John L Rice wrote in to let us know today is the late Gert Jalass' birthday. I met Gert a few times at NAMM, and John would often man the Moon Modular Booth. Gert was a great, kind soul. I miss his smile; I miss his presence.
John mentioned the Moon Modular website has had a few updates since his passing. The About and History pages are worth a look.
New relaxing music and video from supporting member, Saul Stokes. Links below.
"I've lived in the Bay Area for 20 years and only recently discovered that there's one of only about 20-30 black sand beaches in the world right here in the Bay Area. A little search online says that this is due to ground-up volcanic rock. It's a stunning, yet somewhat challenging location to reach. My wife and I opted to take a little beach picnic while recording. Over the course of about 2 hours, only 2 people made it down to the beach. One of the more amazing stories about this area is that there's a Cold War nuclear launch site just up the road, which you can now tour. If you ever come to San Francisco, make sure to cross the Golden Gate and take a little afternoon hike down to the Black Sand Beach.
As for the music, a few long-time listeners might be a bit disappointed, expecting the entire Radiate album, as shown by the album cover. While compiling the music for these videos, I have discovered that sometimes certain songs don't quite fit the feel I'm going for. For Radiate, I opted to replace a few of the darker songs with some of my favorite tracks from my first demo tape, Burning Igloo, which was released in 1993. The song 'Haight Pacific' was a name I pulled from the MUNI bus I first rode on a trip to the ocean while visiting San Francisco in the 1990s. I still find it fascinating that the city of San Francisco is literally right on the ocean. Radiate was performed in Sausalito when I first moved here in the early 2000s. I don't remember much other than it was by a dock with many beautiful boats. Additionally, a few beautiful studio pieces were added to the CD to fill it up. Radiate was released on Databloem, a CDR label based in the Netherlands. I almost forgot, as a closer, I opted to add a single titled Collision, which was written many years later. If you want to hear the entire Radiate album, jump over to the Bandcamp link below.
"Welcome to the instruōduction of the ceithir. This is the largest module I have designed to date. Measuring in at 58HP! It’s been a design project I’ve been tapping away at in the background since Christmas Eve 2024. (It was my holiday entertainment)
I’ve been keen for a while to do a design project reminiscent of my approach ~10 years ago when I was designing the troika. That was the original Instruō module and came about entirely because I wanted more oscillators in my rack! I actively Timelapse recorded the troika design process and scored it using that original troika to be an extremely nerdy music video! I did a similar video document project when I designed the tràigh filter later that year. I did actually record the harmonàig PCB design as well… but that never made a cut because I ended up getting too busy focussing more on the module development side of things more so than the documenting.
For ceithir I have gone a little bit further… I ran timelapse recording for the majority of the process, but also “vlogged” the process and did my best to record key milestones stages. Over the coming weeks I am going to be publishing these as focussed mini documentaries that focus in on particular design stages. Some of these include: • sketching the interface layout/hardware components and then designing the interface graphics • hardware layout considerations • troubleshooting initial prototypes • first power up and then calibration/testing of the first full hardware iterations
As Instruō has grown over the years I have enjoyed collaborating with this team of designers. Sharing ideas and learning from each other is a big part of how we create. I hope some of this series might serve as some form of reference to anyone interested in module design. I feel like it’s becoming more and more common for bands/artists to produce some behind the scenes content surrounding writing and production of new albums. I’m hoping the format translates to some module design bts content. It is perhaps not a step by step tutorial, but I have tried to capture the process quite comprehensively.
This module is a ridiculous one! I don’t know what the current next step is beyond a handful of them existing for my own personal rack(s). If there is interest, please let me know and I can see what’s possible. This thing is definitely not suited for large scale production! But I am very excited to see what people do with it.
Thanks for reading. Please feel free to join us on Discord and say hi! ~ Jason"
"Discover the NEOHARP (🔗 Learn more: https://neoharp.com) – a unique and beautiful MIDI instrument mixing concepts of the accordion and zither, designed to make chord playing intuitive and expressive. In this hands-on review, I explore the prototype’s features, layout, app integration, and how it performs with DAWs and soundfonts. Whether you're a synth enthusiast or just curious about new ways to play, this deep dive covers everything you need to know before its official release.
⏱️ Video Chapters: 00:00 Intro 00:21 Quick Demo 00:30 What's in the Bag? What is NEOHARP? 01:17 Hardware Overview 01:34 Arc de Triomphe 02:00 Chord Key Layout 02:30 Chord Combinations 02:46 Right-Hand Keyboard Behavior 03:10 App & Editable Parameters 04:50 Soundfonts 05:14 DAW Integration 05:31 Demo 1 – Harp & Filter Sweeps 06:14 Demo 2 – RasPi Piano 06:57 What It’s Not 07:27 Pros 07:57 Areas for Improvement 09:38 Synth Players vs Guitarists 10:17 Final Thoughts 10:31 Demo 3 – Juno-60 Emulator 11:01 Outro
1. Getting to Know Your Instrument — Tutorial #1
2. How to Connect — Tutorial #2
3. Set Up the Application — Tutorial #3
4. Principles of Playing — Tutorial #4
5. A Bit of Theory and a "Box" of Six Chords — Tutorial #5
6. Playing Songs — Tutorial #6
7. Right-Hand Techniques — Tutorial #7
8. App Interface and Channel Logic — Tutorial #8
9. Channel Settings — Tutorial #9
Based on the user manual, this appears to be a preset synth. I'm not seeing the ability to do any deep sound editing - there's no mention of filters, LFOs, or envelopes. That said, this is the first post to feature FABESIS.
🎹 MÁXIMUN EXPRESSION FOR ACOUSTIC INSTRUMENTS 24-bit Audio for Maximum Authenticity and Expression of Acoustic Instruments Designed in the United States specifically for discerning musicians. This synthesizer includes the traditional sounds used to play Corridos, Chilenas, Banda, Alterado, Tierra Caliente, Tropical Cumbia and Sonidera, Merengue, Bachata, Tango, Chanchona, Cumbia Villera, Tecnocumbia, Chicha Peruana, Cumbia Ranchera, Rock, Romantic Music, and much more!
🖥️ EASY TO NAVIGATE The Enclave's interface is easy to navigate. Its navigation is so intuitive that, if you already have experience as a musician, you probably won’t even need to read the manual. All menus are designed to be easily understood by any user.
🎹 SEMI-WEIGHTED KEYBOARD Professional keyboard with fast response, semi-weighted design, and blister contacts — ideal for demanding musicians. Its lightweight build and portability make it perfect for any stage.
🎛️ EASY TO USE FRONT PANEL The front panel of the Fabesis Enclave is intuitive, clear, and entirely in Spanish. It includes essential functions such as:
Tuning – Adjust pitch with precision Transpose – Instantly shift keys without changing your hand positions Octave Shift – Expand your range at the touch of a button Navegation Operation Mode - Select the operation Mode Sound Banks - Choose your favorite sounds Factory Effects – Apply studio-quality effects instantly with built-in presets
Additionally, its effects section includes factory pre-programmed presets, ready to use instantly.. 🔌 CONNECTIONS On the back panel, you’ll find all the connections you need:
Audio outputs - for live performance or recording Headphone Jack - for silent practice Damper Pedal - for expressive sustain MIDI Ports - for external gear and sequencing USB Connections - for storage Programation Port. - for software updates 📦 EXPANSIONS For those looking to expand the capabilities of the Enclave, Fabesis offers a variety of sound libraries and expansions, including:
Grupero Wave. Romances. Saxophones. Trumpets. Trombones. Mega Synths. Ambient Dreams."
John mentioned the Moon Modular website has had a few updates since his passing. The About and History pages are worth a look.
