Klaus Schulze Has Passed Away

Klaus Schulze passed away yesterday at the age of 74.

via Discogs

"Born August 4th 1947 in Berlin, died April 26th 2022, was a german electronic pioneer, composer and musician. Schulze initially made his mark as a drummer, first with the group Psy Free, later with Tangerine Dream (he played on their first album "Electronic Meditation" before he quit) and Ash Ra Tempel (with Manuel Göttsching). In 1971 Schulze started a solo career as an electronic musician and released a couple of heavily experimental albums, 'Irrlicht' and 'Cyborg'. 1973's 'Cyborg' was the first release where he used a 'real' synthesizer, the legendary VCS 3 and later in the 70's he would record albums such as 'Moondawn', 'Mirage' and 'X' and embark on several tours, documented across a number of live albums.

In 1978 he set up the label Innovative Communication and the following year he also launched the pseudonym/project Richard Wahnfried. In the 1980's Schulze continued his hectic release schedule as well as recording several soundtracks and rebuilding his studio (he "went digital" in 1986). In summer 1983 Klaus Schulze 'sold' Innovative Communication.

In the 1990's Schulze recorded several electronic interpretations of works by classical composers (most notably Wagner) as well as collaborating with opera singers and other classical music performers on his own albums. He also started collaborating with German ambient/techno artist Pete Namlook in the series 'The Dark Side Of The Moog' on the latter's Fax label, and steered the Wahnfried project into a more modern techno- and trance-inspired direction.

Schulze '...passed away on April 26, 2022 at the age of 74 after a long disease but all of a sudden'. - statement from his social media pages."

You can find numerous posts mentioning Klaus Schulze over the years here. Below are a few better known performances featuring his work from early on to a more recent performance with Dead Can Dance's Lisa Gerrard.

Klaus Schulze with his rack of Quasimidi Polymorphs built to his specifications.
Klaus Schulze Live 1977 better image & sound

video upload by Relena Bonasoro

Klaus Schulze Live - WDR Köln 1977

Klaus Schulze Live - WDR Köln 1977 video upload by Boropolis

Klaus Schulze talks about, and demonstrates, his first synth an EMS Synthi A

video upload by Synthasy2000

Klaus Schulze - A few Minutes after trancefer

video upload by Electronic Progression

Klaus Schulze Feat. Lisa Gerrard - Rheingold

video upload by Ioannis Gourgoulidis

via @moogmusicinc

"A pioneer of electronic sound, Klaus Schulze and his contributions to the synthesizer community and modern music as we know it will continue to inspire for generations.

Thank you, Klaus, for showing the world how truly human electronic music can be.

❤️"

Photo credit: Klaus D. Mueller
Source: klaus-schulze.com

This image was taken in Berlin in 1976 according to Till Kopper @realqwave. That would have made him 28 or 29 at the time depending on the month taken.



Update: also see Klaus Schulze: A tribute to his music and legacy

Gotharman's zaTurn Now Available

Demos in previous postw here, also on Gotharman's here.

via Gotharman's:

"Gotharman’s has today released a new polyphonic modular synthesizer, called zaTurn. It has a number of modules, which are divided into 4 groups, to make polyphony possible. It comes with some newly designed self-oscillating 12db dual LPF/BPF analog filters." 10 zaTurn’s are currently available for pre-ordering from EUR 1709,- 10% off at www.gotharman.dk .

Additional details:

"Zaturn is a polyphonic/multi-timbral modular synthesizer with memory. All connections between modules, module settings, sequences and sample assignments can be memorized for instant recall.
Like many other Gotharman instruments, each preset contains 2 versions of the preset, that can be morphed between. With one knob, you can morph all the settings of a complete modular system!
It will also hold all your samplings and wavetables in memory, even after a power recycle.

Zaturn has a number of build-in modules, which are divided into 4 equal groups, A, B, C and D. Within each of these groups, it is possible to arrange the modules in 2 parts, so Zaturn has 8 parts in total. Each part can be trigged separately, and they have their own separate output module.
Keeping the modules in groups, made it possible to add the Favorite Sound system from SpazeDrum!

Part 1 and 2 in Group A can each be set in polyphonic mode, so that Zaturn can be up to 2 x 4 notes polyphonic. Modules in groups B, C and D can be linked to Group A, to get the same sounds on each polyphonic note, or they can be unlinked to have different sounds on each polyphonic note.

Like most other Gotharman instruments, each of the 8 parts can also just be in monophonic mode, for 8 completely separate parts.

Zaturn comes with a set of newly engineered 12 db dual self-resonating analog filters, with a special character. Each Group has one dual analog filter. These filters are arranged as LPF and BPF in parallel to each other.

8 Patch Points are also available, for inter-connection of the 4 Groups.

1024 preset, 1024 songs, 64 favorite sounds and up to 8192 samplings can be held in its internal FLASH memory.

Unlike the Anamono X, which had 2 separate bus systems, one for audio and one for modulation, Zaturn only has one bus, that handles both audio and modulation, so everything can be connected to everything.

The modules of each Group (4 groups in total):
- 2 standard Gotharman Oscillators (8 in total) - Waveforms, pitched noise, drum oscillators, samplings, wavetables.
-1 Oscillator B (4 in total) – A special oscillator with a manipulative sine wave.
-1 Noise Generator (4 in total) – While the oscillators can output pitched noise, a simple unpitched white noise generator is also available.
-1 Dual analog filter (4 in total) – 12 db LPF and BPF in parallel, with a special character.
- 1 digital filter (4 in total) - 27 filter types. Standard filters, triple filters, sharp filters, tube filters...
- 2 VCA's (8 in total) - with ADSR envelope, 16 different characteristics and a clip parameter. Can be trigged by any source.
- 2 Effects Processors (8 in total) - Many of the LD effects plus a new reverb, a wavefolder and some new pitch effects.
- 4 LFO's (16 in total) - With variable waveform and curve. Key syncable.
- 2 Envelopes (8 in total) - ADSR + decay envelope with loop options. Can be trigged by any source.
-2 Sample and Hold Generators (8 in total) .
- 1 Ring VCA (4 in total) – With several modes, like Ring Modulator, AND, XOR and Mix.
- 2 Output modules (8 in total -1 for each part) - Handles the final output level and the stereo panning."

Playing around with the Synket an incredible tube synthesizer made in Italy by Paolo Ketoff in 1964.

video upload by Riccardo Pietroni

See the Synket label for more.

"This is the unit build for Bill Smith by Paolo Ketoff and is completely original.

The Syn-ket comprised of three sound modules or 'sound-combiner' as Ketoff called them – essentially three separate synthesisers built using a mix of solid state and vacuum technology. Each module was independently controllable and interconnectable and mixable into a single output.

Each 'sound-combiner' module consisted of:

1 square wave frequency-controllable oscillator.
A button controlled series of frequency dividers which allowed division of the incoming pitch by factors of 2, 3, 4, 5 and 8 to produce differing harmonics
3 complex filters with a frequency range of 40 Hz – 20 kHz.
1 amplitude control.
3 modulators each controlled by a low frequency oscillator: The first allowed control of the square wave oscillator’s frequency, The second controlled the frequency of the filter and the third controlled audio amplitude.

The Syn–ket was not conceived as a commercial product – Ketoff built only about a dozen variations on the Syn-ket theme between 1963 and 1977 – and notwithstanding it’s innovative and unique features remained a one-off custom made instrument. Despite this, the Syn-ket was widely used by composers other than Eaton and found itself almost ubiquitous on Cinecittà soundtracks for Spaghetti westerns (Ennio Morricone used the Syn-ket on many of his soundtrack scores ), Italian horror and science fiction films."

New Behringer RS-9 Drum Sequencer Prototype

"Ready for testing. We just fired up our new RS-9 Drum Sequencer prototype.

This is the RD-9 drum machine ported to a drum sequencer for Eurorack. 10 individual outputs and full USB/MIDI control, allow you to trigger any external drum module.

We still need more time to finalize and test the module to ensure it’s ready for mass production.

We target a retail price of US$ 149.

What do you think?"

CLICK FOR MORE »

AMSynths SUPERBOOTH Module News - April 2022

"Getting Ready for SuperBooth 22

We are hard at work developing new modules for launch at the best synth show of the year - Superbooth 22. We will be announcing the red faced AM8101 filter [posted here], a replica of the low pass filter in the Roland SH-101, as well as the AM8102 SH-2 style filter [below].

The AM8109 and AM8060 Jupiter filters are being relaunched - 10 years after they were introduced, with Special Edition and slim 10HP versions. AMSynths will also be announcing SH-101, Jupiter 6 and 8 VCO's to pair with these filters alongside the current Jupiter 4 VCO and VCF."

This module is faithful replica of the filter from the legendary Roland SH-2 that was released in 1979. The AM81012 is a fantastic sounding 4-pole low pass filter with that unmistakable Roland filter sound in a narrow skiff friendly, Eurorack module.

The module use an Alfa Rpar AS622 chips in the filter core (BA662 clones) and high quality polpropylene filter capacitors. The design includes buffering Op Amps to interface to Eurorack modular levels. The filter does not have Q compensation but the signal level does not decrease dramatically with higher Q settings. The resonance is smooth and controllable into self-oscillation, and the filter will oscillate from 20Hz to 20kHz.

There are slide potentiometers (with LED's) for adjusting the Frequency Cutoff, and the frequency modulation from Keyboard, LFO and Envelope CV signals, There are rotary potentiometers for adjusting the mix between two audio inputs and Resonance. There is a small slide switch to select whether the envelope CV input is Normal or Inverted.

The AM8102 is hand built with high quality components, including Wima polypropylene capacitors, Alpha potentiometers, and TR808 style control knobs.

There are six 3.5 mm jack sockets on the front panel:
2x audio inputs
3x frequency CV inputs
1x audio output
The module comes with a set of M3 mounting screws and washers, and a standard Doepfer power cable.

Sequential Prophet 6 & Ibanez TS Mini

video upload by 3rdStoreyChemist

MOOG LITTLE PHATTY - Handmade Miniature 1/6 scale.

video upload by Ronaldo Lopes Teixeira ROLT

PhonicBloom GLO: Unboxing & Demo (polyphonic soundscape generator)

video upload by Poorness Studios

"I have been crazy about GLO, the polyphonic whale, since I first saw it in 2019. The company released a limited run of these and I managed to get one. It's not really an instrument or an effect, it's more of a listening experience. GLO transforms the world around you into an interactive soundscape.

Intro - 0:00
Unboxing - 0:32
Overview - 2:29
Sound Samples - 4:06
Summary - 6:31"

via PhonicBloom

POLYPHONIC WHALE

Glo works by collecting all surrounding noises, pleasant or annoying, and wrapping them in a beautiful ambient track, which you can interact with in many ways.

First, pick a channel to set the background rhythm. Then sing, tap, hum, go for a walk in a busy city, coastline or a forest full of singing birds - using Glo's sensors and musical algorithms to interact with it all.

Feel the vibes of Mother Earth.


Glo Whale Showcase

Cherry Audio Polymode VST Overview

video upload by Runningonair

"In this video I take a look at the Cherry Audio Polymode VST, which is an emulation of the Moog Polymoog of the 1970's.

Documentation here:
https://docs.cherryaudio.com/cherry-a...
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If you'd like to support the channel, you can check out my tracks below:

Bandcamp
https://runningonair.bandcamp.com/

Spotify
https://open.spotify.com/artist/5fNUf...
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Acoustic Instruments with Modular Synths! with Sarah Belle Reid

video upload by MAKEN0ISE

"Join guest host Sarah Belle Reid for a deep exploration of techniques for using acoustic instruments with a modular synth!

The Morphagene Reel "Experimental Trumpet Sounds" can be downloaded here: https://freesound.org/people/makenois..."

https://www.sarahbellereid.com