MATRIXSYNTH


Friday, November 11, 2005

The PorchBoard - Analog Bass

Trip. In via Synth80 on AH, via Harmony Central.



"Designed to revive the lost art of self accompaniment, the Porchboard Bass is an analog rhythm instrument designed to allow low-end, player controlled, self accompaniment using the natural technique of foot tapping. Because it's player controlled, the Porchboard Bass is legitimately accepted in the concert venue. Each tap of the foot produces a low-end, full-bodied, bassy beat that is more percussive than a bass guitar, yet sounds fuller and more resonant than most bass drums."

TR-909 Mod Page

Via Jonodo on AH. Title link takes you there.



The following mods extend the range of the Tune and Decay controls, and add three new controls:

Pitch - controls the frequency of the bass drum oscillator
Drive - allows waveform adjust from normal to square, for hard clipped sounds
Tune Depth - varies the amount of initial pitch sweep (decay set by TUNE control)

Jiggity's XOXBOX

Via this post on Sonic State's the-gas-station. Damn, that looks nice.

Moog Satellite - New Flickr Shot

Korg OASYS on Sonic State

Sonic State on the Korg OASYS update. Includes their video coverage during Winter NAMM 2005. Worth checking out if you haven't already.

Chocopoolp

I swear my blog reader must be busted, because I don't remember seeing this post on Music Thing. Chocopoolp (nice name) makes a couple of music apps for the Palm. The first is Bhajis Loops a sampler/sequencer and Microbe (1 drum machine, 2 synthesizers, and 18 effects). Click here for choco-poop, chocolate poop, I mean Chocopoolp.com.

Roland TB-303 Acid Twin Silver Sticker

Title link takes you to auction on the *bay. Good idea. Someone should make faceplates for other classic synths minus the sticky. I'm picturing the weight and consistency one of those flexible magnet type sheets you can put your own images on. A lot of beat up synth could use a new faceplate.



"This is a new silkscreen die cut face sticker for old worn Roland tb 303's. For all you knob twiddlers you can also use it as a protective cover. This sticker is the same thing as what you see on the Minimoog Voyager and PK4 Poly Evolver. It is made to last!"

Thursday, November 10, 2005

Question for you

Notice the Google Search box on the right frame? Now take a look at it on SparkleTrain. Which do you prefer for this site? I figure the box on top could be useful, but I haven't done it up until now because I thought it looked a little bulky and took away from the site. Also the whole ads thing, but now I'm having second thoughts. Please post your comments via the comment link below. Thanks! : )

8 Famicons and a 606

Check out this shot of a Roland TR-606 controlling 8 Nintendo Famicons (Japanese version of the NES). Ran into this on this VSE thread. Title link takes you to a post on Kotaku with a link to 6955's site and MP3s. 6955 is a Canadian born Nintendo artist residing in Japan. Oddly, I couldn't find the shot on the 6955 site.

How to make an HPF from an LPF

No title link. Mike Kent sent this to AH. He gave me the ok to post this. I figured others not on AH might like to try it.

"You can probably get a High Pass Filter or Band Pass Filter type of effect
from a modular system that only has a Low Pass Filter. You may need to make
one special patch cable, with its wires crossed to switch the polarity, for
it if your modular doesn't have a way to get reverse polarity outputs.

If you send a signal into a low pass filter and then mix it back with the
original signal with reverse polarity, you can emulate a High Pass Filter.

______ ________
| |--Polarity Switch--->| |
|VCO | _______ | MIX |---------->
|____|---->| LPF |-------->|______|
|_____|

Or:

______ ______ ________
|VCO |--->| |--Polarity Switch--->| |
|____| |MIX | _______ | MIX |---------->
|VCO |--->|____|---->| LPF |-------->|______|
|____| |_____|

The mix levels after the filter are critical. This depends on phase
alignment to cancel frequencies below the LPF's cutoff point. Filters
generally mess with phase so this may not work well on some modules.
Resonance can mess things up, too. But it does work on many systems.

Add another LPF on the end of that chain to get a Band Pass Filter with
variable width (the difference between the cutoff of the 2 filters). Drive
both filters from a common EG to get typical BP sweep sounds.

______ ______ ________
|VCO |--->| |--Polarity Switch-->| | _______
|____| |MIX | _______ | MIX |--->| LPF |--->
|VCO |--->|____|---->| LPF |------->|______| |_____|
|____| |_____|


Regards,
Mike."

Yamaha SY-2 Demo

Via this thread on VSE. That is one thick sounding synth.

Image via this post on the synth used for the track.

Corky Burger's Modular Mayhem Pt. 2

Update to Corky's Modular. If you missed my previous post on him, he's creating a Synthesizers.com modular and sharing the experience vie the ONE 40 FIVE store. Title link takes you to his latest updated including a nice sound sample.

Roland SH-101 - New Flickr Shot

It's interesting. I always wanted a Red SH-101 followed by a blue then grey, but the grey is beginning to look better to me every day. I wonder how the inspiration between colors would differ.

Moog Technical Manual and D.C. systems Mystery Module


A couple of shots in via this auction. Anyone know what that module is?


Juno Panel - New Flickr Shot

Wednesday, November 09, 2005

Physical Modeling Added to Korg OASYS

Update: Looks like Peter Kirn is on a Korg roll: http://www.createdigitalmusic.com. Make sure to check out the O'Reilly article on what went into the OASYS.

Via Create Digital Music. Title link takes you there.

MUX - Damn Ravers

I haven't been to a Rave in about a decade. What happened to all the Cat in the Hat hats?! : ) Joking aside, this is pretty damn bad-ass. Really starts to kick when the vocoder bit comes in. Gotta love the domo-kun shirt. In via AH.



Details:

"Holas,

I recently played a show in the Vancouver Planetarium, and am lucky
enough to have friends willing to spend the show manning cameras. :)
The same friends taught me how to do basic video editing, and as a
result, I now have a great little promo video for my live act. My music
is thumping acidic party stuff, suitable for late-night dance parties.

Analogue content: Roland SH-101, Waldorf Pulse+, samples from modified
Simmons SDS-800 and SDS-9, multiple stompboxes and rackmount filters, no
laptop.

AH-suitable digital content: Nord Micro Modular, Korg ER-1.

Non-suitable digital content: um, an MPC1000, that's it.

There's two versions of the video, an eight-minute promo version and the
forty-minute full version. The eight-minute promo is your best bet, 31
megs (yay modern compression!).

Windows:
http://lfo.fsck.org/~drew/mux_-_The_Listening_Room_-_8-Min_Video.wmv

Mac:
http://lfo.fsck.org/~drew/mux_-_The_Listening_Room_-_8-Min_Video.mov

The full 40-minute version is available on video.google.com:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3167185821695688176
Lastly, if you just want the audio, there's an MP3 of the set, mastered
with the crowd noise lower:
http://lfo.fsck.org/~drew/mux_-_Live_at_The_Listening_Room_Vancouver_-_20050910.mp3

Critiques and comments welcomed, and if you like my stuff, by all means
please pass these links onto other folks who you think may appreciate
them. :)

Cheers,
- Drew."

MXR & ARP Odyssey Shot

Nice shot of an MXR Flanger on top of an ARP Odyssey. In via Jordan Gibson on AH.

Riha Syntone

Haven't seen one of these before. Nothing much comes up in English on a search so I can't provide much info. If you know more, please share. It obviously appears to be a synth organ by Riha. Title link takes you to shots saved for posterity. In via Senso on AH.

Moog Zippo - New Flickr Shots

Nice. Moog on back, Emerson on front. According to the caption, it's the only one in the world. Title link takes you to bigger shots including a Moog modular in the set.

Audio Playground Virtual Sound Sheets

Now how long has this been up... Audio Playground (keyboardmuseum.com) has a page up with Sound Sheets for various synths. Sound Sheets were those little thin black records that were inserted into magazines. I stumbled onto the ARP OMNI-2 Sound Sheet page via this thread on VSE. I back tracked and found the main Sound Sheets page. Absolute Goldmine. Title link takes you there. Audio Playground just gets better and better. If you haven't seen their virtual drum machine page, make sure to check that out as well. Enjoy. : )

Macho Man Rocked the House - New Flickr Shot

Guess the Synth

Awesome site where you can hear a sample and then see what synth played it. The green ? is the sample and the red ! shows a picture of the synth. This one is done really well. Via this thread on electro-music.com.

Korg MS10 and MS20 Shot

: ) Found this digging up the MS10 shot for my previous post. Thought I would share. Title link takes you to a bigger shot of the same.

Korg MS-10 Sample

Title link takes you to a post on VSE with a sample of the Korg MS-10. A really nice sample. An interesting topic comes up in the thread regarding the filter of the MS-10 being slightly different than the MS-20. True or untrue? I have no idea. : ) Think I'll check AH.

Synthesizers Dot Com Shots - New Flickr Shots

Title link takes you to more.

Tuesday, November 08, 2005

Jesse's Senior Project - New Flickr Shot

Chrome. Nice!

Various Synth Ads - New Flickr Shots

Title link takes you to some nice scans and other shots.

Live Lab - Tablet 2 Midi and Live Slice

In via Dale Kay on Synth Sights. More reason for me to get a tablet.

Tablet 2 Midi


"Tablet 2 Midi allows you to use your tablet / digitizer as a MIDI controller. You can define different areas of the tablet surface as different controllers, allowing you to create just the setup you need. The image shows a 9 channel midi mixer with sliders, buttons and XY pads. Every outgoing midi CC value can be interpolated to get smooth parameter changes."

"LiveSlice is a beat slicer / arranger VSTi with an edge. It offers powerful graphical rearranging of slices, multiple tracks and tons of parameters to apply to each slice as well as a unique slice randomization feature. Everything can be controlled by MIDI fine tuned in the GUI and seamlessly integrated in your midi sequencer - all in one creative workflow."

Synth Albums

This shot was taken from the same site as my previous post. Just thought it was worth putting up separately. Sometimes you just don't have time to check out every single image, so here you go. Check out the module plates standing on their sites like the albums. Pretty cool in that they will eventually also be the source of music. The title link takes you to a really nice video on his modular.

Cat on a Modular

Ran accross this site on this VSE thread. Notice it's hosted on mit.edu. This is one of those cases where I'm tempted to just copy the whole thing down in fear of it dissapearing forever, but... I'll hold off in good faith. Please don't let this site go down. Title link takes you there.



BTW, if the title link ever goes down, post a comment so I get it. I'm going to save the pictures offline just in case...

The Base

Via this post on VSE. Title link takes you to more shots and a gear map.

CS50 added to UMOP

Dave got a CS50. Title link takes you to a page he put up on it including a sample. Congrats Dave!



Synth description of the year:
"This sucker gets points for coming in its own case AND STAND. That's like a baby being born in its coffin and knowing how to walk already too." : )

Monday, November 07, 2005

VEMIA Auction

Update: Looks like, Brian Eno's DX7 went for 2000 ukp and the Jellinghaus DX7 programmer for 1500 ukp.

Auction is on now. Runs from Nov 5 to this Saturday, Nov 12. Title link takes you there. Once there, click on the VEMIA link with the auction hammer on the left. There is a spreadsheet you can download. I found it easier to browse searching for "synth" when open. There's a Synthi in there amongst other goodies. : )



Update via the comment:

"HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT! BRIAN ENO'S PERSONAL DX7 AND PROGRAMMER ARE FOR SALE!"

Doh, I probably should have mentioned that. Sorry. : ) Oh and yes, that is Dave's Packrat in the commic.

The Lego Harpsichord

Fully functional harpsichord made out of Legos. Amazing. Title link takes you there; included more detailed shots, samples and the story. Via Lez Mizzell on SynthSights.

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