Roland JX-3P Mod

Another shot in my synth p*rn collection that I forgot about. I vaguely remember this one. Notice the PG-200 controller imbedded in the case to the right. Gorgeous. Title link will take you to more shots.

Roland Devilfish Mod

I recently installed Google Desktop. I have it set to the sidebar mode. One cool thing I really like about it is that it has a photo widget that randomly goes through your photos; it's like having a mini slide show of all your pics. The cool thing is I have about 1G worth of synth photos I've collected over the years. Every now and then something really cool comes up that I've forgotten about that I figure I should share. Case in point, this red Roland TB303 Devilfish Mod. Absolutely gorgeous mod. Title link will take you to a site with more info.

Click here for two more shots and a bigger pic of this:

Lot's of Little Toys - New Flickr Shot

Moog/Radio Shack MG-1, Electro Harmonix Micro Synthesizer, Yamaha DX21?, BOSS SP-808. What fun. : )

First Univox on the 'bay

Via Music Thing.



Via Angelfire:
"Probably the earliest mass-produced portable electronic keyboard was the Univox. Manufactured by Tom Jennings’ J. M. I. Company, it laid the foundations for what was to become VOX- the sound of the 60’s. Designed in 1946 by Derek Underdown and Tom Jennings, it fulfilled Jenning’s original concept of a small, portable electronic keyboard instrument that could be used by a pianist to simulate the sound of various acoustic instruments and the human voice. In actuality, the Univox was really a monophonic organ with a range of tone selections and vibrato effects, which, for the time, was remarkably successful at doing just that."

More c/o pop synth p*rn - New Flickr Shots

Sputtnik's c/o pop set on Flickr. Click through title link for more.

Photosynth Auction - 100% of proceeds go to Red Cross

"The INVERSEROOM PHOTOSYNTH is a one-oscillator miniature synthesizer that outputs a simple square wave, which the user can change with a variety of control and modulation options. Only five inches long, the PHOTOSYNTH incorporates a phototheremin, LFO, depth control, and eight modification buttons to create a huge range of bizarre electronic bleeps, blips, whoops, and squeals. It’s ideal for experimental, glitch, electronic, and noise music, and runs on a single 9-volt battery.

The PHOTOSYNTH is based on two IC’s, a 4049 inverter, which produces and amplifies the signal, and a 4040 binary counter and resistor array, which control the LFO. Pitch can be altered with a potentiometer through a range of more than ten octaves, or by a photoresistor, which allows the user to play the instrument like a theremin. This sensor is activated by engaging the SEN switch, and allows the user to control pitch according to the amount of light that reaches the PHOTOSYNTH. The MODIFY panel of buttons can then effect a series of short-circuits that change the synth’s sound in unexpected ways. Some may seem to have no effect at all at some pitches, and drastic effects at others; some alter the output waveform, speed up or slow down the LFO, or create bursts of sudden noise. Below are two mp3 sound samples, one illustrating the sound of a steady pitch being altered by the MODIFY panel, the other with the LFO engaged.

The PHOTOSYNTH also features a combination ON/VOL knob, and an LFO DEPTH knob. Output is through a standard quarter-inch phone jack. The instrument is hand-built, wired point-to-point, and contained in a sturdy aluminum case standing on wide rubber feet. The 9-volt battery is easily changed, and a new one comes included in this auction; I will also include an instruction sheet."

Another Polyevolver Demo from Stefan Trippler

Haven't had a chance to listen to this yet, but as usually it's getting rave feedback. So... Enjoy. : ) 12 voices of evolver action.

Ruinprojects - New Circuit Bending and DIY site

Phil 'Ruin' just set up a new DIY and Circuit Bending site titled Ruinprojects. Check it out.

Update: New content and samples up.

"I just launched a website chronicling my DIY affairs, circuit bending and synth building... I am currently working on a DIY portable modular synth and have a section up about a past DIY effects modular I built... more to come in the future... http://ruinprojects.jomdom.net/

I also make all hardware music as 'ruin', if you goto the top right corner of the site there will be a link that says 'visit ruinsite too?' go there and theres some sound samples with lots of circuit bent stuff and effects modular usage on the two new tracks.

-Phil"

VCA:

VC Control of Resonance - Cynthia Example

Somone on AH asked for an example of using voltage control on filter resonance. Cynthia of modular synth maker Cyndustries answered.

From Cynthia on AH:
http://www.cyndustries.com/audio/SynthaCon5.mp3

Here's an example using a Cynthia brand Synthacon Filter set at a fixed
cut-off frequency with the initial Resonance knob set just below
self-oscillation. A fluctuating Sample & Hold voltage is fed into the
VC Resonance Input, which creates the "bubbling resonance" sound.

Some of the random voltage levels from the S & H are not enough to
kick it into oscillation, and many of them are...

(If one were to add just a touch of modulation to the cutoff frequency
and a little reverb as well, then you might have a fairly realistic
tribal "talking drum" type sound).

Most often envelope generators are either connected to VCAs to control
volume, of to VCFs to control the cutoff frequencies. Some intricate
or more sophisticated sounds can be realized when connecting an
additional envelope generator just to control the Resonance parameter
while the usual envelopes are doing Amplitude and Frequency. With all
three envelopes set slightly different from one another, more nuances can
happen within your sonic event. (If you don't have VC resonance, well
then try the third envelope on a VC flanger because that can be lots
of fun too!)


Cynthia

http://www.cyndustries.com/modules_synthaconfilter.cfm

Andromeda A6 Demo

A short but sweet demo of the Alesis Andromeda A6 running through a Empirical Labs Distressor from Colin via AH.

"I fed an old Andromeda recording through it, and it certainly does the biz! Oiginal, then 6:1 compression with Dist 2 mode - which adds some 2nd harmonic distortion sorta like a sweet valve like tone then with different faster attack setting. Remeber the Distressor signal has gone another D/A and A/D stage and the orignal is just a wav file on my computer! Smoothed out and punched, with a sweet tone"

Kayne West - Bling and Bush

Via Music Thing. Image below for Bling.

Kayne West's Louis Vuitton Akai MPC 2000XL (Nick Cannon in shot).

It's got tenticles!!!

Or some might say replace the n with an s. : ) GetLoFi's carboard sequencer has gotten an update. He also has some videos up on his site.

CLICK FOR MORE »

Sequential Circuits VS Rack Demo

Via zengomi on Sonic State's the gas station. Click here for the demo. Man, that is one magic sounding synth. And one amazing track by zengomi. Wow. Make sure to click through to his site for more.

Moog Moogerfoogers - New Flickr Shot

via Flickr

Update: Click through the link for a shot of the BOSS DR-110 in the set.

Korg History CD

I was searching for more info on the Korg Donca-matic and ran into this. Interesting; I never saw this before. At $99 it seems a little pricey, but who knows...

"Big Fish Audio - History Of Korg (Akai)

History of Korg is an arsenal of original Korg Synths, organs and drum machines with a programming staff that knows how to get the best out of them. CX3, PS-3100/3200, PE-2000, M-500SP, Sigma, Lamda, Trident, VC-10 vocoder, MS-20, Mono/Poly, Poly-Six, Poly-61, Poly-800, DW-8000 and DD1/5, KRP-77, KR55B, Donca Matic and Stage Man drum machines."

Which Rhythm Ace started it all?

Update: The Korg Donca Matic DA-20 circa 1963, predates the Rhythm Ace by a year. Thanks 100M for pointing out the Donca Matic in the comments for this post. : )

I was reading about the history of Rebirth at http://www.rebirthmuseum.com. They have a good piece starting with Mr. Ikutaro Kakehashi. In 1964 he presented the Ace Electronics Rhythm Ace at his first US tradeshow. Was this the first groove box? : ) Soon after he formed Roland Corporation, and was directly responsible for the Roland TB303, TR808, and TR909.

I found some shots of the Rhythm Ace on Audio Playground's Synth Museum. Two are pictured below. Anyone know which was the first model and which was presented by Mr. Ikutaro Kakehashi all those years ago?

Fac makes a synth

Via Sonic State's, The Gas Station. Click through for the thread and bigger pictures. Click here for a nice little MP3 of it. Sounds like a synthy mellotron to start.

MOTM - New Flickr Shot

via Flickr

Closeup of the MOTM.

Moog Etherwave Pro Theremin - New Flickr Shot

via Flickr

Beautiful closeup shot of the Moog Etherwave Pro Theremin.

Various Synth Samples - FDISKC.COM

I was poking around Brandon Daniel's FDISK.COM after posting his Serge VCS demo below, and I found a bunch of other goodies including samples.

Instruments include:

ARP 2600
Korg MS20
Oasys PCI
Roland TR606
Akai ASQ10
Korg ER1
Roland SH101
Moog Minimoog

This picture, also from his site, is now my desktop wallpaper.

Serge VCS

In via AH. Brandon Daniel just got a Searge VCS. Click here for a sample. He gave me the go ahead to post this. Thanks Brandon!

"My Bananalogue Serge VCS module arrived yesterday.

I don't have any real experience with actual Serge panels, so I can't
really compare it with a DSG, but the short impression is that this thing
rocks.

It seems most useful to me as a lin/log shaper or an LFO or EG with
lin/log shaping. I doubt I'll be using it as a simple slew much, it would
be a waste!

It's modulating the frequency of the model 15 osc and the lowpass/vca of a
doepfer lpg. All the various shapes of the modulation you're hearing are
coming in via external modulation of the slopes, and as you can hear it
happily heads into audio rates.

-Brandon"

http://www.bananalogue.com/vcs.html

TONTO - New Flickr Shot

From Flickr:

"This is the legendary and mythical TONTO modular synth setup, owned by old school synth nerd / producer / tape op Malcolm Cecil. It was featured on alot of Stevie Wonder's best music, including the track, "Superstition". There are ARP, Oberheim, Serge and Moog modules in TONTO, and even some created by Malcolm, himself. If you are a synth geek, and you've never heard of TONTO, consider yourself a synth geek in training, and class is in session. It is rumoured by Malcolm himself that TONTO contains a very large amount of spare wire from an Apollo space shuttle."

Check out the words TONTO in the middle, above the keyboard.

Potential MIDI Controller?

Via Engadget. Now translate the output of that to MIDI and you'd be set. Imagine a handfull of these in different colors, bouncing around in a dark room modulating your sequence. : )

P.S. Click here to see different means of applying the same technique including just using your finger.

Rebirth Museum - Rebirth for Free!!!

Via Create Digital Music.

http://www.rebirthmuseum.com

The original Roland TB303 and Roland TR909 software emulations have finally been put to rest. I remember when Rebirth first became available. Amazing times, then and now.

Update:

"In this tradition, Propellerhead Software offers the full version of ReBirth 2.0.1, and visitors can personally experience the phenomena of ReBirth and the legendary Roland Devices."

Rememberances on Bob Moog - Doug Wyatt

Click here for the post.

Gorgeous Moog Minimoog on the bay

Via AH. Andy Boucher's Minimoog is for sale on the bay.  Posted here are some absolutely gorgeous shots from the auction.

CLICK FOR MORE »

Cornell Chronicle Reflection on Bob Moog

Click here for an article (2.5M PDF) on Bob Moog's passing, in the Cornell Chronicle.

SK-1 Modular via GetLoFi

Trip. Click here for more shots and info.

Patched up below.

CLICK FOR MORE »

ElectroKraft Light Theremin MIDI Controller

Via Synthtopia:

"ElectroKraft has introduced the Lunar Module, an alternative controller that uses photocells to enable theremin-like control of MIDI signals. The Lunar Module can be plugged into any synthesizer, keyboard or drum machine with MIDI input to create sounds not before possible."

Man that looks bright on my site. My eyes!!! : )

Moog OSCar

I remember seeing this a few years ago on the 'bay. The claim was that it was the prototype of the Oxford Synthesizer Company's OSCar in the case of a Moog Source.

Via the AH archives:

"it was confirmed in SOS. There's an article on it. you can even see it in
the auction.

I don't think that many peopel want it because it's not working properly.
It's collectible, but that's all, not so overly usable..."

"I also think that this is the one described in a issue of Future Music
some years ago when they did a interview with Lionrock. I don't
remember the issue, though I know that I still have it. Apparently, it
was stolen shortly after the interview was completed. I saw the SOS
article too and, since the owner of the piece at that time had worked
with Lionrock, I assumed that the synth was returned."

I found this article on Sound on Sound, but no mention of the word prototype or moog (I need to read the whole thing). But I did find this information that I've also forgotten over the years. Chris Huggett, was the man behind the EDP Wasp, Oxford Oscar, Akai S1000, and finally the Novation Supernova. Pretty impressive.

From Sound on Sound:

"Chris Huggett? In the same way that I had to go and get a proper job with E&MM and then Sequential to make a living, Chris eventually had to get a more reliable source of income. I put him in touch with Akai, for whom I was doing S900 sound development, and the next thing I knew he was writing the operating system for the new S1000. Chris worked for Akai behind the scenes on most of the sampler operating systems for more than 10 years until he grew frustrated with their refusal to let him work on the hardware design as well (with the Wasp and OSCar, he had of course done both). Having fostered Novation in its early days with help and advice, he eventually joined them full-time a couple of years back and is the guiding light behind the virtual technology of the Supernova. So a very British designer is once more working on a very British synth for a very British company."

Update via Turboskin in the comments: "Found the restoration of this exact Moog OSCar: stereoping.com/"

Update 3/8/12: Bigger pics here: Legendary Moog OSCar Up for Auction

CLICK FOR MORE »

Synth Wiki

Brandon Daniel has created a new Synth Wiki. What's a Wiki? It's an online site that anyone can edit and keep up to date. For a massive wiki encyclopedia check out wikipedia. For more on wikis in general check out wiki.org. Wiki away!

Technos 16 π

The Technos Acxel (2nd picture below) came up on AH recently, so I went looking for more info on it. While looking I ran into the Technos 16 π. I totally forgot about this synth. I wonder how many of these were made if any, and who has it. Hopefully it didn't end up in a garbage bin or scrapped for parts. According to Synth Museum there might only be one in existence as Technos shifted focus to the Acxel Resynthesizer. You can see the scratch pad looking interface on the Technos 16 π like the Acxel Resynthesizer. Both were additive synths where the harmonics were represented by red LEDs on the pad, like a big red Lite Brite! You could draw your harmonics and then play them. Hmmm... Someone needs to make a Matrix Pin patch controller like an EMS Synthi but with Lite Brite glass colored pins. Woah...... Or a step sequencer where you can have different glass colored pins instead of LEDs, representing different steps doing different things. Man that would be beautiful. Someone do it please! : )

Technos 16 π (click here for a bigger picture).

Technos Acxel Resynthesizer (two sketch pad looking things on top. Click here for a bigger picture):

Check out this Engadget/Music Thing post for a good article on the Acxel Resynthesizer.

Buy a CD Help the Red Cross

Udpate: Watch out for scams when donating (click this for an article on Boing Boing).

John P of m/n/m/l. Posted this on AH. I thought it was pretty cool. My prayers and well wishes go out to people hit by Katrina. I simply can't imagine what they might be going through.


Click here for the synthy section of the cds, you can click the all genres link to see others.

----------------------------------------------------------------

All my CD sales thru the end of September will go to the Red Cross for
hurricane relief.
If you hate my stuff there's other electronics available too....

http://cdbaby.com/group/redcross


--
m/n/m/l
surreal electronic music, sound, noise
http://www.mnmlnoise.com

----------------------------------------------------------------
Or the Red Cross directly:

Moog Memorial September 4th

Just found out about this. Missed the show yesterday, but there is still a chance to hear it on September 4th. Click through for more.

"In this special edition of Echoes, we hear comments on Robert Moog and his invention from Wendy Carlos, Redshift's Mark Shreeve, Sun Ra, Klaus Schulze, Robert Margouleff from Tonto's Expanding Headband, Jan Hammer and Jimmy Lavalle of The Album Leaf."

Focusrite Stolen Gear

If you haven't heard, apparently a bunch of stock gear was stolen from Focusrite including Novation gear. Focusrite has a list up with serial numbers. It's simple. If they don't get paid for their work, they can't afford to work. If they can't afford to work they don't make our products. We lose in the end. Keep an eye out for this gear, either via matching serial numbers or missing ones. This is just plain bullshit.