MATRIXSYNTH

Saturday, August 05, 2006

elektr4 and the ML-303 Bassline on YouTube

Anyone know more about the ML-303?

blinkenlights by elektr4 featuring an ML-303 Bassline

Expanding the Jomox XBase09 on YouTube

Below are videos of the unit performing via YouTube. Title link takes you to the post on sequencer.de with more. The mod itself is from XRom.

The mod itself. More on XRom.

The Pluto 3000 Formant Modular Synthesizer

Another from the DIY crowd. Check out that pin matrix in the center. Title link takes you to the post on sequencer.de.

Custom Sequential Circuits Pro One

Via Stephen on AH:

"I've always thought the Pro-One's case was flimsy and cheap. Well, of course it was designed to be, but I thought it would be cool if the Pro-One looked more like a Prophet 5. It took 5 iterations, but it looks like my father has come up with something that looks quite cool.

He used the wheel box from my keyboardless Prophet T8 (which he also built new pieces for in black walnut). He used Red Mahogany, though we had originally tried to get a slab of expensive Koa. Anyway, I hope you enjoy how it turned out as much as I do: link"

Absolutely Gorgeous. Thanks Stephen! Title link takes you to more shots.

The First Roland to Have MIDI?

So was it the Jupiter 6 or the JX3P? I was always under the impression that it was the JX3P, shown at NAMM in 1983, hooked up to the Sequential Circuits Prophet 600. On Dave Smith Instrument's Museum page it states that the JX3P was the synth hooked up to the Prophet 600. "First shipped in December 1982, it was successfully connected to a Roland JX-3P at the January 1983 NAMM show, the first time two MIDI instruments were joined. Look what has happened since!" BTW, as many of you already know, the Prophet 600 is credited as the first synth with MIDI introduced by Dave Smith, the man behind the MIDI spec in 1981. You can read more about MIDI and it's history on wikipedia.

I recently read an article on the Juno 6, 60 and 106 in the July '06 issue of Keyboard Magazine. In it Mr. K of Roland is quoted as saying the Jupiter 6 was the first Roland synth with MIDI and it was the Jupiter 6 shown connected to the Prophet 600 at NAMM.

So I shot an email off to Analog Heaven (AH). Someone there must know. A few interesting replies came in. According to the Keyboard Museum Roland Timeline, the Jupiter 6 came out in 1982 and the JX3P came out in 1983. If this is correct, not only did the Jupiter 6 predate the JX3P, but it would have had to come out in December shortly after the Prophet 600, unless there was an original version without MIDI. If anyone knows, feel free to comment. Someone that joined Roland later that year believes it was the JX3P that came first and was hooked up to the Prophet 600, and one of the employees he worked with claimed to have the JX3P that was shown at NAMM. Finally the shot in this post was sent in. Looking at both synths it is clear that the synth on the right is the Prophet 600 and the one center is the Jupiter 6. The shot is from this Mix Online Article. The caption reads, "Dave Smith (in plaid) demos a Sequential Circuits Prophet 600 controlling a Roland Jupiter-6 at the 1983 NAMM show." So I'm left thinking it was the Jupiter 6, unless of course both were shown at Winter NAMM that year and both were hooked up during the show. And then there was always Summer NAMM.

If anyone out there knows conclusively, please comment.

ZO Waveforms

Title link takes you to shots posted on a new Yahoo! group for Cynthia's Zeroscillator, pronounced "zeeroscillator." Yes you have to join to see the shots. I pulled one for the post. It kind of reminded me of the bat signal. Come to think of it the Zeroscillator kind of reminds me of Batman. Hmm... Not so sure I should be sharing these things...

Update: Ok, just look at them below. They have Batman written all over them. hmm... conspiracy...

Bailey - New Flickr Shot

flickr by weepingrocksins.

Tom gives you pink panties, I give you a plaid synth skirt. Somehow I think I just won the synth geek award of the century.

Friday, August 04, 2006

Plan B Model 24 Heisenberg Generator

Title link takes you there.

Fully voltage controllable random events with independent Stepped and Smooth functions

Computer-generated random source replicates MM5837 noise chip at 16bit

Accepts external sampling voltage and clocks -or- generates it's own random voltage and musical timings

Multifunctional: Smooth/Stepped Random, Noise Source, Slew Limiter, S+H

Update via the man behind Plan B, Peter Grenader, himself:

"The Model 24 Heisenberg Generator is a dual random voltage processor - one side producing smooth (as Ezra Buchla put it - wiggly) random voltage, the other side doing stepped random. It runs off it's own random source, or can be used to process external signals, meaning it can operate as a VC Sample and Hold or Slew Generator. I slipped this one into production when no one was looking, - there was no advance notification. PCBs and faceplates are already on order, most of the parts are already here. Shipping to our dealers will commence in about a month's time.

The M24 uses an Amtel 2051 micro-controller to generate its triggers and internal gate signals (which in some cases are processed into noise in the same manner as the extinct MM5837 noise chip). There are specific reasons why I elected to use a microP for these functions. Details are on the EAR site.

As a further note, shipments of the Model 10 Polyphonic Envelope ($185 retail) and Model 14 Dual Processor ($225 retail) will commence next week.

There are three other products coming in short time. One is long overdue - the four channel stereo mixer/panner. The Model 16 Spectral Mutliplexer is next. The other one has not yet been announced and I'm going to keep it under my belt for a bit longer. All I can mention is it's an Evil Twin.

Evil twin of what will remain a mystery...for now!

peace,

- P"