one seriously cosmic dude! As he became more prolific in his career, he started telling people he was raised on a distant planet called Sirius…and talking all about music as a cosmic tone that humans were simply interpreting. Oh, and did we mention he was on the cover of Sgt. Peppers? Yeah, the Beatles were super into his out-there ideas!"
"In this episode we cover a deep/fat bass sound that is simple on its own but very useful in many situations. Also Polyend just sent me the new Limited Edition Medusa that is out from today (1st of May), so here I also have some first video shots with it!
This version comes with firmware 3.0 preinstalled and has some mainly aesthetic changes. What I personally like most is the anodized finish, the knobs that fill a bit "heavier" than my other Medusa (but this is maybe because it's brand new), the new button-encoder that now has steps and the new faders that protrude more and are easier to handle.
In future videos we are also going to take advantage of some new features of firmware 3.0, like the random LFO and some use cases with two Medusas, so stay tuned!
"At long last, v2 firmware for the Business Card Sequencer and Dual Mini Sequencer has arrived! Here are some of the new features you have to look forward to:
7 sequence memories
5 song memories (string sequences together)
SLUR- change pitch between steps without firing gate
Variable gate timing (including ratcheting)
ACC can be set to drop or not drop between steps, or follow gate timing for that step
Auto-advance step when programming
Live transpose (use the keyboard to shift entire sequence up or down while running)
Live edit (buttons you push while running get saved to the sequence)
1X mode (disable to use XP IN as a reset without requiring an external gate mixer)
Clock out (use ACC out jack to output clock if using internal clock)
Nothing has changed about the sequencer hardware except that v2 uses a different microcontroller IC (PIC16F1788)(the old one was full). To upgrade, simply swap out the chip. The firmware/chips are now the same for both the Business Card Sequencer and the Dual Mini Sequencer, so just install the chip and it will auto-detect which hardware you have."
"A kickstarter campaign was launched by Piers Titus van der Torren for his instrument the Striso board. This hand sized MIDI controller has an innovative note layout with 61 multidimensionally sensitive buttons, that respond to pressure and direction individually. The buttons are arranged systematically and intuitively to facilitate ease of play and comprehension of musical patterns. The Striso board will have an internal synthesizer and can also be combined with an MPE synthesizer. Altogether, the Striso board offers enormous potential for sound control and musical expression."
"With the Striso board in hands your next dimension of music is up to you to discover! Regardless of whether you want to play lively folk melodies, catchy pop tunes, complex jazz progressions, diverse world music, immersive film scores, experimental microtonal compositions, or even more extraterrestrial music.
Specifications
61 soft silicone pressure and direction sensitive note buttons (3.7 octaves)
Scanning rate: 1200Hz
Touch sensitivity range: 70g – 700g
4 extra buttons for glissando, octave switching and settings
Motion sensing: 3D rotation and acceleration, sent over MIDI at 100Hz
Polyphony: 15 notes with MPE
Tuning: uses polyphonic pitch bends and hence works with any MPE synth
Internal synthesizer (to be added during kickstarter)
Audio output: 3.5mm stereo jack (to be added during kickstarter)
Dimensions: 192x174x26mm, 425g
Power: USB B, 5V 100mA
Connection: MIDI over USB, with 3 MIDI modes: MPE, one note per channel; normal, with pitch bend, modulation and polyphonic aftertouch; monophonic, with glissando
Firmware: Open Source firmware"
"This is a little test setup just using a PO32 Tonic connected to an iPhone loaded with VFX app for audioreactive visuals. Starting with some simple pitched sine tones fed into Enso looper for creating a soundbed and playing glitchy drums on top."
