It has been an incredible ride. We created Patchwerks to make a 'third place' away from home and the office that was a safe space for people who wanted to explore making sounds and music with synthesizers.
We started with our meetups in 2016 and grew from there to a little shack off Eastlake Avenue. Then, we outgrew that space and had a shot at a large, beautiful showroom. It was a risk, but we took it. There we had an amazing time building out the store, investing in the community, hosting shows, and more.
We encountered plenty of difficulties in the last few years, and unfortunately now is the time to close the book on our journey.
Having said that, it has been an honor to share our love of synthesizers, music, noise, and community with you all. Keep exploring and keep making sounds. We wish everyone well for what's next."
You can find a ton of content featuring Patchwerks here on MATRIXSYNTH that will live on in the archives. We are going to miss them, and we hope to see them again in the future.
"This week’s track is another favourite Hacienda club track. This time from 1989 by the group 808 State (thanks again to Yves Big City @bigcitymastering for inspiring this series).
The original was actually recorded in January 1988 as a reply to the emerging Chicago House scene ‘Pacific State’ has been released in a number of guises. Sometimes just called ‘Pacific,’ others times being labelled numerically after other Roland machines eg. 707, 202. This version is a bit of an amalgamation of a few versions.
Worth noting too that Gerald Simpson ('A Guy Called Gerald') was originally one of the founding members of 808 State before leaving to start his solo career with 'Voodoo Ray'.
I was inspired to cover this after recently acquiring a copy of the Emulator II library disks (to recreate the Kraftwerk track, 'Tour De France' [posted here]. Among these disks, Disk 22 is entitled ‘Loon Garden’. Cited by many as the original source of the ‘Loon’ bird sample we all know and love, it also features a ‘shakahuchi’ sample familiar to anyone who’s ever heard ‘Sledgehammer’ by Peter Gabriel and is a historic piece of sound design. Once you’ve heard these samples you can’t help but hear them across the whole spectrum of popular music. If anyone knows who originally recorded these original samples (also in the Akai S900 library) please leave a comment?
As I started piecing this together I found this excellent video by @CaptainPikant • Analyzing PACIFIC STATE - How to make clas... [embedded below] which elegantly detailed the rhythm patterns used. I simplified these somewhat to fit the drum tracks into just 2 tracks to allow room for Sax and Sound Effects tracks (see below).
There is a small snatch of sampled 'sax' played on Logic sampler to fill in for the original sax solo played by Graham Massey from the band but otherwise everything was programmed and played on the Circuit Tracks. No extra synths or FX were used and the audio is recorded straight out of the stereo outs.
I hope you enjoy this track as much as I did putting it together and check back soon for more.
More details for synth nerds.
The bass patch was programmed into Synth 1 to serve as both bass and melody line. The pad sound on Synth 2 is yet another detuned sawtooth pad with chorus, but rolled off with a 24dB low pass filter to create a sound a bit more like the original Juno (said to have been sampled as a chord into a Casio FZ1 sampler).
The drum sounds are a mixture of various 909,707 and 727 Roland drum machine samples from the Reverb Drum Machines collection (normalised and filtered where required).
The Sax sound was played using the sampler instrument in Logic (and is just a preset). The 3 edited phrases were placed onto Drum pad slots and triggered using Drum 3 when required.
Another sample was a ‘bell’ patch created on the Tracks but sampled as a ‘glissando’ to double up the glissando played on the pad on Synth 2, as a break between sections of the song.
Finally Drum 4 was reserved for water and ‘Loon’ sound effects (plus additional 727 rhythm). Did you know the Loon is actually a Canadian diving aquatic bird somewhat like a duck and not at all exotic!
The tracks were as follows; 125BPM, Swing 59% Synth 1 – bass and melody Synth 2 – chorused pad chords Drum 1 – 707 bass drum Drum 2 – Hihat, Open Hat, Clap and Ride samples. Drum 3 – Sampled sax lines (and Tracks synth 'bell' glissando sample in break) Drum 4 – Sound effects, alternating with 727 percussion sampled bongo and muted conga sounds."
Analyzing PACIFIC STATE - How to make classic 909 Ambient House beats | Drum Patterns Explained
Imagine a future where music isn’t something you listen to, but something you create—not with instruments, but with sound itself.
Not songs. Not tracks. But pure, raw, living sound.
This is the vision behind Quantum Cloud, a prototype sound installation and device. It’s not about listening to pre-made music. It’s about building your own sonic world—100% personalized, created in real-time, with machines and light.
Quantum Cloud: A New Kind of Sound Machine
Developed by Error Instruments, this is a highly experimental modular synthesizer—part sculpture, part sound lab. Built around four light-controlled oscillators, it responds to light and to itself. The oscillators can motivate, influence, and synchronize with each other. It includes a unique echo effect, adding depth and motion to your sonic exploration.
This is not just an instrument. It’s a sound experience. • Patchable and modular • Fully interactive • Designed to evolve and inspire • Meant for the curious, the creators, and the dreamers
Whether placed in your home as a sound sculpture or built at a DIY workshop, the idea is simple: sound becomes yours.
You don’t play music—you create your sound.
Affordable, Experimental, Accessible
We are developing a Do-It-Yourself kit for under €200. You can build it at home, or join a workshop and dive deep into experimental sound-making.
This is just the beginning.
If you’re interested in being part of this sound revolution, contact: 📧 studiopaultas@hotmail.com 🌐 www.errorinstruments.com"
"An early proof-of-concept test of a potential monome/arc integration with Circa. The integration is built in to Circa, so no Max4Live is necessary. Circa is talking directly to serialosc and driving the monome and arc itself.
"More infos & affiliate links in the description // Support on Patreon to get samples from this session: / stazma
Let's talk Hermod+ and xp32 by @squarpinstruments
These two make one of the most powerfull digital control system for eurorack that you can buy. It's almost as powerful as a DAW but it's in your case and it spit out control voltage.
I'll show you the setup i've built on it (you can make it behave like YOU want it to) and I'll make some riffs and beats to show you some of my favorite features.
